Blue Fern Adventures

20/01/2025

Don't forget to dream! Or fake it to you make it?

Seen on a walk this morning

30/12/2024

We had a few days before meeting friends in Santiago so we visited Pereira in the coffee region of Colombia. Relaxing! Stunning views, two different hot springs, hummingbirds and, for some of us, dogs!

26/12/2024

We recently spent almost 8 weeks back in Sabaneta, mostly to practice gymnastics, to enter 2 gymnastic competitions and to catch up on work.
Plus a few other activities such as swimming lessons, piano lessons, eating fried oreos after a competition, looking at Christmas lights and celebrating a birthday.
And the original goal of learning how to perform a back handspring was achieved!

10/12/2024

African antelope in Medellin! A Gemsbok/Oryx as part of the alumbrados navideños (Christmas light display) at Parque del Rio.

07/12/2024

A few photos from the Christmas lights in Parque Envigado, Medellin. The municipalities certainly know how to decorate the squares!

01/11/2024

Happy Halloween!

31/10/2024

One of the reasons why we came back to Medellin! Amelia's gymnastics team were the Level 2 champions at the Interclubes competition!

Send a message to learn more

29/10/2024

Full-time travel ≠ full-time holidays!

Like the way we made our post into an equation? 😀

Congratulations to another student who recently completed the final assessment of RightStart Mathematics Level E! 🎉🎉

She is ready to move on to the next level! She will be learning new concepts like multiplying and dividing fractions and decimals, long division, graphing, and dimensional analysis 🙌🏽🙌🏽

As for me, I now have 4 students doing Level F which is a challenging task 🤓

18/09/2024

Happy traveliversary! Four years ago we started our travels ... what a journey it has been!

12/09/2024

Lüderitz was a new town for all of us.

First stop were the wild horses outside Aus. We were worried that there wouldn't be any horses at the waterhole. But, there was no need to worry as we counted 60 horses!

Kolmanskop (Kolmanskuppe) was amazing. In 1908 the first diamond was found and it quickly became one of the richest towns in Africa, with over 5 million carats of diamonds mined between 1908 and 1914. Its demise started in 1928 with the discovery of diamonds to the south and the last residents moved away in the 1950s. New residents are the sand family!

And for a different experience, we stayed in the old lighthouse on Shark Island. Views from the tower were spectacular!

04/09/2024

Sunrises and vast open spaces!

We continued southward and drove from Swakopmund to Sesriem/Sossusvlei and on to Aus.

Last year we didn't get to climb one of the taller dunes so we packed the tents away in the dark, drove to Dune 45, climbed to the top and watched the sunrise.  Definitely worth the effort. (And the next day the wind was howling, dune climbing would have been unpleasant to say the least).
Instead we visited Sesriem Canyon and saw a natural light sabre.  Sunlight was shining through a hole and reflecting off the airborne sand particles, creating a brightly illuminated shaft of light.
If you are in southern Namibia, do yourself a favour and take the D707 road; the views are expansive!

25/08/2024

We enjoyed some downtime and cooler weather in Swakopmund. Plus we did a couple of activities we missed when we were there last year.

The 'living desert' tour is amazing. The guides do a wonderful job of finding the smaller creatures ... Sidewinder snake (only 30cm long), Palmato 'Haribo' Gecko, and Shovel-snouted Lizard ... to name a few. Plus a geology lesson on magnetite. Fun & interesting school lessons!

And there was the trip to Sandwich Bay where the dunes come right to the sea. It was high tide when we were there so there wasn't much driving between the base of the dunes and the sea but the views from the top of the dunes made up for it. And lunch was delicious. Thank you

And then there were things we haven't grown tired of ... breakfast bagels at and looking at flamingos!

And with our batteries recharged it was time to continue southwards.

19/08/2024

Next stop Namibia!

We rested for a couple of nights at our favourite campsite in Windhoek, Then it was off to Waterberg Plateau where we were greeted by some warthogs. After Janice's run-in with a warthog last year she took no chances and climbed up on top of the bakkie.

Enroute to Etosha, we stopped off at the Hoba meteorite. It's 80,000 years old, has a volume of 6.5m3 and a staggering weight of 60 tonnes!

Then it was time to visit Etosha. We had a couple of different sightings. Firstly a hyena walked up to the waterhole at Halali, lay down and died (it appeared to have a cut on a hind leg). While it was alive, the zebras were very wary. Once it had died, they didn't realise there was a hyena next to them and would happily drink. All was good until they did realise that it wasn't a furry rock but a hyena! Panic!

And at Okaukuejo waterhole a very young (1 year old?) elephant came down to drink. All by itself and with no herd. Very unusual. A large herd came down an hour later and after initially hanging back, it left with them. People on FB had seen this baby for the previous 2 weeks so it appears to be doing OK.

Unfortunately the dust took its toll on our bodies (we'd been in dusty conditions for the last 2 months0 and we needed a break from the dry air. We skipped our night at Olifantsrus campsite, at Brandberg and at Spitzkoppe and headed to the cold and foggy Swakopmund.

15/08/2024

Next stop the Boteti River, well riverbed, and the Central Kalahari Game Reserve.

We arrived at Khumaga at midday and it was hot and there was no at the campsite so we decided to drive along the river.

And wow! The riverbed was full of zebras, wildebeests and elephants. It was like a Nat Geo documentary. And then around 3pm all the animals starting leaving and by sunset the riverbed was empty.

Anyway we parked up next to an elephant path and watched a couple of elephants walk up the path, rub against the tree and walk away on the other side of the tree. Well, one elephant decided to walk up to us. That was the closest I've ever had a wild elephant come to me ... I could have touched the tip of his trunk! Almost needed to change my pants.

Then it was off into the Central Kalahari. Got to see Honey Badgers foraging in the day, a pair of bat-eared foxes, realised how long Gemsbok (Oryx) antlers are (used Amelia as a measuring stick) and had a remote campsite at Motopi (our closest neighbours were at Tsau Gate, a 40km drive away).

Oh and on the cutline road outside the park, we got stuck (again)! But luckily not for long 😊

And that was the end of our adventurous 5 weeks in Botswana.

13/08/2024

We had booked to spend a night on Gcudikwa Island in the Okavango Delta. And we did ... eventually ... but the boat broke down and we had a 4 hour wait to be rescued. On the bright side, we watched the sunset from the boat and then had a night ride (only happens in emergencies so a once in a lifetime experience 🤞) to the island.
Then there was a true highlight ... visiting They rescue juvenile elephants and have a multi-year long programme to release these rescued babies back into the wild. Baby elephants are so cute!
After bidding our friends goodbye we had a week to relax and get caught up on chores, etc. before continuing our journey. However, it couldn't be all work and no play!
We got to witness the tongue of the Boro River making it's way towards Maun. Quite an experience to watch how the arrival of the water (it's taken 6 months from the highlands of Angola) is celebrated. And yes, we followed tradition and washed our hands in the tongue of water (fto cleanse away any misfortunate and bring good luck.

More fun included a scenic flight over the delta. We saw all the usual beasties as well as a pride of lions.
And lastly there was the opening ceremony of the Olympics and looking out for Team Cayman.

PS We have been working with the tour operator to improve their procedures to ensure other guests don't get marooned in the delta.

03/08/2024

A few shots from our time in Chobe (friends walking on the floodplain), lions at an elephant carcass and then the same lions walking through Savuti campsite! and driving in Savuti and Khwai.
The roads were a mixture of smooth dirt, corrugated/washboard dirt and soft sand (in some places the sand was as fine as flour!)  
Savuti was dry (Botswana is experiencing a drought) and animal sightings were slim.  The floodplains and river banks in Khwai (northern Moremi) provided for better animal viewing.
# botswana

28/07/2024

After Gweta, we spent an adventure-filled few days at outside Kasane. We enjoyed the views from our friend's chalet and the elephant bunker (have you ever been knee-height to a baby elephant?)

Then there was a Chobe River cruise which included watching a herd of elephants swim across the river (with their trunks sticking up like snorkels) and one of the largest crocodiles I've ever seen.

Last adventure was the trip to Victoria Falls. It started with a flight over the falls, a zipline from Zambia to Zimbabwe (over the gorge) and a shower while exploring the falls. I think we all slept well that night!