New York
By the 1st June, 2011, we had been on the road for a total of 15 months. While there were still a few places we both wanted to see together, we decided to take a week apart so that Elissa could meet her Mum in New York (a part of her 60th birthday celebrations) and ...
India, looking for Tigers in Ranthambore National Park.
Whilst Elissa was in New York with her mum Pete decided to go to India to see tigers in their natural environment. India is the best place in the world to find these magnificent predators.
The best place (or argubly the best) in India to find them is in Ranthambore National Park which is central-northern India, 5 hours by train, south of New Delhi. When travelling through India, especially many different areas, a lot of visitors will hire a car – with a driver – at a negotiated cost. Although this is very convenient it wasn’t necessary for me as I was only going to one place. So I caught the train. And what an experience that is…..
Nepal, Kathmandu and Mount Everest.
Elissa had organised to meet her mum Leonie in New York for a week or so and Pete, who wasn’t invited, decided to go and do something that Elissa wouldn’t probably never want to do, look for tigers in India. However when I reached Heathrow I found out that I couldn’t get a visa on arrival (New Zealanders can, but not Australian) and so instead of splending much time in London trying to obtain one I was well advised to do get it in Nepal.
Jordan
Continuing our travels through the Middle East, our next stop was Jordan. We looked into the various ways we could get from Sharm el Sheikh to Aqaba and although flying was quicker and easier, we opted for challenging and cheap. This meant a one hour (very fast) taxi ride from Sharm to the Ferry Port in Nuweiba. The ferry then took approximately 4.5hours.
Egypt – Cairo, Luxor and Sharm El Sheik
News about Egypt’s Revolution in January almost deterred us from visiting this country, however by early May, things seemed to have calmed down considerably. So we boarded a flight from Johannasburg to Cairo allowing 7 days to fit in as much as possible in this country – which isn’t long as there is so much to see and do.