continued from Part 5 we woke up to an early morning overcast sky to find ourselves in an empty field on a hilltop with a view of the surrounding area, the sounds of birds and insects filling the air. soon we heard a motorcycle in the distance. we were a little worried that we had camped on someone's land without permission, so when it got closer and came over, we were a tad apprehensive. but, of course, he just wanted to ask if everything was well. we thanked him for his concern and took the opportunity to inquire how to get to the sanctuary. he told us to keep following the road we had taken and said we would soon be...

Continued from Part 4 we slept in that morning, recovering from the long and arduous day before. we awoke in the tranquility of the Kimana Camp for the second morning in a row, and as we slowly packed up and prepared to leave, we noticed Nelson dressed in his traditional garb, most likely waiting for us to rise. we waved and he came over, friendly and jovial as usual, and invited us to stop by his Masai village before we left. we loaded up the car and headed over, baboons shadowing us on the walk. we were very exited and deeply honored to be invited to enter the complex. as we arrived, we were greeted by chickens and cows engrossed in their...

continued from Part 3 The Mara Triangle!   The Mara Triangle is the North-Western part of the Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya, and is managed by the not-for-profit organization The Mara Conservancy on behalf of Trans-Mara County Council. Divided from the rest of the Maasai Mara National Reserve by the Mara River, the 510 square km Mara Triangle is less visited and less crowded, often with many more game animals grazing on the plains and between the volcanic hills that distinguish this corner of the Mara. The plan was to head north across the Triangle and exit at the Oloololo Gate, then cross the National Reserve in the north and head ESE across the Olorukoyi Plain back to our lodgings at Kimana Mara Tented Camp. It wasn't terribly far, about 25...

Continued from part 2 As we followed the map on our phone to our campsite, the Kimana Mara Tented Camp, it led us to a soccer field adjacent to a small town. We looked around for any signs of a camp, but found nothing. We had clearly been led astray by our electronic guide. We drove on and asked the first group of people we came across, they said to continue on the dirt road, and we followed their directions, though the dirt road wove and split and came back together at intervals, and we were never quite sure which split to take. Soon we came to a perilous river crossing, not dangerous so much because of the volume of water...

matt and muriel, our dear leaders, recently took a trip to Kenya and had an incredible adventure. the goal of the trip was to see some elephants in the wild and in order to do that we had to get a vehicle that can handle Kenya's B and C roads which are dirt and difficult. think washboard on the "beginner" side, giant ruts, water crossings, and washed-out roads on the "expert" side of the scale. with the aid of some friends (thanks Ian and Clair!) we found our beast: a Toyota Land Cruiser made for these conditions and kitted out to make the most of our trip. who knew you could rent such a beautiful beast of a machine? on our first...

When we last heard from our intrepid travelers, they were en route from Dallas to Atlanta via Memphis. From this point on, it was radio silence on the email front (not at all unexpected) but we saw the trip was going well thanks to the 'gram and #MegaTour17. What follows is a city-by-city recap as told to us by Mick.  Memphis, TN  Our longest leg in a Megabus preceded our shortest pitstop. We were in Memphis for only a day. The rain was a good excuse to catch up on sleep after 30 non-stop hours but when the weather broke we were able to get out for a pedal and explore some the beautiful trails and bike paths before departing.  Atlanta, GA...

Our friends Pete, Johnnie, and Mick got an early start to summer adventure with #MegaTour17, a three week bike tour/Megabus road trip they created. Their journey will take them from the Lone Star State to the Big Apple with a few pit stops in-between to visit with friends and family and explore new cities.  Along the way they'll be putting some of our gear to the test.  The first leg of their trip started in Austin. Johnnie and Mick flew in and scooped up Pete, who recently relocated to the Texas capital. After a couple days of exploring (and being treated to a five hour lightning show), it was time to break out of the Austin city limits and head...

Hey there swrve family, Before we confront the reality of being back to the grindstone, we wanted to take a moment and share some of the highlights from our trip to Iceland. In a word, the experience was incredible. In a few more more words, we can’t recommend adding Iceland to your bucket list of travel destinations strongly enough. We’ve dreamed of visiting for years and we can’t wait to go back for a return visit. The scenery is so stunning and magnificent that you don’t realize how little words and pictures do it justice. Then you find yourself standing on a black sand beach in Sólheimasandur, in the shadow of a DC-3 that was left to decompose after it...