Gorilla trekking in Uganda and safaris in Zambia, all arranged by Mama Tembo Tours Zambia. Truly, the trip of a lifetime!
My friends, Rob and Cheri, had been planning this trip, with other friends Russ and Andrea, for over a year when unfortunately Rob was diagnosed with an illness and unable to go……they had not purchased insurance!! Rob insisted Cheri still go…….did I want to go with her?? I jumped on the chance because who knows when I’d find someone else to go on a trip like this with!! It also helped them recover some of the cost. Leslie, of MTTZ, was able to make all the necessary name changes/cancellations/rebookings etc. for our African flights/permits/accommodations. We decided to break up the long flight to Africa with a few days in Den Haag on the way and in Amsterdam on the way home.
Here is our itinerary 2019 Africa itinerary – final
Tues Aug 27
Met Cheri at the airport. No issues checking in, Waited for Russ and Andrea. AC to Toronto on time, connecting flight to Amsterdam also on time.
Wed Aug 28
Arrived in Amsterdam at 10. No problems with customs or getting luggage. Schiphol is a huge but good airport. Caught the train to Den Haag right in the terminal (8.90E). train ride was about 1/2 hour through the countryside. Beautiful gardens and my first Dutch windmill!!
Took a taxi from the Den Haag station to the house (20E) Nala’s Beach House, thru Airbnb (Tershellingsestraat in the Duindorp area). Too early to check in but could leave our luggage with the cleaner. Off we went to explore and find a place for lunch. Found Leenheers Cafeteria a couple blocks away. Fun couple….chatted with them, got some info about the tram/transit, where to eat/shop etc. Ordered various goodies from under the counter, a broadwoorst, 2 meatloaf type sausages, a “Mexican meat strip”, fries and wine. She cut everything up in to quarters for us and continued chatting. Brought out her special mustard, which was excellent. Love the mayo they serve with fries…..wish we had this at home.
Took a walk toward the beach but didn’t go too far….mega dune to walk over. Will try that another day maybe when we’re not so tired. Picked up a few groceries (and wine!) and headed home. Great place…..just as described on the website. Nice little patio, garden area out back, small but efficient kitchen, enough room for the 4 of us. Sat around and chatted until 7 or so, everyone just snacked on goodies we’d bought. To bed very early but very tired.
Thurs Aug 29
Slept OKish. Woke up at 3AM, then 5 so just got up. Only a French press for coffee but we’d picked up a bunch of Starbucks Via instant coffees, which worked just fine. Everyone was up by 7. Had breakfast and planned our day touring the historic centre of Den Haag and the Mauritshuis museum. Out just after 9.
Almost 5km into “centrum”. Followed a canal most of the way. Great buildings, nicely painted doors, bright awnings, lots of plants and flowers. Very neat and tidy. Love the architecture here….especially the rooflines. There are number of permanent floating homes on the canals. Nice, well maintained walkways and sidewalks….and of course the bike lanes. Bikes have priority over walkers should their paths cross. A very good tram system that crisscrosses Den Haag and Scheveningen and the area we’re staying. Walking took us just over an hour, not bad considering how many time we stopped for great photo ops.
Many nice areas in DH. Walked thru what seemed to be “antique alley”, lots of older buildings with nice “junk”. Lots of restaurants, cafes, parks and plazas. Fun people watching places. Came across a “Hudson’s Bay” store…..who knew they had one here!! The city is a real mix of old and new. Found the TI office got our maps and we could also buy our tickets for the Mauritshuis as well. Weather was a bit iffy….cloudy and cool one minute with spits of rain, then sunny and really warm the next. Stopped during the spits at a café in a great plaza lined with bars, restaurants and cafes.
The Mauritshuis is a great museum. https://www.mauritshuis.nl/en/discover/mauritshuis/ Wasn’t terribly crowded which was nice. Vermeer (Girl with a Pearl Earring), Rembrandt (Self portrait and The Laughing Man) and other Dutch painters. Took about and hour and half to go through, which is just about the right amount of time before one gets museum burn out. Definitely worth a visit.
Sunny and warm when we came out. Walked thru the gov’t buildings and around the lake, all very nice. Beautiful pyramids of potted geraniums all around the lake, lots of pretty white swans and ducks. On to the Prins Willem gallery (incl with the Mauritshuis tickets). Saw a couple of Rueben paintings but didn’t recognize others. Small gallery but was one of the first private collections.
Had a great lunch in one of the “pleins” . A local specialty…..green pea soup with mint and shrimp….very good. Came with bread and a glass of wine 13E.
Worked our way to the Noordeinde Palace. All the streetlights in that area shaped like crowns….very cute. The palace is only open for tours. Did walk around the lovely gardens at the back (free, open to the public). Next was the Peace Palace https://denhaag.com/en/location/200/peace-palace. It houses the International Court of Justice and was where the League of Nations was before it became NATO. Beautiful building and beautiful gardens. Not open to the public except on tours. Could not get tickets for an English tour.
Bikes, bikes and more bikes…..big bikes, bikes with “baskets” for people, groceries or whatever else you might want to put in it. Specific bike paths (red stones) that you do NOT walk in. Bikes have the right of way…..and will certainly let you know if you are in the way!! Motorbikes and scooters also use the bike lanes….which seemed odd to me. You really do take you life in your hands trying to cross streets….but cars are the least of your worries!
Walked along the Avenue of Flags and passed the World Forum. About half way home we found a little bar/café on/in a corner (traffic all around it) and stopped for a glass of wine to keep us going. All in all we walked 26,000+ steps….or at least 10km. Great place really to just wander around and walk thru the different parts of the city.
Had dinner down at the inner marine at Oma Toos, a Dutch pannenkoeken house that had 4+ stars on tripadvisor. https://www.oma-toos.nl/ Cheri is a pannenkoeken addict! Nice view of the marina. Good food….had the Alden Bacon pancake and a glass of rose. I don’t think these pancakes are my cup of tea….but when in Rome, right? Nice walk back thru the marina….boats all lit up and walkways lined with restaurants.
Back home, played 3 games of crib….Cheri and I won the “tournament”. To bed a little later…..like midnight.
Fri Aug 30
Lazy morning….up around 8 after being awake about 3 other times….argh!! Love the church bells, but…..
Breakfast in and off to the beach in Scheveningen today via the Madurodam Miniature World. Beautiful day, warm and sunny. Great walk thru a very nice area. Beautiful homes and row houses, tree lined streets. The tramlines here are covered with grass which makes them blend in with the surrounding greenery. Great tram system….may use it to go back to the airport tomorrow.
What can one say about Madurodam!! 19.50E to get in…..had I been the first one to the ticket office, and since it was my idea to go, I may have just said forget it, not realizing how expensive it was. Lots of hype and big signs….it’s one of those places that most people would walk by and not bother with, BUT, BUT, BUT….. it was really quite worth it!! Definitely a place to go if you have kids, even big kids would enjoy this place. We ended up spending well over 3 hours there!! The details in the displays are pretty amazing, right down to the type and size of the bonsai trees/plants they’ve used in gardens, incredible! There are moving parts to a lot of the displays……people, cars and trucks, trains (regular and fast ones), boats on the canals, bridges that open, the Schiphol airport with moving planes. There is the port, with freighters, ferries and cruise ships, also canals with boats that go through the locks. The flower warehouses. A couple of little information videos as well, one on the history of the place and another about the canal systems. Even the waste system processing plant has been reproduced. A countryside area with little cows and windmills. A clog factory that you put a euro in a machine, the little truck moves around the building, hammering starts and pop….out comes your little porcelain clogs into the back of the truck which then delivers them to you…..also a Mars bar factory (3 mini mars bars) and tulip/flower garden truck (a little tulip broach) that does the same thing. You could go around a half a dozen times and notice something new/different each time. We couldn’t believe how well done and presented it all was. Definitely worth a visit!
https://www.madurodam.nl/en/the-park/holland-in-an-hour
Walked thru Westbroek park and the “ritzy” part of town…..big beautiful homes….on the way to the beach in Scheveningen. Initially it didn’t seem very “beachie” around the beach! Lot of apartments but nothing really had the usual look of beach towns. Buildings looked just the same as anywhere else. On the main road closest to the beach we came to the Grand Hotel Amrath Kurhuis…..beautiful old place that looks like the old fashioned British beach hotels. https://www.amrathkurhaus.com/en/index.html You don’t get a glimpse of the sea at all from the road. We walked thru the hotel lobby which is really quite grand and very “period” in style. Walked out thru the restaurant and down on to the strand….Wow!! What a great place!!
The beach is beautiful and seems to go on forever. Nice soft, fine sand. Along the strand are tons of bars and restaurants. Right on the beach are some smaller bars and the usual umbrella and chair rental places but the best part is the pier…..huge 2 story thing that goes way out over the water. Lots of restaurants and bars inside. Play areas for kids and at the end is De Pier restaurant, where we had lunch.
There are two “wings” or whatever you’d call them at the end of the pier, one looks like a convention centre and the other has an “eye” ferris wheel. A zipline runs from the roof of the restaurant back to the strand, also a bungee jumping platform. The whole Strand was beautiful….way more impressive than Brighton. Definitely a much nicer beach. Who knew the North Sea had such fantastic beaches!! Great place!
Nice walk back to the marina area along the strand, with a little detour through the old town Scheveningen. A lot of development happening but not right on the beach….all big apartment buildings are back, sort of a dune behind the strand.
Stopped at an Aldi market to pick up a few goodies for dinner. Packed up, played our 3 games of crib, updated journals etc. Also booked our Anne Frank House tickets for when we come back in a few weeks……could only get 6PM on our last night. Called Alon (airbnb host) to arrange a driver for us tomorrow. 60E for 4 of us right to Schiphol (40 minutes)…..the tram/train combo would have cost 52E for the 4 of us and taken over an hour, so good deal to save lugging suitcases all over the place.
To bed just before midnight…..so not sleeping good!! Took a Benadryl…..and set the alarm! Long flight tomorrow…….almost 11 hours to Entebbe, Uganda.
Next……Gorilla trekking!
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