South Luangwa National Park

I spent the last two nights at South Luangwa National Park, a wildlife sanctuary that nearly everyone I have met here has recommended that I go to. Flatdogs Camp, where I stayed, was right near the entrance to the park. When I first arrived, I saw an elephant right in the middle of the camp! The next morning, I woke up to a sleeping hippo outside my tent, and in the afternoon, another elephant came up to munch on the leaves on a tree less than 10 feet from my tent. And that wasn't even inside the park!

I went on four safari trips: two in the morning (one driving, one walking) and two in the evening. In the evening, we would go out until the sun set; then the guide pulled out a big spotlight, and we would continue scouting for the nocturnal animals.

My "luxury safari tent" 

View from my tent

Elephant in the camp on my first day

Safari trip!

Impala, which you can tell by the McDonald's "m" on its butt

Leopard, which we had seen up in a tree with its kill earlier in the day, came down in the evening after its meal

Sunrise over Luangwa River

Monkey grooming

Puku - no "m" on butt

Water buck

More elephants (in the park)

Lilac-breasted roller, which did this unusual pose for us

This bird caught a frog and tried to smash it on the ground to kill it, so it could eat it.
Every once in a while, it was accidentally let go, and the frog would flail around before the bird snatched it up again.
After a while, the bird flew up to a nearby tree and tried to smack it against the branches.
(It hadn't eaten it by the time we continued on our way.)

Elephant crossing

Symbiosis like we learned in middle school science!
Birds eat ticks off the impala.
Impala gets rid of itchy pests, birds get fed. Win-win.

Summer in Zambia

I arrived in Zambia a couple weeks ago for a summer internship. Lusaka isn't a very photogenic city (and it's more of a suburb than a city), but I went on a business trip to the Copperbelt Province, the copper mining area of Zambia, this weekend and took some photos along the way.

Roadside stands on the way from Lusaka to Kitwe

Typical sight in Zambia

Hut and more head-carrying

Residue from copper mining (Copperbelt Province)

Part of the trip was to a chiefdom in the area

These are some of the chieftainess's dancers.

And drummers

More traditional dancing

Next weekend should be a photo-filled one too: safari trip to South Luangwa National Park!

Spring Break: Trip to Israel and Palestine

During this year's spring break, I went on a student-organized trip to Israel and Palestine. The itinerary included a combination of field excursions with briefings on the Israel-Palestine conflict, Israel's relations with its neighbors and its internal politics. We met with government officials from both sides, including members of the Knesset, Israeli Prime Minister's spokesperson, and the chief Palestinian negotiator.

We also met with Australian UN Peacekeepers at the Syrian border and Gabriel Bach, Holocaust survivor and deputy prosecutor in the Eichmann trial.

It was an eventful trip, made more so by exchange of rocket fire on the day we were scheduled to visit the Gaza border and an Iron Dome, Israel's air defense system. We weren't able to see the Iron Dome, as it was obviously busy, but the majority of us opted to tour Sderot as planned, a border town where the residents have 15 seconds between the time their air raid siren sounds and when the rocket hits. Fortunately, no alarms went off during the visit.

To see the cultural side of the country, we toured Old City Jerusalem and slept in Bedouin tents in the Negev desert. Heavy rain in the desert made watching the sunrise and going for camel rides impossible, but as a result, getting to watch a rare flood and waterfalls in the desert made it all worth it. The bus made an unscheduled stop at a canyon, which, normally completely dry, had turned into a raging river and waterfalls. This is a rare sight, especially in the desert, and only lasts several hours.

Our last day was a sunny one, and we spent it on the beach in Tel Aviv... before flying back to a snowy DC.

Church of Annunciation, Nazareth

Street signs in Tel Aviv

Sea of Galilee

Jericho, Palestine

Knesset, Jerusalem

Inside the Knesset

Wailing Wall, Jerusalem

The Dead Sea

Floods in the Negev desert
(You can kind of see the raging river at the bottom of the canyon.)

Rocket shells outside the police station in Sderot

Missile-protected playground

Opening to the caterpillar above
(The orange line marks safety.)

Art alley in Old Jaffa, Tel Aviv

Last sunny day in Tel Aviv

Year in DC in Pictures

Washington, DC by Day

Newseum

View of the Capitol from Newseum

DC by Night

Metro (Dupont maybe?)

Nationals Game

Executive Office Building

White House

National Treasury

Washington Monument
(Under construction after the earthquake in 2011)

Drag Queen Race

Chinese New Year Parade

National Cherry Blossom Festival

White House Garden Tour