Frank (NIF and ME, 2003) and Sigrid Rainer are on their 10-week journey with a 3-week, East Africa gorilla safari and then a 5-week ship expedition up the west coast of Africa from Cape Town to Seville, Spain. They have been e-mailing reports, sometimes daily. Below are the e-mail we received from February 28 through March 15, 2009.

"Feb 28, 2009 - Mahe and Le Ponant

Dear friends we hope you have been inundated with emails from us. We learned from Amanda yesterday that our first two emails had not gone through. We've asked her to forward them yesterday. Since we board the sailing ship Le Ponant this evening we will be out of contact until March 11 (March 10 your time for most of you). I had not planned to write again so soon but I suspect that Comcast thinks that with so many recipients I'm sending spam (I don't care if you think it's spam, we'll send it anyway). I am going to use our seldom-used gmail account.

We got to the airport yesterday morning at 8:00 am and most of our fellow travelers who flew in from Paris were already being met by the Zegrahm ground crew. However, they did not want to take us because we were not on their list. Finally good old Julie Christiansen came out to assure the locals that we were not terrorists and were ok to transport to our hotel. Then of course our room was not ready, but we ultimately got settled in. We had a buffet lunch and then took a tour to a spice garden and crafts center with nothing earthshaking to report. With drinks in hand we convened over the bar in the evening for a briefing before dinner. There are numerous Californians including ones from SF, Concord, Davis and the Peninsula. We're trying to mix in with most of them so the cruise (cancel that, expedition) should be warm but very tropical with lots of scuba diving.

Wednesday, Mar 11, 2009 - Mahe

Once we're checked in early at the airport and don't need to worry about packing and connections I can relax and that's a good time to write until the laptop battery dies. I neglected to bring the South African connector they use here. What a great connection we had, driving around the northern end of Mahe, lounging at a lovely beach while waiting for a load of laundry to be done. The scariest part was driving into the narrow driveway of the laundromat from a busy, narrow street on a steep hill. I don't know how many times I stalled our anemic car this day. In most cases I had no opportunity to get it out of 2nd gear on the steep curves. We settled into our Le Relax Hotel where we were upgraded to a room with a balcony. We spent a few hours trying to download about 120 emails allowing me to snorkel around the pretty little island we had observed every day a few weeks ago. We used up the last of our Seychelles Rupees for a tasty dinner of fish and lemon chicken washed down with Seybrews.

Thursday, Mar 12, 2009 - Mahe, Nairobi, Entebbe, Jinja

It was a relaxed pace this morning (unusual for us) as we enjoyed a sea-view, balcony breakfast before driving the 10 km to the airport to turn in our car and be the first in line for our Kenyan Air flights to Nairobi, Kenya and Entebbe, Uganda. Abbe Eaton of SF from our cruise showed up by bus to also fly to Nairobi. From the air we spotted the lovely little island one last time in front of our hotel. We had just one-hour layover in Nairobi and prayed that our luggage would transfer. We stepped back one hour in the East Africa time zone and realized that you had gone on daylight savings. Hence we were now only 10 hours ahead of CA. It was hazy over Lake Victoria as we landed into the setting sun. Airport formalities went quickly at this very nice airport and gloriously our 3 suitcases showed up. We are traveling with the extra, 45-pound suitcase that contains just our scuba gear. A large crowd of locals stood at the airport entrance with about a dozen holding signs for hotel transport, tour pickup and KPMG conference. However, no one held a sign from Hakuna Matata Tours for the befuddled Rainers. We waited as the crowds and taxis slowly dissipated. Two tour women took pity on us and tried to call our company but the phone numbers are for Rwanda. The "free airport internet" was no longer on line, and calls to the hotels we were to be staying at today and at the end never heard of us or Hakuna. Oh shit, what have we gotten ourselves into? I exchanged some money and we waited while trying to research other contact information. Usually we have booked with reliable North-American companies, but our outfit was local in Rwanda (not even the country we were in right now). We've paid for everything in advance except for meals. Have we been taken for a ride without ever getting a ride? After 1.5 hours a friendly man comes up to us. He obviously knew who we were since ours were now the only white faces in the emptying airport. We had expected Kennedy, but this man was Wilson. Kennedy was still in Rwanda and messages had gotten fouled up. We loaded into a van and stopped to buy 10 liters of drinking water before embarking on a 2.5-hour drive to Jinja. The roads were narrow and crowded with people and cars. Signs were impossible and I could just imagine how lost we would have gotten driving on out own in Uganda - no thanks. We passed Salon Obama so that we are starting to cover our US presidents. At Jinja we turned at the "Report Terrorism" sign and after a few more turns showed up at the Triangle Hotel (our itinerary called it Trigle) at 11:30 pm. The room was not fancy but we had a mosquito-netted bed and a car and driver at our disposal.

Friday, Mar 13, 2009 -Jinja to Kasese

From our balcony we observed Lake Victoria. Egrets roosted on floating islands and fishermen were out in their small boats for a breakfast catch. We too breakfasted and were picked up by Wilson. Our first stop was at "The Source of The Nile" where the water of Lake Victoria empties out on its 4-month journey to the Mediterranean. We then drove to Bujagali Falls. They are actually just rapids since they built a dam upstream. We opted to skip a raft trip for lack of time. Moreover, Wilson had not yet been wired funds to cover our first five days. We killed some time in town while he got money and for $2 I bought the adapter (probably $20 for the one I had left at home) needed to plug in my electronics. It was a slow pace the 80 km back into Kampala, a tremendous traffic zoo. However, west of there the traffic got lighter and Wilson managed to hit 110 km/hr in the 80-km/hr-speed zone. We traveled through green countryside contrasted by the parched terrain from the air over Kenya.. The green of the enormous fields tea plantations looked more like lawns than shrubs. We stopped at Fort Portal for Wilson to eat and gas up. This gave me 30 minutes to take a photo safari, talking up the locals at the market and convincing some of them to allow me to photograph them. Then we had another hour before finally locating (in the dark) our Rwenzori International Inn at the foot of the mist-enshrouded, 5109-m-high Mt. Stanley. Our inn left a lot to be desired, but it did have a convention center and a large gymnasium. We dined on chicken washed down with "The Reward from the Source - Nile Special Beer". What a long day, but at least we managed to get the air conditioner running.

Saturday, Mar 14, 2009 - Kasese, Queen Elizabeth NP, Lake Bunyonyi

We arose at 5:00 am to a marginal breakfast and Wilson was a bit late. We needed an early start to go on a morning game run at Queen Elizabeth NP that was still 40 km away. In semi-darkness we reached the equator and I had forgotten to take out my BALSO (Bay Area Laser Safety Officer) t-shirt (they have photos of me at the N. and S. Poles). We posed at the circular monuments before entering the park. In the dawn we already spotted antelope and waterbucks. The nasty looking water buffalo stared back and the wart hogs scampered about in the distance. Later we saw a giant hog and a cluster of small monkeys. We carefully managed to avoid running over a small tortoise on the dirt track. Alas, the search for lions proved fruitless, as did elephants. The hippos only left tracks to the water. Much wildlife in Uganda was wiped out years ago during all the revolutionary wildlife. They are trying to bring it back. Unfortunately the charcoal trade still takes its toll on the trees here. We crossed over the main highway to the other half of the park and right now we are enjoying a lovely lunch on a balcony overlooking the Kazinga Chanel connecting Lakes Edward and George. We shall cruise that channel this afternoon, but first we'll try to get this email out from the luxurious Mweya Safari Lodge. Update - we just saw elephants down below. Now the Democrats want equal time, but donkeys are rare here.

So much for luxury resorts. I paid for 30 minutes of web access and could not log on to Comcast, Google, Yahoo or Hotmail. We proceeded down to the channel for our boat ride with tourists from the Netherlands and USA. Among them was a group of young women doctors (an Izzy type from LA) and a grad student from Berkeley working on her thesis using IT for social issues.. They were training local doctors in Goma, Congo in OB/Gyn. We cruised across the channel to disturb the now bathing elephants. They in turn disturbed a water buffalo as they all proceeded single file along the steep shore to get back on land. Cruising along the far shore we encountered numerous large pods of hippos, herds of buffalo and even a half dozen crocks (we opted not to go swimming). We're not birders but did spot several Fish Eagles and lots of egrets perched on buffalo and hippo backs. There were numerous young hippos including one ostensibly just a day old (what a cutey pie - can I take her home, Mom?). The birds here must have learned the adage about birds of a feather because they congregated with their own kind - egrets, pelicans, terns?, cormorants, etc. Only the Maribou Storks integrated the community. We had a long drive on potholed and rutted, dirt roads (a shortcut past Wilson's home town) to arrive at the Bunyonuni International Campground. We actually had a relatively nice cottage there.

Sunday, Mar 15, 2009 -Lake Bunyonyi to Kisoro

After breakfast we took a 2.5-hour boat ride on Uganda's deepest lake - 6500 feet (hard to believe) formed when a river diverted in the 19th century. Of 29 islands (many camp employees get to work by dugout canoes) one was tiny Punishment Island where young girls were abandoned on the reeds if they had gotten themselves into a pregnant situation without benefit of marriage. Of course, the guys that got them into that situation fared a kinder fate - probably to send other lasses to said island. We took an afternoon hike with an obnoxious guide to a neighboring village where my camera failed to penetrate the kitchen smoke. A colorfully dressed woman along the dirt road hugged me like a lost grandson after I showed how I managed to capture her image in the back of my digital box. She was intrigued by my white beard and pointed to her own grey hair. She was only four years older than I, but could have passed for my grandmother - righteous living on my part no doubt. We had another dusty drive to Kisoro where I photographed the end of a local soccer match. In my shorts, sandaled bare feet, and pale skin I stuck out as the crowds broke up to go home. At our hotel we finally met our supposed guide, Kennedy. He had just arrived from his home in the Congo. He informed us of major changes in our itinerary, among which being that we would not track gorillas tomorrow but proceed to Rwanda. But, more about that later. I'm completing this (unedited) from Bujumbura, Burundi. We have internet here so here goes nothing." To be continued.

The LLNL Retirees Travel Group meets the fourth Tuesday at 2:00 p.m. from January through June in the Community Room at the Livermore Library, 1188 South Livermore Avenue. The May 26th program is entitled "Seeing California by Air" by Dick Jones.

The May Retirees luncheon will be held on Wednesday, May 20th, at 11:30 a.m. at the Elks Lodge, Springtown-Livermore. The speaker is John Marchand, Vice Mayor of Livermore. His presentation will focus on one of today's most critical issues - water. Before being elected to the Livermore City Council, he represented our interests on the Zone 7 Water Board. And he has had many years of service as an employee of the Alameda County Water District in Fremont. He will provide an overview of the Valley's current and planned water services provided by Zone 7; the prospects of ongoing water shortages and the state and federal governments' plans and initiatives; and a longer view of the potential impact of global warming on California's water supplies and challenges. John is a very good speaker and has a wealth of information to share on these important issues. Reservations must be made at this web site by Friday, May 15th. The cost of the luncheon is $10.

Due to lack of both input and interest, Don Johnston and we have decided to publish the Retirees' Corner every other month. There is a possibility it will be dropped, as interest has dwindled due to the fact that retirees do not access the on-line version through the Lab web page and we now have a monthly newsletter that is sent via e-mail to all members of the Retiree Association.

Please send any input to Gus or Jane Olson (please include the date and department from which you retired). E-Mail: Jane@LLNLRetirees.org or Gus@LLNLRetirees.org.