Blog Posts
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Mad about Malawi II: Tu Bishvat on the Lake
2008 – In which Ilana celebrates Tu Bishvat in a very unusual place: On the shores of Lake Malawi. A stranger Tu Bishvat I haven’t had. (Tu Bishvat is a Jewish holiday: the New Year of the trees, look, it’s… Continue reading
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Mad about Malawi Part I
2008 – In which Ilana visits Malawi in the rainy season and spends time with Children in the Wilderness, and some other lovely people, hippos and birds. “’Tis the season to be rainy…” This version of the song went through… Continue reading
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Turtles in the Sand
Rocktail Bay, South Africa, 2006 – In which Ilana finally gets to meet several large sea turtles at the dead of night, wander through a coastal forest and contemplate life as a beach. It’s odd how the closer a place… Continue reading
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Of Space and Silence
Botswana, 2006 – In which Ilana visits the quietest place on Earth. Why are you so afraid of silence, silence is the root of everything. If you spiral into its void a hundred voices will thunder messages you long to… Continue reading
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Of Red Rocks and Brown Elephants
A 2005 Dear All, in which Ilana’s journey in Namibia ends in Damaraland, with many elephant, a Best Desert Game Drive Ever, and Shabbat on Mars – only nicer. The final stage of the journey began (is that an oxymoron?)… Continue reading
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Floating in Kariba
In which Ilana looks up an elephant’s nostril and sleeps on Lake Kariba. A 2004 Dear All in Matusadona I flew out of Vic Falls on a 6-seater, with a young, bronzed pilot called Denzel. We whizzed through the big… Continue reading
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Palmwag – Of Rhino and Poetry
A 2005 Dear All on How to go existential rhino tracking in three easy steps. In which Ilana meets a black rhino called Speedy (he wasn’t) and a Welwitschia plant with more personality than most people. As you may remember,… Continue reading
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Of Sand Dunes and Fairy Circles
A “Dear all” from 2005 In which Ilana gallivants off to the wild, lonely, starkly beautiful deserts of north-west Namibia, quad biking on dunes, tracking black rhino and explaining ‘kosher’ to Himba, Herero, Damara, Nama, Riemvasmakers, Afrikaners and general others.… Continue reading
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Letting sleeping dogs lie
“There’s a hyaena on the doorstep,” said Harley. Puzzled, I looked out the car window toward the house in which we were staying at the staff village connected to Skukuza, the main tourist camp in South Africa’s world-famous Kruger National… Continue reading
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