Granada is known for its hundreds of tiny islands, called isletas, protruding into Lake Nicaragua. This body of water is the largest in Central America at 3,191 square miles and was the original proposed site for the Panama Canal. We take a boat through all of the little islands, finally arriving to one of the outlying ones. The owner of Hotel La Bocona owns a house here and we spend a few hours relaxing, with our feet dangling in the water. We're not much for sedentary vacations, so we're quickly ready for more action! We head back to the hotel and grab a quick lunch. In the afternoon, we drive to Masaya Volcano. This is a super active volcano - the park guards give us hard hats to wear as we enter and hand us a pamphlet on how to park the car so as to ensure the promptness of our escape route! Ian is a geologist, so the volcanoes of Nicaragua entice him. He's fascinated as we peer through the sulfuric steam clouds into the crater. We're offered a night hike down into some caves and we readily accept. There are bats and all sorts of wonderful creatures in the caves. We hike out at sunset for some beautiful views from the top of the volcano. We're back to the hotel late and out on the town. Granada's not terribly rowdy and it has a nice mellow bar scene. We walk back to the hotel around midnight and about a block from La Bocona hear a familiar refrain, "karma, karma, karma, karma, karma chameleon ..." Could it be? Did we just stumble upon a Nicaraguan karaoke joint? Yes we did! We LOVE karaoke and the woman singing Karma Chameleon is perfectly on pitch and rocking it. On the choruses she is joined by 30 other people in the bar. Needless to say, we pop on in and stay a few hours. We sing Angel From Montgomery, one of the few songs we know on the playlist. We suddenly feel very endeared to the country.
The trip was not only memorable for the amount of animals we saw but also for the people and accommodations at the two camps where we stayed. Our first guide, BK, was a wealth of information about the animals, landscape and down to the plants and what they were used for. Everyday out was a learning experience with him. All the people at the camps were gracious and the food was excellent.
Our second camp in the Okavanga was just as good as the first as far as the staff, accommodations, food and animals. After our experience at the first camp we amazed that the high quality remained the same. Our guide, G, made sure we were able to enjoy every experience including a rush through the bush to witness a cheetah and an ensuing hunt that he heard over his radio.
In both camps there were enough guides out that if they saw something the other guides were informed which helped in seeing as much as possible. It was also nice that the concessions were large enough that we did not have vehicles following each other throughout the day.
Normally there is always something in a trip of this length that we think could be improved upon but this is the rare case where we cannot think of anything. From the time we left the States to when we returned it was one of the most hassle free vacations we took.
Perhaps emphasizing the use of the laundry facilities at the camps would be useful because of the luggage restrictions would be the only thing I can think of as an improvement to future clients.
Kenneth Dropek
2 days ago
Mary was so pleasant and professional. She made sure all of our questions were answered.