Somebody recently emailed me with some questions on Ireland, knowing that I used to live in Dublin. Here are notes from my reply (links generally go to my photos or external sites):

• There’s a ton to see in Dublin, both during the day and the evening. The guidebooks will no doubt give you the highlights, but don’t miss a musical or literary pub crawl. They’re for the tourists, obviously, but the calibre of performance is great. I’ve blogged about my other favourite places in Dublin. Understand that Dublin and the rest of Ireland are remarkably different. The former is a bustling, grimy city with an amazing history and culture, while the rest of Ireland is all greenest-of-green hills, charming hamlets and gorgeous coastlines.
• If you’re in Dublin on Saturday, don’t miss the Temple Bar Market. Have a crepe from the hippy kids at the crepery cart. Trust me, you won’t regret it.
• Top tip for North Americans: for the love of God, don't drive in Dublin. It's a medieval city with 21st century traffic nightmares. The city has a decent public transit system (be sure to check out their new tram system, the Luas), and the centre of the city is very walkable. Rent a car (be sure to specify an automatic if you can't drive standard) from the airport, which will enable you to skirt most of the nasty Dublin traffic.
• I'd suggest driving inland south from Dublin to Waterford. You'll see plenty of coast elsewhere, and this enables you to visit Glendalough, which is a lovely corner of the country. Then you can sneak across Carlow to Kilkenny, which is a great town. Then I'd either go down to Waterford or across through the Rock of Cashel (a pretty amazing spot) to Cork. I'd recommend the Cashel route, but either way is good.
• Of course, if you're near Kilkenny, you could stop in at my ancestral home. Mind you, it's a hostel now, so don't try to reclaim it or anything. I already tried that, and two Swedish guys threw me out.
• You surely know about the Ring of Kerry and the Dingle Peninsula--they're pretty famous.
• Galway is definitely worth getting to, as is the western part of County Galway, known as Connemara. The landscape is strikingly different than the rest of the country.
• Finally, don't miss the Aran Islands. They're gorgeous, a taste of old Ireland. You can rent bikes there, and ride around for the day.

I’ve discovered that there’s perhaps more joy in returning to a place than in visiting it for the first time. At least that’s the case if you’ve lived in a place, left it and come back. Our mind favours good memories over bad, so we rediscover former homes through rose-coloured lenses.

With that in mind, let me tell you about some of my favourite spots in Dublin:

Trinity College - I had the good fortune to walk through this gorgeous, 500-year-old campus every day for most of the time I spent in Dublin. Today I walked through it at dusk, and the light hitting the campanile that stands near the entrance was beautiful. I have fond memories of pausing on my walks home to watch rugby practices and sometimes cricket on the rugby ground and College Park.

Merrion Square - Is there a finer block-long park in the western world? Walk through it during a rainstorm, and its smells like a jungle. It's a tremendously charming place, with its well-tended flora and peculiar statuary.

Natural History Museum - I've written about this place before, so I'll just quote myself:

It is a macabre paean to the Victorian era in all its splendour. Nearly hidden behind the Dail (the Irish Parliament), it's a fantastic Victorian building. The stuffed bestiary that resides inside is beyond compare. Most of the animals are inside glass cases, and each is fastidiously labelled with the name and date of death and purchase by museum. They go on and on and on. There is every animal under the sun in here. And it's not just mammals either--there are four floors, and two of them just have birds and fish and insects aplenty.

The second floor window of the Winding Stair Bookstore - It's as bohemian as a cafe gets in Dublin, and despite the uncomfortable benches is an oasis of casual calm in the centre of the city. I wonder, is it named after Yeat's poem, or did Yeats name his poem after the cafe? Probably, but not definitely, the former. Sadly, it recently closed.

 

This morning I watched a leopard stalk and attack an impala. The leopard was spotted before she could strike, so there was no kill (fortunate or unfortunate, depending on who you’re cheering for). After that we sat in the Land Rover surrounded by a herd of massive cape buffalo, some close enough that you could touch them. Later, we watched an elephant suck nine litres of water into its trunk and dump it into its mouth.

This is the Londolozi private lodge. It’s part of the Sabi Sand (those are two rivers), a game reserve home to a group of private camps. The reserve borders Kruger park, and shares a border with its much larger public cousin.

I've never stayed in a more luxurious place--it's like Martha Stewart's Ewok village. There are 160 staff to care for 60 guests, and everyone of them knows your name from the moment you arrive. The setting is extraordinary--the main lodge stretches out from a cliff face, with an exceptional view over the jungle. The lodge itself has 30 exceptionally-appointed rooms, mostly standalone houses above the Sand River.

Each day we go for two three-to-four hour safari drives, one at 5:30 AM and another at 3:30 PM. One day we also did a walk through the bush, an hour-and-a-half back to camp. We saw everything--you name a southern African animal and we watched it. Plus, we saw a vast range of birds and plants. We were assigned a game ranger and a tracker for the entire visit, and they were exceptionally knowledgable. We learned a tremendous amount, not only about flora and fauna, but also about conservation efforts and wildlife management. The tracker--oddly named Exxon--seemed able to pick up tracks out of seemless dirt.

After Kruger, with its massive space and intermittant sitings, I was skeptical about Londolozi. Were we just going to see pop-up animals? Londolozi is still big--we saw new terrain and portions of the reserve each day. But I feared that the private park would feel artifical.

In truth, it seemed pretty natural. Our sitings were vastly improved over the private game park, but I put that down to four factors. One, we rode in Land Rovers, which aren't required to stay on the rode. These amazing vehicles can go pretty much anywhere--they regularly drove over small trees. Two, the skill and experience of the rangers and trackers. Three, the communication between the staff. Though we rarely saw another group, the rangers were in constant contact by radio, discussing the position and behaviour of the animals. This meant that if another group spotted and followed a leopard for a while, we could pick up the pursuit after they left. Lastly, the reserve has been there for at least 60 years, so there are plenty of animals who are natural residents.