Return to South Africa – From Pretoria to Cape Town via the eastern coastline (27/8/11 – 12/9/11)

Pretoria
I left Mozambique by bus, and after 10hrs, I arrived at my stop in Pretoria.  Silly me got off at the wrong & last stop – which ended up being in the middle of nowhere, so (& in order to keep this short), I had an interesting adventure getting back to the backpackers where I was booked in – it did involve lots of waiting in the dark at petrol stations, a few tears, lots of prayers, an education in buying ‘airtime’ for mobile phones, a trip in a packed in mini-van & taxi, and a quite a few laughs at myself later for the silliness of how I had inadvertently got in this situation.  Everyone was so great and helpful – and incredibly kind hearted – I had way more phobias than was necessary.
The Pretoria Backpackers where I stayed was warm and homely – a great place to be based.  I had one full day in Pretoria and wasn’t sure what would unfold during that day.  I went to the art gallery and to ‘The Union Buildings’ – which I think is their parliament house equivalent, given that Pretoria is the capital of South Africa.  I also wandered into town and looked at some of the shops – but there was something happening in the city that day.  All the black African’s were dressed in their football (soccer) colours, and chanting and blowing their vuvuzela’s (trumpets).  The stadium was just near the backpackers, so I decided that a football match in South Africa would be worth pursuing, and somehow I got offered a ticket (at 3 times the price – which was still less than $20), and it was so fab!!  The atmosphere was noisy (especially when a goal was scored, amazing, and heaps and heaps of fun to be there – it was actually a semi-final for the South African football competition, and the stadium was one of the ones used for the World Cup in 2010.  Definitely a highlight in my travels around Africa.  (others from the backpackers had tried to get tickets and I was the only one successful… 🙂

Pictures: a goal scored at the football game; football in the shopping centre; the city of Pretoria from the Union Buildings

Durban
From Pretoria through to Cape Town, I am catching a ‘hop on, hop off’ bus – called the ‘Baz Bus’, which allows you to stay at various spots along the route.  It was a full day’s drive (11hrs) to travel from Pretoria to Durban.
My first impressions of Durban were not all that great, I was there for one day, and as the day unfolded I enjoyed the city more and more.  It is a busy bustling city with a 6km coast line of beaches and surf from the Indian Ocean.  So my first and last stop for the day, was to check out the beaches which is always a good way to start and finish a day.  I didn’t go swimming but did see the surfers challenging the tossed around waves.

I purchased an all day bus ticket (for about $1.50), which allowed me to travel around a large extent of the city area.  I visited the aquarium – which boasts that it is the largest in the southern hemisphere – it was really well set-out with lots of interesting exhibits of various sea creatures.  I also headed to the Victoria Markets – and the Indian centre of the city (Durban has a huge Indian population, due initially to the spice trade route stopping here) – the markets smelled of all sorts of great spices. Here I tried a Durban food speciality – called a ‘bunny chow’ – which is curry inside a half loaf of bread.  I then headed to the city centre to see some of the historic buildings of the city like the town hall, and then to the wharf area whilst looking at some art spaces along the route.  And by the time the sun set, I had made my way back to the backpackers where I was staying.  A very full and interesting day in Durban, where I also met some interesting people along the way.

Pictures:  sunset over Durban & beaches; the spices in the markets; at the acquarium; the Baz Bus

 

 

Port Elizabeth
After a very long bus ride (15.5hrs) from Durban, I arrived at the backpackers in Port Elizabeth.  After a good night’s sleep, I had a day to explore this city.  Port Elizabeth is a historical city, and there is a walking trail (marked on the footpaths with a blue painted line) to guide you around many of the city’s historical buildings and landmarks – so this is what I did.  The one thing I wanted to find, but couldn’t find a marker for it – was the site of South Africa’s first cricket pitch (which is also reputedly the 5th oldest in the world).  One of the things I found interesting as I walked around the city area was all these signs – each with a year and quote on it from that year.  Most of the quotes were by Nelson Mandela – it was an interesting way to ‘read’ some of the history of South Africa as I walked around. After walking around looking at all the historical buildings and climbing the light house, I headed down the hill and away from the port area to walk along the P.E. beaches.  This was all really lovely, especially whilst eating some yummy grilled fish for lunch and watching the ocean.  After lunch and an ice-cream, I walked back to the city area and looked at more of the historical buildings.  It was a very pleasant spring day where I did lots and lots of walking.

Pictures: view of the port area from lighthouse; signs around town; old houses; Presbyterian Church

 

Plettenberg Bay
My time at Plett was pretty cool and windy, and there was also a bit of rain. I had hoped to go on a whale safari – but the weather conditions made this impossible.  Instead I spent some time walking around the beach area – trying not to be swept away and looking in some of the shops.  I was also informed about a walk I could do in a nearby national park area – called Robberg.  There were a couple of options for the hiking trails – and I had limited time (3hrs) before needing to catch the Baz Bus to the next location, so I figured that I would be able to do the whole walk around the peninsular (which is supposed to take 4hrs).  The walk started all ok – but ended up being very tricky with no safety rails, very few signs, lots of up and down the hillside, and lots of rock scrambling.  It was all very pretty – with lots of wildflowers showing their colours, there was a colony of seals ‘barking’ and swimming in the water, and lots of amazing action with the Indian Ocean banging against the rocks.  I pushed myself (which my body regretted later) and got around the whole walk in less that 3hrs – ya!  Unfortunately, the driver forgot to come and collect me so that I could return to the backpackers in time for the bus….but thankfully, a really lovely lady who took a wrong turn up to the national park gave me a ride and I got back in time for the next leg on the Baz Bus.

Pictures: wildflowers on bushwalk; beach on walk; signs to show me the way; seals on rocks; windswept beach

     

Mossel Bay
My next stop along the route was at Mossel Bay, which is another nice coastal town along the Garden Route.  It was a bit cool and rainy for some of my time there – so I explored the local museum – which had a whole lot of information about the Portuguese explorer who first landed there, as well as other explorers – I found it all quite interesting.  There was also a shell museum.  When the weather cleared up, I went for a walk to explore the beach areas – there is a bay beach, and then a surf beach – which is mostly over rocks – not for the faint hearted!

Pictures: a replica of the boat that the Portuguese explorer used to discover southern Africa; the surf beach – off the rocks; my train accomodation

 

Cape Town
After a week travelling approximately 2500km from Pretoria around the eastern coast of South Africa, I have finished my Baz Bus trip at a backpacker’s in Cape Town…

Here I met up with my parents for a few days (they have also been inspired to come for 8 weeks to travel around Africa) – we  had a lovely few days re-visiting Table Mountain and all its splendour, as well as Cape Point and the penguins at Boulders Beach.  After they headed off on their adventure, I explored more museums, and spent lots of time soaking up the city of Cape Town.  I met another Aussie lady, and we spent a lot of time enjoying food, the buskers in the Waterfront area, and Cape Town as a whole.

Pictures: beaded football boots from the world cup; whale rescue on beach; Table Mountain and the Waterfront area; buskers; Bo-Kaap area (Malay region); Dad & Mum at Cape Point

   

 

It is hard to conceive that it is now time to return back to Sydney after spending more than five months wandering through 10 different countries of Africa.  It has been an amazing journey filled with many many highlights… including the sights, the experiences, and the people.  It has been great to wake up most mornings ready to embrace whatever might come in the day…and yes there were a few low moments – but so few in comparison to the many great moments (and the low moments helped me see and meet some amazing people in the process).
I’m not sure how I will summarise my African travels as I re-connect with everyone back in Sydney, but it has been a fabulous experience.  Time now to return and see how the next stage of my life will unfold…. I am confident that each day will continue to have lots of great moments where I get to connect with more amazing people, and see more amazing sights, and have more fun experiences.
For those of you who have been reading my African Blog – I hope you have found it interesting… thanks for the comments and the feedback along the journey. (Sorry for the spelling mistakes…)

I hope that for anyone else who visits some of the amazing countries of Africa – that your experiences will also be amazing 🙂

 

 

Tofo & Maputo – Mozambique (21/8/11 – 27/8/11)

After leaving Lichinga, I headed to Tofu – not the food, but a beautiful surf beach on the Mozambique coast line.  It is still quite unknown – so without the crowds.  One of the main reasons people head to Tofu, is to view the whale sharks which seem to enjoy hanging around in this area all year round.

Pictures: the beach at Tofu – sunset, view from the backpackers, sunrise, looking down from a vantage point, young boy playing

             

             

Some information about whale sharks – they are the largest fish in the world, and can grow up to 20m in length, although along the coastal areas where they are seem, generally it is the young males – which are about 5m-9m in length.  Whale sharks are not dangerous – and enjoy eating plankton / shrill and other small sealife critters.  They have a skin that is about 15cm in depth – which makes it hard for other predators (like other sharks) to attack them.  Their main predators are humans – and their meat and fins are worth huge amounts of money, particularly in the Asian market.

Anyway, I went out on an ocean safari – which involved piling into a large ‘rubber duckie’ (surf boat), and going through the waves into the open water, where everyone is on the lookout for large creatures under the water’s surface.  First we saw a humpback whale and its calf – so that was exciting, and then some dolphins, and then a whale shark – ya! Quickly we put on our snorkel and masks and jumped in the water to follow the shark – we were told not to get to close or be in front of it… well as soon as I looked up through my mask, all I saw was the huge head of the whale shark heading straight for me – and I was trying to figure out how to get out of its way, whilst trying to get some pictures (although it was very murky) and then stay with it – it was very exciting.  After a short while we all piled back into the boat, and went looking for some other ocean life – we found another whale shark, which again I seemed to be face to face with, until it very quickly swam off.  Both the sharks we swam with were about 7-8m in length – so pretty exciting.

 

Pictures: humpback whale and calf; what a whale shark looks like (when the water is clear); my pics of the whale sharks

            

 

The other things I did whilst I was at Tofu included hiring a boogie board for a fun splash in the Indian Ocean, lots of long walks on the beautiful beach, a kayaking trip through an estuary not far from the beach area – which was also amazing, and a completely different environment to the beach.  I met lots of other friendly travellers whom I shared meals with, and the long bus shuttle between Maputo (capital of Moz) and Tofo (8hrs each way, and the return trip started at 4am).

Pictures:  our kayaks in the mangroves, a young girl cutting fresh coconut for us to enjoy, fishing line ‘fence’ in the estuary

         

 

I had a half day in Maputo, where I went for a bit of a wander down the main road and found a market area – which was great to walk around and see the local handicrafts that were for sale, as well as enjoy one last Mozambiquian meal – matapa (spinach, coconut, and peanuts all blended together, then prawns added, and served with rice or enchima (maize)).  The Mozambique coast line is also renowned for its seafood – prawns and squid especially, as well as bananas, coconuts and cashews – all of which I made sure to enjoy.

Pictures: a lady selling bread in the markets, local craft markets in Maputo

  

 

 

Lichinga, Mozambique….10 weeks on…and soon to be travelling again – 20 August 2011

Well I have come to the end of my time here in Lichinga, after being here for 10 weeks teaching the Smith’s children – who are all great, and all did a super job at getting some extra weeks of school work done while I was here.  Apart from school work (where I have learnt all sorts of interesting things about Mongolia, Russia, and aspects of South East Asia), with the Smith’s – there have been a few other adventures along the way.

Picture: The Smith’s (Andrew & Tanya, Tahlia, Shenae, Liam, and Ethan) at the site of their new home in Mussangulo

We had another visit to Lake Niassa for a weekend which was nice, although the hippopotamus that likes to reside in the area where we were, also had decided it was a good time to be swimming when the kids and their dad were in the water.  He popped his head out about 10m behind where they were swimming, needless to say, everyone got out of the water quickly. [A quick fact – hippo’s kill more people every year in Africa than any other animal – they are super strong and very territorial] Thankfully the rest of the weekend went by in a relaxed manner.

Pictures: the hippo in the lake; fishermen and their fish; a baobab tree at the lake

     

Ana, one of the language helpers, had us all over to her house for a yummy traditional African meal.  Most African’s enjoy eating maize in various forms and each country will call how they cook it a different name – in Mozambique it is enchima and looks like thick mashed potato (different taste though). This is usually served with a stew (meat or beans), and greens (cooked spinach or pumpkin leaves with tomato and onions).  There are some variations on this, as well as some varying side dishes.  Meals are eaten with your right hand and usually eaten on the ground.  I quite enjoy this African meal – although I know that not everyone would enjoy it.

Pictures: Graca & Esther; Ana; the African feast; the kitchen preparation & wash up area

          

We also had a long weekend where we drove across the border to Malawi.  I had to leave Mozambique in order to renew my visa again, and the Smith’s were keen to get some shopping done where there were larger supermarkets and greater variety of foods than on offer here in Lichinga.  In Malawi we went up Zomba Mountain – which had lovely views all over the valley area – and you could buy a huge bowl of various berries for less than $10 – we got the raspberries – yum!!  We stayed in Blantyre – where the shopping was done, as well as eating a variety of different western foods – ice-cream, take-away, cafes, restaurants.  When we returned to Mozambique we went via Mangocchi – which is at the southern end of Lake Malawi / Lake Niassa, and met up with some other Australians who also work with GiA.  The trip was done in a twin-cab ute – with a closed in ute section – with 7 of us on board, the kids and I took it in turns to ride in the ute section – which was fun also.

Pictures: The Smith kids on a swing at the cafe; raspberries from Mt Zomba

 

This last week in Lichinga, there has been a Mozambique Cultural Expo – which we went along to.  There were high school students singing, playing instruments, and dancing, and there were also small exhibits from each of the regions in Mozambique displaying some of their crafts and produce.

Pictures: the high-schoolers performing; some of the display

      

And I also joined with a few women to visit the maternity section of the hospital – where we gave out gifts to the women.  Those women who were sick or who had lost their bub (which was so sad) received a gift of soap and a washer; and those who had given birth were given a baby blanket and a baby outfit.  Everyone was very appreciative of their gifts.  The sad reality in a hospital such as this, is that there weren’t enough beds (single) for all the women – so some women had to share a bed with another woman.  And the poor mum’s who had lost their bubs were returned to the same ward as those who had successful deliveries.  There is no after care or support given to any of the women once they leave the hospital – so this role has to be taken up by other women in their home areas.

Pictures: At the hospital – one of the wards; a new mum with her twins

 

At the end of this week I will be saying my farewells to the Smith’s and other’s whom I have met from this area, and will be heading to the coast of Mozambique and then South Africa – to see some other beautiful sights as I journey back to Cape Town – where my African adventure began.  Still a few more weeks to travel and see a bit more of southern Africa.

Pictures: a man with his chicken load; houses in Lichinga & the red dust; fresh milk being delivered; local  Anglican church I attended

     

Lichinga, Mozambique……5 weeks on – 18 July 2011

I have now been in Lichinga for 5 weeks – wow, the time has flown.

Whilst here I have been working with an Australian family, who are here with an organisation called GiA (Global Interaction Australia).  The family (The Smith’s) are planning on  being here in Mozambique long term, and so their priority at this stage is learning the local languages – both Portuguese, and the local dialect of the Yao people here. At some stage in towards the end of this year they are hoping to move to a place called Mussangulo –where they will be closer to local villages, and can support the village people in agricultural programs as wellas teaching.

So my role within this is to hang-out with their four children (aged 13, 11, 7, and 2) – who are all great.   I am essentially working through their  home-schooling curriculum with them, as well as helping out in any other ways that are appropriate.  Needless to say, I am spending a lot of time with the Smith’s – and am with them 7 days a week – returning to my ‘house’ each evening to sleep.

My day starts with an extended walk to the Smith’s – I always like to go past the market area – it’s always full of people, and there is always lots going on.  And a few times a week I will stop and buy some things – like bananas (cheap here – less than
$1kg), oranges, apples, avocados etc..

Things for sale at the markets: dried beans, clothes, shoes, vegetables & fruit

    

Once at the Smith’s, I go for another walk with the kids – down the ‘mountain’ – so that is a bit of fun – although the youngest usually gets carried back up and home. We then get stuck into the school lessons for the day.  Stopping for food / play breaks, and then finishing mid-afternoon.  Then it is time to help with getting food cooked for dinner, eating and returning back to my house.  I don’t have much time to get to the
supermarket – but things are quite expensive there – like 1lt milk – $2.50, and
1lt of ice-cream $11.  It is a pretty full-day, but not overly stressful at the same time.

The mountain walk, and the Smith kids – Ethan, Tahlia, Liam, & Shenae

 

When school finishes a bit earlier, or on the weekends, the Smith’s are looking at ways to help me meet some of the other foreigners in this area, as well as see some things.
The main localish attraction is the lake – about 90mins from Lichinga.  It is called Lake Niassa on the Mozambique side and Lake Malawi on the Malawi side – it is huge!!  (I stayed on the Malawi side when I was on the overland truck)  I have been there overnight once so far, and will be there again this coming weekend.

Lake Niassa – looking down at the beach where we stay, and sunset from the beach

  

We have also gone to Mussangulo (where the Smith’s will be moving to) – 90 mins a different direction from Lichinga, again a lovely spot where we had a picnic.

Looking across the valley and across into the local village area from the hillside of Mussangulo; drying clothes; up the hillside

  

We visited some workers another 90mins away (different direction) and had a picnic with them on the river near where they live.

Local village houses; washing clothes at the river; the river

   

I haven’t learnt much Portuguese or met that many local people – apart from those who work with the Smith’s, but everyone is friendly and helpful to me – the white girl.

Esther – one of the worker’s – Graca’s, children (she is too cute!!)

There are great bakeries here, and lots of beautiful sunsets.  It is the dry season – so have only had a couple of drops of rain, but it is also winter – so at times a bit cold, but warm when the sun is out.  There is a red dust that settles on everything and even stains the soles of your feet. The visa fees for Mozambique are the most expensive of the countries I have visited in Africa and last only 30days. The next time I have to renew my visa, I have to leave the country – so we will then be going on a trip to Malawi.

I still have a bit more time here in Lichinga before I do a bit more travelling whilst here in Africa.

Lichinga, northern Mozambique… [June 12 until ?]

 

Airport at Lichinga

I have now arrived in Lichinga, Mozambique.  This is a the capital of the northern province of Mozambique and has a population of about 100 000 people.  The main language throughout Mozambique (& therefore Lichinga) is Portuguese. Most people are of Islamic faith.

Whilst in Australia, I volunteered myself for a few month’s work – doing whatever could be of assistance, to a group called GiA (Global Interaction Australia).  They are part of the Baptist churches of Australia, and get involved in a lot of community development work, as well as church based work, in locations around the world.  My parent’s also worked with them (when they were known as ABMS) in Indonesia – and I have volunteered with them on a few other occasions, as I like there approach to building community, and I also share their Christian belief in God.

So here in Lichinga, my voluntary role is essentially to be of assistance to an Australian family who are based here.  The family are the Smith’s…who are Andrew and Tanya, then Tahlia (13), Shenae (11), Liam (7), and Ethan (2).  Mostly I will be helping with the home schooling program for the three older children, whilst also watching Ethan.  This will enable Tanya hopefully a bit more concentrated time in which to continue to expand her Portuguese language learning.  And I will be helping out in whatever other ways come up as well.  They are a great family, and I am already enjoying the interactions I am having with all of them.  There are also a bunch of other ex-pats in the area – from various countries.

I am staying in a little place – a great size just for me, and it is about a 10 minute walk to the Smith’s place.  I am already looking forward to continuing to explore the area on foot.  The local markets are also about 10 mins walk away – with lots of yummy fresh vegetables and fruit (like bananas, avocados, beans, tomatoes, lettuce, oranges etc etc.) – so with a few more basic Portuguese words I will soon be visiting there regularly.  There is also a small supermarket on route to the markets where I can get other supplies.

My ‘home’ whilst here…

I’m not sure how often I will be putting up blog posts whilst I am here in Lichinga – as the next few months will follow a pretty consistent routine of teaching during the week and being involved in the things that the Smith’s get involved in.  Being in one spot does however, allow me to access fairly fast (for Africa) internet access – so please feel free to email me, I am checking emails much more consistently already. 

I’m still not sure when exactly I’ll return to Sydney, but hopefully after the cold wet winter that has been happening.  There will probably be a few more travels and blogs about that when I leave this area and make my way back to Cape Town (South Africa) from where I’ll then fly back to Sydney.

Here are some pictures of things in Lichinga….

One of the red dusty roads; the mosque behind my house; the cinema (used as a town hall)

     

local Anglican church; view across the valley; crashed airplane that is the ‘plaything’ in the local park; local markets.

      

Shenae and Liam in the school room; me with Shenae, Tahlia, & Liam on a walk; sunset from the Smith’s house

         

 

Mt Kilimanjaro – what a climb! (5/6/11 – 11/6/11)

 After finishing the overland adventure in Nairobi (and time in a nice café with good Kenyan coffee and free wifi), I caught a very full shuttle bus back into Tanzania to a town called Moshi. 

I was dropped off at my accommodation (Springlands) a few km’s out of town, and was amazed at how nice it was – especially after being in a tent for several months.  I had a room to myself – with an ensuite, and 4 beds – very deluxe!

This was where I met the other 3 travelling companions that I would be climbing Mt Kilimanjaro with – Dan (English), and Paula & Michael (Irish), and our two guides – Frankie and Julius.  We were given an outline of what the next 5 days would entail, and after a good sleep we were ready to embark on this walking adventure.

I’m not sure where I should start describing the walk… so I might start by saying – we all made it to both summits – the highest one being Uhuru Peak at 5895m above sea level.  I will then inform you all that this is without doubt the most physically and mentally challenging thing I can ever recall doing – in fact once I made it to the top all I wanted to turn around and descend, but thanks to a great guides who were very patient and supportive we all made it to the end – and I even remembered to take a few pictures.

  We all made it!!

 

The walk up the mountain starts with you ascending approximately 1000m for the first 3 days – bringing you to a height of 4703m above sea level at the final set of huts, just prior to the final ascent up to the summit.

The first day of walking was through beautiful lush rainforest terrain – where we saw blue monkeys, caribous monkeys, and chameleon. The second day was through more shrubby and grassland area – with lots of variety of wildflowers throughout, and the third day takes you into a stark arid desert like setting.  Each day of climbing also brought colder conditions – brrr.

The various terrains we walked through – rainforest, shrubby grasslands, and desert

        

The final ascent up to the summit of the mountain crater (as it is an inactive volcano), began at midnight.  The sky was clear and the stars were definitely shining above.  Below you could see the lights of the towns at the base of the mountain.  The straight line up to the crater summit is 5km – but you have to climb through all this loose gravelly surface – which you zig zag in and out of – we walked like this for about 4 or more hours – then we got to the rocks, which you then had to scramble over for another hour or so – time lost all perspective to me.  Along with these quite tricky walking conditions – where you literally could only walk half a step at a time, you were also dealing with the thinning air at the higher altitude – so lots of big slow breaths, to keep the lungs going.  I was fortunate enough to only feel the effects of altitude half way up this final ascent – so I was also feeling a bit light-headed, headachy, and had a very sore tummy.  Others in my group had been having many of these effects from the first day of the walk – and they kept going also.

As we walked along, I listened to U2 – to keep me going… But it felt like forever, and every time I looked up and saw the couple of groups in front of us, it seemed as though the summit would never come. I wanted to pull out so many times on the climb up – it was a huge mental challenge as well as the physical.  Approximately 40% of people who attempt the summit don’t make it – mostly because of altitude sickness. 

Just after 6am I stepped onto the rim of the crater – the first summit point called Gilman’s point – 5685m.  It was freezing and I lost all feeling in my fingers and toes (and I was wearing about 5 layers of clothing – including thermals), I was still puffing and feeling exhausted, and it took a lot for me to get out the camera and actually take a photo.  We were then being urged to keep going on – none of our group really knew what we were doing, so we followed our amazing guides a little blindly. 

It probably took us another hour (or more – time lost all perspective) to walk to the second summit – the highest point in Africa at Uhuru Peak.  I felt like I needed to stop and rest so often to try and catch my breath, but then it was freezing.  By the time we reached the second summit the sun was out, and it was a fraction warmer, and I remembered to get out the camera and take some photos of the crater and the amazing glaciers around the crater’s edge. 

From the summit: looking into the crater, me in front of a glacier, looking across the valley and glacier, the way up and down.

                    

The descent back down was also challenging, as you literally slid with your boots in the slippery gravel surface back to the huts. This still took a long time, although I found that the lower we descended the better I felt – ya!!  We were all back at the huts by 10.30am – and in hindsight could all acknowledge what an amazing experience it was to climb to the summit (with the help of our guides), although none of us thought we would ever do it again.

The descent back to ground level took much less time – and as we descended we found it easier and easier to breathe once again.  Definitely an amazing challenge to have done – I’m glad I’ve done it, even though I wanted to pull out so many times on the final ascent..  (It was really nice to get back to the motel and be warm and have a shower after 5 days on the mountain)

There were several important Swahli words that were expressed often on the mountain climb:   jumbo / mumbo – hello (used every time you saw someone on the trail); pole pole – slowly slowly (this is how the mountain gets climbed); asantai sana – thank you so much (used by us tourists to express appreciation to our guides, cooks, porters etc); kariboo – you’re welcome (used by the African’s to let us know it is all good); and  akuna matata – which of course means ‘no worries’. 

Other Pictures: some of the many porters who carry huge loads to make the Kilimanjaro walk possible; sleeping huts and Kilimanjaro in background; the Kilimanjaro Impatience – native to this area; a view of Mt Kilimanjaro and Mt Mwenzie from the front of the motel

     

        The next day I was back in a shuttle bus returning to Nairobi, Kenya, although this time the destination was the airport.  After a few hassles with my ticket to fly onto Mozambique, and a 2hr delay on the tarmac – we were on our way.  I arrived at about 12.30am at Maputo – the capital of Mozambique, I had a couple of hours of sleep in a backpackers, then first thing that morning was back at the airport ready to fly to a town called Lichinga – in northern Mozambique.  I arrived in Lichinga on Sunday 12/6/11, and here I will be based for the next bit of time…working with some Aussie families who are involved in some community projects in this area. 

Uganda to Kenya: Jinja (Uganda) and back to Nairobi (Kenya) [30/5/11 – 4/6/11]

First some photos for the last blog – through the Masai Mara and Lake Bunyoni, with the Gorillas.

 

  Looking down through the Rift Valley

In the Masai Mara Region:

  A Masai Lady and her ear-rings Elephants walking across the road

  The pride of lions by the side of the road

 Lake Bunyoni Area

  The lake from the top of one of the hills

   Inside one of the classrooms within the school / orphanage

The Gorillas

 Some of our group being investigated by a gorilla

  up the tree is one of the young ones  resting against the tree

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Now for this blog post…

After spending 4 nights at Lake Bunyoni we headed back across Uganda to Jinja via the equator crossing – back into the southern hemisphere.  Jinja is located on the White Nile – which joins with the Blue Nile and becomes the Great Nile which is the longest river in Africa.

The highlight at Jinja was going white-water rafting down the Nile.  It was heaps of fun.  Our raft fully tipped once, and on the last of the 8 rapids, there were three of us (me included) who fell out.  I floated down through the rapids to our finishing spot – after apparently having a very startled and surprised look on my face when I first fell in.  [It came out later that the girl who was sitting behind me, in her own self preservation actually pushed me out of the boat, and I probably then took the other 2 who had also fallen out] It was heaps of fun!!

  the other raft from our group coming down the rapid we had just completed

After Jinja we crossed back into Kenya, and here we went to Lake Nakuru National Park which is renowned for having rhino’s and flamingos, and we weren’t disappointed – we saw a few groups of white rhino’s, a black rhino (rare), lots of flamingos, as well as a lioness resting in a tree – a long way off, lots of antelopes, baboons, heaps of pelicans, and giraffe.  So it was another great game drive.

   

  Flamingos; White Rhinos, Giraffe, Lioness in tree (look hard on lower branch)

We then headed on to Lake Naivasha – which is an area which grows and imports heaps of flowers – particularly roses.  A group of us went on a 22km bicycle safari through the nearby ‘Hells Gate National Park’ – it was great riding through the park with giraffe, zebras, antelopes, buffalo, wart-hogs just grazing around us.  It was a very dramatic park, and at the end was a gorge which we also walked through.  Sections of this gorge have been used in films such as Tomb Raider 2; Lion King; and King Solomon’s Mines.  There were hot springs through this area – thus the name ‘Hells Gate’.

  cycling through the park – zebras in background through the canyon / gorge area

A group of us in the afternoon then went to Elsamere – which is where Joy Adamson, the author of ‘Born Free’ lived and did much of her conservation work for the animals of Kenya with her husband.  We were served a yummy afternoon tea, but whilst I was taking some photos, a cheeky caribous monkey came, snatched my food and ate it up… I hope he enjoyed it as much as I did.

  the cheeky caribous monkey that stole my food

We finished our trip back in Nairobi. 

This is the end of my overland camping trip which has spanned 56 days, across 9 countries in Africa.  I slept in a tent for 48 of those days, so it will be nice to now spend some time in a bed.

  my tent in our last campsite and the truck behind it

My next adventure goes for a week and it is climbing Mt Kilimanjaro – the highest mountain in Africa.

 

Hope you are all enjoying hearing about my adventures and possibly learning something more about Africa in the process.

 

 

Kenya to Uganda: Nairobi to Masai Mara (Kenya), then onto Lake Bunyoni (Uganda) and the gorillas [22/5/11 – 29/5/11]

 

 

 

 

 

I am now in the third stage of my overland trip, and the truck has a whole lot of new bodies on board.  There are only 2 of us from the last stage who have continued on – myself and the German guy.  We are now a group of 20 – 1 German, 1 Czech/Canadian; 1 Scottish; 1 English; 1 Belgium; 1 Dutch; 2 New Zealanders; and the remaining 12 are all Aussies – mostly from Victoria.  So far it is a great group – although the truck is quite full with few empty seats to spread ourselves around on.

We left Nairobi and headed to the Masai Mara – which is the Kenyan side of the Serengeti, but on route we went past several viewing points to see The Great Rift Valley – which stretches 960km from Israel through to Mozambique (obviously we only viewed a small section of it).

 At the Masai Mara we went on a safari into the national park area and again saw more lions (a pride of maybe 12 lying on top of each other), as well as buffalo, elephants, giraffes, hippos, wildebeests, zebras, cheeky monkeys (which stole some lunches) and a variety of antelopes and birds.  We went on a short walking safari within the park to see the place where literally millions of wildebeests and zebras make the crossing twice a year from the Serengeti to the Masai Mara and back again – the crocs lie waiting for the wildebeest and several get eaten and stampeded to death during the migration season – which starts sometime in June (so we will have just missed seeing the start of it). 

            

In this area there are also many Masai people – who are nomadic (moving every 2-10years), pastoralists – with their cattle and goats, and whom have a number of cultural traditions which they hold on to.  Some of our group went and visited a local village to hear about their culture as well as to see the men ‘jump/dance’ – a way of claiming a wife.  The Masai generally wear red blankets as a sign of being warriors.

  

We camped one final night in Kenya on Lake Victoria (the 2^nd largest inland lake in the world), and from here headed into Uganda.  We stayed in Kampala the capital and then headed towards the shared Rwanda / Congo border and jungle area there.  We camped by Lake Bunyoni – which was beautiful.

 

The first day at the Lake was spent visiting a local orphanage and school, and then a walk back through the surrounding village areas.  Uganda is a ‘green’ country with a huge variety of crops which could be seen on the mountain sides.  Everyone is really friendly.  On the last day there I went with one of the guys in the group for a bit of a canoe ride in the dug-out canoes – it was a lot of fun, although it took us some time to figure out how to go in a forward motion and not just in circles.

     

The main reason for coming to the Lake Bunyoni area is that it is the base from where you get to go and see the mountain gorillas in their natural habitat.  On Saturday morning I was with a group of 8 from our truck as we drove the extra 2hrs into Bwindi Impenetrable Forest.  From here we trekked (or slid) down into the mountainous jungle area – following our guide and his machete as he cleared a path for us to follow.  After about only 1/2hr (one group went for 4hrs) we were where the trekkers had found the gorillas.

The gorilla experience (whilst super expensive) was amazing!!  In the rules you are suppose to stay 7m from them, but it is a bit tricky doing this when you have 2 approaching you from opposite sides – from personal experience… I froze and was both nervous and scared – then one reached out and squeezed my arm – which afterwards was super exciting! (unfortunately it happened so quickly that no-one got a pic of it) One other girl in our group also had her leg squeezed by a gorilla. 

You have 1hr to ‘hang out’ and observe the gorillas – always being alert to them as they are wild creatures.  The group we observed had 9 members – 1 silverback (about 15years old); 2 black backs (about 10years old); 4 young juveniles; and 1 bub – 4 months old which clung to its mum.  We watched them wrestle each other, sleep, climb trees, eat fungi, and walk through the forest (with us following).  It was an amazing experience. 

                 

Tanzania: Pictures for the blog – Zanzibar Island and Ngorongoro Crater / The Serengeti, then through into Kenya (10/5/11 – 21/5/11)

Pictures: (hopefully they will all publish this time) Town along the road in Tanzania; View from the bus in Tanzania; Catching a tuk-tuk with our group; Spice stall in Stone Town; Stone Town Street; Sunset dhow cruise – north Zanzibar; snorkelling; watching the sunset; the beach in front of our accommodation in Zanzibar; most of our group (2 stayed in Dar Es Salaam)

 

 

 

Ngorongoro Crater Pics: black rhino; waterhole in the crater – hippo, zebras, antelopes, wildebeest; flamingos; hyena; looking back into the crater area;

 

 

Serengeti Pics: sunrise (spot the giraffe); lioness and lion; cheetah and cubs; leopard with kill in tree; elephant; zebras and wildebeest

 

 

 

Elephant and Giraffe Sanctuary Pics:

Tanzania: Zanzibar Island and Ngorongoro Crater / The Serengeti, then through into Kenya (10/5/11 – 21/5/11)

Thanks for the posts on my blog site and for your emails – I hope that I am remembering to respond to all of you.  The internet connectivity in Africa has been very hit and miss – so that is also why some of the blogs are a bit longer than anticipated and why it is often taking me a while to respond to your personal comments / emails – my apologies… I hope that you are all well and I hope that you are enjoying hearing about my trip this way…

I’m having trouble uploading the pictures for this section of my trip – so will have to figure out how to do that for when I next put in a post – sorry – the pictures are so much more interesting…

We left Malawi Lake early on the 10/5, and part way into the morning crossed the Malawi / Tanzania border.

Tanzania is a more mountainous area and also a more developed area with housing, market stalls and people (or least the roads we travelled along).  When we stop in a town area – lots of sales people come up to the windows in the bus offering to sell a variety of foods – like cashews, bananas for less than $1 a kg, pineapples, avocados, and other foods and drinks.

Our first campsite was in a renovated farm house area – and was really beautiful – although it was cold as were up quite high.  Here they made exceptional hot chocolates with Armarula (like Bailey’s) – yum!!

We had a few more long days of driving – finishing with a drive into the densely populated coastal city of Dar Es Salaam – we were stuck in heaps of traffic as we made our way to the campsite.

From Dar Es Salaam we caught a ferry across to the island of Zanzibar – where we spent 3 nights in beds – no camping – it was nice to be on a bed for a few nights instead of my thin camp mat.

Zanzibar is a beautiful island with a long history – being part of the spice trade as well as the Arab slave trade many years ago.

The main town called ‘Stone Town’ is a collection of old buildings with numerous alleyways weaving in and around the buildings and forming the main transport routes (particularly for bicycles, bikes, and walkers).  A group of us went on a city tour, then visited one of the nearby spice / fruit farms – which was all great.

The city also has heaps of markets to buy various souvenirs from – carvings, paintings, jewelery, clothing etc. – but all through the process of bargaining.

We then ventured north on the island (about 1hr from Stone Town) to the beautiful white beaches with sapphire water.  We were fortunate to have clear weather whilst we were there as it is the wet season still.

Our group went on a sunset dhow (fishing boat) cruise, and also on a full day snorkeling trip again on the dhow boats.  It was a beautiful place – but with limited time, I only rested in one of the many hammocks for a short period of time. Many people from our group wanted to stay longer.

After the 3 nights it was time to return via ferry to Dar Es Salaam…  4 of our group will finish their trip here.  We then had our longest truck drive – approximately 700kms – it took us 13hrs to do this – there were many speed humps all along the way. This next campsite was at Arusha which is our base for going into the Serengeti Region and the Ngorongoro Crater.

From our campsite in Arusha, I had a look at the Masai Cultural Centre – as there are many Masai people in this region – so it was interesting to learn a bit more about their culture.  There were 6 from our group who choose to pay the extra money (it is a bit expensive) to see the Ngorongoro Crater and The Serengeti.  It was a great 3 days looking at lots and lots of animals.  What struck me about the crater region was the sheer density of animals to be seen – lots of herds of zebras, wildebeest, various antelopes, and buffalo.  We also saw several pods of hippos, 3 rhinos – although only 1 close, heaps of flamingos, other birds, hyenas, jackals, and an elephant a long way off.

From the crater area we drove to a place called Oldupai Gorge – which is supposedly the location of where archaeologists have found the oldest human-like fossils – so that was interesting to read about and see the fossils etc.

We then entered the Serengeti National Park – and various Lion King quotes were made.  The plains are vast and full of long grass – so it seemed that it could be impossible to see much – but we did. More herds of zebras, wildebeest, various antelopes, a pod of hippos, some hyenas, some various birds etc.

But we also saw some of the wild cats – which was exciting!!  We saw 4 different lots of lions – 1. A group of lionesses sleeping under a tree; 2. A lion and lioness together; 3. A male lion eating something and 4. A young male sleeping.

We also had 3 separate sightings of cheetahs – the most exciting was a mum with her 2 cubs which we watched for ages as they played in the long grass.

Then we saw a leopard in the tree – and it’s kill (a small antelope) in another branch.  But whilst we were watching, the leopard got up from resting and began to eat its kill – so that was fascinating to watch.

Later on we also saw some giraffe and some elephants – so it was all pretty amazing.  We then had a 6hr drive back to the campsite. But we had a great time in the Lion King country.

This section of my trip ends in Nairobi on Saturday 21/5 – where I will say goodbye to another great group of people, and will join with new people (except 1 other who is continuing on with me) to see a bit more of Kenya and Uganda. My trip is going too quickly!

On the morning that I had in Nairobi, I went and visited two orphaned animal centres – one for elephants – there were 11 young elephants there all having fun together in the mud, and drinking milk etc – very cute; and then one for the giraffe’s – which was also great – I fed them and even got kissed by them.