Lions at Etosha Our first big stop in Namibia was the large game reserve of Etosha National Park. After a long drive in the morning, in blistering heat, our driver Pete told us that he was going to arrange for us to get private vehicle game drives as he was suffering with food poisoning. After setting up our tents, we piled into two 4 x 4 vehicles for our 3 hour game drive. We were informed that many of the animals had already moved to the western part of the park in searc

Sunset on the Delta Arriving in Maun, we didn't have much time to chill before we had to pack up for our 3 day/2night mini "break within a break" trip to the Okavango Delta. The Delta is an huge expanse of land in Northern Botswana that is covered with fresh water that flows south from Angola, with huge areas of rivers and islands teeming with wildlife scattered throughout the region. I was looking forward to having a smaller group dynamic as it turned out that only about 1/

Elephants in Chobe Vic Falls being our last stop in Zimbabwe, we headed off in the direction of our next stop, Chobe National Park in Botswana, close to the Angolan border. As usual, it was with mixed feelings that we acquiesced to returning to the truck, especially now that space for stretching out was in shorter supply, so when we pulled over for a late morning stop at Wimpy (which I haven’t eaten at since I was a small child and it was a hamburger chain in the UK) we were

Victoria Falls from the Zambian side Standing right at the edge of the falls The town of Victoria Falls itself is quite small and as you’d expect, extremely touristy with prices to match. At $15 for a salad for lunch, it felt more like I was back in Bellevue than still in Zimbabwe. But this is home to one of the natural wonders of the world – Victoria Falls – and I was still looking forward to being able to witness and experience this natural phenomenon. Lots of the group wer

Checking out Dung Beetles on our Rhino Safari Matopo National Park is home to 56 black and 43 white rhino, both species highly endangered due to the value of their horns reaching a value of $100,000 per kilo. The difference in the species is primarily that the black rhino has a double horn, making it even more vulnerable to ugly poaching. We spent an entire day in the Matopo bush with our Zimbabwe tour guide, Norman, who himself had a very interesting story to share with us

Me at the Great Zimbabwe Ruins This post is from events that occurred on 4-7 April, 2015. We had another long day in the truck driving today towards the namesake for this country – The Great Zimbabwe Ruins, a UNESCO World Heritage site – one of the four stone monuments in the world with Machu Picchu, The Great Pyramids of Egypt, and The Great Wall of China. This represents the only medieval ruins in sub Saharan Africa and the ruins themselves combine with the rocky natural l

Take Me to Church – Chimanimani National Park Chimanimani Park Our overland journey next took us to the easternmost part of Zimbabwe, in the mountainous region of Chimanimani National Park, bordering Mozambique. I was looking forward to the cooler climate and to being able to get in some exercise and time in my personal church – the mountains. We stayed in a lovely guest house called Heavenly Lodge, though it didn’t appear that it got many more guests than our overland truck

My Unexpected Day in Harare: Chillin’ with Two Computer Nerds I was pleasantly surprised to learn the evening we arrived in Harare, that there was someone who was being employed to fix the hostel’s internet problem, who also might be able to take a diagnostic look at my laptop and fix it for me. I met Mervyn King that evening, and was immediately impressed by his flawless English and incredibly smart personal presentation. It was so wonderful to meet someone whom I immediatel

A Mosey through Mozambique Our day and a half spent in Lilongwe was rather uneventful. Our campsite was situated quite far from the city center and there was not much to see there in any case. It is also considered a rather dangerous city, therefore, I was only able to wander in so far as I could find another member or preferably members to go anywhere with. I had a number of errands to take care of – namely getting a police report for my stolen iPhone, re-printing my US Tax

View from my room on Lake Malawi in Kande We have spent the last 3 nights in a resort campground called Kande, and I decided to treat myself by upgrading to a room. I chose a non-ensuite room that was directly on the beach, with a balcony overlooking the azure water and just steps from the long white sandy beach. At $29 it was a steal of a price for beachfront accommodation. Lake Malawi is the most bio diverse lakes in the world and contain hundreds of species of cyclid fish.

Overlooking Lake Malawi hiking towards Livingstonia After three very early mornings, it was not my natural inclination to embark on a hike the first morning in Malawi at 6am. But after the initial blurry eyed pain of awaking to the dawn, and walking out of the campsite, I was immediately washed over with gratitude for my decision to go. We would be leaving the lakeshore and heading up into the hills to the settlement of Livingstonia – named after David Livingstone by a subseq

Driving towards Malawi I last left you on my return journey from Zanzibar. Getting back to the campsite in Dar was a little arduous, leaving at 5am taking a bus, then immigration control, then a ferry, then immigration control (bear in mind Zanzibar is the same country, Tanzania, as Dar), a 15 minute walk in steaming heat carrying our bags, another short ferry with so many people one felt like chickens packed into a crate, and finally a tuktuk ride in torrential rain. Having

Our group spent a total of 5 nights on this "beautiful" tropical island, an hour and a half ferry's ride from Tanzania's capital Dar Es Salaam. We stayed in Stone Town, full of remnant Omanian architecture and mosques, for two days, and then headed north to the beaches for the final three. Unfortunately, my stay was quite tainted by the drama that unfolded on our second evening in Stone Town when I discovered that my room had been robbed, my iPhone 6 and it's plug and adapter

The market in Marangu After getting back to our campsite at Snake Park in Arusha, we were all pretty wiped from our three days in the Serengeti and pretty much passed out in our tents early in the evening. We were facing a few travel days coming up before arriving in Dar Es Salaam for one night prior to our mini-trip of five nights on the island of Zanzibar. Travel days are quite arduous. Sitting on the truck for hours at a time, sometimes with very limited or no toilet sto

Simba Arriving in Africa was a whirlwind of activity and not a great deal of sleep. With an 11 hour time difference as well, it was difficult to get any quality sleep, despite being exhausted. Day 1 involved a long drive in our truck to Snake Park (the name of the campsite outside Arusha) and the very next morning, we were picked up in two safari jeeps for our 3 day/2 night excursion to the Ngorongoro Crater and Serengeti National Park. That trip was an incredible experience,

And so it begins...Day 1 of the 56 day Nairobi - Cape Town Adventure I know. My last post was not quite what you were expecting for my first entry on this trip. It was sort of whiny and oddly reminiscent of the first few chapters' of Eat Pray Love. I do apologize for the wilful complaining about my lot in life. I shall endeavor to keep the mood a little lighter in this entry. Promise. I landed in Nairobi at around 8:30pm on a Friday night. Nairobi is not a safe place. I'll be