Hiking the Blue Nile Falls in Bahir Dar After the cold, high altitude hills of Lalibela, I was glad to find myself in the palm-fringed tourist destination of Bahir Dar, beautifully located alongside the shores of Lake Tana, the largest lake in Ethiopia. As I mentioned in my prior post, Mike and I had considered beginning our Northern circuit in this city, but we opted to fly to Gonder instead because of the long distance we would have had to cover by road between the two plac

At St George's Church - the most famous Lalibela site Our rest day in Mekele was pretty epic for me. I luxuriated in our semi-suite, taking the longest of hot showers, sleeping in, writing from our couch, getting a massage and a haircut! It was a glorious day of what I like to refer to as re-humanization, and I didn't even feel bad about not having left the hotel once during the day. Mike went out for a wander around the city and did manage to convince me to head out that

Camel train in the Danakil Our four day/three-night trip to one of the most inhospitable areas of the globe was very weird. And not necessarily for the reasons that I was expecting. I was expecting it to be really hot and dusty. I was expecting to see weird rock formations, bubbling pools of sulphuric acid and geysers. I was expecting to sleep out rough under the stars and smell really bad by the end of the trip. I was expecting long hours of driving in the car observing

Views over Tigray We had only driven out of Axum for about 90 minutes – I was laying spread out across one of the bench seats, taking advantage of our massive luxurious van for just the two of us – when Mike told me to get up and look out of the window. This is what I saw. Scenery right out of Axum The geography in this area of Ethiopia is astounding. A huge pink and orange rock escarpment with towering sandstone cliffs and mountains that are reminiscent of Utah, Arizona's Mo

The most "Totes Adorbs" sheep you've ever seen napping anywhere The night in Debark turned out rather badly. Though I was pretty much recovered from the shit-barfs, my cough was back with a vengeance and I awoke around midnight to feeling utterly parched, with a hacking cough. I looked over and saw that my water bottle was empty – so I got up to refill it and was going to steripen it and drink a whole liter ( I was very dehydrated from the prior day's exertions) – when I disc

The beautiful Simien Mountains Our flight and arrival in Addis went without a hitch and the visa process was pretty straightforward also. We chose to stay the night at Lobelia Hotel as it was close to the airport and we'd have to leave at an ungodly hour to catch our domestic flight in the morning to Gonder – where we would begin our Historical Northern Tour of Ethiopia. After checking in and getting some soup for our tummies, I was ready for an early night when I noticed tha

Men chanting and singing during a church ceremony in Lalibela I've now spent about three weeks in Ethiopia and one thing is for sure. This is unlike any country I have been to in Africa. It is a confounding place – it is both claimed to be more purely African than any other nation – since it is the only country on the dark continent that managed to escape the atrocities and impacts of European colonization. On the other hand, it doesn't feel like Africa at all – at least, to

At the Genocide Memorial Our tour only included two and a half days in Rwanda, but it was enough time to convince me that it is my favorite country that I've visited in this continent. Rwanda was surprising and refreshing in many different ways. From how it's people have miraculously healed from the horrific genocide they experienced in 1994 to become the happiest and friendliest of people I'd encountered on the trip, to the stunning mountainous scenery, to the biodiversity

The indomitable Silverback After my emotional day in Kampala we had a long drive to the town of Kabale located near the Rwandan border and the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park where we were going to trek deep into the jungle in search of the mountain gorillas. I have been slightly obsessed with gorillas ever since childhood when I first saw "Gorillas in the Mist" with one of my hero actresses Sigourney Weaver, as the passionate conservationist Dian Fossey. She spent the majo

After a couple of long days driving on the truck, I was beginning to feel better and had purchased an inhaler to help with my hacking cough that was now a month old. We made a nice stop in Nakuru at a lovely campsite that had a nice pool to lounge next to as well as an annoying and aggressive flock of geese. I had no plans specifically when we arrived in Kampala, but I decided to do the "Slum Tour" as I was interested in seeing how many poor Ugandans living in the capital dwe

Me on Lake Naivasha I was sad to leave South Africa. This country had really gotten under my skin and I wished I had a little more time there. The two days of high level activity had left me very drained and also very sick, so I literally took the Baz Bus to Johannesburg and had them drop me off directly at an airport hostel. I ate dinner at a posher hotel across the street (I ordered Malva pudding and hot custard for dinner...come on, I was sick, yar?) and then promptly wen

Apartheid-era bench Whenever you travel somewhere, you tend to pick up on the social norms/mores of the people and the extent to which you do, of course, has to do with the amount of time you've spent there and the quantity and quality of the time you've spent with the local people. South Africa is a confounding country, and I wanted to write this post merely as a way for me to catalogue the impressions that bore upon me of this land and its very complex treatment of race. Th

At the Amphitheater Escarpment I was well and truly ready for a day of rest on the bus as my body was spent from two days of hill climbing and I was well and truly hacking up a storm. We headed back up in the shuttle to Mthata where we managed to scramble a quick lunch before piling on the Baz Bus for my penultimate stop in South Africa - The Amphitheater Lodge in the Northern Drakensburg mountains. Drakensburg literally means "Mountains of Dragons" and they are one of the ol

The Wild Coast It took most of the next day to get to my destination of Bulungula on the Wild Coast. Happily I wasn't alone either - Jake was planning on spending a few night's at the same community-ran, 100% solar powered traditional hostel as well. Our Baz Bus driver that day proved to be an absolutel legend. As we entered the province of the "Transkei" (a formerly independent part of South Africa that white people mostly fled after apartheid ended, populated predominantly

Heading out on the Salt River Hike My next stop along the Garden Route was to be at a place called The Crags - close to Knysna, Storms River, and other small towns along The Garden Route and close to Tsitsikamma National Park. The hostel had been recommended to me because of its beautiful location - though I was warned that it was slightly "hippy" in atmosphere. Sure enough, there were drumming circles, copious instructions on composting/recycling, dreadlocked folk strumming

Heading out on our bike tour of Stellenbosch My lovely tent mate, Maud, and I headed out from Cape Town and met up in Stellenbosch for some girl time with wine. I had purchased a Baz Bus ticket that allowed me 14 days of unlimited hop on and off transport between Cape Town and Johannesburg. I had a rough itinerary already planned out ( I know, you're shocked by that!) but was open and willing to make changes along the way should the mood strike or I received a significant per

Gorgeous Cape Town's Skyline I visited Cape Town in the December of 2001 with Semester at Sea. It had made quite the impression on me then and I had counted it in the top three cities in the world, for me. I was so looking forward to returning and doing the activities that I hadn't had the time to on my visit fourteen years prior! Entering the city on our rented bus, I was sorry to hear Pete (who'd come instead of Tabby because she can't get a SA visa with a Kenyan passport

Spitzkoppe It was hard to believe but the 56 day coast to coast overland adventure I'd embarked on in Nairobi was coming to a close. We had three more days on the road after Swakopmund before we'd arrive in Cape Town and I'd start my independent travel in South Africa. I can't say I was sad that the trip was coming to an end. While there were numerous advantages to being on a truck with a planned route, and tour operators arranged for you in each destination; it was very c

Swakopmund just looks funny. It isn't congruent with any sort of mental image one has of a city in Africa. Granted, that initial image is often quite misdirected to start with, given the shamefully limited amount of exposure we Americans get to African news/culture/history. It's German influence was clearly visible; from its architecture and the manicured design of its streets to its cold meats at breakfast. The language of the predominantly white city population, howeve

View over the northern Namibian desert We were on the road staying in a different bush camp each night for several days following Etosha and preceding our stop in Swakopmund - a luxurious four days that we'd get to enjoy the luxury of a dorm bed. What was fast becoming apparent in Namibia was the difficulty of maintaining bodily comfort due to the excessive swings in ambient temperature each day. Mornings waking up huddled in my 15 degree F sleeping bag were cold, breath cr