Home again Home again . . .

On Saturday we made the 2 hour drive through the hills of Rawanda from Ruhnegeri to the capital city of Rawanda. We left our stuff in a friend’s hotel room and then set out to explore the city on foot. After getting lost on our way to the craft market, we aborted that mission and proceeded onto the Kigali Genocide Memorial. The center is the grave site of more than 300,000 Rwandans who were brutally murdered during the 1994 genocide. The memorial also serves as an educational center with several exhibits that were very moving. Katie bumped into a friend from Bates doing research at the memorial. You can find Batesies everywhere!

After arguing with some taxi drives about fare prices in my broken French (French is the national language in Rwanda), we elected to walk back to the hotel. Unfortunately it was ~10kms away so we quickly had to re-evaluate our options. We found some motor bike taxis and climbed on. We roared through the city streets at 60km/hr clutching our drivers trying not to fall off and eventually arrived back at the hotel.



We said goodbye to our dear friends whom we had been traveling with for 2 months as we made our way to the airport. We thought our adventures were over but they had just begun.

Our plane left Kigali ~3 hours late and we had a short layover in Entebbe at 2am local time. After a long 8 hour trip north, we arrived in Brussels with less than 30 minutes to make our connection. We sprinted through the airport, back through security, had the beverages we purchased at Duty free confiscated and arrived at our gate 10 minutes late but luckily this plane was delayed too. We wiped the sweat from our brows in the restroom, and boarded the plane for another 8+ hr trip over the Atlantic. We arrived in Newark after 20+ hours of traveling only to find that one of our bags didn’t make the connection in Brussels. C’est la vie.

I was super excited to see my parents who had surprised me by driving down from Boston to meet us at the airport along with Katie’s parents. We climbed into the car for our trip back to Gladstone sleep deprived and euphoric as the magnitude of our 2 month adventure in Africa started to settle in.

Day 56 – GORILLAS!!!!

After breakfast on Friday, we climbed into our Land Cruisers for a short drive up to the visitor’s center at the Parc National des Volcans. The park is home to the world’s largest number of endangered mountain gorillas. As the name implies, the park encompasses 5 massive volcanoes (Karisimbi, Bisoke, Muhabura, Gahinga and Sabyinyo) and is covered in dense rainforest. We met our two Gorilla Guides (a coveted job for Rwandans) and got a briefing about our trek for the day. We would be headed out to find the Umubano family of gorillas which was lead by a mighty Silverback named Charles.



A separate team of gorilla trackers had been on the volcano since sunrise trying to locate our family of gorillas so they could radio us the GPS coordinates for our hike up. After bumping along a road which resembled a rocky dry river bed, we arrived at the base of our volcano. We were a little surprised to see two men in uniform sporting very large automatic weapons. Our guide informed us that the Rwandan Army had stationed these two armed guards here for our protection from animals and from “bad people” who might wander over from the Congo.



After a short hike through the dense forest (our guides used machetes to clear the way), we met up with our trackers at an altitude of ~7900 feet. We sat and watched the gorillas snack on branches, climb trees, beat their chests and wrestle with each other. Our time with them was capped at 1 hour by park regulations to make sure we don’t disrupt their daily routines too much. Standing so close to a 200 kg blackback gorilla (a younger version of a silverback) was quite exhilarating and a little scary. Gorillas are said to be 5 times stronger than humans and a friend from another group confirmed this (A gorilla slapped him in the leg because he was standing in the trail that the gorilla wanted to walk down.)



We returned to camp just after lunch and spent the afternoon organizing our gear and repacking in preparation for our long trip back to the good ol’ USA.

7,700 Pictures and Counting . . .

We awoke a little bit sad on Thursday realizing we have just three days left in our African adventure. Our trip has been fantastic and we’ll miss Africa a lot.

We broke camp before the sun crept over the horizon and drove south towards Rwanda. The mountains got taller and more lush as we careened along a red dirt road through a misty cloud forest past herds of goats and long horned cows.



In the afternoon, we snaked up and down some extremely narrow mountain passes that reminded Katie of Ecuador. Just outside Kisoro, we passed a refugee camp occupied by people who had fled the Congo. Our guide reminded us that we were only ~15kms from the border of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and that there was still significant fighting in the country despite recent reductions in violence.

We arrived in Rungheri in the late afternoon and set up our tent for the last time. Everyone headed to bed early that night to prepare for our next day's activity...gorilla trekking!

Queen Elizabeth National Park

On Tuesday, we broke camp early for our long drive west. In the afternoon, we crossed the equator again and returned to the southern hemisphere.



We stopped briefly to debunk the myth about water draining clockwise south of the equator and to take some pictures before pressing on into the mountains of western Uganda and finally arriving in Queen Elizabeth National Park. We settled in for what turned out to be a sleepless night.

I awoke at1:30am to some unusually heavy breathing only to find it wasn’t Katie but rather an elephant literally standing at the door of our tent. The bush next to the tent was apparently good eating and the ellie proceeded to munch and drop debris on our tent for an hour before the herd moved through the campsite. Next came the hippos grunting and snorting followed by the cackling hyenas around 4am.

The animals must have been more tired than we were because we saw relatively nothing during our morning game drive. Our mid-day siesta was followed by an afternoon boat ride up the Kazinga Channel which was teaming with birds, buffaloes, elephants, crocs and hippos (Our boat actually bumped into a submerged hippo at one point!)



We returned safely to shore and enjoyed some local brews as we watched our last Ugandan sunset.

98% the same . . . ?!?

We arrived in Entebbe, Uganda as a monsoon rain abated and climbed into our boat for the bumpy 1.5 hour ride into Lake Victoria. (Thank goodness for Dramamine!!!)



Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary was established 10 years ago to house all the orphan chimps confiscated from traders or rescued from poachers’ traps in Uganda. Did you know that chimpanzees are actually part of the ape family and 98% of their DNA is identical to that of humans?




We hung around for the afternoon feeding and hurled carrots and avocadoes over the electric fence (they are apparently escape artists) to the greedy chimps before returning to the mainland and on to our campsite.

Jinja is Ninja with a “J”

We said goodbye to Kenya last week and headed into Uganda. Though there were many things we loved about Kenya, leaving behind their insane drivers was actually a relief. Thus far, Ugandans have proven to be safer drivers…either that, or fewer of them have cars.

Our first stop in Uganda was Jinja, an up-and-coming town on the banks of the Nile River. The campsite was literally on the edge of a cliff overlooking the river and the bar hung over the edge of the precipice. Unsurprisingly, the bar was popular, and it was crowded until around 2 AM the first night. We weren’t impressed with the 44 meter bungee option after having done 111 meters at Vic Falls, but the campsite also acts as a base and launch point for Adrift’s Whitewater Rafting operation. SOOOO, Pete and I signed up for a full day of heart stopping, Class 4 and 5 whitewater mayhem!

Rafting the Nile was definitely the best whitewater Pete and I have ever paddled – by far. Our Ugandan raft guide, Jeffery, had been guiding on the Nile for 10 years and looked like he belonged in the world’s strongest man competition or a black body-double for the incredible hulk. He clearly knew the river and we got the most thorough safety briefing and training either of us has ever received.

One of the first rapids had a 3 meter drop that we managed to go through backwards without bouncing anyone out. Then onto the big Class 5s - Nothing gets your adrenaline pumping like padding full force into a 15 foot standing wave that swamps your raft. We later portaged around a Class 6 (someone died there last year so the company isn’t keen on taking clients through; but our skillful kayak rescue boats blasted through the big water.) By the afternoon Jeffrey was feeling pretty comfortable with our boat and elected to flip us in one of the gentler Class 4 rapids. All and all, our day was nothing short of Epic.

We enjoyed free beers during our drive back to camp and marveled at the video footage on the highlight reel that night. The next morning we packed up and drove west towards Kampala and Entebbe.

Lake Nakuru and The East Africa Mission Orphanage

On Wednesday afternoon, we arrived at The East Africa Mission Orphanage in Nakuru which would serve as our campsite for the next two nights. We ate dinner with the orphans in the thatch roof dinning hall and they talked our ears off about everything from Obama to their favorite soccer team. Katie and I did our best to remember nursery rhymes as we tucked them into bed.

The next day we made the 20 minute drive to Lake Nakuru National Park on the outskirts of metropolitan Nakuru. The park is best known for its millions of flamingos that turn the landscape pink.

We also saw white and black rhinos which were a real treat. In the afternoon, haggled with the locals in the craft market and continued to work on our good cop/bad cop routine. We returned to the orphanage to play with the kids in the evening. We got mobbed showed Serengeti videos on our computer of lions and cheetahs. I’ve never had so many kids in my lap and hanging on my shoulders. An improvised fireworks display using burning steel wool in a swinging wire cage finished the evening.

On Friday, we joined the kids during their morning activities and sat in on class before saying goodbye and heading out of Nakuru toward the Kenyan highlands and tea plantations.

Masai Mara Game Reserve

On Sunday morning, we departed from the Panafric Hotel in Nairobi and traveled down the Great Rift Valley to the Masai Mara Game Reserve. Masai Mara lies in Kenya on the northern border of the Serengeti. Its 702 square miles support more than 2 million wildebeest, 250,000 Thompson’s gazelles, 200,000 zebras, 70,000 impala and a gaggle of cheetahs, lions and leopards as well as 450 bird species and, 57 species of raptors. This reserve is unique in that it is not a national park and thus not managed by a wildlife agency but rather the Masai people who also inhabit the land.

After the long day of travel, we were excited to find our accommodations were permanent tented camps. Before dinner, we challenged the local Masai warriors to a game of soccer. A combination of the altitude, lack of fitness and absence of skill really stacked the cards against our team, not to mention they run like real Kenyans
. . .

The next day we set out just after day break for an all-day game drive. We saw the usual giraffe, zebras, impala and gazelles as well as the three major cats – cheetah, leopard and lion. The two cheetahs were munching on the remains of an impala with a jackal waiting patiently for the scraps (see pictures). Several hawks and vultures also circled overhead awaiting their turn at the carcass. We saw the lions in several different groups but were most excited about watching two females and a host of juveniles walking down the road in front of our truck. In the afternoon we got a tip about a leopard in a tree with its recent kill. We arrived to find the leopard slung over the bottom branch along with its kill that it had hauled into the tree for safe keeping. Unfortunately though, the leopard did a lousy job of securing the kill and we saw the carcass fall out of the tree. The leopard quickly retrieved it and dragged the body to a new perch.

On Tuesday we trekked a few hours north to our campsite near Lake Naivasha. Here we “chill-axed” in the afternoon and enjoyed a leisurely morning. We wandered the local town in search of internet but the connection was down the first time and the electricity was out the next time we stopped in, so back to our overland truck for the trip up to Nakuru and the East Africa Mission Orphanage.

Katie kissed a giraffe and she liked it . . .

On Saturday, I spent the morning in the hotel recovering from the chipata and beans I had eaten the previous day. It will be some time before I venture into a local “restaurant” again. Katie however was completely unaffected and therefore setout to visit the elephant orphanage and giraffe park, so she's taking it from here.

Ok, so while Pete was curled in the fetal position (okay, he wasn't really, he actually did our laundry) I went and played with baby elephants and giraffes! We started the day at the elephant orphanage where we watched baby elephants from 1 month old up to 3 years old get fed from bottles...and get stuck in puddles of mud. Young elephants are not very coordinated, which partially explains how these young 'uns end up at the orphanage -- they get stuck in holes and have to be left by the herd. Luckily, they are taken to the orphanage and raised there until they are old enough to head back out into the wild.



After the elephants were fed the orphange brought out a big surprise, a baby rhinoceros. At about 6 months old, that rhino was the biggest super star of any rhino in the world...or at least he thought he was. He ran around the edge of the crowd and at one point he rammed right into Jen, a fellow overlander standing next to me. Luckily he was small.

Our trip leader from our last leg of the trip took us to lunch with his aunt and uncle -- we all shared a goat...AWESOME.

Then we headed over to the Giraffe center where Rothschild Giraffes are sheltered. You can feed them food pellets similar to horse food. As you can see (hopefully, if the uploading works), they eat from your hands OR they'll take a pellet from your mouth. In hindsight, that sounds kind of gross, but since twiga (giraffes) are my favorite, it was just plain awesome.

Ngorongoro Crater and Serengeti

*****
NOTE: There are great pics and videos to go with this post, but unfortunatly we couldn't embedd them, here are the links --
PICS: http://picasaweb.google.com/knolan06/Africa2009#
VIDS: http://www.youtube.com/user/katienolan2006

UPDATE: We've been able to add them in!! :)
*****

Ok, we’ll start this post with a visualization exercise: picture the most idyllic version of an African game park. Your image may include roaming herds of zebra and wildebeest and perhaps lions stalking their prey nearby. You may conjure up an image of hippos lolling in a pond while on the shore elephants munch on grass. Some of you (who have watched too much Discovery Channel) may picture a group of cheetahs moving in seamless coordination on a hunt. The Crater and Serengeti are all of these images combined. The last few days have been awe inspiring in terms of wildlife viewing as well as natural beauty.

We left our overland truck in the small town of Mto Wa Mbu and took our 9-seater custom built Toyota Land Cruisers on the rugged trip up and over the Ngoronoro Crater rim. The crater is actually a volcano that is believed to have collapsed about 2 million years ago. The rim, at 7217 feet, is a lush “mist forest” which gives way to steep cliffs careening down to the crater floor 1600 feet below. The 11 mile wide basin has alkaline lakes and flat, open plains that are packed with wildlife. We saw thousands of zebras, wildebeests and flamingos as well as hyenas, elephant, cape buffalo and other animals. There were several lions wandering the plains and it was impressive to watch the other animals scatter when the lions came their way (see video).

We took a break from our game drive to enjoy lunch next to a picturesque lake full of hippos before continuing our search for wildlife. There’s really no better way to watch lions than hanging out of the roof of a truck bumping along an African road!



Late in the afternoon, we made the treacherous drive out of the crater, past the Masai tribes with their cattle and on to Serengeti National Park. We traveled up B144 and grabbed a quick picture from the top of Naabi Hill before pressing on. We pulled into our bush camp (i.e. no fences from the animals and pit toilets) in the Seronera area just after dark.

The next day we woke up early to do a game drive at dawn and see the animals when they are most active. We saw vultures, dozens of bird species, giraffes and more zebras, impalas, and gazelles than you could count. We encountered a grumpy elephant and watched young hippos spar in a shallow pool. We got really lucky in the late morning, when we spotted the rare and illusive leopard in the tall, golden grass.



For a while it seemed like the cat would keep hiding from us, but thanks to our patience (and Pete’s rally cap) the leopard eventually went on the move. Amazingly, it turns out that Pete is a cat whisperer -- and with a little of his encouragement (see video with audio), the leopard emerged from the grass and posed for us on a rock before slinking off for a nap (they’re nocturnal).

After going back to camp for lunch and resting during the heat of the day, we headed out for an afternoon game drive. Our incredible luck continued when we found a pack of six cheetahs, a mother and five 6-month old cubs. We sat and watched the mother stalk a herd of wildebeest, and then return to collect her brood for a family hunt. The pack of cats fell into formation, and the mother zeroed in on a young zebra that wasn’t paying attention. The cheetahs were lethally efficient; seeing them run together was a real treat. We stuck around while the family munched on the carcass. The herd of zebras watched from a distance whinnying before eventually moving off. We drove for another hour or two before stopping to quietly watch the sun set over the horizon while a herd of giraffes nibbled on the surrounding trees.

The next morning was our final game drive in the Serengeti. It was hard to top the events of the previous day. We did however find a mother lion and two cubs perched high on a rock but they were shy and not interested in us. At lunch time, we took down our tents, packed the trucks and retraced our steps out of the Serengeti and through the Crater Conservation Area. We were delayed however when our truck developed a troubling rattling noise on a dusty, desolate section of dirt road just past the crater. Peter crawled under the truck with our guide, Mwangi, for a lesson in “bush mechanics”. Apparently 3 of the 4 nuts and bolts that hold two sections of the drive shaft together had rattled loose and disappeared. They used “non-essential” nuts & bolts from elsewhere on the truck, and we were soon on our way back to the Snake Park just outside Arusha.



On Friday we made the ~7 hour journey north from Arusha towards Nairobi. The clear skies afforded us an excellent view of Mt. Kilimanjaro as we neared Tanzania’s northern border. We completed the formalities at the border crossing and were pleasantly surprised to find the Kenyan visa price has been halved since we started our trip. The roads in Kenya were “under construction” which explained why our eyeballs were rattling in their sockets on the extraordinarily bumpy roads. Also the traffic pattern apparently allows passing on both sides simultaneously, even though there is only one travel lane. We were relieved to arrive in Nairobi in one piece and entertained by Azam’s (our driver) liberal use of the air horn to navigate rush hour traffic. We settled into our room at the Sarova Panafric Hotel and showered for the first time in four days.

We elected to have dinner at Carnivore, which is considered one of the top 50 restaurants in the world. As the name implies, there is only one thing on the menu: meat – all you can eat – Brazilian BBQ style. Ostrich meatballs and crocodile ribs were among the highlights. As we finished dinner, the local cuisine Peter had for lunch caught up to him in a big way. We scampered back to the hotel for the beloved bottle of Imodium and settled into the most comfortable beds we’ve had in 45 days.

Katie Visits the Hospital

Mom, breathe, if anything happened to me you wouldn’t be reading about it here :).

Last night one of our fellow travelers and friends fainted after feeling ill for three days. I went with her first to a clinic, then to the Arusha Hospital. The hospital (built by Americans) was actually nicer than some I’ve been to in the USA. Though watching the technician deal with the overly intricate data entry fields on a GE ECG originally designed for data hungry US hospitals did make me smile. Our friend is slowly getting better, and will hopefully join us tomorrow on our way to the Ngorongoro Crater.

The last three days have been “transit” days for us; getting from Dar Es Salaam to the Serengeti is quite a trek. On our way we got a glimpse of Kilimanjaro through the clouds in Moshi, and an even better view of Mt. Meru, Africa’s second tallest peak. Yesterday our campsite was about 25kms west of Arusha and was adjacent to a snake park. We got to scope out all of the species of reptiles that we hope NOT to see. They had everything from Puff Aders to Egyptian King Cobras to Black Mambas to African Constrictors. They also had crocodiles – the Aussie’s still weren’t impressed.

Peter was particularly fascinated by the pictures of an African python found in Sudan that had eaten a UN peacekeeper. He had fallen asleep during night watch when the snake slithered into camp. The snake would have escaped, except on its way out the bulge in its stomach bumped the electric fence. Then when the snake turned to strike, it got its fangs caught on the wires and died. The pictures really were worth 1000 words!

Tomorrow we pack up a small bag, leave our big overland truck behind, and pile into Land Cruisers on our way into the Crater and Serengeti for two nights. After that, back to Arusha and on to Nairobi, where we’re most likely to get our next chance to update everyone. Both of us are excited to head back into the wilderness for a while!

P.S. Check out the African Proverb we added to the right hand column.

P.P.S. We love your comments! Keep 'em coming :).

Sheer Bliss

On Friday we made the trek from Nungwi back through Stone town, over the water and back to Dar Es Salaam. But first an update from the last few days.

We left the Karibu Inn in Stone Town and traveled at Mach 2 by minivan taxi to the small beachside village of Nungwi on the northern most point of Zanzibar. We settled into our bungalows and enjoyed some pizza at an open air restaurant overlooking the Indian Ocean. The afternoon consisted of the laborious task of lying on the beach, chasing sand crabs and swimming in the incredibly clear water.

Unfortunately, the evening was not as relaxing. Katie awoke at 4:30am the next morning convinced she was being bitten by bugs. Unable to find the culprits, we went back to sleep. The next morning, the bites on her arms and legs combined with bed bug sightings by our fellow travelers meant that we were all moving to new bungalows. We settled into the aptly named Paradise Beach Bungalows, applied the SPF 85 and hit the beach. I dug a hole and made myself comfortable.

In the afternoon we walked a few kilometers down the beach past the dhow builders and local fisherman to the turtle sanctuary. We got to feed the turtles and hold some baby turtles that had hatched the previous day. Very cool.



The sky was largely cloudless and we were treated to an awesome sunset that turned the sky red. We watched the sun fall into the ocean and snapped a few pics. Make sure to check out the photo gallery to see me holding the sun.

The next day was a 7:30 am wake-up to meet our dive boat. Despite the light drizzle, we traveled the one hour down to Mnemba Island. We moored just outside the marine sanctuary on the south side of the island. The drizzle turned into a complete downpour while we pulled on our wetsuits, and strapped our tanks to our BCDs. Katie snorkeled on the surface while the divers rolled off the edge of the boat and went down to 20 meters. Despite the rain, the visibility was still quite good. We completed two dives, the first at Kichuani and the second at Wattabomi. My ears were really sore from equalizing and the rough seas on the way home didn’t help.

We're now in Arusha on our way to the Serengeti.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DA-DDY

I called yesterday to wish my Dad a happy birthday -- but, alas, he was in Texas for work. So...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR KEVIN
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU

Hope Austin is treating you well!

PS- Internet in Zanzibar is great, so we've been able to upload a bunch of new photos and videos. Check out that right hand sidebar!

A vacation from our vacation - Zanzibar

We exited Malawi’s northern border and spent two days and about 22 hours of driving (we slept outside Iringa) before arriving in Dar Es Salaam, the capital of Tanzania. “Dar” is situated on the Indian ocean and the name means “Haven of Peace” in Arabic. The city is the largest in the country and is home to 3.5 million people. Dar is enormous, sprawling, and markedly more developed than other capital cities we have visited, excluding Cape Town. There is a huge Muslim population here and many of the women wear traditional head scarves.



Aside from the usual folks who try to scam you or sell you junk, the locals have been really friendly always saying “Hello” (jambo/mambo) and “Welcome to Tanzania” (karibu Tanzania). We are easily identified as tourists because of our skin color and bewildered look...mostly our skin color. After saying we’re from the USA, the response is usually “Barack Obama!!!!”. We transferred our Malawian Kwacha to Tanzanian schillings and settled into our beachside campsite for the evening.

Yesterday morning we awoke before dawn to head over to Zanzibar. In two hours our modes of transport included: overland truck to foot to ferry across the harbor to foot to minivan taxi (i.e. death trap) to foot to high-speed passenger ferry eventually arriving at Stone Town, Zanzibar around 9:30am.

Zanzibar has a long and storied history as a slave port and trading center over the centuries. The island paradise is perhaps best known for its spices. Consequently, Katie went on a “spice tour” which explored old Stone Town, the former slave market, the ruins of a sultan's palace, and a spice plantation.



Meanwhile I opted to wander around the narrow streets alone, check out little shops, research scuba diving options and generally get lost. We ate dinner in the open air markets on the ocean. I avoided the fish kebobs but loved the chocolate and banana pizza. Today (6/2/09) we head out of Stone Town and up to Nungwi for several days in a beachside hotel. Also of note: this morning was the first morning we've woken up in a real bed in about three weeks - very refeshing. More later!

“Iwalam” is Malawi spelled backwards . . .

Two excellent days in South Luangwa National Park included a sunrise and sunset game drive in an open air 4X4, unexpectedly finding a mini-van size hippo (not exaggerating!) eating grass outside our tent after dinner, watching a teenage male elephant have a temper tantrum (see video below) and seeing vultures devour a carcass, as well as seeing hundreds of birds and other animals. (The hippos woke us up later that night because the chewing was so loud!! See video below)





We headed south back through Chipata, Zambia then turned east and crossed the border into one of the poorest countries in Africa: Malawi. We went on to the capital, Lilongwe to restock our food supplies and grab lunch. Another few hundred kilometers and we arrived at Senga Bay on the shores of Lake Malawi. Lake Malawi is the third largest lake in Africa, and one of the largest freshwater lakes in the world. The next morning we watched the sunrise over the lake (and Mozambique on the far shore.) After breakfast, Katie played beach soccer with our Kenyan guides before we loaded the truck and went north to Kande beach near the town of Chitembe.

I headed into the village to explore and ended up playing a few games of pickle with the local kids. They were fascinated by the LCD display on our digital camera and seemed very entertained to be playing with two “mizungu”(swahili for white person). There were five other overland trucks at the campsite that night and the partying and noise went quite late. Read: we didn’t get any sleep and were slightly grumpy the next day. But with nothing on the schedule, we didn’t mind. We spent the day lying on the sandy beach, laughing at our trip mates' hangovers, reading our books and playing in the surf (the waves were huge considering it was a lake). The afternoon brought a multi-hour game of beach volleyball where I revealed my punishing block and utter inability to serve. We celebrated one of our Irish friend’s birthdays and were off to bed.

We spent our last two nights on Lake Malawi at Chinteche, where we spent hours bargaining and bartering with the locals for crafts. Katie and I developed a great good cop/bad cop routine and usually paid ~30 to 40% of the asking price(Read: still over market value). We were bummed to leave our freshwater paradise but we still have four countries to cover in the next 25 days.

Next stop Tanzania . . . .

A new leg of the trip

We are currently in South Luangwa National Park in Zambia. Three days ago we met our new guides -- they are Kenyan and one is a Masai tribesman (he carries a stick and wears a Masai blanket, we're almost totally convinced that he's a superhero). We also had to say goodbye to half of our group and welcome two new group members from another trip.

Thankfully, we've been able to write a few posts and upload a bunch of pictures today, so be sure to check out the gallery. Unfortunately video uploads don't seem to be working, but I'll keep playing with it.

Zambia is our first foray into what our guides refer to the "heart of Africa." Agricultural villages have replaced towns, and thatch is the most widely used building material; though, there are anachronistic touches like cell phone sim card stores and internet cafes. Our next stop is Lake Malawi...though we will be sad to leave our current campsite, Flatdogs -- we're escorted by guards at night because elephants and hippos regularly walk through the camp. Last night we woke up to the Jabba-the-Hutt-like sound of a hippo calling to it's herd just outside our tent. Awesome.

Dr. Livingstone, I presume?

Livingstone, Zambia, which has replaced Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe as the local tourist mecca, is named for the eponymous Dr. Livingstone who is the first white man to discover the falls. Livingstone named the falls Victoria after his queen, replacing the much more colorful local name Musi-ao-Tunya, which means "the smoke that thunders." The famous quote and title of this post was supposedly uttered when one of his countrymen also traveled to Northern Rhodesia and spotted the only white guy within a 100 mile+ radius. Such a small world.

Today's Livingstone is full of opportunities to injure oneself -- from bungee jumping, to gorge swinging, from lion walks, to elephant back safaris. Never mind the highly persistent guys trying to sell you worthless 100 trillion dollar bills in defunct Zimbabwe currency. Pete and I managed to navigate all of the above dangers -- except we didn't visit the lions, we needed to leave something to make us come back!



An alternate title for this post could have been "The Post Our Parents Should Skip" -- not because both of us zip lined across a gorge and jumped off a bridge twice (bungee jump and bridge "swing"), but because the next day, after talking to many locals, we decided to head over to Vic Falls, Zimbabwe. About 15 of the 20 people in our group made the trip across the border, and 6 of us headed over early in the morning to do our elephant safari there (amazingly, it was much cheaper in Zim).

We were ferried across the border by the elephant safari operator, who also has an operation in Zambia since tourism to Vic Falls has dwindled to a relative trickle. Our transfer guide drove us over shockingly well maintained roads (apparently Vic Falls is hosting a major conference for African leaders in a few weeks) to a gorgeous lodge within national park property. After meeting our elephants, and a couple who were in training, we mounted up and went for an incredible hour long ride through the national park.

Afterward, we got to feed the elephants and then were served the best breakfast we'd had in about a month. While we ate we chatted with the Scottish owner and his Zimbabwean colleague about the state of Zimbabwe. People are hopeful, and Vic Falls has remained in a bubble thanks to tourism.

After our breakfast, we got a ride to falls, which is incredible from the Zimbabwe side. Since the water level is so high right now it 's actually impossible to see the falls through the mist on the Zambian side. We hiked around and got soaked thanks to the spray from the massive waterfall. Rainbows appear everywhere around you because there is so much water in the air, and "thunder" is the best way to describe the sound of all that water careening down.

We grabbed lunch (pizza and milkshakes, ha!) and headed for the craft market. In the market it was much more apparent that Zimbabwe is hurting thanks to the government's policies. We were the only group there, so the ratio of sellers to buyers was about 10:1. It was overwhelming to have so many people aggressively trying to gain your attention -- but we managed to drive some hard bargains and walked back across the border with some fantastic crafts. All in all, we were really glad we went across the border. We never felt unsafe and we got the chance to experience the falls at it's best.

Crocs to the left of me, Hippos to the right...

Sorry again for the delay in posting -- transitioning from one leg of our trip to another kept us very busy...so did jumping off of bridges in Livingstone, but more on that later.

After we wound our way out of the Delta, we headed up to the Chobe River in Botswana. Our campground had been flooded only weeks earlier, and there were lion prints in the mud which was super conducive to a restful night... Nevertheless, the next morning we woke up early to do a game drive by boat up the Chobe River.

Within minutes of our captain gunning the engine, our boat had spotted both mongoose and monkeys on the coastline. I was psyched about the mongoose because of that kids' book where a mongoose kills a cobra (Ricktickitavi? I dunno, something like that). Many, many croc sightings soon followed; however, our Australian friends were unimpressed because it apparently they were not large by Aussie standards. After about a month of hanging out with Australians I've figured out that they have a whole different understanding of wildlife related danger.

About a third of the way into our cruise some suspicious "rocks" were sighted. Eventually, these rocks were confirmed to be hippos -- the Chobe is known informally as "Hippo Heaven." Luckily our boat was way too big for even the grumpiest of hippos to consider attacking, so we were able to observe without anxiety.

We also saw a whole herd of elephants cross the river using their trunks as snorkels. In short, our cruise up the Chobe was very productive. After it was over we did a 4x4 game drive to our camp for the night, which was in the middle of the bush, sans fences. Suffice it to say that we weren't allowed to go to the bathroom alone that night. Lions were honestly the least of our concerns -- Chobe has 30,000-40,000 elephants. Elephants, despite their adorable attributes, are prone to charging and running over humans.

Luckily, everyone remained in one piece and the next morning we headed across the border to Zambia.

Who poles your mokoro?

After Etosha our standard for African wildlife was set pretty high. Luckily, we were headed towards something comepletely different -- the Okavango Delta.

Okavango is the worlds's largest delta, with seemingly neverending channels cutting through tall hippo grass, papyrus, and long reeds. Somehow, the guides who navigate those channels never get lost, and know the territory of every hippo (especially the grumpy ones).

Our entry to the delta was complicated by the devastating flooding that occured last month in the Caprivi Strip -- over 30,000 people are displaced. Though waters have subsided somewhat, our put in location was literally swamped. After ferrying across to it (we weren't allowed to walk across because of crocs -- the reptile, not the shoes for you New Yorkers), we headed out by motorboat to the town of Seronga, nestled at the top of the delta.

The next day we met up with our mokoro polers -- ours had been navigating the delta for 27 years. We immediately started cruising to our campsite on an island in the delta. Mapowa, our poler, seemed to propell our boat effortlessly. Pete and I gained a new respect for his ability when we tried it ourselves that afternoon. Pete took to it quickly, I got the hang of it by the time we were done, but bottom line, we were a far cry from being able to ferry 2 Americans and all their gear around the delta. We are, however, considering constructing our own mokoro when we get home.

Hippos are the big kahunas in the delta, and we saw a couple of them -- thankfully they kept to their territory and stayed away from our boats!

The next morning we headed to Seronga for a town tour. We visited a school run by missionaries and taught the kids the Hokey Pokey before heading out to our accomodations for the night -- a houseboat with REAL beds (wooooooooot). That afternoon we went for a scenic flight over the delta. The flight was unforgetable for two reasons:

1) Game. We saw hippos out of the water, elephants, cape buffalo (completing our big 5, which is the list of animals where a hunter's survival rate is 50/50), and a pride of lions.

2) I didn't get airsick, which means I am renewed in my ambition to get a pilot's liscence (watch out, Tennessee)

The flight was unforgettable.

The next day we headed out of the delta, bound for Chobe National Park. More on that tomorrow ;).

E-T-O-S-H-A

As our truck rolled past the gates into Etosha National Park, a herd of zebras immediately crossed the road. Then, suddenly, a tower of giraffes came into view on our right hand side. Etosha is a wildlife haven.

We spent three nights in the park, and we were completely awed. At our first campsite, we wandered up to the water hole and saw a bull elephant not 5 meters away. The next day, we came across a male and female lion and were able to follow them (in our truck ;)) and watch them lounging together in the shade. We also crossed paths with rhino, cheetah, badgers, springbok, ostritch, jackals, kudu, impala, and most incredibly, leopard.

Etosha was also unbelievably modern, with restuarants and pools at every campsite. The pool was a huge highlight midday between game drives as temps reached 31 degrees C. The sites were also fenced, so we slept safely in our tents with the sound of lions calling outside. We were sad to leave.

Seals are cute, but smelly

We've almost lived up to our promise, it's been a two weeks and a day since our last post in Swakop!

I'm going to put up a couple of new posts instead of one massive one, but since the internet is slower than molasses they will be picture light. We should have a few new pictures added though.

From Swakop we headed north up the Skeleton Coast (named for all the shipwrecks that lay strewn on the beach) to Cape Cross. The cape is home to the world's largest (and smelliest) seal colony, with over 200,000 seals. When we looked out on the beach there was brown fur as far as the eye could see -- seals were everywhere, on rocks, on the beach, surfing the waves. After our group finally got overwhelmed by their charming scent, we all boarded the big orange bus headed for Spitzkoppe.

Spitzkoppe is a series of rock formations that are the remnants of an older-than-ancient volcanoe. It's also called "Africa's Matterhorn." However, there were no abominabal snowmen to be seen (haha, get it? Disneyland?...nevermind). Spitzkoppe was another totally unique and breathtaking African vista. Namibia is just unbeievable -- everyone should check out flights into Windhoek.

We slept in a cave (after our guide "asked" the aboriginal spirits if we could) after getting to hear some traditional songs from locals. In the true spirit of modern Africa, one of the singers was a 13 year old boy who's saving up to go to school to be a doctor.

Next up...Etosha!

5 Days in 14 Mins

Time is ticking away at the internet cafe, here are some bullets of the past 5 days:

-We went from pavement to dirt roads -- nothing like waking up from a nap airborne thanks to a particularly vigorous jostle.

-Mmmmmmmmmm Savannah Dry Cider and Windhoek beer

-NAMIBIA

-Sunrise from Sossusvlei -- barefoot at the top of a sand dune. Incredible.

-Zebras, Oryx, Ostriches, Jackals, Giraffe, Springbok, Camel

-Myriad dry river beds

-Cobwebs of canyons

-Camping in the middle of meercat manor

-Maize/pop mash, ostrich burgers, and chocolate cake (one of our fellow travelers had a b-day)

-Crossed the Tropic of Capricorn

-Quad biking the sand dunes

-Horseback riding the desert

-Knocking through books

-Having and INCREDIBLE time with fantastic people

See pics and videos for details :).

We're headed up to Etosha National Park and Zambia -- we should be back online and posting in about 2 weeks!

We're alive . . . in Swakopmund, Namibia

Hola! Sorry for the absence of blog posts. This is the first Internet connection we have found in the last 8 days. And now for the update . . .

We did not climb Table Mountain because of bad weather but instead spent the day relocating hotels, touring Cape Town and returning our rental car. We met our group that evening for dinner. Our group is 20 people total (2 Canadians, 1 Brit, 12 Aussies, 1 Kiwi, 2 Irish and us). We enjoyed a meet and greet dinner before heading to bed for an early wake-up. The next day we piled into our overlanding truck and went to the District 6 Museum. In the 1950's and 1960's, South Africa bulldozed black neighborhoods and relocated thousands of individuals (without warning or compensation)in an effort to segregate the country. We toured Langa Township in the afternoon, one of the relocation regions to see how many of the citizens live today and learn about the consequences of the government's actions. Very moving.

We headed North and slept in a vineyard in Cederburg that night.



We enjoyed a wine tasting after dinner at Highlanders and crawled into our heavy canvas tents for our first night of camping. the next morning we continued north towards the Namibian Border. During our drive, we saw Springbok and ostriches. Very cool. We camped on the banks of the Orange river which serves as the border with Namibia. After confirming no crocs or water snakes were in the river, we enjoyed a swim! The following morning we crossed the border which was surprisingly easy and continued our trek towards Fish River Canyon. We arrived just in time for an awesome sunset hike along the second longest canyon in the world.

One Glass, Two Glass, Red Glass...Blue Glass?

We woke up early this morning to get a jump start on wine tasting -- that's right, the vineyards open at 9am. After consulting with the owner here at Cotswold House, we ended up booking a guide who she referred to as "her guy." Our motivations for this decision were twofold:

1 -- With a guide, neither of us needed to drive, guaranteeing that there would be no more run ins with Cape Town's finest.
2 -- A guide would also guarantee that we got the inside scoop

Our guide, Charles (Charlos) was awesome and is highly recommended for anyone planning a trip here (www.charlostours.co.za).



Charlos picked us up from the B&B and we were on our way east towards Stellenbosch, one of the three major growing regions in the cape winelands. The first vineyard we visited was Spier, and it was definitely the most "touristy." We didn't do any tasting here, however we did tour the gardens and terraces and we DID get to see a cheetah. Did you know that there are only 7500 cheetahs left in the world and that they purr REALLY loudly??

The organization keeping the cheetahs also breeds Anatolian shepherds to give to local farmers. These shepherds scare cheetahs away, protecting livestock from the cats, and ultimately the cheetahs themselves from irate farmers with guns. We saw a couple of the shepherds...we would most certainly NOT mess with them.

Ok, enough of the wildlife lesson and on to the wine! Our first tasting was at Rustenberg. Here's Roland, who guided us through their vintages:



Roland helped select three whites and three reds for us to try including a Roussanne, Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc, OVR, Bordeaux Blend, and Cabernet. The apricot, peach and guava scents in the whites were really unique. We meandered through the gardens on our way back to the car and were soon on our way to the next stop, Tokara.

Tokara is a very young and modern looking vineyard that also specializes in olive production. We sampled mostly sauvignon blanc and chardonnays here but the olive pairings added a different twist. Six more wines, 6 olives and some olive paste later and we were on our way. I opted to pass on the brandy tasting.

We continued on through Stellenbosch to Boschendal vineyards where we had lunch at an outdoor cafe. We skipped the cellar tour and tasting here, instead trekking north out of the Stellenbosch region into the town of Paarl - another well known wine region. With a check of our clock and strategic planning to maximize our vineyard visits before closing time, we headed to Fairview. We were surprised to discover this is the vineyard that makes "Goats Do Roam" a wine label that we've purchased in the US and were first introduced to by a South African while on a ranch in Wyoming. We also paired these six tastings (including viognier, a white wine we'd never heard of before)with cheeses made at the estate.



We enjoyed everything from cranberry infused blue cheese to a smooth Havarti and also some really tasty Camembert and brie cheeses. Back to the car and the onto Seidelberg Wine Estate. We toured the cellar and learned about the picking process as well pressing, fermenting, and bottling. Walking through the giant vats and seeing the open containers of juice absolutely gave us a new appreciation for the complexities of wine production. Back inside, we sampled a pinotage, a Syrah and chardonnay among others.

As the clouds rolled in, we decided to call it a day after six vineyards and four tastings. Charlos returned us to Cotswald House where we headed upstairs and promptly fell asleep. Another hard day in South Africa. Tomorrow, if the weather cooperates, we'll be heading up Table Mountain and meeting up with our Gecko Tours group for dinner. The 60 day safari begins!

Peter Meets the Police

After breakfast, we hopped into our Toyota Yaris and set off for the Cape of Good Hope. We accidentally made a few right (correct) turns and wound our way down route M5 to Muizenberg then onto Simon's Town where we stopped for some penguin viewing. Advice from our friendly parking lot attendant indicated we should bypass the visitor's center, walk an extra 100 yards and view the penguins without paying ZAR 54. Special thanks to Pete's dad for lending us his super duper camera -- it takes fantastic pictures, check out our new slide show on the right.

Back on the road, we happily slowed down for (read: almost ran over) a family of baboons that was taking it's time crossing the road. Thankful that they didn't jump on the car and make off with our antenna (like they do at Six Flags), we carried on south to the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve.



The Cape of Good Hope is unbelievably beautiful (thanks to all of you who recommended it!!). Picture an amalgam of RT 1 in Northern California, the alpine zone of the White Mountains, and the colorful fauna of Martha's Vineyard -- then amp it up. We hiked up to the Cape Point Lighthouse, past an abandoned WWII radar station (which made us think of our friend Will, who's working at a radar station literally on the other side of the globe in Thule, Greenland -- dare you to Google map that one).

After we made our way back down, Peter took a shot at driving and we snaked our way up M65 and M6, past some rogue ostriches, back towards Cape Town. He did better than me on the left side of the road. It hurts to write it, but he did. Though we both invariably try to use the windshield wiper lever as a turn signal...

On the way back north we went up the west side of the Cape, through the Misty Cliffs and past the Kommetjie Lighthouse. The sun was setting and we can confirm that African skies are pretty sweet.



After some winding about downtown Cape Town, we arrived at the V&A Wharf for some food. Pete found a gear store we had to peruse before we settled down for dinner -- the gear was awesome, but we haven't found an excuse to buy anything yet.

Since we're in South Africa, naturally we selected a Portugese/Turkish restaurant. Dinner was great, but, about the title of this post -- apparently Cape Town is pretty notorious for its drunk driving checkpoints. In fact, we reached one just as they were setting up. Pete was driving, sober as the day he was born...but one of the dozen or so officers stepped in front of our Yaris and signaled for us to stop. Confused, we rolled down our window, and the officer said "Good evening sir, do you know where the head lights are on this vehicle???" Unfortunately, he had forgotten to turn them on. We remedied the situation and were on our way.

That's all for today! Tomorrow, we go wine tasting...

Sunset, Sunrise, Sunset

After 24 hours and 4 airline meals we've made it to Cape Town!

Highlights of our travels included:

- Seeing the sun set and rise in the first flight -- only to see it set again in the second

- My first glimpse of Europe (I think I saw Manchester and our layover was in Amsterdam. No, we did not leave the airport but we did eat cheese.)

- An arial view of the fields of tulips in Holland (it looked like a crayola box)

Our second flight, on KLM, was mostly Europeans. Groggy and totally sleep deprived, we realized that our fellow travelers had a different concept of flying than Americans -- they were up and about, chatting with each other in the bulkheads, sharing drinks in the galley. Pete and I would have probably been more enthusiastic about this if we hadn't just come off a redeye, and if it weren't 3 AM EST. Though, to be honest, the jovial atmosphere didn't prevent us from nodding off in the brightly lit cabin.

And then, after one round of enthusiastic applause for the pilot's landing, we were searching across every corner of the Cape Town airport for our rental car. Yes, we did get lost before we even left the airport. Somehow we ended up in the domestic Budget rental car lot instead of the International Budget rental car lot. Driving on the right side of the car and the left side of the road was unquestionably a mental challenge. Peter elected to navigate for our drive to the B&B. Luckily the roads were empty at 11pm on Sunday night. Only once did we find ourselves on the wrong side of a highway with someone beeping their horn at us. But we arrived safely at Cotswold House:



In fact we just ate breakfast at this table:



It's a great spot, and now after a little food (mango!) we're headed out to drive down to the Cape of Good Hope.

The night before

'Twas the night before [Africa]
And all through the house,
Not a creature was stirring
Not even a [Bernese Mountain Dog]

Aaaaaaaaand we're off!

We've spent the last two weeks pulling together logistics and corralling all of our gear into one place.

After great deliberation combined with packing, unpacking and repacking, we've whittled down our luggage to two backpacks for each of us.
Highlights include:
- 4 Cans of SPF 85 Suntan Lotion
- One roll of TP (paired with ultra handy dayglo orange shovel)
- A tiny tablet PC (yay Motion Computing!)
- An iPod, naturally (the plains of Africa will never be the same thanks to Pete's playlist)
- Larium malaria pills, known for causing vivid dreams and hallucinations...sweet
- 2 Bottles of Immodium

So, we've totally (arguably) got it all under control. And tomorrow, we're on our way to lovely Cape Town, South Africa:

(Drool)

Though the wheels lift off the tarmac at 5:20 PM EST tomorrow, we don't arrive until Sunday at 9 PM SAST (EST +6hrs). Our next post will be from the Southern Hemisphere -- see you all then!

Bye Bye Cambridge . . .

Before our adventure could begin, we had to leave our apartment in Cambridge, MA. We were sad to leave our home, friends and MA family, but we figured that the chance to travel across Africa doesn't come along every day. SOOO, on April 10th with a lot of packing and hauling (thanks Ted!!) we made our way out of Boston and down to NJ. Our stuff is now in an incredibly symmetrical cube in my parents' garage thanks to some highly skilled spatial arranging by Mom and Kevin.


Peter avoided packing any way he could: