The Morrow's

2010-06-29T07:45:00.018+01:00

Cape Town - post tour

First day without the truck and we headed off to Robben Island. We pre-booked tickets while stopped in Livingstone as we heard that it was very popular. In hindsight that was a very good decision as the tours for the next 2 days were cancelled due to boat maintenance and rough seas. When visiting the island you are pretty much herded onto waiting buses and then an onboard guide takes you on a tour. The bus component takes around 2hr to complete and it is definitely very informative. Perhaps information overload. At the conclusion of the drive component a former prisoner of the island took us on a tour through the cell blocks, and depicted what life was like in prison in Nelson Mandela's stay.

The quarry where the prisoners worked.

The view back towards the mainland.

Our guide

The 'recreation' area where the rocks were broken
After arriving back in Cape Town, we spent the remainder of the day walking around the 'Victoria and Albert waterfront' adjacent to the marina. It was really nice to be back in a familiar westernised shopping centre. The day finished with another group dinner. This time at a pizza restaurant up the road from the hostel. We hadn't realise it but it was trivia night and just for fun we separated into teams and joined in. Our team won the first round, and came second to the other group from our truck in round 2. It was then that we realised that the prize was tickets to a concert being held long after we were to leave Africa.

The next day we had booked onto a cycling trip with Daytrippers that visited The Cape of Good Hope. The group was small and on the way to the Cape we stopped at Boulders Beach to visit a penguin colony. These are African penguins and have small dots on their bellies and pink bits around the eyes. Nearly all of them were malting ready for summer. While wandering around we also saw a whale having some fun in the bay, which was an impressive sight, albeit a long way away.

The whale doing leaps out of the water

The rest of the drive down the coast was quite spectacular with scenery and included a few baboon stops. It seems these guys like to sit in the middle of the road. When we arrived at the gates to the National Park we all decided to save the cycling until after lunch as we would be riding straight into a fierce headwind.

At the lunch stop, we were surprised to see Pip & Craig who arrived as part of their Dragoman overland tour. We'd travelled with them the first 3 weeks of the trip until Livingstone where they had changed onto Dragoman, and we stayed with Acacia. It was a good opportunity to line up dinner and a wine tour for our last few days in Africa.

We drove to the Cape of Good Hope seeing some Ostrich along the way. There were around 100 other tourists all trying to get a photo with the sign, so we snuck around the back and then battled the wind as we walked along the cliff top to Cape Point. There were heaps of cute little furry things called Rock Dassies sunning themselves along the path. They didn't seem too phased to have us walking by. At Cape Point we noticed the park guards have these massive sticks and were walking along the roof of the buildings. It seems the Baboons like to launch themselves off the roofs or anything high and try and take food straight out of your handsYep, it was a little windy

Clifftop walk

The very cute Rock Dassie

This little baby was taking its first rather wonky steps. A spot of grooming beside the track

From Cape Point we then jumped on the bikes and cycled back to the gates. The first section was easy, all downhill and almost no pedalling required. Unfortunately the last few kilometres were quite different. All uphill and into a strong wind. A few of the gusts came close to blowing us straight off the road and it didn't help we also met some of our friends from the hostel who had hired a car and found us struggling up the hill and offered us some encouragement.That night we moved out of the hostel and into a hotel in the centre of town. To celebrate having our own reliable hot water, fridge and TV, we grabbed some takeaway from the Italian restaurant across the road and opened a bottle of Sparky's Merlot!

2010-06-24T06:11:00.022+01:00

Cape Town - the last day on tour

Packing up the tents and cooking equipment took forever today. For the first time Jacques and JP didn't hurry us up. We were all a little sad realising that today was the last day and tonight we would all be sleeping in different places. As a result the drive down was quite subdued, that was until we saw the unmistakable Table Mountain far across the bay.

Our last official group activity was a tour of Langa Township. We were picked up by the local guide and driven to the Township where we had a walking tour through all the different types of housing. It was a strange and uncomfortable feeling being in the township. For us we felt like we were intruding into the lives of people that call this area home. If it hadn't been a part of the trip we probably wouldn't have done it. On the positive side it was very interesting and humbling to see the different standards of living and how some of the newer government housing incentives seemed to be working, if only for a few lucky people.A row of bathrooms

A new football stadium in the background

At the end of the walking component, we went to a Shebeen. Typically this is a place where men congregate, but the brewer is usually female. Exceptions are made for tourists. We all had a wary sip of the local brew and decided to leave the rest of the pail for the localsOur tour leader proving that it is drinkable.

What was left in the pail after we had tried it!

The children of the township were generally very friendly but we were soon to learn that they really only want your drink bottle. There is an initiative where money is given for recycling and tourists always have water bottles!

The highlight of the tour was definitely lunch. We were taken to a local Braii restaurant which was packed. It seems to be where all the tours come for lunch as amongst the crowd there was magically a spare table for 20. The locals were also arriving in huge numbers and bringing with them eskies of their own drinks. It looked like they were planning to stay for the entire afternoon. The hardest part was leaving as the crowd had spilled over into the street and a few kids were challenging each other with soccer tricks. The atmosphere here was definitely more uplifting to that in the township proper.

A couple of kids putting on a show

Now our African trip is officially finished!! We were dropped at The Backpack and free to go our own way. We had booked into this hostel before leaving London and quite a few of the others were able to get beds on the day. A little tip, if you can wait, the price is significantly cheaper if you book within 2days of arrival. A couple of people cancelled and rebooked all in 5min to save 50%. Our room was hotel standard and we considered cancelling the real hotel that we had booked for our final couple of days in Cape Town.

Many of the South African people that Claire worked with in London had advised us that if Table Mountain was clear then take the first opportunity to go up there. It seems that the cloud that gives it the table cloth can hang around for days. All the group took advantage of the the clear afternoon and seeing as we didn't have enough time to make the hike we used the cable car. The view was stunning and after the confronting sights of the morning it was a great way to relax. The day was finished with a group dinner that Jacques and JP came to as well.Looking back up the coast away from Cape Town

This is how we usually see Steve

Keeping the Kwando tradition

If we had walked up this is where we would have arrived.

One final group picture

2010-06-14T23:52:00.010+01:00

Highlanders

Leaving Orange River we drove further into South Africa. The scenery was changing again as we left the mountains and rocks and suddenly started to see grass and flowers. Driving through the area known as Namaqualand we were looking forward seeing the wildflowers. There were some patches of pink and yellow that really stood out against the green hills. One of the party goers the night before told us that we were about 10days late. The wildflower season had been a couple of weeks early this year.

A slightly different perspective of the truck

All of us were looking forward to our next camp site. We were going to be staying at Highlanders winery and having a wine tasting. The owner (Sparky) was originally from Scotland and also used to be an overland guide. His vineyard is situated on the side of a hill and it was one of the best afternoon's spent tasting wine overlooking the valley. Sparky's grapes are combined with those of his neighbours in a co-operative to produce the wine which is exported to various countries in Europe including England. The view from the tasting

Early morning with the mist rolling in

During the afternoon, the other members of the group realised that we had not had our hen's and bucks days for our wedding so it was decided that tonight was the night. We were both banished from the bar while preparations were underway. When Claire returned she discovered that she had become 'Mrs Africa' and the boys had obtained some interesting clothes for Steve. We didn't manage to get any photos of Steve but he did look fetching in a white and pink bikini with black tights.

It is amazing what you can do with bin bags, masking tape, and alfoil!!

Sparky put on a fantastic Braii (aka BBQ) for us that night and it was definitely a great way to spend the last night of our trip. We can recommend the Trevino but suggest steering clear of anything called Little B.....

2010-06-08T05:24:00.006+01:00

Orange River

Today it really hit home that we were nearly at the end of this amazing trip. Crossing into South Africa = 3 days left.

We camped alongside Orange River just a few kilometres up the road from the border. The afternoon was spent attempting to play volleyball with a very flat ball. It was made harder by the resident dogs who thought it was just a difficult game of catch. In the end we gave up and headed down to the river where we all took up the challenge to swim back across to Namibia. Luckily for us there is a 'grace' zone of about 10m of the river bank. If we went further ashore we could be arrested. Considering we were only 5km upriver from the border we all stayed at the water's edge!

Looking at Namibia. You can't see it very well, but there is a surfboard anchored at the halfway point.

Another amazing sunset

4 of the other 6 that we started this trip with.

There happened to be a 21st on at the bar that night so decided to join in with the celebrations. A few were lucky and managed to acquire a cupcake or too. I am sure the birthday girl wasn't expecting to come across 20 foreigners attemping the overlanding tradition of 'the springbok dance'. All in all a great night and it was good to meet some some other locals who had tips for our time in Cape Town.

Sunrise

We not only had to deal with the extra friendly dogs, but also the pet pig!

2010-05-24T22:58:00.008+01:00

Fish River Canyon

Our last stop for Namibia was at Fish River Canyon. The canyon is 160km long and up to 27km wide and is one of the most popular multi-day hiking trails for those adventurous ones.

We arrived quite early to the campsite and spent the afternoon relaxing. Another overlanding company was in the site next to us and were having problems with their truck, so when we decided to head out to the canyon edge for sunset we took them with us. We were all dropped off at a small viewpoint and then had the opportunity to walk the couple of kilometers back to the parking area along the canyon edge. The view was spectacular.

Loo with a view!

Lighting conditions were quite difficult. The river only flows for a couple of months a year.

The canyon is up to 500m deep

Back at the truck JP had set up a surprise of champagne and nibblies while we waited for sunset. We then discovered that our truck was going to be staying at the canyon for dinner and some stargazing. Luckily for the other group, Jacques had managed to get their truck working again as we didn't have enough food for them. Apart from that, as soon as the sun set the temperature dropped to near freezing and the other group didn't have any warm clothes.Trying to keep warm. TIA - This Is Africa!!

We finished the evening back at camp with an 11 person game of cards (with glow in the dark cards!!) held inside one 2 man tent. I think it was the first time we had felt warm since the sun set!

Believe it or not but all 11 people have at least one body part in this photo...

It was also here that we realised our trip was nearly at an end as the next morning we were crossing the border into South Africa.

2010-05-05T05:59:00.014+01:00

Dune 45 and Sossusvlei

We were up before dawn to be at the National Park Gates when they opened, ready for the race up the dunes for sunrise. Dune 45 is named because it is the 45th dune from Sossusvlei and coincidentally 45km from Sesriem. While its not the biggest of the dunes (170m) it is the most accessible to normal vehicles.

Full credit to JP, as we were the first vehicle to arrive and we all sprinted up the dune in time for sunrise. When the sun appeared it was quite mesmerising. There are dunes all around and each one become a different colour as the sun hit it and the shadows are created from ridge lines. It is important to remember to turn around and look away from the sun as the colours on the dunes behind us were some of the most dramatic.Our tracks from the walk up

Leading the charge
First group to reach the top and as you can tell it was a little cold

A bit of perspective. Steve is still on the dune taking this photo of the rest of the group

While Steve was at the top of the dune with most of our truck, Claire and one of the other girls weren't feeling 100% so decided to sit halfway up. As they started to make their way back down after sunrise, they met a group of cyclists walking up. One of the group was having a panic attack with the height. Between them Claire and Cara helped the lady back to ground level while the rest of the cyclists continued up to the peak. It turned out that this lady was doing a similar trip to us but doing a mix of cycling (1ookm) and driving each day. Makes our trip seem very easy.

Even though these people had missed sunrise they were still making the trek up

Once we were all back on the ground, we discovered that Jacques had cooked us omelette's for a champagne breaky. You may be thinking 'how do you do omelette's for 20 people on a single gas burner stove?' Well the answer is, that you make the mix in a big bowl and then split it into 20 snap-lock bags, seal and boil in really big saucepan. Not the traditional way, but tasty all the same. The same has to be said for having champagne out of a tin camping mug.

Popping the champagne!

After breaky we drove another couple of kilometers down the road to a carpark where we met Bushman. He is a former member of the Namibian army and had learnt survival techniques for the desert from the Kalahari bushmen. We all piled into the back of his ute where we were driven to an area surrounded by dunes known as Dead Vlei.

This is a standard size ute, and yes we did all fit

Bushman was one of the most interesting guides that we had of the entire trip. Firstly he suggested we take off our shoes, which most of us did with a bit of apprehension. Surprisingly the sand wasn't hot. At the end of his first talk he said "i walk fast, don't try to keep up". Naturally that was just an invitation to try. We are sure he would win gold at the Olympics. He was gone over the dune before we knew what had happened.Waiting patiently for us to catch up

When we finally caught up to him the sight was stunning. There was an area of white salt pan is surrounded by dunes that are up to 200m high. Dotted around the pan are fossilised remnants of trees. He explained that some of the trees had been dead for 900 years, and because of the lack of water they can't decompose. It was a little eerie walking around it. The cracked and dried ground of the Vlei

Some of the useful tips that bushman taught us included: getting a spider to open its 'trapdoor' in the sand; catching a lizard without running; and tracking the small antelope. Since the temperature was heading back to the high 30's we all piled back into the ute and headed back to the truck.

These are the spider tracks and the outline of its 'door'

Door is open. We stayed and watched while it pulled it back down and resealed it

This poor lizard was caught and released around 10times. Apparently this is the best source of water if caught in the desert.

2010-04-22T04:17:00.015+01:00

Sesriem Canyon

We were all feeling a little down at having to leave a friend in hospital in Swakopmund, so the drive to Sesriem was pretty quiet. Scenery wise the sandy desert was replaced by rock and slate mountains.

Suddenly the truck stopped and we realised that it we were about to cross the 'Tropic of Capricorn' (the big sign gave it away). It looks quite different to the scenery around Rockhampton and Gladstone that Claire usually associates this 'line' with. We all took the standard photos and the mood started to lift immediately. The whole Kwando crew

The next stop was for lunch at Solitaire. We were told that it is the smallest town on the Namibian map. There is a petrol station, general store and bakery all run by the same family. It didn't look like the 'town' was any bigger. The apple strudel is mentioned in the guide books as a 'must taste' so that is what we did. It was definitely worth it. A word of warning though, we arrived at nearly 2pm and there were only a couple of pieces left. No worries for us, as the pieces are massive and easily shared between a few. Oh and the guide books are right, it is really good! Our compliments to chef Moose.

Talking of food, possibly our most interesing meal of the trip was served up for lunch. We can't remember the name but the ingredients were condensed milk, peas, mayo and banana. No we aren't making it up and it didn't taste that great. Everyone on the truck gave the 'delicacy' a try and we still don't know if it is a true South African dish as Jacques and JP insisted or a big practical joke!

When we made it to Sesriem we only had a couple of hours before sunset. JP drove us out to the Gorge and took us on a tour of geology of the area. His first instructions were 'walk carefully down the path into the gorge and DO NOT TOUCH ANY OF THE PLANTS'. He brought up the rear and then explained that many of the small bushes were a natural producer of Strychnine.

Sesriem means 'six thongs' which according to the Lonely Planet is how many ox-wagon thongs were needed to reach the bottom and collect water. These days the canyon is 2km long and about 30m high. Inside the canyon you get a real appreciation of how powerful the water must be. The sides are quite crumbly and you can see where pieces have recently broken off. The canyon is still a part of the Namib desert so the dry riverbed of the Tsauchab River that forms the gorge only has running water every 10yrs or so. Surprisingly there was a small pool of water at one end containing a baby python (that we noticed after we'd walked through)! We decided to delay the return to camp in favour of watching sunset on the edge of the canyon.

Steve doing the gentlemanly thing. The snake was in the water behind us.

One of the narrower sections of the canyon

With a little imagination you can make out 'Acacia Africa' in the next 2 photos

Sunset on the canyon edge

To make up for the lunch 'delicacy' Jacques had cooked some fantastic Ostrich steaks for us. Camping definitely isn't all bad food.

The sky was really clear so we tried for a 'star trail' photo. For perspective it was a 10min photo and the lights are the shower block.

2010-03-25T05:37:00.020Z

Swakopmund

The unique landscape of Spitzkoppe was behind us as we drove to the coast and the Cape Cross Seal Colony. The morning was freezing and we were all rugged up in sleeping bags in the truck. The landscape was pretty boring for this bit and coupled with quite heavy fog, most of us grabbed an extra nap.

At the seal colony the first thing we noticed was the smell - BAD. When there are over 10 000 seals all living in the same place it is really smelly and noisy. We spent around an hour wandering the boardwalks and watching the interactions between the adult and infant seals as well as males fighting each other.

A carpet of seals

At one point there were 5 pairs of bulls fighting on this bit of rock

Leaving Cape Cross we continued down the coast into Swakopmund which was promoted as the Namibian adventure town. There were many activities on offer and between us we chose to do Quadbiking, Sandboarding and Skydiving.

For the 2 nights we were here we were again in a hostel staying in 4bed dorms. Apart from the scheduled adventures that we planned for, one person had a memorable stay. The incident occurred after we'd all headed out for a group dinner in town and then onto a bar for a bit of dancing. In short Claire was feeling a bit crook so we left early taking our room key with us. One of the other people in our room then got separated from the group and made his way back to the hostel on his own. After realising he didn't have a key and the bell not working on the gate he decided to jump the electric fence. Unfortunately he landed badly and broke his ankle.

The rest of the group returned about an hour later and flagged a police car down, only to be told the ambulance was 'in the garage'. Eventually he was taken to a private hospital, only to have the break confirmed, given some painkillers and sent back to the hostel to await a specialist appointment for surgery the next day.

Sadly he wasn't able to continue the tour with us and we had to leave him in the hostel until the doctors gave him clearance to fly back to England. We don't think the hospital often sees an overlanding truck turn up with 20 people outside visiting hours as we said goodbye and dropped off a care package before we kept going. We think it was about another week before he could return home.

Skydiving
Claire has been keeping a secret desire to throw herself out of a plane and after being assured by our tour guides that this company (Groundrush Adventures Swakopmund) was reputable and safe she signed up with 6 other people from the truck. Why chose Africa to jump out of a plane? Well, in Swakopmund you can see the South Atlantic Ocean meet the Nambiban Desert. The jump was scheduled for the afternoon we arrived so they headed out to the airstrip in the desert only to be told when they got there that the winds at jumping altitude were too strong and they would need to return the next day.

That night it rained and I was concerned that the weather was going to prevent my chances of leaping out of the perfectly good plane. Luckily the rain stopped and the clouds cleared enough for us to try again. The only hitch was that one of the camera guys had pulled a neck muscle the day before and was taking a week off for it to heal. Having seen what these guys have on their heads it is no wonder that he got hurt! There was a game of 'rock, paper, scissors' to decide who would get the other camera guy. As we were climbing into the van to drive out, news came through that the owner of the company had just flown back into town from his family holiday and he would step in and be the second camera guy. We picked him up in the main street and drove him home to pick up his kit and then out to the airfield. Happy faces all round!

The airstrip was marked out with a few rocks and a small shed at one end containing the gear. The plane could only hold 6 people in addition to the pilot and was the same size as the van! I was in the second group to jump and literally saw the tandem instructor land, remove the shute, get handed a new one and board the plane. I don't think the plane was even grounded for more then five minutes between jumps.

Yep, the van can hold more people!

About to fly, oh and those rocks are the edge of the run way

It takes 25 minutes for the plane to reach 10 000 feet and I was feeling more then a little nervous. I was the second person to jump and watching Elena jump first was actually calming.

Very cosy in the teeny plane

The camera man crawled out onto the wheels of the plane and then I was told to 'walk' to the door. This is not an easy task when attached to someone else! It is a pretty strange feeling to realise that there is a man on the wheel of a tiny plane, you are strapped to another man who is crouched at the open door of the plane and you are literally hanging in mid air with your legs being pulled sideways as the plane continues to fly. Our exit from the plane wasn't strictly textbook, but we did pull off a pretty good cartwheel/somersault. Rave reviews from the other guides when they saw it.

Elena's camera man climbing onto the wheel

For some reason this photo wouldn't load up the correct way. Cartwheeling out!

The free fall wasn't scary at all. Apart from feeling like you are standing in front of a very large fan and moving your arms becomes difficult you didn't feel like you were falling. I even had time to look around a bit and try and spot the sand dunes where Steve was Quadbiking.

Dreiss is giving the camera man the count down for the shute while I check out the view

I was completely unprepared for the shute to open. When the shute is open you feel like you are floating. It wasn't until this point that the difference in speed is noticed from the free fall. Dreiss gave me control of the shute but my arms were too shaky with adrenaline to be able to do any manuovers. The free fall was apparently about 30secs and 3min or so once the shute was open. Our landing wasn't so graceful as I didn't process the 'straigten your legs' command until after I hit the ground

Coming in to land

Dreiss - my tandem guide.

There aren't enough positive adjectives to describe this experience. All of us wished we could do it again, this time know what to expect and being a bit more relaxed about it. The funniest incident of the day happened to one of the other guys from the truck. Just as he went to jump his shoe fell off and to the surprise of the ground assistants, landed in the middle of the airstrip a few minutes ahead of the owner. He was very relieved as he was due at quadbiking straight after his jump and didn't have time to return to the hostel for new shoes.

The other 3 girls I jumped with

There is a video but it was too big to put here so you will have to visit us to see it.

Sandboarding

Now you might think that Claire having jumped out of a plane would relish the opportunity for a bit of sand dune activity but not so. Most of the truck signed up for these two options but when it rained during the night many of them backed out thinking that the boarding wouldn't be possible on wet sand. They missed out!

For those that have never been sandboarding, it is similar to snow boarding, but on the 120 metre high sanddunes. Mark & Dan joined Steve along with the Dutch couple, and were very excited when we arrived at the base of the dune just in time for the weather to clear.

This photo is from Claire's skydive DVD and is the location for the boarding.

There were two options at the sandboarding, stand-up or lay down. I chose the stand-up version. After three runs down the dune (and the long walk back up the 80 metre dune) I started to slowly get the idea. At this point we were given the opportunity to give the lay down style a go. Apparently we didn't need the gloves or knee guards that the others had, or the 4 warm up runs down the easy part of the dune. Instead those of us that had chosen the stand up option went straight into the fastest lay down run of the day. This time the 80 metres was almost vertical, reaching speeds of 72 kph!! The only advice that I remembered was hold the board up, and that you could use your toes as brakes. Thankfully there were no major incidents.

All in all, a fantastic experience. Unfortunately we're still waiting for the DVD footage of our boarding to come.......... so these photos are courtesy of Dan.

Quadbiking

The afternoon activity was Quad Biking on the dunes. Again the scenery was incredible. There were a couple varieties of bikes, from Automatic (but less powerful), Semi-Automatic (you had to change gears, but you didn't have to worry about a clutch), and Manual (which were apparently the fastest). Most of us went for the semi-automatic, which was a good choice.

As the dunes are a protected area, there are only certain parts that we were able to drive on. Basically we were split off into groups of about 6, and it was follow the leader. The only exception to this was Johannes, who can only be described as a crazy man behind the wheel!

We weaved our way up & down & around the dunes, and eventually made it to "the lookout" which was a point high on the dunes but close to the coast. To see the sand dunes plunge straight into the ocean was a fantastic memory.

The final memory I had to take away from the quadbiking experience was my melted trekking pants! It seemed that my right leg was resting against a hot part of the engine, which i hadn't noticed during the noisy & bumpy ride. I was glad that they had lasted the majority of our African adventure, as we were on the home stretch now.

2010-03-24T02:37:00.010Z

Spitzkoppe

We left Etosha on a definite high but our guides just said 'Namibia isn't finished yet!' With a warning that most of the next drive would be on gravel we braced ourselves for the familar lumps, bumps and lurches. Happily the roads were in fantastic condition and we didn't really notice too much difference to tarmac. We passed a few small herds of Springbok and Oryx grazing beside the road and a Guinea Fowl tried very hard to fly straight into the windscreen, waking quite a few of us up with the thud.

Eventually we started to notice some massive orange rock formations starting to appear on the horizon and realised that this was where we were heading. As we drove towards the entry we started to see cars coming towards us with some pretty fancy looking pushbikes strapped to the roof. This kind of site is common in cities around the world but not one we thought we would see surrounded by desert sands. It turns out that there had been a half marathon and mountain bike fundraiser on. The temperatures were again in the high 30's and we were in awe of the competitors.

The only downside of this competition was that the camp was very crowded and we ended up bushcamping in an area not normally used. The rock formations are granite and all of us couldn't wait to be off the truck and able to explore. The surface of the rocks were surprisingly smooth and that meant a few people who didn't have hiking shoes were reduced to staying on the lower levels.

After the worst of the heat had passed a few of us were taken on a guided walk to see some rock paintings. The guide from the local village showed us some of the local plants and explained how they would have been used in the past. The site of the paintings is quite easy to get to and although faded we could see the depiction of Zebras, Giraffe and other animals. There is no real protection of these paintings so hopefully they are still around for many years to come and not vandalised. Sunset in this location was spectacular. The granite boulders changed colour along with the sky and it was great to just sit back and watch nature at work.

Like the previous camp in the Kalahari we were told to keep and eye out for Scorpions and the like but it was a spider that gave us the biggest scare and entertainment all in one. A couple of our fellow travellers were quite scared of bugs and during dinner a huge furry pale grey spider was spotted. Many screams and laughs later we bravely threw a container over it and got Jacques to inspect it. He proceeded to say it was nothing and released it back into the bushes (much to the horror of some). All visits to the bush bathroom were then carefully deliberated and extra precautions taken in case of 'the spider'.

Special mention to Jacques for the fabulous meal that night. Homemade bread and pumpkin soup!

2010-03-14T12:13:00.023Z

Etosha National Park

After leaving the Kalahari we went across the border into Nambia and the first thing we all noticed were mountains. The wide open plains of Botswana were behind us.

First stop was Windhoek which had a strong German feel to it. The streets signs are German and we heard more German than English in the short time we were there. It was also the most western city that we had been in over the last few weeks. Steve took the opportunity of reasonable internet speed to print his new employment contract after being offered a job back in Tanzania. We had a brief break from camping as we stayed in a hostel. It was strange sharing a room with 4 or more people and I think most people were pretty happy to reclaim the tents the next night. Another 2 people joined the truck here for the final 11 days down the Cape Town.

The drive from Windhoek to Etosha was fairly long but a quick stop at a German bakery in the tiny town of Outjo was welcomed. Nearly everyone sampled the cookies and other delights on offer.

Unlike the other game parks that we had been too, this one has proper roads that although are gravel are maintained. As a result you don't need special vehicles to experience the park. Etosha is a fenced park and is sometimes referred to as 'the Great White place of Dry Water'. This means that during the dry season (winter) many of the waterholes dry up and because of the fence the animals can't migrate to find water. As a result, the park has had to create a number of waterholes. For us it was great for viewing as the animals all congregate at the waterholes.

The campsite we were staying at (Okaukuejo) had a waterhole on the boundary that was even lit at night. All of us spent many hours sitting at the fence waiting and watching as a variety of animals came. At one point there were Lions, Rhino, Giraffe, Zebra, Elephants and Jackal all within a few minutes of each other. Surprisingly, all of the Rhino that we saw were the rare black variety and not the more numerous white. The names are also unrelated to their colour, as the only difference is in the shape and position of the horns. There was one very annoying photographer that came equipped with the biggest lens we have seen and a flood light. Jacques ended up going over to him and strongly suggesting that he stop shining the light in the Lion's eyes.Black Rhino

This giraffe stood at the edge of the clearing for over 4 hours because there were Lions growling in the distance. Apparently a herd of 18 Elephants made it feel safe enough to venture to the water's edge

We did 3 game drives in the park and it was nice to be in Kwando for them. Jacques joined us in the truck and set about imparting all his 'game ranger' knowledge. This was when we realised just how lucky we were with our tour leaders. Although it was a little information overload it was great to hear someone so excited about the wildlife. This was what we had wanted in the Kenya and Tanzania. As well as describing the the basic differences between male and female, Jacques also explained the methods in which the animals hunted (or evaded) and looked for water.

The Zebra here have brown stripes as well

Managed to see a Black Rhino during daylight as well.

Kudu (we also had this for dinner a few times!)

This couple were having a nap next to the road...

and these Springbok were on the other side

A Jackal managed to isolate this Springbok from the group but it was too quick to be caught

At one of the larger water holes Kwando's engine suddenly decided not to work. Jacques and JP very nervously got out and made a quick fix to the water line before driving us directly to the nearest campsite for some more permanent repairs. The rest of us kept a very close eye on the hundreds of animals that were drinking at the waterhole, including Zebra, Lion, Kudu, Springbok, Giraffe and Elephant and Ostrich.

When we reached the Etosha Pan (120km long dry lakebed) we all disregarded the sign and jumped out for some artistic photos. We aren't sure how often it sees water but when it does the lake is only about 10cm deep and supports fish and frogs that have been dormant beneath the salt crust.

Etosha was definitely a highlight of the trip so far. Not just for the amount of wildlife that we were able to see at each of the waterholes, but for the commentary that Jacques and JP provided along the way.

2010-03-10T05:01:00.005Z

Kalahari Desert

One more night in Botswana and it was unique! The drive to the next camp was pretty short which was appreciated after the party the night before. When we turned off the tarmac road it was a couple of kilometres of sandy and bumpy road to the campsite itself. Even though it is winter the temperatures are hot! We estimated that it is at least high 30's which was starting to get up there.

As we entered the site we saw some rather cute little huts and a few shade shelters. Unfortunately all the shady spots had been taken by another truck and the huts had no windows. Most people decided to stay in the tents and we all crammed into the shade provided by one tree.

Jacques then gave us the local wildlife warnings. So far we have been used to looking out for Zebra, Lions, Elephants and even Pigs. Now we were told to keep an eyeout for Scorpions, Spiders and bugs. There was a really annoying fly which we were warned about. It is quite large and will try and crawl into ears and noses. Jacques told us that they were difficult to kill and to give anyone that had one of them a 'hearty slap'. I don't think we have ever been more paranoid!

We had been told that there was a swimming hole nearby and all of us decided to beat the heat with a swim. Surprisingly we didn't take Kwando (our truck) but all 19 of us piled into the back of a ute and the lady who owned the camp drove us to the swimming hole. It was an exciting trip with a few people having a rather unstable ride over the sandy tracks. About halfway along we got a flat tyre and the lady told Jacques and JP that they had to change it. A piece of cake for our experienced guides and we were back in the ute, hanging on tightly as we lurched along.

The swimming hole was not what we expected. It was a very deep square cut hole in the middle of the desert. There was a small shaded area and even a bush bathroom. Originally it had been a quarry and then the water started to seep in and filled it. The 3 metre leap in was off the cut rock on the side and the biggest surprise of all was how cold it was! The temperature turned a few people blue. The flies mentioned above followed us out there and in the end the only way to get rid of them is the catch them (not that difficult) and remove the heads. They didn't even drown, and some how managed to survive even if you trod on them!

After a couple of hours swimming we headed back to the campsite where we met some of the local Kalahari Bushmen and went through the bush with them. They took turns showing us what plants they used for food and medicine. Later that night we saw them perform some dancing for the other truck.

We feel that it is important to mention that Botswana has a strict 'foot and mouth' prevention program. Part of this is a Buffalo Fence that runs through the Delta and we could see it from the air during our flight. The other defences are random inspection points where at the least every person has to walk through disinfectant and do the same with our spare shoes. This happened at least 5 times. Only once did the officers insist on seeing our luggage and inspecting for other shoes and meat. Easier said then done for most people as our packs had been emptied into the lockers. A few of the packs were repeatedly shown to the officers. Luckily the guards weren't all that dedicated to the task, as if they had inspected the lockers themselves they would have found quite a few of them full and the odd bit of frozen meat as well.

2010-03-01T07:59:00.013Z

Okavango Delta

The delta is probably the main highlight of Botswana for most people. The Okavango river begins in Angola and flows into Botswana where around 18.5 billion cubic metres of water spread out to form islands, lagoons and channels for 16,000 sqare kilometres. It is also promoted as the place to see hippos, in fact our Lonely Planet guidebook has a picture of 2 hippos from the delta on it cover. Needless to say, we were quite excited at the prospect of bushcamping on one of these everchanging islands.

Our transport from camp was by open sided truck. This time with 2 long bench seats the length of the tray. All our tents, food, water and daypacks were then stuffed under seats or on laps. The drive out to our launch point was around 45 min of very bumpy sandy road, and included a stop to drop the drivers wife at work!

When we arrived at the launch it was organised chaos. There were other groups there as well, although we're not sure if they were staying the night or just doing a day trip. Once we had divided into pairs we had to find a 'poler' and get our gear into the Mokoro (think canoe). A mokoro is the tradional way of navigating the delta. Usually the mokoro is made from the sausage tree, but the tree has to grow for 80 years before it is usable and then the boat only lasts 5years. Most of the mokoros we used were more modern fibreglass versions.
A quick stop for 2 people to change out of a leaky canoe.

Off we go...

In the canoe, we had our daypacks as backrests and sleeping mats to sit on. The 'poler' stood in the rear and poled (or punted) us to our camp. The water appeared to be about 1m deep although we were advised not to leave the canoe unless told it was safe be the poler. Hippos and crocodiles seemed to be the animals to look out for. We were lucky enough to see some elephants on the way out as well. It took about 3hr to travel around 1km but it was very relaxing to sit or lie back and watch the reed and lilies go past. The only annoyance was the baking sun and the tiny bugs that jumped off the reeds. Claire even managed to grab a quick nap along the way.

This was the lady that had all the tents and chairs

The halfway stop and yes Claire is asleep

The tent lady just kept on going!

On the island it was all hands on deck to unload the tents, all of which were on one canoe poled by a single lady! Once everything was on shore the males in the group were instructed to 'mark the territory'. Even though they weren't sure if the guides were joking or not, each male dutifully went and 'marked' a perimeter around the camp. The guides then told us that elephants had been in this exact clearing a few days ago. Somehow this didn't make us feel safe! An upturned mokoro became our bench for food prep and the next 24 hours were spent swimming, learning to pole, reading and going on safari.

Safari out here either happens on foot or in canoe. Since we had already spent 3 hours in the canoe we all voted for foot safari on the same island that we were camping on. I don't think anyone expected to see as much as we did. We were split into 3 groups and instructed to follow the leader at all times. There was a guide in front and at the rear. Within a few meters of the 'perimeter' we were shown different animal tracks and dung and we hadn't been walking for more then 20min when we saw Zebra and Wildebeest herds grazing, further along we saw Giraffe and could hear elephants. The island is one of the bigger ones in the area and we saw a couple of other groups walking as well.

The highlight of this safari was definitely sunset. Not only was it an amazing colour or red and orange, but a herd of buffalo were kind enough to put on a stampede for us. The sunrise safari didn't yield as many animals but we could see some elephants shaking trees, possibly a little closer then we would have liked.

Our guides sang for us around the fire

This elephant was in sight of our camp
Our time in the delta wasn't just restricted to floating on the water. We had opted for a scenic flight over the delta as well. There were 4 of us in each tiny plane and for about an hour we were shown the delta. The view was stunning and for as for as you could see there was water and islands. Whenever the pilot spotted animals he would bank quite sharply to give us a look, the only problem was trying to figure out what he had seen. Steve managed to get front seat so had the best view.

To finish our time at the delta we joined with the people from the small group tour and had a 'bin-bag' costume party. Neither of us were in the running for best dressed but we tried our best, Claire went as the southern cross and Steve was a blackboard.

A herd of elephants on the move between islands

One lone animal

2010-02-19T01:45:00.018Z

KWANDO - the new truck

It is time to leave Zambia and we started our last day by joining our new tour group. The eight of us continuing to Cape Town have joined 3 people that started their trip in Johannesburg, plus another 6 people just starting out. There is a more international flavour to this truck with 2 Germans, and 2 Dutch adding to the mainly English group. Our new tour leader and driver (Jacques & JP) are both South African and set about explaining how the truck works. First things first, girls are not to lift anything heavy! Good news for Claire, bad news for Steve who is put in the 'dog's body' group for the next 3 weeks. The rest of us rotated through the standard cooking/washing/cleaning duties as before.

Before leaving for the border we took the opportunity to also visit the Zambian side of Victoria Falls. Unlike in Zimbabwe where we were able to see the face of the falls, from Zambia we were able to look down the length of them. We had heard that you could almost walk along the top of them but when we tried, there was an armed guard preventing us. Back on the truck we headed on towards the border.
Zimbabwe is on the left side
Wise words!
The bridge that spans Zambia (left) to Zimbabwe (right)

This border is actually a river crossing where the Zambezi River meets the Chobe River. While crossing you can actually see four countries, Zambia to the north (behind us), Botswana to the south (ahead of us), Namibia to the west, and Zimbabwe to the east. If we had been on foot the crossing would have only taken around 30min but it took over an hour for the truck to make it across. The other side is literally river bank so we waited in the shade of trees until JP and Kwando arrived. At camp there were 2 other Acacia tours there. Our old truck (Limpopo) was continuing down to Johannesburg with the 3 remaining people, as well as a small group tour that was also making its way down to Johannesburg. This was the last time that we would see Fiona and Blessed, but we would travel alongside the small group for another couple of days. This particular camp site (Thebe River Safari) had been recently flooded and was in the final stages of rebuilding the pool and bar that a wayward Hippo had destroyed.

Up very early the next morning for a sunrise game drive in Chobe National Park. Unlike the game drives in Kenya and Tanzania the group stayed together in an open sided vehicle with bench seats. A couple of other peolple from the camp site joined us, so we had about 25 on vehicle. It was freezing! The windchill kicked in as soon as we started driving and it was at least an hour or so before we felt any heat from the sun. We were very jealous of some of the other groups going in that had blankets with them. Once in the park we headed straight for the river and found a large herd of Hippo. It was nice to see them a bit more active then those we have already seen. The remainder of the drive was uneventful. We saw lots of evidence of animals but none of them in person. We were quite relieved to return to camp and warmth, expecially as JP had cooked French Toast for us!

We think these are Rock Dussies. Whatever they are they are very cute.

That afternoon, we headed back to the river for a sunset safari cruise. It was with relief that we saw quite a variety of animals, including birds, crocodiles, giraffes, monkeys, buffalo and of course hippo. Finally we saw some hippos out of the water and they capture alot of photo time as everyone tried for the 'yawn'. Sunset topped off a great afternoon on the water.

Believe it not but this is the moon. We've never seen it so big or orange!

The following morning it was up at the crack of dawn again. This time it was for a 9hr day of driving down to Maun, and the Okavango Delta. Alot of that time was spent on a 100km stretch of 'road' that was ridiculously potholed. JP had a go at driving on both sides as well as the shoulders but nothing made it any smoother. At a supermarket stop Claire discovered the Botswanan version of Lamingtons. Naturally she bought it and the comment was 'I am sure it would have tasted great the day it was made'. Apparently it was rather stale.

2010-02-09T10:50:00.011Z

Livingstone again...

The day we went to Zimbabwe was the last official day with the people of this truck. In tradition we headed out for a group dinner at Funky Monkey (a pizza place recommended by Lonely Planet). Sadly a couple of people missed the dinner as they were caught in an 'elephant jam' just outside the campsite gates. As well as the girls getting stuck on the wrong side of the gates, it meant that our taxi's couldn't get in to pick us up. The only option for us was to head through the electric fence into the fancy lodge style hotel that was next door and meet the taxi there.

The road leading to the camp gates.

The last full day at this campsite was an easy one for us. Lazing by the pool and sifting through some of the photos as well as starting to plan activites for our time in Cape Town. That afternoon we had our elephant safari! Our elephant encounter started a little earlier then we had expected. Just after we drove out of the camp gates, a femal elephant lumbered straight past us heading for the gate. The attendants quickly closed them and all the traffic on the way in, settled in for a wait. We got the impression this happens pretty frequently!

The safari was great. All the elephants used by this company have been rescued from Zimbabwe. Our elephant was called Mushimba and she was 25 years old. Her 5yr old baby was also there but was still in training for passengers. The smaller one kept coming up to Claire and touching her leg with its trunk. Each elephant has a guide that sits on the neck and then we sit behind the guide on the elephants back. Surprisingly the skin of the elephant was quite soft but the hairs are very wiry and scratchy. During the ride we were taken alongside the river about 10kms from the drop of the falls, crossing some of the shallower sections to the nearby islands. The elephants obviously don't like getting their tails wet as they were all raised to just above the water level. We were hoping to see some wildlife during the ride and 4 crocodiles were the highlight. Impala and mating chimpanzees rounded out the safari. After the ride we had the opportunity to feed our elephant, and she was definitely hungry. Unlike the others who waited patiently for you to place the pellets into the trunks, Mushimba would use her trunk to search you for the food. She had quite a light touch but was very insistent.

A section of the river that we crossed.

One of the crocodiles, quite alot bigger then the one we saw when rafting!

The feeding frenzy starts

What a way to end our time with Fiona, Blessed and everyone else on 'Limpopo'. Tomorrow we board our next truck....

2010-01-31T10:31:00.017Z

Zimbabwe

The morning after rafting was an interesting one. We all emerged slowly from the tents as we tested how much muscle use we still had and whether the sunburn had faded any. It was decided that the 4 of us that had bought the double entry visa for Zambia would be able to make it to the border and more importantly the 1.3km walk from one border to the other.

The border of the 2 countries is spanned by a bridge across the Zambezi River. To get there we took a taxi, passing an accident along the way. Our driver seemed to have passed it a few times already that morning and proceeded to give us all the details on injuries etc. At the border we organised for the same driver to pick us up for the return leg. As the driver drove off, we heard a voice calling to us. Not wanting to go through the negotiation and haggling phase again we continued on. The person was quite insistent and eventually Craig went to find out what he wanted. We had ordered T-shirts to be made the day we arrived at Livingstone and it was this person who had recognised Steve and thought that we were leaving Zambia permanently without our shirts. We reassured him that we would be returning to our tour group that night and he continued on his way. That is service!!

The Zambian border crossing was quite relaxed. They decided that we didn't need to fill out any forms and just stamped us out. What was more interesting was that they seemed to assume that we were Bungy jumpers and surprised that we were going to Zimbabwe. On the way across the bridge we saw the bungy launch point and also had a good vantage point of where we had started the rafting from.

The rafts set-up at the end of rapid 1

The Zimbabwean border control again was fairly relaxed, no need to fill in forms, just hand over the required amount of money. What did surprise us was we were then given a small ticket which had a number which corresponded with the number of people in our group. We had to show this ticket to the person on the gate. This is the first time we had encountered any kind of real control over who was actually going over the border. Up until now, we think it would be possible to get from Kenya to Zambia without a passport, as you could easily blend into a group and walk straight through the gates. We stress that this isn't a recommended process, plus the stamps make your passport look really good!

Officially into Zim and the first thing we are offered is money. Yes, you have read correctly, for a few US$ you can own your own Zim$50,000,000,000,000 note (50 trillion) plus a few others thrown in free. It doesn't matter that it is absolutely useless. Our friends managed to find a $100,000,000,000,000 note. Very jealous. After this slight detour, we headed straight for the Victoria Falls National Park, where we wandered around for the next few hours.

The entrance to the park. Mosi-oa-Tunya or 'smoke that thunders' is the traditional name for Victoria Falls.

David Livingstone - the first westerner to see the falls.

From the Zimbabwean side, you're further from the falls, though the overall views are better. From the Zambian side, you can almost stand on top of the falls, though your perspective is narrowed. One of the viewing platforms was quite close to the edge and thus we managed to get quite damp. We can only imagine how wet it would be when the falls are in full flow during wet season. Given it was quite hot we were welcoming of the spray and concentrated on protecting cameras rather then ourselves.

The mist rising behind us at one of the first platforms

This warthog looks rather skinny considering the abundance of lush grass constantly watered by the mist.

The Falls cover an area of over a kilometre and there were lots of viewing platforms. We could even see a group of people that were jumping off rocks into a rock pool located on a Zambian cliff. They did give a few people a shock as it looked like they were headed for the Zambezi which was a around 100m below.

Looking down the length of the falls. In wet season you would not see any rock, just a solid wall of water.

'Cataract' section of the falls

The full drop at 'Cataract'

Smaller falls down the length the face.

We stayed in Zim for lunch and couldn't believe how quiet the town of Victoria Falls was. It was only a couple of years ago that this was the preferred tourist destination for the falls. It is sad how politics has turned so many people away. After lunch we were headed for the local market when the tourist police stopped us. It seemed that they were quite bored, and we were escorted around the town.

There were heaps of these baboons around the town scavenging for food.

Our brief experience of Zim is that the falls are far more amazing from the Zim side, so if you can venture across definitely do so. All the people we came across were very happy to have tourists around and more then willing to help us out. We felt that the tourist police were a little over the top, but accept that for many others it would be a comfort.

Back on the bridge and we were in time for our friend Dan's bungy jump. He was looking very nervous so we did our best to calm him down and then ran off to take photos and video. We got there in time to see a girl jumping who had jumped the previous day but her video hadn't worked. She was redoing it because she was using the jump as a fundraiser for a charity so needed proof! Watching Dan has confirmed that both of us would need to be paid a very large amount of money before even considering it! Dan's verdict was that the jump was fine, the painful bit was when they pulled him up!

The view down the Zambezi from the jump platform

This girl was doing her second jump.

Dan leaps!

2010-01-07T09:38:00.033Z

Livingstone

When we arrived in camp it really hit us that we were at the half-way point of the trip. In a couple of days time we were going to be packing up our bags and tent and moving to a new truck. We'd be saying farewell to many of the people we had just become friends with and starting all over again with new tour leaders and a few new people. Sad in one respect and exciting in another. Having to live in such close quarters with everyone it is amazing how quickly you become a 'family' and develop routines.

First impressions of the camp at Livingstone - it is huge!! There are so many different tour companies here, some of which we recognised from the road, but even more that we have never heard of. The accommodation is quite varied, from the camping we are used to right through to luxury bungalow style cabins. It was a bit of a challenge to find a vacant space that was large enough for us and the truck and still be resonably close to any of the shower blocks.

As soon as we had the tents up we went to a briefing of the activities on offer. We had looked into this before we left England and budgeted for the extra cost. In the end we decided to do the Sunset Cruise as a group, White Water Rafting, and Elephant Riding. Claire was quite keen to see Victoria Falls from a Microlight (think lawnmower engine attached to a couple of seats with a wing above you) but since Steve wasn't keen we decided for a scenic flight on a proper plane later on in the trip.

The cruise was definitely a good time and included dinner and drinks, but mainly drinks. Sunset was amazing and we even saw some animals. Before we had even left the pier a crocodile was spotted and shortly after we started to see the heads of hippo's as they surfaced for air. During the cruise we also saw elephants, and giraffe. When we returned to the camp, there was a 'disco' but it seemed only our truck decided to attend. Oh well, we had a great night!
Our tour group and leader

Claire with Fiona - the aussie tour leader

Sunset down the Zambezi

Elephants walking along the bank

A few of the girls from the truck

The next morning it was time for White Water Rafting along the Zambezi. 7 from our truck had deicided to take on the challenge of the full day experience and a couple turned up with sore heads. The safety briefing was short and sweet - Wear a helmet and life jacket, if you flip keep hold of the rope, and finally, if separated from the boat stay in the middle of the river and keep your feet in front of you (apparently that is beneficial if you hit one of the rock walls). The paddles float so no need to worry about those. The start point for the rafting was also the entrance to the Victoria Falls viewing platforms. It was this point that we realised that Zimbabwe was only a few metres away and our lifejackets had ZAMBIA printed on the back of them. The walk down into the gorge took forever and we were glad that we had kept our shoes with us.

Top of the gorge. Zambia on the left, Zimbabwe on the right. You can also see rapids 2 and 3.

Our boat with guide Scotty

Eventually we found the boats and were told that we were doing a 'wet start'. This meant that we had to jump off the rocks into the water (about 5 metres) and be dragged into our boat. Any remaining sore heads from the night before were quickly cured as the water was freezing! The next few hours were action packed as we attempted 8 of the first 10 rapids before lunch. The ones we missed out were Rapid 1 which was deemed too difficult (thus the wet start) and so was the 6th, although it was amazing to stand on the bank and watch the safety kayaks go through.

Claire some how managed to find the water 3 times that morning. The first incident was in flat water between rapids when she lost concentration laughing at someone else's misfortune, and was rewarded with a quick dip and blood nose. The second dip was on the hardest rapid of the day when she managed to flip over the back, travel under the boat and pop up at the front, looking absolutely terrified. Luckily the boat had been pushed up against a rock and Steve and Mike in the front spots were able to pull her back in. Amazingly her paddle was still in her seat! The third incident was a deliberate flip by our guide Scotty. Claire found herself under the boat in an airpocket and was able to pop out on the side okay. Steve didn't manage to hold onto the rope whilst underneath the raft, and found himself floating down the river where the safety guys picked him up.

Claire fell out somewhere here...

and reappeared here...

finishing the rapid like this.

This was the next rapid. All survived!

A few rapids later - the boat starts to rise...

notice Scotty pulling on the rope...

remember the safety briefing - keep hold of the rope

looks like only one person was listening...

Steve definitely didn't hold on!

After lunch we tackled another 15 rapids which were slightly easier then the morning. Our guide told us he was going to flip us twice in the afternoon, but as some of the group hadn't handled the first flip very well, he decided to be nice. As we floated down the river we saw a small Crocodile and Claire was glad her nose was no longer bleeding! When we pulled in after rapid 25 we discovered that we had to take a cable car up the gorge to meet the truck. This was an interesting experience as we had to sign a waiver first, in the car the operator left the side doors open (as it was a bit windy) and told us we would probably get a decent bump when the car changed from the vertical cable to the horizontal cable. More then a few were a bit nervous of the height and very relieved to touch solid ground again.

Solid and dry ground!!

In the truck and it was about 30min drive over very rough ground and through a couple of villages back to camp, where we were shown our photos and video of the day. All in all it was a great day, we finished with one blood nose, one twitsted knee, a maybe broken foot and 7 very sunburnt tourists. All of us were exhausted and were in bed at 8pm.

We tried to load the video directly onto here, but it was a little big. Our fellow traveller Dan has loaded it onto Youtube so follow this link:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=eq3dry2rA5U&feature=player_embedded

2010-01-02T11:26:00.010Z

Zambia

The drive into Zambia was uneventful but the border crossing did take a bit of time. We are getting used to the system where you fill in a card at one end (Note: it is good to take your own pen), get stamped out, walk to the next building which could be anywhere from 100m to 1km away and fill in another card. Then you hand over your money and passport and hope for the best. Our driver (Blessed) is from Zimbabwe and had told us that Victoria Falls was better to see from the 'Zim' side. The Victoria Falls and the town of Livingstone is the main reason we are going to Zambia so we decided to get a double entry visa just in case we wanted to go across.

While waiting for the return of our passports one opportunistic person was trying to find a wife. Apparently Claire is worth 10 000 houses, if only she would divorce Steve first! What he didn't elaborate on was the type of house, so we gave it a miss as we have seen some very simple 'shacks' and some beautiful mansions during our driving so far.

With passports back and Claire feeling quite relieved that she still had enough spare pages to get back to Australia we headed to our next camp. This camp was called 'Mama Rula's' located just outside of Chipata and was one of the better sites that we stayed at. A small incident when Craig managed to drop the wind guard for the gas stove on his toes, luckily we have a selection of medical personal on the truck so he was treated and hobbled off to luxury of the thatched bar and TV. Reception was limited although sport seems to be the universal channel. The rest of us relaxed in the shade playing cards, reading and using the bars electricity to go through the hundreds of photos we had taken. For dinner that night we decided to share with the leader and driver of the Tucan truck that had arrived just after us. We were getting to know the tour leader of this truck fairly well as they had followed us from Karen Camp in Nairobi.

Like us, the Tucan group subcontracted to local operators for the safari components. During their trip to the Masai Mara, the van that they were travelling in was involved in a major accident that required some airlifting to hospitals. During the 3hour wait for medical assistance the local Masai built them a shelter for shade and provided water. Those that weren't injured had elected not to continue their tour past Zanzibar so the truck was essentially in transit through the Zambia when they picked up the next group of passengers. It made us realise why Fiona and Blessed were always talking to us about wearing seat belts and asking about the local drivers and were we comfortable with the driving.

After the short drive to Chipata we had quite a long one of around 600km to Lusaka and our eventual camp site of Eureka. It was the first time that we were long periods without service stations or facilities so the roadside 'bush bathroom' was in use. One unlucky person received a bite/sting during the process but apart from being embarrassed she was fine. On the way through Lusaka we made a quick stop at small shopping centre. It was difficult to choose between getting some more snacks at 'Super Spar' or the internet cafe that actually had a working connection at reasonable speed. In the end Steve went for technology and Claire went for food. Fruit is a bit sparse in East Africa so it is good to stock up when you get to the western-style supermarkets, but just be prepared to pay a lot for it.

The campsite at Lusaka was quite large and has its own game reserve attached to it which can be explored on foot. We headed out as a group but only found a disused quarry so went back disappointed. The 2 of us made a late decision to try the other direction on our own and were rewarded by finding a small herd of Zebra including a young foal. We were crouching behind some trees watching and they came to within about 20m of us. We are pretty sure they knew we were there as the front couple kept looking our way but they were still content to graze and let the young foal walk around. In the end Claire realised that she was on cooking duty and we had to return to the camp. We also saw a few Gazelle but they were quite skittish and we didn't get very close.

This was the last night of our tour before reaching Livingstone where we would be changing trucks. When we arrive in Livingstone tomorrow all our meals are up to ourselves but we still use the Acacia Africa tents and truck to store our stuff. For dinner we tried to use everything fresh that we had left so it was an interesting mix of pasta and salad.

2009-12-18T05:22:00.029Z

Malawi

Time for another border crossing and since Fiona and Blessed had been delayed before at this crossing, we planned to set off by 6am and have a breaky stop during the drive. A couple of other trucks had arrived at camp after dark and they managed to wake us up before 5am. It seems they had the same idea of leaving early, but they decided to do the full breakfast first. Our only delay was a flat battery which Blessed sorted in record time. Even with the headstart we gave the other trucks we caught up with them quite quickly and made it to the border first. As we were the only truck there the crossing went pretty smoothly and it wasn't long before we had our first glimpse of the lake.

Lake Malawi is massive with a series of beaches. We spent 4 nights in total along different parts of it. Our first stop was at Chitimba Beach near the town of Livingstonia. The lake looked like an ocean as it has sand and waves (due to wind)!

Packing up Limpopo ready to drive to Mzuzu

Early morning on Chitimba Beach

There was a wooden crafts market just outside the gates to camp and we decided to it was time to hone our bargaining skills. These guys are very persistant and despite nearly every stall selling almost identical items, each salesman will insist that their goods are superior. Surprisingly the price wasn't as cheap as we expected. We were also a bit dubious of the quality, as the hardwood and ebony carving was probably a bit of brown and black bootpolish. It was here that we realised the true potential of unwanted items. The sellers were very keen to trade clothes, shoes, hairbands, batteries or softdrink (but only in recyclable glass bottles). If we had known about this we would have brought a few more clothes with us. One of our fellow travellers bought a table in exchange for his very old sneakers plus a small amount of US$. Don't be fooled into thinking you can offload your dead batteries, they will check them first!

At a supermarket later on in the trip, I realised why they wanted these items. A pack of hairbands was nearly 6 US$ and shampoo was almost $10. Another tip, softdrinks will be cheaper in a glass bottle as the shop gets money back for returning the glass. A can of the same drink will be at least twice the price.

The second stop for the lake was at Kande Beach where we would spend 2 nights. The drive there was short and we finally had an opportunity to go to a local market in Mzuzu. The market is huge with different sections and packed with people. Fiona headed off into the fruit and vege section while Claire went searching for thongs (or Jandals or Flip Flops) with Craig and Pip. After some heated negotiation, 2 pairs were bought at tourist prices (1.50 US$) and then they had to find their way back out. For the most part it was surprisingly organised inside. Most of the stalls looked pretty permanent and were in definite isles, it was just a matter of figuring out which one went to one of the exits and then where did we leave the truck? The stalls in the clothing sections were piled metres high. The most impressive was the sock stall. A huge array of unmatched socks, although some of them did look a little worn they were all white or pretty close to it. Maybe this is where the 'traded clothes' end up.

The campsite itself is on the beach and since we were the first truck in we had the pick of sites. We decided it was time to upgrade from the tent so paid $80 for an ensuite room with electricity and hot water for the 2 nights. Claire did miss the tent as the bed had some definite lumps and bumps in it, but it was worth it just to spread our stuff out and remember what we had bought with us.

The 'surf beach'.

One of the highlights of our stay here was a trip to the local village. We were met at the gates by about 20 guys and the tour guide. The idea here is that 2 of the locals will be friendly with you and then on the way back to camp they bring out samples of their woodwork in the hope that you will purchase something off them. Most of them told us they were students, but Fiona said they must get alot of holidays as they are there everytime she stays here! Claire's new friends were named Kevin Costner and Isaac. Apparently 'Kevin' was studying to be a tour guide and Isaac was still learning english so he could apply to schools. As we approached to village the children came running towards us and grabbed our hands. Similar to Tanzania, they love being thrown around in the air. All of us got a definite gym workout that afternoon. Claire in particular was a favourite and the little girl took some persuading to go back to the village. In the village we also saw a water pump donated by a Canadian charity, visited the school and met the principal as well as the small medical clinic where a baby had just been delivered. As we returned to camp Claire succumbed to the marketing and put an order in for a wooden carving to be picked up the next morning. The guys all seem to take on a western name and Craig was stoked to finally meet Jonah Lomu, although he was a slightly shorter then we expected!

The Canadian donated water pump

Jumping isn't enough, they need to flip over as well. Very sore shoulders the next day

Inside the main school building

More fun in the school courtyard

This little girl was quite attached to Claire

Earings were very exciting!

All the kids liked to play up the camera even if the don't really understand what is happening

Still jumping, this time back towards camp

One last group shot before we had to leave the kids behind

Local bus service went through the village just as we were leaving

That night it was Georgia's 21st and Fiona had managed to find some decorations and get a cake made for the occasion. The party ran long into the night and for the first time in the trip it wasn't a problem making it past double figures (10pm). The only small downside were the little flying bugs. There were 1000's of them and while they didn't sting or bite, they were just everywhere. Alfoil lids were created for drinks and food and as soon as the washing up was finished all lights were off. We hadn't realised this and had left a lamp on in our room. As soon as we opened the door a cloud of them swarmed in with us.

Day 2 started with meeting 'Kevin Costner' at the gates and going to get our carving, which we planned to turn into a fridge magnet. Claire had designed the magnet the day before and it was still being carved when we got to the workshop. To make the time go faster Isaac challenged Claire to the Bao Bao game using the female rules of course! 2 games later with Claire managing one win we left with our magnets freshly polished with Kiwi Boot Polish and doubting that Australian quarantine was going to let us bring them back home. Another couple on the truck got some engagement rings carved as well. Claire ended up returning later in the day and buying a painting that had caught her eye. The negotiations were much easier here when compared to Chitimba. She had decided that 10US$ was her limit and the seller started the bidding at 7 - bargain! While Claire was shopping Steve decided to test the waters of the lake and went for a swim. It was a strange sensation catching waves in fresh water and not gagging on salt when you get dumped.

For the last night on the lake we drove down to Senga Bay. It is surprising how 250km will take 4hours because of the road conditions. One bump in particular sent the truck's freezer out of its bracket and at least 30cm forwards, as well as shearing the fuse box off the wall. Quick roadside repairs and we were off again.

Senga Bay

The lake really spoilt us for scenery as we were again camping on the beach. The bar here is definitely a feature. It is a circular building that is set on concrete pylons that have a prominent lean into the water. It was a fantastic spot to take in another amazing African Sunset and finish our time in Malawi

Notice the definite lean, and the floor inside was alittle up and down as well.

Sunset from the bar

Sunset from the beachSunrise over the bay

Steve and Craig, very dedicated at 5am with tripods

For us this section from Zanzibar was pretty much a transit drive. It was nice to have a couple of days to relax, but I think we would have preferred a long drive and 2 nights somewhere that offered some sort of activity. By the end of this week we were looking forward to something a little more exciting as we were starting to become a little bored. Maybe this is a result of the excitement of safaris early on, and we had already had the few days in Zanzibar to wind down from that.

2009-12-10T04:02:00.022Z

Zanzibar

After leaving Arusha we spent 2 days driving to Dar Es Salam which was our launch point to Zanzibar. The overnight camp along the way again put us in close company with some Zebra's, probably to be expected as it was called Zebra Camp. The second days driving should have been quite short but we were warned that the traffic in 'Dar' would add an extra hour or 2 to the trip.

Saying that triffic is a little congested is an understatement. The streets are lined with stalls selling just about anything and everything you could imagine and there are people that run to your windows and try and sell water, ice-creams or anything else they might be carrying. We were sheltered from this because we were elevated in the truck. Even with traffic lights and police presence, it seemed that at times the drivers just have to take a deep breath and hope to make it across the intersection safely.

The camp at Dar was just outside of town at Kipepeo Beach and was a beautiful spot. We were right on the beach and enjoyed listening to the waves all night. For the boys it was one of the first times we had a TV and there was a few hours of catching up on the Cricket at the beachside bar. We also met 2 of the new people that were joining us in Zanzibar.

Leaving the beach we drove into the 'town' and caught a ferry back to Dar. Much simpler as it only took 5min. On the drive we saw heaps of people riding bikes with amazing loads precarilously balanced. Our 10/10 prizes go to the guy with bananas and to the person with a sack of potatoes that received a gentle nudge from a car and still stayed upright.

Once in Dar we had about an hour to spare before the next ferry. We had been warned by another Acacia group at Snake Park that the crossing was extremely rough and motion sickness pills were suggested. A number of us chipped in and bought a packet from the rather bemused pharmacist.

Even though Zanzibar is part of Tanzania you get stamped in and out as if you were going to a different country. As we had only limited spare pages left in our passports we thought this was a little unnecessary. When we tried to board the ferry we were told that Steve's daypack was too big and that it had to be 'checked in'. This pretty much involved throwing it up over the front of the boat to be put in a pile with all the other big bags. We decided to sit inside and dozed for most of the 2 hour trip. The others that sat out of deck said they saw Dolphins. When we docked in Stone Town, the crew realised that half of the wharf had just been painted and all our bags had to passed down the length of the ferry via a human chain to the dry section. When we saw that Steve's tripod had opened up during the trip we were a little concerned that it was going to fall out of its strap. Thankfully it and all the bags made it to dry land safely.

We were met by a local tour operator who walked us to our hotel and then gave us a description of the day trip tour options. All of the group decided to do the Spice Tour that afternoon, mainly because it included lunch. This tour included a few of the local sights including St Monica's Cathedral which was the location of the slave market and has a small memorial to it. The cathedral itself is pretty rundown, but only a very small percentage of the population of Christian. The locals are predominantly Muslim.

Just follow me, the hotel is down the street....

We had quick photo stops at Beit El Ajaib (House of Wonders), Livingstone House and Maruhubi Palace before arriving at the actual Spice Farm. This scaled down version has Vanilla, Turmeric, Lemongrass, Nutmeg, and Pepper as well as a number of tropical fruit. The tasting session that followed was great with some of the best pineapple we have ever had. Back in Stone Town we had a 'last dinner' as 7 of the group were finishing their tour here. We also wandered through the excellent night market and tried some of the seafood kebabs. The food here was fantastic and we could have happily picked out way through the stalls for dinner finishing with the chocolate and banana pizza.

'Ali D in the bus' our guide for the spice tour, complete with cockney accent!

Using a machete to take the skin off a pineapple.

Night markets, the spicy lobster kebab is highly recommended!

One of the tour options presented to us was the 'Prison Island Tour' for $20US. We thought this was quite expensive and did some investigating of our own. In the end 8 of us hired a boat and snorkelling gear directly through a local fisherman for under $10 each. Bargain. We got up early the next day and headed over to the island where we were the first boat of the day and had the place to ourselves. One of the island's attractions were the Giant Tortoise's. The handlers gave us some food and let us loose in the enclosure. There were over 100 of them and they are huge! When they move the shells creak and make a small thud when the settled down again. Our captain then gave us a tour of the island which is now partly a ritzy private hotel. Even though it is called Prison Island it was never used as a prison but rather as a Hospital. After the tour we sailed a little futher round the island and went snorkelling. We were amazed at the vast number and different colours of fish and coral that we could see. One of our group did get a little close to a jellyfish, but a quick stop back on the island for some vinegar soothed the sting.

This starfish was on the and where the boat landed.

Feeding the always hungry giant tortoise.

Our boat and captains

The cove where we landed

A spot of snorkelling

This storm started to approach as we headed back to Stone Town

Once we returned to Stone Town we headed to Kendwa Beach in the north of the island. This was our stop for the next 2 nights. This beach is lined with hotels and their restaurants and bars. One thing with this part of the Acacia Tour is that there is no accommodation pre-booked for you. This means that you can organise your own before you go or your tour leader will book something while you are on safari. We went for the latter option and we were all disappointed with the standard of accommodation for this leg. A few people decided to upgrade their rooms at one of the neighbouring hotels. Our advice for anyone doing this trip is to ask the company what their plans are and if Kendwa Beach is the destination, it wouldn't matter which hotel you are in as they are all next to each other. We still met up for drinks, dinner and games of beach volleyball or cards over the 2 days we were there. It was nice to have the couple of days to relax after the high excitement and early starts of the 2 safaris. The only downside was Steve had a 24hr tummy bug so was confined to the room and missed another fabulous sunset.

Our return ferry on the last day was for the afternoon, so we decided to get an early transfer to Stone Town and wander through the streets. Steve ended up having the first phone interview for a job back in Brisbane, in a waterside park as it was the only place that didn't have people everywhere. The only issue was as soon as we sat down, a group of school girls came up and wanted to practice their English with Claire. Not really what Steve needed at that time. Interview over, and both our prepaid UK sim cards left with no balance, we hit the streets for souveniours. While negotiating the price of some artwork we noticed a group of police outside the shop. We nervously took our purchase and made our way back into the shopping precint. When we walked past again about 30min later, there were no paintings on display and the shop was boarded up! Oh well, at least we liked the paintings.

Before the shop was 'closed'

On the ferry for the return trip we again decided to sit below deck. The return crossing was definitely much rougher than the way over. Claire decided to stand outside for the trip and the crew were seen handing out quite a few black bags! As far as we know everyone on our truck was okay, but quite relieved to see Dar and Kipepeo again. Since we have said goodbye to 7 people in Zanzibar and had 3 join us, we have been given new work groups, although not much to do tonight as we didn't need to prepare the food. We ordered a fabulous BBQ from the campsite next door instead.

A hard working porter from the ferry.

Leaving Kipepeo the next morning we started our drive towards Malawi. We drove along the highway through Mikumi National Park. We did see some Elephant and Giraffe but were unable to stop as we hadn't paid the park fees (and it was a highway). The other noticeable thing about this area is the number of Baobab trees. Our campsite for that night was aptly named as there is a massive tree right in the middle of it.

Our next drive was really short and we arrived at lunch time. It was only a matter of minutes before the clothesline was out and the handwashing begun. We spent the afternoon, trying to find the lake that is somewhere on the property, playing cards and the tradional Bao Bao game. It was also our first wedding anniversary at this campsite!
Sunset at 'The Farmhouse' with the washing line.

2009-12-04T04:39:00.025Z

Ngorongoro Crater

The morning game drive for the Serengeti had us all excited for the afternoon drive back out to the Crater. The heat of the day seemed to have affected the animals, as we didn't see much. A Lion carrying a baby gazelle and a cheetah were the highlights. Some of our 4WD had gone on the sunrise balloon ride and most of us managed to squeeze in a short nap.
Just a small snack
It looks menacing but is just a yawn. A bit how we were feeling by this stage!

After a short detour we made a stop at Oldupai Gorge which is also known as 'The Cradle of Mankind'. It is here that the oldest humanoid fossils have been found. The museum is very interesting showing the different forms of archaeology explorations that have occured over the years. As we were about to leave, we encountered the faulty alternator again. This time with the help of around 10 Masai the 4WD was push started on its way

Note the girls are still in the 4WD

We got to Simba camp on the edge of the crater and kept an eye out for the bull elephants that we had seen the day before. Sadly (or fortunately), no repeat performance, but then we didn't leave our mattresses outside! The temperature here drops quickly and it wasn't long before we were all huddled around the fire. Our guide, Blessed, warned us that there were often Wild Pigs in the area looking for food and that we shouldn't leave anything edible in our tents - this included toothpaste. There was a rush for the 4WD's as all our supplies of chips, lollies and biscuits were safely locked away.

We did get some animal visitors after dark. The first were a group of Zebra grazing between the groups of tents. This camp site is very big and when news of the Zebra spread there was a large group of head-torches bobbing towards us. Later in the night when there were only 6 of us left round the fire the rumoured wild pigs arrived and headed straight for the scrap bucket in the kitchen area. It was very funny to watch the cooks chase them away, only to have them return a few minutes later.

For us the scariest moment was in the early hours of the morning when an animal (we think it was a pig or warthog) skidded into the side of the tent, giving Claire's head a light tap on the way. For the next couple of hours all we could hear was the snuffling of them as they continued to feed. We had the flysheet on so couldn't see out the window to see exactly what they were, and we weren't going to stick our heads out the door!

When we woke up we were surrounded in mist and it was freezing cold. All of us were concerned about the lack of visibility but the drivers assured us that in the crater itself the mist would have already lifted. We were very glad we used the fly sheet because it was soaked and our tent was nice and dry and warm. Back in the 4WD and rugged up in everything warm we owned we headed down into the crater.

Even though there are no fences, the steepness of the sides are enough of a deterrent for most of the animals to leave. There is still a migration pattern with the Wildebeest but just to different areas of the crater. Today was supposed to be the best chance for seeing a Rhino (our last remaining animal of the Big 5) and we spent a few hours looking. In the end we had to surrender and accept that it was a bit too cold for them as well. It got to the point where any dark animal in the distance could be a rhino and there is still dispute about whether there was actually one there. It was too far away for a good clear photo but our driver decided it was a buffalo.

The other end of the camp disappears into the mist as we rug up ready for the game drive

Even without the Rhino, we saw a Cheetah on the move, the never ending Zebra and Wildebeest migration, some Hippo's returning to their waterhole for the day, Flamingos in the distance on the edge of Lake Natron and a pride of 10 Lions including some cubs. The landscape here is quite changeable with an almost tropical area of trees and bushes and then large plains of grass like the Serengeti. At one of the waterholes (without Hippos) we took the opportunity to have a group photo of our 4WD as this was nearly the end of the trip for half of our group. On the way out of the crater we saw a few bull elephants. One of which had a broken tusk and our driver estimated his age at 60.

Cheetah on the prowl

A halt in migration for feeding

Was good to see these guys moving around. Wasn't long before they were all submerged again!

In dry season this is as close to the lake edge as you can get. In wet season you would be at water's edge.

Group nap for this pride of Lions

This elephant has led a tough life!

Back at Snake Park camp site in Arusha where we had our first experience of crowded camping. There were 4 other overland trucks there for the night which meant that there was no hot water and a very busy bar. This camp also has a truck garage and while we were on safari our truck, 'Limpopo', was serviced and repainted. This took a little longer then anticipated and there was still another coat of paint needed when we returned. It made accessing clean clothes interesting as first you had to find out who had the door handle for the truck and reattach it in order to get to the lockers.

Last group at Arusha as all the other companies had just left for the Serengeti.

While in the bar we heard that the Mozambique Spitting Cobra had just been fed some live mice. Since we had only seen a few stalkings and no kills on safari, most of the truck crowded in front of the enclosure and waited, and waited and waited....... The Cobra did make a few half hearted attempts but we think it was just tormenting them. Hunger got the better of us though, and someone was dispatched at regular intervals during the evening to check the progress. When we left the following day, there were still mice, although our guess is they were getting pretty tired of the narrow escapes.

The next morning while waiting for the last of the paint to dry we were taken on a tour of the local Masai Village. This village is directed more at tourists with an optional camel ride from the camp site. The village itself is more permanent with bigger huts and the general surrounds were much cleaner than we had seen in the Masai Mara. There is also a small hospital and school attached to the village. It was a holiday period while we were there so the kids were quite keen to hold our hands and try on our hats and sunglasses and generally interact with us.

Masai hut

This little girl made Claire jump and hop all the way back to camp

Lastly, since our washing had all landed in the dirt last time we were at this camp we had put our white clothes in to be washed. We aren't sure what the locals did but they were returned spotless with lots of tiny indents from being dried on the thorn bushes.

2009-11-20T04:13:00.038Z

Serengeti

After a good night in the bar courtesy of Ma & BJ, we split into groups again and headed off to the Serengeti in 4WD's. Our group remained pretty much the same, although the 'newly engaged couple' swapped with the 'about to be married couple'. Our driver this time was named Livingstone and was much more informative and talkative then our driver in the Masai. As we drove through some villages he would give us a bit of information on them as well as the other game parks or national parks we passed. There were many souvenir shops lining the road and Claire was looking forward to being able to do a spot of shopping. At one stop we were encouraged to buy Masai blankets as the temperatures in the crater get to zero. We had sleeping bags that we thought would handle it, so we held off.

Our day of driving started at about 8am and finished after sunset. In order to reach the Serengeti we travelled around the edge of the Ngorongoro Crater. There were a couple of good vantage points where we could glimpse the lake in the centre. As it was dry season it was only a fraction of the size it can be.

On the edge of the crater. That small patch of white over Steve's shoulder is the lake

One of the highlights of the day occurred at Simba Camp on the edge of the crater. We had dropped in to use the toilets (apparently they are the best in the area, well the only ones in the area) and found 2 bull elephants at the camp. This camp is huge and the toilet block is at the opposite end to where the elephants were so no one was concerned. After 15min or so we noticed that the elephants were heading our way, so we got back into the 4WD's. A group of French travellers chose to abandon their nice picnic lunch and head into the toilet block for safety. The elephants took particular interest in the mattresses that had also been left out. We thought the tents might have been in danger but Livingstone explained that elephants have poor eyesight and see a tent as a big rock, so won't go near them. After playing with the mattresses for a while the elephants had a bit of a tussle and then headed for the food. Our 4WD blocked them off and eventually both elephants wandered off into the bushes. It was at this point that Livingstone told us we would be camping right here the next night!!

After that excitement we continued towards the Serengeti, finding one of the other 4WD's stopped on the side of the road after the brakes had over-heated on the way down from the top of the Crater. Our driver seemed to be in charge so he got out and had a bit of a tinker, pronounced the other 4WD OK and off we went again.

Some kids came over to investigate

The next stop was at the gate to the Serengeti where the drivers paid for our admission to the national park. The staff at the park definitely used African time, as it took over an hour. Apparently they only took credit cards, and they had lost their phone connection, so we were at a standstill. It was then that we discovered that the other 4WD had a faulty alternator and did the first of the many battery changes to get underway.

We were all expecting to see animals straight away, as we had done in the Mara but it was a good hour of very boring driving over a flat and brown landscape before we saw anything other then Gazelle (of which there were 100's). Eventually a few trees started to appear and in the hour before sunset we saw Cheetah, Hippo, Lions and Giraffe. When the sun started to set we were all mesmerised at the colours. Unfortunately we couldn't stop for long as we were hadn't got to camp and it was nearly dark.

Hyena

Feeding time.

Jackal

Cheetah

Hippo's

Our campsite at the Serengeti was our first experience in an unfenced camp with no guards to protect us from any animals. When we arrived there was about 5min of light left and our tents went up in record time. Quite a few of the group were a little nervous and made sure their tents were surrounded by others. Being the brave ones, we ended up on the outside of the group between the water tank and the toilet block and the Serengeti behind us. The only part of this camp that is fenced is the kitchen.

We slept quite peacefully but discovered the next day that there had been Buffalo grazing only a few meters from our tent. Claire also found one grazing next to the toilet block at 5am. Lucky it was still dark or she wouldn't have made it. It was on the way back that the head torch picked up the eyes. The drivers also told us that there had been a couple of Lions prowling around.

The only issue we encountered when the campsite ran out of water. Thus no showers, and no flushing toilets.

The main game drive here started at sunrise which was almost as good as the sunset the previous night. There were definitely more animals out and about. Apart from the 100's of Gazelle that we noticed yesterday, there seemed to be quite a few Lions about. The main highlights were:
1. A female Lion eating a kill, 2 females grooming each other, a male Lion coming within a couple of metres of our car and then attempting a Gazelle kill.

2. The speck in the tree that turned out to be a Leopard. Eventually it climbed down and followed a Gazelle before giving up and going back up a tree. Steve's lens was only just capable of seeing it.

3. A herd of 10 elephants that walked in front of our car to a small waterhole where they started to spray themselves with water and mud. The babies were so tiny that they were almost completely submerged at times.

We also saw Zebra, Warthogs, Buffalo and of course the Gazelle. Another interesting feature was the blue and black squares of cloth that were hanging in the trees. We founds out these are impregnated with some sort of poison for the Tsetsi fly. Back in the camp site for lunch, we saw that most of our tents had been dragged to one side so that the water truck could deliver to the toilet block. We quickly packed up and jumped back in the 4WD ready for the trip to Ngorongoro Crater.

Serengeti Camp.

2009-11-18T10:53:00.007Z

Tanzania (the first border crossing)

Leaving Kenya for Tanzania was also the first time we were to be in the truck. Our truck could carry 24 passengers with the seats configured into 2 tables of 4 and standard bus seating for the rest. Our luggage was placed into quite deep lockers that made up the entire inside back wall of the truck. Also in with us were 2 eskys and a large deep freezer. Most of our sleeping mats were placed on a shelf above the lockers and the racks above our heads. We were separate from the cab (and tour leader/driver) and had a buzzer to press if we wanted to contact them. There was a small window between that we could then talk to them through.

A few photos taken from the truck as we drove through Kenya. Street stalls usually selling fruit and vegetables

We had been warned that the road to the border was pretty much smoothish tarmac but once we crossed into Tanzania it would rapidly become dirt and gravel and would be a little bumpy! Firstly the border crossing. In one word it was mayhem. You have to be stamped out of Kenya in one building and then walk about 30m to the Tanzania side and be stamped in. There didn't seem to be any system or organised queue. Eventually we convinced one of the officiers to take all the passports and money for our group. Once we handed over our $100US we then had to sit on the kerb and wait. When we finally got them back they were in a shopping bag and contained a bonus passport. Luckily we were able to find the lady and give it back and be on our way. Our tour leaders, Fiona and Blessed, were not exaggerating the condition of the road. Immediately after the fence the tarmac disappeared and we were thrown about in our seats for the next couple of hours.

Lunch on the side of the dirt road.

We finally arrived at Snakepark which was located just outside of Arusha. It was the first time to put up our tents and we managed it in under 5min. After all the dust of the Masai most people were keen to give their clothes a bit of a wash. We strung some line up and put the clothes on and then headed to the bar. The bar here is run by a South African couple and most of the profits go to helping the hospital and school in the Masai villiage that is next door. Their biggest contribution comes by making snake anti-venom particularly for the Black Mamba. Everyone in the truck had no hesitation in choosing to buy drinks at the bar knowing the good work that this couple do. The only downside was returning to our tents to discover all the handwashing lying in the dirt!

Lesson one to any future overlanders reading this - take pegs!

2009-11-05T09:35:00.022Z

Masai Mara

Our first instructions for the tour was to pack a small bag for 2 nights in the Mara National Park. The rest of our luggage would be stored in our truck (named Limpopo, after a river) and we would travel into the Mara in minivans. Our van consisted of 4 couples and we dubbed it the 'Love Bus' as we had 2 couples on honeymoons, 1 newly engaged and ourselves who were soon to reach our 1yr anniversary. It took a few hours to drive from Nairobi out to the camp site and was a good opportunity to start to get to know the others in our van. It turned out that most of the people were from England which is a bit different from the other tours we have done around Europe.

The roads that we travelled on varied from OK to really bad. It was a sign of future roads to come with large rocks and lots of sand making up the start of roadworks. It was very noticeable when we left the wealthier areas in Nairobi. The houses became much simpler and were often little more than corrugated iron sheets and uneven planks of wood nailed together. The people were dressed in their finest clothes and setting off for the walk to their jobs. We don't know how their clothes managed to stay clean with all the dust that was around.

We had a brief photo stop at the Rift Valley on our way, just to try and appreciate just how vast the landscape is. Along the side of this windy road there were people cooking corn in 'ovens' dug into the side of the hill. They would then try and sell it to the cars driving up. 6 hrs after we left Nairobi we finally arrived at camp with the last 2hrs being the worst of the roads so far.

As our introduction to life on the campsite, this was really nice. It was a permanent tented camp site, so each tent had 2 single beds and a toilet and shower at the back. Luxury. However, we should mention that this camp didn't have any fences and there were a few monkeys hanging around when we got there. We had also seen some rather large deposits from elephants nearby. Some of the local Masai were used as guards to patrol the perimeter and keep us safe overnight. We had one issue being that the zip on the doors of our toliet & shower didn't close so the guards probably got to see more than they expected.

Another aspect of the luxury was that there was even electricity provided uptil 9pm. This meant that it was a race to get the few charging points for those that needed them. Luckily for us we had thought ahead and brought extra camera batteries.

In total we went on 2 half day safaris and a full day one. The first one was that afternoon. We had our first experience of what it meant to be a tourist in Africa as well. There was a group of Masai women at the gates of the reserve and the instant our van pulled up they were at the windows trying to sell us blankets, beads and carved animals. We learnt quite quickly after that to have the windows up. They also just run around the side of the gate in case you missed them the first time. At one point we thought the lady was going to crawl onto the roof and pass us stuff through the sun roof. 10 out 10 for effort!

On the game drives there seems to be no set rules for the drivers to follow, as they seemed to drive everywhere and anywhere. There are some dirt roads, but as soon as an animal is sighted it is straight onto the grass. The radio is also constant in the background as the drivers talk to each other. The roof of the van pops up so that when you do find the animals you can use the roof or the windows to take photos or video. We are still amazed at how capable our driver was at spotting animals. As our group had split into 3 vans, quite often all 3 would be together and then our driver would say, 'I think this way is better' and we wouldn't see the others for a few hours.

A slight delay in reaching the gate one morning. Flat tyre
We had sighted some Giraffe and Zebra before we even reached the park and were very excited about our first game drive experiences. Each time we entered the park there were some more Zebra and Gazelle quite close to the gate. As we drove further we saw herds of Elephants that were feeding, and families of Giraffe going for a walk. One of the highlights was getting VERY close to a few Lions. As it turns out they don't move much and like to sleep through most of the day.

A typical drive would involve bumping along the road scanning the horizon in the hope of seeing something. We often decided that far off trees looked like Elephants, when suddenly there would be excitement on the radio and we would pick up speed and turn up along with 10 other vans to see a lone Lion or Cheetah. Amazingly at times we were only 2 metres away from them. There seems to be an unwritten rule of only 5min with the animal before moving on and people get cranky if take longer.

The most memorable moments from this park include:

Driving through a heard of Buffalo. They definitely didn't seem at all concerned that we were there. As we slowly made our way through they would turn and look at us and usually move off the road. It was interesting to see the number of birds that were sitting on their heads and picking at the ears and noses.

Observing a group of about 10 Vultures fighting over the remains of what we think was a Buffalo carcass. It was only the insides that remained and the 3 way tussle for the intestines made for tense viewing. There was also a couple of Hyena on the fringes waiting for their turn. We then realised that sitting in a nearby bush was a male Lion guarding Buffalo carcass. Interestingly we revisted this spot a few times over the next 2 days and the Lion did not move, but the Buffalo hadn't been eaten. We were told that the Lion would probably wait about 3 days before eating.

Seeing the migration of Wildebeest and Zebra. There were 1000's of them and they all seem to travel in straight lines, follow-the-leader style. They travel together as both animals have complimentary skills. One has great eyesight, and the other has superior hearing so that they will detect predators first. The animals are in a constant migration pattern and move north from the Serengeti to the Mara and back again a few months later in search of fresh grasses. We were also able to see them cross the Mara River although at quite a distance. Not even Steve's super lens could manage a photo. The bush bathroom break was quite an interesting one with the Zebra moving past!

Rescuing a van of Chinese tourists who had followed us when we took a 'short cut' through a dry creek with quite steep banks. Their driver wasn't quite as adventurous (or capable) as ours and struggled to make it up the other side. All the guys on our truck tried to push him up the bank but to no avail. In the end our van had to tow him out, although the rope snapped twice in the process. It would have been really nice if any of the fancy looking 4WD Landcruisers that came past gave a hand. So even though we got through fine, it took 45min to get the other van out and we were an hour late for lunch.

Watching Monkeys steal bananas at the lunch spot and then discovering the Hippos at the riverside. Usually Hippos spend the day lazing in the water so it was lucky for us to see all of them on the riverbank. While watching them from the bridge we also saw a small crocodile in water.

We were also able to meet some of the Masai at their village. We were welcomed in dramatic fashion as they all started dancing and jumping right in our faces. They then took our hands and made us join in. Claire's new Masai friend gave her his blanket to wear and she didn't want to give it back. It was surprisingly soft. Later they performed the tradional 'Jumping Dance' which Steve joined into. Traditionally the highest jumper would be offered a wife as a prize. The locals didn't need to fear. We don't know how they do it but they certainly get very high. None of the tourists even came close.
Performed by a professional

Steve's turn, although to get the height Steve had to bend the knees.

The Masai village is fenced in thorn bushes to protect from the wild animals and the cattle are also protected in the same way. Each compound represents one family and the number of huts shows the number of wives of the chief. This village had 10 huts! Each hut is built by the wife from mud, grass and cow poo and maintained by the wife. The huts are quite small and very dark inside, but have separate areas for cooking, sleeping and keeping the baby animals. The central area of the village is also littered with cow poo as this is where the cattle aer kept overnight to protect them from the wildlife. While we were there we could see the cattle returning, usually with quite a young boy in charge of the herd. They have to travel many miles to find suitable grazing for them.

Close encounter with a few of the kids. The one in pink was fascinated by the earings.

We left the Mara looking forward to the rest of the trip. The drive back to Nairobi was interesting. Claire got to see first hand the true condition of the road as she sat in the front seat. It wasn't uncommon for the driver to change sides of the road if he thought that side was better.

Back just outside Nairobi at 'Karen camp' we discovered how life would really be for the next few weeks. Our tents were already put up so all we had to do was sort out a shower and find some clean clothes. Being a participatory tour this was our first night of helping with the cooking and cleaning. Steve was on the cooking team and helped to create Coca Cola Chicken which is a specialty of our Zimbabwean driver and quite tasty. Claire was lucky as she was on Truck cleaning - nothing to do as we hadn't been in the truck yet.

Kenya was definitely memorable and we were looking forward to Tanzania and more game drives.

2009-11-01T08:58:00.011Z

Nairobi
Our final day in London started very early with a trip out to Heathrow from Greenwich. Things didn't start well when our train was delayed, and then our Oystercard wouldn't work. When we finally arrived at the airport we quickly learnt why we were unable to do the online check-in the previous day. As it turned out the flight was overbooked and we were possibly going to be delayed until the following day. As compensation we would be offered €600 each plus a night in a hotel to fly the next day. By the time check-in closed we had started to look forward to another day to relax at BA's expense and thought about how to spend the bonus money. After an hour or so, the check-in assistant then told us there were some spare seats for us, and that they were in Business Class. Woo hoo!!! A quick run through security and duty free. We made the flight and settled us and our purchases into our fully reclining seats to prepare for the five star food menu and select our meal options while having a calming glass of champagne.

Then we arrived in Nairobi. Organised chaos is the only way to descibe it. Considering we were off the plane first, we managed to be at the end of the customs and immigration line. After buying our visa we found our prebooked transport and made it to the hotel only to be told they were out of rooms. We were then transferred into a another hotel within the same chain and finally we got to bed around midnight, some three hours after landing. The US$90 per night seems very expensive for what you get.

The most confronting thing that we noticed so far is the amount of security around. There were security guards on the front door of the hotel and armed security on each floor near the lift exit. He escorted you to and from your room. I don't know that safe was quite the feeling we had.

We had one day to explore the city before our tour started and we began with the National Museum. After seeing all the security we were a little on edge but decided to be brave and walk there anyway as it was only 500m around the corner. The brand new Lonely Planet that we had bought was a bit behind on the prices so if you are using one, expect to pay a bit more for entry and food then what it states. The museum was a bit expensive for what it was. There wasn't much history of Kenya but more of a display of wildlife, particularly birds. There were also life size representations of The Big 5. One in particular was Ahmet, the only elephant in Kenya to receive government protection due to the size and symmetry of his tusks. The best exhibit was a photographic one of Kenyan people. The photographer had built his own camera and used a single sheet of photographic paper to capture the image instantly. The emotion seen in the expressions of the people was quite incredible.

The entrance to the photography exhibition

After lunch we braved the street again and headed into town to see the National Archive. After the morning walk Claire had noticed that none of the women wore much jewelry so the wedding rings were removed. There were alot more people about in the afternoon and it took us an hour to weave our way around the sidewalk stalls selling mobile phones as well as the takeaway chicken places. Nearly every shop/stall has very loud music blaring out of it and makes for an interesting atmosphere. The Archive was really good. Each of the Kenyan tribes has a section and it is filled with weaponry, pottery, artwork, carvings and explanations of their lives. If you only had time to choose one I would return to the Archive. The staff were also very helpful and you could have paid for a tour guide as well.

Back at the original (booked out) hotel we were kept entertained for the rest of the afternoon by the numerous wedding parties that came past. It appears that the hotel gardens are quite sort after for photos. A wedding party here also consists of at least 15 people, including 5 bridesmaids, 5 groomsmen, 5 children all in quite extravagant matching outfits.
That night we met our tour guides and fellow passengers for the next 43 days on our Acacia Africa - 'Nairobi to Cape Town' tour. It was at the meeting that we discovered that we would be changing vehicles and getting new tour guides/group for the last 20 days. The group was a good mix with ages ranging from 21 to 40 and singles, friends, and couples.

2009-10-19T11:48:00.021+01:00

TURKEY

Istanbul

The trip started off just like any other, as we headed out to Luton at the crack of dawn. It was a fairly uneventful flight until we landed at the terminal in Istanbul. As the world was in the grips of swine flu when we found that Turkey was taking no risks. We were all thermally imaged on our way into the airport terminal and Claire registered a temperature which was too high by 0.2 degrees. She had to sit with about 6 other people for 15min and in the hope that she cooled down. Luckily for us she did and by then the visa and immigration queues had gone so we breezed through.

The start of this tour was in Istanbul so we headed straight to the Grand Bazaar and wandered around the maze of streets. It is remarkably clean which was surprising given our previous experiences in Egypt. We saw a lot of interesting things to buy and decided to return on our last day rather then carry everything with us. We met the rest of our group that night and the trip started properly the next morning with a tour of the highlights of the European side of Istanbul.

First stop was the Topkapi Palace where it took us 3 hours to explore. Much of the time was spent listening to our guide who was very informative but whose delivery was very boring. Regardless the palace is pretty impressive and would have been a city within a city during its heyday. The tiles in particular were quite intricate and amazing colours.

The seal of the sultan and some of the decorative tiles.

Next we headed through the Hippodrome which used to be the site for chariot races but now is home to series of monuments donated by a variety of countries. Next to this park is the famed Blue Mosque. It is the only mosque in the world to have 6 minarets and surprisingly we were able to take photos inside. There weren't that many people praying while we were there which we can understand considering the number of tourists wandering through. The blue colour is from the tiles but they weren't as blue as we expected. It is only the drawings or decoration on the tile that is blue rather then the entire tile. While we were there we saw a child of about age 10 dressed in a regal stlye of outfit. Our guide expained that this was the circumcision outfit and the boy is brought to the mosque and 'shown off.

The wash area outside the mosque

Part of the mosque ceiling

Blue mosque at night

After leaving the mosque we headed into the Hagia Sofia which is now a museum but has been both a Christian chuch and mosque. Much of the Christian decoration was removed or covered over during its conversion and now is an interesting mix of both religions.

Considering the heat of the day we were looking forward to our next stop, the Basilica Cistern. This was the original water source for the city in 532AD. These days there is only 1m of water in it and the 336 columns have been floodlit to create quite an interesting atmosphere. There are also heaps of rather large fish swimming around.

Dinner that night was at a traditional restaurant where we tried Gozleme. This was one of our favourite foods of the trip. They are a savoury pancake that can be filled with meat or cheese or spinach. More often eaten as a snack, we chose 4 and made it a meal. In all the places where we saw these being made it was done by an elderly lady. The best part of the meal was the massive hunk of watermelon that we bought on the way back to the hotel.

Gallipoli

To start today we drove for around 5hrs to the small town of Eceabat where we started the information overload at an outdoor museum. This museum has a replica of the penninsula showing all the sites of the battles involving the British, French, Australian, New Zealand, and Turkish. It also showed the location of the underwater mines in the channel. Back on the penninsula the first stop was Anzac Cove. It was hard to believe that such a beautiful coastline could be the site of so many lives lost. There are many cemetaries in the area and all the graves and very well looked after. Particular care has been taken, so that even the 3 muslims graves are alligned with Mecca.

The Sphynx - a landmark used by the sailors

Further along the road is Lone Pine with quite an impressive memorial although the only tree here is not a pine! In this area, either side of the road are the trenches that both sides were digging. The Turkish memorial is also very impressive and contains some poetry dedicated to their troops. We learnt that the entire 57th division was lost and they have never named a division '57' again. We finished today at the New Zealand memorial of Chunuk Bair which is located at one of the best viewpoints of the area. After the heat of the day it was really nice to swim in the hotel pool and watch the sun set over dinner at the hotel in Cannakkale.

Lone Pine memorial
Kusadasi

We spent 2 nights at this very touristy town. On the drive there we stopped off at Troy and saw the remains of the city portrayed in the movie. The other difference to the movie is that the sea no longer reaches the city walls but has receded a couple of kilometers. There is a 'replica' of the trojan horse and you can climb into it but it is a little squishy. The current one also looks nothing like the one in the movie. Continued on driving to Pergamum which has more ancient remains, the most impressive here being some freestanding marble columns that were at least 10m high. The other main attraction was the amphitheatre. It could hold 10 000 people and was incredibly steep. The heat was getting to us so it was with relief that we jumped back on the bus and made it to the hotel.

Replica of the wooden horse from the movie Troy

Column at Pergamum

Our second day in the Kusadsai area started off again with ancient ruins, this time at Ephesus which dates from 300BC. These ruins are probably the best preserved and it is easy to see the different types of buildings that are there. We started at the Odeon which was used for the upperclass to hold meetings or see shows. The main street is very impressive and lined with chapels, shops, public latrines and an impressive library at the base. The Temple of Hadrian which lines the street has friezes that show the building of the town. Like Pergamum it boasts a massive amphitheatre seating 24 000 people. We have a feeling that it may still be used today.

Looking down the marble street towards the Library
The Hercules gate at the top of the street. If you can touch the sides with simultaneously with flat palms then you are also Hercules.

The Library

Amphitheatre

Leaving the ancient monuments for awhile we spent the afternoon visiting a leather manufacturer and a turkish delight maker. Lots of nice flavours and if we had been returning to London we would have bought quite a bit. One of the highlights though was the Hammam that we did for the afternoon. Normally this bath-house is only for males only except Fridays but our tour had booked out the place for a couple of hours. The process involves lying on a heated marble slab to warm you up and make your skin smooth, then you get scrubbed by an attendant. The attendants are large Turkish men with had very little command of the English language so conversation was restricted to 'Move', 'Stand', 'Roll', 'Good?', and 'Done'. After the scrub (or pummel as Steve remembers) you move onto the massage bench where you are soaped down with the suds coming from a pillow case. The process finishes with a quick dunk under the cold shower and then a relaxing sit down with some apple tea. We have never felt so clean or so tall as they crack your back, toes, fingers and any other joint they find during the process.

One of the shops outside the Ephesus site

Leather manufacturer

Hand made Turkish Delight

The final stop for Kusadasi was at a carpet weaving co-op. The ladies that make the carpets are from the local villages in the area. The profit from any of the carpets sold goes back to the village. The show room ended up being covered by many layers of carpets as the attendants threw them around. We tried hard to purchase one but they weren't coming down to our price.

This lady was making a silk carpet.

The attendant doing the carpet throw.

Pamukkale

Considering the 40 degree heat we did think it was a little crazy to be visiting thermal pools. Since it was so hot we opted not to pay the extra for a dip in the pool instead we headed to the calcium terraces to have a walk around. The terraces work their way down the mountain side and are filled with the thermal water. We weren't allowed to wear shoes on the terraces and surprisingly it wasn't hot to walk on. It was although very bright as everything is white. After leaving we all spent the afternoon sitting and swimming pool side at the hotel. This was also the last night for some of the group as they headed back to Istanbul the next day.

Cappadocia

It was quite a long drive from Pamukkale and we had a break in Konya with a visit to the Mevlana Museum. Set in some really pretty gardens this museum is dedicated to the Whirling Dervishes and their teachings. We were able to see them later that day at 'Turkish Night' which also included belly dancing and a mock wedding ceremony.

Whirling Dervish

Part of the 'wedding'

Belly dancer

Our first full day started with a drive through the 'fairy chimneys' to Goreme where did a tour of the former city in the chimneys. It was amazing to see the houses, kitchens, churches that were carved out of the structures. They are surprisingly cool inside as well. The entrance to some the caves was a little tricky at times and Claire was almost pulled off one chimney while helping a very overweight lady up the stairs.

Some of the chimneys that contain caves

Inside one of the cave chapels
Another of our highlights was a visit to a local potter. The guy made a plate out of the white clay for us and then a teapot out of the red. We can't remember what the difference was because they all get painted anyway. His work was very impressive and again we bought a few pieces. There was a Turkish Carpet shop across the road from our lunch stop so we had another go at bargaining and we finally made a deal. Steve even managed to get the carpet to fit into his backpack for the trip back to London and it is now safely in Brisbane, awaiting the perfect coffee table. The afternoon was spent in an underground city of Derinkya. We were able to go 8 levels down and were amazed at where the schools, animal pens, ventilation shafts, living areas and churches that had been created in the previous centuries. What was also amazing is that 8,000 people lived down there during times of war.

View of the chimneys

Inside the underground city, around level 8

Inside the school room
That night we stumbled into a real wedding party that was happening across the road. Claire and Mary were ushered into the married ladies section while Steve and Darryl managed to located the brides father and get an explanation of procedings. It turns out that it was 'womens night' where the bride was getting henna tattooed. There was a stage set up with a group of girls dancing with the bride, although as we found out it is only the single ladies that can dance. The married women all surround the stage and then the men stand behind and choose who their future wife from those dancing. We were made very welcome and even offered food. It turned out that the actual ceremony was the next day at the grooms village. We noticed on our way past the next morning that the entire area was spotless and no evidence that 400 people had been there a few hours earlier!Istanbul

It was a long drive back but we did make a fairly short stop as part of the drive back to Istanbul where we visited the Museum of Anatolian Civilisation in the Turkish capital of Ankara. The building is brand new and has some intesting architectural features.

As we were flying out the following day it was up early to hurry into the Grand Bazaar and snap up the last of our purchases. Claire's shopping spree was restricted after the carpet and pottery purchases, so only bought some small pieces of artwork and naturally some turkish delight. Sadly we had to return to London, but the African adventure wasn't far away.

2009-09-30T04:12:00.015+01:00

Montenegro

Sunday
It was time to farewell everyone on the boat so emails were exchanged and this website shared, and off to the bus station we headed. The station is only a few hundred meters up the road from the port but we were feeling the heat even at 9am. We realised a little too late that you also have to pay to put luggage on board the bus and the guy wasn't giving change so we paid a premium! The drive itself was really interesting, initially following along the coast as we left Dubrovnik and headed south but then moving inland towards the border. You could start to see some of the areas that were affected during the war.

Our first road border crossing was simple. We didn't even have to get off the bus. The official boarded and stamped our passports and on we went. It felt like about 10km from the Croatian border crossing to the Montenegran one, so we were glad we weren't walking. Once through the border we again found the coast and the rest of the drive was constant scenes of the bluest of blue water, games of waterpolo, families swimming and stunning coastlines.

Leaving Dubrovnik

We arrived in Kotor around 2pm and were flooded with people trying to get us to rent their apartments. It was a little unnerving but our guide book had warned us of this. We had prebooked our accomodation so just had to figure out which of the three 'gates' to the old town it was nearest to (Note:Google maps hasn't made it to Kotor yet). Unluckily for us it was the furthest one from the station so another few km of walking in 40+ temperatures. The lady at the apartment told us there had been a slight mix-up with the bookings but not to worry as we would stay in her friends apartment for the same money. He arrived to show us the new apartment which we had no idea whether to trust him or not. The conversation went along the lines of:

Him - "English?"

Us - "Yes. Do you speak English?"

Him: - "No."

And that was that.

After thinking we were getting led down the garden path as we wound our way through other peoples driveways and backyards, our apartment was excellent. 1bed mezzanine style studio with the all important air conditioning. There was a lot of pointing and nodding as he tried to show us how the air-con worked and the complicated front door lock, but we figured it out.

The afternoon was spent wandering the Old Town in search of a supermarket. The old town is in immaculate condition, no wonder that UNESCO gave it heritage status. You would think it would be easy to get lost but most of the narrow, cobbled streets all end up back in a square near one of the 3 gates. Thankfully it doesn’t take too long to walk around the town in its entirety and the temperatures kept all sane people indoors so we had the place pretty much to ourselves. Since we had pretty much walked back to the bus station to find a supermarket we decided to cook our own dinner. Pasta, a bottle of wine, really bad english TV and airconditioning. What more could you want.
Monday
The view from out front door is straight up the mountain backing the Old Town. At the top is St Ivan Fortress and a small church halfway up. Claire's mobile phone provider was very nice in sending us a weather report for free at 5pm every day so we knew that temperatures were going to be high again. Knowing this we set off around 7am. It took a fairly leisurely 2 hours to get up and back, and this included lots of photo stops to appreciate the view and feel sorry for the guy having to whippersnip the path.

Our reward was breakfast down on the waterfront before stocking up for lunch at the markets and returning to the airconditioning to recover. That afternoon we forced ourselves to brave the heat and looked at a couple of churches and visited one of the historical Palaces which also doubles as the maritime museum.

We also attempted to walk further round the bay but the road was really narrow and quite busy with cars, so gave up in favour of icecream and shade. After dinner we headed back into the Old Town to try for some shots of the fortress. The people were out in force. As soon as the sun sets, this town comes alive. There were heaps of families out doing the shopping and kids playing at 10pm.

Tuesday
It was our last day in Kotor so we ventured down to the pebbly beach for a swim. The water was surprisingly chilly considering how hot it gets during the day. The non-english speaking apartment owner was great and let us stay until after lunch as our bus wasn't leaving until 3pm.

The bus trip back to Dubrovnik encounted a slight delay at the border crossing, as the Croatian police decided to do a random baggage check on every passenger on our entire bus. An hour later we were on our way and very glad that we had invested in packing cells, which made the repack much quicker then others.

After arriving at the Dubrovnik bus station we had to figure out how to get to our hotel. Thinking we were used to the croatian transport system we assumed the bus would be fine relised it only came every hour from that stop and we had just missed one. We looked at the map and thought "it isn't too far, we'll just walk". An uphill 60min walk later (with our large backpacks) we arrived at the hotel completely knackered. We decided against going into town for dinner and settled for an expensive buffet dinner at the hotel.

Wednesday
This was to be our last day in Croatia and our flight back to London was for late afternoon. For the morning we joined a sea kayaking tour that left from just outside the Old Town walls and went around the nearby island before stopping off for lunch in a cave and returning to the Old Town. We did have the option of snorkelling at the cave but after hearing the shrieks at how cold it was both of us decided not to go in. We were wet enough anyway just from the paddling. All in all it was a relaxing holiday.

2009-09-28T11:34:00.029+01:00

CROATIA

The first part of our journey back to Australia was a week of sailing around the islands off the South coast of Croatia. Rough seas; cramped conditions; bad food.... these are things that you may associate with sailing, but fortunately we had none of that.

Sunday

We arrived at Dubrovnik airport just after lunch to a very pleasant 25 degrees, a vast improvement on the previous few days in London. The bus ride into the city was very picturesque, with steep mountains dropping into the bluest of blue seas. We were dropped off at the main bus station, where we purchased our ticket for next weeks trip to Montenegro. The bus station is also next to Gruz Harbour, where we found our boat for the next 7 days. We were initially shown a below deck no-ensuite cabin, which started to concern us, but after pointing out that we had paid for an above-deck ensuite cabin, we settled into our nice above deck room.

Our next mission was heading off to explore the Old Town. The Old Town is a complete maze of streets with lots of steps and blind alleys. It reminded us a little of Essaouira in Morocco but much cleaner. The big difference was that the streets here are spotless.

We did the tour of the walls which had a few hairy moments as there are some very steep drops. The views are amazing. Our final item was to reward ourselves with some of the best gelati icecream we have ever eaten.

Monday morning we sailed off to the island of Mljet. Being one of the younger members of the boat we took advantage of the roof space and set up camp for the few hours.

We headed into the national park to see the 2 salt lakes (Malo Jerezo and Veliko Jerezo) as well as visit a small monastery on an island in Veliko Jerezo. All in all, it was another picturesque location, but the monastery was very simple and in the process of being rebuilt.

A relaxing swim in the afternoon, although by this time Claire had learnt lesson no. 1. Sunscreen works very well, but only when applied. The 5% of her body which was minus the sunscreen fared particularly badly. Claire was in a fair bit of pain and the constant exposure to the sun wasn't helping the knees any, so we returned to the boat and spent the remainder of the afternoon watching waterpolo and sunset at the beachside bar

Velico Jerezo

Tuesday morning we sailed out for Vela Luka on the island of Korcula. We awoke to the sounds of the engines starting up. We left really early and had breakfast whilst sailing. I have to say the food wasn't really to our tastes so far. Lots of beef and potato. Thankfully for Claire there was Nutella at breaky and she did collect any of the unused packets to eat throughout the day.

We weren't able to get into port until after lunch so we docked in a beautiful little bay where we were surrounded by amazingly clear blue water. There was although a disused military base which had prominant signs saying no mooring, and no photos. Of course we disregarded this, and docked for lunch. Naturally midway through lunch an official uniformed man came down and told us to leave. Only problem was that our captain had gone spear fishing for tonight's food, so we unhooked the rope and moved about 20m further into the bay and floated for a couple more hours

Loved being able to jump off the side of the boat whenever for a quick swim to cool off.

The town of Vela Luka is tiny with not alot to do. We waited until around 5pm before tackling the hill behind town in search of a cave (Vela Spila). The walk was just over 1km and we were knackered when we got to the top. We think the guy collecting money at the entrance felt sorry for us and let us in for free. In hindsight there wasn't very much to see at all. It was in shade, so did give us time to hide from the heat for a bit before walking back down. We had had enough of the boat food and dined in town. Have I mentioned how good the icecream is? It is very easy to have more then one a day.

Inside the cave

View of Vela Luka from cave

Wednesday morning and we were off to Hvar. Followed the same plan as the day before, sail for a bit, anchor, swim, relax, swim, eat, relax, swim. I love this lifestyle! This is a bit of a party town and lots of very rich people come here judging by the boats. We were in a queue for nearly an hour before we were allowed to dock. There were 9 boats in our line tonight. So far there has only been 4 and we are usually on the land side with the others having to walk through ours to get to land. This time we were in the middle. We spent the afternoon looking through St Stephen's Cathedral which was an interesting mix of modern and traditional decoration.

You would have thought that we had learnt our lesson from yesterday, but we tackled another hill to reach a fortress anyway. The path was quite a lot easier as it was paved all the way. The views over the town and port were amazing and worth the effort. On the way down we stumbled into a fresh fruit market and stocked up for snacks and then Claire spotted the bakery. The most exciting find of the this trip was a Lamington! Sadly it was about 3 days past its prime.

View from the Fortress

Thursday and we sail back to the island of Korcula, this time docking in Korcula Town. According to our itinery we were meant to come here on Monday, but as we've found out, the itinery is at the discreton of the captain.

Korcula Town is much bigger then Vela Luka. The old town is very picturesque and we managed to find a roof top bar in one of the turrets of the wall. A fabulous spot to watch the sunset, but you definitley don't want to be wearing a skirt to get up the ladder. Any drinks ordered come up the outside of the building in a basket and pulley system. Great for novelty but very expensive.

We raced these into the port

On the advice of the guide book we bought tickets to the Moreska which is a live show of singing and sword dancing. Both were amazing, especially the sword dance as the sparks started to fly!

Friday we sailed to Slopan and this was the first time we didn't stay on the roof. The airconditioning stopped working during the night and neither of us slept well, so we hid in whatever shade we could find. Instead of docking in a bay we pulled into a tiny port called Sipan and had lunch. There were sea urchins all along the 'beach' and we walked for ages in order to find a suitable spot to enter the water.

Our lunchtime entertainment was a water polo game between a group of american teenagers and the local croatian men. Let's say that team USA was getting a lesson in how to play. All the waterpolo matches we have seen have been in open water and the ropes are permanently in place so people are always having a go. The final port for today was a single street town where it seems the only reason to go there is that the boat gets cleaned.

Saturday was heading back to Dubrovnik via Lopud which had the first sand beach that we have seen. Inspired by yesterday's waterpolo a few of us found a ball and had a throw around. When we got to Dubrovnik it was lunchtime and it was way hotter then the first time we were there. We found out later that it had been 40 degrees. Tried to sit out the heat on the boat but eventually headed into town to see the Franjevacki Samosan (franciscan monastery) which was amazingly cool inside. It had some of the highest ceilings that we have seen in churches so far. The cloisters also had some pretty gardens and a small museum. We finally found the breeze at a tiny harbour side bar and spent the rest of the evening there.

This week was fantastic and just what we needed after the hassle and stress of packing up our lives again. The coastline is amazing and the gentle rocking of the waves will put you to sleep in an instant. Just remember to apply the sunscreen.

Next stop: Montenegro

2009-07-10T21:25:00.004+01:00

The long way home!

We have now finished work, packed up our things into 2 backpacks, moved out of our flat in London, and are officially on our way back to Australia. There are of course a few detours on the way! So that you can keep up with our travels, our plans are as follows:

12 July - 22 July - Croatia / Montenegro - Sailing & generally working on the sun tan!

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&om=0&msid=104847206302786006390.0004442cb6dad2726a65e&ll=42.912183,17.259521&spn=2.414043,3.295898&z=7&source=embed

25 July - 3 August - Turkey - a whirlwind tour of an interesting country

7 August - 25 September - Africa (Nairobi to Capetown) - Our great African adventure

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&ll=-23.402765,24.785156&spn=28.157863,39.550781&z=5&msid=111837157664461150029.00045ea3875665687d7b8

As you might appreciate, we might find it difficult to update the blog over the next few months. Once we return to Australia we'll be sure to upload the many photos of our journey, so watch this space.

2009-07-01T21:00:00.011+01:00

Summer has finally arrived and yes the temperature has made it to 30 degrees.

Epsom Races.

It wasn't the nicest of days for one of the most prestigous race days on the social calendar. Lucky for us we had bought tickets into the Lonsdale enclosure which didn't have a dress code. Ponchos out and strappy shoes not recommended.

Our section was on the finish line and across from the Queens enclosure. After she arrived we didn't see her again until the main race.

It was cold and wet.

Our enclosure in the centre of the track

Must protect the food

Glastonbury or Races?

Champagne for the big race

Looking at the weather before the big race

Much stricter dress code in the Queens enclosure

The divot dudes make a return

Wimbledon

We read all the different ways to get tickets and had decided to go and join 'The Queue' early (about 6am) on the second day when Steve saw an advert for the sale of unwanted Debenture tickets. They are released 2 days ahead at midday so both of us had a computer and watched the BBC news count down to 12:00. Woo hoo, we get to sleep in and sit on centre court! For the record we tried to get 2 more tickets for friends of ours but they had sold out in 90sec.

We got there at 10:30, so we had some time before the matches started at midday and even then play was only on the outside courts. This gave us a chance to bag a seat for Sam Stosur's match. The crowd was 90% aussie. When we left after the first set (which Stosur won), there was a crowd surge for our 2 seats.

Centre court

Roddick serving - please note that Claire took this photo!!!!

Venus Williams after a fairly easy match

Murray warming up

Murray celebrating

Relaxing on 'Henman Hill' or 'Murray Mound' during Venus's match So close yet so far. We found Federer on the practice courts, and then tried for an autograph but had to surrender the fence to the children.

Umpires swap out. The old man was challenged by Murray on numerous occasions but experience showed through in the end.

The change of balls routine is one the kids have practiced!!

We have about 10 days left in London before we embark on the trip home. Stay tuned...

2009-05-29T20:05:00.017+01:00

BERLIN

After spending the first May bank holiday (long weekend for the Aussies) in London we felt it was time to return to Heathrow and head to Berlin for the second. This was a belated birthday trip for Steve's 30th. The forecast was for sunshine so our time in dutyfree was spent on new sunnies and sunscreen - gotta love 50+.

We have taken notice of the credit crunch and rather than not travelling we have downgraded from hotels to hostels and saved quite a bit on accommodation. Arriving late on the Friday night, we headed up to the hostel's rooftop bar for our free welcome drink. When we returned, it was to find our US army room-mates snoring peacefully. Ahhh the life of a hostel!

On Saturday we joined a free walking tour that friends had suggested to us. There were around 300 people there and we were separated into groups of about 30 people. We spent about 3 1/2 hours walking around the main sights of Berlin with our guide. Our guides' personal interest was in Street Art so we got a few extra local artworks thrown in as well.

The weekend we were there was the 60th anniversary of democracy so the area around the Brandenburg Gate was having a free concert lasting all day.

Brandenburg Gate

The famous German band - Pur. We didn't understand a word!

Our free walking tour leader - Summer from California

This part of the wall is fenced off and next to where Hitlers Gestapo was based. The wall encircles the area of West Berlin which was considered to be West Germany.

Claire on the Berlin Wall.

Checkpoint Charlie

Ampelman - the East German traffic light man that was adopted by the West. Before you ask there is an Ampelgirl but we didn't manage to find her.

Graffiti aka. street art

Holocaust memorial

On Sunday we took a daytrip out of Berlin to the Sachsenhausen Memorial. This served as a concentration camp from 1936-1945. It was designed as a model for other concentration camps. It was intended to give architectural expression to the Nazi world view and symbolize to the prisoners of the absolute powers of the SS. More than 200,000 people were imprisoned between 1936-1945. Tens of thousands of them died of starvation, disease, forced labour and maltreatment, or were murdered systematically by the SS.

For our final few hours on Monday we decided to see the view from the Reichstag (home of the Berlin government). After enjoying the sunshine in the slow moving queue for an hour we decided that our time was better spent elsewhere. There is a 1.3km section of wall that is known of the East Side Gallery. It is the largest open-air gallery in the world with its sections painted by groups of artists from all over the world in the first few months after reunification as a memorial to freedom of expression. Due to graffiti vandalism and the heavy flow of traffic that flows nearby it has suffered greatly. A restoration project is underway, with one section completed 5 years ago, and a large section being worked on whilst we were there.

One of the sections that hasn't been repaired yet.

We saw a couple of these crazy tourist bikes. Five people facing inwards, all peddling, generally looking strange and not going very fast.

We also need to mention that there was a protest down the street from our hostel. We had noticed quite a number of police around on our way back but a couple of hours later the riot gear was out. There was a slight diversion on the way to dinner, but all in all it was a very peaceful event. 1000 riot police 1 - Protesters Nil.

2009-05-08T22:30:00.009+01:00

LONDON

Here is another selection of photos from in and around London.

We went to Last Night of the Proms. The main event is held inside Royal Albert Hall, but they also hold a separate concert in Hyde Park. They also televise the official finale.

Sunrise from our apartment.

Walking through Hyde Park one night.

Claire's work Christmas party.

Chinese New Year in our street.

Valentine's Day daffodil plant. Days 1, 5 and 10

Visit to the HMS Belfast.

Dover Castle.

Underground war tunnel at Dover Castle

Cliff walk in Dover.

Thames Path - Richmond to Kingston

Kingston Bridge

London Loop - Kingston to Teddington. Leg of Mutton Pond.

Heron Pond

Deer in Bushy Park.

2009-04-17T20:39:00.020+01:00

BARCELONA

Taking advantage of the 4 day holiday for Easter we headed to Barcelona. Originally we had planned to travel around Spain at Christmas but couldn't narrow down the choice of where to go after Barcelona, so decided to make it a single city visit.

The weekend wasn't looking great when we saw the forecast was for rain all weekend, and then the hostel rang Claire on Thursday saying there was an 'electrical problem' which wasn't going to be fixed until after Easter and did we mind staying at the other hostel. Luckily for us the weather picked up, not too much rain and even a day of full sun.

When we arrived we discovered our new hostel was in a predominantly North African area of the city and it felt a little like being back in Marrakech. It was a great location with a few metro stops within easy reach and quite close to the main tourist street.

Our first tourist destination was Montjuic, where we went in search of the Cable-Car up the mountain. All directions seemed to lead to a dead-end so up we walked instead. The views over the harbour were amazing and we hadn't realised that the industrial part of the port was massive. While there we found the Olympic stadium and some really pretty parks, as well as the end of the cable-car, so we caught it back down.

At the base there is a massive water fountain which erupts in time to music and at night is lit up in different colours. We found a nice spot quite high up and then realised the show doesn't just happen at the main fountain, but includes all the small ones down the street and up the stairs (where we were sitting) as well. We hung around for around 15min and heard some classical music, as we started to walk away they started playing some more modern stuff.

Day 2 started with a visit into the Boqueria Market. The quality and variety of the fruit, veg, meat and seafood was amazing, so being inspired we booked into a paella cooking demonstration for that night. The very back of the market has a number of stalls selling tapas/meals, and most people were having some red wine or beer with their breaky? 8:30 is little early for us, although the food looked great.

The best juice ever - Orange and Strawberry Strolling along Las Ramblas (the main street) we realised it is divided into separate sections. Flowers, pets, food, boring buskers etc. If only turtles could be imported, there were heaps for sale and they were all so cute! We continued on to Passeig de Gracia where we saw our first Gaudi creation (the spanish architect) - the Casa Battlo, and shortly after the second - the Casa Mila. Seeing the queues at both of these we decided to only attempt the most well known - Sagrada Familia.
We found this clock on the walk but weren't able to figure out how it worked

Sagrada Familia

Once we made it here and saw that the line went halfway around the block we did have second thoughts, but joined in anyway and surprisingly only 45min later we made it inside. This church is amazing. Gaudi took over the construction from quite a traditional plan and proceeded to put his own flavour to it. Even though Gaudi died in 1926 the construction is continuing according to the plans that he left. His basis for design was nature and it is noticeable in all his works that there are very few straight lines. For the church he took into consideration the lighting levels and acoustics such that the windows at the top have no colour and the area for the choir is designed slightly differently to the rest to stop the sound 'bouncing back'. We found out that it is hoped it will be completed sometime in the next 20 years.

The inverted model that Gaudi used
Park Guell

Still inspired by Gaudi, we headed to this park which Gaudi was commissioned to design. When the war broke out (1914) there were only 2 houses finished, one of which Gaudi lived in. The park contains a big market square with an intricate mosaic bench running all around the edge. Underneath it is supported by 84 columns of which many are deliberately diagonal. Sadly alot of the park was sealed off when we were there but it was fascinating to walk around and pick out the Gaudi bits.

Paella

We have tried to cook this a couple of times at home but it never tastes right, so off to cooking school we went. There were 14 in our group and we started the evening by making some simple tapas with bread, tomato, meat and cheese & potato tortilla. Very tasty! Next it was a lesson in Sangria. Measures were optional but the basics were citrus fruit, ice, brandy (pour for a count of 4), red wine (a fair bit) and top it off with orange and or lemon softdrink. Stir and enjoy. Not sure what to do with the fruit, but we ate it as well. The seafood paella was great and we all got to help with the stirring while it cooked. A great evening with a bit too much excitement coming when one of the group nearly had her bag stolen. She got it back after chasing him down. Nothing lost, so all was well.

Tibidabo

After hearing that Tibidabo was one of the most popular day-trip destinations for the people of Barcelona, we thought that we would head up there early before the crowds arrived. After getting the metro, then a tram, then a funicular railway, we discovered it was freezing at the top and we were horribly underdressed.

Apart from a fantasic view, Tibidabo houses a theme park, as well as a church. Being Easter Sunday we were fortunate to catch part of the service at El Sagrat Cor de Jesus. Sitting high upon the mountain it is very impressive from the outside, however the paintings inside were equally amazing. Heading back into central Barcelona, and the customary Tapas for lunch, we wandered the streets and settled on the Picasso museum. This museum has free entry after 3pm on Sundays, and it appears that everyone in Barcelona also knew this. After queing in the rain and being regularly hit in the head by the umbrella from the family behind us (please spread the word - a waterproof will keep you just as dry and your hands free for icecream eating) for about an hour, we finally made it inside. Pablo Picasso studied in Barcelona at various stages in his life, and the museum showed the contrast in his paintings as he developed through each period.

Casa Battlo
This house designed by Gaudi is amazing in many ways and the brochure sums it up best. "It is more then just a building, it's a legend of art. The striking mondernista facade conceals a whole world of artistic and architectural surprises."

Baceloneta

The sun greeted us on our final day in Barcelona, so we decided to continue our walking tour, and head past Port Vell and to the beaches of Barceloneta. We paid the price for not taking hats or sunscreen (given the previous 3 days of overcast weather). Nonetheless, being in the sun was fantastic. We walked along the beach, enjoyed some great food, and some quality street entertainment. It appeared that the water was still quite cold, as most people were choosing to stay on the sand.

2 of the best street musicians we saw.
Beach, shade and dominos. What more could you want

We loved Barcelona and really only scratched the surface. This (and the rest of Spain) is definitely somewhere we will return to if we get the chance.

2009-03-19T21:33:00.037Z

Morocco

Our trip began far too early, as we were up at 4am to catch the bus to the train station, and then a train out to Gatwick for our 7am flight to Marrakech.

Marrakech

After landing in Marrakech we decided to be Intrepid tourists and rather than get a taxi to our hotel, we caught the local bus. An interesting experience. First issue was finding the unmarked bus stop (about 800m from the airport, across a busy 4(ish) lane road), although it seemed that it was best to stand in a patch of shade and hail the bus when you see it. After successfully getting on the correct bus, the second issue was where to get off. In our case we chose the wrong Tourist Information Centre causing us to walk an hour in the opposite direction. We did save ourselves about 90 Dirhams though.

It seems that every village has this street (named after the first King of Morocco).

After doing the open top tourist bus tour around the city in the afternoon, we met up with our tour group and headed into the main square for dinner. The Jemaa el Fna is a crazy place. There are hundreds of people strolling around the food, juice, spice and dried fruit stalls as well as a wide variety of performers vying for attention. To add to the mix motorbikes come roaring through and speed off into the surrounding streets. For our dinner we went to one of the stalls and tasted the first couscous and tajine of the trip.

Katoubia mosque
A street leading into the Jemma El Fna
Jemma El Fna by night.
Cooking dinner!
Imlil & High Atlas Mountains

Today we boarded the mini bus and began the tour proper. A quick stop at the supermarket for snacks where we discovered it was ladies day. Sadly Claire was the only lady in the entire supermarket to not receive a free rose. 2 hours later, after driving through some spectacular scenery we arrived at Imlil in the High Atlas Mountains with views of Mount Toukbal. We then had to walk uphill for about an hour to reach the village of Aroumd where our Gite (homestay) was. After lunch 5 (although 2 turned around before the climb started) of the group took up the opportunity to go on a 8km, 4hr hike up the mountain to a pilgrimage site Sidi Chamarouch. Across rocky creek beds, up into mountain goat territory, and we reached the destination. Interestingly it is also a ski field and yes there were people skiing. They are very keen as you have to hike up!

100m to go!

We found a herd of goats on the way back down. The goat herder resorted to throwing snowballs at them to keep them moving upwards.

Near the end of the decent Claire had a little incident with her ankle and a rock. She struggled back to the village, across flooded paths, and slippery terrain. Even though the physio's teach you the RICE principle (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation), Claire decided to trust the local Berber medicine which involved putting your ankle into hot water & salt. Skeptical as we were, there was minimal swelling and bruising. Claire did need a donkey ride to get back down from the village to our mini bus, and made do with a broom handle for a walking stick.

Aroumd from the back.

Not feeling quite so happy, but the view was pretty nice!
Claire's donkey that carried her back to Imlil.

Ait Benhaddou

Back in the mini bus and we head to Ait Benhaddou. Along the way we drove through a weekly market in one of the villages. It was mayhem! People, cars, donkeys, bikes all trying to get ahead of one another, and often with massive loads precariously balanced. We also drove over the Tizi n 'Tichka pass (2260m). Not for the faint hearted this road turned back on itself numerous times and there were some hairy moments as we encountered other buses. Arriving late in the afternoon at Ait Benhaddou, we made for the UNESCO world heritage site of the Kasbah for sunset. In order to get there we had to make our way across a fairly fast flowing river. The local kids are entrepreneurial and had positioned the larger rocks and some sandbags as steps. For a fee they would walk in the freezing water and keep you upright and dry. Sadly they went home at sunset and we had to ask someone if we could borrow a donkey (for a fee of course) to get back across.

The weekly market.
Tizi n Tichka pass. Yes that is the same road.

The snake man waits for tourists at the viewpoint just outside of Ait Benhaddou

View of Ait Benhaddou from the Kasbah. You can see where people are crossing the river.

Sunset on top of the Kasbah
The best dinner of the trip. Beef tajine.

Zagora
This day we started out in the town of Ouarzazate. One of the group had asthma and decided to skip the Sahara portion of the trip, so we put him in a Grand Taxi back to Marrakech. He ended up paying for 4 of the available seats and the other passenger only paid for one, otherwise they would have waited until the other seats were taken. A quick stop at the Berber Pharmacie where we were given examples of how different plants are used for common ailments. Claire also volunteered for the head massage demonstration. Apparently good for migraines! We reached Zagora that afternoon and went for a walk through the Palmerie. It was interesting to learn how the village manages the land and in particular the irrigation system. Walking alongside the canals was tricky at times, especially when motorbikes try and pass you on a 60cm wide sandy track. It is also the home of the famous 'Tombouctou 52 Jours' sign (Timbuktu 52 days by camel).

Nomad camp
Loved the walking stick!

Motto - God, Country and King. This is laid out often with white stones.

Sahara Desert Camp

We stopped at a local pottery workshop, and purchased some great table lanterns. After driving to the end of the road, we stopped at M'Hamid for some lunch. On today's menu was Camel burger. We thought it was a little odd that after our camel burger, we went for a camel ride around the village.

Cooking camel burgers

The tea is alwasys poured from a great height

We then switched from our mini bus into 2 Land Rovers, and went off road into the Sahara. After a very bumpy 2 hour trip accompanied by Berber music, we arrived at our nomadic style camp at the base of one of the largest sand dunes in the area, the Erg Chigaga dunes. The wind got up that afternoon, and made it a bit uncomfortable climbing the dune for sunset. A full moon lit up the sky that night, so after dinner we took the opportunity for a group YMCA photo.

It was very windy and the turbans were a must.

Our camp

Only the Y passed the statue test.

After an early night, we were up for sunrise, with the customary photo opportunities. After breakfast we got back into the 4WD for another 3 hour drive through the dunes. Today though we were expected to clap along with the music! We were all grateful to get back onto tarmac!

A herd of camels
Our driver. There isn't really a road out here, you just follow the line of mountains.

We were doing over 100km/hr at this stage

Taroudant

We met our mini bus in the settlement of Forum Zguid and then continued on to Taroudant (about 6 hours drive). Again more desert scenery, the highlight was seeing the local Argan trees. The nuts from these trees are popular with the goats, and we were lucky enough to see a few of the goats climbing the trees.

Goats in trees

After arriving in Taroudant we walked through the medina and souks and Claire bought herself a pair of sandals. Well Steve did all the hard work in negotiation. Haggling is a national pastime.

Typical local butcher

Essaouira

On the way out of Taroudant, we stopped in at a Tannery. It smells! Luckily they gave each of us a small bunch of basil to smell and mask the odour. Steve was offered a job as a 'pounder' of the sheep skins. It looked way to hard!

Our lunch destination was the beachside resort town of Agadir. It was surprisingly the first properly warm day of the trip, apparently it was 34 degrees. After a picnic lunch, we took a stroll along the beach with a mandatory ice cream as well. Swimming & sunbaking is a strange concept in a muslim country, with the local women being fully covered, and the many French tourists wearing next to nothing.

We stayed 2 nights in Essaouira, and took the opportunity to wander the many streets. Blue doors were popular here, as originally there was something in the Blue paint that repelled mosquitos. This was the relaxing part the trip with no real plans. We also got to stay in a Riad which was a nice change. We did a bit more haggling with the locals and picked up some artwork. The seafood market was great to people watch. You can buy you fish straight off the boat and then take it to a row of people that will scale and fillet it, and then you take it to the BBQ and someone cooks it for you.

Our Riad which must have been nice as French tour groups kept coming in and taking photos of the ground floor

Sunset from the Raid rooftop
All these doors are now shops

To get the water you had to walk through 3 soccer matches!

This is the guy that scales and fillets the fish

Medina street
We bought a couple of these
We boarded a coach back to Marrakech, where we seemed to be a lot of time on the wrong side of the road, overtaking slower vehicles, sometimes 4 at a time. Our bus driver was far more confident at overtaking than we would have been.

The doors of Morocco captured Claire's eye, so we have a few photos. Here is a selection of her favourites.

Overall, a busy 10 days. Lots of driving. Lots of couscous & tajine. Some very basic living arrangements. We now appreciate hot water a lot more. It will also take some time to get all the sand out of our clothing and both our cameras... but we loved it!

2009-02-12T22:10:00.007Z

Manchester

When Claire had the opportunity to work in Manchester for 3 weeks, she took the new digital camera with her. Unfortunately, she didn't take the charger so not as many photos as there could have been.

Work put her up in a very nice mezzanine studio apartment with canal views straight towards the Manchester United Football stadium. There were some amazing sunrises and sunsets through the double story glass windows. Some blackout curtains would have been useful for sleeping though. The canal lights were very bright.

Like the rest of England, Manchester did get some of the snow but nothing like what fell in London. It did make for an interesting walk to the lab in heeled boots though.

There were no games on that weekend so we decided to see behind the scenes. Claire is still not converted to football!

Nice day, still have heat lamps on the pitch

A bit of strategy in the change room.

Where the players enter the pitch

If you have to watch a game, these are seats you want. Coaches only though.

The camera ran out of battery so the last piccy is just to show the entrance to the shopping centre. Most importantly it had a Boost Juice Bar! It is the little things that we miss the most. Claire is on the way to finishing the first loyalty card, especially as now there is one in London as well.
The Trafford Centre

2009-02-03T23:15:00.031Z

ICELAND...Seriously cold & proper snow (unlike London).

We thought we would do our little bit to help the struggling Icelandic economy, and took a 4 day weekend break to Reykjavik. Geographically, Iceland is one of the worlds youngest nations. It lies on the mid-atlantic ridge between the American and European continental plates, thus it is quite prone to eruptions of molten lava. Fortunately we only saw the many thermal spouts coming out of the ground.

Some might think going to Reykjavik (the northern most capital of the world) in the middle of winter is a little extreme but the tempearatures are relatively mild with average minimums of minus 3 degrees. The wind can make it feel significantly colder. Iceland is a nation of un-touched natural beauty. No pollution, the cleanliness of fresh snow, and a forward thinking solution to energy production. Iceland relies on hydro-thermal energy production to provide electricity & hot water to the whole island. Being a totally renewable resource & very cheap to produce, it also allows them to heat greenhouses & the even the pavement in the main shopping street.

Blue Lagoon.

When the outside temperature is below zero most people don't think of going swimming outdoors, but in Iceland there are a number of thermal pools with the Blue Lagoon being the most famous. It was a very surreal environment to be in, with the steam rising from the 40 degree water and the sun setting through the mist. When we looked at the clock we realised it had been at least 60min since we had entered the warm water and it was time to head out and sample some of the free spa products. A must do for anyone heading over and we recommend the moisturiser as well!

Blue Lagoon from a distance

Glacier Walking.

To experience the natural wonders of the country you need to leave town, so that is what we did. We joined 6 others and headed 3hrs east to the Sólheimajökull Glacier. We were both expecting to see a big blue coloured block of ice on the horizon, but it took us a while to realise that it would be covered in snow just like everything else. Nevertheless it was amazing see just how big it was, expecially as we were only walking on the 'tongue'. The main glacier is 8km long and about 2km wide. Our local guide gave us crampons (ice spikes for your boots) and tied us all together (there was some discussion over which knot was better - figure 8 vs bowline). We spent the next 3hrs walking across the ice and were amazed at the 'waves' and other formations the ice creates while it melts and moves. We did have to negotiate a couple of small and steep rises as well as jump a hole or two. There were some very big holes and we were very thankful for the guides experience.

To break up the trip back to town we stopped at 2 waterfalls, which gave us a taste of what to expect the next day.
Northern Lights.

We spent 5 hours driving round in circles trying to find the elusive Aurora Borealis (a.k.a. The Northern Lights). After hearing that the previous night had been a spectacular display, we were quite excited. A foggy/cloudy night greeted us in Reykjavik, and even when we got away from the fog it didn't help. We had one of the few SLR cameras on the bus, so when Steve got the first decent photo our tour guide proclaimed it to be the Northern Lights, with everyone getting very excited at a tinge of green in the sky. I'll let you be the judge, but personally we think the tour guide was trying to get themselves out of dealing with 50 disgruntled passengers!! Oh well, it gives us an excuse to go back sometime in the future.

Golden Circle Tour.
The first thing to mention here is that both buses the day before had been very hot and there had also been no wind, so we decided that thermals weren't needed. Oh how wrong we were. The wind was definitely blowing and we were in pain with the cold. We think it was about -10 before the windchill. Our previous trips to Russia & Sweden were seeming quite mild at that moment. However, this is the most popular tour on the island.

To begin the day (even though it was still dark) we stopped in at the Geothermal Power Station and saw the turbines and had the technology explained, including how they deal with earthquakes. The sunrise as we left was incredible and the hour drive to the next stop went by in a flash.
Geothermal power stationGreenhouse
The locals built some steps for the salmon to navigate up this waterfall!

The Geysir.

With all the volcanic activity below us, there are quite a few thermal fields containing bubbling pools. This one in particular has 2 geysirs, one of which erupts every 5min or so. We could only manage about 30min outdoors but we were fortunate to capture a few eruptions on film. The trick is the water turns blue just before it blows. We think they get to about 10m in height.

Interesting fact - the word Geysir is Iceland’s only contribution to the world language.

Gulfoss.

Expectedly given the large amounts of snow, ice & glaciers on the island, there are many beautiful waterfalls in Iceland. The one on this tour visits the largest (we think) of Iceland's. It falls in two stages, 11m then 21m and usually has a rainbow in the afternoon. It was bitterly cold at the clifftop lookout, but surprisly sheltered if you went right down to the wateredge (as Claire did!).

Notice the rainbow...
View from lookout at the top
Þingvellir.

The final stop on this tour was the rift valley in Þingvellir national park. It is here that the two continental plates are visible. Iceland's first parliament was also located here, before being moved to Reyjkavik

The Rift Valley with one of the plates (American) running alongsideThe Great Lake

Reykjavik.

We left it to the last day to have a quick look around the town. Firstly we headed down to the harbour wall and watched sunrise (at 10am) before going into the main street. The thermal power is put to good use and the street/footpath is kept free of snow and ice. We discovered a lake that had frozen over and had a game of Soccer being played on ice. A quick look at the national museum and it was off to the airport for a spot of duty free shopping.

The main shopping street.

The frozen Tjörnin lakeWater is pumped into one corner and the birds flock there in huge numbers

Houses on one side of the lake

Icelandic pram...

The trip back to London.
While we were away, London had an unprecedented amount of snow that predictably ground the city and airports to a halt. We were a little concerned about being stranded, but another day in Reyjkavik wouldn't be the end of the world! No problem for us though, we landed ahead of schedule.

Not completely sure what was going on as it just seemed to leave a layer of ice on the wing.

It could have been a more direct approach