Week 64 - South Africa

Blast off!

Whale Watching

Creation Winery tour

Penguin Colony in Simons Town

Baby Ostriches on the Cape of Good Hope

Bird's eye view from Table Mountain

Table Mountain from the waterfront

The end of such a spectacular trip! I have feelings of satisfaction, accomplishment, and longing for more adventure. We could easily keep going and wish we have more time, but life and work are calling. However the adventure will not stop here.

Before I give too much away, let me tell you about our final week in the incredible country of South Africa. In total we drove 3500km (over 2000 miles)! We never did get pulled over by the police, but I hear from South Africans the phrase is "Can I make a donation to your children's education".

The country is plagued by 43% unemployment, which does not make it the safest of the countries we have visited. However, all-in-all, Southern Africa has been such a pleasant surprise. Several people were asking me prior to the trip about the safety and dangers, but I had felt very comfortable in Africa. Tourists seem to have far less problems in Southern Africa than say for example South America.

Our final path on the African continent: Hermanus > Stellenbosch > Cape Town

Just as I was writing you last time and telling you about the strong winds and the lack of whales; our luck took an interesting turn! Whales were everywhere; on the land, in trees, even one in the pub. Well not exactly, but hey, we saw a lot of whales! From the shore, I saw over 20 whale breechs (this is when the whale jumps out of the water creating a huge splash, in an attempt to remove the white callosities.

Sunday - Whale cruise: Our two Swedish friends had persuaded us to join them on the 0900 cruise for whale watching and wow am I glad I joined them. Picture this, only 10 tourists on the boat, only our boat, 8 whales. Now, it wasn't just 8 whales, it was 8 whales MATING! Unlike the life long faithful penguins who we saw later in the day; whales are a bit more bizarre so the party was 7 males and one female. We watched these beasts for more than an hour just a few feet from our boat! Later we went to South Africa's largest penguin colony.

Monday - Stellenbosch Wine tour: Most of our self arranged wine tours were more interesting where we were able to talk with the wine maker and enjoy things on our own schedule, but this trip was pure fun. We went to four wineries that day and with a large group of fun people. Not only did we sample fine Stellenbosch wines, but also excellent cheeses they make in the area.

Tuesday - Franshoek: With not a lot on the agenda today, we went to the lovely town of Franshoek literally meaning "French Corner" due to the Hugonouts who moved there from France to escape religious persecution. Now you all know why the wine is so exceptionally good in Stellenbosch. We enjoyed a nice meal in town and then enjoyed a few wineries later in the day. That night we met up with our Swedish friends Chris and Freida and went to enjoy the amenities of a University town.

Wednesday - Cape of Good Hope: Along with our new friend Aaron from the Stellenbosch pub crawl, we headed towards Cape Town and first visited the Cape of Good Hope, again seeing several whales, although, they just don't get boring! We visited another colony of penguins and then drove down to Cape for hiking around the peninsula. There we ran into several surprising guests, firstly a hungry group of baboons and also a group of ostriches. What was so special about he ostiches was the young babies they had with them. We were able to walk very close to look at them without the mother attacking us.

Thursday - Table Mountain: The climb up table mountain was a lot of fun. Unfortunately the views from the top were not as special. The clouds had rolled in just as we were climbing hiding its views of the city. We relaxed having a coffee after our 1000 meter (yard) climb and later we enjoyed the fruits of our labor seeing the city nestled on the coast. You may wonder about African cuisine, but we have just found a very delectable one. We enjoyed Ethiopian food for our first time that night. If you have the chance, I'd highly recommend it - delicious curries and a facinating way to eat them - with the table cloth!

Friday - Boks Rubgy: If your not aware, the Rugby world cup is happening right now, but in New Zealand. Nonetheless, support in South Africa for their Springboks is superb! We went out to the pub at 9am on Friday and cheered on the local team watching them win a deserved, but tight victory to Samoa. We visited a few museums this day, the best being the Slave Museum. That night we were escorted out by a friend of a friend in London. Chris a Cape Towner took us out for a good late night causing a wee bit of a hangover the next day.

Saturday - Two Oceans Aquarium: After seeing England win a close rugby match with Scotland we headed towards the waterfront. On the way we gatecrashed a tour of a diamond shop where they gave us free champagne and showed us diamonds. Marina being the perfect wife, was not putty in their hands and resisted any of the sparkling temptations. We then watched a game of kayak basketball which was a strange, but simple concept. Needing an easy tourist activity, we visited the Two Oceans Aquarium. Appropriately named due to the area where the Pacific and the Atlantic meet. Their display of 5 ragged tooth sharks gave us a reminder of how fun our diving trip in Umkomaas was! We found a concert later where we enjoyed two fresh tuna steak sandwiches. That night, we had our very last dinner of the trip - the highlight was Kudu steak, Springbok steak (a type of deer), ostrich, and crocodile - yummy!

Sunday - Robben Island: Our last day was the most culturally enlightening - a trip to Robben Island where Nelson Mandela and President Zuma were both incarcerated. The trip showed the true hearse realities of Apartheid and what people when pushed will do to stand up for themselves. Mandela's cell where he spent 18 years was roughly 2 meters by 2.5 meters. There was not a toilet and the bed was a small mattress on the ground.

So this is the end of our crazy tour! We are now in London and will be heading to Russia on Thursday and staying there for a week. Then back to London on the 13th and we will be only staying for a few days before moving to our new home - Australia!

Thanks for reading our blog and if you have enjoyed our weekly updates, feel free to drop me a line and let me know what you think.

All the best,

Dan and Marina

Week 63 - South Africa

World's Highest Bungy!!!!

ComparetheMeerkat.com

Cheetah spotting

A tired Lemur

The birds

Simples!

Ostrich Riding

Now that's a Great White!!!

The view from the cage (less than 1 meter/yard away)


hallo, ho gon dit?
What did you expect English in South Africa? Well, it seemed everyone spoke English last time I was here, but definitely not the case. Dutch, I mean Afrikaans is the most widely spoken language in South Africa. Essentially a very old version of Dutch with an African twist.

Back to a sad topic from our previous blog - HIV/AIDS. I mentioned that a major is the lack of guidance from parents, teachers and the government. You may think that was a bold comment, but even South African President Zuma said that you can avoid catching HIV by taking a shower! The Health Minister said that by eating onions and beetroot you can avoid catching the disease - AND we wonder why Africa is plagued by this disease.

Having been to quite a few countries on this trip, I can say South Africa is one of the world's best destinations for adventure sports - just wait until you read below at what we have been up to. If you think Las Vegas has a lot of activities, a little town in South Africa can sometimes have more!

Post Apartheid: Unfortunately racism is still rife in South African society. As apartheid ended in the 1980's, blacks have trouble moving on and many whites still have pre-apartheid mentalities. Just to elaborate on how bad the situation was; mixed marriages were prohibited, interracial sex banned, and every individual was classified by race; actually this is still the case by the National Insurance or Social Security Numbers having certain numbers based on skin color. During Apartheid, based on race, South Africa had separate buses, beaches, toilets, schools and blacks were forced to live in specific areas of the country (which was only 14% of the land area for 80% of South Africa's population) and blacks were not allowed to travel without written permission. I have trouble imagining Apartheid was only a few decades ago!

Back to smiley topics - you would NOT believe what we have been up to! This past week seems to be some kind of MessageLabs Presidents club trip!

Our route: Storms River > Plettenberg Bay > Oudtshoorn > Mossel Bay > Cape Agulhas > Hermanus

Sunday - World's Tallest Bungy: Well, this is South Africa and what else could you expect. Connecting a huge 216 meter (713ft) gorge connecting the SA states of Eastern Cape and Western Cape is a bridge. Not just any bridge, this bridge hosts the world's tallest bungy! Marina was a bit sensible so for you in Russia don't worry, but I couldn't pass this up. Walking down the catwalk seeing straight down into the gorge wasn't scary; watching someone else step up and jump, not too nerve-wracking; although, once you get to the edge, knowing you HAVE to jump and looking down 216 meters - well its enough to make your feet heavy and stomach light! The jump was exhilarating, with a free-fall of what seemed to be 3 seconds! The view down the gorge led directly to the ocean so the upside down view was magical. That night we celebrated partying with a few others who jumped having a Brai (BBQ) in the rain, but on top of the world!

Monday - Cat Sanctuary: On the way to Plettenberg Bay where we stayed for two nights, we stopped off at several places. Only in South Africa do you just happen to see a picture of a Cheetah, pull off to check it out and its phenomenal. We would have driven a day for most of these activities this week, but in SA its all so close. The Tenikwa Cat Sanctuary was so fun! Firstly we saw meerkats for the first time in Africa, but the highlight was the cats. We had Servals (often called Mini Cheetahs)and Caracals (Lynx) rubbing against our legs. Servals are the second fastest land mammal in the world, after its bigger brother Che. The real highlight was Che, the cheetahs - we sat next to a six month old and then met the big brothers, two three year old males that we could stand next to and all but touch - no cages! Our next stop was MonkeyLand - a monkey sanctuary which we walked through seeing many types of monkeys including Lemurs from Madagascar. The last stop of the day was Birds of Eden; a huge aviary right out of Jurassic Park hosting some of the most amazing birds I have ever seen.

Tuesday - Deep Sea Fishing: We were fortunate enough to find our own boat and captain to take us out fishing for the morning. They really talked it up and soon we understood why. There were a few areas which we had bites the entire time our bait was in the water. There must have been a lot of small fish as often it was hard to hook anything, but on the six occasions we did, we pulled up very nice keepers. The fish were all Red Romans (similar to Red Snapper) so excellent eating. I was happy to have caught the biggest one and the fish pictured was 4kg (9lbs). They cleaned the fish for us while we had lunch and a beer and that night we enjoyed our fish on the Brai. Nothing tastes better than eating your own catch.

Wednesday - Ostrich Riding: Oudtshoorn claims to be the ostrich capital of the world. I'm not sure if they are, but there sure are a lot of ostrich farms. One novelty which is a bit cruel, but a must for tourists is riding ostriches. They put a bag over its head, I hopped on, held the wings (no saddle or handles) and as they pulled the bag off he went nuts running all around the area. Eventually you fall of, but we certain beat 7 seconds! Marina summed up the courage and jumped onto one herself after forcing the workers to promise to catch her. We went to the Cango caves later and walked around by ourselves after sneaking off the tour and explored a bit on our own. That night, still having ostrich on the brain, cooked up ostrich sausages and ostrich burgers.

Thursday - Ostrich Omelets: A funny thing about the guesthouses in Oudtshoorn; they all provide free ostrich egg for breakfast (as much as you want, but you need to cook it). An ostich egg, which by the way is so hard a person can stand on it - yes I did this and it didn't break, but back to the point - it holds about 18 eggs. We didn't use it all, but made ourselves monstrous omelets. We then drove to Mossel Bay and had a nice walk down the coast to burn off the ostrich.

Friday - Great White Cage Diving: Every since I saw this on television 10 years ago, I always knew I wanted to dive with Great White Sharks. South Africa is the premier destination for this. The diving is all done through a cage and they use chum and huge fish heads to attract the Great Whites. Now the time had come, we cruised to seal island and all the six tourists on board jumped into the cage with the first sighting of a Great White. Marina was the first in the cage and there we waited in 17 degree C. water (62F). After 15 minutes they came in waves and we had Great Whites in our face trying to eat that huge head of Tuna. The huge jaws filled row after row with razor sharp teeth were only 6 inches from my face. The sharks were not scary, however, we both agreed the water temp was the scariest part.

Saturday - Southern Tip of Africa: This morning we drove to the Southern most point of Africa. There we relaxed and hiked to the top of the lighthouse for a birds eye view of the area. Now we are in the quaint village of Hermanus. Normally you can see wales just from the beach, which we hope to do tomorrow, but the winds are strong so the wales are hiding.

Next, we are heading to the winelands of Stellenbosch!

For our next blog we will be letting you in on a little secret of what's happening next month - VERY VERY exciting stuff!

See you next time,

Dan and Marina

Week 62 - Lesotho and South Africa

Lion love

Did anyone see a turtle?

Sand Tiger Shark (aka Raggies) approx 3 meters (10 feet)

Crusin Africa!

A Lesotho village

Botsoela Waterfall

Peacocks mating

Kudus fighting

Juvenile elephants playing in the water

Domala!

This past week has been so full of interesting experiences that it could easily have been a month for us; not to mention, having travelled 1800km (1100 miles) in our rental car. As we are in South Africa for the next two weeks, I'll tell you a bit about Lesotho. Lesotho unfortunately does not have much to offer. Yes it is one of Africa's smallest countries and has the least to do from what we have seen, however and this is a big HOWEVER; the scenery is possibly the best in Southern Africa! Lesotho is a mountainous country staying above 1000 meters (3300 feet) allowing stunning views. We attempted to see almost every place in our guidebook for Lesotho and on most occassions, left saying you must be kidding. The towns, while dumpy, which we are fine with, do not really offer anything to a tourist. The way to enjoy Lesotho is to experience its nature!

As mentioned for Swaziland, the houses and agriculture is far more developed than in the other countries we have visited north of here. The farms we have seen in the countryside are all very small and run by a family. The families do not need to buy the land to build a house or farm, however, submit a request to the village chief who would typically approve it. They grow corn, wheat, potatoe, beatroot, cabbage, and squash. Most will use cattle to till the fields, however some will rent tractors. The chief will teach the new farmers about agricultural techniques.

As a result, the people of rural Lesotho, seem better off than most we have seen. The huts they have, will often be made of brick, sometimes have tin roofs, and also have windows. The huts in the poor villages for example in Malawi would not have these luxuries, using reeds for a roof over the mudhut. Another surprising thing about Lesotho's villages are they seemed much more clean than other places in Africa, and the Malealea villages were completely void of trash.

Our path: Durban > Clarens (SA) > Lesotho (everywhere) > Addo

Sunday - Brai Party: Durban is a great city - such a fun time and we were very happy to be back in the first world enjoying the amenities of life! We stayed just off of Florida Street, possibly the coolest area in Durban. That night, the hostel organised us a Brai - which is Afrikaans (one of South Africa's languages) for BBQ. We just needed to buy our meat, so we walked up Florida Road and bought nice steaks and had an excellent feast that night, partying with a heap of South Africans.

Monday - Bunny Chow: Monday was our tour around Durban. After visiting the Lesotho embassy working on how to get Marina a visa, we headed to the Indian area and enjoyed a local Durban Indian speciality - called Bunny chow. I've never seen this anywhere before, including India, but its delicious - essentially Curry in a loaf of bread. I bought the half loaf thinking I was hungry. This was a HALF loaf of bread, with chicken curry dumped in it! Oh how delicious this concept was - but all too filling. I had trouble walking later, but thankfully as we walked about 20km (13 miles) that day, I felt better! Our tour took us around City Hall, to the Ushaka marine area where we saw the spider and reptile enclosure, we also walked to Durban's new stadium and had a tour even getting to walk down to the field! As we walked along the beach going to Ushaka - we saw several humpback whales surfacing in the distance! Amazing!

Tuesday - Lion Park: We rented a car for the first time on our entire trip and the first stop was the lion park, only just north of Durban and well worth the one hour drive for the sole reason; you get to sit in your car, alone, with 11 lions! They are not wild, being in an enclosure, but they are just as likely to eat you as a wild one and we were within touching distance! The lions were very playful and two even mated! A few times we had to drive off as they came close to my window which was half opened for pictures. Later we drove to Umkomas and partied with our dive master - Chucky who was the exact replica of St. Louis' Scott Nevins!

Wednesday - Raggies Cave: A top 10 dive site of the world! We left our hotel room to a hard rain and dark grey clouds - not perfect diving weather, but hey, its what is under the water that counts. Due to the current and dumb luck, the visibility was substantially better then the day before - at around 12 meters or 40 feet. We had two dives and the second was the real deal. We dove with Ragged tooth sharks (called raggies) or also known as Sand Tiger sharks. These things whilst timid and not aggressive are MEAN (looking) with a capital M E A N! Most were about 3 meters (10 feet) and the teeth are all protruding so you see these huge shark teeth as it swims right for you, only a few feet away! Such an amazing time! We even made it to the boat with all our fingers, toes, hands and feet! During the dive we also saw turtles, cat sharks, and eels.

Thursdays - Lesotho's Highlands: We started from Clarens very early and by 08:30 we were crossing successfully into Lesotho. Our aim was to drive to the east and hire a 4x4 and guide to take us to this famous mountain pass - Sani. After two hours of driving, the road became horrendous - we continued on the gravel road for some 45km (30 miles) and even after it was one continuous pothole, we thought our 1.6 litre Kia could handle it - as this was the middle of nowhere, no phone signal, no people, well no civilisation for 45+ kilometers (30 miles), my mind wandered back to the time in Iceland with Kyri, Gabi and Matt where we were stuck next to the glacier. TIA - This is Africa! So not the best idea on where to get stuck or have two flat tires! So we decided to turn back - which is and was very painful for Marina and I, but in retrospect, a smart decision. Nonetheless, we crossed several passes over 3,000 meters (10,000ft) which I'm sure were close to as magical as the Sani pass. Our first stop in Lesotho was to see rock paintings and walked around a few huts showing the ways of life in Lesotho's villages. Our next stop was to see dinosaur footprints in a very rural area. We were able to see what we looked to be T-Rex footprints in stone - however cut the visit short for safety reasons. The rest of the day we went to the places in our guidebook, each time thinking, you must be kidding me. These places were all in towns, which as we now know, is just pointless in Lesotho. Thankfully and being slightly nervous with the night coming, we made it to the Malealea Lodge in a gorgeous countryside area.

Friday - Pony Trek: You should know me very well by now after reading this blog and firmly know I would not take a PONY ride! Well, I admit - I did, and liked it! Well it was kind of a Pony ride. If you have noticed, Pony has a capital P; why you may ask. Well the most common horse in Lesotho is the Pony breed; smaller than a normal horse, but bigger than a Mongolian horse. This Friday morning Marina and I went for our horse ride heading to the Botsoela waterfall. These horses must have been the best thus far of our trip; very obedient and fast when we wanted. Such a joy compared to the insane Colombian horses we had last May. The Malealea valley area is gorgeous and the ride provided our eyes with such colorful and mountainous scenes. The recently plowed red soil added to the spectacular views. Later in the day we arranged a walking trek through a nearby gorge and learned a lot about the Sotho people from our local guide. He was very proud of his grandfather who had lived to what he thinks is 92. Whilst this number may not be accurate by 15 or 20 years (birthdays were never kept back then in much of Africa and still is not even kept today sometimes); nonetheless, this is amazing and I think also shows how the Sotho people of Lesotho or at least in this region are living well. That night locals came to our guesthouse to play music. The instruments were interesting and inventive. They made guitars from wood with a large can on the end for a percussion. The drum was a barrel with rubber on the top and the drummer used pieces of tire for the drum sticks! They were very creative and a lot of fun to watch.

Saturday - Addo Elephant Park: We had a long long drive yesterday - the middle of Lesotho, far down a gravel road - driving to southern South Africa! Just look at Google maps! We made it to Addo Elephant park by 1:30 - maybe a land speed record! haha, just kidding mom! Addo Elephant National Park, just outside Port Elizabeth is outstanding. Armed with our own car and lots of independence, we were on our own with the animals. This park, whilst not as densely populated with big cats like the Serengeti or Kruger, was spectacular. A few of the scenes: 23 elephants by a lake, several play fighting in the water for a good hour, two young elephants charging each other, 3 lions sleeping, 2 lions on the prowl looking for dinner; a puff-adder snake crossing the road (one of the deadliest in Africa), hartebeests, zebras, kudus fighting, warthogs, and as we were leaving, worried about only having 1/8th a tank of gas, the sun bearing down on the windshield making it hard to see; a water buffalo walked from the shadow of a tree right in front of our car! I can say it was a near miss - I heard later that if you kill one with your car (I would be more worried about it killing us) you have a 450,000 Rand fine; the rate is 7 Rand to $1 so you can work it out - ouch. Thankfully we found a gas station and our guesthouse and relaxed after a long long day!

So what is next in South Africa; Storms river, Plettenberg Bay, and Knysna.

Until next time,

Dan and Marina

Week 61 Mozambique & Swaziland

The Humpbacks of Mozambique

"Our" Whale Shark!

Maputo City Hall

Me and the warthogs

A grumpy local

Como Esta!

We have covered a lot of ground in the past week and we have much to talk about.

Mozambique a country who has just emerged a few decades ago from more than 10 years of civil war and completely ravaged by the Portuguese like the excellent tenants they were, destroyed everything before leaving. Despite the odds Mozambique seems to be doing very well and not caught up in the past. During the turbulent times, Mozambique had a brief liaison with communism - which we can still see remnants of. Some of the people we have met, older of course, had studies in the Soviet Union and could speak Russian. Also, some streets in Maputo have Russian names.

A few things about the place, one cashews are a major export and easily bought on the street from vendors. Large bags approx 400gr are only $4 - not bad huh! Mozambique, like its neighboring countries, are big on recycling glass. The bottles are always returned for the deposit.

One crazy thing we have found throughout our travels in Africa is the women are by far the hardest workers in Africa! Followed by the children unfortunately.

Our path since we last spoke; Vilankulo > Tofo > Maputo > Swaziland

Sunday - Mozambique seafood: We arrived in Tofo by around 2ish and booked our diving for the time here. Tofo is a tiny little village, not even a town and is kind of a hippy hangout. The place is very chilled and has excellent seafood. We indulged every lunch and dinner in fish and calamari! The best thing to accompany the good food here is Laurentina beer - the best beer in Africa so far!

Monday - Humpback whales: We went for a dive in the morning, but that wasn't the highlight of the day, despite being a pretty decent dive. The cruise out back and forth was full of humpback whales. Also on Wednesday we saw numerous humpbacks, sometimes a mother with calf swimming by our boat. There must have been hundreds around. Later in the day I even saw one from the beach. You would have to be lucky to see them breach, which we saw twice, but mostly they would just swim along the top or come up for air. This was our first time seeing whales! If you haven't yet, you absolutely must see these magical beasts!

Tuesday - Relaxing on the beach: Tofo's beach is huge, reminding me of Venice Beach in California, more than 100 yards (meters) before you reach the water. We spent the day, soaking sun and swimming in the reasonable sized waves.

Wednesday - WHALE SHARK: Wednesday was all about diving and snorkeling! We went for two dives, but the best was yet to come after we surfaced and headed back. One of the dives, Manta Reef is a top 30 dive sight in the world and we were spectators to a huge display of marine life, although no mantas. On the two dives, we saw lobsters, giant turtles, a grouper bigger than me, huge moray eels, puffer fish, and a crocodile fish. The real treasure was the boat ride back to shore when we spotted a whale shark. If you aren't familiar with this fish; besides being the biggest fish in the world, they are very docile and do not eat people! They don't even eat fish - mostly plankton. When we spotted it, all us divers jumped out of the boat with our snorkels and swam along with it. I'm sure it could go faster, but I could easily swim to the front of it from the back. This 7 meter (24 foot) beast was as big as a bus and so graceful, unlike Nepali buses. We have been wanting to see one for many years and finally our wish had been granted! The whale shark is kind of a Mecca of divers and its something most want to see sometime in their life!

Thursday - Vladimir Lenine Street: We took a 4am bus to Maputo, Mozambique's capital, with all kinds of drama from hippies misplacing bags, but eventually arrived to the city to face horrible gridlock. What the bus driver didn't know, is it wasn't going to move. We bailed on the bus when we got close enough to walk, leaving the other tourists and locals to wait. What we saw soon was a bicycle race going down Vladimir Lenine street (yes, they spell it Lenine - haha). The race was part of the African Nations Sporting event. We spent the remainder of the day sightseeing, visiting their 110 year old colonial train station (a standing remnant of the Portuguese), the fort, and a metal house used by the governor. As far as African cities go, Maputo is a very nice one with lots of outdoor cafes.


Swaziland, one of Africa's smallest and least populous nations is an interesting one! King Mswati the 3rd now has 9 wives, previously he had 12, but 3 have since divorced him! They actually divorced him, if you can imagine that. No instances of guillotine use in case my English readers are wondering!

The country appears to be more modern than we have seen in the previous African countries. They have decent roads and nicer housing in the villages, but like the other Southern African countries, there are a multitude of social problems; schools without teachers, mismanagement, misappropriation of funds and poor healthcare. 26% of Swazi's are reported to have AIDS; however only a small amount is done to educate the population. We have seen a few billboards, but most parents, teachers and government officials are clueless on even how to protect themselves, much less than to advise young people.

One of the impressive feats of Swazi is its agriculture production. Nowhere in Southern Africa have we seen such organised crop fields; which many contain sugarcane, corn and wheat.

Friday - Hello Swaziland: We had a nice relaxed minibus trip to the boarder and to my surprise, it was quiet, clean and didn't have people wondering around. Normally you will have touts, food sellers, moneychangers, taxis, and general chaos. Strangely, there was none of this; such a great start for Swaziland. We arrived at our hostel which was in a gorgeous valley and well equiped with a pool, bar, and very comfortable lodging (spa bathtub); however, no people. We spent the day trying to organise our time in Swaziland and what we could do without a car - this is not as easy as you might think. After we had our game plan, we enjoyed a few drinks, had dinner and relaxed, chatting with the owner and resident hippy.

Saturday - Mlilwane Walking Safari: Yesterday's safari was an incredible and unique one. Swaziland isn't really well known for its game parks, but what we really enjoyed about Mlilwane was we could just walk around on our own and get as close to the animals as we wanted - well, often the animals didn't like this. We walked up within 10-15 feet (2-3 meters) from huge crocodiles; our first we have seen in Africa surprisingly. We closely approached many warthogs, zebras, gazelles, and wildebeests. Having the freedom to walk around was incredible.

What's next; we are now in Durban, South Africa and are hoping to arrange a trip to Lesotho.

See you next time,

Dan and Marina

Week 60 - Malawi & Mozambique

Top of Sapwita! (Translation in Tumbuka - Don't go there)

Enjoying Mt Mulanje Park

Mozambique's transport option #1

yes, I know we look funny!

Vilankulo's receding tide

Bon Dia!

Malawi, yes I failed to talk about it before in greater detail due to pressing time to get to our base on Mt Mulanje. So hear is your weekly earful;

Malawi is THE country in South Africa which everyone wishes they had more time for. The place is full of fun and friendly people and the place is endearing. I would personally say this is a TOP African destination! The country has "good" sights, but the real highlight is the people.

Malawi is not all perfect; this is one of the poorest African countries! However, they take pride in their country being a peaceful nation and not being caught up in wars like their neighbors.

We met several westerners working in hospitals here telling us the truth behind the curtain and let me say; you don't want to be in a Malawian hospital. The main ailments in the country are AIDS, TB, and Malaria. Just like in most of Southern Africa's countries, the AIDS rate is much higher than reported as they will often tick TB as the cause of death, but really its AIDS and they just contracted TB in the late stages. Life Expectancy in this part of Africa is shocking - 40 years! I can tell you honestly, in the past month I can count the amount of old people we have seen - ON ONE HAND! When I say old, 45+! That is very old for Africa!

Our path: Mt. Mulanje > Mocuba (Mozambique) > Vilankulo

Monday - Pine to Cedar: We started our hike with Fin our friend from Sydney and had hired a porter and a guide. The day before we stocked up on our food rations and alcohol for the 3 days hiking. One initiate of the parks department was to cut down the pine forest and replant cedar trees, quite the site I can tell you - and very nice to smell! We hiked all day to get to the Chisepo hut and there we cooked our own food - soup and spaghetti and admired the stunning views of valley below.

Tuesday - Sapwita Peak (3,002 meters or 10,000ft): This was our summit day and we started early as it would be a long day. The climb I can honestly say was the hardest of our entire trip. This can't compare exactly to climbing Kili at 5,890 meters, but the sheer difficulty of climbing what seemed to be vertical rock faces, not exactly vertical, but tough and this was climbing, not trekking or hiking! We reached the top a bit before noon, and had much satisfaction as we relaxed enjoying the scenery! We descended back to the Chispeo hut and had lunch then hiking for several hours through varying landscapes eventually ending in a new cedar forest! The cabin we stayed in was void of tourists so we enjoyed the place to ourselves trying some Malawian brandy - not to bad all things considered.

Wednesday - 18 wheels a truckin: We had a laugh in the morning seeing the ravens eating the remains of our very spicy rice dinner - they had about as much trouble with it as Marina the time I took her to Sri Lanka! Haha. By 1pm we were down the mountain and on our way, having said goodbye to Fin, bound for Mozambique. I knew this would be a journey, but hadn't realised how epic it would be! We had nearly 1000km or 600 miles to go and in Mozambique, that is seriously far! Our journey this day started with a taxi, then minibus to the boarder. From there, we took a bycycle about 5km or 3 miles to the town. From there we waited for 90 minutes and as the evening was approaching we had to hitch-hike to get to the next town. This wasn't as scary as it seems as we jumped in an 18 wheeler truck or lorry joined by about 10 women carrying babies. We travelled for about 7 hours down this dirt road, yes, not even a paved road and reached our destination - Mocuba around midnight.

Thursday - Leaping on buses: We left our hotel in Mocuba at 04:30 ready to catch the 05:00 bus. Unfortunately for us, the hotel staff were idiots and there was no bus; or at least that's what we were told when we got there. So....we sat on a minibus for four hours before it left. Now this bus wasn't going the full way, just 1/3rd, but it was progress. As we arrived to Caia; we were pleasantly surprised to see a minibus ready to leave for the next 1/3rd and promptly boarded it. However, Marina was very clever to spot a big bus, 15 minutes later, before our minibus was just ready to leave so I checked and it was bound for Maputo, the one which would take us the full way!!! She ran to hold the bus and our seats on it and I leapt up on the minibus to get our bags off the roof causing the 100+ people around to stare in amazement at this crazy white man! After a bit of an effort untying the bags, I had them down and in the next bus. Dripping full of sweat I was able to relax and appreciate this saved us one day of travel! From hitch-hiking with the truck driver and this quick thinking change, we saved two days!!!!! That night we reached the junction (only 10 miles or 16km) from Vilankulo where we stayed appreciating our hard efforts and knowing we were only a quick ride from our destination in the morning.

Friday - Mercado Central: We checked into our hotel just across the street from the beach and promptly went to enjoy the sun and tropical Indian ocean! You may know or have to imagine how nice it is to relax on the beach after a taxi,minibus,bicycle,18 wheeler,minibus,bus, and truck! Such a journey - I would say it was epic and especially doing this in about 36 hours!!!! That night we went to the mercado central - much to Marina's protest as it seemed a bit dodgy and was night - but this turned out to be a gem. Many of the locals eat here and the standard practice is to pick out your fish in the market and then take them to a stall who will cook it for your, and serve rice, salad, beer, etc - the cooking charge is $2!!! We aimed to buy 2 medium sized fish, it turned out that that the 50 Met (also $2) was for the pile of fish. So we walked away with 4 medium sized fish for $2! That meal was hearty and oh so good!

Saturday - Disappearing Sea: The next day we had a very similar repeat with the market and beach. One amazing thing about Vilankulo, possibly during this time in the moon's calendar is the tide. The tide recedes miles and miles (km and km, just doesn't sound right) and it almost surely looked like we could have walked all the way to the island a few miles away, although I'm sure we would have died trying!

Whats next? We are now in Tofo which I will tell you all about, and let me add so far there is A LOT to tell!!! After this, we are off to Maputo.

Ciao,

Dan and Marina

Week 59 - Malawi

The REAL way to carry vegetables

Cape Maclear's impressive sunset

Enjoying a drink

Malawi village shop

Moni!

We have really been enjoying the country often called the friendliest in Africa! As friendly as Malawians have been, I think Zimbabweans and Zambians are also up there.

Our path: Blantyre > Cape Maclear > Liwonde > Mulanje

Tuesday - Boarder hassles: This Tuesday we were crossing into Mozambique and leaving again after a few hours as this is the direct route for our bus to Blantyre, Malawi. I was mostly worried about this as we have had a crazy time with their visa process and often try to extort crazy amounts of money (The Moz embassy in Harare wanted $200 for us just to cross for a few hours), luckily this was smooth and the price was reasonable. The real concern came as we arrived to the Malawi boarder and they didn't like Marina's visa as it didn't have an official stamp from London. They told us we couldn't go in, but after about 30 minutes, yes the bus was waiting) we were allowed in, even without a bribe, which I thought would surely be necessary! That night the Malawi Carslburg beer tasted oh so good!

Wednesday - 25 people in the back of a pickup: Getting to Lake Malawi was a real task, but it was worth it when we saw Cape Maclear and the gorgeous setting. One part of our trip was rather interesting as we hopped in the back of a pickup truck (Ford Ranger size) along with 23 other people including a few children and babies. Not the safest, but certainly interesting to see how the locals travel. Malawians have been so friendly and on occasions like this, they really look after you as a tourist.

Thursday - Scuba diving in Freshwater: We had never been in freshwater for a diver, other than the cave dive in Mystery Island that was 50% freshwater and 50% salt water. I wasn't expecting much, but these low expectations were overly exceeded. We had a good 10 meters (yards) visibility which is great for a lake. We were able to go in a sunken boat at about 28 meters (yards) deep. The second dive was the real treasure; we met a mouth breeder fish. We came upon about 20 minnows and one big fish as long as your arm (no hand) which was guarding the minnows and attacking other predators to scare them away. This happened for a good 5 minutes and then one fish was successful and took an unfortunate minnow. The mother, who could have won an award for her care, took all the remaining minnows in her mouth to protect them and there they stayed until we left. I couldn't believe these finger sized minnows even fit!

Friday - Kayaking Lake Malawi: After sleeping in for the first time in over a week, we had an early lunch and went kayaking on Lake Malawi. Normally in Africa we have been getting up at 6 or 7am so this was a real joy. Lake Malawi is roughly 20% of Malawi's total size, so a pretty big lake. We rowed a few thousand meters (yards) to an uninhabited island to soak up the sun and swim. We also snorkeled seeing more of Malawi's fish varieties. Later we took on the task of rowing around the whole island which was more of a wildlife adventure seeing dozens of fish eagles perched on trees and flying around.

Saturday - Jeep Safari: Yesterday's highlight was Bushman's Baobab hostel and its amenities. Really a safari lodge built for backpakers. We met up with two of our friends Eve and Fin who we traveled to Malawi with. The safari was excellent taking us through Liwonde National Park - the most famous park in Malawi. There we saw many elephants who were quite shy, and such big animals, who would have thought. We spied on numerous groups of gazelles, Sables, Kudu and Waterbucks. Also running around were the eerie looking Warthogs. Baboons had a big presence and were often running around or lounging up to who knows what. That night we had a big party around a campfire enjoying Malawi's local spirits. Carlsburg has a brewery down here and brews several types of excellent beer which I've never seen in Europe.

Sunday - Canoe Safari: This morning we went out in a tiny canoe with our new friend James and paddled (well, we were paddled by a guide) past hippos only 30 feet (10 meters) away. We watched large herds containing dozens of elephants enjoying the water on the river and scratching trees as they like so much. The bird life at 7am on a tributary of the Zambezi river is phenomenal; a true bird spotters paradise. We started our one truck & 3 minibus journey around 10am this morning and have now arrived at Mulanje.

What's next for us; we are going to climb Mt Mulanje, Malawi's tallest peak and then we are off to Mozambique.

All the best,

Dan and Marina

Week 58 - Zimbabwe

Crazy Bob is in every business

The Matopos

Cave Art

Great Zim

Harare Gardens

Hello all, welcome to our 58th week and 400th day traveling!

We have been a bit lazy and not learned a word of Shona, but hey this is Zimbabwe, EVERYBODY speaks English!

Zimbabwe is similar in many respects to the other crazy dictator run countries we have visited such as Venezuela and "mystery island". I do think they all collaborate to see how the government can continue to beat down its people.

One great comment we heard from a white Zimbabwean in his 50's who was born here is
"Mugabe's unintentionally has brought the whites and blacks together" - due to the oppression of all people. We read back home about how he is taking white farms and giving them to blacks - this is happening and in many times violent ways, however the government has lead many atrocities which we don't often hear about in the west, but are very factual such as genocide of poor villagers. One occasion which is well documented is 25,000 villagers killed to make room for farmland - the soldiers involved were trained by the North Koreans - sounds crazy, but Google it and you'll find a lot of info. Also, a few years ago 400 villagers were killed as a diamond mind was discovered in their village - I guess it would have just been too hard to say its time to move... We don't typically hear about this stuff back home, but it happening and seemingly the United Nations is turning a blind eye.

In Zimbabwe, power outages are daily, there is limited health care and education is scare. As in Venezuela, many teachers are striking or not working any more as they aren't paid enough or paid at all. The government is nationalizing everything and when they do, it just falls apart, such as with power plants.

Mugabe is now trying to pass a law that for any foreign owned company, the government is to be given 51% free. The operating costs are all to come out of the company's 49% ownership. Hmmm, so essentially all foreign companies will be closing up shop if this passes, which it very much looks to do!

The people however are similar to Zambians and super friendly. I can't remember one time when we have been hassled walking down the street in Zimbabwe and most people say hello, how are you, when they walk past!

I won't comment on the villages as we haven't seen too many, but the cities are very nice. Bulawayo could easily be a small Midwest city in the US, however out of the early 80's. The country was very prosperous back in the day, but the government doesn't seem to be looking to improve things. As successful farms were taken off of white owners, the agricultural output has diminished. Regardless of race on who owns these farms, if the government touches them, all just wilts away.

From our point of view, Zim (as its called) has been a very hospitable and easy place to travel. Some places are a bit difficult and mildly out of reach without our own transport, but we have been managing very well.

Thus far we have been in Victoria Falls Town > Bulawayo > Matopos National Park > Masvingo > Harare

Tuesday - Crossing the Boarder bridge: After the Lion Encounter in Zambia, we crossed over to Victoria Falls town in Zimbabwe and wrote you the last blog. We really jumped in the deep end in Zimbabwe, unsure where to go, one reason is our Lonely Planet guide book seemed to be written 10 years ago and secondly because most places were quite far and required your own transport or a serious amount of time and patience. After chatting with a few locals we built our game plan and relaxed a bit.

Wednesday - Combis (minibus): We were out the door by 6am and on our way to the minibus station, which turned out to be a van on the side of the two lane highway. By now we had the trick, sit in the front and you have much more room. These vans which hold around 20 people, often very tight together are a great place to talk and chat with locals. We really got a good feel for the place talking to people on these minibuses. We arrived in Bulawayo (pop 1 million) around 3pm and were soon out the door to book a tour/safari the next day in the Matopos National Park. Just as we were at our wits end as most places were out of business or not running tours due to the lack of tourists in Zim, we found a great lady called Mrs Bell in the tourist information office who sorted everything for us including logistics for our trip to the next place (Great Zim). That night we enjoyed dinner at the sports complex next to our hostel.

Thursday - Matopos: Matobo National Park or Matopos as its nicknamed was a very interesting and beautiful place. We were told the history of Rhodesia and Zimbabwe including many of the Shona stories. The park was littered with huge granite boulders and much of the day was spent on safari animal spotting. We stopped at one point to look at cave paintings which were approximately 20,000 years old and quite good art, even for today! Zimbabwe seems to have a horrible problem with poaching as we barely saw any animals and this was one of their main national parks. Rhino horns can fetch as much as $250,000 in China - so you can imagine what's happening in this poor country. We were able to see a small family of giraffes, warthogs, and several antelope. The best part of the trip was talking with our guide who was very open about Zimbabwe.

Friday - Great Zimbabwe: Seems they shorten everything in Zim. Well they call this place Great Zim. Zimbabwe in the Shona language means - Big Stone Houses, named after the UNESCO site - Great Zimbabwe. Built more than a thousand years ago, making it the second oldest archeological site in Africa - after Egypt's many places. The Zimbabwean government will tell you this place was built by the Shona, but Marina and I believe an alternative theory that this was built by Arab or Chinese traders. The Shona seemed to occupy it for several hundreds of years, but they only lived in mud huts inside the stone walls. Given there are no similar places where the Shona lived around Kenya or Tanzania and even before this time the Chinese were pretty good at "wall" building, I think this seems easy to figure out. However it's quite a sensitive political topic.

Saturday - Cooking in Harare: I haven't mentioned about this, but Zimbabwe seems to imports everything. As a result the prices for food and many things are very similar to back in the US. We would be stuck in Harare for a few days so having a very nice kitchen at our disposal we decided to cook. It's been a while, but we whipped up a delicious spaghetti meal.

Sunday - Tree lined streets: Harare is a really pretty city, but just needs a bit of cleanup. Yesterday we walked all through the city enjoyed its central Harare Gardens and National Gallery. The hostel we are staying in has a lot of fun backpackers so we heard stories of travelers enjoying West Africa, and even getting through Nigeria.

Now we are off to Malawi tomorrow morning. Malawi's people have a reputation for the friendliest in Sub-Saharan Africa, so we will see how it goes.

Until next time,

Dan and Marina

Week 57 - Zambia

Hangin at Kariba Dam

Victoria Falls

Baboons near the falls

Grrrr!

Two ladies playing

Zambian trail

I'll start with the unusual - Hello, Good morning!

In Zambia they speak numerous tribal languages such as Bemba, Tonga, Ngoni and Lozi - although like India, everyone seems to just speak English as the connecting language. The papers, radio stations, and television channels are mostly in English.

The biggest thing I have learning about Zambia, is wow how different they are; and I mean in a GOOD way! Zambians are super friendly. Different to our first few weeks in Africa, when people on the street talk to us (I mean bothered or harrassed us); in Zambia its hello, how are you. Lusaka is especially a great place to visit, we freely walked around the leafy green streets (in the day) and people couldn't have been nicer!

The main topic now is the presidential election coming up next month. I thought Peru's election was crazy with six candidates, here they have 20 and all real competition! From the rallys we have seen and conversations had, Zambians are very passionate about politics and certainly about change! With fuel at nearly $2/liter (almost $8/gallon) in a country where a waiter in a restaurant earns $50/month, life is not easy!

Zambia is one of the most Christian countries I have ever been to. Before any long bus ride, you will be lead by a preacher who says a good 10 minutes of prayers and gospel. Most of the passengers participate with an "AMEN" or a few other words. Of course all of this is in English. However the strange contrast to this religious society is witchcraft! With even the educated members of society believing in witches flying on broomsticks and other bizzare occurances, this is not a boring place to visit!

Our path: Nakonde > Lusaka > Siavonga > Lusaka > Livingstone

Tuesday - Welcome to Zambia: Since I wrote you last time we boarded our long bus ride to Lusaka, ending 2 straight full days of bus travel! What a journey, but we made it!

Wednesday - Zambeef Steak: Just on the drive into Lusaka (Zambia's capital) I knew this place would be different. Firstly its green and normal looking; secondly we exited the bus and were not being pulled in all directions; and lastly, people say hello and aren't looking for something. Yes, I was going to like Lusaka and I haven't even told you the good parts yet. The best part is the nightlife. We hadn't been out one night yet in Africa! Partially because of safety, but also because there wasn't much going on in any of the places. Welcome to Lusaka; the city is full of excellent restaurants. We went to a steak house called Marlin and this dinner would give Argentina some competition! Well, we had Moshi beer rather than delicious wine, but the food was superb. That's not all, afterwards we went to a bar! Yes, a nice bar which could have been out of any posh outdoor area! We even had martini's - now that is living!

Thursday - Lake Kariba: Lusaka does have a manic bus station, but its not too bad, its the minibus terminal where the central market is located. Different to our experience on this trip, it was busy and chaotic, but people were very friendly and pointed us in the right direction. We boarded a mini-bus (normally an 11 seater, filled with 20 people and about the same size worth of baggage - which was mostly grain and produce - no live chickens on this one! We arrived at the lake which was more of a holiday for us. The lake has nice hotels and we were lucky enough to secure a room just 15 feet from the water's edge where we relaxed and I swam a bit. Although you need to be on your guard around here as Hippos are seen and if you get to close, well I don't know if they would even need a box to send me home!

Friday - Kariba Dam: We made a few friends with a just married Zambian couple who were staying next door to our room. We spent the day with Chardley and Faith, first going to the Kariba dam which built many decades ago and now we have Kariba lake to enjoy. Unfortunately the project displaced many people who practiced witchcraft causing the builders many misfortunes (two floods, one draught, and a few small natural disasters)- still don't believe? Our new friends were fantastic and taught us many things about Zambian life.

Saturday - Premier League: Africa is wild about football (soccer) and especially the English Premier League. Most east African men will have a team, Arsenal, Man U, Chelsea, or Liverpool - that's pretty much it. I'm not sure, but are there any other teams?? :D haha. We made it back from the lake to go shopping at a local craft village and then headed out to watch the Arsenal. That night we enjoyed the delicious food at Marlin again and went out for a few drinks to take advantage of NIGHTLIFE, which we might not see for a while after Zambia.

Sunday - The town of David Livingstone: We arrived by 3:30pm and started planning our strategy for this event filled town. Our hostel, what a hostel, had a pool, Irish Bar attached, pool table - not too bad if you were wondering how hostels are in Africa. The best part of this place is the name - Faulty Towers! How could we not stay here! That night we went out for Indian food which would have been good even in London!

Monday - Victoria Falls: We woke in the morning and made our way to what may be Africa's most beautiful sight! David Livingstone commented: "No one can imagine the beauty of the view from anything witnessed in England. It had never been seen before by European eyes, but scenes so lovely must have been gazed upon by angels in their flight" (Livingstone 1857) The trails around the falls offer very different views and we enjoyed the area for a good few hours. At one point even stepping in the river on top of the falls - I joked with Marina about falling in the water would be a long way down. The falls as you will see from the picture are very wide, I would say certainly almost 2km (over 1 mile). The falls drop into the Zambezi river and further downstream is the Kariba Dam and Kariba lake, the quick, but painful way back to our cottage next to the water.

Tuesday - Lion Encounter: This morning we played with baby lions! Need I say more, ok I will. We went to a Lion sanctuary where they raise lions and release them into the wild and were able to play with the cubs, pet them and watch them (as close as we wanted). They were very much like domestic cats, however as they were just six months of age, so they wouldn't eat us yet.

Now we have crossed the boarder and are writing you from the comforts of Mugabe's empire - the land of Zimbabwe!!

What's next, we are planning on heading south to Bulawayo and then to the Great Zimbabwe National Monument.

Talk to you next week,

Dan and Marina