Good Vibes Only

The drive from Arusha to Nairobi is bittersweet. The last day in Sweni. The last day our dysfunctional African family is whole. The traffic was horrendous. Some of us have only known each other for three weeks and it’s hard enough to accept the end. For the ten (twelve) of us who have been together for 40 days, it’s heart-wrenching. I can’t imagine what it will be like not to wake up in the morning to these faces, to Vernon’s loud morning greetings and hugs, to savannah sunrises. These six weeks, they have been life-changing and a lifetime in itself. I will always remember. T.I.A.

Today we drove down into the Ngorogoro Crater. Again, indescribable. Words, even photos, can’t capture this place. Back to Arusha in the afternoon, we had dinner at the camp restaurant. All the proceeds from the bar and restaurant go to the snake bite clinic just outside the camp where anyone can go for free medical care, particularly treatment for snake bites. This is our last night as a full group. Paul made a speach to Vernon and C on behalf of the group, tears were shed, hugs were given and drinks were consumed. No one was ready to say goodbye tonight.

Game driving today. Amazing animals, amazing views. Indescribable. Camping on the edge of the Ngorogoro Crater, little bit rainy in the evening, quite a bit cold, huge amount of toasty in my sleeping bag.

Today we headed into the Serengeti. I don’t even have words to explain how amazing this place is. On the way to our campsite we saw the last of the big five, our original group had seen the African elephant, Cape buffalo, lion, and rhino by this stage and today, the leopard. Tonight we camp out in the wild, no fence to keep the animals away.

Last night, during a nature pee (the cleaner option, considering the state of the facilities) I ended up with a cheek full of mosquito bites. That was pleasant on the bumpy truck journey today. Thankfully, today’s journey was short, we arrived at the Snake Park early in the afternoon with time to check out the reptiles. Today was feeding day. Chicks and baby guinea pigs were on the menu.

We left Stone Town early this morning to catch the ferry back to Dar Es Salaam. The air conditioning was nice on the way to Zanzibar, but this early in the morning it was very cold. I tried my best not to complain to myself because I knew how hot and humid it would be as soon as I walked out the door. Back in Dar Es Salaam we were picked up by C and headed out of the city. We arrived at Zebra campsite around 5 in the afternoon. This is not the campsite we were meant to stay at according to the itinerary, it is one the tour used to stop at before it was changed. The view was beautiful, the campsite left something to be desired. The toilets were squats and didn’t flush properly and there were tons of mosquitos. As the weather in general has been cooling off somewhat since we left Botswana (with the exception of Dar Es Salaam and Zanzibar) I didn’t feel sweaty enough to shower and risk the mozzie bites.

Got to sleep in nicely this morning. We dropped off bags at reception to go back to Stone Town early with C as he had to go back to Dar Es Salaam today in order to pick us all up at the ferry tomorrow morning. We rode in the air conditioned bus back to Stone Town. A group of us went for lunch to a restaurant that makes excellent East African food. I had prawn fajitas with mango salsa and chapati. So so good. After lunch we got split up. Sabrina, Nic, Rianne and I searched for the site of the former slave market which took us way longer than it should have. Zanzibar used to be a huge hub for the slave trade before it was abolished. People all over Africa were taken from their homes, forced to walk across countries to the slave market where, if they had survived, they would be sold and sent out in ships to other countries. A Christian church (Zanzibar is primarily muslim) was built on the site where the slave market once was. The pulpit stands where the whipping post once did. The s...

Day 23 – November 16 – Livingstone to Lusaka Long-ish driving day today, but not so bad. Day 24 – November 17 – Lusaka to Chipata Another long day of driving.

Had a lazy day today, got a henna tattoo on the beach and just relaxed.

This morning we went for a tour of a spice plantation. It was too hot and humid and I got bit by mosquitos but I did buy some nice perfume and coffee I’m excited to try at home. We continued on to Nungwi and the Amaan bungalows. Beautiful rooms with beautiful air conditioning. Spent the day at the beach and the night at the beach bar.

This morning we packed what we needed for Zanzibar and piled in to tuk tuks to take us to the ferry that crosses the Dar Es Salaam harbour. The harbour ferry is an experience in itself, people line up at the gate and push their way out to the ferry the second the gate opens. At the other side of the harbour, we pile into taxis to take us to the Kilimanjaro ferry terminal and wait in the air conditioned office for the ferry to depart. The ferry is also air conditioned. Arrived in Stone Town around 12 and went for Indian food for lunch. After that we got lost on the streets of Stone Town and went shopping. For dinner we went to the Stone Town night market. I shared an octopus tentacle with Rianne and Alice and had the best kebab. After that we went for drinks at the Mercury bar, so named after Freddie Mercury who was born on Zanzibar.

Longest. Driving. Day. Ever. We left Iringa at 3:30 am and didn’t arrive at the campsite in Dar Es Salaam until 4 pm. I didn’t sleep much and felt sick the whole day. Dar Es Salaam is on the Indian Ocean and is very humid.

Longish drive today, we got some rain along the way. Campsite tonight is COLD. Probably 10-15 degrees.

Today some of the group went on a hike up to Livingstonia, a village on a mountain where there was once a Malaria hospital. The location of the village is up high enough that malaria can’t exist. I really wanted to do the hike but it was 16 km one way and with my back as burned as it is, I didn’t think I would be able to carry a backpack with water for the while trip. I started a book at 6 am and finished it by 4 pm.

Today my sunburn has proved to be the worst I have ever had. Thankfully it was a relatively short drive today, although we did have a brief breakdown on the side of the road due to a disconnected wire on the truck. Tonight’s campsite is even better than the last. It’s a little farther from the beach, but with my sunburn I have very little interest in swimming anyway. I spent the afternoon finishing my book and relaxing on a very comfortable lounge in the bar area.

Our upgraded room didn’t turn out to be as good as I hoped. It was nice having extra space and electrical outlet but the bed wasn’t any more comfortable than my mat in the tent, particularly with the mosquito net hanging directly around it. It was also hotter inside the room than outside and there was a bright light just outside the door that attracted a swarm of small flies that landed on me while unlocking the door. After breakfast I rented a snorkel set with flippers and attempted to swim to an island 800 meters into the lake to go snorkeling. I made it made 50 meters and turned around and rented a canoe instead. Swimming is not my strong suit. At the island I jumped off another big rock about 5 metres high, this time I screamed all the way down. I also saw a ton of little colourful fish while snorkeling around the island. I ended up with a scorching sunburn all over my back from snorkeling. In the evening we dressed up in costumes from the village and had a p...

The road to paradise is long and bumpy but so worth it. Kande Beach and Lake Malawi are incredible. The lake is so big it has a current and looks like an ocean until you jump in and realize it isn’t salt water. For $16 USD Rianne and I upgraded to a beach front cabin for the two nights we are here, unbelievably cheap for the view, the bed, the fan and the space.

Last night at 10 pm just as I was going to sleep in the tent, the campsite generator kicked on, and proceeded to run the entire night until 6 am, the time I had to get up. Most of our group was less than impressed, as our area is literally 10 feet from the generator. Not a great start to the day. I was part of a group to visit the Devils Pool at the top of Victoria Falls at seven am. That was incredibly cool. This is the dry time of year in Zambia and is the only time the Devils Pool is accessible, as there is normally far too much water flowing to safely swim at the top of the waterfall. We took a motorboat to Livingstone Island and walked from the dry side to the edge of the top of the falls where we got in and swam to the area where we could literally hang over the edge of the falls. Exhilarating and terrifying. In the evening Vernon roasted a goat for our last dinner together as a group, which was delicious, and we had a fun last night out at the campsite bar. ...

Full day of whitewater rafting on the Zambezi today. Craziest river I’ve ever been on, we flipped in the raft 4 times and I think I swallowed half of the Zambezi but my favourite part was when our raft guide rushed us to the front, through a rapid and then got us over to the rocks on one side where we could get out and jump off the rocks into the river. That’s something I thought I would never do but it was incredible.

Today I rode an elephant. Very very cool. Liwa, the elephant I rode, had her one year old baby along. Cutest. Thing. Ever. We also saw a crocodile in the water while the elephants were crossing a stream. Earlier in the day we spent a long time crossing the border from Botswana into Zambia. This is the first visa we have had to get at the border.

The drive to today’s campsite took most of the morning. When we arrived, we set up camp, had a quick dip in the pool and headed out on a sunset river cruise (booze cruise) on the Chobe River. We saw a lot of animals we have already seen but we also saw Cape Buffalo and a crocodile.

This morning we taken by mokoro back to the poling station and back at camp, all the laundry people had dropped off was mixed up. All of my shirts were in a different bag from my socks, underwear and shorts and my leggings and bra were in different bags too. We washed everything we had brought to the delta – mattresses and dishes. Short drive to Planet Baobab where there is a gorgeous pool, bar.

This morning on the drive I had two seats to myself so I actually slept for over an hour! We arrived in Maun just before noon and had a quick shop in town. After setting up camp those who wanted to went for a 45 minute scenic flight over the Okavango Delta. From 1500 meters up the elephants looked like toys. It was hot and dry in the little plane though. The campsite today has two pools and the river runs next to them, in the river we saw a hippo and by the pool were monkeys.

Had to say goodbye the Spanish clan – Nacho, Pablo, Dani, and José - and Karen and Jonas this morning as we all got on the truck to leave Windhoek. Hugs were given and some tears were shed. The drive to the border went smoothly as did the border crossing itself (Botswana, country number 18!), it was not nearly as hot as the day we crossed into Namibia.

Today we had a quick game drive on our way out of Etosha National Park, we didn’t see a whole lot, a couple of warthogs and giraffes, mostly animals we had seen yesterday. On our way out of the park we had to step in an iodine solution to sterilize our footwear from foot and mouth disease. We arrived in Windhoek around 2 pm and had time to relax in the hotel (a real bed!) before meeting the new people on our tour and after that going out to dinner at Joe’s Beerhouse. Going out to dinner with a group of almost 30 is an absolute shitshow. Someone who ordered their kudu steak well done took my medium rare. What is the point of a well done steak? You may as well chew on a piece of leather. I also liked the oryx meat I had in Swakopmund better than the kudu meat.

This was the first morning we didn’t have to pack up tents before breakfast! We did pack up our bags though and then hopped in the truck for a full day game drive. We saw hyenas, black back jackals, a few more lions, a hawk that had taken down a springbok, a rhino, more elephants, more giraffes, kudu, impala, a slender mongoose and warthogs.

Had a fantastic sleep last night and this morning we visited the Damara living museum where we got to see how the tribal people used to live. Then we continued on to Etosha National Park where we did a game drive to our campsite. We saw elephants, giraffe, a lion, ostriches, blue wildebeast, kudu, rhino. At the watering hole close to our campsite, about ten minutes after we got there, there were 31 elephants that came through.