I spent two fantastic weeks at home relaxing with family and friends and resupplying my bag (and body!) After such a great time it was hard to leave and get back to traveling, but I flew into Nairobi in Kenya and spent a couple of days relaxing and preparing for the next part of my trip - 56 days through 8 countries from Kenya to South Africa. I am traveling on a tour on a truck with 8 other people.
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| This is our overland truck that will take us over 9000 miles through Africa! |
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| The sides roll up so we can see out and keep cool. |
We spend a lot of time driving through amazing scenery, passing tribal people living in mud huts built in circles with thorn bush fences to keep the wild animals out and their goats and cows inside at night.
We have also seen many animals by the side of the road such as zebra, giraffes and elephants. We camp each night in tents, taking it in turns to cook on a stove. No bad experiences so far, except one person's shoes getting chewed by a hyena and someone else's being stolen by monkeys from outside the tent!
We have also seen many animals by the side of the road such as zebra, giraffes and elephants. We camp each night in tents, taking it in turns to cook on a stove. No bad experiences so far, except one person's shoes getting chewed by a hyena and someone else's being stolen by monkeys from outside the tent!
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| Lunch stop by the side of the road |
We left Kenya and travelled through Tanzania, spending 3 days in the Ngorogoro crater and the Serengeti in an open top jeep.
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| Out of the top of the safari jeep |
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| The Ngorogoro Crater |
The crater was formed millions of years ago and has very steep sides. As a result animals that go in never go back out so it is full of all types of species in huge numbers. In one day we saw giraffe, elephants, hippos, hyenas, jackals, ostriches, zebra, warthogs, buffalo, wildebeests, cheetahs, monkeys, baboons, lions and their cubs plus the Masai people in their villages. We camped each night among the animals but didnt get disturbed (or eaten!)
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| Our Jeep broke down so many times and the brakes failed whilst going down the side of the crater! |
From there we took a few days to make our way to the port of Dar es Salaam, stopping to swim in waterfalls and kayak on the rivers to cool down.
We caught the boat to the island if Zanzibar which is famous for producing spices such as cinnamon and cloves. (Plus it's the both place of Freddie Mercury!) After a couple of days in Stonetown, which has great Arabic architecture as it was colonised by Oman, we headed to the beach and had a few days relaxing and staying in beach bungalows.
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| Sunset over Stonetown |
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| The ferry at Dar Es Salaam is pretty different to the Torpoint Ferry! |
Here we went swimming and snorkeling from a traditional boat called a dhow, although I stood on a sea urchin and the spikes had to be dug out of my foot!
We returned to the mainland and slowly made our way through the rest of the Tanzania, following huge mountains covered in trees and the roads got higher and higher, meaning it got a lot colder! We crossed the border into Malawi which, although it is landlocked, has a lake that is so big that there are beaches down the whole length of the country.
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| He caught 8 fish with a twig! |
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| The view from our window! |
We slowly made our way along the shore of the lake, stopping on the bank each night to camp and see the sights. We also went on boat trips snorkeling to seethe hundreds of different types of fish and swam each morning as the water was as warm as a bath.
After a week of relaxing we went to Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi to send home any souvenirs that we had bought and have a couple of days of comforts before we head over the border to Mozambique and then Zimbabwe!
