Serengeti and Nrongogoro Crater

As soon as we left Nairobi we drove across the border to Tanzania and camped at the town of Arusha. From here I went on a 3 day two night camping trip to the Serengeti. Serengeti is a Swahili word being dry plains. The plains are certainly vast, they stretched on and on as far as the eye could see. As soon as the jeep crossed into the Serengeti my eyes were swamped with visions of thousands upon thousands of Wildebeasts. It is not the time of the annual migration so their numbers are not in the millions but there was still plenty. I also saw herds and herds of Zebras, lots of Masai Giraffe, impalas, thomson gazelles, buffalo and alot of huge birds including wild ostrich. Thaio that a leopard had ben spotted close by so we raced off. Leopards are the most difficult animal to t first eveningI was fortunate to see a herd of elephant with a handful of babies with them. One elephant was seperated from the others and we came across her later. She got that close to the jeep I was in that at one point the dirt she was flicking about her head landed in the jeep. I must admit when she was only around 3 metres away I did get a little aprehensive but she only scowled at us and walked by. Late in the afternoon a call came over the radio that a leopard had been spotted, so we raced off. Leopards are the most difficult of all the animals in Africa to find and the majority of people do not see them. We were incredibly lucky. The leopard was sunning itself on a big rock, hidden within the overhang of the rock but as we watched, she climbed out and perched herself in full sight. It was amazing. Everyone was lost for words.
We didn't think anything could top that but the following morning at sunset we came across a pair of cheetahs sunbathing then mock hunting. We followed them for ages, they are so graceful. This was followed by seeing a pair of lion cubs playing and shortly after that we came across a large male lion complete with large mane. He was laying down so we didn't have a good view but as we turned to leave he got up and we saw him and his mane in its full impressive glory. These two days in the Serengeti were simply too fantastic and awe inspiring to convey properly.
On the third day we ventured down into the Nrongogoro crater which is next to the Serengeti. It is an old volcanic crater with large grass plains inside. We desended 6oo metres and saw more and more animals, this time in such a spectacular setting. A lioness was laying next to the road, we could have reached out of the window and stroked her, but we all valued our arms more! There were black rhinos here but alas they stayed in the distance. It made no difference to the amazingness of the entire experience though. These past three days I will never forget.
From here we drive onwards to Dar Es Salem and catch the ferry across to Zanzibar where I will spend christmas.

Kenya - Gate to Hell and Elsamere

After re-entering Kenya after Uganda we made our way down to Lake Naivasha. This is a camp ground around a giant lake that is home to alot of hippo's. Thankfully the hippo's stayed in the water whilst we were there. Next to the Lake is Elsamere - this is the home of the late Joy Adamson of Born Free and Elsa the Lion fame. We visited Elsamere and partook in high tea. For a couple of hours I felt very civilised whilst I ate cakes and drank home made lemonade in the company of frightfully posh old English ladies who are trustee's of the estate! On the other side of the lake is another national park - this one is called Hells Gate - I have literally been to the gates of Hell and they are situated in Kenya. You are allowed to cycle around this park but that sounded a bit strenuous so I opted to take a gentle stroll around the Crater Lake part of the park. I walked so close to giraffes and Zebra's you would not believe it. Giraffes are far taller in the flesh when you are stood next to them to when you simply view them from a car.
From Naivasha we made our way to Nairobi and stayed in the Karen area. This suberb is named after Karen Blixton of Out of Africa fame. It was here that we had to say goodbye to some of our group, which was very emotional. Whilst based here I visited a centre for orphaned elephants. baby elephants are so adorable and have the biggest eyelashes imaginable. I also visted a Giraffe centre where they breed Rothschilds Giraffes. From a viewing platform I was stood next to the giraffes head which is the same size as my torso! The Giraffe also licked my face, I have a cool picture which I will hopefully upload soon. From Nairobi we cross the border and head into Tanzania and straight into the Serengeti. Wild animals here I come...

Uganda

My first stop in Uganda was the capital city of Kampala. Its a beautiful city, very green and I managed to do a fair bit of shopping. I even treated myself to a pedicure - who's says travelling through Africa has to be hardcore. We stayed for a couple of nights at the side of Lake Bunyoni - such a picturesque place. The lake has many islands on it. One of which is known as prisoner island. This is where they would take unmarried pregnant girls and leave them to die. If a local chap couldn't find a wife he could go to the island and take a woman if he could find one alive - nice! Another island is being put to much better use - it is a community for orphaned children, they are given homes and schooling. We went to visit the children, they were adorable but they did almost kill me in an intense game of tickling!
We also visited the town of Jinja. This is on the shore of Lake Victoria and is in fact the source of the Nile. There are grade 5 rapids here which many of our group ventured into but I gave the white water rafting a miss this time. Just to liven things up a bit, before pulling into the campsite in Jinja the group as a whole decided to celebrate Tranny Tuesday and we all swapped clothes. The boys, it has to be said, did look better in the dresses than the girls usually do! The girls got to spend the evening scrathing their crotches and burping loudly. Its fair to say we did make an impression at this particular campsite....

Rwanda - Genocide and Gorillas

We drove from Kenya, through Uganda (more about that later) into Rwanda. The countryside here is absolutely stunning, its quite a hilly country most of it terraced for agriculture with lots of tea plantations. Because of the hills, mountains and volcanoes there is always low level mist in the mornings and driving through the plantations with the rolling mist is simply stunning. We went straight from the border to the capital of Kigali. Here we stopped for a couple of hours in the Genocide Remembrance musuem. The history of Rwanda is a lesson in how appalling colonisation can be. Very brief snapshot - When the Belgiums colonised at the turn of the 20th century, they introduced identity cards. Before that all tribes had been living peacefully for 600 years, The Belgiuns split the population on nose size and how many cows a person had on a certain day. THis resulted in the ethnic groupings of Tutsies and Hutu's. Then the Catholic Church made the minority Tutsie's in charge and then the French would only grant independence to the country in the 1960's if the majority Hutu's overthrew the Tutsie's, so they armed them. There was a number of small genocides towards the Tutsie people up until the 1990's but in 1990 the Hutu goverment of the day got extreme. Through propaganda they turned 95 % of Hutu's against the Tutsie's. People who were once good friends and neighbours and people who had inter-married were suddenly hated. THe government began training people in how to kill with blunt weapons and lists of people's to be killed were drawn up. In 1994 the Genocide started. In just 100 days over one million people were killed, most in horrific and slow ways, mainly with machetes. Whole families were wiped out and still have not been identified. Eventually those in power were overthrown. The problem was then rebuilding the country where most of the small population had fled as refugees, had been victims of the genocide or had particpated in it. The museum was incredibly moving and extremely thought provoking into the depths to which some people will stoop. The following day a local gentleman in his late 20's gave us his personal account. The part most of our group had trouble with is how quickly everyone is living side by side with each other again. The organisers are treated differently but the everyday person who helped with the killings are mainly still living in the same villages as the families of those they killed. They are having to do some time in prison but mainly community service, helping to rebuild. Francis told us this community way of justice is working because the perpretrators are free to come forward and recount exactly what they did. It means the families of the victims can have closure and know for certain what happened. As I say, most of our group struggled with this, as most imagined they would want some kind of vengence but the majority of Rwandans think differently.
On a must less sombre note, my other time inRwanda was spent visiting the Mountain Gorillas. There are only 600 left living in the wild and this is mainly to do with the conservation work started by Dian Fossey (of Gorilla's in the Mist fame). The Volcanoe National Park were I went has 15 Gorilla families. 7 families can be viewed by the general public whilst the remaining 8 are only tracked and studied by the conservationists. 8 people are allowed to visit each family for just one hour a day. My group visited the Kwitonda family. There are 15 gorillas in this family including 3 Silverbacks and a two month old baby. We trekked for half an hour to the boundary of the national park, then we trekked through the very thick and wet undergrowth of the park. The nettles and thistles were shoulder height and the branches kept trying to trip us up. After just another half an hour we could hear noises above us. The Gorilla's were in the tree tops. It was amazing. Then as we turned a corner a Silverback was sat right in front of us eating away. He was not bothered by our prescene at all. He was mesmorising. It is difficult to find the words to explain what we were feeling at this point. We moved on and found another Silverback, as we were watching, the first silverback came running through the bushes and charged us - we very quickly moved back a couple of metres. Hearts were in mouths at this point. Even our guide had run! He was not being aggressive though, simply showing us he was the boss. He definately was. He was so big, and the muscles on his back so well defined. After making his point, he pissed in front of us and then buggered off. We were very fortunate in that other Gorilla's came down from the trees just in front of us, including the baby. All too quickly our hour was up and we had to leave. To say this was a magical experience is not really doing it justice - it is something I will certainly never forget. I have seen Mountain Gorillas in the wild!!!!!

Kenya

Sorry no pictures, the internet connection is not working that well.

Well we crossed the border into Kenya and I must say that the Ethiopia / Kenyan border is one of the most efficient I have been through. My first few days in Kenya however were not all that great. Due to the states of the roads, very heavily corrugated mud roads, even though on some days we were traveling for over 12 hours, we were only traveling a couple of hundred kilometres. By the time we finally reached tarmac, Franco our driver got out of the cab and kissed the road!. In total we did 4 bush camps before reaching anywhere. Thats 4 days without washing and spending 12 hours a day cooped up on the back of a bouncing truck. It was certainly an experience. We have now made it through the worst part of the entire trip, so it should be plain sailing from now on.
I'm currently in the Kenyan city of Nakuru. Yesterday I went on my first ever game drive. It was amazing. I saw so many animals, I managed to see 3 of the big 5. There were white and black rhino's, hippo's, buffaloes (they look like they are wearing judges wigs)water bucks, Thomson Gazelles, Impalas, hyena's, monkeys, baboons, zebras, giraffes and 7 lions! The lions were so close to the road - it was fantastic. The drive was through Lake Nakuru National Park, the only thing I did not see was Leopards but they are so elusive, the wardens only see them once a month. I have yet to see elephants but they should be in Southern Kenya.
We are now driving en route to Uganda. We will be coming back to Kenya but first we will be visiting Uganda, Rwanda and the mountain gorillas.

Lake Tana to addis Adaba

I spent a couple of nights camping besides Lake Tana. This is the largest lake in Ethiopia 3673 squared km and the source of the Blue Nile. We took a boat out onto the lake to see the source of the Nile and amazing we also got to see a hippo! My very first hippo. Every one was so excited, we were like giddy school children. I also took a walk around the Blue Nile Falls. These used to be spectacular but recently alot of the water has been diverted into a hydro-electric dam. The waterfall was still beautiful and it made a lovely 2 hour walk. the biggest shock came when we returned to the campsite. There was thundering, then there was rain. In fact there was heavy rain all night. I couldn't believe it - I'm in Ethiopia and I.m getting wet. The next day we drove towards Addis Adaba and although the rain stopped it did not warm up. Spent all day sat in the back of the truck, sat inside a sleeping bag to keep warm. They do say Africa is a land of surprises!.
Had a couple of days in the capital Addis Adaba. Went to the national museum and saw the skeleton of Lucy - the oldest remains of human desent found anywhere. I was surprised at how small she was - about the same size as a modern chimpanzee. Leaving Addis we are going to be crossing the border into Kenya and then having 6 bush camps in a row. These are going to be particularly nasty. The roads are so bad that on one day we are only expecting to travel 20 km! We will be travelling until dark, setting up camp as late as possible and leaving whilst still dark so nobody knows we are there, this is to avoid any trouble with local bandits. After 6 days we should have made it to the Ugandan border so we can relax. We will be coming back into Kenya and doing the south of the country and the national parks around mid- December. This next week is going to be fun, fun , fun for me!

Off the truck for a while

I had a mini holiday from the truck as a small group of us (6 in total) flew up to Axum to see the steelie there. We could have gone by bus but it would have taken over 14 hours on really bad roads so we opted for a $40 plane ticket instead - it only took half an hour plus we got wonderful views over the mountains. The steelie are large tomb structures but the two main steelie are 27 metres high and are carved all the way to the top. There is also the remains of a 30metre structure but this is laying on pieces on the ground. Axum is a pilgrimage site for Christians as according to the Ethiopians this is where the Ark of the Covenant is. No one is allowed inside the monastry to see the Ark but the priests are adamant it is here. The priests did show us a book over 1000 years old that is still used in services, The pictures were so vivid even after all this time. The book is being removed in a couple of months to be encased in glass in the national museum so we were lucky to see it. We arrived on a saturday and on sunday morning a speciall mass was being held in the streets. It is held every couple of months and pilgrims from all over the country make their way to it. The replica Ark of the covenent is paraded around town with the priests waving incense and playing instruments. The pilgrims all wear white robes and follow the path of the ark. Would you believe that we all got up at 4.30am sunday morning to watch the procession. Not many people can say they have seen an Ark of the Covenant but I can! As well as being home to the Ark, Axum was also home to the Queen of Sheba. Ethiopia prides itself that it could trace all its emperors down the Soloman line - the first emperor being the son of King Soloman and the Queen of Sheba.
From Axum we took another internal flight to the mountainous village of Lalibela. Lalibela is another famous destination on the christian pilgrimage trail but this time due to the rock hewn churches. 700 years ago King Lalibela wanted to recreate the beauty and sacredness of Jerusulem in Ethiopia so that devout christians would not have as far to go. So in the course of 23 years and alot of labourers he carved 11 churches into the rocks. They started at the top and carved the churches as they excavated downwards. they really are incredible to see. This is the church of St George which even has 3 crosses carved into the top of the roof. The churches are still used today although most of the underground passages that link the churches have been sealed. From Lalibela it was a 10 hour journey to rejoin the truck on the shores of Lake Tana at the town of Bahir Dar. Its going to be strange being part of a 25 person group again.

Gonder and the Simien Mountains

Crossing the border from Sudan to Ethiopia was more like crossing a continent due to the extreme differences in weather and geography. Went from desert and scorching heat of Sudan to the lush green cool mountainous countryside of Ethiopia. It is such a beautiful landscape - not at all what I was expecting, and certainly nothing like the images of Ethiopia I have in my head! Our first stop was the town of Gonder. (This is the place you was talking about Rupert). Gonder has a wonderful castle complex built in 1632 by the Emperor Fasidar. The castle is still intact and I spent a morning climbing all over it, you can still get up onto the roof!
Ethiopia is quite a christian country and Wednesdays and Fridays are fasting days. On these days you are unable to eat meat. This is great news for me because there is always alot of veggie food on the menu. I have eaten so well since getting here, they do like their chillies though. The food is so spicy your lips are continually tingling from the chili. Traditionally Ethiopians do not use knives or forks. Instead they scoop up their food in 'injera' which is a type of flat bread. The bread is very spongy and does look like a giant ling but once you get over that its not too bad to eat! I did take a couple of days off eating to go trekking in the Simien mountains. The mountains are breath-taking and are also home to lots of baboons. I saw my first baboons here. The males are huge and when they run they do look a little like lions especially with their hair. There are also lots of eagles living in the mountains - I saw so many giant birds. The mountains do have vast canyons and gorges between each mountain and this made the trek very strenuous. It seemed at one point as if we were scrambling vertically for hours - with the altitude, this was not the most pleasant of experiences. We camped at roughly 3600 metres and it was that cold ice was forming on the tents. Although beautiful I was very pleased when we descended the mountain again. No rest for the wicked though, I return from the mountains at 6pm and at 5am the following morning I flew to Axum - but thats another story!

Sudan

Well getting into Sudan was quite an experience. We boarded the ferry at 10am and set up camp on the flat roof, fashioning sun shades made out of sarongs. The heat was close to 40 degrees so any shade was gratefully received. After a lunch of veggie stew and rice we entertained ourselves until the sun went down by playing cards and the like - all the while the ferry continued to be loaded. Departure time of 5pm came and went but at half 7 we did set off. By this time the ferry was full and every time you moved, someone tried to take your space. Despite this I managed to sleep alright. At half past 7 the next morning the captain announced we were passing the temple of Abu Simbel. Traveling for 12 hours and we hadn't even left Egypt. By the time we docked in Sudan and passed through customs it was 5pm. Over all the journey was not as bad as I was expecting!

We drove alongside the Nile passing through small villages along the way. The Sudanese people are extremely friendly and made us all feel incredibly welcome where ever we went. Sudan used to be part of the Nubian empire, the Nubians were also Egyptian pharoah's for a short time. The upshot of this is that Sudan has more pyramids than Egypt. They are not on the same scale as the Egyptian pyramids but still impressive. The picture above is of the Meroe Pyramids.
I spent a couple of days in the capital Khartoum, staying at the Blue Nile Sailing Club. The club is famous because its headquarters is in an old gunship belonging to Lord Kitchener. To get to the showers you had to walk around the gun ship which was bizarre. The gunship is on land now not even in the Nile making it even more bizarre. The heat in Sudan was oppressive. It was difficult to do anything in Khartoum it was that hot. It was around 40 degrees but with a very high humidity making it feel so much hotter than it was. I did manage to check out the national museum's which were good but mainly I spent the time lazing around in a hammock. Apparently Ethiopia is going to be alot cooler!

Felluca Time

I have been in Aswan for 5 days now, we have had to spend this amount of time here trying to get all the visa's ready for Sudan. The main problem has been trying to get the truck successfully through customs. The truck now is on its way om a cargo ferry, I hope to be seeing it again in a couple of days.
To help pass the time I have spent the last two days and nights sailing up the Nile aboard a felluca. The felluca is powered solely by sail so it has been an extremely relaxing way of spending the time. You simply laze on the mattresses thrown on the deck of the boat and when night falls, you unroll the sleeping bag and sleep on the deck. Even though there was 13 people on our boat and the kitchen area consisted of one camping gas ring, the captain still managed to prepare three gorgeous meals a day. Sudan is an alcohol free country (if caught with alcohol you get 40 lashes) and there was a fair amount of alcohol left from our bush camps so a giant punch was made. We were sailing up and down in the sunshine, drinks in hand. Did a bit of swimming in the Nile, very strong currents. By the time all the punch had been drunk most people were dancing in the Nile. Surprisingly given the state most people were in by nightfall, only one person managed to fall off the gangplank into the river. Still giggling over it now!
Well the next part of the adventure starts here. We will be crossing over to Sudan by passenger ferry. The ferry has 200 seats and often sells about 800 tickets. We have to arrive when the ferry opens for bording just so we can ensure we have enough space to sit down in. The ferry is due to leave 8 hours after first bording and the quickest it has taken it in the past has been 10 hours. Then we have to de-embark and customs have to check everything, this is expected to take a good 4 hours. I am expecting to spend 24 hours in a very cramped environment jostling for space with families with luggage and screaming children with no toilet facillities. Its going to be fun! After Sudan its Ethiopia and I have no idea what internet access will be like in either country so it could be a while before my next post!

Luxor and Hurgarda

Well as you can see from this rather large photo, I have made it to Luxor, home of the Valley of the Kings, Luxor and Karnak Temples to name a few and the giant collosses of Memmon you can see in the picture. It was interesting to return to the Valley of the Kings and I saw many tombs and temples I had not previously visited. We spent 3 full days in Luxor at a local campsite, however I did cheat and upgrade to a room - I figured it may be my last chance to sleep in a real bed for quite a while. Luxor is having unseasonly hot wather at the moment (great) it has been in the high 30's instead of the mid 30's. This has made exploring difficult in the day.I have taken to getting up at 6am - voluntarily, in order to see the sites before I roast.

Mel our tour leader at a little surprise for us when we reached Luxor. We were supposed to be spending 5 days here but she had arranged for us to leave early so we could take a detour via the Red Sea. We drove across to Hurgarda on the coast and got to spend a full day out on a luxury boat, snorkelling and diving. It was wonderful and we felt like proper holiday makers. It was also my tent buddy, Harriet's birthday, so that evening we had a bad hair day party, complete with cake, drinking and dancing. It was a great day and as far removed from bush camping as you can get!

Sleeping under the Stars.

As well as visiting the famous Pyramids of Giza whilst in Cairo, I also visited a couple of other pyramid complexes including this step pyramid. This was the first pyramid ever built and was built by King Zoser who simply could not stand the idea of having to be bried near the commoners! Cairo was hot, dirty and very congested so it was good to finally set off on the truck last friday. All 24 of us piled onto the truck, the sides were rolled up and we set off to drive into the desert. Because the truck has soft roll up windows at both sides, it means a strong cross breeze is ever present when we are driving. This is wonderful in the 40 plus degree heat we are currently in.

We drove west from Cairo into the Western desert. Our very first bush camp was made that first night. We pulled behind a sand dune and set up shop. The camping equipment came out and tea for me was a spicy veg stew. We ate round the camp fire and then uncurled the sleeping bags and slept under the stars. The night sky here, away from all the light pollution, is magical. You can see thousand upon thousands of stars and even the wispy trails of the milky way. Its beautiful. In the morning we packed away and continued driving.

The next day saw us drive through the black desert (so called becuase it consists of black rock) and into the white desert. As well as having lots of little crystals in the sand making it glisten ,the white desert is home to fascinating rock formatioms. This place used to be a sea a few million years ago and fossils of fish are still being found. Local guides took us into the heart of the desert which is a national park and also cooked up a feast for us as well as providing entertainment around the fire. From here we passed through the little oasis towns of farafel and Bahayriya. Looking slighty grubby by now we pulled up into the town of Dahkla where a local restaurant owner let us sleep on his rooftop. He also showed us where one of the 650 desert hot springs were located, so in the morning we all went for a dip. No cooling off was involved as the water was as hot as bath water and alas no cleaning occurred as the water had a high sulphur content and turned us all orange. But being immersed in any water in the middle of the desert feels wonderful.

By now every one is filthy and definately not smelling their best. Another night in the desert occurs, followed by an early start and by Tuesday lunchtime we finally see signs of life and civilazation as we head towards Luxor. After 5 days and 4 nights we have crossed the desert and made it to the Luxor campsite. In all this time we have not been able to shower or wash properly and as the temperature has never been below the high 30's, you can only imagine what we all looked like. The campsite has showers and a pool, guess what the first thing we all did was. I am now based here in Luxor for a couple of days, no more sleeping under the stars but I do have access to running water. The first few days of this trip have been amazing, can't wait for the rest.

Arrival in Cairo

After an uneventful flight I touched down in Cairo on Sunday afternoon. The hotel I am staying in is on the outskirts of Cairo and only took an hour and a half in the taxi to reach. I have spent the last couple of days sorting out paperwork and acquiring visa's for both Ethiopia and Sudan. I've met quite alot of the people I will be travelling with on the truck and so far (touch wood) they seem a good mix of people. Found a great little take away place near the hotel that does amazing falafel wraps and a deli with great baba ghounoush (aubergine dip) so I am very happy.
The truck trip starts on friday so the next couple of days I will be acting like a tourist and exploring Cairo and the pyramids. Next blog will be far more exciting!

Cairo to Cape Town: The New Adventure

My itchy feet have become almost unbearable of late, so it is time for another grand adventure. This time I will be starting off in Cairo, Egypt and travelling down through Africa, taking in Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zibabwe, Botswana, Namibia before ending up in South Africa and finally Cape Town.
As with my South America trip I will be travelling overland style with Oasis Overland. For those that don't know the concept, myself along with twenty five or so others (that I have yet to meet) will board a big yellow converted truck that will drive us about. The truck also carries camping equipment, cooking equipment alot of food and gallons of water as well as enough spare parts to practically build the truck over. This will be vital as the truck will often be going off the beaten track and digging the truck out of mud ruts, sand ruts etc will become a far too familiar occurrance I suspect.
I will be staying in some basic hostels and hotels but for half the time I will be camping. Alot of these camps will be bush camps, ie just in a random spot, so there will be no facilities at all, not even toilets. These trips are not for those who like luxuries!
I will be flying into Cairo on 11th Oct and will spend a couple of days sorting out visas for Sudan and Ethiopia, the trip proper will start on the 16th Oct and I hope to have made it to Cape Town by the 10th Feb. If all goes to plan I should be spending Christmas on Zanzibar Island (birthplace of Freddie Mercury) hopefully swimming and scuba diving with the dolphins.
Highlights will include seeing the Mountain Gorillas in Uganda, being on safari in Kenya, in the Masi Mara, getting to visit places few have seen such as the rock churches at Lalibelia, Ethiopia and the pyramids in Sudan, Lake Victoria, the jaw dropping Victoria Falls, sand duning in Namibia and visiting the wineries of South Africa.
There will be the chance for me to go white water rafting, canoeing, canyoning, horse riding, sky diving, scuba diving, quad biking, shark diving in cages, sunbathing, oh yes and the biggest bungee jump in the world (I think not). As well as all that, there will be of course all the animals inc black and white rhino's, elephants, lions, cheetahs, giraffes, hippos, zebras and wildebeasts.
Only a week to go now, I'm getting quite excited...

Itchy Feet

Its been a while, maybe its time to get going again...