Little Adventures

Caye Caulker

2006-07-11T12:13:00.000Z

We left Orange Walk the next day and caught a bus back down to Belize City. After a little confusion with where to get off the bus we arrived at the ferry port. The port was bustling with tourists trying to get over to the very popular Caye Caulker and Ambergris. The ferry journey was fast, very fast. When we made it to the island we jumped off the boat in Caye Caulker and were immediately picked up by tout to be shown the hostels. This particular tout was friendly and we found out that she got nothing unless we went to hotels that she would suggest. Unfortunately we weren't keen on her suggestions and settled for our initial choice, and seeing as she was fun and carried our bags for us we gave her a few dollars for her troubles. Our room was spectacular with a balcony on the beach and views across the blue seas to the reef in the distance. After settling in we dashed out to the dive centres to get the run down on the local dives and seeing as we have only a few days left we were in the spending mood. We couldn't resist the tempation to dive the world famous blue hole, and we splashed out vast quantities of belizean dollars for the privelege. This turned out to be one of our best trips of the travels. At an unseemly hour (around 4am) we got up and shuffled over to the dive shop to pick up our gear and head to the boat. A little delay due to the bad weather, the seas being too choppy for some of the dive shops, and picking up their passengers. The jounrey was pretty horrific with at least one person hurling over the side. But when we made it to the atoll, the seas settled and a happier boat we were. The dive on the blue hole was magnificent, as we dropped 50m into the dark down to the rim of the hole and then we dropped further into the cave. Here we were greeted by massive stalegtites from when this was not uder water and cirlcing us in the distance were reef and hammerhead sharks, and a couple of massive grouper trying to hide with us from the sharks. Its a mesmorizing experience, the sheer immenseness of the place and the atmosphere given off by the mountainanous stalegtites. Magnificent. After a little sunbathing on the boat we headed out to Half Moon Caye, where Joey did her raleigh international stint. We have another magnificent dive spotting what we think is the worlds largest logger head turtle, and a pod of dolphins, a first for both of us. As well as many types of rays. Magical. For our deco time we went to the island and Joey and I ran off so she could show me all the places she remembered on the island including a bird observation tour she had built, which is remarkebly still standing. Joey was very excited to see nothing much had changed, and she could find the kitchen area, and the place were they had there poos. It was a wondeful day and on arriving back on the Caye we headed of for dinner and one of Belizes top 5 restaurants. We spent the next few days on the beach and exploring the Caye. Joey had a go at baking me the birthday cake she promised...it turned out to be raw cake mixture (she could not find an oven) sprinkled with hundreds and thousands. I actually enoyed it so much I had two portions to Jos horror. Jo had also managed to buy me some pressies as well, the main part being an underwater camera! So... For our final flourish we booked on a snorkelling trip to shark ray alley. There is a particular part of the reef where the sharks and rays congregate and will play with swimmers. I dropped in a little nervously due to the reef sharks circling the boat, a major adrenalin rush. We swam with the sharks taking photos, and Jo and I taking turns being underwatre David Baileys. I had the lovelly suprise of being mounted by a ray causing much hilarity to the other snorkellers but scaring the jeeheebees out of me! The thing slimed up my back, and I turned around to see if it was Jo to be faced by the hideous beak of a sting ray! As you can tell this is all written in past tense as we are now back in the UK, back in our jobs, organising our photos and generally missing these days. After leaving the Caye it was a straight transfer to the airport, back on American Crapways (still living up to its name).

Eagles and Eagle Rays

2006-04-19T14:18:00.000Z

Sunday 9th April. We left Utila on the 6.20 early ferry and caught a bus from La Ceiba to Puerto Cortes, via San Pedro Sula, a 12 hour journey but mainly comfortable. Puerto Cortes is Honduras' primary deep water port and we needed to locate our speed boat, Gulf Cruza, for the following morning when we would cross the Gulf of Honduras to reach Placencia in Belize. The town was quiet being a Sunday (Generally speaking EVERYTHING is closed on Sundays in Central America which is a serious pain if you've just completed a hot dusty journey and are dying for a beer - Dave) but there were still plenty of taxis around and so we caught a lift to a small town on the river estuary where the small boats depart for Guatemala and Belize. A helpful Honduran man who spoke excellent English told us of a good place to stay and that we needed to get our exit passport stamps at the Migracion office. So the taxi took us back again and we were all organised for the following morning. Even Dave is getting used to early starts now, although he still won't admit to enjoying them, so up we got and off to Migracion, then back to the Gulf Cruza where we bought our tickets and had a scrummy local brekkie (tortillas, frijoles (refried beans), scrambled eggs and chicken for Dave) in a very basic but friendly riverside cafe and then waited around for a few hours (as we had to wait for the hitleresque customs man to finish his brekky and make sure we weren't smuggling people out of the country). The boat left just before 1pm and we had a very fun to start with bumpy ride, which eventually made me feel queasy and wasn't very comfortable. It was great to arrive in Belizean waters with the little cayes with their palm trees scattered around the sea. It suddenly felt like Belize, the sea was more turquoise, being shallower over coral sands and closer to the reef. After a brief passport check at Big Creek port we continued onto Placencia where we found Lydia's, our pre-booked guest house. So far on our journey we have never needed to book ahead but it was Easter weekend in a major Catholic part of the world, which was a royal pain. Placencia is a gorgeous sand spit running parallel with the mainland and basically a tourist hub for Belizeans and North Americans. So there's not a lot there other than palm trees, beach, guest houses, restaurants, bars and dive and souvenir shops. The whale sharks also hang out here all year round, but particularly between April and June when the cubera snapper spawn at full moon, providing a feast for the sharks. Unfortunately all the dive boats were full for this period so we thought we'd return a week or so later, although this never happened. We decided the cost ($170 pp for 2 dives) was prohibitively high and we hate back-tracking our steps anyway. Our whale shark (Winnie - positively id'd as a female) was special enough an encounter. The next few days were generally spent with Joey on the beach and in the sea, topping up her tan for Gem and Rich's wedding and with Dave relaxing under palm trees and in the beach bar. We were eventually thrown out on thursday morning to allow the Easter weekend punters to move in. Next stop Dangriga, further up on the coast, a sleepy (particluarly so being Easter) dusty town with a big Garifuna influence. That evening we found the Riverside Cafe where dive boats are organised from and I remembered it from my Raleigh International days. While doing reef surveys on Coco Plum Caye, a few of us had taken the boat back to mainland to stock up on beverages for the Saturday night party, and whiled away a couple of hours drinking Belikin beers here. As there were 11 years ago, there were still hundreds of flies being caught on yellow sticky strips, which despite being changed every 15 minutes, were always full! This is the first place so far that I clearly remember and which hasn't changed at all. The boat taxis take you out to Tobacco Caye where the dive operator is, so we decided to spend the next few days on the caye to save trips out and back to the mainland every day. The boat skipper told us there were surprisingly rooms available over Easter so the next morning we drove out and found a wonderful cabana overlooking the edge of the reef. We passed Coco Plum on the way out. It is now a private island with a posh resort, but it brought back memories of sitting round the camp fire with Georgie and Emily. Tobacco Caye is a typical desert island about 100m by 70m surrounded by crystal clear seas, with patches of turtle grass, just on the inside of the barrier reef. The next few days snorkelling revealed a wealth of life, including huge tarpon fish that spawn here at this time of year, and a turtle grazing on the turtle grass beds and coral twice! The first evening was magical. We sat out on the wooden jetty watching the sunset with Kati and Marco our new Finnish friends. They had just arrived that day too and we were in awe of the wildlife madness that emerged. Eagle rays glided under and around the jetty in the clear blue water, joined occasionally by a sting ray. Pelicans ungracefully dive bombed fish close by and a fish eagle nesting on the roof of a wooden hut on the end of the jetty swooped among magnificent frigate birds which had come down to lower thermals to fish. We were all so excited, we couldn't believe it! I'd wanted to see an eagle ray on this trip and you couldn't walk along the wooden jetty without seeing at least one swooping in to find scraps of fish left by the fisherman. Diving wasn't necessary as the snorkelling was so good (plus the only dive shop on the island was criminal and the owner should have been flogged for his prices - Dave), so we decided to save our pennies for diving the northern cayes. After a few days of hammock swinging and snorkelling it was time to move on so we rode back to Dangriga and caught the bus to Belize City and onto Orange Walk in the north. We found a lovely hotel on the banks of the New River and luckily, as it was a Sunday, we were able to book a river tour to the Mayan ruins of Lamanai from the hotel (Lamanai means the city of the submerged crocodile in Mayan). We had a wonderful day at Lamanai yesterday (Tuesday 18th), great boat ride spotting herons, kingfishers, cormorants but no crocs unfortunately, and a very interesting tour through the relatively young jungle to the pyramid temple ruins. This Mayan community existed until 1800 AD so is the most recent to have been abandoned. We explored the ruins now hidden in the 200yr old jungle from the Jaguar temple, to the ball game area (where either the winners were sacrificed which was an honour, or the losers were for being rubbish), to the temple of a long lost king (where the statue fell over which is a bad sign apparently so they sacrificed 5 children to be on the safe side) and to the magnificent Rain Temple (which was built 100BC) and is the highest, which we scaled in a hurry before Daves vertigo kicked in and panicked about getting down again, and when he did it was quite ungainly as he gripped the rocks with his fingers and did the Elvis wobble with his knees. Joey stayed at the top longer to admire the views of the jungle and the New River winding it way past. Joey was also a lot more graceful in her descent. The day was topped of by sightings of Black Howler monkeys., only found in Belize. Today is our last Wednesday and we're off to Belize City and then onto Caye Caulker where we will hopefully get some diving in. Dave - Thanks everyone for my Birthday wishes. Joey got me a card with a most excellent hand drawn token in for me to cash when we get back to the UK, for a glider experience. I was very impressed with her artistic talents. My birthday was spent on the buses from Tobacco Caye to Orange Walk, so we plan to have my celebrations this weekend on Caye Caulker, where I am expecting Joey to bake me a cake. See y'all back in Blighty.

Sunset from Rubi's Inn, Utila

2006-04-09T00:26:00.000Z

Joey and Dave on the dive boat, Utila

2006-04-09T00:22:00.000Z

It's hammock time

2006-04-09T00:19:00.000Z

... shame about the helmets!!

2006-04-09T00:16:00.000Z

Oak Ridge, Roatan. Cool bike ...

2006-04-09T00:10:00.000Z

2006-04-08T21:41:00.000Z

2006-04-08T21:33:00.000Z

Our whale shark!

2006-04-08T21:19:00.000Z

These photos were taken yesterday by John, resident cameraman at the whale shark research centre. They have a licence to dive with the sharks, only few people do, so are trying identify and tag sharks in Utilan waters. They then communicate with similar centres in Mexico, Belize, Madagascar and other places where the whale sharks turn up. Very little is known about their behaviour and where they go for much of their lives.

La Casa del Mondo - overlooking Lake Atitlan

2006-04-08T20:11:00.000Z

Hot in Honduras and Whale Sharks

2006-04-07T22:10:00.000Z

After Chichi we found a chickenbus (an aptly named local bus as they allow all and sundry aboard even the chickens, in reality they are the american school buses no longer required in the states transported south and then sprayed bright colours and lots of chrome and as the seats are designed for yanks the 4 seat benches will actually take 6 people) to Chimaltanengo a town roughly heading back to Antigua. The conductor who impressively understood our ropey spanish threw us off the bus here and pointed us in the right direction for catching another chickenbus for the remainder of the journey. We holed up for the night in Antigua and after a little excitement finding out and then rejecting a boat in Belize we crashed out early for a bus going to Honduras. We had to be up at 4am to catch a minibus that was going to Copan in Honduras. The journey was long but comfortable and crossing the border was such a breeze compared to Africa. Once in Copan, the site of some impressive Mayan ruins which we had to miss, we found another bus that was going to San Pedro Sula a large transport hub of a town on the way to La Ceiba our destination. Once in San Pedro Sula we swapped straight to another bus and finally arrived in La Ceiba on the Caribbean coast of Honduras around 5 in the evening after 13hrs on buses. La Ceiba is the busiest, not the biggest, sea port of Honduras mainly due to the tourist traffic making their way to the Bay Islands. The city itself is pleasant enough, lots of the usual city delights like Wendy's, our favourite fast food joint and a supermarket where we stocked up on food and booze as we heard the islands are expensive. Somehow we managed to find the ropiest hotel in the city a first class dive, but our appearance matched the hotels at this point. The door had obviously been kicked in a few times, the beds made your skin crawl, the 'shower' consisted of a cold tap on a wall and the cockroaches were out in force, yet despite this we slept like babies. In the morning we were found by a taxi, no need to go looking in a gringo city like this, and made our way to the ferry port a few k's out of town where we caught the GalaxyII to our first Island, Roatan. Roatan is a gorgeous tropical island in the caribbean, clear blue seas, white sands and a real laid back atmposphere. The people are a mix of Garifuna, a slave population who settled on the Island who speak a form of patois and Hispanic settlers who speak spanish. The mixed accents can be tricky to understand as the patois is very heavy and the spanish has a slow jamaican twang to it, but luckily most speak english well enough. The Island is seriously high on the laid back scale where spending your day in a hammock could be seen as overdoing it, and the islands (including Utila) are world renowned for the diving. The ferry dropped us off at Coxen Hole, named after a famous pirate John Coxen, one of many places named after bucaneers and pirates. The islands were a hideaway for the pirates as the spanish fleets found the islands hard to approach through the coral reefs. The obvious rumours of hidden treasure are still alive. We made our way from Coxen Hole to West End a small village on the, you guessed it, west end of the island where the roads run out and the main thoroughfare is the beach. We found a room in a lodge and prepared for some hard core island chillin'. As i had a cold, quite impressive since I am in the tropics we were unable to dive, for those non-divers out there it means i can't breath through my ears and hence will be unable to go very deep. So instead for the first few days we enjoyed the amazing white coral beach fading into the blues seas. Jo ended up relaxing a little too far and spent one day in her room unable to get out of bed. This could be the copious amount of cocktails she imbibed the night before on a bar jetting out on the sea which had a live band. A few tactical chunders in the night and waking up on the kitchen floor had not had the desired affect and hence she felt unable to move for another 24hrs. My cold was still persisting so the next day we decided to hire a motorbike, not a wussy moped, and explore the island with Joey riding pillion. Seeing as there is only one road through the island, navigation was a breeze. One particular highlight, actually a lowlight was the Iguana farm. We rode down to the house and saw various large and small Iguana's lounging in the midday sun. So we respectfully paid our $5 entrance fee to see the rest of the place to be told this was it. We had seen it. So feeling a little ripped off we headed further east along the island. The villages all have the feel of incoming money. Many americans are starting to retire here now, mainly due to the arrival a few years back of cruiseships. The arrival of cruiseships has drastically altered the island, 11 years ago Jo visited this island and this time round she could not recognise where she had stayed. The island has built up massively in the intervening years. I had a chat with a local who said since the cruisliners from the states arrived accompanied by the dollars, thousand of mainland hondurans have come to the island seeking their slice, this has meant more hotels, bars, restaurants and other tourist traps. This has also inadvertantly impacted the coral reefs off the island, as the cruiseships bring thousands of snorkellers and amateur divers each week who have systematically damaged the reef and hence the fish populations. He did not hold much hope for the reef in the following year. Its quite sad really, once the big bucks arrive. Hondurans have now been priced out of their favourite holiday spot, the environment IS seen as a money maker but is not looked after. What made this island wonderful is being destroyed and once this happens the big bucks will eventually go away as well. Later in the week my cold disappeared and I was able to go diving, yay! We signed up with the cheapest shop in west end at only $20 a dive! We decided to go cheap as we had heard the diving on Utila was better and hence we saved our diving budget for there. Although there were signs of damage to the reef, it was still spectacular, lots of soft and hard coral and colourfull fishies. Joey did manage to find the old bar and lookout that she rememebered from 11 years ago, but they are old and derelict now, hidden away beside spotless new complexes. After getting too used to the island lifestyle we changed islands. We caught the ferry back to La Ceiba and from here caught the Utila Princess to Utila. Utila is completely different. Its a much smaller island and has only one populated part called Utila. This town has again only one road and you can literally walk from oneside of town to the other in 15mins. Joey continues ... Here the locals mix more with the gringos as everyone lives in the same place. They usually only drive mopeds and bikes amd golf carts which makes for a much less stressful wander through town compared to in West End where the taxis from Coxen Hole would beep at you every time they crawled up behind you, and there are a lot of them, so it got blimin irritating quite quickly. Dave says Roatan was very chilled, and it was away from the really busy parts, but you got the feeling the gringo bar workers and dive masters were just trying a bit too hard to be cool and chilled. In Utila, everyone actually is chilled. Because the cruise ships don't come here there are only a couple of 'posh' places to stay outside the town on the only beach. The rest of the accommodation are in the local style houses, wooden, usually on stilts and colourfully painted. Rubi's Inn where we are is built on a small 'spit' of land so we have views over the water from the both sides of the room, lovely. There's a wooden jetty on the end of the spit that I went snorkelling off and saw a big sting ray. I chased it for a while but it was getting dark so I lost it amongst the eel grass. We've been diving on two mornings, waking up naturally about 6am, and heading off to the boat about 6.45. The first dive of each day is on the north side of the island, weather permitting as it's more exposed and deeper, on the reef's drop off. The diving here easily equals if not beats the memories of the best diving I have from Belize in 1995. The coral is wonderful, big, colourful with lots and lots of fish. On one site, a mound of coral in the middle of a deep bit, detached from the rest of the reef so it's a magnet for pelagics, marine life that lives in the open water rather than on the coral or sea bed. As soon as we'd entered the water we saw a turtle gliding up the side of the sloping coral, slowly all the way to the surface for air, magic. Dave spotted a wee baby turtle later on munching away on the coral. The current was getting quite strong at this point but we managed to stay with him for a while. Up on the top of the mound of reef we hung aroung for a while finding lobster and huge crabs hidden in crevices, big shoals of jacks and loads of gorgeous parrot fish and trigger fish and a barracuda. We've been early to bed and early to rise so not much to report on the Utilan night scene, definitely not as thumping as Roatan though. Today, 7th, has been another great day. We booked a place with the Whale shark research organisation here to go out on their boat searching for whale sharks. We needed to maximise our chances of seeing one as hadn't while out diving, although just before our very first dive we found a 'boil' where the bait fish and snappers are leaping out of the sea and birds are picking off the stunned fish. Quite a commotion it was and we were told to get our mask, snorkel and fins on and get ready to go in. I was SO excited, my heart was racing like mad, but we had to wait for the snorkellers on another dive boat to get out first. This is because the research unit are trying to put into practice a method used in Australia to try not to stress the whale sharks out. It meant that as they were getting out the whale shark dived so we didn't get to see it. Luckily the dives that day were wonderful so we got over the dissapointment. So off we went this morning, on an extremely hot day, with no shade on the boat, wizzing around the island for 4 hours and no sighting. We attended a very informative whale shark presentation last night given by Darcy who manages the project, and he reminded us of key features, ways to identify males and females, how close we should get to not upset the shark and maximise our encounter time. In our last hour Willy our captain, spotted a boil. Unfortunately another boat had seen it first so we had to wait our turn. But then another was spotted to we headed for it and kitted up to go in. Dave slid in right over the top of the shark and was in temporary shock at the sight of the huge fish. The sudden realisation that he was staring down into more than 2000 feet of ocean didn't help. I saw it but it had already started to dive and looked quite small, well still the biggest fish I've ever see, but not as big as I expected. We could see that it's dorsal fin was all mangled, likely to have been caused by an overzealous boat, that's why these one at a time guidelines are so important. So we climbed back into the boat, Dave all excited and me a little dissapointed, to learn that the boat we'd waited for by another shark had whizzed over to us and dropped all it's snorkellers in with us and that had scared the shark off. Their skipper was from a Utila dive operation too. Darcy's going to have a word later. It's easy to imagine lots of boats doing the same in the heat of the excitement. We waited to see another boil to realise the shark was back, so in we went and this time it was heading straight for me! We'd heard that if you're right in front of it it can't see you as the eyes are on the side of the head so I was trying to swim round to the side, while trying to stay 3 metres away. It was an incredible sight and this time looked it's enormous 10 metres. I could see all the white spotty markings really clearly and the remora fish swimming along attached to it, keeping it clean. Apart form the German with his camera cutting me right up and nearly getting a fin in the face as he tried to get his photo, it was great! The shark dived again and disappeared remarkably quickly as it's markings camouflaged it really well against the deep blue water. We are now tired and sun kissed but happy with our experience. We have also exhausted our diving budget for Utila so tomorrow may be spent walking along to the beach and snorkelling, reading in hammocks, drinking earl grey in a cool cafe that is always closed when we get back from diving! And on Sunday we catch the Utila Princess back to La Ceiba and head up to Puerto Cortes to catch a boat to Belize, our eleventh and final country.

Ahh

2006-04-06T21:20:00.000Z

Throughout Africa and Central America women carry their babies on their backs, this was just a particularly clourful example...

Graveyard Guatemalan style

2006-04-06T21:17:00.000Z

Joey following the drummers in Antigua

2006-04-06T21:13:00.000Z

Our spanish teachers

2006-04-06T21:10:00.000Z

Chichicastenanga Market

2006-04-06T21:06:00.000Z

Our family in Antigua

2006-04-06T21:01:00.000Z

Za madonna with za biga boobies (fountain in the main plaza of Antigua)

2006-03-27T23:05:00.000Z

Lake Atitlan

2006-03-26T22:59:00.000Z

The following morning we caught a bus to Panjachel on the shores of Lake Atitlan, a massive and stunning lake in the mountain highlands of Guatemala. Panjachel itself is nothing to write home about but the lake is magnificent, surrounded on all sides by mountains rising sharply out of the lake, plus a few volcanoes sprinkled around the horizon. The lake has several small villages on it which we visited a couple. Panajachel is the main gringo meeting point as it is the only village easily accessable by road. This has meant the village has grown significantly and has lots of stalls selling arts and crafts, it also means it has plenty of cafes and bars for us to enjoy. The margeritas here were a lot cheaper than Antigua so we felt it rude not to sample a few. We spent most of our first day on the lake browsing the stalls, book swapping and generaly enjoying the amenities. The following day we caught a lake taxi, a small motorboat with a sun shade. What the taxi lacked in life jackets was more than made up by the speed. Our first village visit was to San Pedro. San Pedro was a more traditional village and heavily populated by hippies, who were to haunt us for the next couple of days. We found some solar heated plunge pools, but abstained as the last taxi left in the early afternoon and we were getting peckish. Instead we found a nice cafe overlooking the lake with a gorgeous blue sky. There is not much else to do there other thann chill with Mojitas, but seeing as we had those for brekky we decided to catch the last taxi back. After checking out of our Hospadajare we caught another boat to a place on the lake called San Marcus, the beardy wierdy centre of hippy ville. Our guide book advised us that it had the most unique accomodation in Guatemal, which indeed it was. Each hut was built into a shape of a pyramid, and the two ´temples´, one for the sun and one for the moon, were also pyramids. As part of your stay, the courses are free, as well as mandatory as we failed to appreciate when we first checked in. But, hey, this sounded like fun. Our first lesson was meditation in the moon temple. We all entered via a small hatch in the floor to a tunnel that led to the inside of the pyramid decorated with buddhas and other effigies, with another smaller pyramid in the centre with a crystal on the peak. We found a mat each and then the white robed guru entered...todays lesson was going to be exploring our emotions. Mild panic on my behalf, which I´m sure Jo shared, nut it was too late we were locked in. Actually it was fun in the end, we had to face a partner (Jo and I were on different sides of the pyramid and hence could not take the easy option), take deep breaths, look in each others eyes and then express to each other our deepest fears and anxieties. This was followed by some group sesions and finally some breathing exercises. It was kinda spooky, afterwards on exiting the pyramid we all felt really, really chilled and peaceful. Post emotion treatments we made a dash into the village proper for some dinner and wine. This was a bit of a shocker as the village mostly consisted of rubble as a couple of months ago they had a bit of a hurricane that had flattened the place and badly damged some of the other villages. The only place that seemed unaffected, poor tykes, was the school. We had to awake early the next morning for a yoga session, which I escaped as I was up all night hooked into the pyramid vibe and being at one with the cosmos, Joey on the other hand had slept well and later told me it was really good fun, lots of strecthes and poses to channel inner powers or somehting like that. We checked out before they could drag us into the metaphysics lectures, and caught a boat to another part of the lake. The casa del mundo, built on a cliff side, designed primarily for mountain goats. Getting us and our rucksacks to the hotel was quite a feat, but worth it. The views from this place were unbelievable, every room had unhindered views onto the lake as the place is vertical. We spent the day chilling out on hammocks watching the passing boats, admiring the view right across the lake to the volcanoes and mountains with a whsipy cloud or two breaking up the blue skies. The owners and staff were extremely helpful and friendly and we felt in heaven. It was such a shame we only found this place on our last day on the lake as we could have stayed for quite a while. The hotel insisted on communal dinners, and hence we were trapped between an american family visiting uncle in Antigua, and a canadian artist for the night. It was a really good night, the wine and conversation flowing, excellent food. Luckily the americans were more on the liberal side so i don´t think i upset them too much, and Joey got a good contact for an artist in Scotland who may be pursuaded to visit her workplace to help with conservation education. A little worse for wear we hit the sack only after Joey making a video of the lake, in total darkness with running commentary. Waking the next morning was a struggle and we had the get the first boat away from the hotel back to Panjachel to catch another bus to take us deeper into the highlands and Chichicastenanga for market day. The biggest market in the whole of guatemala, been running for all known history, although of late this has meant an increase in toursit craft stalls. Yet this took none of the magic away, villagers resplendent in their colourful clothes from villages all around the highlands still come as their main trading centre. It was a vibrant, exciting and colourful experience. Many many stalls of crafts especially mayan arts surrounded the market, and if you ventured inwards there were the food stalls and local wares. All through the day fireworks and bangers were being fired from the crowd, as although generally speaking guatemala is a catholic country, the mayans in the highlands still practice their old religion. This has been mixed into the catholic religion and even some of the mayan gods now reside in the churches. One of my favourite, which I failed to visit, is Maximon (mah-shee-mon) who demands cigars and rum as offerings, the locals tend to leave cheap ciggies and beer instead, but this is my kinda religion. I really loved the way in Chichi the old and new, the tourists and locals, freely mix all intent on their individual bargains and we spent the day haggling prices away. We ended up spending far too much and we haven´t really worked out how we are going to carry this stuff around. Tomorrow we plan to return to Anitgua via various buses we havent worked out yet, and then make our way to Honduras, probably making a dash straight for the carribean coast where we´ll move onto the Bay Islands for some serious scuba action, apparently the whale sharks are in town.

Viva La Antigua!

2006-03-21T21:41:00.000Z

Ola los amigos! Antigua is fantastic and we're well impressed with how well our Sanish has come along. We can now, with a bit of improvisation and help from the friendly Guates, ask for everything we need and pretty get our point across. This has been largely due to the help of Clemencia y nos otros maestras, Rosy y Lesli. We've really enjoyed staying with the family and tonight will be our last meal with them. Last night we took a few photos so we'll post one on the site when we get a chance. They live in the old town part of Antigua and to get there you have to walk down the side of what seems to be the main street that traffic enters the city on. This means you get all the old American style school buses which have been painted magnificently, choking out big clouds of black smoke at you, while you're trying to squeeze past the oncoming pedestrians without getting flattened. It's all good fun. You also see alot of Toot toots, the Central American version of the African Tutus. Strange that the name's so similar. You finally get to the end of the busy entrance road and the road widens out into the typical cobbled streets that run throughout the whole of Antigua. Every morning at about 7.30 we have walked towards el parque central, where everyone gathers. Shoe-shiners of all ages (from 6 to 50), women selling ready sliced mango, papaya and pineapple, local school children, Spanish students and at the weekend lots of families out for a day trip from Guatemala City. We continued on past the square to our Spanish school where we worked for 4 hours, Dave with Lesli and me with Rosy, with a half hour break. It's been hard work and very brain straining but definitely well worth the effort. The house we've living in nice, quite small and basic, with the typical open air central area with lots of flowering potted plants and big concrete washing up sinks. Our room is comfy with our own bathroom with shower, specially built by Julio who is a builder by trade. He's currently building another ensuite room to accommodate more students which must make an enormous difference to their income. We're paying $130 for a week including meals. Obviously by Guatemalan standards that's loads of dosh. Rosy, my teacher, says she earns 10,000 Quetzales per year ($1 = Q7.5) teaching Spanish. Our meals have been yummy and very traditional which is cool. Lots of frijoles (refried beans), typical local veg like guisquil (pronounced: whiskil; a green pepper looking veg which is more like a juicy spud), a squash called guicoy and of course sweetcorn always served with lots of tortillas. We had a couple of nights off eating with Clemencia including Sunday, her day off, and so we sampled the tacos, fried plantainos and random meat (by Dave) in the outdoor food market outside La Merced, a very impressive cathedral. We haven't walked up a volcano, as you are seriously advised to go with an organised group accompanied by tourist police, and none of the trips organised by our school were at convenient times for us. This hasn't bothered us too much as it's very hot during the day and the views of all the surrounding volcanoes from the town are spectactular. El volcan Pacaya is active so it would have been good to see it in action, which it often is apparently, but maybe a little scary. Dave's dissapointed because we haven't seen any volcanic action and haven't had an earthquake either (Dave - except a few rumbles from Joeys bottom)! Ha ha ha :-) Sunday was fun, we went Margarita and Mojita crazy at some lovely bars and then joined the throng in the square for the catholic procession as it got dark. It was incredibly atmospheric as the procession came into the main square and past the huge main cathedral, led by lots of priest-like people in long purple satin robes (Dave - They looked like wizards to me) lining either side of the street and down the centre people swinging their metals balls holding burning coals and incense which smelled lovely (sometimes like cinnamon) and completely swamped the place with smoke. They were followed extremely slowly by three different 'floats' carried at shoulder height, with colourful statues of Jesus and Mary decorated in gold paint and flowers. The crowd around us added to the mood, all holding candles which glowed through the smoke. We took a couple of videos, so hopefully they have caught the atmosphere and the soulful singing coming from the cathedral. We bought some magnificent parajos de paradiso (birds of paradise flowers - my favourite) and roses for Clemencia at the huge market place to say thank you and have booked our bus tickets to Panajachel on Lake Atitlan to the north-west of here and leave at 7am tomorrow (Miercoles 22a Marzo). The littlest hobo is calling and we feel it's time to move on. La Antigua has been a fantastic place to spend the week learning un piqueno de Espanol.

Nosotros Estudiamos en Guatemala

2006-03-17T22:09:00.000Z

Originally the plan was to spend a night in Guatemala City and find out about transport to Antigua the next day, but on arriving we saw a man holding a sign saying 'Shuttle bus to Antigua' so off we went straight away. The capital is apparently not particularly worth exploring and a tad dangerous so we didn't mind missing it out. Antigua is a lovely looking traditional central american town. Rows of colourful single storey houses by cobbled streets. Lots of cathedrals, and particular to Antigua lots of ruined cathedrals due to the proximity of an active volcano. Antigua suffers from more than its fair share of earthquakes. Recently, in February, the volcano blew again giving everyone a fright. This is a frightfully catholic country, although we are looking forward to the processions on Sunday. On arrival we moved into a cheap hotel, complete luxury compared to our African places. We could tell already travelling around central america is going to be much more easy than Africa. The transport is good, the lodges are in good condition almost luxurious and the tourist infratructure is sound. The transport and accomodation is suprisingly cheaper here as well. This is going to be a breeze... We spent our first day exploring the town and getting excited at the miriad of bars, restaurants and shops. Our only major stumbling block in central america is the language, all being spanish. Neither Jo or I have a word between us. So the following day we went looking for a spanish school. We eventually decided on a 5 day crash course in travellers spanish with accomodation supplied by a local family. On our first day of spanish lessons we checked out of our hotel. The 1 on 1 lessons were indeed intense and Jo had a major brain ache. We were a little nervous as well as we were to meet our host family that afternoon. We needn´t have worried as they are wonderful. Clemencia, the mum of the household, greeted us and made us feel most welcome, showing us our room for the next week and then preparing lunch for us. The past few days of spanish lessons has followed a similar pattern. We get up far too early, Clemencia make us a brekky where we practice our spanish with her and her two boys, Daniel and Erik. We head for our lessons for the next 4 hours, before returning home to lunch with the family again practicing our spanish. After lunch we head into town exploring the bars, shops, cathedrals and soaking up the latin atmosphere in the Parque Central before heading back for dinner and more spanish practice. One morning Rosi and Lesli, our teachers, requested we head off to the market for some practice. This we think now was a ploy for them to get some shopping in, although we did learn the names of the fruit and veg. Rosi and Lesli are fab, they're very friendly and we all get on well which make learning a lot more pleasurable. Our spanish is improving at an incredible rate. We can now hold a basic conversation and most importantly order a beer. It was quite embarrassing at the beginning of the week as the conversation with the family over dinner would consist mostly of sign language and any english they knew, but now we chat about familiy and religion and food. Its great staying with a family here as we have a window into their life here. Clemencia is incredibly patient with our broken spanish as we take 5 mins to construct a sentence in our heads, conjugating verbs and working out our els, ellas, tu, ustedes, nosotros etc We have a few more days lessons left and then we´re on our own in spanish world...

Phileas Blog

2006-03-17T20:13:00.000Z

If anyone out there's still reading this and we're not just writing about our adventures for our sake, then HELLO, we hope you are all well. I only mention this because we haven't had any messages - so get writing. So, after a brief all inclusive luxury break at Mill Field, CSG (it was lovely to see the families, we're glad to hear you're okay now Nan Little), we flew off to our mate Smudger's in Philadelphia, USA. Dave writes - We flew from the UK with US Airways now dubbed by us as US crapways. Bloody awful airline! We may have been spoiled with emirates. This was more like a budget no thrills airline. We had to wait in a queue of hundreds with only 3 staff serving. We turned up early when heading to Guatemala and it still took over 2hrs to make it to the gate. With US crapways you have to pay for your whiskeys! You also have to pay for the headphones which is a cheek as the films are rubbish and few. We were most disappointed and will never fly US crapways again, unless of course we need to see Smudge and they're the cheapest... Thanks Dave, so I was saying... America is paranoid if you didn't already know. We noticed this immediately on disembarking... help I'm being hijacked by Dave again... guns everywhere, strict routines and even the agriculture section were loaded, just in case we bought in gun toting cows. Huh hum, anyway, we were finger printed and photographed (Dave thinks he was DNA swabbed in the loos) and luckily not questioned as to why we were continuing onto Central America, and Mark was waiting for us, well prepared and on time as always. We were taken back to Mark's lovely new pad to drop our bags and were whisked out to an Irish bar. We managed to meet Terra, Mark's new Doris (as he describes her. And no her surname isn't Ist, Ferma, Cotta or Dactyl)) and quaff a few shandies and gobble down a huge 'appetiser' sized portion of tacos before the jet lag kicked in. During the night I think I must have contracted some kind of bug as I blew chunks down the loo. Most distressing, but luckily felt fine the next morning. We awoke to find that Smudger had left us 'the Smudger challenge', a list of free tours, excursions and museums that had to be visited by the time he returned from work. So on a gloriously sunny, but absolutely freezing day, we left for Washington Square, with a memorial to the soldiers who fought for independence, where lots of soldiers are still buried (basically Philly seems to be one big burial ground) and took pictures as evidence that we weren't just pretending to have been there. Then onto the liberty bell museum which was interesting, describing how and why the bell was made and it's importance as a symbol of liberty to America (it has a bloody big crack in it which could also be of significance now - Dave). Independence Hall was next on the agenda, being the place where the constitution and declaration of independence were signed. After our history lesson we walked to the much more convivial Reading Market where we ate falafel and huge ice cream and browsed the stalls. We came to realise America does not do small portions. Wednesday, again Mark had to work so we decided to walk to the old town and visit the Quaker Meeting House. William Penn, a famous Quaker who named Pennsylvania, was given Philadelphia by the king as his Dad was owed lots of money, and moved there setting up the town much as it is now with lots of squares intended to provide the people with wide open spaces, these have now shrunk but the streets are still in a grid. Penn preached religious tolerance and was very liberal for his day. This is still reflected in Philadelphia, known for it's gay community. We were shown the meeting room by an old quaker who explained what Quakers were all about and a bit of history, including the fact that hundreds of bodies were buried under the building. That evening Mark dropped us at the Body Worlds exhibition, we missed it when it was in London, which was really good. Loads of plasticated bodies (a new method in preserving organic material using some kind of plastic) cut up to display various body systems and put into different positions. One exhibit showed a family, Mum, Dad and young boy who had donated their bodies (everyone in the exhibition had, you'll be pleased to hear, for educational purposes) and they had been named the 'Blood Family' as only their blood vessels remained. Absolutely incredible how they had managed to remove all other tissues to leave the heart, arteries, veins and tiny capillaries in tact. Some were in active postures such as riding a bike to display muscle functions. Dave came away terrified by thoughts of all the awful ways he could die, particularly considering the number of grey lungs on display to remind us of the horrors of smoking. The next day we raced to the station to catch a train to Mark's work where he picked us up and drove us to the Amish country. We enjoyed seeing the horse pulled buggies they use to get around and to work their land. They don't like to have anything that will make life easier, or you could say more complicated and stressful. It looks like a very nice way to live, but I think I'd miss the electricity in winter and the men have silly beards. They only grow them once they're married so you can have hours of fun guessing how long they've been married for, either that or how much testosterone they produce. For another example of American sized portions, Dave bought a 'large' coke which was 44oz. Next stop a wine tasting session at a local winery and all for free. Very nice. We tried lots of wines, then were taken to their small cellar to try other wines in various stages of production. Mark bought lots of bottles giving the excuse that wine was far too expensive to buy in liqor stores a bottle at a time for his new habit of bulk buying. By this point I had perked up (I'd been feeling very groggy- Dave and Mark had started to call me 'narco' as I kept falling asleep) having thought that the bilharzia was starting to show itself. Friday. Hooray Mark has managed to get the day off so off to the seaside. We drove to Stone Harbour, New Jersey to fly Mark's power kite, but not before stuffing our faces with wonderful chocolate and vanilla fudge, nut clusters and candy sticks from a Willy Wonkeresque candy store. The beach was fantastic, lovely in the refreshingly cold wind, I was glad to have several layers on. Dave and Mark had a great time flying the kite while I took pictures and videos and collected shells as the wind looked too much like hard work to me. I had lots of laughs watching the other two getting dragged around by the kite, and only joined in to hang onto Dave to act as ballast (see photo). We then drove around looking at all the lovely houses backing onto beach or lagoon wishing we could win the lottery, before deciding to try our luck in the casinos of Atlantic City up the coast. We went to Donald Trump's casino where we wandered around cautiously eyeing up black jack and craps tables before Mark plucked up the courage to play a fruity. He dispatched with a few dollars then Dave decided to brave it on a black jack table. We then circled the tables for another ten minutes while the boys looked for an empty table so they wouldn't completely embarrass themselves in front of the other punters. There was no way I was going to play, far too risky, so eventually they joined two other harmless looking gamblers. Needless to say, I was the only one who came out a winner, doubling my money on the slots. It was loads of fun, I kept getting the ' wheel of fortune' ringing up and making loads of noise. After this we collected Terra from Mark's and went out for a few bevvies and grub. Phoned Gem the next day to wish her a belated Happy Birthday and soaked upt he rays on the roof garden as it was a scorcher of a morning. The 4 of us wandered into the old town past the old ships in the harbour and after a relaxed stroll headed to the shops for a few provisions and delicious fruit smoothies which we drank sitting in Brittan Square. Terra dropped us at a great Irish bar with diddly music where we sank a few local ales, while she went home to collect Sam, her lovely black labrador. Philadelphia is full of very friendly people and everyone who sat next to us we got chatting to. This could be partly down to Mark being unable to resist talking to anyone given the chance! On Terra's way back she picked us up from where about ten fire trucks had gathered for nothing that was obvious, which was quite exciting. We went off to Mark's local Italian restaurant for a yummy dinner, taking our own wine from the winery. Feeling more than a little delicate we headed off to another Irish bar from some early rugby action (we are 5 hours behind). It cost us $20 each to get in as there are only 2 bars in the whole of Philly that can show the games and they are charged by satellite TV. Appalling game (England were thrashed by France) but the great atmosphere, Guinness and a large brekkie afterwards helped. Home to Mark's for plenty of relaxation before being fed a huge and delicious sunday lunch and then being driven into town for the honorable task of running up the 'Rocky' steps that lead up to Art Museum. This was really good fun and a few other people were doing the same thing, most out for fitness runs, which was quite surprising considering it was pretty late and dark. We admired the lovely animal statues opposite the museum and then drove back to bed. While in Philly we have eaten and drunk more than during the whole of Africa put together due to the wonderful hopsitality of Mark and America's huge portions so have put on about a stone each. Thanks Mark and Terra for a wonderful time and for looking after some poor travellers so well. Alas, the next morning we had to leave fair Philly and of course our Smudge and head to the airport. Massive queues and another flight on US crapways, but we made it Guatemala safely.

Power Kites - Joey as ballast

2006-03-13T02:27:00.000Z

A winery in Amish country

2006-03-13T02:24:00.000Z

Joanna "Three Hats" Little

2006-03-13T02:20:00.000Z

In Philly with phriends (Terra 'n' Smudge)

2006-03-13T02:15:00.000Z

Holiday in SA (re-edited the morning after the night before...)

2006-03-10T01:14:00.000Z

After our dodgy deal in the black market in Bulawayo we had the money to leave the country. Upon dissolving into the crowd and slipping into the bus station I queued for the bus out of Zimbabwe. In the queue I met a delightful old granny telling me about her day and the amount of times she had to queue for this ticket. She asked where I was going and when I said we were going to catch the cheap bus out of town, "No!" she said, "Not that bus". The rest of the queue overheard her exclamation and promptly dived in telling me to avoid the cheap bus as that one is always stripped at the border of SA as the bus is full of smugglers. After being cornered by a pack of kind hearted Zimbabweans, full of honest advice, I decided to buy the expensive tickets and skip the torment of being searched at the SA border. The border between Zimbabwe and South Africa is much much more strict that other borders with a lot more checks and distrust, but the plus side of this is you get very little hassle from the touts. The difference is also marked when crossing the border, the change is massively significant, all of a sudden you are in the western world, with streets full of electric lights and cars and road signs and smooth roads and shops. We eventually arrived in Pretoria at 4am. Now South Africa is not known for its safety record, so upon arriving in the middle of the night we were a little worried. Luckily we managed to spot a taxi very quickly and after discovering our first option of camp was closed, went to another camp within the city where we moved to the top 10 most popular people on camp by stamping around the camp site in the wee hours putting our tent up. Again we had not slept for days and passed out in an instant, so sod'em. "We'd Made it!", "We'd done it!", it was this morning when we had realised we had done it. It suddenly hit us we had crossed half of Africa using local minibuses (matatus, dala dalas, matolas, tutus etc), ferries(2), trains (2), planes (1) and automobiles (1). We were two weeks early but had finished. It was a strange feeling, we had come such a long way and had such fun, we could not believe it was over. We wanted to go back, re-experience places, talked about ways we could have done it easier or faster or cheaper. The important thing was though we were two weeks early...so for a treat after the public transport...was to hire a car and be posh travellers and see parts of SA we had not been to before. We decided to make a circular route from Pretoria, to Zululand, down to Durban and then throught the Drakensburg back to Johannesburg and home. Our first destination is Sodwana Bay on the extreme north coast very near Mozambique. The drive was too far, so we stopped on the Piet Retief a very dull town. We found a place to stay, in a spooky house run buy a spooky grey cobwebbed woman. The house was dark, and full of old photos of ancestors. Jo and I argued who was going to risk their soul talking to her next. With great relief we escaped early the next morning (Jo writes, 'She was actually a very nice helpful lady, he's got a vivid imagination'.). We made a dash for the coast, it had the be the hottest day in SA so far (38C), and as Jo and I were so cheap we had not ordered aircon for the car and hence suffered. We found the place relatively easily, and after some confusion with the park officials found a camp site, albeit in the middle of an ant city (which found their way into the car and stayed for the next 2 weeks), and the local dive club. Sodwana Bay is one of the best dive sites in the world which was why we were there and we did a couple of magnificent dives. Jo got to see her first wild turtle and we had fun in some wonderful caves and saw some stunning nudibranchs, groovy colourful little sea slugs. The next day we got up as early as possible to avoid the mid morning heat and drove south down the coast to Durban. We had planned to stop off at a couple of places but the places we looked for were either non-existant or had no accomodation. We ended up giving up on the north coast and instead headed straight into Durban. We found a great backpackers near Brighton beach in south Durban. The owner was a complete surfer dude, and apparently the surf here was "lekker", to be honest the malls were "lekker", the area was "lekker", we were "lekker", I think his vocabulary consisted of "lekker" and "dude". We spent a great few days in Durban, enjoying the surf, the malls and bars. Durban was not all sun sun sun. One day we headed to Brighton beach which lived up to its name and pee'ed it down all night. Jo and I took the only sensible course of action open to us and hid in a bar. The rain did not let up and by the end of the night ended up having a shandy too many, yet the rain had not let up so we walked the last few miles in a tropical storm, dove in the pool (well the clothes were soaked any way) and continued the revelry with more booze and less clothes. We were basically indulging our western needs, restaurants, bars, shopping and bars....we had earned it. For the second part of our holiday we drove into the Drakensberg mountains. The Drakensberg mountains are absolutely stunning. The lowlands are gently rolling hills and then as you approach Lesotho the mountains tear out of the ground vertical to 3000ft. Magnificent. On a clear day you can see the tops but most days the tops are lost in mist. We spent a few days in the Southern Drakensberg enoying a private golf course and walks. Actually the golf took up most of the time as we were so pants it took us most of the day to get around a nine hole course. The central Drakensberg at the base of Champagne Castle is exceptional walking country and we spent the next few days hiking into the mountains searching out waterfalls and lost trails, generally enjoying the magnificent scenery. We also took the time to see the world famous Drakensburg Boys Choir. The show was held in the foothills of the central Drakensburg, where we were treated to some wonderful Mozart and a few fun Movie songs. The second half consisted of a medlee of traditional African folk songs and dances. Another good day out was to see the San(i) cave paintings in the northern Drakensburg. Unfortunately on the way we hit a little birdy with a mighty thump with the car. Jo was upset most of the way,not the best start to our day. The paintings were worth the climb in the midday heat. Painted on the side of a cliff overlooking the lowlands by the Drakensburg, unchanged in a thousand years. The paintings are very clear and quite detailed showing hunting and other cultural events. I like to imagine the painters, looking over the lands seeing the same sight as we see today looking for food and enjoying the sun. I like to think of him as Terry...ged'it? Sani-Terry....oh well it tickled me pink at the time. Finally, we made the final trek to Jo'burg. One of the most dangerous cities in the world and Jo and I stroll through, lost and no idea where we were going to go. Cut a long story short, we got lost, we (Dave) worried and then we found a safe place to stay. This final installment may seem rushed but to us the journey was complete the time we arrived in Pretoria, we had achieved what we had set out to do, the fact we arrived early and spent a couple of weeks on "holiday" is outside the scope of our travels, and seems more a private indulgence, a treat/bonus for success. So the first part of the journey is complete and now we are excited for the next part of our travels. Next stop, Philadelphia, Guatemala, Honduras and Belize.

Lion Attack!

2006-02-15T13:38:00.000Z

First of all I just need to point out we have made three installments at once as we have been in the bush for a while and are now back in civilization so you’ll find the other two installments below, this being the latest. After Bovu Island we caught another pick up out of the bush, back to civilization, without being stuck once which is quite a feat by the driver loaded up with people and their detritus. Once back in Livingstone we found some currency dealers who sold us some Zimbabwean dollars. At first you think it is fake money, as it’s not really money at all. They look more like cheques you would have printed in a supermarket. And my lord do you get a lot of them! I only change US$50 and I could not fit the resulting Zim$ into my pocket, I was given a carrier bag. The Zim economy has gone completely down the drain in the last few years under Mugabe’s dictatorship. For example, a friend we met bought their massive house in 2 acres of land about 15yrs ago for Zim$18,000, now you can get a small bottle of coke for that. The economy is running away from them at such a rate that they can’t print new notes anymore so these cheques are passed around, and even these they can’t print in large enough sums as in Jan a coke would be Zim$10,000 the second biggest note and the in Feb it was $20,000. In the place we stayed they had to put the price up regularly to keep up, their inflation rate is around 1000%. You literally have to carry your money around in a separate bag. So loaded up with Zim$ we headed for the border at Victoria Falls into Zimbabwe with some trepidation from the stories you hear. A brief stop at the bungee jump bridge just to confirm the price was too much ;-) and then onto the Zim border. In Zimbabwe we made a bee line straight for the train station. The station is out of the 50’s, it was a tidy station with all the English style of little gardens out on the platform and a big station sign with the plain clock over the station. The trains were a relic as well, kept in very good condition and due to the fuel shortages in Zim, some trains still use steam, but alas ours was diesel. Our two birth cabin came with pull down bunks, pull down sink with interwoven RR embossed on the mirrors and décor. Amazingly, and something that never ceased to surprise us in Zim, the train left on time to the minute. While on the train we met a woman from Botswana, Agnes, who we helped get into her cabin, as she locked herself out, using the trusty toolkit Gem and Rich gave us for Xmas. In exchange we were handed an assortment of bracelets and necklaces and a general mothering when we looked a little lost, our very own Mme Ramotswe. When we arrived in Bulawayo David, Dinah’s husband, picked us up from the station to take us back to their house for afternoon tea. Their house is amazing, an old farm house from the days when Bulawayo was a small town now swallowed up into the suburbs. Here we met their 2 kids Cullan(2) and Garrick(3 weeks). Dinah had organized us a friend’s lodge to stay at as putting up with another two kids on top of her own was asking a bit much! We moved into our lodge and in the evening went back for dinner. Dinahs mum, Judy, made it as well which was surprise for us. Jo had met Judy when they visited England a few years back, and broke out the photos of the trip. Dave in the meantime did his best to empty his drinks cabinet on us, and after a wonderful meal (fried eggs, beef and salad – okay it does not sound much but when you’ve been surviving on Nsima and beans for the last few months this was a magnificent feast) we crashed out in a happy contented heap in our room. The following day, after a very long hangover induced slumber we headed for the city centre. To our delight it was large, spacious and clean compared to other African cities. The spacious feel comes from the design of the wide streets that were made this wide as you had to be able to do a u-turn with a cart pulled by 4(or 6?) oxen. It was such a contrast, the streets were quite lacking the hustle and bustle we had experienced before, no harassment for being white and wealthy and no guns anywhere. We spent a pleasant day exploring the shops and cafes. As the money market is in such a state we were told not to use banks for changing money but to use the black market as everyone is after foreign currency to invest in. We managed to get 50% extra this way for our US$. We did swap a little in a bank though to get the official receipt, which came in useful later. Loaded up, and I mean that literally, with Zim$ we headed out to Gweru, 2hrs east of Bulawayo, to a place called Antelope Park. This is a magical little place where you can walk with lions, swim with elephants, ride horses and go on safaris. On our first evening we opted for walking with lions. Antelope Park has a breeding program for lions, where the intention is to breed a good number of lions to repopulate parts of Africa with, starting with Zambia, what Zambia thinks of this we don’t know, maybe its some new African Weapons program. The lions are hand reared and then released into Antelope Safari Park as part of phase 1 of the programme, but they remain human friendly. We walked out to where a female called Athena and two males, Achilles and Apollo, were basking in the sun, sleeping. A rather nervous bunch of tourists and our intrepid guide strolled straight up to them, and after a quick brief on not getting to close to the sharp bits, we walked up to them, stroking them, rubbing their tummies and generally cooing all over the poor things. Occasionally they got a little ‘playful’ and we had to give them a sharp smack on the side of their heads, which isn’t as hard as it sounds as you’re terrified of winding them up too much. In one playful moment when I was rubbing a lions tummy he tried to grab my hand in his two claws, just like a widdle puddy tat, but with massive razor sharp claws and fangs, in the process giving me a quite respectable scratch on the back of my hand ( I am now picking at the scab in the hope it will scar). Jo bonded with the female lion who took a liking to her, thankfully as a play thing not lunch. The morning after I awoke very unwell, in the process convincing myself I had rabies, but after a little TLC from Jo and an aspirin felt much better. Jo went for a swim with the elephants. These are orphaned elephants that are earning their keep by letting people sit on their back while the elephant has a wash/swim. We weren’t too happy about this and left feeling a little guilty for the poor creatures, although they do spend the rest of the time with their herd in the park. Our final day at the park we went on a horse riding safari, as the animals will let you get closer if you’re on horseback. This meant of course a quick lesson in riding horses, and I mean quick. Within half an hour the guide had us cantering western style (i.e. like the cowboys reins in one hand with a hand free for waving at the camera and other cowboy stuff) around the training ground, I hadn’t even mastered the trot yet! This did not seem to bother the guide, as Jo had shown good abilities and made up for my deficiencies. The ride in the safari park was a lovely mix of riding up to the game and seeing the wildlife close up in the magnificent setting as well as hair raising canters across the bush. In the same evening we went to feed the lion cubs with massive pieces of meat. Quite a sight as they in turn devoured their own and then turned on their siblings for scraps. Now the reason the receipt mentioned above came in useful was tourist centres will only accept foreign currency, unless you can show that you legally changed your money at a bank. So where as if we paid in US$ it would have been $250, we paid in Zim$ an amount of $6,500,000 equivalent of US$48. Thankfully we had heard of this trick from a fellow traveler we had met in Zanzibar. It pays to talk. When we made it back to Bulawayo Judy had left us an invite for afternoon tea. It was a very informative evening. Judy and her husband Mike are well connected in opposition politics within Zimbabwe and really know their stuff. We spent the evening discussing over a few local whiskies the ins and outs of local and international politics. Mike had recently had his family farm taken from him for no compensation by the government. As we found out this is not a black and white thing but a vote killer. The white farmers don’t really bother Mugabe, it’s the votes of the black workers on these farms, by destroying these farms he is destroying his opposition, the families are dispersed and the schools are closed. Mugabe tries to stay credible by holding elections and he can’t afford the opposition like this. Not all white farms are requisitioned by the government, it is exclusively MDC supporting farms. During the independence war their were two main parties involved Zanu PF (trained by the Chinese) and another (trained by the Russians), at the end of the war, Mugabe gained power as his tribe (Xhosa) is larger than the Matebele. Mugabe then enforced his rule by murdering 50,000 Matebele people within the first few months. Tony Blair, knew this and withdrew our aid to Zimbabwe, and decision supported by the opposition. This threw Mugabe into a rage. A further tactic he used, from the Chinese training, was to publicly execute a prominent supporter (in this case a white farmer) within in each region as a reminder. Since then he has maintained grip on power through terror and strictly controlling food supplies, feeding supporters. If you want to eat, support Mugabe. The country is in trouble, but the opposition is gaining strength slowly from both major tribes, people feel quite confident things will change soon. I heard this same story from everyone I met there be they black, white, rich and poor. I hope it does change for them because Zimbabwe was full of the friendliest people, nothing like what we were expecting. A bonus to the evening was a visit from Judy and Mike friend Didimus. Didimus is an MP in the Zimbabwe government for MDC, the opposition. A very brave man indeed, to be in opposition is to always fear for your life. A few attempts had been made on him, but so far he has managed to stay with us, thanks to God. Didimus is also high up in the Zimbabwe church. This later did throw me, as we found out MDC, in the time they are needed most is about to split over the issue of running for senate a position set up by Mugabe to reward friends who had not made the elections. He told of members within his own party being tortured by their own leaders’ goons to keep them in line. Being a man of the church I was surprised when he did not condemn these actions, saying he has to continue to support the leadership. All in all an enlightening evening. Judy, Mike if you read this, please post a comment to correct any mistakes in my understanding of the situation. Over the week, Dinah and family were wonderful to us, looking after us, feeding us and generally making us feel welcome. Contrary to our fears the Zimbabwean people were the friendliest in Africa, always interested in our travels and always open to telling us of the Zimbabwean situation. Before we could leave the country though we had to find SA rands to pay a bus to take us across the border, understandably they would not take Zim$, this meant a trip back into the black market. Names have been changed to protect the innocent….Mrs X dropped us into the warehouse district of Bulawayo where we were instructed to find a Mr A in a specified office in a wholesalers. On contact Mr A was missing, so we were sent to Mr B who said to come back in 2hrs. On returning to Mr B there were too many strangers around so was advised to wait around the corner. 10 minutes later two of Mr Bs goons whispered to me he was ready, I tried to look as inconspicuous as possible (not easy being the only white man in sight) as I made my way into the warehouse where the exchange was made. Mr B chuckled as I counted the money and held random notes to the light, trying to look a pro, he copied to a mass of guffaws from the goons. I slipped out a side door and dissolved into the streets. Tickets purchased and we were off to SA.

Bovu Island - Paradise on the Zambezi

2006-02-15T11:25:00.000Z

First of all, HAPPY BIRTHDAYS!! to Lisa, Emily (sorry it's late!), Mum for Friday and Louisa for Sat. 29th January. We arranged to leave Livingstone by pickup to Bovu Island, 40km upstream of Victoria Falls. The last part of the journey was through bumpy, puddle filled bush tracks to the river bank where we were met by mokoro canoe and paddled to the island. Stepping out of the canoe and up the stone steps to the bar, we were ambushed by Spillage, L'il Bugs and Bugs (see last entry) who thrust chocolate cake and fizzy at us and welcomed us to join Spillage's birthday celebrations! Brett and Evelyn (the owners) then gave us our complimentary free welcome drinks before we were shown around the facilities by Harriet. It was a gorgeous camp with a really organic feel to it. The separate areas within the camp (library, bar, camping kitchen, huts, showers and loos) were all joined by sandy footpaths, made with termite mound earth, winding through dense woodland and tropical plants. Some of the paths took you to the ends of the island while others ended unexpectedly at another hut over looking the river, or staff quarters, or camping spot, which is where we pitched our tent. The rooms were built around tree trunks and nature had been left alone or incorporated into the structures whereever possible. Showering was a wonderful experience, big spaces with sandy floors, lovely hot water heated by a wood burning stove and no roof so you could search in the trees for birds and listen to all the varied bird calls. We planned to stay 3 nights but this was soon extended to a week as we found lots to do, as well as reading lots. Behind the bar Brett and Evelyn had a big collection of silly hats which had either been donated or bought by themselves, friends or visitors. With lots of red wine (bought on a necessary trip to Botswana by Bugs) we spent one evening donning hats of various shapes and sizes and having a very jolly night. The next morning Dave felt really rough and didn't feel too fresh, but despite this we were up bright and early to meet Godfrey who we had arranged to take us on a walk to the local villages, clinic and school. He did warn us that it was a long walk but we felt it would do us good. The paths on the way were very muddy and slippery so I decided to follow the locals and walked barefoot which did help me to stay upright and it was lovely feeling the squidgey mud ooze between your toes. Dave kept his trusty boots on as they have excellent grips. We walked through several very small villages with mud huts and leaf rooves (like other African countryside villages we had seen in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi and Zambia) before arriving at the health clinic which had been built partly with government money and partly with proceeds donated to the community of fifteen villages by the Bovu Island Camp (called Jungle Junction). The Jungle Junction staff was made up of members of the surrounding villages and the money from the camp was used for whatever the community decided. The health clinic has been built quite recently and was avery smart, clean building, run by Josephine the nurse among others. Josephine showed us her room and the kits she used to test patients for malaria as well as the drugs they used. A list of test results showed over 20% to be positive throughout January and we learned that some of the negative ones could be wrong due to the nature of the malaria parasite only being traceable in the blood during fever. The Zambezi during the rainy season is a hotspot for malaria carried by the female anopheles mosquito who drinks blood and nectar, whereas the male only drinks nectar. Josephine let us weigh ourselves on the clinic scales and Dave has lost 2.5 stone! For several weeks now he has gone by the name 'Skinny Marie' after the character in Pretty Woman (Gem and Rich will know ;-)). On arrival at the clinic the torrential downpour of the day had begun. Godfrey (who told us he has 2 wives which is normal, one local man has 4) explained to us that this year had seen a great deal of rain and the previous few years very little. Although it had been good up until now, if this amount continued to fall the crops would again fail. So we hung around the clinic for a while waiting for a lull in the torrent. Eventually we made it to the school. Nearly all of the teachers were in a 'meeting' that day, but Banji was able to introduce us to some of the classes and each class that we walked in to see, stood and welcomed us before being allowed to sit again. They had been set work and were all quietly getting on with it, although our entrance did cause quite a lot of excitement. Banji explained how there were too many classes for the number of rooms so the daily timetable had been split into two. Class 7 (age 15) were in class 2's usual room for the afternoon and class 2 had gone home. Banji said how many children did not come to school and there was a maximum number of days of absence allowed before the parents were asked to meet with the teacher. Generally a day a week off was acceptable with no questions asked. Some parents preferred the children to stay at home to work and the teachers tried to intervene to prevent them from being permanently excluded. We took some photos and promised to send copies to the camp who would pass them on. It was still rainy heavily but we had already waited a long time so decided to make a dash for it. On returning the same route we came, we found a fast flowing river crossing our path and back tracked to find an alternative. Walking back was much harder, 2 hours of wading through knee deep streams which had suddenly sprung up and sliding around all over the place in the mud. I ended up in the mud three times - all good fun when you know it's a one off experience. The children are expected walk to school and back monday to friday. The school had been built halfway between the 15 villages and for those living further away it must be extremely difficult. Banji said many children became ill due to the walk and then sitting in the cold classrooms in the winter which had no electricity supply. Over the next few days the sun shone incessantly, great news for the maize and hopefully the school kids too. Dave arranged to go out fishing with Anton and I went along for a relaxing mokoro ride. Dave had the spin fishing technique mastered but alas, as is typical of fishing, only managed to catch some weed and a couple of branches. Anton explained that they liked to hide in the warmer deeper water and Dave agreed to try again after lunch. This time Dave and Paul (Bugs) went out fishing with Anton and I went for a late afternoon punt down the river in the glorious sunshine with Spillage and L'il Bugs. We relaxed while George pushed us along and seranaded us with his magnificent deep voice. We passed the boys' boat to find them well chuffed that Dave had caught us all a 4.5lb Nembwe, a dark olive green bream, for dinner. Don't ask Dave about it though, because the 'monster' is getting larger and larger with each rendition of the story. After a few nights camping Brett very generously had us upgraded to an A frame hut on stilts overlooking the river, to where I had tracked three otters upstream playing in the rain a couple of days before. I had found the hut and sheltered from the rain, hoping to catch more glimpses of the otters. On the platform under the shelter was a mossie net style tent containing 2 comfy mattresses. Great stuff. With only the net separating you from the wildlife, it was very exciting, and extremely loud one night when a cicada 'singing' so loudly I had to stuff loo paper in my ears! The day after Alison, Shorene (sorry if I've spelt this wrong L'il Bugs!) and Paul set off for Botswana (after a videoed group butterfly impression - please e-mail it to us :-)) we returned to 'Fawlty Towers' in Livingstone the same way we arrived, feeling thoroughly refreshed and relaxed.

Near Death at the Midnight Diner and Turmoil in the Washing Machine

2006-02-13T11:12:00.000Z

After treating ourselves in a big city, it was time to move on, a little rendition of the littlest hobo and then it was packs on backs and off to the bus stop. We arrived far too early and were rewarded by being upgraded to the earlier bus. This is quite unusual as we try and arrive just in time knowing in Africa buses never, ever leave on time and usually take a few hours after departure time to fill. We arrived later that day after a very pleasant journey in Livingstone. Every backpacker that goes through Africa will go to Livingstone, its some archaic law or something, you feel it in your blood, calling. We saw our first white person within minutes of getting off the bus. Due to the masses of backpackers, there is a thriving taxi industry here, we estimated there were more taxis in Livingstone than the whole of Zambia (we never used one because we are hardcore backpackers, or tight, your pick). Livingstone is quite a small town, only one major road through it, a small market, a museum to Mr Livingstone and liberally sprinkled with lodges and adventure companies. Livingstone is the base for venturing out to Victoria Falls, bungee jumping, white water rafting, gorge swinging etc. We found the camp we were looking for, via a bar, just in time before a massive storm hit and drowned the streets. The following morning, we went to see the famous Victoria Falls, only a few km down the main road towards Zimbabwe. The falls are 1km wide and a few hundred meters high, and being the rainy season they were magnificent with the flooded Zambezi pouring at 5,000,000 litres a second off the top. The spray was everywhere, and hence water proofs were necessary to get within visual range. We watched from the Zambia side of falls, and ventured down the the Boiling Pot, a steep walk down the gorge to where the waters converge after the fall into the lower Zambezi. We spent the day exploring the various paths around the falls and up to the upper Zambezi where you can sit close to the edge. We also managed to walk into a middle of a pack of marauding baboons at one point, surrounded by them, taking absolutely no notice of us. From the falls you can see the the eXtreme sports, and we counted our cash, and decided what we wanted to do. I wanted to bungee but the cost was extortionate, thats my story and I am sticking to it. Joey wanted to take a canoe down the Zambezi, watching the wildlife, but after some convincing gave up the idea as not eXtreme enough. So we compromised on white water rafting. Now there ae two types of raft, you have the pro raft where you have a pro sit on the back with a large set of oars who basically controls the boat, or you have the ameteur boat, the one where the guide does nothing except right the raft when we capsize. We chose the later, as this would obviously be more 'fun'. We marched down the side of the gorge, with four other victims, to the lower Zambezi where the set of rapids started, and after some playing around in the boat, trying to point in the right direction the guide gave up on us and decided it was time to hit the rapids. We cruised out into the gorger which was stunning, sheer cliffs hundreds of meters high on either side. After the calm came the first rapid called Midnight Diner. A grade 5+, quite a biggy in other words. From the raft it looked enormous, a mass of white churning water. The guide said we need to go down the right of the main channel, which was a joke as we couldn't steer this boat for toffee. We hit the main channel nose on, and the very first wave we flipped head over heels, up went the bow, out we all popped and splash into the white water. I managed to somehow keep a hold of the boat, Joey on the other hand had disappeared, I looked all round trying to see where in the mass of white water she was, when out pops her head about 25m back. I only saw her head for half a second before she was under again, but when i had seen her she did look awfully unwell. Over the next minute or so, I saw Jo appear above the water a few more time, each time looking a little worse for wear. Eventualy the rescue kayak managed to catch her and brought here to the boat. Jo was so disorientated by the experience she did not realise she was back at the boat and I had to grab here before she drifted off again. She looked at me, hacked up some water, coughed for a while before shouting 'That was bloody horrible!'. After safely making it back into the raft she told me how she was churned around, under the boat, popping out the back and then being dragged under, all before catching a breath. Only when she surfaced a while later did she catch half a breath and a lung full of Zambezi. The next rapid was far too dangerous, no one has successfully done it, so we walked around before getting back into the boat for the next 15 rapids. It became a pattern of the guide saying go left/right and we went right/left. Rapid after rapid we flipped, vertically, sideways, and my most memorable being where the raft collapsed in half width ways, popping me and another out of the middle into the Washing Machine. It certainly felt like one, when i had eventually surfaced I found myself in a different raft catching a ride. Jo was too busy waving to the camera on the gorge to notice I had disappeared! She was horrified when she spotted me gasping for air while being rescued by the other boat. I would certainly recommend white water rafting. Its a major buzz, and we and our crew gassed into the evening over some beers swapping our near death experiences. Altough the following day the bruises and aches came out big stylee. During our time in Livingstone we also met Alison (Spillage), Shorene (L'il Bugs) and Paul (Big Bugs). They had been managing a tourist lodge nearby and had rescued three adorable kittens, who were being donated to our camp as they had to hit the road. So we spent time at the camp playing with huckle, berry and finn. before making a decision whether to go to Zimbabwe, or Botswana.

Local transport, and they make you pay for the pleasure!

2006-01-21T13:22:00.000Z

Daves bushcraft comes into its own.

2006-01-21T13:18:00.000Z

4hrs Hitching, no luck, but spirits fine.

2006-01-21T13:14:00.000Z

Christmas Pressies

2006-01-21T13:10:00.000Z

Joey, friends and the doomed truck to Matema

2006-01-21T13:04:00.000Z

Cheese Rolls and Cinemas

2006-01-21T11:54:00.000Z

The last time we wrote, we were in Lilongwe, awaiting a visa for Zambia. While waiting around in Lilongwe, Joey got a bout of Malawian Mud Slides, so was on the antibiotics and off the booze. For compensation we found a cafe where she could have a pot of tea and a slice of chocolate cake, this seemed to clear the matter up. Lilongwe is quite a dull town, it has one small block of ShopRites and a few bars but totally devoid of any entertainment. The touts are still there, and the poverty is very evident, much worse than any African city we have visited so far. The capital city is no bigger than a small English town. One day we walked a fellow traveller, Tapio from Finland, into town where he was to catch a bus to the Zambian border. We accompanied him to find out where the buses were, as well as the dala dalas to Lizard Island. It was the most horrific experience Joey said she has had. She was still a little delicate, and when we arrived, the smell was gut wrenching, the noise unbearable, horns going off in your head, the bustle immense. People were extremely aggressive, but then most touts usually are (i have formed the opinion that touts are the devils work), and very claustrophobic. I had to lead Joey out of there at a speed. This experience put pay to the idea of going to Lizard Island as Joey could not bear going back there to catch the dala dala. Joeys cake nose was in fully working order, and she smelt out a lovelly hidden bakery full of cream cakes, chocolate croissants and fresh breads. She ended up buying a few 'treats' to get over her trauma. Once we had left the nightmare, Joey lost her resolve on never going back, but we had then found out our visa had come through and was waiting at the border with a date stamp. The Wildlife Camp in South Luangwa wrote back to say they had sent our visa waiver to the border via a passing pick up. While we waited for our departure date we got chatting to some fellow travellers who were also looking for some charity work to get involved in, particularly aid work. He like us had found out there is very little scope for helping out on a short term basis, they don't want volunteers here, you have to pay to help or dedicate your life to the cause. We did find one American who had found a voluntary post, but it was building a church, not in my opinion what the Africans need right now. To be honest since travelling through Africa, I don't know how much good the charities do. From what I have seen and heard, these are run by mzungus who don't fully appreciate the culture and local circumstances, and the locals are not being involved. This charitable culture also seems to have instilled in the Africans that we are here to give, and they expect charity. Of course this is a huge generalisation, but it seems that a lot of people we bump into want a handout, even the relatively well off. Another highlight of our stay in Lilongwe was being interviewed by our tent for the Malawi Broadcasting Company, who were making a program on why travellers visit Malawi. Unfortunately we weren't around when it was broadcast. Friday 13th This portential(?) day, we chose as the day to enter the 5th country, Zambia. We returned to the dreadful bus station, this time into the quieter intercity bus section (no touts allowed). The 08:00 bus to the Zambian left at 9:45 (not bad for Africa) and we trundled along to the border. With lady luck on our side we found our visas waiting for us. This is quite lucky as previous attempts by fellow travellers have resulted in bribing the officials to enter the country as they have 'lost' the paper work, of course once you're out of view the money goes in the pocket and the waiver is 'found'. Once through the border we had our usual fun exchanging money on the black market. This time though the tout had decided to change his mind halfway through the deal and demanded more money or his money back. I definitely was not going to fall for that one, Andy had warned us this had happened to him, on refusing to pay more the money was swapped back, but the quick handed touts had swapped the original notes for fakes. This brought on the ire of the tout, so we just walked away, but he would not leave it at that. In the end it got a little physical, with me wrestling the bloke away from our bags and taxi. Luckily he was almost a dwarf! We finally arrived in Chipata in one piece where we sped straight to Joeys fave, ShopRite. We bought some supplies and found some lodgings. Putting the tent up, Joey was very excited as she whipped out the bread and cheese and red wine. Lying in the sun on our carry mats it was heaven with our cheese sandwiches, steak sandwiches and red wine. The next morning, we were heading for South Luangwa the premier game reserve in Zambia, unfortunately being the wet season most of the road had been washed away, and it was a bumpy 7hr ride over the last 120km. Once again the touts had been in cahoots with the devil, and failed to fulfill their part of the bargain. We were abandoned in the village of Mfuwe, as their minibus could not make the last 10km. Luckily we found a radio in the village and managed to contact the camp who sent a 4x4 for us. But the hellish day was worth it as we arrived in the wonderful camp on the side of the Luangwa river. Our first night we were advised to leave our food in the bar area as the local elephants can smell a chupa chups a mile away and you don't need a visit from them in the night. While lying in our tent at night we could here the surrounding elephants, hippos and on one occasion a growling lion. We weren't allowed to leave the our camping spot during the night due to the predators lurking in the dark... The views from our camp were magnificent, helped of course by the well stocked bar and the swimming pool. We treated ourselves to a night drive and an morning drive. Unfortunately because of the rains most of the animals had dispersed but we did manage to see a lot still. We were even treated to a charge of an elephant on more than one occasion. It was with much regret that we had to leave but the littlest hobo in us was calling. We were dropped off again in Mfuwe to wait for a pick up to Chipata. It was here that my vision of Jo was severely dented. On the journey from the camp to the village we had been cuaght in a major drenching. Jo was a little miffed at this, and when we got to the village she asked someone if she could use their loo to change. Suprise suprise, nothing in Africa is free and they wanted $2! The language coming from Joannas mouth when she re-appeared on the street would make the devil blush. She wasn't finished there, after asking others and not being able to change this profanity had lasted for around 15mins. I was most shocked by her language, and lord only knows where she got it from. To add insult to injury while i was checking out another minibus for transport, Joey was kidnapped in the first bus, where she was hiding to change her trousers. Obviously the driver was just as appalled as i was by her fury and they soon let her out again. We finally got dry and managed to find a lift to Chipata that arrived around 22:00, where we hung around another bus station until 03:00 to catch a morning bus to Lusaka, saving ouselves a nights accomodation. The journey was through wonderful Zambian countryside, and mountains. A long but a very nice journey. We are now relaxing in Lusaka, at last a city that is a city. They have many streets, and shops, and bars, and cafes, and best of all a cinema! Aslan rules! We are gorging ourselves on city life here, after being stuck out in the remote African sticks we deserve it. So we will treat ourselves here before heading off to Victoria Falls some time soon. Grandad - Happy birthday for the 22nd, hope you got your card in time.

It's a long way to Lilongwe...

2006-01-08T10:39:00.000Z

19th December 2005. Are you ready for a mammoth installment? We caught a taxi early to the Tazara railway station, a very 50s building, big and green, with very old trains. Dave says the gauge is a lot smaller than the UK, that's if a gauge is the width of the track (he's not entirely sure!). We eventually found the 1st class lounge with the help of 2 canadians, Janine and her husband. She had been teaching English in Dodoma (the Tanzanian capital) and her husband had joined her for a travelling hol. The queues outside were huge and full of wonderfully colourful Africans carrying huge parcels. We (and the Canadians) surrepticiously peered round the door of our lounge to take photos of the queue, the reason for this being that we have been told many times to be careful when photographing local people. There are 4 reasons for this, firstly on religious grounds, particularly the Muslims, secondly, tribal beliefs of some Africans, such as the Maasai, who believe it will steal their soul, thirdly because we don't want to draw unnecessary attention to ourselves or to our camera and finally because we are likely to be asked for a fee! We boarded the train and found our wonderful cabins, males and females are separate, 4 beds per cabin. I shared mine with Caroline and Naomi who were incredibly giggly particularly whenever I spoke a word of Swahili. Most disconcerting. We spent most of the day in the lounge/bar coach where there were bigger windows to watch the wildlife as we passed through the Selous Game Reserve and saw a giraffe, warthogs, lots of birds, impala and lots of wonderful scenery. We caught the slow train on purpose so we passed through the reserve in daylight hours, which meant we stopped at random villages with no platforms, where people jumped on and off. Although the beds were very comfortable and clean, sleeping wasn't as easy as expected due to the braking system on the train failing which meant we kept juddering to a halt, nearly causing us to topple out of our bunks! Other than that it was the most enjoyable and comfortable mode of transport up until this point. 24 hours later we arrived in Mbeya, a beautifully situated and cool town. The altitude was much appreciated after the hot, close climate in Dar. The town itself was very small, the size of a small English village, and was surrounded on all sides by magnificent mountains, often covered with thunder clouds. When it rained it was torrential, with lots of exciting lightning! We arranged a trip with a local guide to hike to the Ngozi Crater Lake, south of Mbeya in the Poroto Mountains. We were joined by an Austrian and a German lady and we set off from our guest house with our guide at 6am the next day. Luckily it was a cool, cloudy morning and having caught a dala dala (we had been promised a car) we made it to the junction where the track to the lake began. After a brief pause, where Dave took the guide aside to vent some frustration at his blatant lying and the price was reduced, we continued on our walk happily. The walk was very challenging and I was affected quite badly by the sudden increase in altitude, feeling light-headed and quite sick at times. Everyone was very patient waiting for me to compose myself and we continued on up. The walk up was through wonderful dense indigenous woodland and the view form the top, looking out over the green crater lake was amazing. Well worth it. The colour of the lake changes throughout the day and is supposed to possess magical qualities meaning no-one is allowed to swim in it. It was an extremely steep and dangerous climb down so we weren't tempted anyway! On the way back, a much more relaxed walk, we got absolutely drenched, despite Dave using his bushcraft skills to make me a banana leaf hat, wearing our waterproofs and holding huge banana leaves over our heads. But at least it kept the flies away. Back on the main road we then had to wait a while for a dala dala with any space at all to come by. Finally when a vehicle did stop, you would not have believed that another 5 people would fit in, but we constantly underestimate the ability of the Africans to always fit another person in. Amazing, and also incredibly uncomfortable, with both feet never touching the floor at the same time or at the same angle. There is no such thing as your own personal space. The next day we did our christmas shopping in Mbeya. We had allowed extra in our budget to splash out and treated ourselves with a bottle of Amarhula, a cream liquer, not the best choice for travelling in a hot climate as we were to find out, red wine (big treat for Joey!), spuds, onions, and carrots, stocking filler pressies bought secretly for each other and some tinsel for the tent. We also bought our dala dala ticket to Matema Beach on Lake Nyasa, close to the Malawian border. 23rd December. Up very early again (we now have an alarm clock as we don't trust oursleves to wake early when not camping) we made our way to the bus station and as usual waited over an hour for it to turn up. We knew there would be a couple of stops where we would change dala dalas but had been ensured that the tickets would take us all the way. Our man who sold us the tickets was with us for the beginning of the journey but was apparently suffering with a nasty bout of malaria. Not long after departure, he told us that he unfortunatley wouldn't be able to accompany us all the way to Kyela, the first change over point, and headed back to Mbeya. After he left us, we waited a while longer while the touts desperately tried to fill the dala dala. They stop at nothing to achieve this, we already knew they could be unpleasant but the behaviour we witnessed next was despicable. A poor woman had her bags ripped from her and then two touts, working for different dala dalas, each grabbed hold of an arm and were pulling her in both diretions while she was desperately trying to get free. She lost a shoe in the fight, I didn't realise what was going on at this stage and was in shock, which was picked up by one of the touts and thrown into his dala dala (ours) with her bags. She was hiding behind a street stall having managed to get away. Now realising what was going on I tried to reach her shoe behind me so I could give it to her so she didn't feel forced to enter the dala dala, but the bloke closest to it (a mzungu) was obviously in a deeper state of shock than me, or oblivious, and took a while to pass it up to me. By this time the woman had decided to board our dala dala. I was livid for ages afterwards - horrible touts! We arrived in Kyela to find that our promised pick-up was nowhere to be seen and we had to pay extra to get in another dala dala, very cramped, to get to Ipunda. It was now David's turn to be livid. At Ipunda, an out-of-the-way trading village, we found a truck heading down to Matema. The journey in the truck took 5 hours to cover 10 kms due to 2 blow outs, very loud bangs. This wan't surprising as the tyres where as bald as my Dad (sorry Dad!!). The first was replaced by the spare, unfortunately there was only one spare so the second led to a long wait, during which the children threw stones at the mango trees to bring them down, yummy. Eventually a pick-up drove by and agreed to take us and a few others the rest of the way. On arrival at the campsite we felt really dispirited having been ripped off and miffed with the general attitude towards Mzungus, and pitched our tent on the beach, not appreciating the beauty of the place. A beer in the village lifted our spirits slightly! Christmas Eve - 'A log cabin on the Beach'. We woke up early the next morning to see a lovely beach surrounded by the Livingstone Mountains on the eat shore fading away into the distance, the Poroto Mountains to the north and west and the lake as far south as you could see. Truly stunning. We spent the day wrapping presents, reading, decorating the tent and drinking Amarhula (which was already on the turn!). Sitting in our sheltered area on the beach we were joined by a large African family, obviously well off. A second full minibus arrived shortly afterwards and another group of Africans filed out, not as well off but friends with the first family. The children in the second bus all greeted each of the adults with a quiet 'shikamu' and touched their heads as they said it. This is a sign of respect for elders in Tanzania. One girl touched my head and I remembered to reply with 'Marahaba' - I'm delighted. I had read this in our guide book and this was the first time I had heard it so I was very pleased to remember the response. We had decided not to swim as we were still wary of the risk of bilharzia in the lake (a parasitic worm that uses pond snails as their host and humans as the vector and causes fever). We'll have to get over this concern at some point as we're planning to dive in the lake off the Malawian shore. So we showered in the mossie-infested communal showers. Just in case the water came from the lake (we'd forgotten to ask) the shower had to be quick, as the worms take about 10 minutes to burrow into your skin, followed by vigorous towel drying to encourage the little darlings to realease their grip. By which time I'd worked up a bit of a sweat! Sitting on the steps of a banda near our tent, three local boys approached us and emptied out large green fruit from a sack. They were describes as big oranges so I thought I'd try one. Dave got his hunting knife out and I cut it up and it was like a huge orange but tasted more like sour grapefruit. Delicious and quite satisfyingly crunchy. I was tucking into my giant orange when Dave had a sudden desire to ask Amani (our hotelier) if he could have a look at one of the bandas. So the next thing I knew we were looking at a huge double bed with red rose printed cotton sheets, log cabin effect wooden floor and walls, en-suite (with loo roll, large soap and box of matched for lighting the lantern) in other words it was time to move in! I have to say I felt guilty taking the tinsel off our little yellow tent and taking it into the banda. Our little tent had been traded in for a better model. But as Dave said, he'd had to have a look as he'd been wondering how Santa was going to get into our tent without a chimney. We watched a breath-taking sunset which actually lived up to our guide book's description and as it got darker more lights appeared on the lake as the fishermen took their wooden canoes out for the night. Amazingly we could see stars appear over the Livingstone Mountains as the sun set slowly over the Poroto Mountains on the opposite side of the lake. It was a truly magnificent setting. Lakeside was just like being on the coast, as the wind created small regular waves in the shallow water. The people here seemed much less used to tourists which was very refreshing. The feeling from the Africans today compared to yesterday was a vast improvement. Christmas Day. Woken up at 7am by Amani to buy fish from the fishermen on the beach to go with our veg bought in Mbeya. There was no fish to buy so we were slightly miffed at being woken up so early as we'd had a disturbed night sleep in our log cabin due to a mossie that was happily living inside our mossie net. Dave's shoulder is particularly tasty. What was much more pleasant was the bird song, very tuneful and sometimes bizarre. We left Amani after hopefully communicating to him that we would like some fish to cook on our stove about 5pm. A dug out canoe was delivered to our part of the beach (we had booked 2 canoes, thinking they would be like the modern plastic ones we'd seen lying around) and decided to wait unitil we had opened our stockings to go out on the lake for a paddle. We took turns to open pressies, my first was a homemade cracker, which actually worked when we pulled it and I won! Inside was a toilet roll, as Dave knows how much I love them and inside that was a beautifully made christmas cracker hat - he's a genius! Dave got an apple (lucky boy), a bottle of banana wine (local brew), snacks and a masai bracelt as a main pressie. I got a selection of sweets (chupa chups, magic hand which lit up, jewel ring and bubble gum) a hair scrunchy and a gorgeous sarong with turtle print. We then collected our wooden canoe and went for a paddle. This was a lot more difficult than we had expected as the canoe wasn't naturally balanced and we nearly capsized several times. Dave fell in while trying to get in, so that was the bilharzia worry out of the way. In the end Dave paddled on his own as he'd got the hang of it and I swam and walked back. We prepared our christmas dinner on our stove in the banda and Amani brought the fish, huge steaks so we gave him one. We sat at a table on the beach and ate our roast pots, onions carrots and fish with our bottle of red wine. As we ate a storm was brewing over the Livingstone Mountains and out over the lake, so we ate our homemade chocolate mueslie biscuit cake watching the lightning storm in the rain! Boxing Day. Up at 5.30am to be finally collected by a pick-up at 7 and driven to Ipinda with 3 German volunteers working in the local hospital for a year. They were off to Zanzibar for what sounded like a well earned break. Their work included all sorts of scary things they weren't qualified to do and they'd seen lots of child deaths from malaria. Opposite the hospital, next to where we waited for our pick-up, behind a fence there was a compound of shelters where the families of the patients stayed. They came from all around to get to the Matema hospital, sometimes walking for days, to accompany their ill relatives and cook meals for them in the compound on open fires. We managed to get to Kyela and onto the Malawi border without a problem and having got our entry stamps (despite the fact we didn't have any 'christmas presents' for the border guard) we decided to catch a taxi to Karonga as a treat. [Dave taking over as Jo needs the loo] On arriving at Karonga, we decided it was just a little too dull, and immediately caught a bus intending to go to Livingstonia, which is reputed to have the best view in the world from their long drop toilets! When we did arrive at Chitimba, 16km from Livingstonia, we got off the bus to hitch up the mountain. Within minutes a soldier informed us there was no way up and the road had collapsed in the rains. Luckily for us, our bus was still trying to get through the police check point, so we managed to dive right back in our old seats and followed it on until the end in Mzuzu. The views from the bus were lovely over the green mountains of Malawi, the typical Africa red soil and small villages. This was much farther into Malawi than we intended but there was little we could do. Mzuzu is a typical Africa town, nothing special, with the usual run down buildings, street traders and dusty roads. We found a cheap lodge run by the church, and then headed out to find a phone, as Joey had a need to phone home. Two hours later still no luck, the phone system here is ridiculously complicated and expensive, so we blasted off a couple of emails instead. We went out for a huge curry feast, with exceptional service, there was nothing they could not do for us! Followed by a couple of beers and the expected hanger on trying to get beers out of rich mzungus. 28th December 2005 Awoke nice an early again, to catch a dala dala to Nkhata bay. We had heard that Nkhata bay is your typical hippie travellers hang out, and we were tired after 2 months of travelling, so we needed a break. We pitched our tent up at Njaya lodge, which was a wonderful lodge with a bar overlooking the lake and the Livingstone mountains on the farside in the distance. The place was built by a couple of Londoners from Clapham, who also happened to be staying over for new year. They no longer live there as they had to go back to England for their young boys education. That evening Joey managed to borrow a mobile phone from the staff to make a quick call back to her mum, giving her the lodges number. After a lengthy chat with her parents Jo was in a much brighter mood. Over the next couple of days we generally lazed around on the beach, had beers, and cooked on our trangia. This was exactly what we needed, a little time to re-charge the batterys. Although it was on a couple of days lazing before we started to get itchy feet, but we had promised ourselves no moving around until after new years. In this time, Joey went into the village with Sue, an english lady who has lived and worked in Blantyre for 8 years as a teacher, and her malawian friend Moses, and Vicky an english friend from London over on a visit. Meanwhile, I would just hang out with the bar staff. New Years Eve Joey took a trip to feed the fish eagles further down the lake with Sue, Moses and Vicky, with some excellent photos, I, er, remained at the bar. On the beach all the locals were celebrating with a local band, and traditional dancing. For the evening we treated ourselves to the lodge's BBQ of spit roasted pig (Joey did not partake!), veggie burgers and kebabs and masses of salads. We ate with Jonny and Fiona, a couple of Londoners working in the film industry, which was enlightening as i now know what a grip is, a best boy and all the miriad of film jobs. J&F save up a months holiday each year and go travelling somewhere new. After stuffing ourselves, we went out on the balcony overlooking the lake and drank the night away with J&F and Quin and Debbie, coincidentally also in the film industry, pop video editor and choreographer. We had the usual kisses and hugs at 12 and some dancing, and the same again for 1 (the spanish new year for Jos familiy) and then the same again for 2 (the english new year). New Years Day Awoke with a remarkably clear head and I joined Jo for a swim in the Lake. 2nd January 2006 We could not contain our travelling bug anymore and had to move on, all of 2km, into the village into the usual travel hovel. From here it was easier to check out the dive centre and we arranged a dive for 2pm. In the meantime we went for a wander in the village, and had a result. I bought a bun from the bakery, and then went to one of the street vendors and got some hot pork to put in my roll, all for 26 Kwacha! Thats 13p for a pork roll! Joey had a banana roll for 8 Kwacha, or 4p. Our dive was lovely surrounded by Cichlids, small colourful fresh water fish with amazing social lives, and through some small caves. Great value at $20 each. We finally decided to leave Nkhata bay on the 3rd and caught a dala dala back to Mzuzu, to change some money and buy provisions for our next remote destination before catching another dala dala to Rumphi, north of Mzuzu, and typical trading town, where we waited for 2hrs in the back of a pick up truck to fill with passengers. Our destination was Kazuni camp in the Vwaza marsh. The ride was as expected very uncomfortable hour in the heat. The camp itself was worth the effort, on arriving in our hut, a herd of Kudu strolled past in front of us grazing, behind which was a magnificent view over the marsh area. The lake was home to lots of hippos, and after the warden left us we were the only people in the camp. It was the most remote place we had been to so far. We woke the next morning for our guide to take us on a walking safari, to find that some other travellers had moved in next door. No worries though. We packed up a day sack and went for a stroll around the marsh. We unfortunately did not see much big game, we blame the yanks, but we did get very close to the hippos! Joey was practicing her tracking skills, identifying poo and foot prints. When we made it back to our hust we discovered we had been robbed! The evidence was lying on the hut floor...monkey poo! They had nicked our mangos, tomatos and bread, but had failed to find our gin. The place itself was lovely, but we tore ourselves away the next day, back on a pickup, onto a dala dala, on another dala dala before being dropped off on the Viphya plateau, along malawis busiest motorway the M1. This is completely misleading as the M1 has more pedestrians than cars, you can stand there for half an hour before seeing a vehicle, and the country side is stunning. We found a pair of former colonial residencies, now lodges in the forest. The one we stayed in was owned by Sir M. Roseveare, the man who created the rationing system during the war. He previously helped develop the education act in 1940 something in England, before moving to Malawi where he worked helping the Malawian education system. The lodges were great, with open log fire (the plateau is high up and quite chilly), hot baths and the whole house pretty much to ourselves, so we made good use of the kitchen. From the lodge we went for a couple of long walks into the forest and to the local villages. Again being this remote meant that mzungus are quite rare, so kids would hide in the bush to stare, or giggle loudly and run away, and everywhere we were greeted witha Good morning, how are you? It was a very peaceful place. But finally we could take no more of the quiet, and needed to move on. We wanted to get to Lilongwe, for some city life. We made the trek back to Chikengawa village on the M1, assuming, being the busiest motorway in Malawi, that a bus would have to pass soon on the way to the capital. 4hrs later after a torrential soaking, starting to feel slightly downhearted, Joey made up a song for us to raise our spirits (sung to the tune of its a long way to tipperary): Its a long way to Lilongwe its a long way to go its a long way to Lilongwe to the capital city lights glow Goodbye to Mzuzu farewell Chikangawa its a long way to Lilongwe will we get there for happy hour? I could take this no longer so resorted to hitching. Remarkably a pristine mercedes stopped for us, remarkable because this had to be the smartest car we had seen since arriving in Africa, and remarkable beacuse no other bleeder had stopped. He agreed to take us the 200km to Lilongwe for the same price as a bus. It was only a few kms down the road when we discovered this was the Minister for Water and Developments chauffeur driven car. The minister in reckless spending had sent the driver to take his daughter to school in Mzuzu and pick up a couple of puppies (discovered near the end of the journey when whining from the box, the driver had thought they were dead - hopefully he was joking), and on the way back the driver saw a chance to supplement his wage. It was an amazingly comfortable ride, and instead of the usual request for 'presents' at the police check points, we were saluted past. Thats hitching in style. So we are now in Lilongwe, arriving at Kiboko (meaning hippo) camp, in a goverment owned chauffeur driven Merc. From here we are trying to sort out a visa waiver before entering Zambia. Zambia charge $65 for a visa, but fellow travellers have informed us if we contact a camp in Zambia, they can send a visa waiver to the border, for free! We were hoping to find a cinema in the capital city, but alas no luck. Narnia will have to wait. Kiboko camp is lovely, a hilton (remember that means supplies own loo roll), with hot showers. So we'll stay a few days to sort out the mundane parts of travelling, knicker washing, food shopping(although Joey says this is not mundane and has found a new appreciation for supermarkets, she gets all excited when we see a shoprite!). While we are here we will take a few days out, enjoy the bars and visit Lizard Island on the lake, where there are hundreds of giant monitor lizards. Then onto country number 5...Zambia! We hope you all had a great new years. Tray, we need a mittens update, Mum&Ray keep the mail coming, and we'll reply soon, promise. Great to hear the Louie stories, Steve send us a mail. Vicky if you are reading this thanks for 'a barefoot wedding', we have both thoroughly enjoyed it, hope your flight back was good. We have added another link on this site, to Michelle and Ross's blog. Friends from Brighton who are travelling through Central and South America. Love and hugs to all Dave and Jo

Little Adventures

2005-12-29T09:53:00.000Z

Happy New Year everybody!! Off the beaten track so unfortunately infrequent internet access. Having a great time on the beach and heading for good back-packers' place on Lake Malawi Beach. More news soon! Joey & dave

The restaurant at the end of the universe

2005-12-18T16:53:00.000Z

Joeys new beach style

2005-12-18T16:50:00.000Z

Roughing it Banda stylee...

2005-12-18T16:46:00.000Z

Schools out for the summer...

2005-12-18T16:43:00.000Z

Bongo Dave - Jambiani camp fire party

2005-12-18T16:40:00.000Z

Tanga to Zanzibar ferry - prior to chickens....

2005-12-18T16:37:00.000Z

Joey in tent - view of sea at Tiwi

2005-12-18T16:33:00.000Z

Jo and Dave at the Gedi Ruins - Palace

2005-12-18T16:25:00.000Z

From the Deep Blue to Dar

2005-12-18T14:37:00.000Z

Hi folks, thanks for all your great messages, we love reading them. It's rather strange to hear about christmas parties going on, I'd forgotten people have those. Here, the odd shop has christmas decorations but not many and we still haven't found any mince pies - oh no! Gem, congratulations, you are the sole entrant into the 'guess that theme tune' competition and are most definitely correct (the competition was of course for you in the first place!). It is the Littlest Hobo song and we'll be singing it again tomorrow morning. But first a bit about the last week or so.... When we last wrote we were about to drive across Zanzibar from Stone Town in the west to Paje in the east. We didn't get to stop off at the forest to see the red colobus monkeys as arranged, and we didn't stay in Paje as camping is no longer allowed anywhere on the island and their rooms were too expensive. Red colobus monkeys, by the way, are indiginous only in Zanzibar, as is the Zanzibar leopard. The fellow passengers in our minibus taxi, three Americans, were heading to Jambiani, another little village on the east coast, and a place called 'The Red Monkey' so we thought we'd try our luck there. It was great so we booked for 2 nights. Our room was one of several with verandahs leading out to clean about 50 metre width of concrete walkways bordered by lovely flower beds and finally leading to steps onto the beach. Dave bought food provisions in the village and was introduce to whole families as he made his way around. I went for a much needed swim and sunbathed! The shore on the east coast shelves very shallowly so the sea goes out for miles and it means that when the tides comes back in it is so shallow it warms up to bath temperature really quickly. This is not necessarily what you need after lying in the sun. But like Tiwi Beach it means there are lots of interesting rock pools to explore, although not as much marine life as Tiwi. The next 2 days were taken up with much relaxing, eating swimming and not a lot else. At breakfast we were visited by the resident red colobus monkey so it didn't matter that we hadn't stopped off in the forest on the way. Our last night was also the last night of the Americans, Cary, Chris and Steven, and Chris' 30th birthday. The other 2 had organised a surprise for him and arranged for a group of locals, mainly children, to build a beach fire and bring their drums and have a sing song. After being invited to share their whisky we joined everyone on the beach and had a great time boogieing and singing. Dave was master bongo player, finding that it didn't matter if you ended up playing to your own rythmn as the others soon drummed at your pace! It ended up being a very late night (2am is the latest so far) and quite unfortunate timing as we needed to catch the minibus back to Stone Town the next day. Luckily the breakfasts here were the best; loads of fruit with a big pancake almost like pastry in consistency and an egg. Yum. Back in Stone Town there was an underlying vibe of aggression. I don't know why but it may have had something to do with upcoming election. Later in the week we did hear that violance had errupted in Stone Town. Luckily we were in Kendwe on the north coast by this time and enjoying a different type of sea. The beach shelved steeply and so was wonderfully deep, often with quite a swell. Lovely. We stayed in a member of staff's beach banda on our first night as the rooms were full until the following night. It was good fun as it was directly on the sand and we shared the outside shower and loo with the staff as well as a myriad of insects. On our first day we walked along the beach north to Nungwi, the more touristy part of the northern coast with lots more hotels, one very big, posh one with its own jetty restaurant, cafe and bar. Too expensive for us at over 4$ a beer. It's the most tastfully developed tourist area with all the hotels, restaurants and bars built with lots of natural materials, straw rooves etc. and the coast was beautiful all the way along. We knew that you couldn't get to Nungwi at high tide along the beach and that high tide was at 2pm. At 11am we set off (late as usual) and the sea was coming in scaringly fast so we started to head back. Then we changed our minds and decided to have an adventure, so we made a dash for it and got pretty soggy in the process but it was good fun! We bought provisions for a couple of meals as Zanzibar is the most expensive place to eat out at so far, and passed time in a local bar or 2 waiting for the tide to go out. About 5pm we tried to get back through but a few locals had already turned back so we decided to wait and I went for a long splash in the sea. We then felt brave and gave it another go (even though locals were still waiting!) and managed to get through with a few exciting quick runs. The coastline was carved up coral leaving overhangs that you had to duck under while avoiding the crabs. The following day we arranged to do 2 dives off local reefs, Dave made a delicious kidney bean casserole and we lazed around for the rest of the day. We met up with the others diving at the Scuba Do shack, kitted up and headed off on their big fast rib to our diving destination. On our way out we spotted a pod of at least 10 dolphins, taking it in turns to leap out of the water. They then turned round and headed off so we followed them a short way. They seemed really chilled just gliding along pole pole (slowly slowly) occassionally breaking the surface, so we left them to it and continued on our way. So it was already an amazing trip. The first dive was lovely, great coral, loads and loads of fish, very relaxed with loads of time to explore. At the surface we went ashore to visit a turtle sanctuary, an added bonus arranged by Tammy our dive leader and co-owner of Scuba Do. They have a big pond that it attached to the sea by a narrow channel full of older green turtles. Young ones are kept in plastic tubs until they are big enough to be transferred into the pond, when abigger one will be released into the sea. We had a lovely time hand feeding them seaweed and feeling their flippers and shells, really beautiful. The second dive was good too, but it is still my ambition to sea a turtle under water! That evening we ate out in a beach bar/restaurant and were joined by Frank and Anna, a lovely German couple who had been staying in our guest house. We had our own 'Full Moon Party' as it was a full moon. The guest house was having their own full moon party but on Saturday, when there was no full moon, which we found very amusing. It sounded like it was going to be good though with dancing and acrobats, but we had to leave on Friday. Frank and Anna, if you're reading this, please send us a review of the party and we also want to hear about your Friday dives! Hope you had a great time. On Friday we headed back to Stone Town and caught the eferry to Dar es Saalam, after a hearty lunch in Mercury's (Freddie's bar). As usual when trying to find transport/hotels/your way home, we were mobbed by touts. Each trying to out do each other in volume and a weird tout dance. This particular one was turning nasty with some serious shoving and macho displays. We had to tell them all to go away, until they calmed down. We did finally manage to find the 'manager' of one of the boats who gave us a good deal on the 'only fast boat out of Zanzibar'. Sitting in Mercurys waiting for our departure time, we did notice some other fast boats leaving in the direction of Dar... This time round the boat was pure luxury, it apparently was one of the old Portsmouth ferries. A fast cat, with TVs, air conditioning, and not a chicken in sight. The boat cruised into Dar, in the early evening, and we made our way around the various hotels, lodges, and asylums, before finding something habitable. A rather nice place actually, classified as a 'Hilton +', as it had soap as well as the loo roll. We just dumped our bags and made our way to the nearest eatery for dinner, and lemon juices. In Dar, we have been housekeeping, changing money, rehydrating, buying more shampoo (although we could not find any of our favourite 'Nice and Lovely' shampoo, must be a Kenyan thing). We have booked tickets tomorrow for the Tazara, not quite the orient express Linda and Kevin but good guess on the next transport mode. The Tazara is a once weekly train that goes from Dar to Lusaka in Zambia, although we are jumping of before then just north of Malawi, in a place called Mbeya. The train runs slowly through the villages and towns of rural Tanzania, through the Selous game reserve, and takes about 24hrs to reach Mbeya. Unfortunately the cabins are single sex, so we sleep apart tomorrow night. Dar es Salaam, is a great city. Its coastal, with wide streets, with trees and a general good vibe about the place. The streets are dirty and pot holes feet deep. But it really feels like an African city, few cars, people powered carts, small street stalls selling all manner of things, hidden bars (we found a great one last night!). The city is also one of the most modern we have seen so far, new developments everywhere. We visited the National Museum, which has the largest collection of Hominid fossils in Africa, mostly from Leakeys finds in Olduvai Gorge, and a very thought provoking cast of the earliest hominid foot prints, a pair of foot prints captured in volcanic ash around 3.5 million years ago. There was also a very good section on the slave trade, and Tanzanian history, including German East Africa and the colonialist era. Today we have been submersing ourselves in a different culture, that of Harry and his friends at Hogwarts...a great film once again, and we have wound ourselves up in an excited frenzy looking forward to the Narnia film, being released here on Xmas eve. Hopefully Malawi has a cinema. If we dont manage to find another internet cafe before xmas, have a "Very Merry Christmas One And All!". We are expecting our xmas to be chilled, possibly off the beaten track on the Tanzanian side of Lake Malawi (Lake Nyasa). We are now off to search for those elusive mince pies. Lots of love Jo and Dave xxx. Martin/Chris thanks for the update on the Xmas bash, but lets hear the juicy goss. Smudge you'll be pleased to know it was 3kts not 5kts, as we found out from another skipper. Tray and Tarel, lets keep the love going with the cats. Make sure Mittens gets her share of the turkey.

Dave fishing off Manda Island

2005-12-09T14:43:00.000Z

Joey in pool on Lamu

2005-12-09T14:33:00.000Z

Joey on a slippery slope to ...

2005-12-09T14:30:00.000Z

A Gorilla

2005-12-09T14:26:00.000Z

Sundowners and Spice and all things nice!

2005-12-09T12:38:00.000Z

Welcome, mind travellers, to our next installment. So back to Tanga. I forgot to mention that during our matatu journey from hell to reach this city our fellow female travellers were positively grinning at me throughout their experience, which was a much less comfortable one than ours, although I don't think Dave noticed otherwise he may have enjoyed it more too! Once in Tanga we pretended we were prepared to walk to our hotel of choice 'Ocean Breeze' (which we were most certainly not) and ended up paying local taxi prices which was good. We settled into our nice, big, comfy hotel with sea view and cheaper than Kenya and after showering had a beer in the bar downstairs. At this point it's worth mentioning how to grade a hotel/guest house on arrival. A good hotel has running water and it's quality if it's got a fan and a net too. But you know you've found the Hilton if it provides loo roll (this was a Hilton AND we were given soap). Went for a stroll to find food as we hadn't eaten all day but everywhere except a bar was closed, so we had another beer instead! Feeling nicely mellow we chatted to some very friendly Tangalites and after establishing that they were Arsenal and Liverpool supporters, inofrmaed them that I was an Arsenal supporter and Dave a Spurs supporter, neither of which was true (but has become so for the duration of travels) but it keeps the converstaion going! They recommended the swimming club restaurant for food so we set off for a stroll. Twenty minutes or so later, and almost fainting with hunger, we found the 50s style lido type building, although without a lido but right on the seafront. A most pleasant setting so we paid the 25 pence non-member entrance fee each and relaxed with a beer. I had an absolutely enormous and delicious veggie curry with paneer and rice and naan bread and Dave enjoyed his chicken pili pili (chilli) and chips. We've decided that chucks are always free range round these parts so Dave's happy to eat them. Feeling hugely stuffed we walked back and felt slightly less uncomfortable on arival at the hotel. After avery heavy night's kip, Dave awoke to find two large dead cockroaches and put them on the balcony (he knew they were dead he told me because they were lying on their backs with their legs in the air - I had to agree on hearing this). We ate probably our least substantial breakfast so far (two pieces of bread with jam and a banana and coffee) and headed out for a fun trip to the market. Just outside our hotel was quite a big under-cover market with lots of meat at one end and loads of fruit, veg and spices at the other and chickens running round at your feet (always free range). We stocked up with fruit and veg and headed to the expensive (mzungu and rich people) supermarket for coconut cream powder, Tanzanian Firewater (Konyagi (similar to gin) and mango juice and red wine (our first bottle since arriving in Africa as it's been too expensive up until now). Now well-stocked up (including a hunting knife Dave decided was essential) we dropped supplies at the room and continued our explorations. Tanga is a revelation in terms of African cities (a town really) with German architecture in relatively good condition and really wide spacious roads. Most noticeable is the lack of people, making Tanga avery peaceful place. We found an old man making Zanzibar pizzas which is a chipati filled with either veg or meat folded up and fried, so we had one each and sat by the roadside to eat them. Very mellow. Meanwhile Dave's beard is coming on a treat. Uncle David - any advice or handy tips on beard care for men would be most appreciated! He is now able to make funny, rythmnic facial expressions and it looks like there's a very fat dancing caterpillar on his top lip. The next day we found a bank, bought ferry tickets to Zanzibar via Pemba Island on an overnight ferry and I had an internet session leaving Dave to go back to room. On my return I was greeted by wonderful aromas coming from the balcony and found Dave making a delicious curry with our market ingredients. Yum yum. We'd eaten lots of the fruit the day before. We are certainly not going hungry. Tuesday 6th December (the start of a journey never to be repeated) - We boarded the ferry at 8am, although Dave insists it wasn't a ferry it was a cargo ship, and it left at 10 prompt. Good so far. We had been pushed into what was probably 1st class, an area off the main passenger deck, seaprated by a 3 ft gate. It gradually became obvoius that first class was not exclusive and we had the same amount of space as everyone else. Fine so far, we weren't really cramped or anything but you really had to fight to keep your space. Africans don't have a concept of personal space and my neighbour was happy to use my feet as a pillow for a while. This ferry had to be the slowest sea-going vessel we've sailed on and the heat inside is just made bearable by strategically placed electric fans. People were stretched everywhere, so there was little space to stretch your legs without causing a commotion. On arriving in Pemba 6 hours later (for roughly a 30km journey), we decided to find somewhere to eat. Paranoia set in as we couldn't bear the thought of carrying our rucksacks onto shore (we'd been told it was akm or so to a cafe) we set about transferring all valuables into our daysack while trying to lose the touts who had found us on board. Along the walk into Wete (main port town) I couldn't help but think we'd come across children wearing various items of our clothing! Eventually we found a little cafe with a really tasty, and I can now say hygenically cooked, meal of rice, beans and spinach. Dave passed and settled for a sprite. Wete is not somewhere either of us would wish to return to, very run down. We made it back to our seats to find bags intact. Nothing to worry about (but it's hard not to when you've seen little urchins running round the boat curiously peering into open bags). We have noticed the litter problem along our travels (I think we've mentioned this already) but nothing like the ferry cleaners. A little boy had just laughed at me as I stood over the railing waiting for the cargo to be unloaded and then swiftly threw his paper plate into the sea. I gave him a dissapproving look as he took his sister's and was about to do the same. His mum returned and he didn't throw it. I walked round the corner to see all the litter (loads of it) that had been swept into piles being thrown over the side - horrifying. I'm going to write a letter to the Zanzibar authorities. During the night we managed a few hours of hot sweaty sleep (only because we now had 1st class to ourselves) with children crying, hens clucking, cocks a-cock-a-doodle-dooing, men arguing and Dave chasing cockroaches and left the port at about 5.30am headed for Zanzibar. This bit was probably the hardest because it just never seemed to end (made worse by the stifling heat, the noise, the smells - the mens' loo was underneath us - nice. I had already dabbed copious amounts of Dave's mini Ted Baker after shave on my upper lip). Once land was spotted I couldn't help looking at my watch. By now we had been joined by another lady who was the proud owner of 2 cockrels tightly wrapped in plastic carrier bags, feet firmly tied together, poor things. They would be still for most of the, occassionally going mad trying to walk and making a racket. By the end of the journey we also had rather a lot of chicken poo at our feet. But hooray, finally at last we arrive on Zanzibar, lovely, lovely island (and to be honest it could have been the Isle of Dogs and we'd have been just as happy) and found the Flamingo Guest House (back in the Hilton). The buildings are arabesque with huge wooden doors studded with spikes to prevent the war elephants from India knocking the doors down. Stone Town is really old, with lots of narrow lanes. Even Dave's usually wonderfully accurate inner Radar has gone to pot here. Mine's rubbish in the Brighton Lanes - this is about 10 times more confusing! The wealth evident in the decoration of the buildings came from the slave trade. We showered (much needed) and headed for the Africa House Hotel, recommended by Andy and Cheryl and our book for sundowners. It was fantastic. As Dave said, in the glorious setting waiting for the spectacle of the sunset, it was just like being in the Restaurant at the End of the Universe! Albeit without the talking pig. My passion fruit Margarita went down a treat. After dark we wandered along to the Forodhani Gardens along the seafront to the night food market. Lots of stalls selling fish and meat kebabs, spicey potato balls, samosas, chipatis, octopus legs, squid,lobster - a great buzzing atmosphere (once you'd got through the stall-holders telling you their neighbour's fish was at least a week old). We managed to stuff our faces for about 3 dollars between us. Stayed awake long enough to make it back to the Flamingo and slept extremely well. A general notice - on our return we are going to need to buy a car as our's blew up shortly before leaving. So if anyone knows of a good del nearer to the end of April we'd love to hear from you. We're talking very cheap but unlikely to break down! Tracy and Tarela - if you'e wanting a change, we'll have yours!! Steve, the car you gave us broke, can we have a new one please. We ate at the Forodhani Gardens again last night but, not wanting to push our luck, we think tonight we'll splash out in restaurant tonight. Maybe the one you recommended Gem, Monsoon, or maybe Mercury's named in honour of Freddie who was born here. We're off to Paje on the east coast tomorrow to find a campsite that's advertising abeach party in the evening. Hopefully via a forest in the centre of the island with a friendly troop of Colobus monkeys!

A Tango in Tanga

2005-12-04T11:38:00.000Z

Firstly, I would like to apologise for a lack of piccies. All the internet, and indeed TV, in Africa is satellite based. So when adding pictures which take a few minutes to upload we invariably lose contact and we waste time and money uploading them. So no more piccies until we hit a major city. When we left you last we had arranged a trip snorkelling around Watamu, in the National Marine Park. Luckily we had bumped into the skipper of the boat and managed to haggle a price without the middle men. Although the coral was mostly dead, beginning to recover, the fish were great. Lots and lots of very colourful fish, including lion fish, parrot fish, zebra fish and angel fish. There were 2 germans and 3 english people on our boat despite the whole resort seeming to be italian. Afterwards we went to the Mapango beach restaurant for a lovelly tuna and advocado salad. Magnificent view overlooking the 'Blue Lagoon'. The next morning we tried to get up early to avoid the heat. Failed. Luckily we have a fan in the room, with resident lizard. Its only around 2cm long, and really cute. We then got a matatu to the Gedi ruins, a 13th century city, in the middle of the coastal jungle. No-one is sure what happened to people there, but the site is very atmospheric, with the earliest mosque known in Africa. It was our first time in a mosque! There was found here chinese coins and pottery, and portugese coins, indicating this place had quite a bit of contact with the outside world, which probably was the cause of their demise. Close to the ruins is a butterfly conservation centre. It was set up both to conserve species and to help the local communities make a living without having to encroach to much on the rain forest. We saw lots of lovely butterflies and cages with hundreds of pupae, some hatching. We took some rather tasty photos which we will enter into the bbc wildlife photographer of the year competition, along with our lions and cheetahs and gorillas and eleflumps. After visiting Mama Lucys we stocked up on some supplies including fresh veg and rice, and can now make our own tasty meals on our trangia again. We spent a pleasant evening cooking on the doorstep of our room overlooking Villa Veronicas lovely garden. We bought our first phone card earlier in the day and Dave phoned his Nan to wish her a happy birthday and Jo phoned her Nan to say Hi. Hopefully this should have taken us to Wednesday 30th November. So we made beans on toast to start us on our next travels. Everytime we move now, Jo and I can't help but to break out into song: Theres a voice that keeps on calling me, down the road, thats where i want to be. Everystep i take i make a new friend, can't stay for long, just turn around, and i am gone again Maybe tomorrow i'll want to settle down, until tomorrow i'll just keep moving on, until tomorrow the whole world is my home Prizes for where this song came from. A couple of matatus, a ferry and a taxi later we ended up on Tiwi beach, south of Mombasa. We stayed at a place called Twiga Lodge campsite, which is a stunning campsite, on a golden beach with the shade of palm trees. Our tent looked directly out on to the beach with the sea breeze blowing through the entrance. It was heaven. We spent the rest of the day kicking back and having a beer. Jo awoke with the sunrise as always when we camp. Shortly followed by a grumpy sweaty me, when the sun had got high enough to wake me with the heat. Joey strolled out to see the fisherman on the reefs edge at low tide while i was still trying to not let the sun wake me. In the end the sun won, but i craftily moved the tent instead! Joey had a great time, hunting around in the coral pools finding lots of bright fish and nudibranchs, a sea cucumber (not a gherkin as I have always thought), brittle stars and cowries. We walked to Diani resort further up the beach, which was mazungu madness. Have not seen so many white people since arriving in Africa. We had to dash back before the tide rose too far and cut us off from Tiwi. Not for the first time since arriving in Africa my virility was put to the question again. In Africa to be married and not have a baby within your first year is quite odd, serious looks of concern follow. They find it hard to comprehend that it is a choice, and assume that i am a Jaffa (probably). The next day we mainly read books, Joey swam, I hid in the shade, Joey made a yummy fruit salad, I made yummy tomato and carrot sandwiches. This was all thanks to 'The Mango Man' who visited us in our tent earlier that morning. That evening in the bar we met Simon and Mark from Wilminster near Longleat on their hols. (thanks for beers if you read this). Very friendly and spent the night talking about travel experiences and old enfield motorbikes in India. Saturday morning, an early start, packed the tent and strode off to meet our taxi. Waited around for half hour while the driver was located. Met up with Simon and Mark again, and shared the costs to the main road, as they were catching a matatu in the opposite direction to see a friend in Malindi. The first matatu to Ukunda was mellow matatu of the year, with tracks such as Chris De Burghs 'Lady in Red', cheering Jo up no end. Unfortunately this was about as good as it was going to get for the rest of the day. The next stop was Lunga Lunga on the Kenyan Tanzanian border, although the border has a 6km no mans land. Despite this several small villages have cropped up there. To get through this 6km, we caught a tutu to the next border. We have explained this is a very small 3 seater vehicle. Bruno our driver managed to fit 12 people in his. On arriving at the Tanzania side, we got our 3 month stamp and found another matatu to take us the final stretch to Tanga. Dave was surprisingly unconcerned that the windscreen was shattered and it looked generally like it had seen better days. Things started off well and it was only half full, stopping at each village to collect new passengers and dropping others off. Probably about an hour or so from Tanga, it became so full that it was no longer funny. By the way, this journey was only 45km but managed to take 2.5 hours. Dave lost count at 25 people and that was before they were squashed in, crouched over the seated people (of which we were thankfully 2) and hanging out of the doors. We had read that recently in Kenya they had got strict about numbers in matatus and that it shouldn't exceed the number of seats (14), which was great. In our first Tanzanian experience this was shown obviously to not be the case here. Matters were made worse when a yellow plastic drum spilt petrol over the floor and the conductor lit his cigarette while standing right next to the vehicle during one stop. Dave informed me later that he was so close to pushing everyone out of the way and legging it outside! However someone then threw sawdust over the spill so that calmed him down a bit. I was pleased to unaware of this at the time as I was squashed up to the edge, but thankfully next to an open window. Today we sit in our Tanga internet cafe and have just been told our time is up!!! We have yet to find a Tango drink so may have to settle for a boogie round our hotel room to satisfy the title of this installment!! More about Tango soon, but it is a really nice place. xxx

Piccies

2005-12-04T10:28:00.000Z

2005-11-27T14:49:00.000Z

Congratulations to Lisa and Steve on your wedding day, 22nd Nov, we were thinking of you. Send us a mail when you get back... After our last posting, we got up nice and early the next day to get a matatu to Malindi, on the coast north of Mombasa. As far as matatu rides go this one was exceptionally comfortable, i did not scream once. We then got a tutu (a mini matatu, just as insane) into the town where we found Ozzis guest house. A lovelly view from the balcony overlooking the blue sea and the golden sand, but unfortunately slap bang next to a Mosque. We are getting used to the mosques, and as long as you're not too close, the songs are quite pleasant when the sun is setting, albeit a pain in the rectum when the sun is rising. We went to a nice part of the beach, only to be ushered back off it by security. Ruddy posh hotel, with their buckets of money, not wanting their views spoilt by a pair of scruffy urchins (probably where R.Redfords character in Out of Africa stayed, mum). We found a nice bar next to the sea, showing the football, which Jo made me watch! They had some amazing King Fish Steaks. After a couple too many beers, we retreated to the roof top, and stared at the stars, and a rather bright Mars. Thats was a week ago, and its still prominent in the sky. The next day we got a tutu to Lamu, in a cool little plane from Malindi airport to Manda Island airport, where we got a boat taxi to Lamu town. Joey and I have mastered the bartering now, using the good ole good cop bad cop method. It started by accident as I have to wait outside with the bags in the soaring heat while Jo checks out the rooms. While Jo is checking out the rooms, checking fans, nets, water pressure etc, she will slowly with her charm haggle of about a third of the price, however not including breakfast. On returning downstairs, where I am now in a rightfully poor mood, Jo will recant the tale, and I will try to knock a few more percent off, bluffing that we are prepared to find elsewhere (which in truth would never happen, as its too ruddy hot), they usually knock some more off and throw breakfast in. Everything is negotiable here, i dont know if I said, but we also managed to haggle currency rates in a bank! So we managed to get a nice place in Lamu for a very reasonable price. (Joey here now..) In all we spent 6 nights on Lamu Island, the first 4 in Lamu Town followed by 2 at Shella. In hindsight it would have been the other way round, but it was still great. Lamu is a very interesting place - the sea front path extend all the way along the town edge and onto Shella further south, interrupted by the odd sea wall, beach or rocky patch which you have to clamber over. As you walk back away from the sea you pass through lots of narrow sandy/dusty streets with little food/clothes/curio etc shops. Apparently backpackers have been visiting for many years so this has influenced the market, but probably not as much as you might expect. And the place is full of wonderful, hard working donkeys. There is also a donkey sanctury on the sea front, so I'm not sure if they take it in turns for a rest or if some are very hard done by - as they seemed to be all ages so it wasn't just for the old ones. But in general they seemed healthy well fed donkeys carrying potato sacks holding coral rock bricks (which I was told was taken from a licenced site, like a quarry and wasn't upsetting any fish!) or sand. There seems to be a lot of building work going on. However we didn't see any wearing nappies. This, I have been informed by my Mum, was written in a guide about Kenya in 1988 and was prompted by complaints of too much donkey poo on the streets by tourists! We arranged a trip out on a dhow, with Captain Happy, to go fishing and snorkling the next day (smudge, they work well, but with a few refinements i think we could win the yearly regatta they have there - Dave). A few young blokes took us and some other Muzungus over to Manda Island (Mushy - this is the word used to describe foreigners, mainly whites, and seems a friendly term although I don't think it has always been) where Dave caught 2 yellow snapper (probably on the IUCN endangered list, will have to check when we get home!) more than the other Muzungus. I gave up after about a minute. These would later become lunch. We then snorkelled over what we were expecting to be a nice reef but because of the sediment was extremely difficult to see. I managed to dive down and see some fish, but the others didn't and it was quite dissapointing. We had 4 casualties in all. I was the first, after checking with the captain that it was deep enough to jump, dived in (shallowly just to sure) and still managed to scrape my arm along the coral. It's just about healing now but I have been swimming every day since then so it's taking longer! The others got cuts on feet and one got a sea urching spine in his foot, after which at least 2 knives were taken out and people start cutting his feet up. I can't believe he let them. A bad thing about Lamu was the unique putrid smell carried on the wind in certain parts long the seafront. Really gross. I think it's the litter and open sewage, although I quite like the smell of open sewers and this smell is really unbearable. Litter is quite a problem in Africa, we saw a poor donkey eat a plastic bag and it probably happens a lot, should think it also has quite an impact on the marine life. Being a muslim island there were only 2 places to get alcohol. The cheapest of which, surprise surprise, was the police canteen. Whilst there Dave became seriously addicted to lime juice which was absolutely delicious. All the juices were, but Dave stuck to his lime. The next day, we managed to get a posh pool all to ourselves in an expensive hotel - I don't know where all the residents were! It was great. On Wednesday 23rd we checked out Shella Beach, really magnificent sand dunes, stretching for 12 kms, and found a place to stay, a 90 dollar ensuite with veranda that we got for 14). So the next day we found a boat to take our bags and walked along to meet them. We explored the town, smaller, less smelly, quieter, not as much rubbish, all in all very nice, and found another posh hotel. Sorry to dissapoint Em, but we're not exactly roughing it at the moment! And bearing this in mind we decided to splash out on our last night in Lamu on a huge slap up meal in the posh gaff in town Peponi's Hotel. Lovely, overlooking the harbour, candlelit tables outside for drinks then into the restaurant. The meal was so huge and becuase Dave's tummy has shrink so much, he was full after the starter, but needless to say he managed to perservere. Dave's explanation for his weight loss is that he's basting in the heat - the fat is just sliding off the sides...... Unfortunately the same is not happening to me.... That night Dave caught a dose of the Shella Shits or Shella Pringles (sorry Nan) as Dave likes to call them - once you've popped you just can't stop! Poor Dave, but he's been a very good boy and after several expulsions and a couple of imodium we caught our boat to Manda Island airport to fly back to Malindi. From there we caught a couple of matatus to Watamu, south of Malindi but north of Mombassa. Tonight will be our second night in the very comfortable Villa Veronica a shgort walk from the beach. We encountered a disproportionate number of Italians in a local bar last night - very raucous. Tomorrow we are going snorkelling over the reef within the Watamu Marine National Park. However, our captain who is currently studying Marine Biology explained that a lot of the coral is dead due to El Nino a few years ago, but also due to people damaging it, so we'll see. Should be a good day anyway. Smudger - our photos are most definitely not postcards!! I took the lion one and Dave took the elephants good eh? Everyone can vote on which one you prefer if you like!! Gem, the 'horses' are something very intellectual that Dave knows about - look it up on google! Lucky for Dave he wasn't on safari when his case of the Pringles hit, like you were in 1990!!! Lucky lions must have had a great view and luckily must have eaten shortly beforehand. Michie and Ross have a great time travelling in South America - if you have webiste let us know! Dave is going to attempt to add another link to a site of Andy and Cheryls who are on their way to Norway from Cape Town in their 4x4 (mentioned earlier). He will also try and add some more photos, so here goes...

The two lesser known horses of the apocalypse.

2005-11-18T11:12:00.000Z

OK so we managed to get out of Kampala safely! The day after we last wrote the city errupted in protests about Museveni's opponent, Besigye, who had returned from exile in S. Africa after 4 years. Besigye is now being tried for olluding with the rebel fighters and a lot of Ugandans are not happy about this, saying he is a rightful opponent. So that day we were going to go into town and meet up with our German friends (Barbara and Marcus - if you're reading this, we wanted to meet up but decided it was safer to leave when we could. We hope you are safe) but other travellers at our campsite returned from town having been tear gassed and shot at. Luckily we had decided on a quiet day doing a bit of laundary and playing cards! The protests continued the next day and John, the mad Aussie owner of the Backpackers campsite, drove us to the brow of the hill overlooking Kampala. Using binoculars we could see the smoke and hear gunshots. Needless to say we didn't venture into town that day either. So, along with Steve an Irish bloke and a couple of Kiwi ladies, Karen and Sarah, we decided to try to catch the next early morning bus outta town and scarpered. Eight hours later we arrived in Nairobi and caught a taxi to the Nairobi Backpackers - nice place - and had a good meal followed by an early night ..... in a really comfy bed!!! Nice after lots of nights in the tent with Dave rolling over you. Up again early (that's 2 5.30 starts in a row) the next day we caught a taxi to the bus station and swapped our Dar es Salaam tickets booked in Kampala, for tickets to the coast at Mombasa instead. A slight change of plan to include more sea is much needed. We are now enjoying Mombasa, having collected our money bag from the bus station's lost property office which contained nothing too horrendous, just driving licences and health certificates and diving cards (oops!). Have enjoyed a drink outside the front of the Catle Hotel for posh people, lovely colonial building and it only costs 35 squids a night, still too expensive for us though. We ahve just booked 2 flights to Lamu and we're very excited. This is also an addition to the trip (after lots of discussion and persuading of Dave ;-) and we leave for Malindi, north of Mombasa tomorrow, then fly on Sunday. We come back to Malindi on Sat 26th but have the option to change the date once without charge, so who knows!!! It sounds fantastic and is described in our very thorough guide book as 'unmissable'! Off to the old town next to see Fort Jesus. I'm all covered up with long dress and shirt so as not to offend the muslims. Mum, Dad, Linda and Kev - where did we stay in 1990? I know it was near Mombasa but not sure exactly where.... Forgot to mention (I think) that when we on safari in the Masai Mara we had a few loo stops in Keekorok Lodge - v. posh and lovely - and I think we stayed there or maybe had anafternoon swim there? Am I right? I recognised the loos. (Dave writes) For those wondering about this post title. After leaving the war zone in Kampala, we stopped in Nairobi, where the following day there were violent political protests. So Jo and I are the lesser know horses of the apocalypse, 'Political Protest' and 'Beer bottle tops', which we leave in our trail... Josie and Matt - so far we've collected a few good names; how about Yoweri, Kizza, Moses, Imani for starters. By far the most popular is Moses. Will keep looking!

2005-11-15T06:32:00.000Z

2005-11-15T06:30:00.000Z

Photos

2005-11-15T06:12:00.000Z

Gorillas in the mist

2005-11-14T16:53:00.000Z

We've made it back from the Gorilla tracking, it was one of the most amazing experiences i have ever had. I'll tell you more about them later... I thought it might interest you to get a view of the day to day life of the Ugandan town\city. The first thing that struck me was the weaponary everywhere, you walk down the street and the cops have shotguns, you walk into a bank and the guard has kalashnikovs. Even the supermarkets have armed guards at the door, and you have to leave your bags outside. Poverty is pretty obvious as well, its heartbreaking walking past a 1 or 2 year old toddler sitting in the kerb begging. The streets are hot, dusty and the fumes make quite a potent cocktail. Yet, the people seem pretty jolly, most smile and joke. Outside of the city, are small dusty, red mud tracked towns. Cattle (with great horns) roam free with small goats. The buildings are collapsing, a mixture of brick work and traditional mud huts. Every town has a Hotel come butchery! The womens dresses are splendid floral patterns, and with large shoulder pads, not quite shoulder pads though, more of a tower, almost to the ear. No prams, the babies are carried on the womens backs via a shawl tied around the back, sitting just above the buttocks. Where ever you walk, people shout mazungu to you. A typical conversation would consist of: "Mazungu, how are you" "Er, fine thank you" "Mazungu" "fine, how are you" "Mazungu, How ARE you..." (titters, laughs with friends) Occasionally, they will present you with the V sign (for victory, not the other one), which we eventually found out, means they support Col. Besigye. More about that later. Another odd sight, are the cars whizzing by with fish hanging on the mirrors or tied to the grill, not a hardcore christian as one might think, but a rather ingenious way of getting your fish home from the market without it going off. You learn things all the time. After we wrote last, Jo and I moved out of the backpackers hostel, into the Atlanta hotel in preparation for our trip to the gorillas in Bwindi national park, south west Uganda. Jo had her first near death experience, in the shower come long drop. She had successfully avoided plunging down the long drop during her shower, but, hearing a loud yelp, I found out she did manage to get rather a hefty electric shock off the taps. The next morning, we caught a bus to Butagota, just north of the park. The journey went through magnificent cultivated hillsides, steeped in banana plants. From here we managed to connect with one of the village people, and caught a lift the last 17km to the park entrance. Our lodgings were at the foot of the gorilla mountain range, a really impressive sight. The next morning we got up nice and early and met out guide, Moses. A jovial chap, who has been on TV in the UK, showing Jonny Rotten our gorillas. After a briefing, we started our trek. At the start we walked through the Batwa community village, aka pygmies, aka the forest people. Then the real trekking started. We went almost vertically up the hillside, scrambling at points. Lucky for us a spaniard with us was even more unfit than we were. So lots of breathers on the way. Out trackers had informed us the gorillas had moved over the hillside the day before. footnote: the trackers were armed again. We stopped for a quick break, chewing sugar cane. But the trek was worth the exhaustion, when we finally found the gorillas, hidden deep in the bushes, it was an experience hard to describe. They are just so peaceful, and powerful all at once. We watched the silver back and the young ones for about an hour, from a very close range, around 1 to 2 metres at times. To be honest, they spent most of the time, chewing leaves, and letting off some rather impressive pops. We will try an get some photos on the site soon. The journey down the hill was eventful, with Joey throwing her self down the hillside, while the rest of us grownups took easy controlled steps. In the end the guide had to hold Joeys hand to keep her upright. Luckily when back in camp we met a nice German couple, Barbara and Marcus, who were heading back to Kampala where they work. So we managed to cadge a lift with them, as well as an american doctor, Michelle, we met in the park. We all stopped off in Mbarara, for the night, and had a nice meal. Michelle stayed there, as she was going to work in a hospice. The rest of us continued our journey back to Kampala, stopping off at the equator and picking up a nice water melon on the way. So here we are back in Kampala. considering the next part of our jounrney. For those who have heard about whats happening in Kampala with regard to Col. Besigye, don't worry, we are not in the middle of it. For those who haven't heard, please ignore this paragraph. Madeleine - That stick of insect bite soother, that you got me for xmas, is magic. Almost instant relief, and lasts for hours. Its the organic lavender roll on stuff. If you happen to know where you got it, could you pick us up another tube for central america. Thanks. We plan to go the Ssese islands next and then a direct bus to Dar es Salaam. Hope you are all well, and we'll probably next write from Zanzibar. Lots of love.

Uganda

2005-11-10T10:32:00.000Z

Firstly, a couple of things we failed to mention on the maasai, due to time restrictions. In the maasai village, the women build the huts and lucky old Jo got to have a go, which entailed slapping cow poo onto the roof of the huts, it took some persuading but she caved in in the end! Also, one of the warriors was regailing(spelling) us with his tale of killing a lion that had killed his cow. He promptly bought out this manky hat mad from the lions mane, inside of which was covered in large spiders. Sensing a photo opportunity he made me place the hat on my head, at which point my photographer, Joey, proceeded to chat to the chief, with me standing like a numski with this rotten spider infested lions mane on my head. The warrior would not let me take it off until Jo had taken the photo, but no rushing Joey eh. Anyway, back to our trip. We made it to Kampala on the, jo says comfy, i say, hells ride of a, bus. They can actually make these buses skid side ways round corners overtaking 18 wheeler trucks on single lane mud tracks. Jo was oblivious. Jo writes... Actually, I had the window seat so luckily couldnt see ahead!...Arrived in Kampala late, where we were accosted by a taxi driver, before being held up by the cops! Only wanted to see our visa stamps, but they were plain clothed. Found a nice camp, where we have finally done the laundry, hand washing stylee. Been into Kampala city centre...cant find bracket button or apostrophe, yesterday 9th Nov... this place is so much less aggressive than Kenya, and a more relaxed feel about it. Have been keeping up with all the african news and politics now, so ask away. P.s If you heard about the Briton being killed in Uganda then a) dont worry it was not us and b) its not a simple as the papers are saying, expat anyway not a tourist. p.s. found bracket button, still no sign of apostrophe. We are getting excited as we visited the Ugandan Wildlifwe Authority, and have acquired passes to see the gorillas in bwindi national park. We leave tomorrow, 11th. Well see the gorillas on the 12th. We love Uganda....its so green and lush, and hot. With big butterflies. Gotta dash as the timer is running out. Will keep you posted.

Passage from Naivasha to Kampala

2005-11-08T06:03:00.000Z

Guy Fawkes Day - Andy and Cheryl kindly gave us a lift to Naivasha where we camped at Fish Eagle Camp next door to Fisherman's Camp (where we were originally going to stay - so didn't meet up with Isaac in the end, mum). Did a mini pub crawl and ended up at Fisherman's Camp - lovely bar - and the evening was finished off nicely with a magnificent fireworks display by the lake (poor hippos!). 6th Nov - Dave has now ran out of clean knickers!! thought you'd be interested... Had a lazy morning and wandered over to Fisherman's Camp for great cooked brekkie (OK so we're still not completely roughing it Em, but read on!). More lazing around then walked along the South lake Road for a few kms to Elsamere, former home of Joy Adamson. What an amazing place! I want to live here - gorgoeus gardens looking out onto the lake, fish eagles flying overhead, hundreds of starlings, and these are no ordinary starlings either, bright blue, green and red/orange. There was very interesting museum too with lots of photos of Joy and George rolling around with Lions - wonderful. We saw a film about their lives, interviews with them both which was good then outside for afternoon tea, comprising of a huge spread of different cakes and mini quiches and pizzas. Needless to say we had seconds and thirds (and I think Andy had fourths as well as finishing off Cheryl's left overs). 7th Nov - Early start waved goodbye to Andy to Cheryl. Now, the last we heard they were going to drive to Ethiopia, checking along the way how things were there. Apparently it's been a bit dodgy recently. This was about the 10th time their plan had changed so we'll see! It was great to spend a few days with them at the start of our travels. Soon after they left a hippo wandered into the campsite! Luckily it was just in Fisherman's Camp next door so we were separated by a fence. I managed to get quite close and took some cool pics. We could hear them at night in our tent - great sound - Andy does a v. good impression. Dave is now resoting to wearing a pair of stockings I brought with me as he's out of socks! Also going commando.I might stress that I wans't planning on wearing tights, they are for flitering water if we ever leave the beaten track! Caught the matatu (broken down mini-bus, rattle a lot, but seem to get us over the biggest pot holes) into Naivasha Town where we were mega hassled by matatu touts. Finally got in one after Dave had managed to wangle the price down to what we knew was local price and we were off to Nakuru. Passed another smaller lake onthe way covered in pink Flamingos! We'd thought we may try to visit Lake Nakuru which is famous for it's flamingos but in the end it was too much hassle once we arrived in the town, so we caught another matatu to Kisumu and arrived about 3.30pm. Our goal is Kampala and then Gorilla safari so we needed to push on. On the way we drove through amazing countryside, so green and hilly and the tea plantations of Kericho with the lines of tea pickers. Really lovely. Our friendly matatu driver a rranged a taxi for us at a better price and we were taken to a run down campsite. It was empty at first but gradually a few other people emerged although no other campers. Location was beautiful though, right on Lake Victoria, so we got a couple of beers and chilled by the lake, after which the camp didn't look so bad. Ate paneer with tomato crisp sarnies in our tent, yummy (Dean, you should try this - sorry Lisa!). Another early night (we tend to be asleep by 9pm, sometimes in the tent at 7.30!). 8th Nov - Up early (usually awake before 6 due to lots of birds and insects chirping and singing their hearts out) and caught a matatu back into Kisumu town Have just booked bus tickets to Kampala and we need to be back at the bus station by midday, to leave at 1pm. Should make it to Kampala by 6pm and we're heading to Kampala Backpackers Campsite which is well eastablished and Dave hopes to be able to clean his pants (so do I :-). Also need a good shower as the last camp site had a dribbly shower so haven't washed my hair in a while. Thought this would be a bonus as we'd look more like hard core travellers and wouldn't be hassled so much. Hasn't worked so far though! All showers except a couple have been cold which I actually enjoy. Right now we need to find a coffee and will probably sit in the nice green bit in the middle of the 'Mega Mart' we are in to eat another paneer and tomato crisp sarnie for breakfast. Josie we most certainly will keep an ear out for good African boys' names - hope all goes smoothly in Feb! Dean you'd like it here because they all love football, especially Manchester United (I hope you are practicing those ball skills to keep the ball in the garden!!). Tray and Tarela - what a magnificent update on the Mittens/Romeo situation - we laughed lots. Sounds like you're doing a grand job sorting the two battlers out. GO MITTENS MITTENS GO!!

Sat 4th November

2005-11-05T06:37:00.000Z

We have now arrived back in Nairobi from the Maasai Mara. the Maasai is wonderful, spent 3 days on safari, and saw a whole load of big cats and game. Jo has written them all down for those who are really interested, but these cafes cost quite a bit! We are adapting to the Kenyan diet, we can only assume its the national dish, of warm coleslaw and spaghetti. Mind you we were treated to a thai curry last night from Andy and Cheryl. Back to the Maasai. We stayed in a tented camp, with some maasai "warriors" who were supposed to protect us from the lions in the bush, but they seem to spend most of there time scaring tourist with horror stories of previous visitors leaving the camp and being squashed by elephants. Our tent had a wonderful view onto a large group of baboons, so we could watch them grooming and chilling, well cool! I had a too close encounter with the wildlife on my last night. I returned to the tent at night to get the torch from one of my bags, I eventually found the torch, switched it on...and the tent was covered, on the roof, walls, luggage and me with safari ants! I was smothered, in my hair, up my pants, down my neck and on all limbs with the little buggers. And they bite, oh do they bite. I came screaming out of the tent flapping away at myself like a mad man, the maasai "warriors" who were not doubled over in laughter, came to my rescue and picked off the ants as fast as they could, I ended up stripping in front of everyone in the camp trying to get the buggers out of my clothes. It was a most painful experience! I have now added ants to my list of animals that can be happily exterminated from the face of the planet. Have now seen the public transport in africa now, and "suicidal" is the key phrase, and having "in god we trust" and "the good lord will protect us" on the front of the buses does not inspire confidence. Anyway, we have met up with Cheryl and Andy again, and we are off to the elephant orphange today, and then on to Lake Naivasha for a couple of days chilling. Until next time....

Arriving in Nairobi

2005-11-01T04:43:00.000Z

Hi all! The flight was great, I slept for about 5 hours out of 13, more than Dave managed. Emirates plane food was delicious (details for mum: macaroni cheese, brocolli and carrots with salads, roll and blackcurrant cheesecake). We are just about to leave the Fairview Hotel in Nairobi to go to the Massai Mara!! This is a slight change of plan having had a quick chat to Andy and Cheryl. For those who don't know, Andy is our friend travelling from S. Africa to Norway (www.cape-to-cape.co.uk) and Cheryl is his girlfriend. They have already been to the MM and recommend it over the Serengheti as the wildebeast are leaving the Mara following the rains to the Serengheti as we speak!!! We will hopefully, fingers crossed see this for ourselves. Yesterday while I was in the gorgeous pool, Dave arranged our safari (we were both very tired so thanks Dave!) and we are being picked up from reception in 5 minutes so this has to be short. On friday we will be taken back to Andy and Cheryl's camp site in Nairobi where we will continue onto Lake Naivasha and onwards through Kenya to Uganda together in their truck, called Mel. Okay - I've been summoned to reception, Susan our guide has arrived, hopefully we'll get a chance to write more soon!! Lots of love Joey and Dave xxx

2005-10-21T16:18:00.000Z