Anyone who's been to this continent will understand when I say that there is something indescribable about Africa that sucks you in. The people, the scenery, the wild life all works to lure your senses to fall in love with the place! We've just finished an epic journey that took us from Tanzania to Zimbabwe across 5 countries and many MANY kilometers. I apologize in advance, this post is a bit long, If you don't have the time there are tons of cool pics to skim through at least! We met up with our tour group in Dar es Salam, Tanzania after a week in beautiful Zanzibar. Our first day on the road with the group took us through Mikumi National Park in Tanzania where we got our first peak at Africa's incredible wild life! Elephants, zebras, impala, water buffalo, baboons and giraffes. Tanzania is beautiful country to drive through but the roads are rough and the police are, lets just say, less than honest. Our driver Steve suggested we were lucky for only getting stopped once. We reached the Malawi border after 2 days of 14 hour drives down dirt roads and endless construction. We each paid our $75.00 visa fee at the Malawi boarder and waited. Our guide Chris was quickly approached by a boarder guard and told straight up he had to pay a 'fee' if he wanted to get us out of there quickly or they'd make us wait over 4 hours! We've emailed the Malawi government regarding the Songwe border so hopefully something changes for future travelers but it's difficult to imagine. Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the wold with mass starvation and limited means. Tobacco is the the largest export and beyond this farmers can only afford to grow cassava for themselves which doesn't have very much nutritional value. Starvation is common and it's difficult to image living here. We reached our camp and had 3 days on Lake Malawi which makes up 40% of all of Malawi! It's a massive fresh water lake with one of the most diverse fresh water fish populations on earth making for fantastic scuba and snorkeling. Unfortunately during our time here it poured buckets and thunder storms most of our stay. This resulted in some serious pool tournaments at the camp bar! We did a bit of shopping at the craft stalls near our camp where we bought some jewelry and a painting. We really wished we had known to bring goods, the locals were more eager for stuff than money it seemed. They asked to trade art for socks or clothing, old head phones etc. In the end we didn't have much to give away because we packed so light and paid in Malawi Kwacha in the end. Had we known we would have bought some stuff from Thailand to trade/ give away for sure. Malawi is a stunning country with high cliffs, beautiful lake views, extremely lush forests (thanks to all that freaking rain) and the nicest people anywhere! Despite mass poverty the locals couldn't be nicer, farmers waved from the fields, women waved with huge stacks of items carefully balanced on their heads and the children would dance, sing and be silly towards us. This is where they get the nick name 'the warm heart of Africa', a well deserved nick name. We continued our trip into Zambia where we had 4 days. We spent our first night at the South Luangwa National Park. Our camp was set on the South Luangwe river the park is named after, home to hundreds of hippos! As we were setting up our tents we were advised to keep them at least 1.5 meters apart so hippos and elephants could easily get between them. This was reassuring! We dinned with impalas, baboons and long tail monkeys eager to get our crumbs. That night I stuck ear plugs in to remain blissfully unaware of the wildlife surrounding our tent and get some much needed sleep. 4:30 the next morning we got up, packed up the tent to the sound of hippos calling at each other. It was really cool and kind of haunting! 6am we hopped on a game drive into South Luangwe National Park. Before we entered the park we spotted bush bucks, huge groups of baboons, hippos and crocks. Once we got in the park we were greeted by massive herds of impala, zebras, water bucks, warthogs, amazing birds and a few elephants. We met another truck during our drive that had been following a leopard! We searched for a good while but never found it sadly. The second truck with the rest of our group did see it however. It's a beautiful park teaming with life and was an incredible morning despite missing out on the leopard. Driving through Zambia is amazing, each small village looks like a post card for the country. Though it's much wealthier a nation than Malawi there are still struggles for many villages. The capital city of Zambia is in stark contrast to Malawi with malls, huge grocery stores and fast food restaurants but traditional life styles are still opted by many in the country. Our last camp in Zambia before entering Botswana was near the Zambia side of Victoria Falls. We took this opportunity to take a Microlight over the falls! A micro light is like a hang glider that you sit in with a huge fan to keep you going. We went one a time for 15 minutes over the falls with a pilot telling us about it. It was spectacular! We were able to see just how massive the falls really are from up there and even spotted a few hippos from the air! It was an absolute high light and was made even better by staying at a camp that night teaming with giraffes, zebras and impalas hanging out by our tents! Very epic day. The next day we arrived in Botswana and headed to Chobe National Park. This place is unbelievable it's a shame we only had 2 days here! It happened to be Australia day upon our arrival and with more than half our group originating from down under we celebrated in style. With a fully loaded cooler of beers and an Australian flag flying we headed out on a Chobe River boat ride. We entered Chobe park and were greeted by a lonely hippo. We got within a few feet before he got out of water and sprayed his shit all over the place to mark his territory. It was amazing to see him hulled out of the water right in front of us but could have passed on the poo. They look cute but are extremely dangerous so it was especially cool to see one up close. We continued our journey down river and found some impalas, water buffalo, crocodiles and a huge herd of hippos out of the water casually grazing on grass. No matter how much Discovery Channel and Planet Earth you watch (and I watch a lot) it's nothing compared to seeing these animals in the wild behaving normally. To finish the boat trip off we got up close and personal with an elephant taking a swim. Right after finishing the boat ride we hopped on a game drive. Everyone was feeling pretty good by this point and the cooler was considerably lighter. The party continued through Chobe National Park and we weren't disappointed! We got a first hand view of the huge elephants herds that make Chobe famous. At several points we could count over 50 elephants surrounding us! We accidentally scared one of the babies and got a good scolding from the mother who swung her trunk at us and charged a bit. We were in a large over-lander so our game driver wasn't concerned but I backed up a bit in my seat when she got close. The wet season in Botswana has it's challenges as far as spotting animals in the thick brush and the constant threat of rain. However it's worth it to see all the babies! Every animal was in baby mode, wart hogs, impala, elephants, hippos, too many babies to count! I think every 10 minutes someone would let out an 'awww' or 'super cute'! We were really hoping to see a lion on this drive but no luck. That night we stayed in Chobe exposed to the wild life. Our guide gave us a safety briefing that basically went 'if you really have to pee at night flash your light out, green eyes go ahead, fire eyes slowly back into your tent keeping the light shining on the eyes'. I held it to say the least! That night elephants, lions and hyenas could be heard around our camp, I don't think anybody slept very well but it was a really neat experience. 4:30am wake up call we packed up the tents, quick breakfast and out for another game drive. Our guide was really keen to find us a lion so we started tracking foot prints right away. We tracked it for long time until we eventually lost the prints in the bush. We headed out to try and find fresh prints when a call came in which resulted in us taking off down the game trail like a bat out of hell. We thought for sure another ranger had seen a lion but when we pulled up we were thrilled to discover it was actually African Painted Dogs! These dogs are extremely rare, so rare in fact many guides have never seen them! There are only 5000 left in the wold and we got to see 12 of them! They are one of the most successful hunters in Africa with more than 85% success rate! They lose around half these meals to larger predators in many cases however. We hung with them for a while as they trotted then rested and then trotted some more with breaks to play with sticks and be dogs. They cover vast areas of land this way. They were really cool to watch and made up for the lack of cat action so far in our trip! We continued our drive and saw jackals, kudu, more elephants, giraffes, and so much more! Chobe is by far our favourite park that we've been to. Our last stop on the tour was Zimbabwe at Victoria Falls. Zimbabwe is another extremely poor country. Not because there isn't wealth in the land but due to greedy leadership. In 2009 with massive inflation the country adopted the USD to replace the local currency. We went to an ATM to take out some cash and all of them in town were out. There were lines of people waiting for them to be refilled. It was a really crazy sight to see the locals lining up each day for the machines to be refilled. As we walked around the streets guys tried to sell us 50 billion dollar bills that are absolutely worthless now. It was pretty shocking and puts the value of cash into perspective. The highlight here is of course Victoria falls. The Zimbabwe side is much more impressive than the Zambia side to view from land. Walking distance from our camp were walking paths that show off the powerful falls. The walk is made up several stops each getting your progressively more wet. The views are spectacular with rainbows, huge sprays of water and the crashing sound of water. We've seen a lot of water falls including those in Iceland, Niagara and many more but nothing quite compares to Victoria Falls, it's super impressive! We had one extra day in Victoria Falls so we decided to give one more go at finding cats and booked a night time game drive at a private game reserve near our camp. There were just 8 of us on this drive and the game driver was fantastic! The private reserve is actually a black rhino breading sanctuary. The government permitted the land owner to do it after he installed electric fences around the 6000 acres of land to ensure the rhinos couldn't escape and poachers couldn't get in. They started with 2 females and 1 male now they're up to 11 black rhinos! We tracked one group of rhinos for a while, a mum, dad and baby through the bush. We found fresh tracks but lost them in the thick brush. We saw loads of animals but still no freaking lions! After 3 hours of game drive we had a bush dinner that was fantastic. By the time dinner was done it was totally pitch black out so our guide used a spot light to shine into the bushes looking for eyes. We saw many shiny eyes staring back at us but they all belonged to impalas. The game drive was great but disappointing when we didn't see a lion. This is where the band broke up. It was hard to say good bye we met fantastic people on this tour and got extremely lucky with our group!
We're now in Capetown for 2 weeks and have A LOT of really cool things planned!
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We're in freakin Africa! Being on a new continent is fantastic and starting our African adventure in Zanzibar is incredible. Our first 3 days we stayed in Stonetown, a Unesco heritage town and the hub of Zanzibar. It's a lively place with friendly locals, world class beaches and historic building after historic building! We stayed at Tembo House, very conveniently located in Stonetown and on the beach! It was a long day of travel to get here from Bangkok, thankfully everything went off without a hitch. We even got to fly over Kilimanjaro which was cloud covered but still pretty cool! Our first day here we started at the Arab Fort and House of Wonders located literally next to our hotel. We weren't able to go inside either but the outside was pretty cool. The downfall of this area is the dozens of locals offering walking tours. They are friendly but annoyingly persistent! We expected the typical harassment you find when you travel but this place is next level! It's an expected side effect of a poor economy and an influx in tourists but is never the less frustrating. After a couple days here we learned how to say no the right way so they go away. Basically just shaking your head, not saying a word and walking on seems to work best. The architecture in Zanzibar is fantastic. It's a fusion of Swahili and Arabic styles, largely unchanged since the 19th century which put this town on the Unesco list in 2000. One of the best ways to explore Stonetown is by getting lost wandering down the tiny back streets lined with shops. When I say lost I mean lost, it's an absolute maze of streets. Thankfully it's not a very big place so eventually we popped out in a clearing and reoriented ourselves pretty easily. One top of incredible architecture are the doors. Zanzibar is renowned for it's ornately decorated doors studded with large protruding spikes and elaborate carvings. The brass studded doors are a design brought over from India. In India the studs were used to keep Elephants from crashing the doors, in Zanzibar they are used purely for decoration and a display of wealth. The designs on the doors are used to tell you about the resident, their occupation and wealth. We noticed a lot of thick chains on the doors as well and apparently these are in part to keep out evil spirits but also to show wealth. Most of the designs are floral and abstract since during the Arab occupation they forbid depictions of people and animals. After wondering around side streets we made our way to Mercury's Bar, a must visit for any Queen fan! In case you didn't know (we didn't before now) Freddie Mercury of Queen was born in Zanzibar! His family house has a plaque on it you can visit, though we never found it. Instead we visited the bar named after him which serves up nice food, drinks, excellent views, and of course lots of Queen's music! To finish it all off we stopped in at Forohani gardens at night for some dinner. The park comes alive after dark with food vendors light by oil lamps with cheap eats. We had to watch out for some scammy people trying to get us to exchange their USD into local currency, sneaky children trying to steal your food, beggars and the 200 cats that come out of nowhere. Once we got our food and found a bench we were good to go and the food was amazing. Our second day here we hired a boat man and headed to Prison Island. It's about a 15-20 minute boat ride from Stonetown depending on the sea and cost us about $22 each. Prison Island, also known as Changuu, has had a colourful history. In the 19th century it was used a prison for slaves until it was purchased by a British man who built a prison on it. It was never used however because it was converted into a quarantine station when Yellow fever and other diseases became rampant. After visiting the island ourselves we both agreed it's not the worst place you could be quarantined with gorgeous white sand beaches and lots of shady trees. Now it's home to a tortoise sanctuary for the endangered Aldabran Giant Tortoise brought over in the 19th century as a gift from the Seychelles. The government owns the island now and keeps the tortoises safe from poaching and provides them a good life where they can roam around and do what they like while allowing visitors to feed them and take photos for a $4.00 entrance fee. On top of tortoise the island is home to peacocks and an unusually small species of antelope called Duikers. We were lucky enough to spot one about the size of a small dog well hidden in the bushes. Today we're heading over to our second hotel in the North East or Zanzibar called Villa Kiva. It's located on a beautiful beach away from the hustle and bustle of Stonetown. Unfortunately Chris is under the weather today, not sure if it's something he ate or just too much sun so we're trying to keep it low key. We had a booked spice tour today to do en-route to the next hotel but decided to bail on it. We still have 4 more days here so lots of time to recover and find other fun activities!
Surviving is maybe a bit dramatic but there certainly moments here it felt like an apt expression. Before coming to Bangkok received several warnings about various scams to watch out for and other suggestions to take extra caution. The only reason we're here is because after all the warnings they would finish with, 'but it's a really cool city!'. So here we are! Getting to the hotel from the airport via taxi was easy thankfully. We're staying at the Marriott Appartment Suites in Sukhumvit, an area rich with shopping, eating and nightlife. Bangkok is a bit more costly than the other areas of Thailand so having a kitchen has been a nice change and a good way to save money, groceries are very resonable. After 6 days in Bangkok I'm really happy we decided to stay at a nicer hotel that has a pool, gym, kitchen in the room etc. If you are someone who dislikes large crowds (like myself) having a safe haven to retreat back to was incredibly great. On top of that it was just really nice to wake up everyday, make ourselves a nice breakfast, use the gym, have a swim and a steam before we head out for the day! Almost made us feel normal after 4 months of living out of hotels. When people think of Bangkok one of the first things that comes to mind is the shopping! There are an insane number of malls located around the city to chose from. We decided to check out Terminal 21, a half hour walk from our hotel and one of the largest malls in Bangkok. I don't usually like malls but we thoroughly enjoyed this one. It's themed like an airport and each floor of the mall is a city around the world! They've included airport like signage and amazing small details on each floor so you know what country your in without seeing a sign. A double decker bus and tube signs in London, a 3 story oscar statue leading up to Hollywood (where the movie theatre is) and tiled 'streets' to wander through Istanbul. Even if you don't want to buy anything it's fun to get lost in this mall for a couple hours. We would suggest you head down to the Carribbean to get some incredible baked goods and treats or head up to San Francisco to have a birds eye view over Bangkok while sipping a fancy latte. Our second day in Bangkok we headed to the Grand Palace. It's a huge complex of buildings and official residence for the King of Siam since 1782. When we arrived it was absolute chaios of cars, police and people. We found an entrance, got body scanned and countinued through. Upon getting through the other side there were hundreds of people wearing black scurrying around. There were also hundreds of tents set up for these people. We later assumed they were here to pay respect to the recently deceased King or perhaps to the new King. It was a bit confusing tying to figure out where we were meant to go in all this action. We were starving when we arrived which didn't help matters and had a bit of a hard time finding food. I was getting pretty hangry and the crowds were insufferable, thank god we found a Subway or I'm pretty sure Chris would have sent me home, lol! We were feeling a bit better after lunch and headed into the Grand Palace. I was advisded my lulu tights were no good and I needed to borrow a skirt. As we lined up to borrow one of the free skirts they offer we were shuffled aside with a couple hundred other people so that the Princess' presension could make their way in. They had soldiers and trumpets going building up our anticipation only for a few cars with tinted windows to quickly pass through the gates towards the residence. 2pm is apparently not a good time to visit the Palace, although I doubt there is ever a good time. We got the skirt and went to line up for tickets (500 baht each, bit expensive) and the masses of people seemed to be growing. I decided it wasn't worth it for me to go in because I was miserable in the crowds and inside the palace temple was even worse. Chris thought about going in on his own but he decided he didn't feel like dealing with the crowds either. We got some nice pictures from the outside at least and of the crowds. There was a bit of drama trying to get back to the hotel. We hailed down a taxi and told him where we wanted to go and he laughed at us and drove away. The hotel was 45 minutes away and apparently nobody wanted to deal with the traffic. We got another taxi to stop told him where we wanted to go and got the same reaction. Before he drove away I offered him twice the fare (500 baht instead of 250) which he happily excepted and took us back. At that point he probably could have talked us up and we would have said yes lol. Our last couple of days in Bangkok we kept it pretty low key. We watched Rogue One at the Terminal 21 theatre. The Thai subtitles were easy to ingnore and the theatre was super comfy. We also spent a ton of time searching for sleeping bags! We need them while in Africa but apparently camping hasn't caught on in Thailand yet. After searching several stores we finally found Outdoor Unlimited a few metro stops away from our hotel which had all sorts of camping gear including sleeping bags.
Over all Bangkok hasn't been my favourite place, cities usually aren't to be fare. It does derserve some credit however for being a very interesting city with something for everybody. Chris and I both agreed we'd probably have enjoyed Bangkok a lot more if we hadn't spent 2 months in South East Asia prior. Temples and markets all start to blend together when thats all you've been doing for that long. I'm sure if we come back in the future we'll have a much different experience with fresh eyes. Thailand, and all of South East Asia for that matter was incredible. We really loved the people, the food and the sights. Now we're onto Stage 3 of our journey, Africa! We have a week in Zanzibar split between Stonetown and a beach region before we meet up with On The Go Tours for our trip through to Vic Falls! First we have a looooong day of flying ahead of us! A milestone birthday has come and gone, spent spoiling myself silly (as one should)! I feel like I got 2 day's of birthday celebration, Jan 2nd in Thailand and Jan 2nd back home the next day. I'll take it! On Jan 2nd in Thailand we went on a full day snorkeling trip out to Koh Rok. It was a 40 minute speed boat ride from the main Island of Koh Lanta to this relatively untouched island. It's gained some popularity in recent years but compared to Koh Phi Phi and other famous coral areas the Koh Rok coral is very well preserved with fewer people making there way out here. They took us first to 2 spots near Koh Rok to snorkel. The first place was fantastic! Clear, turqouise water filled with a ton of different species of fish. The coral was vibrant and filled with life unlike the other corals we've been to. The second spot was more exposed to wind and the current was much stronger making swimming a good work out. There were quite a few jellies in the area so I didn't care for this spot as much though there was an abundance of fish here as well! For lunch they set up a nice beach buffet for us and gave us some free time to explore the island. It's a small island you can walk the whole thing in a couple hours probably. After lunch we found a trail that hikes up to a view points. It was a sweaty climb but worth it for the view! We even saw a giant Monitor Lizard and a ton of hermit crabs. We were taken out to one more spot for snorkeling after lunch and it was the best yet! There were puffer fish, Needlefish, Moorish Idol, tons of different parrot fish and most importantly Chris found nemo! After a long day at sea we took a nerve wracking ride back to our hotel in the back on a truck with 10 other people hanging on for dear life. We decided after this it was time for some pampering. We headed to the beach and snagged a massage before sitting to dinner. It was a wonderful way to spend my 30th birthday!
To top it all off Chris crafted me a gift! Now I can get unlimited 20 minute massages from the hubs. He may come to regret this gift lol. It's been great to recieve all the birthday messages on FB and email and can feel the love from back home. xo Today is our last day in Koh Lanta, tomorrow we fly to Bangkok where we have several days before we leave for Africa! |
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