Mzungu in the mist...

So I'm writing this up on word pad whilst i wait with baited breath to see if the Internet connection actually comes back on so forgive me if Ive missed some days here and there as i cant see my last post I'm going to go ahead and guess that the last post was somewhere before lake Bonyonyi and so that is where i will begin today's tale....

22 January 2011

so we were staying in a little campsite on the outskirts of Kampala we woke up at the crack of dawn to get out of the city before being hemmed in by large amounts of traffic it is somewhat surreal to drive through a major city in the darkness of dawn (and it always amazes me how many people are up and about at that time!) so anyway to cut a boring story to the point we drove all day to lake Bonyonyi a beaut of a spot close to the Rwanadan border here we spent a few days chillaxing in what i would like to say was sunshine but in actuality was the misty coolness that is the Ugandan mountainess we arrived late arvo and set up tents etc before wiling away the evening in the bar....

23rd January 2011

today was set to be a pretty boring day and instead ended up one of my favourite so far we spent the morning doing laundry (and i mean the whole morning it took me several hours of washing in a bucket! i will not let it build up so much from now on!) so then sometime after lunch we headed off on a walk around the lake no sooner had we left the gates of the campsite when a few kids fell into step with us they started to tell us all about the area and showed us this path heading straight up the side of the hill we walked to the top where we had a view of almost the entire lake and all its islands (including the smallest one a tiny island dubbed 'punishment island' as back in the day women who got pregnant out of wedlock were brought to the island and left to die if they could swim they were tied to the one single tree their only hope was if a local man couldn't afford a bride price he could row out and take the women and her child as his own) they also pointed out the mountain that is the border with Rwanda on the way back down we popped into the orphanage that is their home the orphanage is run by their auntie and houses 17 kids from 4 months to 18 years they live together in 3 houses they were the sweetest kids ever they showed us all their animals (including baby cows sheep and rabbits) they all sung and danced for us and we played games for a while John the eldest and one of the ones who showed us up the mountain teaches the wee ones to swim and coaches the local football team as well as helping out around the home it was the best afternoon we have had just hanging out with all these beautiful kids!.....

24th January 2011

boring day of driving from the lake across the Ugandan border into Rwanda.....

25th January 2011

up super early for the day we have been waiting for....GORILLA TREKKING! we had to be at the gorilla centre at 7am so very Early start we drove there in 4x4s and hung about while they split us into groups we ended up in the hard group meaning we climbed the highest and the furthest and boy did it take it out of me we drove up up up this bad bad road to a little village where we parked up and headed across the Fields to the entrance of the national park (by the time we got there i was pooped!.... and we hadn't even started walking up!) when we got to the edge of the park we climbed over a stone wall and the terrain instantly changed the bush became thick and closed in and the air began to feel wetter it really was gorillas in the mist as we walked up the mist closed in so much we couldn't see the ground off the mountain the path just went up up up and we were so glad for the wooden walking poles the guides gave everyone! after 2 hours hard slog we reached the point where the trackers had found the gorillas the group we climbed to see was called Amahoro meaning peace and was made up of 17 gorillas there are 3 silver backs (one dominant of course...and one with only one hand after losing it in a snare) and then some black backs females juveniles and infants the smallest was a teeny tiny 4 month old bubba riding on its mamma's back....at the centre we were told to maintain a distance of 7 metres but as the gorillas themselves move at times we were a mere arms length away....it was beautiful,exciting,amazing,brilliant i really don't have enough adjectives to describe the absolute coolness of it all....when it started to rain they nested into the trees and bushes hugging themselves and each other to keep warm just like a person would!....most of the time we watched them eating but it was mesmerizing! we had a few close calls when suddenly a gorilla would appear out of the bushes or change paths at the last minute and come really close but the guides are so experienced ll they needed to do was make reassuring noises and the gorilla would go back to what it was doing you could see in their eyes they knew exactly who we were and that we meant them no harm....it was just so....so...fantabulous if ever you get the chance to do it...DO IT!!!.... we spent an hour with them which just flew by and then we headed down the mountain slipping and sliding due to the rain i think everyone fell down at least once!...back at camp we just chilled exhausted after the climb...i slept SO well that night.....

26th January 2011

we got up early and drove to Kigali the capital of Rwanda where we spent the day exploring its such a cool place i think my favourite African city its so clean the people are friendly and its a stunning location built in and around the hills we got a taxi looking for a place to lunch but as we couldn't all fit in we split with LP and Sam taking motorbikes....only problem turned out the taxi driver didn't actually know where we wanted to go....luckily neither did the motorbike drivers so we were all driving in circles when we happened to bump into each other which was extremely lucky! we then changed plan and went straight to the genocide museum....its brilliantly set up with an indoor and outdoor section the outdoors is a garden and mass grave for 250,000 victims of the genocide we walked through the whole thing with an audio guide which really complemented the information in the displays the whole thing was absolutely powerful afterwards we just had to sit for a while and absorb it all....in the late afternoon we all jumped on motorbike taxis (yes even me! argghhhhh) and drove to the Hotel Des Milles Collines (the real life hotel Rwanda) we went in and had lunch in the poolside restaurant which is on the hill overlooking the city such a stunning location!....that night we had a meal in the hotel restaurant which was a tad disappointing the lonely planet gave it a great write up but we soon realised that it had changed....the first clue was that the food wasn't Ethiopian...and it was an Ethiopian restaurant in the lonely planet....we then had to wait almost 2 hours for our just average food....but the profits of the whole place do go to a charity giving artificial limbs to people with disabilities which is a good cause....and the place was called 'one love club' which is a good name!.....

27th January 2011

a long drive again we have hit a bump in the road somewhat the rules of entering Ethiopia have changed and we can now no longer get a visa at the border and so we drove back across the border to Uganda where we have to courier our passports to Australia to get a visa so we now get to explore this beautiful country a bit more extensively which doesn't bother me at all!....

28th January 2011

A pretty cruisy day in Kampala passports off this morning then we just hung about eating internet-ting etc a wee trip to the shops to get....wait for it....laundry powder! and that's about it tomorrow we hit the road towards lake Victoria some more national parks and hopefully some chimp tracking! life is sweet!....

So frigging quick!!!

So this is a super quick blog i don't really have time to do one but don't know when ill next get internet so here goes!

we spent 4 nights on Zanzibar the first in the pyramid hotel in stone town not really doing alot as LP was a bit poorly the next day we went on a spice tour it went all day and included samples of some very strange fruit mostly including a Dorian which smells a bit like death (and doesn't taste alot better...) they smell so bad they are banned on airplanes! they are a huge favorite amongst the locals tho! we also tried a jackfruit which looks and tastes a bit like a cross between a banana and a pineapple! weird in the afternoon after a scrumptious lunch we headed north to Mangapwani beach and slave caves and learnt a little about the area then it was back to stone town where we met up with Mary mums friend from nursing school who was kind enough to put us up for 3 nights! the next day we explored stone town with Mary it makes such a difference when you are with a local making it one of our best days out! that night we went to a concert at the music school a bizarre fusion of Swahili and a Norwegian jazz band was really cool though! next day we went out for the whole day snorkeling the best we have done so far and we saw dolphins from the boat! next day we headed back to Dar we drove all day and all the next day to Mesarani snake park where we got to hold a snake! cool! then we went to the Ngorrangorro crater (spelt so wrong sorry) where we spent one day and one night game driving best spot was elephants with full tusks they must have been about 2m long! then the next day driving to Nairobi where we are now and i am late to meet people for lunch so off i go sorry its so short!!!!......Asanti sana...(squashed banana)

Zanzibarrrrrr!!!!!

Hello from the island of Zanzibar! but I'm rushing ahead already let me catch you up on all that has happened so far in 2011!....

2nd January 2011

we left South Luangwa and drove down the potholy road back to Chipata where we stopped briefly to restock supplies then it was a short drive of about 30km along the (much better) road to the Malawi border (that's right I'm squeezing two countries into this post!) we sailed through with the entry stamp not costing a penny (i love it when that happens!) whilst hanging about the border post i had my first real encounter with a grim toilet! and it cost me! i asked the man standing guard of the dunny if i could use it and he charged me 200 kwacha (around US0.20cents) so i told him i better be getting a good service for my money he grinned at me and said "its the best" well the best what id say the best gross toilet at a Malawi border post the "toilet" turned out to be a hole in the ground in a wooden shack! oh well part of the adventure hey! we then drove to our campsite for the next few nights a beautiful spot with a lovely sandy beach right on the shores of lake Malawi with a stunning view of lizard island...bliss...

3rd January 2011

woke up to the sun streaming in through the open flaps of our tent it was before 7am and the sun was already scorching hot! we put on our swimmers and stumbled half asleep straight into the lake it was so strange the lake is so vast that there are waves and yet its fresh water! i kept expecting a mouthful of saltwater...after brekkie we headed into town to check out the local craft markets and of course support the local trade! a man even offered me a carved wooden table for my shorts! (although i suspect that had i changed on the truck and offered him my shorts the deal would have been off!)....later that arvo we took a boat out to lizard island where we snorkeled to see the cichild fish that populate the lake tropical looking fish in fresh water! the lake continues to impress and amaze me! we also walked all over the island to see monitor lizards but all we saw was the lighthouse! we had to make our return journey in high winds and huge swells as a storm approached which made for a most unhappy Georgia i may not go on a boat again any time soon...

Tuesday 4th January 2011

drove all day we covered about 500km which is baffling when the lake is only 365miles long (and 52miles wide which gives it its nickname the calender lake) but the road twists and tuns goes up and down hills and goes in and out land constantly the day was largely unremarkable except when we stopped in Mzuzu for a shop and got chatting to a really interesting guy called Lusunga he was selling handmade cards (which we brought) to raise money for uni he had studied to diploma level paid for by a trust set up by an English women the idea being study to diploma get a job in the Field and work and save to fund your own further studies only with only a diploma (in comminty development) he couldn't get a job and so was selling cards to raise money i could have talked to him all day but we had to hit the road meeting peeps like that is what its all about!....

Wednesday 5th January 2011

woken up uber early by the owner of the campsite yelling at a member of staff (resulting in us cutting our stay from 3 nights to 2 unfortunately this also cut our time in Malawi...) so up early with not a lot to do all day but sit on the beach read swim and rotate through the above activities with a little bit of lunch mixed in and some playing with the camps dogs for good measure another day in paradise...

Thursday 6th January 2011

drove all day in parts through rain so thunderous it came through the roof so i had to wear my jacket on the truck! camped at altitude and for the first time in months actually slept in our sleeping bags!

Friday 7th January 2011

late start then drove to Iringa where we stopped for an hour most of which was spent trying to find a) a functioning ATM or

b)an ATM with money in it

this proved hard and so after 45mins we gave up and went to send some emails to our extreme annoyance we found the best Internet we have used in Africa so far and we didn't really have time to use it! and it only cost 25pence for half an hour! when we came out we stumbled across the bank filling up an ATM so at least we got some money! we then drove on stopping 20km outside Ruaha national park where we camped for the night....

Saturday 8th January 2011

up in the rainy darkness we spent from 7am till 6pm game driving in Ruaha national park recently named Africa's largest game park we saw mostly birds but did get in some excellent spots a new kind of giraffe the Masai giraffe, a 2.5m long spitting cobra crawling across the road, a whole bunch of scorpions and the heaps of other stuff lions (having sex) elephants, baboons etc was such a great day and the rain went away and left us with glorious sunshine!...

Sunday 9th January 2011

another day on the road drive drive drive! at last we stopped to bush camp on the side of the road set up camp and were halfway through cooking dinner when the police arrived to move us on....they escorted us to the primary school football Field where we were welcome to camp so we set up for a second time and had just finished eating when the skies opened up and we decided to go to bed!.....

Monday 10th January 2011

Arrived in Dar Es Salaamn (Haven of peace) around midday and after confirming our ferry time to Zanzibar we had all afternoon to kill unfortunately LP seems to have picked up a bug so we spent most of the afternoon in the bliss of the air conditioned ferry terminal when at last the ferry was due to leave there was strong winds so the journey took over 2 hours instead of 1.5 (and what did i say about not going on boats???) upon arrival on this funky little island we have checked in to a hotel in stonetown where i put LP to bed and am doing this almost finished and i have a family sized dairy milk for tea yay!....hopefully he feels better in the morrow!.....peace out from Zanzibar....

Big 5....TICK!

So here i am in South Luangwa national park a place so remote it doesn't even have a real road coming here...(although one is being built so far construction has been going around 2 years id say it'll be at least another 2 till its done....which may somewhat change this hidden gem....) but lets not get ahead... i believe i last updated you on Boxing day a day full of eating and sitting and general nothingness....oh and in the evening cruising along the Zambezi on a sunset dinner (booze) cruise....

27th December 2010 (just a few more days till its a whole new year!) woke up nice and early to RAFT DOWN THE ZAMBEZI! at 8am we were fed a huge cooked brekkie (to give us strength for all the hard paddling!) then we got a safety briefing which was more scary then the rafting itself all about "what to do when you flip....and you WILL most likely flip..." i think at that point there was more then a few people willing to drop out! so we had our safety talk and then got our life jackets helmets and paddles everything needed for an adventure! then we all hopped into 4x4s and headed to the river we went in at the bottom of Victoria falls aptly named the boiling pot....when we arrived we got to watch a Zim company launch off the other bank at the top of the rapid and my oh my did it look FREAKY! all to soon it was our turn and we had it harder rather being on at the top of the rapid we were beside it and had to cross it we sat patiently whilst other boats lined up to tackle their way across and watched with a slight sense of horror as boat after boat flipped and its occupants flew threw the air like rag dolls (to be safely picked up by kayaks or other boats that made it across...) when it was our turn we paddled furiously to cross over our guide James yelling "FORWARD FORWARD"....and then someone...(we had 4 guys on the boat and none of them will admit it so I'm not sure who) yelled "DROP" so we all dropped to the floor of the raft mid rapid and just calmly floated back out....back out on the side we started....so take two commenced and this time we made it across we almost flipped but thankfully didn't and rode the rapid out feeling exhilarated!....Let me point out now that noone bar me and LP had ever white water rafted...and we got to start in the boiling pot... a class 5 rapid on the mighty Zambezi...we rafted for a half day and did pretty well we were unofficially the rescue boat picking up strays who fell out of their own boats and safely returning then including rescuing 2 guys as they (and our raft) were sucked into the next rapid! we managed to only flip once and afterwards found out our loving guide James did it on purpose (on a class 3 rapid) to test our abilities we passed with flying colors with 5 out of 6 managing to stay with the boat one was rescued by a kayaker and returned to us and we only lost one paddle...(retrieved from where it was calmly floating between rapids) then we had 3 peeps fall out of the boat LP was the first to go in the middle of a rapid just bumped off but he managed to hangonto the boat (the pictures are pure gold him falling off in freeze frame disappearing then reappearing a few frames later...) then it was Nick (a Portuguese/south African from cape town in Zambia on a long weekend) and finally Linda (an older American women on a prayer mission following in the footsteps of David Livingstone...yes the same David Livingstone who made one convert who later relapsed...)the day was so fun so exhasting so brilliant by mid day we had rafted 10 rapids (and walked around one massive class 6 that even most of the guides walked around and just sent the boats down unmanned) and so our journey was complete...almost...we then had to walk up a monster of a hill that just never seemed to end but at the top was refreshments and burgers for lunch! the rest of the afternoon we spent visiting (a new American term i have picked up from friends) with friends in the shade then sunshine the shade the sunshine depending on the mood!

28th December 2010 (even closer to the new year...)
not alot to report drove from 7am till about 4pm we drove through the capital Lusaka and it looks a very up and coming city lots of new buildings and building sites and lots of schools colleges hospitals and lots of happy healthy people...we got into camp and got dinner ready and enjoyed the rain that turned the dirt into a big blobby muddy mess (for future reference its not a good idea to wipe muddy feet on LPs white and blue towel...its hard to hand wash mud!...

29th December 2010 (new year 2 days and counting...)
So we got up and drove all day that's about it...camped in a busy busy campsite where we had to line up for showers... and then they were cold sad times....

30th December (blinking close to 2011)
drove into South Luangwa national park along the road that's not really a road mostly driving not much faster then a snail to avoid being stuck in the mud or potholes or both it was raining on and off which made the going a bit more fun! at one stage we stopped for lunch in the middle of the road and i not wanting to walk through wet long grass decided to round the corner and just pee on the "road" we hadn't seen another car for ages before....but as i squatted there with my arse out a Ute rounded the corner the flatbed full of guys...all terribly embarrassing and funny oh dear...
as we drove we passed a funeral procession heading down the road in the rain the songs they were singing were absolutely hauntingly beautiful....
the folks around these parts are so friendly almost every single house we passed the people would all wave and the kids would chase the truck along screaming and cheering and waving (and quite often falling down)...in one spot were we stopped to buy mango's through the window the whole village turned out to cheer and wave it was so cool!
we arrived into camp and set up swam and chillaxed for the rest of the day then it was early night to be bright eyed and bushy tailed for a morning game drive...

31st December 2010 (HAPPY NEW YEARS EVE!)
wow what a national park! today we spent 8 hours game driving! 4 this morning from 6am-10am and the 4 this arvo 4pm-8pm both drives we went with JJ a guy who has been guiding for about 12 years always in the area so he knew where game was likely to be and delivered well!! the park is 9050km2 but at this time of year (the rainy season) most of the park is inaccessible due to mud etc...in total we saw a shed load of game including a new antelope the Puku related to the water buck a giraffe found nowhere i else in the world but here... the Thornicroft giraffe and finally we have ticked off our last animal in the big five...WE SAW LEOPARD!! it was so amazing on the night drive we had JJ driving and Marlin spotting with a big spotlight shining up the eyes in the darkness and instantly knowing what was antelope zebra etc and what was a leopard! or spotted gennet or hyena! we also saw a load of lions,elephants,cape buffalo,hippo,impala and over 40 birds including some stunning hornbills and kingfishers! by far the best game viewing we have done and what a way to build up to the new year....when we arrived back at camp we had a spit roast goat and a feast of other food and copious amounts of punch (strictly non-alcoholic of course...) we were so tired though that after cheering in the new year we were in bed asleep by 12.15am!

1st January 2011 THE NEW YEAR!!!
after a huge brekkie (mostly to mop up alcohol...)the day has been spent doing nothing!!! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!