Nairobi, Kenya October 31st, November 1st – 2nd 2010 Got on a shuttle bus from Arusha and traveled 7 hours to Nairobi. It’s crowded with people and vehicles (especially old junky buses and ‘matatus’, the Kenyan sardine-vans), and full of smog. There were plenty of large buildings, hotels, banks, pharmacies, restaurants, cafes, small fast food…
Category: Africa
Safari! (and drama for your mama)
Lake Manyara National Park Serengeti NP Ngorongoro Crater Tarangire NP (October 26th – 30th 2010) I got picked up on the morning of the 26th to the ‘Victoria Expedition’ office. A Korean girl, Alex, whom I had met the day before at the safari office, was the only one of the original group of 4…
Arusha, Tanzania
Arusha, Tanzania October 23rd-25th 2010 October 30th 2010 (night) Arusha is the city where most people launch their northern circuit safaris from. After taking a 10-hour bus from Dar, I stayed a few nights because the Tanzanian Tourist Board doesn’t open until Monday. The TTB has a blacklist of safari companies which have cheated people…
Zanzibar, Tanzania
Stone Town, Zanzibar, Tanzania October 18th – 20th 2010 Our fast-ferry took 1.5 hours to reach Stone Town, Zanzibar. Felt a little sea-sick the whole time. Upon getting to Zanzibar, it was getting dark so I allowed a local to take me to one of the inns I wanted to stay at but ended up…
Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania
Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania October 15th – 17th 2010 October 21st – 22nd 2010 Took about 8 hours to get from Iringa to Dar. Was supposed to sit in a nice bus but it apparently had technical problems so we were re-assigned to an older, more beat-up version. Sat beside a Tanzanian girl whom I…
Mbeya + Iringa, Tanzania
Mbeya, Tanzania October 13th 2010 Woke up early to catch a shared taxi to the border, which took about 1 hour. After taking care of business with Malawian customs, I walked across the Songwe Bridge into Tanzanian territory. There were plenty of ‘money-changers’ hassling me to change money. The guy who ran the hostel in…
Lilongwei + Nkhata Bay + Karonga, Malawi
Lilongwe, Malawi October 7th-9th 2010 I took the 4:30 am bus from Lusaka to the border between Zambia/Malawi and after going through customs (and stupidly telling immigration I would be in Malawi for up to 7 days, which they wrote down, when I could’ve said 30 days and it would still be free, giving me…
Livingstone + Lusaka, Zambia
Livingstone & Lusaka, Zambia October 4th – 6th 2010 I flew from Jo’burg to Livingstone as I didn’t want to cross overland via Botswana. I originally wanted to visit the Okavango Delta but the thought of being on a mokoro (a kind of boat) with the poleman by myself for several days turned me off…
Johannesburg, South Africa
Johannesburg, South Africa October 1st – 3rd 2010 I landed in Jo’burg with a sense of caution about the city. Apparently, daylight muggings are not uncommon, especially if you walk into the wrong areas. The hostel I stayed at was called ‘Gandhi Backpackers’ and is actually a house built in the late 1800s. It was…
Cape Town, South Africa
Cape Town, South Africa September 26th to 30th 2010 Cape Town is just stunning. There’s so much to see and so much to do. If I had to create a ‘Top 5’ list right now, it would be there. It was cold and rainy the first day I was there. It was also a Sunday…