More catching up!

Technology! - Yesterday was the worst internet connection I've ever experienced!!! It was so slow it couldn't even keep yahoo messenger open! I've found a decent place today so hopefully I'll be able to catch up from where I left off... Oh but before I do I haven't been able to find a photo shop that is able to down load my last 2 memory cards so only photos of the first week in Africa... & the quality is really bad for some reason...

Rest of Day 10, Sat 10/7 - After our stop in Livingston we went to the campsite, set up tents & had lunch. The booz cruise was at 4pm so I had a bit of a lie down in order to try & recuperate for the cruise. The cruise was great, when I got on I was a little relieved cause there seemed to be a few kids & families on the cruise meaning maybe it wouldn't be that much of a piss up... I was wrong - it was free alcohol after all! Before I get in to that though we met the rest of our group at lunch, they'd been staying on the Zambia side at the campsite cause it costs $55us to get into Zimbabwe. They seemed like a pretty together bunch & had decided not to come on the cruise because they's already done one before they split up with their last group. Anyway I was a tad worried with the whole 2 groups mixing together but we seem to be doing ok now. Back to the Booz cruise. After I'd had a few drinks I found out that the bar was only serving doubles... So needless to say I'm a light weight so after 2 drinks (4 shots I was already well on my way). The sunset was lovely & we say some Hippos. The Zambezi river is beautiful. We had a dinner of chicken & salad which was really nice & then proceeded to get very very drunk. Contests to see who could down their drinks first are not a very good idea btw... Towards the end of the cruise the crew started dancing & started to teach me some of the African moves - it was so much fun! Then the cruise was over & we made our way to the campsite bar where I proceeded to do cartwheels (as I usually do when I'm drunk for some reason...) with a slight difference though, I feel over & landed on my ass - first time that's happened! I should have taken it as a sigh but then someone brought us all banana & baileys shots... That was it for me. I had my first drunken throwing up experience. I don't even know how many times I threw up but had Tosca, Lil & Clare all looking after me. It wasn't even that bad :) Lets not forget that by this time it was only 7.30pm... I can just see mum shaking her head as she reads this, honest mum, I am sensible!... mast of the time anyway ;o)
Clare & Lil walked me back to the tent where I had the best sleep & woke up about 11m & successfully made it to the loo which was half way across the campsite. Luckily when I woke up the next day, at 5.30am, I didn't feel too bad, at least not as bad as the previous day anyway...

Day 11, Sun 11/7 - I slept most of the day on the truck. We left at 7.30am but I did notice the change in scenery. The trees were really beautiful. I think we spent most of the day on the truck apart from lunch, we did a stop at Lusaka (the capital of Zambia) It was a shame though cause everything was closed cause it was Sunday. We stayed at Pioneers camp just out of the city & unfortunately it was another cold shower. Something you just get used to I suppose. One of the ladies that hadn't had a cold shower before decided to give it a go & the screams you heard coming form her cubicle, you'd think she was been tortured :o) We had the biggest fire that night. The guys found a dead tree trunk which was pretty much the basis of the fire. When we woke up the next morning the fire was still going. Even though the night before Mark had tried to smother it by using a shovel to put dirt over the coals - didn't work so the settled for digging a moat around it.
Day 12, Mon 12/7 - We were still traveling through Zambia & in case you haven't figured it out we spend a lot of time on the truck, Frankie, about 10hours that day. It was really cool at the lunch stop that day, which is always just on the side of the road cause the truck has EVERYTHING we need. We ended up pulling over near a little village, anyway as always there was some food left over so we asked the lady at the village if she wanted it & had something to put it in, which she did. I'd brought a few pens at vic falls to give away, as they really need pens here, so asked Tosca to give them to her. Tosca told me to go with her & I got to speak to the lady & play with her 18mth old baby & see a bit of where they live which was pretty cool. There were a group of young boys around too & I asked them if I could take their photo & they didn't mind so now I have a few cool photos. (ED. I forgot to mention that Karla threw up at the back of the truck. 1 seat behind me. Thank god it didn't smell. Just heat stroke we think. Although she did expect us to clean it up - NOT BLOODY LIKELY!). We made it to Chipata then went to the campsite Mamma Rulas. Part of my shower was actually hot before it ran out that is. I thought I was in heaven to start with. That night we ate at the campsite bar. It was quite a novel to be able to see what I was eating, with real lights & a table.

Day 13, Tue 13/7 - We were up at 5.15am for a 6.30 departure, Tosca was testing us to see if we could get the tents packed, truck packed, dressed & breakfast thing down to a fine art. This was also one of our biggest days on the truck so we also had to pack our lunches. It didn't take us that long to reach the Malawi border. We were all freaking out a bit because the Italian honeymoon couple hadn't checked to see what visas they'd need. Adrianina was fine cause she was on a Canadian passport but Marco wasn't & Italians need to get a visa which can't be bought at the border... So we had to try & sneak him through. As it turned out it was no big deal & he got a stamp in his passport & we all had a huge sigh of relief. More driving then we stopped at Lilongwi (capital of Malawi). I changed $10us for $1060 Malawi Kwacha then got very excited cause I got to use the internet again. In the carpark I bought another painting. He originally wanted $45us but I ended up getting it for $10us - go my bartering skills! Sometimes I can't be bothered bartering, at other times it really is worth it. Once everyone arrived back to the truck we set off for Kande Beach. We arrived here about 4pm & did the usual set up. Its so beautiful here. It's hard to believe it's winter though.
The stars were amazing last night, I don't know how I managed it but I was up till 11pm last night & I didn't sleep on the truck yesterday like I usually do either...

Day 14, Wed 14/7 - I've spend today lying on the beach, helping get lunch ready, playing cards & now at 4pm I'm lying on the beach. Once again It's hard to believe its winter. I've been in my bikini & sarong all day! not sure what's happening tonight, people are talking about drinking... Not sure if I can be bothered but I'll see how I go :o) Oh also forgot to mention, it was the first chance I had today to sleep in, but do you think I could - NO, I woke up at 5 am! but refused to get out of bed till 7am :o)

End of post - written on Wed 14/07/04, Kande Beach, Malawi, Africa


Next post Thursday 22nd July 2004, Zanzibar Island, Tanzania

I'm loving this whole lying on the beach thing. We still have another 2 days on the island & its absolutely amazing but before I go in to it I've got the whole week to catch up on.
- Still in Malawi & it was our Day 15, Thur 15
2nd day at Kande beach just to lie around & be lazy, however, the weather had different ideas. It wasn't exactly cold but it was really windy so the morning pretty much consisted of a group of us playing cards. In the afternoon we were taken for a walk through the village which was pretty cool. It was great to meet the locals & have a look around the village. It's the first time on the trip that I've felt like I've learnt something about the people & had some real interaction.

Day 16, Fri 16/7 - We had a pretty eventful day, firstly Frankie (our truck) lost a tyre then we came across a truck that had jack knifed across the road. SO after we waited 30min for all the boys to prove how strong they were & change the tyre we waited close to 3hrs for the jack knifed truck to be removed. It actually wasn't too bad. I still quite haven't figured out why the locals think it's quite amusing when they see us have our toilet stops. Usually its good & there's no locals around when Fort (our driver) stops but when they were changing the tyre I had to go so I wandered off in to the bush & the locals couldn't see me but they had a good laugh. Must be cause we carry toilet paper in to the bush with us...


Next post Tuesday 3rd August 2004, Nairobi, Kenya

I had to stop writing there for some reason & haven't actually updated my diary since. So it looks like I've got 18 days to catch up on! Not sure why I slacked off & aren't sure if I'll be able to remember but I might as well give it a go.

Rest of Day 16 - We made it to Chitimba beach which is still on lake Malawi before dark & did the usual set up. Then had a few drinks. Funny thing is that I only had a couple then I was dead to the world. I feel asleep on one of the sofas behind everyone else who were playing a drinking game. I think Big Ben carried me to my tent around 9.30 where I proceeded to sleep then they all continued drinking. Deanna & Lil took down their tents at about 1am (which were right next to mine & I slept through it. Their plan was to sleep on the nice comfortable sofa's instead of on the ground & they didn't want to pack up their tents in the morning.

Day 17, Sat 17/04 - We crossed the border into Tanzania & I'm having a bit of trouble remembering the crossing - I think it was the one with the really loud stamps, swear when they stamped your pass port you could feel the whole desk vibrate through you! Anyway, we stayed at a place called Kalonza Farm where they prepared a meal for us. It was amazing! 3 courses served to us in a traditional mud hut/house thing. The food was so fresh, lots of veggies which was great. I had a hot shower too, heaven! The stars were amazing there to.

Day 18, Sun 18/7 - We were up at 4.45an to drive to Dar Es Salam. I think it was up there with one of the longest days we'd spend on the truck. nothing really eventful... We stayed at a place called silver sands campsite. We also had the restaurant cook for us so no cooking or clean up duty :o)

Day 19, Mon 19/7 - We caught the ferry over to Zanzibar at 10.30am. Just before we boarded I need to use the loo & thus experienced my first squat toilet. The name is exactly what it suggests. I was suprised cause I'd when I thought of squats I imagined just a hole in the ground. Not a fully tiled cubicle with a porcelain oval shaped bowel set into the tiles/floor with a flush system & all. Very interesting me thinks. I've used a few more of them since & I'm still not the biggest fan. Anyway, the ferry took about 2hours & was pretty uneventful. Tosca is terrified of been on a boat so it was a traumatic experience for her. Zanzibar was amazing. The water's that lovely awua blue and the old buildings and the narrow streets were amazing. We stayed at the Karibu Inn for the first night. Once we checked in a few of us grabbed a taxi & went to see the slave caves. It was quite sombering going down into this cellar & looking at these tiny little rooms that up to 100 people were crammed into with only the floor for their waste and to think that they were in there for sometimes up to a week then sold if they managed to survive it. Also the fact that they didn't actually do anything to loose their freedom, just bad luck. After the caves Clare & I wondered around town a little & I brought a couple of paintings. Then we headed to Africa house to watch the sunset accompanied by a few cocktails (only 1 for me) & it came in a coconut shell which was pretty cool. After the sunset we made our way down to the fish markets which were also very very cool. Basically there was about 50-100 (not quite sure) stalls all along the waters edge all selling different types of fish, shell fish, crabs, lobsters etc. All of the food has been part cooked then laid out on the tables on newspaper (not very hygienic). You go up to the stall of your choice & pick out what you want then they finish cooking it for you. I spent less than $3us & got 1 skewer of odd fresh tuna, 1 skewer of shark (each had about 5 or 6 good size chunks) 1 lot of chips & a fried banana - I was stuffed! It was very much one of the highlights, just walking around with your plate of food eating with your fingers.

Day 20, Tue 20/7 - The majority of the group left for the north of the island at about 9am & Clare, Big Ben (there were 2 big & little) & I decided to stay in town & explore Stonetown & the markets. Clare & I were quite glad to have Ben with us. A lot of the streets were narrow & dirty & it could have been very easy to get lost (not a good idea if you're a female by yourself). I felt quite comfortable & we didn't get hassled to much. After the markets I spent some time on the internet then we caught a 3pm mini bus up to the north of the island to join the rest of the group.. Where we stayed was quite good - 5 second walk to the beach & only 3 people per room, Plus we had a bathroom to ourselves which was very exciting :o) We also had a bathroom at Karibu Inn but there was 6 to a room - it was nice not to have to walk half way across a campsite. It took us about 1.5hrs to get there & the first thing we did was go down to the beach where we were set upon by women trying to sell things, massages & hair braiding. One of the women that came up to us was practically yelling & screaming at us. Supposedly Tosca & Deanna had told her that they had a blond friend who wanted to get her hair braided & she was saying that they had promised... There was no way I was letting her near my hair so I arranged to meet another lady at 9am the next day for good price, $35us.
That night we watched the sunset at happy hour from the bar. Clare & I left about a hour before the others, I wasn't up for a big night. We ended up talking for a bout a hour then heard a whole heap of noise - the others, who were very drunk, trying to be quite - quite funny in its self. We thought there was no way we were going to get to sleep so went & joined them. Big Ben & Deanna have a running joke going with Little Ben & Steve. So it was a sealth mission to pile a whole heap of chairs out side Little Ben's & Steve's door so they couldn't get out of their room. It was hilarious!

Day 21, Wed 27/7 - As mentioned I went down to the beach at 9am to get my hair done. It took them 4hours!!!!! Not the most comfortable I've ever been, with 3 ladies pulling my hair this way & that. The end result was worth it though & they did a decent enough job. As we all know I'm a sucker for massages & one of the ladies who was platting my hair was like you need a massage to which I agreeded. Suprisingly enough she also gave massages, so for 10$us I got a 30 min full body work over which wasn't to bad. Just lots & lots of coconut butter which was really really hard to wash off. I went for a swim in the sea & the water was just perfect/ A few of us went over for happy hour then after dinner went to a 'disco'. The music wasn't bad but I'm still dying for a decent night out.

Day 22, Thur 22/7 - No one bothered to tell us that we had to check out of the rooms by 10am. We woke up at 9.30am & proceeded to pack, have breakfast & vacate our room by 10.15am. We dumped all of our gear in Todca's room then spent the day on the peach. We piled in to mini vans about 4.30 & went back to Stonetown & the Karibu Inn.

Day 23, Fri 23/7 - The morning started off well , waking up & going got the internet for a couple of hours. Then we met back at 12 to make it to the 1pm ferry which turned out to be the 1.30 ferry so we had to wait 30 min in the hot sun which wasn't really to bad. Then once on the ferry is where it all started to go down hill. Usually I'm really food with these things & I never get travel sick. This ferry ride was the closest I've ever been to throwing up! Imigian this, sitting in a seat on the ferry & having your butt actually loose contact with the seat every few seconds & getting tossed this way & that for 2 hours. I can tell you I was the so releivced when it was over! After a quick stop at the super market we headed back to Silver sands camping ground in Dar Es Salam. Back to the tents... It was cool though cause they had dinner for us in the restaurant again so we weren't quite back to roughing it.

Day 24, Sat 24/7 - Another early start,, 4.45am & another long day on the truck. Dar Es Salam to Arusha. We stayed at the Masai snake park. Must admit I was in a rather unsociable mood so after dinner went straight to bed.

Day 25, Sun 25/7 - Free day off the truck, YAY! Some of us went in to town with Fort & Tosca to do some shopping then just chilled out at the camp site. I brought 2 masai spears so I'm hoping that they get thorough customs (I've brought way to much stuff on this trip!) Oh & I finally got some washing done, its beyond me how people actually manage to get things really clean but hand washing them. I only ever to manage to get 1 layer of dirt off.

Day 26, Mon 26/7 - Nagorangora Crater. One of the big highlights. For the first time it felt like I was really in Africa. It look like the doco's that you see & it was pretty amazing. We left Arusha & made our way to the park gates where we were met by 4x4's . We split in to groups of 6 & were taken for a awesome game drive. We saw so many animals including lions! It was ashame that they were a fare distance away but impressive none the less. After the game drive we were taken out of the crater & back to the rim where we were to camp. Now, it's a little freaky when you're given the following advice - "if you need to get out of your tent at night unzip the tent, stick your head & flash light out & scan the area for eyes". Then "if you happen to be coming back form the toilet & run in to a LION don't run, just back away very slowly, if you run they'll think you're prey". Needless to say I didn't leave my tent :) Before I went to bed though we did spot some Zebra grazing on the other side of the road, not far form our tents.

Day 27 Sun 27/7- Serengitti, we left nagorangora crater & crossed into serengitti & did a bit of a game drive in the afternoon. After been in the 4x4's been back in Frankie didn't quite compare. Plus there were no where near as many animals. So it felt like it was a little bit of a let down. The camp was very baskc, only a block of long drop squat toilets & no running water. Once again no leaving tentsat night with out been super cautious. That night Tosca had put the bin in the truck but one of the guys took it back out again & forgot to put it back...

Day 28 Mon 28/7 - In the morning we had no bin... As it was still dark we couldn't go & look for it. Thankfully just before we left it started to get light & someone went in search of it & the bin came back. All be it with one side missing... The bin was only about 10m form our tent, glad I didn't hear anything dragging it off! We did a early morning game drive & saw a beautiful male lion walking along the road next to the truck, it was great. In the serengitti there are no toilets & after a couple of hours quite a few of us needed to go... Basic rule in a national park is DON'T GET OUT OF YOUR VEHICLE - but if you've gotta go you've gotta go... Boys at the front of the truck, girls at the back. Must admit dignity goes out the window a little :) We were all a little shocked when one of the guys (same one as with the bin) started to wonder off into te bush... We all proceeded to shout at him that for all he knew there could be lions in there... We made it out of the park bt 12pm & drove to the next campsite, temba beach hotel, in Masuma on the shores of lake Victoria.

Day 29, Thur 29/7 - Another border crossing, the last I have on this leg of the trip, in to Kenya. Everyone had to fill in a 2 page visa application but I got mine when I was in Oz so it was good not to have the hassle. We brought bananas for the locals who carried them round on their heads & got ripped off by some boys selling nuts. They charged us double the price - works out to 15c so no big deal :) This was the longest day on the truck (I seem to be saying that a lot but I swear it was). We were awake when it was dark & got to the campsite, camilian farm, just before it got dark. Everyone was going a little stir crazy on the truck. So as soon as things were set up & they'd had dinner proceeded to get very drunk. I believe that after I'd gone to bed one of the firls was doing the can-can & broke a floor board! It was a good night though& for some reason there was a box of dress up clothes that everyone tried out, I think the boys just wanted to cross dress. They also had a twister game painted on the floor which was rather amusing to watch drunk people play.

Day 30, Fri 30/7 - Headed for Navasha (really, really bad roads) & made it there about 1pm then went to Joy Asamsons (author of born free) old estate for High tea. I didn't really know anything about joy so it was interesting to go along, more so for the food though :) The estate was quite nice & there were monkeys in the trees that looked like they were wearing fringed jackets.

Day 31, Sat 31/7 - Mini vans came to pick us up to take us to the Masai Mara at about 8am. The roads were so bad! Some of the worst I've ever seen, & 4 months on the road I've seen quite a few! Instead of driving on the road & trying to avoid pot holes a lot of the time we'd drive next to the road on the dirt! About 30 or 40 min before we arrived at the permanent camp site (with BEDS!!!) we lost the muffler. Our driver stopped picked it up & chucked it in the boot & off we went. One of the other vans had a flat tyre 10min into the trip, fun was had by all :) Before going to the camp we stopped at a Masai village. It was interesting to see some of their culture all be it felt like it was catering solely for the tourist. We got to the camp site about 2.30, had lunch then went on a game drive. The Masai Mara was AWESOME! at the moment it's migration time & we say hundreds / thousands of wilderbeasts not to mention every other sort of animal - even a LEPOARD! It was in a tree but it was cool. We spent a bit to long in the park so the driver was driving like a manic to try & get out of the park before night fall (not that we did). I swear that we missed a wilderbeast & zebra buy inches as we were flying down the road. Everyone pretty much just went to bed after dinner.

Day 32, Sun 1/8 - LAST DAY OF TOUR. For the first time since the tour started we had to wake ourselves up. Some people weren't quite sure how to deal with this but I used it to my advantage & managed to stay in bed (a proper bed!) till the last possible second - it was soooo nice. The game drive left at 7am & we got off to a bad start. Our drive forgot our tickets so we missed out on 20min in the park... It was a really good morning & some of the highlights were been really close to a elephant that trumpted, watching a pack of vultures go to work on a wilderbeast & just the share number of the many herds of wilderbeasts, it was pretty cool. We left the park about 12pm & thought we'd be meeting up with everyone for lunch as we had the food with us. but no. We stopped for about 20min at a service station & they still didn't come. So we set off, leaving the food for them at the servo. We got to Nairobi about 5pm. The rest didn't arrive till a hour after us. I was just a tad pissed off that we'd missed off on a hour & 40min of viewing but was ok with it till they started going on abut the lions they say.... Then I ust got grumpy. I think it was a combination of to many days on the truck, missing out on the viewing, not eating lunch (cause they forgot I couldn't eat bread... I had 3 bananas though) & waiting for them for over a hour. Plus we had to say good by to a heap of people. I think it was the worst mood I've been in for over the last 4 months. And that was that.

I'm in Nairobi now & stayed 2 nights at the NPS campsite & are now at the youth hostel. Need to go cause its getting dark & its taken me the best part of the day to write this up!

Next - The middle east.

Take care & keep in touch.

Wednesday 4/8/2004 6.39pm Nairobi Kenya