Writing this from the comfort of my couch in Greystones with electricity, hot water, my bed and my jeans!!!.... what a wonderful trip...still zonked (just got home yesterday) and re-adjusting but will get there...
So South Africa...well flew out of Lilongwe airport on the 17th...were very happy to find a taxi with petrol to drive us to the airport and glad to leave before any protests/riots started. Since we have left the Prime Minister has removed all his cabinet so does this mean a dictatorship?? MMmmm...not sure...
Delayed in Jo'burg airport for hours so arrived in Port Elizabeth v late on the Thursday night. We were hoping to say hi to the Bennet family but time went against us unfortunately... left PE on Friday after an amazing nights sleep in a bed, with hot water, electricity, a lovely toilet and a TV...we didn't know ourselves...
Drove to a small village called Jobertina (on the R62 route on the Garden Route) and stayed there for 3 nights. It was a beautiful cottage in the middle of no-where... with no electricity again... so out with the torches/night-lights again...was kind of funny! Met lovely people and the quote of the stay there was 'Jobertina is a one horse town...at the weekend the horse is dead'...when we asked if there was an internet cafe... . At night all we could see were the stars...beautiful....also became friends with the biggest spider I have ever seen!!!!
Drove then, on Monday, to Arniston Bay...about a 8 hr drive, down the beautiful Prince Alfred Pass, into Knysna for lunch and then across wine country to Arniston - a fabulous seaside town with lots of cottages, cliff walks, beaches etc... Unfortunately the rain came but that didn't put us off and as we sipped rum in the hotel, beside the open fire, we thought life wasn't too bad!!
Then three nights in Camps Bay, just 15 min from Cape Town...what can I say - Out of this World..! We were staying in absolute luxury, over looking the Atlantic, waves crashing (the only thing we heard)...just incredible. After shopping in Cape Town we settled back into 'western life' with sundowners, fish and sleep... popped into a spa for a massage and fish eating our feet (all the rage apparently!)...and chilled... and then flew from Cape Town - Heathrow - Dublin arriving home yesterday...
Good to be home and cant wait to see everyone and catch up.... but what an amazing summer...have really been bitten by the travelling bug and would love to head back to Rwanda for a while... also maybe Zimbabwe and Mozambique (must learn how to spell it first!).... Have our Malawi Table and some other bits and pieces to remind us of an amazing summer.... You should all do it...!
Monday, 29 August 2011
Tuesday, 23 August 2011
Bye bye Zanzibar.....hello Malawi and SA
Hello all...sorry it has been 10 days +...really limited internet/electricity in Malawi and then in SA until today so here goes...hope I remember it all...
So Zanzibar, as I said, was just incrediable...really beautiful part of the world...sandy beaches, blue, transparent sea, amazing fish... Headed out snorkling, ate bbq tuna on the beach...where do you get it.... and all got burnt to a crisp...despite the large amounts of sun lotion (Eoin still peeling..looks like he has a skin disease!)... Ended up at a semi-full moon party in Kendall Beach (dont ask!!!)... and spent the rest of the time recovering.....Got the ferry back to Dar Es Saalam and stayed one more night before leaving at 4am to cross into Malawi... (did I tell you - we got tuc tuck from the camp to theferry on the way over to Zanzibar...they are teeny little cars - like golf cars, and our driver was a lunatic...driving on the footpaths, practically knocking down people etc...! so we got a taxi back after Zan...I want to live a little longer!!)...
Malawi.... crossed the border into Malawi from Tanzania...just before we did we met Mr Cool...the blackmarket money exchange guy who was able to give us 1.80 kqatcha to the dollar (the banks have fixed it at 1.40 to the dollar)...was really wierd..meeting this guy with a large suitcase of money....at the side of teh road....but that seems to be the way things are done.... so just went with it...
Spend 5 nights at Lake Malawi...wow...one of the biggest lakes in the world - looks like the sea...honestly. amazing. Spent the first two in Chitimba and then the last three in Kandi Beach.... A nasty worm thingy lives in Lake Malawi (Bilhowzie...or something...._..) and so as we were showering; paddling/swmming etc. we have to take these anti-bilhowzie tablets on the 23 sept..to stop these worms growing in our intestines - UUURRRGGGHHHH!!!! Anyhow, Lake Malawi just fabulous...really nice. Spent some time in the local villages with fabulous people.
Desperate poverty in Malawi - most probably the poorest country we have been in. There is a fuel crises at the moment; limited food (difficult to find potatoes etc.), 1 in 4 people have HIV/AIDS etc.. Awful poverty... yet the people are so friendly and nice. Very few people saying 'give me money' as in other Countries we had been in though.. in one village... it was awful...one girl curtiosed (cant spell it) me... the perception of the white person is just awful... following us around, wanting to touch our hair, skin... feeling 'priviledged' to meet us... bowing at us .... and yet these people are malnourished, have absolutely nothing... something wrong with the world....
Left the Lake for Lilongwe and were there for 4 days... limited electricity, no internet but again lovely people. Meant to be riots on one of the days we were there but they were cancelled at the last minute. I believe the government have all been fired by the president now...
Anyway, have to run...internet crashing... will update again when I can... xxx
So Zanzibar, as I said, was just incrediable...really beautiful part of the world...sandy beaches, blue, transparent sea, amazing fish... Headed out snorkling, ate bbq tuna on the beach...where do you get it.... and all got burnt to a crisp...despite the large amounts of sun lotion (Eoin still peeling..looks like he has a skin disease!)... Ended up at a semi-full moon party in Kendall Beach (dont ask!!!)... and spent the rest of the time recovering.....Got the ferry back to Dar Es Saalam and stayed one more night before leaving at 4am to cross into Malawi... (did I tell you - we got tuc tuck from the camp to theferry on the way over to Zanzibar...they are teeny little cars - like golf cars, and our driver was a lunatic...driving on the footpaths, practically knocking down people etc...! so we got a taxi back after Zan...I want to live a little longer!!)...
Malawi.... crossed the border into Malawi from Tanzania...just before we did we met Mr Cool...the blackmarket money exchange guy who was able to give us 1.80 kqatcha to the dollar (the banks have fixed it at 1.40 to the dollar)...was really wierd..meeting this guy with a large suitcase of money....at the side of teh road....but that seems to be the way things are done.... so just went with it...
Spend 5 nights at Lake Malawi...wow...one of the biggest lakes in the world - looks like the sea...honestly. amazing. Spent the first two in Chitimba and then the last three in Kandi Beach.... A nasty worm thingy lives in Lake Malawi (Bilhowzie...or something...._..) and so as we were showering; paddling/swmming etc. we have to take these anti-bilhowzie tablets on the 23 sept..to stop these worms growing in our intestines - UUURRRGGGHHHH!!!! Anyhow, Lake Malawi just fabulous...really nice. Spent some time in the local villages with fabulous people.
Desperate poverty in Malawi - most probably the poorest country we have been in. There is a fuel crises at the moment; limited food (difficult to find potatoes etc.), 1 in 4 people have HIV/AIDS etc.. Awful poverty... yet the people are so friendly and nice. Very few people saying 'give me money' as in other Countries we had been in though.. in one village... it was awful...one girl curtiosed (cant spell it) me... the perception of the white person is just awful... following us around, wanting to touch our hair, skin... feeling 'priviledged' to meet us... bowing at us .... and yet these people are malnourished, have absolutely nothing... something wrong with the world....
Left the Lake for Lilongwe and were there for 4 days... limited electricity, no internet but again lovely people. Meant to be riots on one of the days we were there but they were cancelled at the last minute. I believe the government have all been fired by the president now...
Anyway, have to run...internet crashing... will update again when I can... xxx
Thursday, 4 August 2011
Zanzibar...what can I say...
So..left Arusha for a tough, bumpy 14 hour drive to Dar Es Salaam... however it was really worth it... stayed in a backpackers (Macaki Beach) right on the Indian Ocean.. absolutely amazing... blue 'picture postcard' sea, golden sand... cant believe we are here... One of the couples on our trip are getting married in New Zealand in December so, in order to 'prepare them' for that we organised a 'mock wedding' on our lovely Oasis Truck 'Jozie'. Well, it was just wonderful, all dressed up (well, with musty, sandy shorts etc... flowers in our hair..), and the Indian Ocean as the back-drop...
Next day we got the ferry over to Zanzibar Island and stayed in Stone Town for a night...did a Spice Tour which was incrediable... Vanilla Pods hanging from trees, Cinnamon Trees, Tumeric, Cardamon etc... great to see and experience... we also did a small tour of Stonetown, which played a massive part in the Slave Trade... and we were guided around the former Slave market etc..terrible what happened to so many people. 50,000 people per year were 'kidnapped, born into or cohersed' into the Slave Trade per year and that was solely in Zanzibar...
On a cheerier note, that evening we went to the fish market... woweeee.... just unbelievable sight (and small!)..there must have been 50 or more food stands selling all types of fish, meats, breads etc... so we tucked into tuna, kingfish, prawn, lobster kebabs...just delicious...and funny having to barter for our food too... You would all love it...even if you are not too keen on fish...
Up in Nungwi, North Island now for a few days... wet and cloudy (Nooooooo...) though still super hot...so hopefully the sun breaks through the clouds. Leave here on Monday and then head to Malawi....
Keep in touch... x
Next day we got the ferry over to Zanzibar Island and stayed in Stone Town for a night...did a Spice Tour which was incrediable... Vanilla Pods hanging from trees, Cinnamon Trees, Tumeric, Cardamon etc... great to see and experience... we also did a small tour of Stonetown, which played a massive part in the Slave Trade... and we were guided around the former Slave market etc..terrible what happened to so many people. 50,000 people per year were 'kidnapped, born into or cohersed' into the Slave Trade per year and that was solely in Zanzibar...
On a cheerier note, that evening we went to the fish market... woweeee.... just unbelievable sight (and small!)..there must have been 50 or more food stands selling all types of fish, meats, breads etc... so we tucked into tuna, kingfish, prawn, lobster kebabs...just delicious...and funny having to barter for our food too... You would all love it...even if you are not too keen on fish...
Up in Nungwi, North Island now for a few days... wet and cloudy (Nooooooo...) though still super hot...so hopefully the sun breaks through the clouds. Leave here on Monday and then head to Malawi....
Keep in touch... x
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