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Published: October 21st 2006
It was a hot and humid September morningwhen I was picked up from the Heron Hotel in Nairobi by the bright yellow Absolut Africa truck. Ahead of me awaited 28 days of wild life adventures, campsite bonfires, beautiful beaches and safaris overlanding through five African countries (Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe).
My home for the next four weeks is a small safari coloured two person tent, my bed a thin thermarest and my vehicle a a big yellow purpose-built truck - complete with sound system, book shelf, lockers and chilly bins. Shortly after boarding the truck I was introduced to my new family: 25 fantastic people - mostly kiwis returning home from their OE in London but also a few Aussies and British. This of course made me the only alien onboard, but luckily I am used to that role :-)We were a varied bunch of people for sure! We had everything onboard from pharmacists to engineers and teachers with only one thing in common: A passion for Africa and adventure. Combined we can all tell stories from most corners of the world and we all know that we are part of stories we will tell for years to
Camping in the wild
No fence, no guard. Camping in the serengeti among the wildest wild life on the planet!come.
Most of the crew had started in Uganda and had already been on the truck for a few weeks. Luckily they made me feel at home straight away and it didnt take long to settle in to the routine of being an overlander! For some of the people on the truck ever-lasting memories have already been created - like one guy proposed to his girl friend on top of Mount Kilimanjaro (how romantic) and for others many adventures still lie ahead.
Life on the truck
Our crew is Tans and Ben, a Aussie/kiwi couple, who have been overlanding for over two years. They are both extremely passionate about Africa and their knowledge of African culture and customs is unparalleled. They sure got us out of trouble many many times.
The daily routine on the truck usually starts with a very early wake up call, packing down the tent, then having breakfast (sometimes cereal, sometimes yummy cooked breakfasts). We all take turns cooking and fortunately for everyone it has not been my turn yet!
If it is a long drive day, we spent the day reading (Crystal managed to read 7 books on the trip) playing cards
(I am still no good), listening to music (25 Ipods is a good thing) or just marvelling at the beautiful African landscape. Lunch is usually off the back of the truck with dozens of locals coming up to the truck and selling us fruit, nuts and other bits and pieces. My favourite has become a chips omelette which most local street vendors sell for less than 50 cents! Toilet stops are usually by the side of the road. No need to go further into details but lets just say that I have become very good a squatting. At night we put up our tents and all gather around the campfire for a nice meal, a few local Serengeti beers and the habitual "dick of the day" nominations. We have had some great nominations so far with the best one probably being Stu who nearly got arrested for smoking at the border. Luckily I have only had one nomination: for pointing out an ill-nourished looking horse which turned out to be a cow!!!
Serengeti
One of the definite highlights of the trip (and probably of my life) was the Serengeti National Park. The Serengeti is a world heritage site and
This is how close the lions got to our jeep!!!
scary moment in the serengeti when a lion decided to check us out. hosts some of the most amazing wild life on the planet. Most famously it is home to the big five: Elephant, lion, buffalo, rhino and leopard and of course it was our aim to spot all five of them.
As we cruised into the 'Geti with the top down on our 4x4's you look across this vast golden fiel with what looks like nothing but golden grass, a few trees and lakes. However, first looks can be deceiving and it only took a few moments before we spotted a big herd of thompson antilopes followed by our first king of the animal kingdom: a lion sleeping after a huge feast. The next few hours were followed by more "aahs" and "ehhs" as we took hundreds of snaps of what appeared to be our very own National Geographic channel: Elephants grazing, , Giraffes wandering, the mighty buffalo, hippos sleeping in the lakes and zebras and wildebeest roaming the plains to name but a few. The absolut highlight of our safari was seeing a leopard munching on his kill in a tree few meters from a truck. Leopards are quite hard to spot so we were very lucky to ensure we hit
the big five. The scariest moment however was when a lion decided to have a closer look at us humans and came so close to our jeep that she actually rubbed her back against our bumper.
Scary stuff but not as scary as actually camping in the Serengeti. To think there was only the tent canvas separating me from some of the world's most dangerous animals was slightly unnerving. Needless to say I didnt get much sleep that night and funny enough no one needed to go to the toilet in the middle of the night out of pure nervousness that a lion might be waiting in the bush. However, sitting around the campfire that night knowing you are in the middle of the Serengeti hundreds of kilometers from electricity or any sort of modern conveniences, looking at the stars and talking about today's game viewing like true hunters made it all worth it. Visiting the Serengeti is probably the most amazing thing I have ever done. Seeing the majestic animals roaming the African land makes you truly marvel at the wonders of the world and appreciate how insignificant us humans are.
On the last day of our
safari, in the Ngongoro Crater I got a bit more squatting training than I had hoped for as I got a bad case of African stomach. Being on a squat toilet for more than 15min is not something I can recommend nor having emergency stops by the side of the road with nothing but a bush and a shovel! Luckily it only lasted 24h and I guess it does make quite a funny memory!
Zanzibar
Having said goodbye to Mr & Mrs elephant and the Serengeti we headed for Zanzibar, an island about 2h ferry ride from Dar Es Saalam, the capital of Tanzania. Before getting on the ferry, we had a night in Dar where we stayed at a lovely campsite right on the beach. We were all looking forward to a couple of vodka slushies which Tans had talked up since day 1. Little did we know that the bar had an ongoing slushie competition and the current record for a bucket of slushie was 49sec. As it was set by another truck we of course had to beat it. The boys did us proud and managed to gulp it down in just 36sec although not without
some serious ice cream headaches. Needless to say there were a few sore heads the next morning. Red was so sick that he couldnt actually get up and get on the truck so we had to leave him behind. Later we found out that he actually got malaria, the alcohol brought it out as it normally festers in the liver. Red was not the only victim though as we later found out that two other guys got it as well bringing the truck malaria tally to 6, a near record. One of the victims was my tent buddy Jarred and naturally I as not impressed as apparently if a mosquito bites another victim within an hour you get malaria too!
We had heard lots of talk about Zanzibar having some of the best beaches and coral reefs in the world but little did we know until we got there. The only downside was that it is 99% muslim so we did wake up to 5am prayers the first nigth in Stone Town. Stone Town was settled by the Arabs so it still has quite an Arabic influence. The main export is spices and from the local markets you can
buy any spice you can imagine.
When we got to our nice beach camp, where we stayed in cool little huts, we celebrated Ash's 30th with a huge seafood meal and a drink or two. Ash was particularly happy as he had just finished his 2 weeks malaria medicine and was able to drink again. Probably no need to mention that he was in bed by midnight and was last seen squeezing lemon into his eyes.
Snorkeling is one of my all time favourite things to do so whenever I get the chance I go for it. I just find that snorkeling is like diving into a whole other universe. Watching clown fish feed of anemone and seeing bright blue star fish against the white sand is just so amazing. If it wasnt for the fact that I would shrivel away I would probably stay in the water for days. The reefs our Zanzibar were truly spectacular and we had the added bonus of having Jason on this trip. Jason is from Cairns and has worked as a Great Barrier Reef Tour Guide so he was able to point out all the highlights of the sealife as well
as tell lots of stories. Cheers Jas!
But Zanzibar was more than just parties on beach and snorkeling. This was also when I met my first stalker. In the beginning he was just a nice guy from another truck but then things get progressively worse. At first he just wouldnt leave me alone, he would send me drinks (which perhaps I didnt mind so much) and kept asking if I wanted to go for a walk on the beach (I think not) even though I was not even talking to him. Just as well the other boys were there to protect me so finally he went away.
Although I was sad to leave Zanzibar, it was excited to head off on new adventures. In the South of Tanzania we spent a night at a campsite in the mountains which was a truly spectacular experience: Not only did they have hot showers but we also got a three course meal served in the cutest little hut with white table cloths . When you are used to dirty little cold showers and squat toilets, a toilet seat can be a blessing beyond words. I guess that is one of the
reasons why I came to Africa: To truly appreciate the little things in life like table cloths and toilet seats, hot showers and a bed to sleep in.
Africa you have bedazzled me. I am ready for me.
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Anna
non-member comment
Very Jealous!
Vicki - yet again your travel blogs have made me incredibly jealous. Sounds like an amazing place - another for me to put on my list of places to see! Look after yourself, love anna :)