Blogs from Africa - page 2741

Hi everyone, Sorry I've been so useless at updating this site but I only get internet access once a week and the connection is so slow I only just have time to check emails etc. So we've been in our camp in the village of Mvae for 2 weeks now. When I say village it's more of a large rural area. There is a small village centre consisting of a few mud hut shops...one of which doubles as a bar big enough for 4 people, I kid you not. Suz, Ed and myself tested it out after getting a bit lost on a walk the other day! Very bizarre experience sitting in the tiniest 'pub' in the world drinking beer mid-afternoon with one of the local schoolteachers on his lunchbreak while half the village peered in ... read more

Neither staff nor participants can quite believe the end of the expedition has come and it’s time to swap email addresses and say farewells before continuing journeys homeward-bound, across the country or to pastures new. It’s been a fantastic ten weeks - a roller-coaster ride of emotions, new friendships, different experiences and expanded comfort zones! We’ve built a school from scratch, designed and constructed three playgrounds, one as part of a new sensory trail for the site at REST, where we've also helped develop a new aviary, improved a range of facilities at Cape Cross Seal Reserve and trekked many, many kilometres through river beds and desert plains to the Skeleton Coast. We’ve made an impact on the lives of communities and wildlife across Namibia and have travelled the length and breadth of its long, ... read more

Hi All, What an amazing past few days!! We have seen and done soo much in the past week that it has blown us away!! We flew out of Adelaide to Perth where after almost a sleeplessness due to packing we wandered around Perth in a daze. We did however get to the Perth Mint where we saw gold being poured and numerous coins that have been minted for special events in Australia and around the world. We flew out of Perth at around midnight and landed in Jo'burg at 5am. Everything went smoothly until we got to the baggage collection and mark's didn't come out!! Apparently from Adelaide the bag went to some indian country and then had to be sent back and flown overnight to Jo'burg so mark basically had just the clothes on ... read more

Ready for another day of information overload, Gene and I headed down to meet our guide in front of the hotel. Our driver was amazingly on the ball that morning, waiting for us at the side of the van with hair combed and what looked to be a decent night’s rest. It was my guess that he wasn’t willing to spend yet another day playing chauffeur only to go home with empty pockets. Our first stop was at Karnak Temple, a ruin measuring approximately 1.5km by 800m. The Temple was “built, added to, dismantled, restored, enlarged and decorated over nearly 1500 years. was the most important place of worship in Egypt during the height of Theban power and was called Ipet-Isut, meaning ‘The Most Perfect of Places.’” Gene and I learned more that day than we ... read more

Zimbabwe was hard. As sson as we crossed the border, planted fields and grazing gave way to abandoned, dusty plots; seed was too expensive this year. I was followed for blocks by able bodied young men whose only income is crafts and hounded by carvers desperate to trade for my used clothes and shoes. The government pays police to escort tourists to Victoria Falls past these illicit hawkers. Zimbabwe is a closed, collapsing economy, imploding under its own restrictions, with unimaginably drastic impacts on its citizens. I had that old time China feeling; no one will talk publicly about the government or the economy; too many are watching, listening. Mixing with ordinary citizens in shops and eateries is nearly impossible. But beyond the desperation and the police state the citizens are warm and hospitable. Unofficial ... read more