Blogs from Africa - page 2980

Advertisement

Africa » Tanzania » Zanzibar November 11th 2006

From the frantic pace and noises of Dar es Salaam to Pongwe Beach Hotel, a place designed with an itinerary of relaxation in mind. James and I hopped on a ferry on Monday morning with this destination foremost in our minds. Despite being a calm and sunny day, I spent most of the two hour trip over with my eyes closed, concentrating on ignoring the not so pleasant feeling of sea sickness. A great start. At the dock we weren't besieged by touts as we were expecting, but did, of course, receive the usual offer of a discount taxi ride. Instead, we got our passports stamped (even though we were still in Tanzania) and found a taxi driver whose car still had all four wheels and only one crack in the windscreen. An hour later, we ... read more
Nice spot to catch up on some reading
Raking the Sand
Door to Our Bungalow

Africa » Tanzania » Zanzibar » Chumbe Island November 11th 2006

This blog is especially dedicated to our good friends Michael, Sue, Harry and Ruby. Thank you so much for your generous gift. We loved and appreciated our time on Chumbe and still to this day it remains one of the highlights of our trip. From our hotel in Stone Town we hiked the 7km to the Mbweni Ruins Hotel. By the time we arrived we were ready to accept a ride from one of the hundred or so taxis that stopped and told us that it was too far to walk on this hot day and that they would be happy to take us the rest of the way, naturally for a special price. "The Chumbe Express" was ready and waiting which meant that there was no time to get comfortable and have a refreshing drink ... read more
Chumbe Island
Reading Lounge
Lovin Paradise

Africa » Sudan » North » Khartoum November 11th 2006

This is a short story about how we found Nemo while counting stars and listening to musical crickets hiding between the bricks of a true Sudanese house. On Friday Iss and I visited our friend Haider and his family in Kalakala, only half an hour drive from Khartoum. We were warmly welcomed and made ourselves comfortable. We joined the family for dinner. His mum had cooked a special dish for me, rice and vegetables, so that I did not have to eat my way around the meat, meat and ... meat! Thanks or rather shukran Mama Haider, it was lovely! I had a little bit of a culture shock just before dinner when I was told that I had to eat with the women and that Iss was eating with the men in a separate room. ... read more

Africa » Namibia » Swakopmund November 11th 2006

Sand Madness This was one of those great days where the unprofessionalism and incompetence of the activity operator cannot mask what is at its heart a really great, fun day. Despite their best efforts to convince all and sundry they were incompetent nincompoops by forgetting to collect two passengers, and having to turn around an already full Kombi and pick them up so that all eight of us were sharing just six seats, and then having a nightmare drive where every 'STOP' sign appeared to mean go faster and the difference between sealed and and unsealed road was so infintesimal as to be undetectable, this was a really great experience. There was a reasonably hard trudge into the place we would use for the rest of the morning as our return point, but once there, each ... read more
First Fast Run
Tandem Run
The First 'Dizzie' Run

Africa » Swaziland » Mbabane November 10th 2006

Hello from Swaziland! Am having a great time, having met some wonderful people and am very busy working on my volunteer project. As opposed to teaching in a regular school as originally planned, I've moved to a different and in some ways more challenging project. I'm based at the NCP (Neighbourhood Care Point) where there's about 26 orphaned or 'at risk' children aged between 18 months and 18 years! All the children come to the NCP because they can not afford to pay the school fees required at all schools in Swaziland. All are 'at risk' children either because they are orphans or have lost one parent and likely to lose a second soon. There's no real way of telling but taking in account their backgrounds, maybe about 80% of the children are HIV+. I still ... read more

Africa » Morocco » Souss-Massa-Draâ » Agdz November 10th 2006

al salir de marrakech, con 70 kilos de burgales de menos y unas nubes bastante feas no se me ocurrio cosa mas feten que meterme en una pista desde telouet hasta ait benhaddou. la cosa iba bien hasta que cayo la noche _segun dice fer aqui cae deprisa deprisa_ pueblo al fondo, luz en la escuela, soyez bienvenue y voila! ya tengo colchoneta, agujero en el suelo y como no, tv satelite. Al dia siguiente la cosa se pone negra; caen chuzos de punta y no hay quien se menee... lo que parecia una noche improvisada se convierte en mi chozo por tres noches y cuatro dias en los que basicamente he seguido el ritmo marroqui de levantarse, tomar el te, pasar el rato, otro te, comer un tajine,estirar las patas, mirar al cielo, menear la ... read more
pista
escuela tizgui n barda
escuela tizgui n barda 2

Africa » Ethiopia » Addis Ababa Region » Addis Ababa November 10th 2006

This is our first blog entry - all going well you'll all receive an email update! We are back in London after just under 2 weeks in Africa. From the outset - I think it's fair to say that Africa is one of our favourite continents so it should be little surprise that we chose to squeeze is one last quick trip before we head back to NZ. The basic outline of our trip was to head to Ethiopia and onto to Uganda... After a small issue with the outbound flight - we found ourselves in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (we didn't quite make the flight we were booked on but luckily we found out in time and thanks to the nice people at Emirates we managed to change our flights and still catch the Ethiopian connection!)... ... read more
Gorillas 2

Africa » Ghana » Northern » Tamale November 10th 2006

It is one thing to be overseas in terms of actually over an ocean away from your home country, but the overseas I am talking about is just as out of reach, out of mind and out of sight. The “overseas” areas I am talking about are here, contained in Ghana, but for me specifically in East Gonja. There are no seas or oceans that run through Ghana, but when the rainy season hits Ghana it cuts off communities from their District Assembly (local government), and roads to market and hospital facilities. The rainy season is usually from May until July or August, and during this time the river levels rise, the low areas fill with water and communities are cut off. Then in East Gonja, there are areas that are divided literally by the ... read more
Canoe, bike and all!
The Divide
Arrive!

Africa » Namibia » Swakopmund November 10th 2006

Swakopmund Arrival We went out for the first evening meal we hadn't cooked ourselves for several days. ... read more
Swakopmund Dinner #2
Swakopmund Dinner #3
Swakopmund Dinner #4

Africa » Ghana » Volta November 10th 2006

THIS PAST WEEK I TRAVELED TO THE VOLTA REGION OF GHANA FOR THE FIRST TIME.... TWO DAYS BEFORE I LEFT, I DREAMED OF THE FORK IN THE ROAD YOU SEE ON THE PHOTO..... AND IN MY DREAM I WAS TOLD TO GO TO THE RIGHT.... SO THATS WHERE WE WENT.... I CAME ACROSS A VILLAGE CALLED TENGUEKOPA.... HERE ARE SOME OF THE PEOPLE IN THE VILLAGE THEY ARE OF THE EWE TRIBE.... HERE IS ALSO A PICTURE OF ME DOING AN EWE DANCE WITH THE LADIES OF TRIBE.... I WITNESSED A FUNERAL, BUT DONT HAVE PICS OF THAT....THIS VILLAGE THAT I DREAMED ABOUT WAS THE MOST PEACEFUL TO MY SPIRIT.... I REALLY FELT AT HOME....BEFORE LEAVING, THE ELDERS INSISTED THAT I HAD RETURNED HOME.... I'VE DREAMED OF THIS PLACE EVERYNIGHT SINCE.... I MUST GO BACK.... THEY ... read more
TENGUEKOPA TRIBE
WORKIN IT OUT EWE STYLE!!!
WORKIN IT OUT EWE STYLE!!! 2




Tot: 0.349s; Tpl: 0.008s; cc: 17; qc: 80; dbt: 0.1942s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.3mb