http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/ADnMAZ/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from ADnMAZ en-us Thu, 28 Aug 2008 17:21:18 BST Thu, 28 Aug 2008 17:21:18 BST On arriving in Tana we had booked ourselves into what turned out to be an awesome hotel called Sakamanga Malagasy for Blue Cat with the intention of shopping around the city for a few days for a canoe trip down the Tsiribinha river. It's never a good idea to jump at the first offer to come along is our first travel motto. So when the taxi driver who picked us up from the airport and also the http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Madagascar/blog-235179.html A bit of a jump ahead of where our blog should be but just wanted to wish everyone a very merry christmas and a happy new yearhave a good one See you in 2008XXX http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Madagascar/blog-229365.html So here we are. Mango town. We have never seen so many mangoes in one place. Ever. On the trees strewn all over the floor. Mangoes are eaten for breakfast lunch the afterschool game was throwing mangoes at the mango tree and eating the fallen mangoes and dinner was.... Mangoes Raay Inevitably it stank of fermenting fruit. The local bin men were obviously on strike or something.Following the http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Madagascar/Antananarivo/blog-228484.html We didn't expect to be here when we left on our big trip but here we are on a little piece of France a couple of thousand miles away from Europe in the middle of the Indian Ocean. We have been eagerly awaiting this leg of the journey for about 3 months and now we are here to all intents and purposes in France. There are SuperU's Carrefours Credit Agricoles Boulangeries the road signs are in http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mauritius/Reunion/Reunion/blog-224171.html Despite one South African bloke taking one look at the rather tired looking Nissan and stating Don't worry lads noone is going to carjack you in THAT Raz and Uzi were in constant fear of being car jacked and mugged at every junction in South Africa. So an offer from Nan Phil and Haley we met at Kgaswane Park to lead us into Jo'burg to Backpackers Ritz was very welcome as it put the army boys http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Gauteng/Johannesburg/blog-224170.html After the Pans we headed South in Botswana towards the South African border. But as already mentioned Botswana is BIG and it was quickly obvious that this wasn't an afternoon pootle.First we broke the journey at Khama Rhino Sanctuary. This was a small private reserve that served as a convenient overnight stop but also we hoped would give us the chance to see the elusive black rhino. This was http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Botswana/blog-219716.html Botswana is big. And flat. I'm not quite sure how Raz or Uzi stayed awake to be honest driving for hour after hour in the stifling Botswanan heat with nothing more interesting than bushes to look at on either side of the road which stretched for mile after mirage covered mile in a straight line off into the heat haze. In fact they could have fallen asleep for all we know...Sitting in the back of http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Botswana/North-West/Maun/blog-219715.html Our destination following our trek up through South Luangwa was a campsite called ldquoMutinondo Wildernessrdquo. Itrsquos an area of 10000 hectares which the owners bought from the local chief about ten years ago and have turned into an ecofriendly paradise. The area contains several enormous granite lsquowhalebackrsquo domes rising from a sea of multicoloured trees which cover the su http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Zambia/Eastern-Province/blog-219586.html After our mammoth three day Lusaka Kitwe Lusaka Livingstone tour we finally arrived at Jollyboys backpackers in Livingstone. Very relieved to not be on a bus and very happy to arrive at such a fab hostel which couldn't have been more of a contrast to the place in Lusaka.Livingstone is the base for visiting Victoria Falls on the Zambian side. Next morning we headed out to the falls. It's th http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Zambia/Livingstone/blog-219573.html We really started to count our blessings for meeting Raz and Uzi whose itinerary was very similar to ours even more so when the offer of a lift was extended almost indefinitely. The distances in Zambia Botswana and Namibia are BIG. If we were to stand any chance of seeing anything besides the inside of a coach or Matatu it was starting to dawn on us that a car was needed and a 4X4 preferred. Th http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Zambia/Lusaka/blog-216310.html Leaving Lilongwe we dropped Nadav off as he needed to begin to make his way back North to get his flight home to Israel. We were sad to see him go. We headed for the Zambian border. We had made arrangements we thought with Wild Dogs Camp just outside South Luangwa Park in Zambia for a VISA waiver for the border. It should work something like this With enough advance notice of around 12 hours http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Zambia/South-Luangwa/blog-216309.html Note from Marianne This is going back in time a bit I wrote this soon after we were in Rwanda back in in September. Adam was supposed to write an entry about Kigali and the genocide memorials we visited there not a comedy. And I wanted to write a more cheery entry about everyday Rwanda because we liked it so much. But Adam hasn't got round to writing his yet so slightly out of context and ve http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/blog-214969.html Eventually we managed to drag ourselves away from the home comforts of Mzoozoozoo and April Dunkin and Donut. Wersquore still on the road with the Israelis Raz and Uzi and their trusty Nissan 4 x 4 and Nadav. Next stop was Lake Malawi. Wersquove ended up staying at 3 different places along the Lake Nkhata Bay in the North Kande Beach in the middle and Cape MacClear in the South.The Norther http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Malawi/Lake-Malawi/blog-212496.html After a mammoth bus ride of about 14 hours across Tanzania note to self no matter how long hot and dusty the bus ride there's no point in paying extra for the deluxe airconditioned toiletonboard service when the air con doesn't work and the toilet is out of order we arrived in Mbeya a border town in the South. We were so knackered and fed up that we were even daft enough to pay another http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Malawi/Northern/Mzuzu/blog-210609.html From Arusha we caught a bus across to Dar es Salaam on the coast. This was our first good look at the Tanzanian countryside outside of National Parks. Compared to the other Eastern African countries we've been in Tanzania is much hotter drier and dustier with big open plains and rocky hills dry scrubby brush and boulders. Which makes it all the more impressive when you suddenly notice Mt Kilim http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/Zanzibar/Kendwa/blog-210607.html After the Gorilla tracking in Parc National Des Volcans we decided to head to one of the small towns on Lake Kivu in Western Rwanda called Gisenyi with Brian and Anne. Unfortunately as we were leaving Kinigi that morning the heavens opened and only Adams backpack didn't have a cover on it. This meant it got soaked in the back of the flatbed truck and was nicely moist when put in the cargo compar http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/blog-204875.html Googlemap Courtesy of Maria we now have a Googlemap charting the route of our travels I think you might need GoogleEarth installed to view it. Let us know if the link is working.Thanks a big bunch o' bananas Maria AdnMaz Travel Map We got the impression that there really isn't that much to see travelling overland from Rwanda to Tanzania. It would have taken us three days at least of just cons http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/North/Arusha/blog-204202.html Quick note we are also composing an entry about arriving in Rwanda and our stay in Kigali which will be slotted in before this one. But there was quite a lot to say what with genocide memorials and our first impressions of how the country is today. So we are still writing it and we have skipped ahead to this one so we can post the gorilla pics. So after a few days in Kigali it was time for us http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Province-du-Nord/Parc-National-des-Volcans/blog-204200.html Situated in the Southwestern corner of Uganda close to the Rwandan and Congolese border lake Bunyoni is rumoured to be 'the' place to chill when passing through Uganda on the way to or from Rwanda so we thought we'd pop in. We'd had lots of recommendations for different places on the lake but Byoona Amagara kept popping up again and again so we decided to plump for that one.Arrival at the lake is http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Uganda/Western-Region/Kabale/blog-199586.html From Kampala we had a fairly uneventful bus ride to Fort Portal in Western Uganda on our way do the Chimp tracking in Kyambura Chambura gorge in Queen Elizabeth Park. In Western Uganda the countryside is much more hilly and the road wound its way through terraced farms and tea plantations.Fort Portal itself isn't much to look at and there is no fort but there is plenty to see in the surroundin http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Uganda/Western-Region/Fort-Portal/blog-199585.html