Hercule and the Hobbit

Suzi and I set off from Bujumbura at 0140 on Tues 11 October to Dar es Salaam via Nairobi. Arrived in Dar airport fairly relaxed and looking forward to a leisurely lunch before boarding the 3.30pm train to Mbeya on the lake Malawi coast. Kenya airways, the miserable shysters, tried their level best to scupper our plans by losing all of our luggage (along with that of 90% of our fellow passengers). We were brimming with indignant rage as we completed the loss forms and the codified 'what does your luggage look like' laminated sheet sent me into toe hopping fury. Faced with the option of waiting for an indeterminate amount of time in a festering African port Suzi and I jumped into a cab. We had 90mins to replace our carefully procured travel kit before ... read more

So in a matter of hours we will negotiate the bizarre rituals of the Bujumbura traffic to head to the airport and leave Burundi for the last time. It has been a testing, exciting, unexpected and bizarre experience but it is also time to move on. Ahead of us are four months of adventure and for those who want to follow what we get up to then this is the place! ... read more