We landed in Quito, the capital of Ecuador and could immediately feel the altitude difference (9200 ft). Unlike in Peru & Kenya, this time we were well prepared with Diamox. Quito is nestled in the Andean mountains sorrounded by volcanoes. Central Quito or Old Town is a beautiful spanish colonial town full of cathedrals, theatres and plazas. We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas wandering the old town and visiting the colorful, ornate churches. La Compania de Jesus Church is considered the most beautiful church in the country and has seven tons of gold used to decorate the place. From Quito [View Full Entry]

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When I booked our flights to fly to Honduras on TACA, I had my doubts about flying on that airline. We quickly saw the pattern seen in many third world countries, where the new infrastructure is leapfrogging "first world" countries, whether it is airplanes or cell phones. The TACA planes were brand new and the service was better than many U.S based airlines and cell phone reception in many remote parts of Honduras was better than my cell phone reception in the heart of Silicon Valley. After a long day of plane and bus ride, we landed in Copan Ruinas, [View Full Entry]

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We are writing this last blog with mixed feelings, as our African adventure is ending in two days but we are also looking forward to seeing our relatives and friends. Once we arrived in Capetown, we rented a car to go around the city. Capetown is probably the most picturesque city we have ever been to. Surrrounded by the Atlantic/Indian Oceans, the Table Mountain towering on one side, spectacular bays, penguins on beaches and unique flora specific to the Cape region. While in Capetown, we visited Robben Island , where Nelson Mandela and most of the political prisoners were jailed. The [View Full Entry]

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In Windhoek, we stayed at Cardboard Box Backpackers. We met Eitan, an Israeli & Toshi and Yutaka, two Japanese Backpackers. Together we rented a Toyota Corolla for a week to travel around Namibia. We also rented Camping gear, as Namibia is very expensive to travel on a budget. We first made our way north from Windhoek and our first stop was Ojitotongwe Cheetah Park near Kamanjab. As soon as we arrived at the White Namibian Farm, we were greeted by three Cheetahs walking around the Farm. These were tame Cheetahs, but we were still nervous to get too close to them. [View Full Entry]

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From Zambia, we crossed the Zambezi river on a Pontoon Ferry to get to Kasane, Botswana. Kasane is the gateway to Chobe National Park, which is home to 45,000 (yes, forty five thousand) Elephants. Due to heavy rainfall, there is water everywhere and hence, the animals are difficult to find. We did a morning game drive and an evening/sunset boat cruise on the Chobe River to see the wild animals. We have been spoilt by our experiences in Kenya/Tanzania and were dissappointed with the amount of wild life here. We found lot more Elephants on the highway rather than in the [View Full Entry]

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After a long ardous 17 hour bus ride, we landed in Livingstone, Zambia's Tourism Capital. We stayed at Jollyboys Backpackers and signed up right away for a Booze Cruise on the Zambezi. The boat started sail at 3:30 pm and went along the mighty Zambezi river, upriver from the Vic Falls. We drank, ate and made new friends and watched Elephants and Hippos along with the beautiful sunset. We met an Indian family from Lusaka that had come to see the falls. There are plenty of Indians in Zambia, mainly in small businesses - similar to all the East African countries [View Full Entry]

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After crossing the border from Tanzania, we spent a night in Mzuzu before heading to Nkhata Bay. Nkhata Bay is a small village on the Lake Malawi shores. We spent three relaxing days at Mayoka Lodge eating, reading and staring at the Lake. I read Chitra Divakaruni's Arranged Marraige stories. This chic definitely does not like men, as almost every story the woman is the victim/hero and man is the culprit ! But, she does write good stories. Mayoka Village owners have built picturesque chalets constructed out of stone, bamboo and wood overlooking the bay. Gary, one of the owners of [View Full Entry]

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After a superb Ethiopian Meal at Addis in Dar in Dar es Salaam, we took the ferry the next day to Stone Town, Zanzibar. Stone Town has a interesting culture with a mix of Persian, Arabic, Indian and Bantu influences. To this day, one can see the influences in the exquisitely carved doors of most Zanzibari homes. Zanzibar was a city state until the 16th century with key trade links between Africa and Asia. After being a Portuguese colony briefly, it was ruled by the Omani Sultans until 1963. It then was joined with Tanganyika to form Tanzania. To this day, [View Full Entry]

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We landed in Arusha, Tanzania on Feb 10th. Arusha is the fastest growing town in Tanzania and is the headquarters for East African Community and site of Rwandan Genocide Trials. It is the place to organize safaris to Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater. We met a lovely American couple from Utah - Connie & Verlyn at the Kenya-Tanzania border with whom we ended up spending the rest of the week. Connie & Verlyn had worked over the last two years collecting donations for a village school on the foothills on Mt. Meru and were here to distribute the library books and study [View Full Entry]

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We took a Matatu ride from Nakuru to reach the pick up point for the Masai Mara trip. The ride was horrendous as the 18 wheeler trucks were kicking up so much dust on the muddy road that everyone were using head lights to see through the dust in bright day light. When we landed at our destination, our bags and faces were covered with a layer of dust. On our trip to Masai Mara National Park, we joined four other tourists - two dutch, 1 Argentine and 1 Guatemalan guy. Over the next three days, we stayed in a Masai [View Full Entry]

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