Sai
Sai Koppala Joined: July 19th 2005
Logged in: April 21st 2009
Logged in: April 21st 2009
Travel Blog Posts
Basilica in Quito
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, we headed south on the Pan American highway or the Avenue of Volcanoes to see Volcan Cotopaxi. It is a picture-perfect cone shaped, snow-capped active volcano, but we could barely see it from afar, due to ... read more
Cobblestone streets of Copan
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, a quaint little town in a verdant valley dotted with white adobe buildings and cobblestone streets. It has the same relaxed atmosphere as Antigua, Guatemala. A perfect place to start your vacation as time seems ... read more
Hole in the Wall
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 highlight of the visit was the guide, an ex-political prisoner at Robben Island. He showed us Mandela's prison cell and also talked about his personal experiences there. Compared to the other places we have been ... read more
Sossusvlei Dune at Sunrise
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. While we were waiting for the owner to take us on a Cheetah tour, we were busy clicking pictures of the tame Cheetahs. In the end, we were unable to go on the Wild Cheetah ... read more
Magic in the Sky
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 Park. But, Botwana is known for its sunsets and have seen some wonderful sunsets here. From Kasane, we headed to Okavango Delta. The mighty Okavango river from Angola flows into Namibia and river is stopped ... read more
Victoria Falls
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 we have visited before. Zambia and several countries in this region had record rainfalls this year and therefore, the famed South Luangwa Park was closed and Victoria Falls had record water volume. While we were ... read more
Lake Malawi
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 Mayoka, had a rambuctious birthday for himself and got the entire village to drink with him. At one point, he flashed on top of the bar ! We also met a bunch of Peace Corp ... read more
Sunset Sail Dhow
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, many locals consider themselves Zanzibaris and not Tanzanians. Stone Town is a beautiful town on the south west coast of Zanzibar main island. The narrow, labyrinthe alleways reminded us of Morocco. Alison had her fill ... read more
Sunrise in Serengeti/Mara
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 material for students. We spent an afternoon with them in the Maruvangu village. Th entire school student body, teachers and village elders were there to greet us on a Saturday. There was lot of singing, ... read more
Lion King
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 run Camp at the edge of the National Park and did plenty of game drives in the Park. The Masai are a nomadic tribe that still have grazing rights in the Park. The Masai warriors ... read more
