Welcome to Zanzibar. Blue and turquoise shore line, with local fishing boats sprawled along the coast. We walked along the beach for awhile until we saw Old Fort (a Stone Town landmark) and then headed into the narrow, mesh of streets. The buildings were old, grey and falling apart but the history and stories that those building have experienced is evident. It is so easy to get lost though - on more than one occasion I was unable to determine in which direction I needed to head towards. So much for my sense of direction. My lack of sleep probably had a lot to do with how quickly I got annoyed with the people of Zanzibar, but I was surprised and saddened to see how tourism has corrupted and distorted the local culture of the Zanzibar ... read more

Malawi to Tanzania Malawi Time to depart - not that I was here long. We needed to get to Mbeya, Tanzania by Saturday to catch the train to Dar es Salaam, so we set out to catch a taxi to Mzuzu then another one to Karonga near the border. As we were leaving Nkhata Bay, we walked past the small prison and all the prisoners were sitting outside on the grass. They let them out to play local soccer and no one runs away or tries to escape. Only in Africa. We also walked past a recently )(maybe 30min) slaughtered goat with blood pooled on the road and skin and meat and bone. In Mzuz', we headed for the bus depot and bargained down to the local price for the trip to Karonga. Then we just ... read more

On the border of Mozambique lies a not-so-east-to-get-to-but-definitely-worth-the-bumps backpackers called Shewula Mountain Camp. We got to explore a nearby community on a village tour and meet some of the locals. The view was breath-taking. I wish my camera was working properly so that I could have taken un-blurred photos.... read more

Dev, Kel and myself decided to tackle the Usutu River in two-man rubber duckies - facing up to grade IV rapids. I think Kel had it easy as she got to accompany the guide and hence had to do very little actual paddling - although I'm sure Dev will state he did most of the work in our boat too... I'm positive the guy at the back is suppose to do most of the paddling... right?... read more

Paraty is a small coastal town between Rio and Sao Paulo. The first night we stayed in a hostel in town, the next day we took a few kms walk to the coastline where the hostel was right on the beach - hammocks, sea kayaks and table tennis. Felt like a dream holiday. We rented the kayaks and headed up a small stream which circles back through the town and then our into the 'harbour' area. There was a small island off the coast so we aimed for that. About an hour later we touched the island and headed back as I was starting to get sea sick. We hit the sand and I tumbled out the boat and lay on the ground until the world stopped bobbing. The next day we did an island hopping ... read more