http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/pnltravels/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from pnltravels en-us Wed, 23 Dec 2009 09:55:01 +0000 Wed, 23 Dec 2009 09:55:01 +0000 Our destination that first night back in South Africa was Augrabies Falls National Park a threehour drive from Upington. En route we stopped at a winery distillery and sampled some lovely wine and even lovelier brandy and liqueurs. The north west is a very dry and barren area but the inventive South Africans have worked around the conditions and produce some fabulous wines grapes raisins http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Northern-Cape/blog-400894.html We arrived into Swakopmund early in the day and settled on a backpackers that was close to town where we could camp. It was a strange place ... the owners were not very welcoming or friendly. When we rang the bell to be let into the yard the owner opened the gate and said what do you want. Gee I dunno we are two foreigners with a pile of backpacks at our feet and you are running a lodge http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Namibia/Swakopmund/blog-388720.html WARNING Long Blog Entry please get comfy before reading ...We headed to Windhoek on a Sunday and ended up staying at the Cardboard Box Backpackers it was within walking distance from the minibus taxi stand and set up our tent on the driest piece of sand we could find. We must say in all the photos of Namibia that you see it looks like the whole country is a barren desert land. It has b http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Namibia/blog-384013.html When we asked what time the bus passes Planet Baobab we got several different answers that amounted to 3 buses pass by anytime between 8 am and 4 pm. Alrighty then very exact times to work with We wanted a decent breakfast and didn't want to pack up in the dark so we left around 915 am and expected a long wait for the bus. We just reached the road when a gravel truck pulled up and told us t http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Botswana/North-West/Okavango-Delta/blog-378109.html We arrived into Livingstone in the afternoon on a hot bright and sunny Sunday. We were delighted to find our accommodation close to the bus stop always a bonus We stayed at Jolly Boys Backpackers where many a traveller stops for a visit to Victoria Falls. Since the price of a dorm was quite a bit more than camping we decided to break out the new purchase might as well right and found http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Zambia/Livingstone/blog-376717.html We were on our Tanzanian safari when we celebrated our oneyear anniversary of being on the African continent. We can hardly believe that we have been travelling for this long and that a year has passed already However the state of our clothes attests to our length of travel as they are certainly worse for wear our packs are filthy and our shoes starting to fall apart I guess it is time to http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/Zanzibar/Kendwa/blog-373529.html We were only going to stay a few days in Shanzu before leaving Kenya but it got extended as usual as we relaxed into life at Melrose Place again We took Jan and Faridah bowling before we left and Joel and Shi joined us. We had a great evening out with plenty of goofy photos and hearty laughter. We got home quite late so it was a good thing we weren't leaving on the 6am bus the next day bu http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/North/Serengeti-National-Park/blog-369232.html We decided to stay in Nairobi for a few extra days and get in a visit to the Giraffe Centre. I was intrigued with being able to feed a giraffe so we planned our visit for Sunday. The Lonely Planet certainly made it sound easy to get to but after taking two matatus and walking 5 km in the heat of the day as always with us we were hoping for more of a giraffe experience than we got. It was http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Kenya/Coast-Province/Shanzu/blog-359248.html Wow What can I say The Masai Mara ... the fabulous awesome amazing wonderful Masai Mara. The pictures will say more than any words can but I must say that although we have done different safaris already nothing quite compares with the landscape and the animals of the Masai Mara. It is the open savannah grasslands that stretch for as far as the eye can see. We all have seen this in natur http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Kenya/Rift-Valley-Province/Masai-Mara-NP/blog-355530.html Departing Uganda was so easy that we didn't even realize we had left until we got to the Welcome to Kenya sign at the Kenyan border. Oops. We did not get stamped out of Uganda. Somehow we missed the Ugandan immigration office and since neither the Ugandan nor the Kenyan authorities seemed to care neither did we. Our first stop was Eldoret a small bustling town about 3 hours from the bord http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Kenya/Rift-Valley-Province/Lake-Nakuru-NP/blog-353003.html Uganda. Winston Churchill called it the Pearl of Africa. He was not wrong. It is a beautiful country with so many fabulous sights and activities as well as warm friendly people. We didn't know for sure if we would even enter Uganda but in the end we are having a hard time leaving.Leaving Rwanda the drive to the border took us through valley after valley of lush tea plantations and other gr http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Uganda/Eastern-Region/Jinja/blog-350279.html We arrived into Kigali at night again. Arriving into a major centre late isn't too bad as there are always lots of taxi's waiting to take you anywhere. The trip from Kigoma was long as we had to change vehicles several times and of course had the usual delays. The border was easy to navigate and the border guards friendly YAYThe very next morning Mike was up early and had already visited http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Province-du-Nord/Parc-National-des-Volcans/blog-345560.html What a pleasant change from Mozambique. We left Liwonde at 9 am and arrived into Zomba by 1030 am. We had checked into our resthouse had breakfast and were starting to wander the town all by 11 am. Not only are the distances so much smaller in compact Malawi but the landscape is completely different. The climate is more humid and the environment is much more green. There is also much more http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Malawi/Northern/Nkhata-Bay/blog-345247.html Truth be told we are tired. The punishing bus journeys of Mozambique exhausted us. In one case we were on the bus at 4 am and arrived to our destination at 630 pm. In hindsight good ol' hindsight we would have headed for Malawi after Vilankulos. The soulcrushing bus trips to the north and Ilha de Mozambique just weren't worth it in the end. Don't get me wrong Mozambique Island is nic http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Malawi/Southern/Blantyre/blog-339244.html If you read the comments from the last blog you will see that we made some omissions and errors. Personally I think we weren't too far off on the parrot at least it has a green back. We could have called it a purpleheaded dove or something . Thank you to John and Roger for setting us straight and hopefully they will continue to correct us on our bird mistakes. The biggest omission was th http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mozambique/Central/Quelimane/blog-334650.html We were told all along in Cape Town that the weather in Durban is the best in winter time. Hot and sunny but not too hot to handle. We were looking forward to a little sun surf and sand time. Unfortunately as our luck would have it it rained buckets the entire time we were in Durban. Well that's a little exageration ... we did get a reprieve on the Sunday but it was still windy and cool. http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/KwaZulu-Natal/Durban/blog-327515.html Good grief We have had the hardest time ever leaving Cape Town. After returning from our road trip we were planning to leave on the following Tuesday or Wednesday because our time in South Africa is quickly running out. There is still so much to see in South Africa and we are feeling short of time we even visited the Home Affairs office to see if we could extend our visas. Apparently ju http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Western-Cape/Oudtshoorn/blog-321675.html WARNING LONG BLOG ENTRY Sorry We were excited and a little nervous about renting a car and heading off on our own but we knew that once we got going we would be fine. We packed up our everexpanding luggage a real negative side effect of staying with family and not having to shoulder our packs for two months and hopped into our tiny rental car who we called Daisy gues http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Western-Cape/Cape-Town/blog-317570.html After being turned away from Robben Island we got smart and bought our tickets the day before and returned the Waterfront on Wednesday. We were incredibly lucky as the weather was perfect for a boat trip and visit to the island.Robben Island housed a prison for many years similar to Alcatraz it is now a museum. Nelson Mandela spent 19 of his 27 years incarcerated on Robben Island. The island http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Western-Cape/Cape-Town/Cape-Flats/blog-313803.html They call Cape Town the Mother City. I don't know the official reason why but most locals will joke with you and say it's because it takes 9 months to get anything done. We have been lucky and we know it. We are so grateful for Peter's family and the extended time we have been able to stay and enjoy delightful Cape Town. As you can see from the amount of photos that we are posting we enjoyin http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Western-Cape/Cape-Town/Cape-Flats/blog-308645.html