http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/wheresmykipper/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from wheresmykipper en-us Wed, 23 Dec 2009 17:50:25 +0000 Wed, 23 Dec 2009 17:50:25 +0000 Yes we've finally finished.Here are the highlights. I can't manage proper prose anymore. Getting lost on Hothfield Bogs within half an hour of setting off and me getting grumpy. Seeing that a haze of bluebells had appeared in the woods Getting lost again amongst woods and yellow fields of rape Being pursued across a field by a herd of cows overtaken and then licked by one of them. Seeing Le http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Kent/Canterbury/blog-392782.html Got the train to meet Emma in Wye on friday. Stayed in the King's Head ok nothing spectacular but the cheapest we could find in Wye. Wye is pretty but a bit dull. Got an early start for the 10 miles ahead of us the longest stretch we've managed yet. Across fields over fairly flat open country as the valley broadens out Ashford office blocks visible in the distance. Swans feeding in the fiel http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Kent/Canterbury/blog-384447.html I've started work in London so it's good to get out on the weekend. That's also the reason this is so short. I think this was the most picturesque walk so far walking through fields and woods looking out along the stour valley dotted with farms and manor houses.We rejoin the track at Chilham and start route south. After skirting some woods the path loops away from the river and drops down into http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Kent/Canterbury/blog-376804.html I did this one last week on a rare rainfree day of intermittent sunshine starting in Canterbury and walking the 8ish miles to Chilham. This time i created a 'JunglistRambler' look by pairing walking boots with my big Spiewak puffer jacket.I started by walking out of Canterbury through Westgate gardens which incredibly i'd not set foot in once during the 9 years i've lived in the area. There http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Kent/Canterbury/blog-368070.html Had Emma with me to keep me company this time. We bought proper walking boots over christmas and matched these with Bench hooded coats and tracksuit bottoms to create a whole new look the chav rambler.Took Em a while to get used to her first bus ride in a decade on the way over to Upstreet. The first part of the walk we knew already through Stodmarsh nature reserve. We passed quite a few birdwa http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Kent/Canterbury/blog-361796.html During September to October this year I worked and travelled in Malawi see previous blog entries. I volunteered with the Malawi Volunteer Organisation near Monkey Bay on their Malaria Prevention project. Before heading off for Africa I decided that I would like to raise money for the projects I would be working on by doing a sponsored walk through my home county of Kent along the Stour Valley. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Kent/blog-358748.html Sorry for the delay but here at last is my final entry. I'm now back in the UK enjoying the wind and rain. Sorry it's a bit of a long one. It was even longer before i edited it down.I left Nkhata Bay after a day of relaxing and wandering around. Butterfly Lodge had a very relaxed familyfeel but the compost toilet was smelly. Travelled north by bus to the lakeside village of Chitimba via Mzuzu. http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Malawi/Northern/blog-339639.html My tummy bug slowly cleared and i took a lift in the back of a truck that a german family had hired to get to chipoka to meet the ferry on friday. The truck was 2 hours late arriving leaving barely enough time to get to the port. It then ran out of petrol in the middle of lilongwe and we had to push it to a petrol station. Arrived at chipoka just before 4 when the boat was supposed to be leavin http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Malawi/Northern/Nkhata-Bay/blog-332565.html It's happened again i finish my project looking forward to seeing some of the country and i get ill. This time it's a stomach bug that went round the lodge over the last couple of weeks. I'll spare you the details but i've taken my antibiotics and it seems to be improving don't panic mum it's nothing seriousI'm at Mubuya Camp a backpackers place in Lilongwe with a swimming pool bar and http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Malawi/Central/Lilongwe/blog-329644.html Another brief entry as i only have 12 hour. I'm back at Cape maclear for the weekend. We kayaked out to the island in the middle of the bay yesterday. The weather's been better this time but now there are lots of mozzies.Went snorkelling when we were here last weekend then packed up and set off in the boat. Once out of the bay the lake was too rough though so we had to come back by matola fla http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Malawi/Lake-Malawi/blog-325876.html Sorry to all about lack of entries but the closest internet connection is 10 miles from where we're staying. I'm going to have to condense 2 weeks quite quickly as i'm in a bar with 3 of the other volunteers from our group waiting to use this laptop.Life here is very different from swaziland because it's a very much poorer country. In swaziland you could escape to a western style shopping mall wi http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Malawi/Southern/Monkey-Bay/blog-323029.html It's been 2 weeks since the last entry so i've got quite alot to catch up on. I'm actually in Malawi now arrived today but more of that later.Following the sports day i splashed out on a night of luxury at a chalet not far from lidwala. Had been feeling rough and wanted the luxury of a bath. The place was gorgeous a 2 bedroom wood cabin with kitchen living room and bathroom set amongst woods a http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Swaziland/Ezulwini-Valley/blog-318651.html Leaving Lidwala lodge for a few days. Irsquom at the end of my prebooked time here but I am likely to be back on weekends. Was going to head for Ngwempisi gorge to do some hiking but had to delay as Irsquom feeling rotten upset stomach troubles. Thought Irsquod be ok so went to the interncp sports day organised by john the sports centre volunteer to chop veg for the kidsrsquo lunch. http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Swaziland/Ezulwini-Valley/blog-313892.html I have a little time to write about Sundayrsquos quadbiking as we had to come back from the project early today. We were pickedup at 8 by a guy called Richard an outspoken English expat who runs tours by car bike and hike into the swazi countryside so that visitors can experience the lsquorealrsquo Swaziland. We drove for about 45mins over to the other side of the Ezulwini valley to the http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Swaziland/Ezulwini-Valley/blog-311751.html Itrsquos been a long week of incredible experiences Kruger Park in South Africa from tues to sat then a quad bike tour over the other side of Ezulwini valley today.I was at the building site on Monday morning on my own pickaxing the compacted soil from a bank ready for pressing. I was joined by iona in the pm and we made a few bricks but itrsquos such tough work for just 2. Irsquod falle http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/blog-310548.html Awake early I decided to get up to watch the sunrise over the mountains opposite. I settled myself on one of the huge boulders that lay strewn around the garden. The shadow on the slopes behind descends quickly. You feel a cold breeze on your back and warm air on your front as the yellow light in the sky intensifies over the peak. I watched a bird of prey soaring over the valley and storcks land http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Swaziland/Ezulwini-Valley/blog-306754.html So maybe a little more detail about the project Irsquom working on. Wersquore in a village called Mlandazwe which takes about 30 mins to get to on a good day hours on a bad one it all depends on the khombis the private minibuses all the locals use. The last couple of days there have been very few khombis so its taken hours. Wersquore making bricks by pressing earth in a contraption cons http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Swaziland/Ezulwini-Valley/blog-306750.html Sorry about brief entries been a bit of trouble with the internet connection plus there are about 20 other people using the lodge's laptop. I went to the nearby 25min walk shopping centre the gables to use the internet cafe this afternoon but the connection was worse there than here at lidwala. The gables has a couple of upmarket clothes shops cafes restaurants a supermarket banks. It's http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Swaziland/Ezulwini-Valley/blog-305129.html Things have improved a bit since last entry Settled in ok been working on site. It's about a 30min drive over the other side of the valley from the lodge i'm staying in with beautiful views of the mountains. The clouds roll in between 2 peeks above us. But the poverty is striking particularly set against the obvious money that is here. Coping with the allgirl volunteer group is the biggest cha http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Swaziland/Ezulwini-Valley/blog-304097.html Over 24 hours travelling so i'm a bit knackered. It shouldn't have taken that long but i missed the connecting flight at Joburg so had to sit around in the airport for 6 hrs. I made the fatal mistake of going to the loo when i got off the plane and then the woman at the SAA transfers desk said she wasn't going to 'go the extra mile' to get me on my connecting flight. And my luggage is missing b http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Swaziland/Ezulwini-Valley/blog-302826.html