Advertisement
Published: July 18th 2011
Edit Blog Post
Dear All
The Summer and another holiday is upon us, and alas I have packed my bags once more in search of more exotic climes and landscapes - this time the Southern African countries of Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Zambia for just under 6 weeks.
It has been a while since I last set foot in sub-Saharan Africa, and also a while since embarking on such a long trip - this certainly feels like one of my greater challenges in terms of trips over recent years. I must confess, I am a tad nervous, and even though I always am before a trip, along with some amazing places and sights, there are some places I'll be visiting which are somewhat off-the-beaten track, and not comparatively easy to get around. On the positive side, it should make for a decent travel blog with some interesting stories I hope!
So the plan is to fly South African Airways (not Ethiopian Airways who I had originally booked, and then decided for the better...!) from Heathrow this evening, on the 7pm flight to Johannesburg, for a 3-hour stopover before boarding another plane to Lilongwe, the capital and the largest city of Malawi.
I plan to spend 2 weeks travelling around this beautiful little country, as I've heard, along the shores of Lake Malawi and to some highland plateaux and National Parks in the south of the country, and along the floodplains of the River Shire (half-expecting to meet a hobbit or two!). This seems like a good plan, as by all accounts, Malawi is said to be "Africa for Beginners", and seems as good a place as any to get into my trip and used to the African road again. It's been a while since my trip to Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, so I feel a little warm-up for dusty, bumpy roads, corrupt officials and tropical diseases may be in order...! From here, I plan to travel through an area of Mozambique called the "Tete Corridor", which is a convenient way of getting to Zimbabwe, but itself boasts a beautiful region around the Lake Cahora Bassa Dam which has created a large reservoir with abundant wildlife along the Zambezi River. After around 5 days here, into Zimbabwe (if Mr Mugabe will let me - I've heard he's not too keen on the Brits, and charges us twice as much for an ordinary
tourist visa as other countries...). Once there, I've heard nothing but amazing things about the country - the warmth of the people and the beauty of the landscapes, so hopefully no worries about how the country has made headlines over recent years. After 10 days exploring Zimbabwe, on to what I presume may be the highlight of my trip, though there may indeed be others: the Victoria Falls. And finally on to Zambia for my final 10 days, to hopefully squeeze in a safari in one of Africa's best countries for lion-, elephant- and zebra-spotting. By the 25th August I should be in Lusaka, capital of Zambia, to catch my return flight back to the UK, again via Johannesburg.
So there it is - the plan at least! Of course, knowing Africa and knowing many other travel destinations, my trip may not go exactly this way - will depend on border officials for the most part, but also recommendations and intuition along the way.
I look forward to updating my blog as I travel, as always, and hope that it will give me some kind of sanity as I explore the difficult sides of African travel, as well as of course the most exciting aspect of seeing new countries, new places, different cultures and beautiful landscapes - here we go!
Attaching the traditional pre-trip photos, whose previous versions have actually helped me to plan what to pack this year! Way to go!
Speak soon, Out of Africa!
Alex
Advertisement
Tot: 0.065s; Tpl: 0.036s; cc: 7; qc: 27; dbt: 0.0208s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb