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Published: October 23rd 2010
Masai Beach Trip
Zanzibar. Actually, most of them worked as security guards here and still going strong.
Our second anniversary on the road has arrived. Last year we put up a review of our first year. So, now that it is a habit, we will do it for the second year.
The basic statistics are pretty straightforward. Two air flights - the first, from London to Cairo and the second from Johannesburg to Paris. A total of 12,000 kms in a truck from Cairo to Capetown. Just a tad under 20,000 kms in a little green Citroen all over Europe. A little under 3,000 kms in a little Ford rental car around South Africa. Our best climb, other than in the planes, was 4,430 metres up the second highest mountain in Ethiopia. The highest speed we achieved on land was not in one of the little rental cars but in the Eurostar from Paris to London, a speed of just under 300 km/h. Add a few hundred kilometres in trains around England and a bit of Scotland plus a few hundred in another couple of rental cars and that is about it.
During the year we have moved through 21 countries - 22 if Zanzibar counts, and the people there seem
Full Moon
Looking over Capetown from our room in Bokaap to think it does, and 23 if it is possible to count Scotland as well. After spending time at Culloden in the last couple of days and hearing calls last week by a partner in the Scottish Government for the dissolution of the Union, I suspect that it is not just Zanzibar who is not completely comfortable with their current status. So, out of respect for those peoples, we will make it 23.
Of great importance to us but probably of no importance to anyone else - except perhaps for the kids who can see their potential inheritance disappearing - we have held pretty easily to our budget for this year. We tend to keep a close watch on what we spend so that we don't have too many shocks and we have found that we don't really have too much difficulty staying on track. We know that a lot of people travel a lot more cheaply and that, if we need to, so can we; but we are on the road for some years so it makes sense not to try to screw things down too tightly. When we average out our spending for the full 12 months
Beasts of Burden
Camels in Ethiopia the 2 of us spent $A180 per day including everything.
Until the last month or so we have posted regularly and probably too frequently for some of our readers so we won't try to encapsulate all that we have seen and done. The various posts while we were on the truck through Africa and then the summary of the truck tour covered that period and recently we put up a summary post on the Western European leg so we won't try to repeat those. If you are interested you will find them more or less appropriately titled in the list.
Perhaps some of the highs, lows and specials deserve a nod though - and it will also give the photo editor some sort of lead on what she might wish to include.
The Highs
The White Desert in Egypt always floats to the top when I am asked what the best bits have been, partly because it was early in our trip through Africa, but also because it was surreal and like nothing I have seen before.
Sudan, perhaps leaving out Khartoum. The people were the key. Friendly, dignified and with a gentleness about them.
The excitement of the kids was special. Sad that a series of lousy governments should continue to foul up the lives of people such as this.
The Simien Mountains in Ethiopia were beautiful and spectacular but, does their natural beauty put them above the rock hewn churches of Lalibela? I don't know how to make that decision but I am sure that the spectacle of the lines of people clad in white walking miles through the mountains and valleys to Lalibela for the Christmas services will forever define dedication for me. Nor will I forget the old ladies getting change for a rancid 1 birr note from the priests. (We never knew that there was change.)
The way the Samburu people of Northern Kenya are dealing with tourism and the loss of their traditional life style based on nomadic herding impressed us as did our first game park.
My balloon flight over the Serengeti at dawn was a wonderful indulgence. We didn't see a lot in the way of animals but I am sold on this as a means of travel. The animals of the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater were worth the trip on their own. We
Fancy Fish Formation
Stall at the Stonetown Market (Zanzibar) were on a few more game drives but Ngorongoro was the standout.
The camp and walk in the bush with the San Bushmen was up there with the best of our tourism experiences. The skill and humour of our guides was special. Proof that it need only take an hour or two and a few hundred metres to embed ideas and images forever.
Our battlefield tour of the Boer and Zulu wars around Dundee in South Africa was another standout as a tour that came alive through the skill of our guide; and the power of the Lesotho Army team in the gun carriage pull was, as they used to say, awesome.
French supermarkets with racks of cheeses, meats, pastries, fresh fish and good wine could very well lead the world. And we will take longer to get the weight off than it took to get it on.
Our time with family in San Sebastian and Sarlat was a great interlude. Would that more of our families would join us along the way.
So much of Italy was great but the Puglia coast for us is a highlight. Relaxed, not so many 'others', not as
spectacular as Amalfi but very relaxed.
Really though, Europe seems probably a little recent and we have only recently had a post on the high points. At the moment it sits there as one big excellent experience. France, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Germany and even Belgim. We spend more time discussing what we will do next time than picking highs and lows.
And on the Low Points.
Not that much stands out really.
The lady who threw the rock at the truck in the Bale Mountains. We found out later that the creation of the national park - primarily for the benefit of tourists and those who can make a bit of money from them, as well as to protect the environment of course - had forced people from their land. Or perhaps she just didn't like big orange trucks much.
The way tourism is set up in the Omo Valley where the people are treated by operators and their own leaders as exhibits was appalling.
The road to Coffee Bay in the Transkei of South Africa is the worst 'bitumen' road I have ever seen but it doesn't really qualify as a low point.
No Wasted Space
On the highway in Zambia More a special I think. We will look back on it with a smile.
The French tourist who insisted on taking close up photos of the local people at Lalibela without their consent matched by his partner who became offensively belligerent when asked to remove her shoes to enter a church. Wonder what Alex did with the ones he, in turn, took of the objectionable man?
Security on houses and buildings in South Africa rates a mention. Obviously considered necessary but you do wonder and it really is overpowering.
The Specials
The Commonwealth Games has been on in Delhi. We wonder what happened to the girl who chased the truck at Lake Abiata in Ethiopia for kilometre after kilometre, through the thorns and dust in the hope of something. After she had run the legs off all of the boys and other girls she did get some goodies but nothing like she deserved.
And so much more, but we have said most of it before so won't go on again.
As some will recall we originally talked about heading off for a year or maybe 18 months. After a while on the road we
set the end of 2011 as a return date but never really thought that we would have much trouble being back by then. But we have settled into the lifestyle now. Yes, we miss friends and family. Days and nights on the front verandah with good food and the beer, red and white flowing well. Getting together with family and friends for celebrations, or even wakes. We miss it all. On the other hand it is hard to imagine being back and getting stuck into … something. Perhaps we just aren't ready to settle down again yet?
To be honest there are times when you do wonder whether you need all of this. These times tend to come when you are doing your washing in a small sink without a useful plug, hunting for a reasonable place to stay in the pouring rain or jammed in crawling traffic with a lot of frustrated drivers. But then you just cast your mind to the last couple of days or the next couple. It is never bad for too long. We really have settled into this lifestyle and the fact is that coming home and settling down will be hard. So.
Like giant playdough
Arch at Spitzkopp, Namibia We will come back as scheduled but there is an excellent chance that we will be off again pretty regularly. There is a lot more to see than we have time for on this trip.
The next year will be more of the same but different. We are in the United Kingdom at the moment and will post in more detail about what we have been doing shortly. It is a busy time for us working on our family history projects and seeing what we can fit in along the way.
We plan to leave the UK in mid-December for the USA. With any luck, the vehicle that is being prepared for us in France will arrive in the USA at about the same time and we will drive it down through Mexico towards South America. We will meet up with Adam and Klaire in Mexico or Guatemala for Christmas and go with them to Cuba for New Year. There will be a couple of weeks in Cuba with Adam and Klaire, Trish, Tony, Graham and Alice and then we will proceed through Central and South America. Adam and Klaire will be with us in South America but
New Tent, New Car, New Bed
Starting out on the road trip through Europe they have been to South America before and have other places to visit so will be off after a while to Europe and the Middle East.
We will only have 5 or 6 months in Central and South America because we want to leave about the same time for the bits of the USA and Canada that we haven't been to yet. For Canada it is the bit east of Regina and for the USA the bit that isn't Alaska so there is rather a lot to cover. At this stage the plan is to hit the high spots and prepare a Comeback List for the rest. So that will get us home, more or less, late in 2011. Only a year to go. And that makes us both nervous.
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Bob Carlsen
non-member comment
Your plans
I noted that you plan to drive from the U.S. through Mexico, Central America, and South America. Have you checked on how safe this is? i would be particularly concerned about driving through Mexico, with the drug war. But if you have checked on safe routes, then ok. If you need a place to stay for a couple days in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, we would love to have you stay at our home. Bob Carlsen