Blogs from Africa - page 5

I've settled into the daily routine of rise, cycle, eat, arrive, sleep. It's a lovely simplistic side-step from reality for a while. After leaving Casablanca I cycled first to El Jadida and then on southwards to Ouiladia, Souira Kidema and on to Sidi Kaouki, Imsouane, Agadir, Tiznit, Sidi Ifni and Guellmim. Along the way I've seen plenty of wildlife, from chipmonk like mammals along the cliffs, maybe they were chipmonks, to tortoises, slowly and safely crossing the road. And of course all the brilliant birdlife. As I get further south, the landscape becomes drier, and drier. There is no longer dew on the tent in the morning when I camp. Not that it's all camping. About half my nights have been spent in lovely little hotels and pensions. Just because I have been sticking to the ... read more

It felt really good to finally get the trip under way proper. Shaking of the cobwebs that built up over Christmas, I pushed my loaded bicycle to my official start point. There is a marker, a low pyramid of white rock, conveniently located just outside the old town and across the road from the port. KM 0, with a black outline of Africa on white stone, and a coat of arms of Morocco. I have cycled the first part of the coast south from Tangier before, five years ago on my way to Marrakech. It was nice to recognise certain parts of the road, especially the petrol station where a very kind driver pulled up beside me outside the shop and handed me my passport! I had dropped it along the road, and somehow, he found ... read more

Given all the sitting we’d been doing over the past week, it was obviously important that we mixed things up a bit and did some lying. Our flight to Zanzibar was quite cool as we had a very clear view of Mount Kilimanjaro out the window - its snow capped peak towered above the dark plains below and the peak next to it had a thunderstorm, together with lightning brewing overhead. We were assaulted by the wall of heat and humidity that greeted us as we left the airport but were luckily in our airconditioned transfer before too long and headed for the beach. The plan for the next few days was just to relax on the beach with some books, some cocktails and dips in the pool. Oh, kittens, play with lots of kittens. And ... read more

We were all filled with a bit of sadness over leaving Rhino Camp and our awesome guides Fred and John. But as we bumped across the plains towards the airport and something in the suspension snapped, the sadness was slowly replaced by nerves. Never to let a loose car part get in the way of progress, we limped towards the park gate before a replacement truck picked us up and delivered us to the airport. An hour flight and we were in our new home for the next two days - Porini Mara camp in the Ol Kinyei conservancy. We couldn’t get over how green the surrounds were and as we headed towards the camp, it quickly became obvious why, with lots of water on the ground. The seasonal rains were not so seasonal! A quick ... read more

Some airport dramas with overweight bags but we were on our way without too much stress (and also without socks) before we made a couple of quick stops at airstrips along the way. We arrived at Nanyuki and were picked up by our guides. Some bumping and ‘African massage’ before we checked in to Ol pejeta conservancy and were on our way for ‘not a real game drive’ to get to our accommodation. Well, the ‘not real’ game drive turned out to be pretty unreal, stumbling across a lioness with a freshly killed zebra - she was full of panting with the meat sweats and the zebra was, well, neither full nor panting. Next stop was a white rhino who was busy sniffing a scent left by a female. All seemed well and good until we ... read more