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From Stone Town we headed to the North Beaches of Zanzibar for some rest and relaxation. Our hour and a half drive took us to a resort sat right on the beach, Sunset Bungalows. It was a beautiful location complete with hammocks and the warm Indian Ocean. Bliss. Until the lights went out. The electricity not only failed at our resort and wasn't even localized on Zanzibar. It covered the whole of Tanzania. When we asked when we should expect the lights back on we were told they usually come back in 5 days or so! I guess that's Africa for you. Things never go quite how you would expect them to. T.I.A.! (This is Africa!)
We continued with our R&R until the water ran out too. On the positive side the ocean was beautiful as were the sunsets. After a couple of nights we headed back to Stone Town to catch our ferry back to Dar Es Salaam. It was a sight to see all the people in town down by the local stream gathering water with whatever plastic buckets they had. After some last minute shopping we headed for the ferry which ended up leaving a full hour
Lush
Southern Tanzania late. The ride back was really rough. Poor Ev ended up sitting outside most of the journey with seasickness while the rest of the group concentrated on not being sick. The afternoon ferry is quite reknowned for sickness as signalled by the crew who passed out sick bags only 15 minutes into the 2.5 hour journey. We made it back without being sick...barely.. to an ice cream on the dock before catching the smaller ferry back to our beachside camp in Dar.
The next day we were up before the sun for our 250km journey to Baobab Valley. The journey there was beautiful as we passed gorges, lush landscape and many baobab trees following the river. Who knew 250kms could take all day. We arrived after dark to pitch blackness to put up our tents. Bit of a challenge. But with every negative there comes a positive. The stars were the most beautiful i have ever seen. Without any lights in the country we didn't have any light pollution clouding our views of the Big Dipper, the Southern Cross or Scorpio. The next day we had a bush walk with the local Masaai which ended up being an hour
Kande Beach
Lake Malawi walk through really high and incredibly scratchy bushland.
From the Valley we headed to a farmhouse nearer to the Malawi border. We crossed the border to Malawi quite easily and celebrated the first stamp in our passports that we didn't have to pay for. We headed straight for the lake. Lake Malawi comprises one-fifth the size of the entire country and is all fresh water. We spent one night at the north of the lake, 2 nights in the middle at Kande Beach and 1 night in the south. I swam in the lake, we bought our first souvenirs of the entire trip and found out that I am worth a whole shop full of goods in case Ev ever wants to trade me in!!
Malawi led into Zambia... the most expensive visas on our trip. Hundreds of dollars later and a few hours standing around we were in Zambia. We stayed at a campsite just over the border before our two days of driving. From the border we travelled to Lusaka the capital (feels just like home with it's strip malls and parking lots) and from Lusaka we headed to Livingstone. In 2 days we have driven
nearly 1000 kms.
Our campsite in Lusaka was lovely with giraffes at the gate to meet us as we arrived. Here in Livingstone we are camped on the Zambezi river only 10 minutes from the Victoria Falls. We headed to the falls today and got some amazing photos and also extremely wet. I can now say I have walked through the waters of Victoria Falls...Mosi to the locals... the Smoke that Thunders. We have a few more days here before we head into Botswana. Still no pictures but hopefully we will get some up by Cape Town.
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Matt Stevens
non-member comment
How is Ev Coping
Hi Guys, so good to hear your updates and really looking forward to the pictures. Every body wants to know how Ev's health is and how much are you (Alicia) having to endure with his problems? Love to you both Matt