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Published: November 26th 2009
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After our trip into the Serengeti we were given the opportunity to do a village walk in one of the Masai villages. We were brought through a museum where they told us about their lives. I think the most shocking bit of information was that the young boys of the village are circumcised in public, and they are not allowed to scream in pain even though there is no anesthesia, the punishment being they will be banished from the village. We then walked into the village where they live and were greeted by all the beautiful children. We were told by the Masai guide that the children cannot tell the difference between white people, so they think it is the same people returning everyday! The children followed us around as we went into their houses and walked around the village. At the end of the walk we were treated to a show of Masai song & dancing - the men sang a cappella while doing the famous Masai jumping. A few of us joined in but were nowhere near as good as the Masai men.
After the walk, it was back on the truck for the 2 day drive to
Cute little Kids
the little one is fairly intense Dar es Salaam. The camp site was on the beach which got us in the mood for the trip to Zanzibar the next day. We spent one night in Stonetown where we did a spice tour - very appropriate seeing as Zanzibar is the spice island. The spice farm was amazing but unfortunately Australia wont allow us to bring back these spices into the country, so it was quite depressing watching everyone else in the group buy lots of cheap spices, including bags of saffron, to bring home. The next morning we had a few hours to do some major shopping, along with some major bargaining, and after this we were off to a beach resort in the north of the island, Kendwa beach. We spent a very relaxing 2 days here, eating, drinking and sitting on the beach. On our first night, we were having a few drinks by the bar, many of the girls on the dance floor, only to be joined by some Masai men. It was certainly a sight to see the Masai men dancing away to Midnight Oil! After our chill time at the beach it was back to the mainland.
From here it
was another long 2 day drive to Lake Malawi. We had 4 nights along Lake Malawi at 3 camp sites. While in Malawi we went on another village walk where we went to a local school and hospital. We also took a snorkelling trip in the lake but unfortunately our camera died so we have no pictures of the many types of fish here. The lake is interestingly known by the locals as the calender lake - it is 365 miles long and 52 miles wide. On one of the nights, our driver butchered a pig and roasted it. This took all day but it was well worth it. We also had a fancy dress night - each of us on the truck were given someone to buy for. Lucky Garry was dressed in a beautiful leopard print jumpsuit and Carol in a lovley 80's prom dress - thanks to Kevin for Carol's lovely outfit, and Garry would like to put in a special word of thanks to evil Irish Kate for his. Needless to say a lot of drinks were had that night to forget the outfits we were wearing. Funnily enough our camera broke down this particular night
and so we have no photos to post on the blog. What a shame... One of the best things about Malawi is that you can trade items when souvenir shopping. On our last day, we went to a market and traded in our fancy dress outfits, and according to our guide, as we were leaving the markets, a young man working there was wearing a very familiar leopard print jumpsuit - Its all the rage apparently!
Another long 2 day drive into Zambia and the Victoria Falls in Livingstone. Garry became a millionaire on our first trip to the bank in Zambia - shame it was in the local currency, kwacha(this is about 200$US)! We visited Victoria Falls but unfortunately we were there during dry season so they are not as impressive as they can be. We will have to come back one day and see them in all their glory. Garry made a wise investment by changing some of his million kwacha into trillions of dollars - 1000 trillion Zimbabwean dollars that is(approx 3$US, good one Mugabe). We did not see Victoria Falls from the Zimbabwean side, however we did get a better view of the falls which
we will tell you about in our next installment...
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Brady
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Guys, ye are amazing!! I was at Vic Falls 4 years ago, it's fabulous... apart from the fact that I hate water and heights!!:) And I have lots of smiley kids in photos too, it made me think at the time that maybe we're the ones missing out on things!! Safe onward travelling!! Brady x