Blogs from Africa - page 2735

There is something magical about the Nile, the longest river in the world and the source of life for many great civilizations throughout the ages. For centuries the Nile's source remained unknown. Today we might ask, "How hard can it be? Why not just go up the river?" But the quest became fascination, fascination became mystery and mystery became legend. Hundreds of explorers and adventurers died seeking to solve the big mystery. Ancient Egyptian pharaos sent armies in search of the source of the great river and the Greek philosopher Ptolemy held that the source was the "Mountains of the Moon"... The source of the Blue Nile, in Lake Tana, Ethiopia, was not found until 1770 and the source of the Nile was not found until 1861 at Lake Victoria in Uganda. So, being in Africa ... read more

While in Lilongwe, I stay at the Sunbird Lilongwe Hotel. Don't be fooled, it is not the Le Meridian as advertised on Expedia. They pulled out some time ago when Malawi nationalized hotel chains and called them Sunbird or something like that. It's not really clear to me what exactly happened… In any case, following my horrible cab ride, I now have a driver arranged through Africare or the hotel. So the manager of the hotel and I have become friends, as I believe it is some relative of his that chauffeurs me around. When he sees me, the manager, he asks if I need transportation for the day. Then we go into his office and he makes a call. All I know is I have the guy's number saved in my phone under "Driver, Mr.". ... read more

i don't think i can describe Cairo, u have to see it for yourself, this city is crazy! i arrived wednesday morning, was so glad to see my friend we talked all night so i managed 50h without sleep. i was knackered. it was quite hot but not as much as i thought. they all said i brought the london weather with me. i had to sleep all day then we went for a nice and very very cheap meal in a italian restaurant. i know i should be ashamed but it was so cheap and so good. we then went to the Hard Rock Cafe at the haytt hotel for a drink but it wasn't busy so we left. the next day i went to visit Islamic Cairo all my myself while my friend was ... read more

We hooked up with the local Forest Service (Osay Foray) and acquired some trees to plant at a local school today!! Impressive operation, reminded me of a nursery in the States, but there is only one hired worker. All of the trees and nursery stock are watered by women's groups. Thank god for them! We took the 16 trees over to the school and planted trees with the oldest group of kids in the school. Unfortunately only the boys were allowed to help us, the girls sat inside and watched. Well have to work on that. Darcy made the girls take a picture at the end with a shovel in their hands. All in all we took over 100 pictures, because every student wanted a picture with us. Very Fun!! They want a vegetable garden ... read more

Monday 11th Said good bye to mum and got in “mum’s tour company” shuttle over to Stone town and the ferry to the main land. I saw more of the hussel and bustle of town as we drove through and I’m glad we didn’t stay there. As I went through immigration (even though I was staying in Tanzania) I asked a girl behind me if she was on a tour and she was- The Nomad tour that I was joining! Perfect. I sat with her (Sarah) as we went on the ferry over to Dar Es Salaam on the main land. I then met the rest of my truck group (most had been on the truck for 3 or more weeks from Victoria falls). We then went on another car ferry over to a camp ... read more