Blogs from Africa - page 3339

December 18th, 2004 Dear friends, I had hoped that my recent experience travelling India would have prepared me somehow for the culture shock inherent in switching continents. But it has only helped me to find out that, besides being completely different from Europe, the feeling of the DRC has nothing in common with the Indian subcontinent. We arrived late yesterday night at N'Djili International Airport of Kinshasa, after a pleasant flight with Air France - they certainly know how to make their passengers feel at home. We were supposed to leave tonight on the MSF charter flight from Lignes Aeriennes Congolaises (a carrier banned from flying to the EU, by the way) carrying medical supplies directly to the airstrip outside Bunia. Some of our luggage had gotten 'lost' and was suddenly 'found' after I left a ... read more

Since leaving Cape Town I've been heading east along the Garden Route via the BazBus - a hop-on hop-off bus service that picks you up and drops you off at whatever hostel you're staying in at the next town. I think that back home in England the BazBus is pushed pretty hard by places like STA as the only safe way to travel across South Africa. Having travelled for a little while now in South Africa, I think that the security aspects of this country are slightly overstated. Obviously, there are areas which are dangerous and you shouldn't head to after dark - just like in any other city across the world, but for the majority of places I've felt pretty secure and safe. With hindsight, I'd have to say that the best way to explore ... read more

Hello my fellow travelers! This is the second of six posts I'll make about a trip to the Canary Islands, Morocco and Madeira in 2004 that I did with my parents and my uncle Anders. The last post covered my time on Lanzarote and this one covers my time in Morocco. The second landfall on our Atlantic Cruise was in beautiful Agadir on the Moroccan coast. It was a fairly short landfall so we were determined to make our time here count. We were not alone in that thought and you could really tell that the landfalls of cruise ships have an impact on the local community. It reflected in the general mentality here with a plethora of taxi drivers waiting by the docks to take us tourists to their favorite vendors and select photo hot ... read more

Got up early this morning to get a Taxi to the Mauritanian Embassy in Rabat. Only to find a note pinned to the wall saying that they don't issue Visas! Serves me right for believing the Lonely Planet and not checking! The note said that Visa's are issued at 382 Route d'El Jadeda, Bequsejour, Casablanca. As a result I'm now in Casa. I'll be at the Consulate in Casa first thing in the morning! I visited the Hassan II Mosque this afternoon in Casa. It is the world's 3rd largest religious building. It can hold over 20,000 people and another 80,000 in the surrounding courtyards. Casablanca is a very Cosmopolitan City - it hardly feels like I am in Africa. Wide Boulevards, designer sunglasses, and not many veiled women. It could be any port city in ... read more

Today I visited the Roman remains of the City of Volubus which is 33 km from Meknes. I switched hotels from the cheap hotel to a more expensive hotel, this morning. The room in last nights hotel was only just big enough for the bed. It was probably 8 foot by 7, it had a sink but no electric sockets. The hotel had one shared squat toilet and one shared shower for the whole hotel. After changing hotels I made full use of the facilities - including using their bathroom sink to wash my clothes. At about 11am I walked from the new hotel to the Grande Taxi rank. Basically the Grande Taxi's are shared Taxi's that go from point to point. They all seem to be battered old Mercs. The driver waits till the car ... read more