Page 5 of Avila Travel Blog Posts


Africa » Zambia » Lusaka May 26th 2010

May 26th Watching the sunrise on the Zambian hills was quite the way to wake up. Everyone of us made sure we got up early enough to check out the spectacle. I watched it from my bed on top of the truck and took loads of photos while the kettle was on the boil. Awesome. The seven of us filled our stomachs with coffee, tea, eggs and toast and hit the road. We were heading to Lusaka to make camp for the night before moving on to Livingston. About 40 miles after leaving the hilltop campsite we crossed the Luangua River, the same river we had camped next to two nights before. The (suspension?) bridge was impressive and the views even more so. We were able to walk across the length of the bridge and take ... read more
2-Paz y Amor en Zambia
3-Sunrise over Zambia
4-Sunrise in Zambia

Africa » Zambia » South Luangwa May 25th 2010

May 25th Typical morning at the Croc Valley campsite: keeping the primates from stealing all your food! Their sneaky little shites, creeping up out of nowhere and stealing a tomato or onion. That happened the day before actually but this morning they had gotten on the truck and ripped open a bag of beans and rice as well. You can check out a video of me fending for my life against one of the primates here, eventually. There is another video of them eating rice and hangin’ around the truck here. So after breakfast we packed up our things and headed out of the national park. Farron had another Farron surprise for us, so we were excited. Although admittedly it would be hard to top his previous surprise which was Sanje Falls. He took us to ... read more
2-Monkeys eating the rice they got in to
3-Baby vervets
4-Quick and crafty bastards!

Africa » Zambia » South Luangwa May 24th 2010

May 24th It was the same morning routine as always, tea and toast with before beginning the day, but for this particular day we had absolutely nothing to do. Ahh what a great feeling not having to sit in the truck and go 200 miles! The day was reserved for game drives around the national park. We had two choices, we could do the morning drive or an evening drive. I had originally opted to do the night drive, but ended up changing my mind. I was happy to just sit on the banks of the Luangwa River at the Croc Valley campsite and just listen to the hippos all day while I practiced on the drum. The campsite is amazing, you can check out a video of it here (eventually). So the seven of us ... read more
2-Pool at Croc Valley
3-Luangua River
4-Hippo in the Luangua River

Africa » Zambia » South Luangwa May 23rd 2010

May 23rd The morning wasn’t so bad even though I got about 4 hours asleep. The whole group was milling about the camp eating breakfast and talking about the plan over the next few days. A few of the Dragoman group weren’t around for a final goodbye but we wished them all well and hoped they would get on schedule soon. Before we left we did add one to the Southbound Six, a girl named May from Amsterdam would be getting a ride with us down to Livingstone, Zambia. It was nice to add a fresh face to the group and someone more to talk to and hear stories from. We got on the road on time and after a stop and the gas station we were headed for the Malawi/Zambia border. We got there after ... read more
2-Macro shot of the camp in the morning
3-Breakfast in the camp
4-En route to the border

Africa » Malawi » Central » Lilongwe May 22nd 2010

May 22nd Another great morning in the Malawian paradise, I passed up the chance to go scuba diving with Justin but still woke up early. The six of us got our things together and staked out our places in the truck. Farron then drove the truck over to the other camp and loaded up their belongings before they walked over to our site to get on the truck. Everyone was cheery and ready to experience the African Trails truck, we were proud to show it to them. We headed down the road and gawked at the scenery that Malawi offers, I played DJ and was complimented later on the songs I chose, ☺! About an hour into the drive, Louise, a passenger with the Dragoman tour realized that she had left her passport at Kande Beach. ... read more
1-The truck with the Dragoman group
2-Leaving Kande Beach
3-Loads of cassava plants

Africa » Malawi » Lake Malawi » Kandi Beach May 20th 2010

May 20th How do you think my morning started the next day? It’s an easy guess really, tea and toast with the group before deciding how to spend my day. Wendy and I had decided the previous day that we would take a tour of the village. We said we would go at noon but by around 10am it was looking a doubt as we also wanted to paddle boat out to the island and do some snorkeling. We weren’t moving at a fast pace at all, why should we when we’re oon the beach?! It didn’t help matters when I had to settle my business with Phillip for the drum I had made for me. It turned out really nice, and at the moment I’m doing a good job of bothering my travel mates with ... read more
2-Phillip doing a bit of drummin'
3-Kande Island at noon
4-Kande Beach

Africa » Malawi » Lake Malawi » Kandi Beach May 19th 2010

May 19th I woke up from my first night of sleep in Malawi awake and ready to start the day. Of course there was the obligatory tea and toast routine to ensure the day starts off as best as possible. Rumor in our camp was that there were some vendors outside the campsite in the market area looking for batteries for barter. Malawians are actually renowned for their bartering ways, they will trade just about anything for anything. So I headed out of the campsite and to the market area and met a couple of the local guys. I was able to buy some souvenirs in return for some AAA batteries I didn’t need any longer. I also scoped out a green mambo tree snake hanging around the top of the market structure, preying on a ... read more
2-Market outside of Chitimba Beach
3-Market outside Chitimba Beach
4-Cool group of guys

Africa » Malawi » Lake Malawi » Chitimba Beach May 18th 2010

May 18th I was really happy with my decision to sleep in the truck, it meant tht when everyone else had to wake up and leave their room or break down their tent, I could continue sleeping! We got on the road at a decent time and a couple hours down the highway we stopped and had some breakfast. This time it was eggs, tea and toast, yuuum! On the road we went after satisfying our stomachs, and we headed for the border. The drive was really nice with lots of hills and trees. We passed through village after village and waved at child after child. They just love seeing us mzungus (white people/foreigners), the kids scream and wave both hands and even the adults take part now and then. After a while we made it ... read more
2-The road ahead...and to Malawi
3-Jah People, Jah Semi Truck
4-Village after village

Africa » Tanzania » West » Mbeya May 17th 2010

May 17th It was the normal routine in the morning, we all creeped out of our tents to the African morning and had our tea and toast. We packed up the tents and in the process I realized I had a friend sleep with me the night before. Okay not exactly with me, but rather underneath me. Coiled up under the tent was a huge centipede or millipede, it was about a foot long! I took a couple pictures and then showed the Germans, I remembered they loved insects because they were taking picture of cockroaches the night before. The six of us said our goodbyes to the Tan-Swiss lodge and headed for south Tanzania. We were to go through the Baobab Valley and along side the Ruaha River. The drive was really really pretty, and ... read more
2-Ze Germans and their firetruck, make sure to check out their blog!
3-Millipede that slept with me...under the tent, was about a foot long!
4-Leaving Mikumi

Africa » Tanzania » South May 16th 2010

May 16th Before the six of us went to be the night before I had met a couple Germans doing some weird things with lights in the dark. After wondering for a bit what they were doing in the dark with a flashlight I went to investigate. It turned out that they were doing some long exposure camera shots and spelling out words and names with the lighting. By keeping the shutter open as long as they wanted they could use the lighting to make drawings and words, it was really cool, hopefully I’ve explained it so you understand, dear reader. In the morning I talked with them some more and took a photo of the two of them, they were on an epic journey from Germany to Cape Town, South Africa. They had bought an ... read more
2-En route
3-Mikumi
4-The road ahead




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