kim stanton

kimmyraaraa

kim stanton

i am about to embark on my first backpacking trip in December and i simply cannot wait!! i am going with my boyfriend (who is a pretty seasoned traveller) and we are off to Africa for as long as our finances will let us - starting with Uganda. i hope to be able to write about my experiences so that i can keep in touch with family and friends - and also hone my writing skills for future projects that i am considering upon my return. wish me luck everybody!!! and i hope that i am interesting enough for you to tune in!! 😉 xxx



Africa » Namibia » Windhoek » Aris July 25th 2013

Well my friends - what an absolute slacker i am! in all seriousness, this is the first time i have been able to sit at a computer since my last update back in Zambia. Genuinely, we have only been using our phones with WiFi and to write this kind of text on my phone is a massive ball ache so i have been very naughty and not written anything. BAD KIMMY!!!!! So i shall fill you in on our adventures through Botswana and Namibia, and then i will write another entry for South Africa. Although as we are on our way home next Tuesday i dont really have loads of time so i may have to renege on that promise - but we shall see!!! :) So we got ENGAGED and saw some Rhinos and Rainbows ... read more

Africa » Zambia » Livingstone April 28th 2013

Take one ancient flat-bed pick up truck; stuff it with about 30 people, and their luggage; add 4 or 5 large sacks of grain for the nearby villages; make it drive approx 200miles at approx 30k an hour and make it stop every 500 yards to let one person off and 6 more on; let it run out of petrol twice, overheat at least once, and break down alltogether at some stage too; let it do all this in the burning heat of the midday sun and let them overcharge you (cos you're white) just for this whole privilidge.... and that my friends is public transport in Malawi..!!!! Possibly the most beautiful country in Africa but definitely the biggest ball-ache to get around. To be fair, they are in the middle of a petrol crisis - ... read more

Africa » Malawi » Northern » Mzuzu April 1st 2013

phew! its good to be back online again! i feel like i havn't written in so long and i don't like it!!! We were very busy bee's whilst in Iringa - we shall miss it very much. after a ropey start getting robbed, and the stark realisation that the company that we were volunteering with lied extensively on their website (seriously, we were living in SUCH a sh*t hole!!), we genuinely grew to love that place. Neither of us had been overly impressed with Tanzania as a whole, (don't get me wrong - there are some incredible places and we have seen and done some once in a lifetime things, but as a country i guess it was slightly lacking in the homey, modest beauty that perhaps Uganda had) however, Iringa really did feel like a ... read more

Africa » Tanzania » Centre » Iringa March 4th 2013

Harbari?! Hope you don’t mind a second blog entry in quick succession? But this time it’s Maff! Hope you are all well & January & February weren’t too slow, cold & wintery? I thought I’d add an entry which wasn’t just about our travels, but about our time here & the things we have encountered day to day in East Africa. We have had an amazing time & we hope it continues until our flight home, albeit, we have only sampled 2 countries (3 if you include the transit through Kenya!) & have 4 left. We have experienced so much, our relationship has grown stronger & we feel our time here has changed our attitude to Africa, not only in day to day life, but also in how to help. We came with an approach of ... read more

Africa » Tanzania » Centre » Iringa March 1st 2013

Hello good people!! I have been trying to blog for a while now, but limited internet access has been the death of me (plus the knobhead who robbed us last week took our internet credit too – grrr) Well we left Moshi two weeks ago after such an amazing time there. As I explained in the last entry the project was rather challenging at times, both physically and mentally. But we left on a real high, with so much getting completed and even some beautiful sprouting seedlings to take photos of as evidence of all our hard work!! It was really sad to leave all our friends at Hostel Hoff, we met some great people and the group was more friendly, cohesive and more inclusive than we ever could have expected – it really was a ... read more

Africa » Tanzania » North » Moshi January 30th 2013

just a quick blog this time - promise!!! half because there isn't loads to say and half because i am using a swedish computer and i dont really understand any of the symbols!!! well today is our 3 year Anniversary - yeyyyy! what a place to spend it :) we have taken the day off work and are pampering ourselves at a local pool in a bit to work on our T-shirt Tans. my tan was coming on very nicely until we got started at KiliKids... on projects we are not allowed to wear anything too revealing becuase of the widespread muslim faith so its long shorts, trainers and T-shirts all day --- noooooo!!!!! KiliKids has been a mixed bag of emotions... the first couple of days of amazement and joy and love of the project, ... read more

Africa » Tanzania » North » Moshi January 26th 2013

just fancied tracking our journey so far ... take a look if you please!!! :) love to all xxxx... read more

Africa » Tanzania » North » Moshi January 16th 2013

So we’re in Tanzania‼! And we are official volunteers now – work permits, t shirt tans, and blisters included. It’s lovely here, but mainly because of the ever present and spectacular sight that is Mount Kilimanjaro. She is huge‼ and very dramatic, being that she is mysteriously shrouded in cloud for a large portion of the day but bursts through in the mornings and evenings to reflect the sun off her scorching temperature defying snow-capped summit. I kind of wish we were climbing her, but then also I have met so many people, fit as fiddles, who have admitted how bloody hard it was, so maybe I’m just better off admiring her from terra firma‼! I have a suspicion that my weaky constitution and my lack of endurance may have prevented me from summiting anyway so ... read more

Africa » Uganda » Eastern Region » Jinja December 28th 2012

Hello! Its been a little while since I wrote – but its been so hard to get online recently!! Apart from the fact that we have been really crasy busy, the WiFi has been a constant fight to get connected. Unfortunately, with all the new fangled i-phones and i-pads and teeny tiny tablets that everyone else has brought with them (honestly – have they not read all the warnings about theft?!!!) everyone is ‘online’ constantly, they never turn off their Wifi roaming – so for all the people who genuinly want to access something or google search something, the connections are so clogged up and excruciatingly slow….. it is rather annoying!!! Let me see…. Since the gorillas (still A-mazing) we have been to a place called Fort Portal, then onto a three day safari at Murchison ... read more


Wow, Wow, Wow, and many many more wows..... we came back yesterday, late afternoon, from perhaps one of the most life enhancing experiences of our lives.... 3 days away with our fantastic driver Alex (a font of african wildlife knowledge and demon at off-roading on the hiddeous Ugandan roads) and he totally surpassed our expectations, taking us all over the difficult South Western Region and showing us as much as he could in the alloted time that we had. we left very early on the first day, 6am, as the drive would be a gruelling 10 hours or so to get to Bwindi (the impenetrable forest). but we visited the equator and drove through the Queen Elizabeth national park on the way so it didn't really feel like such a long trip. we saw Zebra, hundreds ... read more
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