Instead of heading off to Kampala as expected, we decided to hang out for a while, mostly because on the day we chose to travel to Uganda they held their first "free" elections in 25 years. Most elections in africa end in some sort of blood bath, so we went on safari instead. The safari, it self ,was magnificent. Ngorongor crater is the worlds largest collapsed vocanoe dome. It has a unqiue ecosystem, where many of the animals on the bottom of the crater (more than 12 kms in diameter) never leave. We saw hippos, black rhino, elephants, jackel, hyena, lions on the prowl, cheetah, cranes, wildebeast, buffalo, and more. It was the first time we'd seen a cheetah and the first time for a live lion. I have pictures, and I'll post them eventually. I've ... read more

what an adventure the last few days have been. The train ride from Mbeya to dar es salaam was spectacular. First class was most excellent. We actually hadto book the entire train compartment for us to share it, which meant that we actually bought 4 tickets insead of two,but boy was it worth it. The compartment itself was plush (for african standards) it had 4padded benches, upon which we were suposed to sleep and sit. a table for eating, lights and a fan. it also included bedding, wonders of all wonders. The fan didn't work and the lights wouldn't turn off, but other than that. it was fabuous.I don't even really need to talk about the toilet. just assume the worst. The fun part of catching the train was that we had no real idea of ... read more

we are alive. we are heading to a game park in the north west part of the country. vanza marsh then to the tanzania border to mbeya. internet is VERY SLOW. are far in between. if I don't update until dar es salamm please forgive me. we've had a mixed malawi experience. In Cape Maclear some randome fellow decided to come into our tent at 1 am. he didn't steal anything but has provided quite a shock. and uneasy sleeping in the tent. nkata bay is awesome. we canoed for 4 hours, and tomorrow we are leaving. Tanzania here we come.... read more

the reason we are still here is that pauls ear is not better yet. We were all packed up ready to go this morning when he informs me that his ear hurts and is leaking. so off to the doctor we go. Doctor prescribs paul some ear drops and penicillin. we get back to the hotel (about 3 blocks) and we read the ingredients in the meds and first and foremost they say don#t mix with penicillin and the other says if your allergic to penicillin don#t take this. So, I sent paul back to the doc for a new script, and i made breakfast. One huge mango with one huge avocado, bread and boiled egg. alas, another day in the life of paul and lucienne. so we decided to stay put at least for one ... read more

we made it to Ilha de Mozambique with very few scratches, my ear is fine and so is pauls. All we have t show for the 3 day bus journey are bruises on our knees. and bums, and mozzie bites. However, alll this will heal and now we are in the most beautiful place I´ve seen in a long time. We are surrounded in a mixture of cultures....african and muslim. There are more mosques than churches, the island is 2.5 kms long and 600 meters wide, the portugese used this island as a fort in the 1500´s so many of the buildings are very very old. I´m more than suprised that there is an internet cafe here. I´ll attempt to add some pictures tomorrow when I post my prewritten blog entry about the last few weeks. ... read more