Zambia

Our first stop in Zambia was a campsite in Chipata not far from the border. Warned the distances between stops in Zambia were quite large we’d stocked up on truck snacks in advance… One of our group noted that travelling expands your mind as well as your behind.

From Chipata we drove along one of the worst roads of the trip for about five hours before arriving in the South Luanga national park. Our campsite here, named Crocodile Valley, lies on one bank of the Luanga river and had great views of the national park on the other side. The river below is full of crocodiles and hippos and other animals like elephants and impala would walk out of the park and down the bank to drink.

During the night hippos would climb up the bank on our side and munch on the green grass surrounding our tents. Lions were also heard prowling through the campsite. In the late afternoon on our third day here a herd of elephants walked in, coming within two metres of some of us. They ate the grass and tree branches, trampled the garden around the bar and after an hour or so moved on to the campsite next door. A small dog belonging to the campsite owners tried to scare one elephant away from the garden, yapping at it and trying to bite its ankle until the elephant nearly charged through the whole bar!

The monkeys were also particularly cheeky here, watching as we set up food and waiting until someone turned their back before leaping down and grabbing things.

From here we drove towards Livingstone, which was essentially a 3-day drive. By the time we arrived I was quite glad my last days on the truck were now behind me.

Livingstone is home to the Victoria Falls and is set up for tourists. The town itself isn’t much but everything is centred around the many campsites and hotels that line the Zambezi. On our first morning here I went on a microflight over the falls which was truly terrifying. It was quite windy and i ended up being in the last two to go up that morning - even the pilot said he wasn't happy flying in the conditions which did nothing for my confidence. After landing on solid ground I walked through the park where the water sprays on the Zambian side. The falls themselves are truly spectacular and just last week a hippo was seen flying over having been swept up in a gush of water while eating on a bank. Apparently in the dry season the falls don’t exist, which is hard to imagine when you’re being drenched by the spray at this time of year.

That evening we went on a sunset cruise along the Zambezi, with elephants, hippos and crocs providing free entertainment along the banks.

The next day was my last with the group and I had a fitting farewell - high tea at the Royal Livingstone hotel. The grounds of this establishment are stunning as it lies inside a national park. Throughout the afternoon we saw zebra and elephants, giraffes and hippos. The cake and tea selection was also amazing!

Leaving everyone to get my flight to Johannesburg was harder than I’d expected. After three months sharing some amazing experiences with people who were strangers to begin with and are now good friends, it will be strange travelling on my own. However, I am looking forward to getting home and the luxuries we take for granted – electricity, running water, beds …. 

Elephant trumpeting at a small yappy dog that tried to bite it. My money was on the elephant....

Zoe and i couldn't get into our tent (on the left) for awhile 

Our campsite was right above the river and animals would walk through at all hours

One of many monkeys playing around the bar

Hippo getting shouty at the croc (which didn't move an inch)

Victoria Falls

This shot does not portray how windy it was .... i was bloody scared!

Where the Malawi are we?

Known as the warm heart of Africa, Malawi is an incredibly beautiful country albeit one of the poorest in the world.

It has a huge population for its land-size and serious food shortages because of the lack of arable land. Lake Malawi is over 29,000 square kilometres, takes up a large percentage of the country and has been over-fished to the detriment of the nation’s food supply. 

Our flying trip through here unfortunately coincided with the first-ever national protests against the current President.  On our first morning here at a sparse campsite on the north of the lake, the locals were full of excitement for the protests and assured us the police and army were on their side so there would be no violence. Later that day as we drove through Mzuzu hundreds of people lined the streets and were telling us to turn around. In the distance we could see crowds scattering like ants as smoke rose from several places amongst them. We found a detour around the back of the town and continued south to Kande beach. That evening we learned 10 people had been killed in Mzuzu and others had died in protests further south.

Our two days at Kande beach were relaxing though somewhat marred by the events going on around us. Sick of sleeping in a tent, I upgraded to a beachfront hut, the view from which could easily have been any beach at home.

From here we had a long drive to Zambia, stopping briefly at the capital Lilongwe to pick up one of our group who had been away for a week. Despite the negative media reports there was no sign of any trouble in the city’s outskirts.

our first campsite on the beach

Lake Malawi is more like an ocean

Protests in Mzumzu

Water-front huts...

Zanzibar and Ruaha national park

After leaving Sean at Kilimanjaro airport for a connecting flight to Nairobi, I stepped on the plane to Zanzibar for 2 extra nights of beach. It would take the others nearly three days to reach the largest of the spice islands off the coast of Tanzania but the flight took only one hour.

Stonetown is the capital of Zanzibar and has the unfortunate record of being the last place to prohibit slavery. In the 1800s it was a hub for the slave-trade, bringing people from south and eastern Africa and exporting them to the middle east.

Today in the place of the last slave market stands a beautiful cathedral built in memory of those who suffered under this awful act. There are also the remains of caves and cells where people were held in chains before the market.

I had two full days here on my own and spent one doing a tour of a spice farm and the other relaxing on a small patch of beach trying to ignore the attention-seeking local ‘beach boys’.

The town itself has narrow, cobbled streets and many hotels and restaurants of western standards, which was pretty exciting for us.

Despite the stunning surroundings of Stonetown – aqua blue seas and white sand – it definitely has a seedy feeling. I missed the warnings about not walking around on our own and the night the rest of the group arrived one of the men was mugged at knife-point. Thankfully the next day we were all leaving to go to the northern beaches.

Kendwa beach, 90 minutes north of Stonetown, faces directly west and gave us one of the best sunsets we’ve seen. Our hut was right on the beach and the next three days were spent sunbaking, eating in the restaurant and swimming. This marked the halfway point of the tour and gave us some much-needed time to recharge our batteries.

From Zanzibar we spent one night at a beachside campsite in Dar es Salam, unfortunately there wasn’t time to see more than just the campsite, and then continued south. We camped one night in a forest full of baobab trees which was stunning but also a bit eerie before driving on to Ruaha national park. We stayed two nights here and spent the day in between doing a game drive through the park. We saw several herds of elephants, many giraffe and zebra, impala and gazelle as well as some kudus.

The following night would be our last in Tanzania before we crossed into Malawi.

Ancient doors at Zanzibar had pointy brass knobs to keep elephants out

Nutmeg before its dried and ground. The red ring around the seeds makes mace

Vanilla beans

Pepper corns

the white at the bottom of this baobab tree is from elephants scratching at it 

the sausage tree of Africa ... and a bloody big nest