ZANZIBa(aaaaaahhhh)r

ZANZIBAR, Tanzania

We're here on Zanzibar Island - we can hardly believe it. We are in love with this place! Off the 2-hr ferry from Dar es Salaam to here - rich in history and culture, beautiful place, blue-green water, and fast moving taxis. We spent our first couple nights in Stone Town - very very cool place. Tall/skinny alleyways that you could - and wanted to - get totally lost in. Ramadan now, so barely any restaurants open during the day. BUT the city park after sunset is filled with food vendors selling DELIcious food.




We went on an all-day Spice tour – one of the best tours I’ve ever been on. We walked around communal agricultural plots, learned about dozens of plants and spices, sampled a variety of spices, flowers, and vegetables, sat down to taste several spices in local cuisine (communal lunch), tasted 10 varieties of fruits, swam in the sea, and visited ruins (baths and a slave cave). At night, there was a huge food/fish bazaar – buy a stick of BBQ lobster, squid, octopus, snapper, whatever you want and naan, samosas, ‘zanzibar pizza’ (favorite is banana nutella with chocolate –OMG) and wash it down with fresh cane juice with ginger and lime. Holy bajole.





We hired a car for a few days and took off south and east to check out Jozani forest (and monkeys) and find a sailboat to take us snorkeling and relax on the beach. The east side was pretty cool – although during low tide you’d have to walk 5-minutes+ out to get into knee-high water. Tide pools were awesome and local fisherfolk were working hard. We found a fishing village and hired a dhow sailboat to take us all-day snorkeling, BBQ lobster lunch on a secluded beach. Sick, really. How can a place be this incredible?




Back to Stone Town to work – we found our ‘office’ (a bar with free internet) and camped out there for hours while working on classes. (It seems criminal though to look out on such blue water and be working…uughh). We went north for a couple days to this really nice beach in Kendwa. Kendwa is by far the best swimming beach with consistent level of water to swim. Incredible colors, sand like flour - we were in heaven. If you ever come to Zanzibar, do exactly what we did (minus the work, of course) - this is a place you must see. We loved it.

Useful phrases:

Mambo (Mambo is Zanzibar, Jambo is Swahili): Hello
Poa: Good, cool
Caribou: Welcome/come in
Asante (sana): Thank you (very much)
Harari: How are you
Snorkel = snorkel

Kristi: “Mamboooo”
Street vendor: “Mambo. Poa… Caribou”
Kristi: “poa, poa…Asante sana”
Vendor: “Harari”
Kristi: “Fine, asante, you?” (then usually it’d downshift totally to English or nonverbal gestures)

:) Spending a few extra days here and then on to Arusha in northern TZ border with Kenya. But Zanzibar...it's so nice...hmmm, maybe a few MORE days of beach time is a good idea... Yes....lovely lovely Zanzibbbbaaaaar.

Tanzania

TRAIN TO DAR

We spent a night in Lusaka (a surprisingly really nice capital city - chill even) and then a bus north to catch the Tazara train from Kapiri Mposhi (north of Lusaka, Zambia) to Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. The train was...shall we say...an advenure! We heard a tip to purchase a whole train cabin (versus buying one seat and sharing a cabin with other strangers) and ...since this is a 48+ journey, we though having some space was a good idea. Turns out it was a very very very good investment! Our cabin had 6 bunks in it (second class) but it was just enough room for Charles and I to feel comfortable. (I cannot imagine 6 people in this space.) Check out the video below of how bouncy and shaky the train was - insane! The train stopped about 20 times for villagers to sell foods and drinks. (Corn, samosas, drinks, suspect chicken and other non-identifiable things). We had a great time though and met some cool people - a cool adventure!

49 hours later we were in the coastal city of Dar Es Salaam. Crazy insane train station, crazy insane non-moving traffic and a crazy insane taxi driver. Beer thirty. Awesome outdoor sidewalk BBQ (next to the hotel) with ammmaaaazing BBQ and indian curry. We are in the land of spice...yes!

Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

VICTORIA FALLS

From Kasane/Chobe, Botswana, we got a 1+hr transfer to Vic Falls through the Botswana-Zimbabwe border. Vic Falls - the town - is in Zimbabwe (although there is a lot of lodges on the Zambian side as well in response the to economic situation in Zimbabwe.) Zimbabwe...never thought we'd be here... Clearly Vic Fall was a once-thriving and now-struggling place. The economy has recently been 'dollarized' due to insane inflation ... it was pretty strange seeing the old dilapidated dollars on the street. People were pretty aggressively trying to sell us information, crafts, old Zimbabwe money, anything. We bought a few trillion and billion dollars notes for a few bucks. OK...and some bracelets too, sure. We ended up camping at the "rest camp" in town. Surprisingly nice, quiet and calm and within walking distance of restaurants, town stuff and Vic Falls/park. We could hear the falls from the camp - pretty cool.

When we first arrived, we walked the gauntlet (past guys selling stuff) across the Zim/Zam border bridge to see one part of the Falls. Awesome site! We watched some bungee jumpers from the border bridge, saw a dozen tourist helicopters, safari trucks...lots of tourism (but it seems for only a few outfits).
We went inside the Vic Falls National Park and walked the trails overlooking the falls. Amazing amazing amazing views! Surprisingly hot here so the falls spray/drenching on the trail was very nice. Went back to our shady hammocks at camp...sooo glad we brought the camp hammocks!

We're now 11K north of Vic Fall sitting here in a coffee/espresso shop in Livingstone, Zambia. Clearly a much better economy in Zambia - amazingly clear. Grocery stores are 10x more stocked, people are friendly and say hello/offer to help with information. In Zimbabwe we learned to avoid eye contact or say hello for fear of getting hassled every 10 feet to buy carvings or bracelets or old money. They have to work really hard for their money in Zimbabwe. We were a little tired of that scene so coming here to Zambia was a relief. As a visitor, it feels more calm/relaxed in Zambia.

(We're heading to Lusaka tomorrow and onto the express train (46 hours) to Tanzania next...)

Kasane, Botswana - Chobe National Park

HOLY CHOBE!

From Maun, we headed for Kasane - a border town of 4 countries: Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Zambia. Really interesting town – very laid back and touristy with Safari trucks every 5th car. Right on the Chobe River at the edge of a gi-normous national park only accessible by 4x4. Large resort hotels on the Chobe river and then walk 20 feet and tour information shacks, craft displayed on the ground, women carrying babies on their backs – an interesting mix but it seems to work pretty nicely. People are happy and relaxed – a good vibe. The only problem is, we could not find an available 4x4 to go in/out of Chobe on our own. Not one 4x4 for hire - what?! Camp sites inside the park were booked a month in advance (so we camped in town). It’s the busy season and Chobe requires when we don’t have- good planning! (So far, we’ve been winging it, keeping a few days ahead in planning. But Chobe is different – there's a lack of resources like 4x4s and a lot of people wanting to go to the park.

At least we were able to visit the park by boat - the Chobe river is beautiful! We’d heard in Maun to go on a river safari after 3 p.m. because that’s when all the wildlife heads to the river. TRUE - wow! Once on the river, we were stopping every 20 feet to look at crocs, hippos, birds, tons of elephants, several varieties of ungulates, buffalo, giraffe, etc. The whole list below is from a 3-hour boat trip on the Chobe river. You can’t describe it…this safari was some of the most impressive we’ve seen in Africa so far. We were actually seeing elephants (many with young young babies) swim across the river – wow. One young baby elephant (pictured below) was less than 2 weeks old. The guide said you can tell the baby’s age because he was bending all the way down to use his mouth to drink water – he hadn’t learned to use his trunk yet. (Awwwww!) We watched the mama, baby and (probably) an older sibling intermittently for an hour as they walked on the river bank and finally swam across – helping ferry the baby across to the other side. Meanwhile, we were getting amazing close up views of hippos, crocs and a ton of birds. Seriously – a must do if you’re in this part of the world.


















Now, we’re on to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe for couple days, then more of the falls and the upper Zambezi River from the Zambia side…and eventually making our way north to catch a 40+ hour train ride which starts north of Lusaka going straight to Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. Cool!

CHOBE BIRDS

Reed Cormorant
Darter
Goliath Heron
Grey Heron
Yellow-billed Egret
Little Egret
Cattle Egret
Great White Egret
Squacco Heron
Blackcrowned Night Heron
Black Stork
Yellowbilled Stork
Marabou Stork
Saddlebilled Stork
Openbilled Stork
African Spoonbill
Sacred Ibis
Spurwinged Goose
Egyptian Goose
Redbilled Teal
Whiteheaded Vulture
African Fish Eagle
Helmeted Guineafowl
African Jacana
Redwinged Stilt
Crowned Plover
Blacksmith Plover
Common Sandpiper
Greyheaded Gull
Meyer’s Parrot
Grey Lourie
Pied Kingfisher
African Skimmer (nesting)
Whitefronted Bee-eater
Carmine Bee-eater
Swallowtailed bea-eater
Grey Hornbill
Redbilled Hornbill
European Swallow
Forktailed Drongo
Blackeyed Bulbul
Yellowbellied Bulbul
Heuglin’s Robin
Orangebreasted Bush Shrike
Glossy Starling
Black Sunbird
Whitebellied Sunbird
Swamp Boubou

OTHER CHOBE WILDLIFE

Bushbuck
Water Monitor
Nile Crocodile
Vervent Monkies
Baboons
Giraffes
Elephants
Hippos
Warthogs
Impalas
Kudus
Buffalos
Waterbucks
Red Lechwes
Sable Antelope

Maun, Botswana

OKAVANGO DELTA

Charles and I arrived in Maun, Botswana looking forward to getting ourselves into the Okavango Delta! We based out of the Okavango River Lodge where we've been camping for a few days right on the water (great view, a bar/restaurant and huge bonfire every night too-bonus!). We hired the Lodge to arrange a village guide from Boro village to take us on an overnight mokoro trip in the delta this weekend. Nice!





We've been dividing our time here in Maun between touring and working (on-line classwork). We're at our "office" now - a booth in the local Wimpy's restaurant (a Denny's-style joint) with free fast internet. (SCORE!) So far, we've been able to stand 6-7 hours of continuous loops of Kenny Rogers music before needing to run out. We're heading north tomorrow toward Chobe National Park. (Unfortunately, Moremi Park roads are mostly flooded so we have to bypass that park - it's the most water they've had here in 40 years (!) - so, we're catching up on work and heading to Kasana and Chobe after this...



The Mokoro trip this weekend was amazing!! Despite the really cold mornings here, the days and afternoons are perfect. We took the warmest layers we owned, our camping gear and enough food for 2 days and we were off. First, a 1/2 hour motorboat to Boro village (and neighborhood children making silly faces around a pot of 'pap' porridge). Our village mokoro poler guide, Newman, was selected and we were off in our mokoro to explore the delta.

We were spotting nearby fish eagles, jacanas, and swamp boubous every once in a while but mostly....silence. No sound except the pole through the water and the rippling water sounds as we moved slowly through reeds and delta. Amazing. We were lulled to some sort of meditative state.









A 1/2 day of poling and we set up camp, had a nice siesta and then went on an afternoon game walk on this nearby island. I think we covered a 500-meter circle in 2 hours stopping about 100 times for sightings of wildabeesst, impala, lechwe, warthogs, burchell's zebra, elephants, baboons - all at a little uncomfortably close range. Newman, our guide had us hide low while warthogs came VERY close. (Yikes, are you SURE?)! We had to make a choice to pause as elephants were crossing our path...and here we were on foot - a crazy long anticipation/adrenaline rush.









Then a pre-sunset mokoro back to camp. Newman caught 3 talapia with his fish net - so we had a beautiful camp braai of meat, fish, potatoes, baked beans and wine! A nice sunset and a million stars around the campfire...WOWwwwww...and inevitable talk of 'if you hear an elephant walk though camp just stay in your tent' (holy shit)...so I'm not totally sure I slept soundly that night.
Manthanyane "Newman", our Moyeyi guide of Boro village was teaching us some simple Setswana words around the campfire:

Wari: Hello
Tali-boha: Thank you
Dumela: Good Morning
Hakuna matata: you're welcome/no worries
Ra/Ma: man/woman

A Conversation:
Newman: "Wari, dumela ma".
Kristi: "Wari, dumela ra, taliboha"
Newman: "Hukuna matata ma"

Next day was a 3-4 hour game walk (fresh lion tracks and hippo scat), back in the mokoro for 1/2 hour to camp (Charles tried his hand at poling semi-successfully - ask him to tell you about the thorn bush) and another break, a nap, book reading, and campfire lunch of pasta and fresh fish. Then a few hours of meditative mokoro riding to the village, bye to Newman and Boro village, some welcome drinks on the motorboat back to the river lodge and then the best 'bunny chow' (beef curry stew in a bread bowl) dinner and beer you've ever tasted. B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L!







BIRDS
African Jacanas
Pied Kingfishers
Palm Swifts
Lesser Jacanas
Blackcollared Barbet
Whitebreasted Cormorant
Great White Egret
Redbilled Wood Hooeoes
Senegal Coucal
Squacco Heron
Hammerkop
Pigmy Goose
Cape Vulture
Blacksmith Plover
Grey Lourie
Greater Swamp Warbler
Swamp Boubous
Reed Cormorant
Spurwinged Goose
Sparrow Hawk
African Fish Eagles
Bateleur
Turle Doves
Sand Grouse
Lilac-breasted Roller
Swallowtail Bee-eater
Little Bee-eater
Crowned Plover
Grey Hornbill
Larks
Forktailed Drongo
Redeyed Bulbuls
Chinspot Batis
Longtailed Shrike
Blackcrowned Tchagra
Longtailed Starling
Myer's Parrots

OTHER WILDLIFE
Bush Buck
Blue Wildabeest
Impala
Lechwe
Burchell's Zebras
Baboons
Elephants
Tilapia (dinner): 3-spotted, Redbreasted, and Largemouth
Click frogs (tons)

Namibia (Central and North)

SWAKOPMUND and WALVIS BAY

After a much-needed break in Windhoek (a bed, laundry, internet), we made our way west toward the Atlantic coast – Swakopmund (the bigger town) and Walvis Bay. We splurged on a 4-hour catamaran tour of Walvis Bay. No whales but 2 types of dolphins (Bottlenose and Duske) – Charles touched one stretching down from the catamaran – pretty cool. Also, we were seeing TONS of cape fur seals. We’re finding it amazing and totally eerie that there is NO – zero – vegetation leading to the coast. The dunes or sparse salt flats meet the sea. Same with the rivers – no riparian vegetation… a strange land indeed! Desolate, barren - the sailors who shipwrecked here were doomed. Skeleton Coast – totally. We drove up the Skeleton coast north of Swakopmund a couple hours but desolation did us in. We turned around and stayed at a B&B in Swakomund where we could converse and have some human interaction with the local population. There were barely 5 cars the entire 4-hour drive that afternoon so we needed to see people. Out to dinner at a pub, we met and dined with a nice German couple. People are SO incredibly nice here everywhere we go. We are meeting and getting invites/contact information from fellow travelers and the locals are so welcoming and hospitable. We get “(It’s a )Pleasure” every time they do a favor and we thank them. Nice nice!







ETOSHA NATIONAL GAME PARK

We left Swakamund and headed directly to Ethosha for a couple days. The roads were paved the whole way (and you would not believe how awesome that was!) We stopped right outside Ethosha to camp at a “Farmstall’. Super nice owners/farmers with a great camp ground set up (with the wood-fired hot water shower and braai!). Also they rescued four Cheetahs that were on death row after killing too many livestock on neighboring farms. So they took them in and now consider it part of their tourist business. We watched and helped feed these cats – beautiful animals. At their family bar/restaurant, they gave us information on the park, sold us beer, his farm’s biltong (kudu jerky) and an oryx steak, and gave us 2 shots of their home-brewed schnapps. After the Orxy braai and a campfire with another German couple, we were fast asleep!

Inside Etosha at the crack of dawn! Elephant, zebras, jackals, giraffes, tons of ungulates, and LIONS! We watched this pair of Lions for about 20 minutes and got very close to them (in the car of course). Great photos of other wildlife – tons of birds, snakes, squirrels, impala, springbok (see complete list below) and then camping inside the park. Etosha is FLAT flat flat – there is a huge pan which fills with water in the wet season (water is mostly on the east side of the pan). Being dry season now, animals were coming to the smaller waterholes in the pan so that worked nicely for us! At the Halali Park campground where we stayed, there is a lit-up water hole nearby the camp (you can view it from a rock overlook behind a wildlife fence.) Nice – especially the next morning when we watched an African Wildcat try to take down some sand grouse as they lifted off. Pretty cool. Mucho elephants, zebras, giraffes, impala, jackals (and a few sleeping lions we occasionally got a glimpse of when they popped their heads above the grass) on the east side.








BIRDS

Helmeted Guineafowl
Turtle Dove
Ostriches
Yellowbilled Hornbill
Kori Bustard
Blackshoulderd Kite
Namaqua Sandgrouse
Greater Kestrel
Crowned Plover
Starling
Lilac breasted Roller
Bateleur
Vulture
Hoopoe
Dabchic
Blacknecked Greebe
Redknobbed Coot
Secretary Bird
Palechanting Goshawk
Redcrested Korhaan
Northern Black Korhaan
Blacksmith Plover
Doublebanded Courser
Barn Owl
Giant Eagle Owl or Spotted Eagle Owl
Gray Hornbill
Black Crow
Southern Anteating Chat
Cinnamonbreasted Shrike
Redbilled Oxpecker
Whitebrowed Sparrow-Weaver
Forktailed Drongo
Groundscraping Thrush
Goldenbreasted Bunting
Southern Pied Babbler
Swallowtailed Bee-eater
Gymnogene (raptor)
Pink Flamingos
Southern Whitecrowned Shrike
Eastern White Pelican
Grey Heron
Swainsons Francolin
Redbilled Teal

OTHER WILDLIFE

Red Hartebeest
Blue Wildabeest
Burchell’s Zebra
Sprinkbok
Warthog
Oryx
Giraffe
Ground Squirrel
Black-backed Jackals
Lions (3+)
Honey Badger
Black-faced Impala
Kudus
Impala
Steenbok
Slender Mongoose
Small-Spotted Genet (small cat)
Marsh Terrapin (turtle)
Puff Adder (snake)
Cross-marked Grass Snake
African Wildcat
Bats (unknown)
Banded mongoose
Damara Dik-Dik
Wall Crab Spider

WATERBERG

We love Waterberg! Hugely needed hiking here at this national park – thank GOD! We’ve been traveling so much in a car at other parks (they won’t even let you THINK about exiting your car in the game parks) so we were both having a weird case of cabin fever at varying speeds between 30-40 kph (in the park) and 80-120 kph (outside the park). So when we got to Waterberg park, we hit the ground hiking. Late in the afternoon, we hiked up to the top of a mountain viewpoint as the sun was setting – scurrying over rocks and climbing up and back down big boulders….Ahhhhhh TERRAIN and TOPOGRAPHY!! Yes! The sunset was gorgeous on the red sandstone cliffs and our spirits were totally lifted. We made an interesting tomato-pasta dish with grilled cheese for dinner (trying to use up food stuffs we accumulated the last three weeks). Seeing what’s packable and not, we’re starting to look forward to the trip to Botswana and the Okavango Delta!

Next morning we started hiking right from our campsite (at the bottom of the cliff in the valley) doing the park’s loop trails and bird walks. We continued walking and wandering the valley trails and ended up hiking back to the shelf at the base of the cliffs…and back up the cliff’s to the top to see an incredible 180 view over the valley below. Beautiful! Turns out #1: we love getting into nature (and out of a car), #2: we love hikes and wildlife/bird watching, and #3: we love topography and cool views. Nice!







BIRDS

Redbilled Francolin
Helmeted Guineafowl
Laughing Dove
Rosiefaced Lovebirds
Grey Lorie
Bradfords Hornbill
Grey Hornbill
Acacia Pied Barbet
Redeyed Bulbul
Short-toed Thrush
Familiar Chat
Mountain Chat
Whitebrowed Robin
Kalahari Robin
Greybacked Bleating Warbler
Puffback Palewinged Starling
Melba Finch
Blue Waxbill
Pririt Battis
Melba Finch (female feeding 4 young)
Blackcheeked Waxbill
Swallowtailed Bee-eater
Monteiros Hornbill
Rock Kestrel
Forktailed Drongo
Lilacbreasted Roller
Palewinged Starlings
Ground Plover
Turtle Dove
Cinnamonbreasted Shrike
Burchell’s Starling
Whitebrowed Sparrow
Southernbilled Hornbill
Maricos Sunbirds

OTHER WILDLIFE

African Wildcat
Rock Hyrax
Baboons (too close to camp!)
Steenbok
Red Hartebeest
Warthog
Brown Hyena
Oryx

Farewell Namibia!! Thank you for the wonderful wildlife, scenery, desert beauty and kind and beautiful people!! We head to Maun, Botswana next to experience the Okavango Delta by mokoro (dug out canoe) with a poler/guide to take us through the delta waters. Can’t wait!