TravelStream™ news feed for member andrewsinclair on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/andrewsinclair en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Thu, 03 Dec 2009 03:16:23 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/andrewsinclair/4/1256016720/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/andrewsinclair/4/1256016720/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/andrewsinclair/4/1256016720/tpod.html Thu, 03 Dec 2009 03:16:23 -0500 The ULTIMATE Trans Africa Trip!

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Khartoum, Sudan

19th - Drove to the border town of Metema and after a long process we were stamped out of Ethiopia. Going into Gallabat by walking to get stamped into Sudan bfore crossing back into Ethiopia to get the truck, weird way of doing it. We still need to register within 3 days at a Khartoum office.

By the time we crossed with the truck into Sudan it was late so we drove looking for a bush camp. Found a good one eventually about 48km from the border.

Dist cov. = km

20th - Driving north to the capital Khartoum stopping for lunch at a town along the way. We are passing from sub-saharan into arabic Africa. We are staying at the National Camping Residence on the city outskirts. The camp was overflowing with Algerian football supporters, Algeria played Egypt and won 1-0 to go to the World Cup. The Algerians were mostly annoying, a few were okay and they gave us all their unopened water bottles - say 30 plus 1.5L bottles. Luckily they were all flying home around 8pm leaving the camp empty and quiet, but in the areas they stayed looked like a rubbish tip. Found within the main area of the campsite is a large mosque.

First impressions of the city is that it looks modern, but we'll get a better look at the city centre tomorrow morning.

Dist cov. = km

21st - Heading into Khartoum to register, and no-one seems to know where we have to go - which is strange as every foreigner has to register, cost is S£100 = $50. From driving around it is easy to see that this is one of the more modern cities in Africa, with paved roads and high-rise buildings. From the people we have met I could tell that were friendly and hospitable, a big improvement over some of the Ethiopians. We even think that we could leave the truck lockers unlocked and nothing would be stolen if we all walked away for the day. I would say that this is one of the safest cities in Africa. The city is built where the two Niles meet, the Blue and the White to form the mighty Nile river from here to the coast.

Had lunch at a restaurant on the way back to the campsite and it was my cook groups turn to shop. The market, and the people there as well, reminded me a lot of the friendly atmosphere in West African markets...I really liked going around this market today.

22nd - Chris went back to hand in the registration forms and stay there until they are returned stamped. I stayed at the campsite all day planning what to see sightseeing tomorrow.

At dinner Chris told us some bad news: due to the Festival of Eed in Egypt for 4 days over this weekend the ferry that tkes the vehicles won't be operating for 2 weeks so the truck has to be left behind whilst we continue to Egypt - the passenger ferry is unaffected. With this in mind we are heading to Wadi Halfa to get on the ferry for the 25th. It's going to be an early morning tomorrow so we leave Khartoum without any major traffic problems.

It's a shame that I have to miss Khartoum city, kicking myself for not going today.....hindsight sucks.

23rd - Drove north through Shendi and Kabushiya before driving off the main road to go to a Meroe site. The ancient royal cemetry of Begrawiya (which many people call Meroe) is one of Sudan's most spectacular sights. The Meroitic Pyramids thrived from 592 BC until over-run by the Abyssinians in AD350. Although nothing here compares with better-known sites in Egypt the clusters of narrow pyramids blanketing the sand-swept hills are quite a sight and there are some well-preserved hieroglyphics that can still be seen in the tomb's antechambers. We basically had the entire site to ourselves, the only time you can see pyramids without a throng of tourists around them.

The pyramids are all in different states: some of them have collapsed/crumbled; others are in their original state with only minimal damage to the antechamber; others have been partially reconstructed; and a couple have been fully reconstructed. All the tombs are blocked off so only the antechambers are viewable, but the hieroglyphics are amazingly preserved.

Continued on to the town of Atbara, where we had lunch, before driving back to where the road heads in a westerly direction. Bush camping near the towns of Merowe and Karima.

Dist cov. = km

24th - Drove to Wadi Halfa passing through Kerma and Abri. After passing the turnoff to Dongola we were following the Nile north. Stopped breifly in Wadi Halfa to hand our passports over to someone who could get the ferry tickets for us.

Bush camped outside of town near Lake Nasser. Packed up my things for the next 2 weeks of traveling.

Dist cov. = km

25th - Went into Wadi Halfa to wait whilst the tickets were sorted and bought food and drinks as the ferry crossing takes 18hrs. Immigration was a little complicated for leaving the country - filled in 3 or 4 forms/slips to be stamped before being stamped out of Sudan. A health card for Egypt would be our ferry ticket in the end.

Boarded the ferry at 2pm, claiming deck space at the top where we could sleep etc. Had lunch at 3pm, the only time food would be served onboard. Departed at 5.20pm - 18hrs commences now till our destination of Aswan, Egypt. In an hour of leaving we crossed into Egypt and put our clocks back an hour. Around 8pm Egyptian time (4hrs after leaving) we could see part of Abu Simbel's sound-and-light show in the distance - looked amazing watching the different colours changing over the temples. Settled down for a nights sleep on deck.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/andrewsinclair/4/1259831249/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/andrewsinclair/4/1259831249/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/andrewsinclair/4/1259831249/tpod.html Thu, 03 Dec 2009 02:29:12 -0500 The ULTIMATE Trans Africa Trip!

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Gonder, Āmara, Ethiopia

From the hotel I walked to the Royal Enclosure, which contains Gonder's castles and high stone walls. These castles were constructed piecemeal by successive emperors between the mid-17th and mid-18th centuries. The entire site is 70,000-sq-metre and is a World Heritage site - it is not difficult to see why Gonder has earned the nickname 'Africa's Camelot'.

I wandered around the site by myself, since I come from the castle region of England I could probably guess what rooms were what in each castle. Guides are available and can be found near the ticket office. The style that these castles are reminded me a lot of some English ones...and this is Africa! There are a couple of castles at the site which have remained largely intact, once was unavailable for tourists to enter, and most are ruins.

From this site I took a Tuk-Tuk (3-wheeled taxi, think of Indian ones) to the church of Debre Berhan Selassie located in the northeast of town. The walls inside of this modest looking church host the nation's most vibrant ecclesiastical artwork. I had read that the ceiling captures most visitors imaginations, "Think of Mona Lisa's smile and multiply it 104 times!". I realised what this meant when I looked up, 100+ faces all smiling...felt a little disappointed as I thought it might have had a 'wow' factor.

Took a Tuk-Tuk back to the hotel to drop my camera off before going out to visit another site this afternoon. I had Tibs (fried meat with injera) for lunch, I have actually developed over time a liking for injera despite its sour taste. It is nice having some food that is quite different to what I would usually have. Met up with Judiete, Sam and Jess to go to the Dashen brewery and go on a free tour of the brewery. At the end of the tour you receive a free pint each of Dashen beer, food is also available here as well.

Martin, Gwynne and Jess are cooking for us as we are going to be cooking off the truck again.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/andrewsinclair/4/1256017080/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/andrewsinclair/4/1256017080/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/andrewsinclair/4/1256017080/tpod.html Thu, 03 Dec 2009 02:02:47 -0500 The ULTIMATE Trans Africa Trip!

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Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

27th - The new spring was fitted and we crossed the border into Ethiopia. Drove for the rest of the day till nightfall and reaching the small town of Yabelo. We had picked up Brook who would be our guide into the Lower Omo Valley, which hosts some of Africa's most fascinating and colourful ethnic groups - along with Ethiopia's worst roads. The plan is to see 4 different ethnic groups over 3 days, which is usually done in 5 days - all for US$20 each, seems like a bargain. We are staying at the New Green Pension Hotel, most of us are camping.

Dist cov. = 209 km

28th - Left early and drove towards Konso, from here we could head to where we could find some of the ethnic groups. The landscape is diverse, but mostly dry, open savannah plains.

Before our lunch stop in what seems to be the middle of no-where we broke the secondary spring on the newer spring we replaced yesterday. We heard 2 big crunches alerting us to this. With straping and 2 big bits of wood we could continue and we arrived in the village of Oweita for lunch. Had injera for lunch, with its slightly sour taste (not to my liking) with an assortment of food placed on top, you eat the meals with your hands no cutlery involved. Rob described that the injera looked like lung tissue.

After lunch we drove to the village of the Aerobore ethnic group and for 20Birr each ($1.5) we should've had a tour of the village - this never happened, not sure why. Then the tricky part, the photos, check with the person you're taking a photo of to see how much it costs, usually 2Birr per person! in the photo - got to be careful on the group pictures otherwise you could end up spending a fortune.

From here we headed to our campsite, but we weren't able to cross the river by night, so we bushcamped beside the road hoping the river would be lower by the morning.

Dist cov. = 293 km

29th – Chris checked out the river conditions by walking across and judging that it isn't possible due to the soft sand on the riverbed (not a good place to bog). As it rained during the night some of the upcoming dry riverbeds would have some water. The first one we crossed we had a problem – bogging so Chris tried to get out and we ended up breaking the rear primary spring on the LHS and moving the diff out of position. We made a dam and altered the course of the river to avoid the water pooling around the back tries and of course making the sand more difficult to be removed from around the wheels. Got out on our first try and Chris drove to the top of the hill so that the spring could be replaced – this involved making a new one from the spare parts we were carrying. Brook organized a goat to be cooked for lunch, which wasn't anywhere as good as the one we had in Bamako, Mali.

After we had lunch and fixed the spring we watched the Hamer group perform a dance for us, we got the price for 300Birr for the group, so 20Birr each with the bonus of not paying per photo. Headed back to Oweita to have dinner and camp. As it was Sam's 25th birthday, Rob and Elyse had made a cake by combining strawberry jam and injera, an interesting combo that the locals seemed to enjoy a lot more than us.

Dist cov. = 114 km

30th – Got back to Yabelo by lunchtime to drop Brook off before we continued on our drive to Awasa. Lunch took 2hrs to arrive, normal time for African standards. Driving north through the mountains until stopping at Yirga Chete. Dinner took ages to arrive - over 2hrs for rice and meat. Camping in the courtyard.

Dist cov. = 349 km

31st – Drove into Awasa and upon turning a corner onto the main street we hit a parade for World Laughter Day and we ended up on TV, shown all over Ethiopia. Staying at the Circle of Life Hotel beside the lake. Awasa is southern Ethiopia's largest city and sits on the shores of Lake Awasa, a Rift Valley Lake. The hotel is set in a beautiful setting with trees providing lots of shade from the hot sun. Rooms are only 140Birr here and contain en-suite, double bed and a TV. I'm sleeping on the truck for security reasons tonight.

As it's Halloween Rob, Elyse, Tom, Kira, Nick, Christine, Judiete and I went out for some drinks. The nightclub someone spotted called Inferno was closed down so we had a drink in a nearby café/restaurant. Beers are only about $0.50 each for a 330ml bottle.

Dist cov. = 132 km

November 1st – Walked to the Lake to take some photos before the truck left. Saw a really nice saddle-billed stork beside the lake.

Drove to Addis Ababa, the capital, having lunch prior to reaching the city outskirts. Passed through the towns of Ziway and Debre Zeyit. Addis is a sprawling city over 250-sq-km and getting larger every year.

We are camping about 4km from the city centre in an easterly direction. Campsite is called Amba Hotel, which is down the road from the Israeli Embassy. Rob, Tom, Martin and myself are doing Mo-vember (grow a moustache for the month, Martin is the favourite).

Dist cov. = 281 km

2nd – Ron is heading back to Nairobi today, leaving the trip to continue preparations for his wedding schedule.

The rest of us went to the Egyptian Embassy, Brits had to pay $71, Canadians $55, most people $30 and Americans $20 (they'll pay the most for Sudan though). Everything was put in by 11am and Chris headed to the Sudanese Embassy to get the forms, which when he met up with us it turned out that no forms could be issued without an Egyptian visa.

So a few of us (Rob, Judiete, Sam, Nick + Christine and me) went to do some sightseeing. First stop was the National Museum, which houses the cast (the actual skeleton is currently in New York) of the 3.2-million-year-old 'Lucy', a famously fossilsed upright hominid discovered in 1974. On the basement level, along with 'Lucy', there are fossils showing what life was like millions of years ago – all the fossils were found within Ethiopia. On the ground floor there are a collection of items from previous rulers including Emperor Haile Selassie's massive throne. The top two levels contain some celebrated Ethiopia artworks. Admission is 10Birr, less than $1, and photos are allowed at no extra cost – a complete and utter bargain for a museum.

We then walked to the ornate Holy Trinity Cathedral – Ethiopia's second-most important place of worship. Paid an entrance fee of 30Birr and we were then given a 30min tour, mainly inside the cathedral. Inside this holy place are some impressive stained glass windows and paintings on the domed ceiling at the back of the cathedral. This is also the final resting place of Emperor Haile Selassie and his wife. Their massive Aksumite-style granite tombs, complete with lions' feet are worth seeing. Also buried in the cathedral is the Emperor's 5 children, under the floor beneath the dome ceiling. You can also see the thrones/seats used by the Emperor and his wife at the back of the cathedral. At the end of the tour you'll be expected to tip the priest who opens the cathedral for you, he wouldn't open the door until tipped, 10Birr should be enough between 2 people.

Came back to the campsite with Rob, Nick + Christine stayed near the embassy. Judiete left with Sam to meet Jess somewhere in town after the National Museum.

3rd – Sam, Judiete and Jess left early to go to Harar and are returning on Friday. Sat around the campsite and used the internet across the road. Most people have upgraded to hotels now, except for Rob, Bryony and I. Had dinner in the Abssynian Hotel.

4th – Still not got the Egyptian visa, picking it up tomorrow morning at 9am. Rob and I walked down to Kalinda Coffeehouse (taken exactly from the Starbucks theme). Back at the campsite Rob and I helped Chris fix the new LHS with Chris. Used internet for job applications before having dinner at the Abssynian Hotel again.

5th – Elyse, Lene and Heather have moved out of their hotel to return to camping. Picked up our visas for Egypt and went straight to the Sudanese Embassy on the otherside of the city. Americans paid $200, everyone else is $100 – this is the same for a transit visa as well. Went to find a Travel Ethiopia office to book a trip to the Danakil Depression, but no trips are able to go there at present.

Came back to the campsite and helped Chris remove the wheels on the RHS so he could fix the spring. Had dinner at a pizzeria called Green View Restaurant.

6th – Picked up our Sudanese visas and spent time around the campsite. Had dinner at the Abssynian Hotel and around 8pm the girls got back from Harar.

7th – Meant to leave Addis today, but Chris partied a bit too hard last night after working 4 days on the truck and running around the city looking for spare parts. Rob and I had lunch at a fast food + restaurant place just before the Green View Restaurant. Then I spent all day or the rest of it filling out job applications…what fun.

8th – Leaving Addis today and according to the notes from previous drivers we should reach Bahir Dar today. Well we only managed to reach the town of Debre Markos passing through Debre Libanos, Fiche and Dejen.

The best scenery today was driving through the Blue Nile Gorge. We camped in the grounds of a hotel in town and had dinner at its restaurant, which when the food arrived (finally!) was most likely cold.

Dist. Cov. = km

9th – Reached Bahir Dar, covering the last 185km event-free. Staying at the Ghion Hotel, located near the main street. Camping around the back of the toilets and kitchens. Organised tomorrow's trip on Lake Tana through Ghion Hotel, although the guy was initially charging us 4 times the price, 200Birr for a full day he dropped it to a more reasonable 50Birr for a half day trip.

Went shopping in the market, which was great for buying food and it seemed to hold a great deal more of other things. A local kid called Manu showed us around finding the stores for us and telling us later when or if we would be ripped off.

Dist cov. = km

10th – Got up semi-early, 6.30am, for our tour to Lake Tana's famous monasteries. Many date from around the 17th century.

The first one we went to was from the 14th century on an island the furthest away, supposedly the best one to see church-wise. The paintings were amazing to see and since there were 2 churches on this island, the price was 60Birr, including entry to a museum as well. After we finished the tour here we went to another island (and from here on, I sat the other islands out as I had a fever and it was very hot temp wise with lots of walking to do around the islands).

Got back to the hotel and I went into town to have a drink at Starbacks (complete rip-off of Starbucks) and to explore more of the town.

11th – Trying to book flights from Bahir Dar to Lalibela to Aksum to Gonder over the next few days sightseeing. By the end of the day I had managed to get the following flights: Lalibela to Aksum and Aksum to Gonder via Lalibela – for only $100. Booked via the Ethiopian airlines office in town.

Some people went to see the Blue Nile Falls during the day, I was to busy at the airlines office to go see it. Early morning tomorrow to get the shard transport to Lalibela.

12th – Woke up early so at 6am we could drive off to Lalibela, 370km away on rough roads. The guy who put the trip together, Basirat (emphasis on the rat part - he wears a white pimp hat and acts like the boss of the place....he isn't) started giving us hassle saying that we had to pay the driver 700Birr so he can fuel the matatu (minibus) up. We looked when the engine was running and it was fully fueled up. The actual manager of the Ghion Hotel came to help sort this out - but he was also a hindrance in this whole fiasco. We eventually got 1 person to sign a written contract to pay the guy once getting to Gonder as the manager didn't trust the driver with his money, but expected us to. Left just before 7am, 1hr later than planned - the group (Tom, Kira, Nick, Christine, Lene, Heather, Sam, Judiete, Rob and Elyse) were paying $40 for a return trip, I had to pay $25 just to go to Lalibela.

Passed the massive war memorial near the Blue Nile bridge (dedicated to those who died fighting the Derg) on the way out of town, would be worth a closer look if you are interested.

Drove for the next 11 to 12hrs passing alongside and through the rift valley gorges - an amazing sight. Not really any legroom in the minibus so everyone was glad when we reached our destination. We are staying at Alief Paradise Hotel below the famous churches, around 500m further down the hill. Had dinner at a cafe/restaurant next door to the hotel called Unity Spot Cafe, the staff are friendly and the service is quite fast for Ethiopian standards. We are paying 160Birr for double rooms, I am paying 100Birr for a double room acting as a single room. The rooms are very clean, large and good.

13th – See 'Lalibela' Blog entry.

14th – I woke up at 5am with the others, who were heading off to Gonder in the minibus, and I hitched a ride into town so I could get off outside the Aman Hotel. This is where Peggy + John had been staying and the hotel gives a good view down into the town, but not of the churches. We would be catching the flight to Aksum, taking only 40mins and flying above part of the panoramic rift valley in a Fokker 50 propeller plane.

Arriving in Aksum we met the usual hotel touts and settled on staying at the Kaleb Hotel, which is in the center of the town with rooms that flank a quiet garden courtyard. I got a single room for 80Birr a night and the room itself is basic and the bathroom is ageing - the wiring was something of a joke within the bathroom.

We set off from the hotel to find lunch, stopping at Tsega Cafe & Restaurant, which is a favourite for local meals. We walked across to the Tigrai Tourism Commission to arrange a guide for the following morning and proceded to walk to the Stelae Field where we could buy our tickets for the sites. For only 50Birr per person this ticket lasts the duration of your stay and covers all sites within Aksum's immediate vicinity, excluding the St. Mary of Zion church compound. We went into the archaeological museum as we thought this was best to do without a guide and before we looked at any sites it would be a good introduction to the history of Aksum.

Tried to find somewhere else for dinner, but to no avail, so we went back to Tsega Cafe & Restaurant.

15th – See 'Aksum' Blog entry.

16th - Morning flight 11am to Gonder, taking around 1.5hrs including 10mins or so at Lalibela airport. Took a minibus to our hotel, Fogera Hotel. Camping on a small patch of grass at the rear of the property. Hung around the hotel with Rob for the rest of the day and had dinner at the hotel.

17th - Went to use the internet and relaxed in and around the town. Some people did a half day trek in the Simien Mountain Range to get views of the rift valley. Had dinner at the hotel again.

18th - See 'Gonder' Blog entry.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/andrewsinclair/4/1259491026/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/andrewsinclair/4/1259491026/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/andrewsinclair/4/1259491026/tpod.html Tue, 01 Dec 2009 12:08:37 -0500 The ULTIMATE Trans Africa Trip!

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Aksum, Ethiopia

Met our guide Solomon and we began our tour at what could've been a church, but only the foundations are left. Surrounding these foundations are remains of the base stones used for thrones needed to crown the Kings of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie was the last King to be crowned. He came to be crowned here properly after initially being crowned at St. George Cathedral in Addis Ababa.

Walking up the road, which is currently being re-paved and should look good when it is finished, to the stelae field and then up 2km to the northeast up a hill to the 6th-century Tombs of Kings Kaleb and Gebre Meskel. On the way is a little shack containing a pillar, which was found by 3 farmers ploughing a field. This pillar is King Ezana's Inscription, dating to the 4th century, it is the Ethiopian equivalent of the Rosetta Stone and is inscribed in Sabaean, Greek and Ge'ez (the ancestor of Amharic). Reaching the tombs at the top of the small hill you get views of Adwa's jagged mountains in the distance and we were told that Eritera's border was only 7hrs walk away. There is a small Christian burial site 100m from the tombs in a cross-shaped grave, which goes down to a depth of several meters.

All that remains of the 2 large tombs are the tombs themselves and the foundations of the surrounding buildings. Initially there was only 1 tomb here, King Kaleb, but when his son King Gebre Meskel built his beside his father, the two were joined together by some large steps. King Kaleb's tombe has extra supporting pillars put in to help hold the place up although it now makes the place seem much smaller. There was black soot on the walls and ceiling caused by the local people who hid and cooked inside this tomb during the Ethiopia-Eritera war. King Gebre Meskel's tomb looks much better in terms of presentation and layout of both entrance to the tomb and inside the tomb. The stones inside the tomb seem to be of a better cut.

We walked back down the hill to the stelae fields. In the first one there were lots of smooth stone stelae, most were lying down (or fallen down), but some still stood. We also saw the first 3 of the 6 carved stelae, the oldest and the first one is the smallest of the lot and each progressive one gets larger in size and complexity of the carving. We tried to visit the colourful church in the compound between the two stelae fields, but we weren't allowed to go in. In the second stelae field is where you can find the largest single piece of stone used in the world. The 4th stelae was fenced in and what at first looked like wires used to hold the stelae in place are actually there to monitor the movement of the stelae over time. This stelae at about 21m in height is the only one of the 3 in this field that has remained standing since being erected. The 5th stelae standing at 27m is the one that was stolen by the Italians during their occupation of Ethiopia. It was returned a few years ago, but was only erected just over a year ago - it has been washed by the Italians at some point as it is far too clean compared to all the other stelae.

The final stelae is 33m in length, bu this mammoth piece of stone (560 Tons) is believed to have fallen down straight after it was erected - the experts have come up with this conclusion due to the size of the uncarved foundation section being too short. When this stelae fell it collapsed a tomb in front of it, the roof of this tomb is 360 Tons and one piece of stone - the walls couldn't take the 400+ Tons that resulted in the stelae collapsing and they just slide out from under the roof. The stelae is broken into pieces and is now being supported by modern dry stone walls to prevent any more damage to it. The interesting part of this stelae is how they managed to carve all 4 sides - they may have dug a trench in small sections to carve a part of the stelae, before filling in the trench and moving on to the next section. Also the quarry for all the stones is 5km away, so to move this stone would've taken both time and considerable effort.

Below the 6th stelae are 2 tombs, but one is unsafe for anyone to enter even the archaeologists. The tomb you can enter contains many burial chambers, but at least half of them have been sealed off during the time of discovery. From here we visited the Tomb of the False Door, built some time after the 6th stelae fell down. The tomb has a carved stone door above the entrance (hence the name) and is found under a tin roof protecting the area from the elements. Inside the tomb you can see some coffins and little else. Beside the stairs to the tomb is a large piece of rock that blocks the entrance to where the treasure would have been kept. Luckily you can go inside this part of the tomb by climbing down a wooden ladder behind the carved stone door. Inside you can see that there is enough space for a large amount of items to be stored.

We stopped the tour for lunch and headed off for local food at 'Traditional Restaurant' beside the Ethiopian Airlines office.

Met Solomon outside the entrance to the compound of the St. Mary of Zion Churches, Ethiopia's holiest shrine. The church was built in 1959 as the original was burnt down by Queen Sheba when she couldn't find the Ark of the Covenant. The price to get in has doubled only recently, it now stands at 120Birr and women have to pay this but aren't allowed into the churches. As none of us were keen to go into the church for around $10, we would walk through the compound to our next destination. I saw the building/chapel that the Ethiopians believe contains the Ark of the Covenant from a distance. Walked through the church past the area where coronations took place. We walked out of town to the remains of a 6th or 7th century palace that is thought to belong to Queen Sheba. Only the foundations for most of the palace remain and from a viewing platform at the other end of the site from the entrance, you can get an idea of what the palace may have looked like. The people of this time seem to have been experts at building dry stone walls looking at the level of precision of these walls. Opposite the palace is a field of stelae thought to belong to middle-class citizens of the time.

Walking back into the center of town past Ethiopian Airlines office is the alleyway that leads to King Bazen's Tomb marked above the site is a stelae. This tomb is very old and has been dug out of the ground without any stones to make it appear grander. The stairs down to the tomb were added later as were the graves built into the walls, probably for additional family members. This tomb is also protected from the environment by a tin roof. Further up the hill are more graves cut into the rock-face. The interesting fact about King Bazen is that he is one of the 3 wise men that was present at the birth of Jesus Christ. This was the last place of the tour and we thanked Solomon for a great and informative tour.

We had dinner at Tsega Cafe & Restaurant.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/andrewsinclair/4/1259490988/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/andrewsinclair/4/1259490988/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/andrewsinclair/4/1259490988/tpod.html Tue, 01 Dec 2009 11:28:17 -0500 The ULTIMATE Trans Africa Trip!

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Lalibela, Ethiopia

Lalibela, a World Heritage site, undoubtedly ranks among the greatest religious-historical sites in the Christian world. This is what I had read before traveling here and this place is the main reason why I wanted to come to Ethiopia.

We walked the short distance from our hotel to the information centre where we could buy our tickets (300Birr per person, valid for 4 days) and arranged for a guide (300Birr for the 11 of us). There are 3 groups of churches: Group 1 contains 6 churches including the largest church and the first church built (St. Mary); Group 2 contains 4 churches and Group 3 contains 1 church, St. George church – one of the 8 wonders of the world. The first church took 10 years to build, or more appropriately to 'create', and all 11 churches took 23 years to complete – a workforce of 40,000 people is said to have worked on the site. One year ago to the day the EU helped to finance some roofs over some of the rock churches, mainly for the ones showing signs of erosion due to the weather – bearing in mind that these churches are 900 years old.

We started the tour with the largest church created. These rock-hewn churches astound for three main reasons: many are not carved into the rock, but freed entirely from it (unlike most of Petra); the buildings are so refined; and so many exist within a small area. Upon seeing the first church I was overawed at the scale of it - it is just huge - and standing around in the gap created all those centuries ago was mind-boggling. Most of the pillars were repaired by the Italians as they were badly weather worn, bu there are still some original ones at the ends of the church. Everything that has been carved on the outside has a religious meaning, the 3 pillars joined together at the corners of the church represent the Holy Trinity, the windows represent a variety of things. Inside the church was to me more astounding for how they crated this large space with so many small details. The priest for this church and for every church after stood up to show the staff and mark for this particular church, he lets you take photos of him, but if you need to use your flash tell the guide so that the priest can put sunglasses on (he doesn't want blurry vision from lots of flashes going off at once).

From here we walked through a small tunnel to St. Mary's Church, the first one created for King Lalibela, and meant as his own private church. Two smaller churches flank either side of this, one for men only - House of the Cross - and one of the women only - House of Virgins. Walking up some stairs on the opposite side that we entered ;this 'courtyard' we could view the church from the bell-tower and in a recess above the stairs was where King Lalibela slept. Following this passage around we climbed up to "ground level" to get an overview of the plots for where the churches were carved. Climbing over this rock leads to the passageway - like the famous Petra path - for the double church, which contains the coffin of King Lalibela. Only men are allowed into the room from where you can view the coffin, but you only get glimpses of it from behind the curtain - when the priest moved back and forth between the 2 chambers - the coffin was draped in a red and gold cloth. Our guide told us about the medicinal properties that the soil around King Lalibela tomb had. The soil mixed with water and drunk is said to relieve stomach problems and various other minor complaints.

From here we followed passages until we arrived at the Tomb of Adam and down some steps to where we took a group photo. We left the first group of churches and walked the short distance to the third group of churches past souvenir shops and stalls, where I bought the 1 Ethiopian Dollar note featuring Emperor Haile Selassie. The St. George church is a fine example of how the church has been freed entirely from the rock, seen by looking from a viewpoint on a small hill above. Built on a slight incline this church also has a well of holy water useful for baptising people with mental health problems. In the walls surrounding the church as skeletons of people who wished to be buried here. The church is carved as a cross-shaped structure and is several 'modern day' storeys high. Another group photo here and then we stopped the tour for lunch.
Had lunch at the Blue Nile Restaurant, which serves both traditional and western food. They also do for free the Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony. By 12 we had completed viewing two groups of churches within 4 hours with still 1 group left to see.

From the restaurant we walked past a few traditional houses on the way to Group 2 churches. The first one you get to has a ramped wall that is there as a test for pilgrims. If you can walk up the wall and reach the top you will go to Heaven, but if you fall off you will go to Hell (On one side is water and the other is a rock floor, both are long drops). The original entrance to this church is unknown and a bridge was built to gain access to it. There used to be water in the cavernous pit below, but that has all disappeared with only a small trough/pit remaining.

Further on between the second and third church of this group is a tunnel completely pitch black and ends with climbing up some steps back into the open air, definitely an experience walking through that tunnel. The last church in this group is built into a cave and it is good to know that it still had a 'WOW' factor amongst some people, even after a long day seeing 10 previous churches. We left our guide here giving him a 10% tip, 330Birr total roughly $2.50 each, which is nothing really for us and went back to the hotel.

Lene and I had dinner at the Unity Spot Cafe before we met up as a group to go out for the night. We met up with our guide again to head for the Askalech Tej House, called 'Torpedo' bar now, which serves tej (Honey Wine) of varying potency - mild, medium or strong. Each flask of tej is 12Birr and for me medium was the best potency to drink. There was a traditional musician playing his masenko (single-stringed fiddle) singing in Amharic, while one guy drummed and a woman danced. We were all dragged up one at a time to try to dance along to the beat with her. All the locals laughed both with us and to us when the guy singing would say something funny about one of us, we ended up laughing to as the place was packed and probably due to the tej everyone was in a humorous mood.

It was back to the hotel as we had to be up for 5am tomorrow. This was the best day in Ethiopia thus far and I am really glad that I could fulfill an ambition to come and see these rock-hewn, mind-boggling, jaw-dropping churches.

Also of note: there are lots of monasteries in the surrounding area to visit if you have more than 1 day to explore Lalibela it is worth a look....something that I may have to come back to.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/andrewsinclair/4/1257507901/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/andrewsinclair/4/1257507901/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/andrewsinclair/4/1257507901/tpod.html Fri, 06 Nov 2009 07:30:35 -0500 The ULTIMATE Trans Africa Trip!

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Nairobi, Nairobi Area, Kenya

Leg 2

12th - Woke up early to be driven to the airport for my 6am flight. Peter picked me up at Nairobi to drive me back to Karen Camp. Spent all day relaxing and sorting out my stuff in my room to move to our new truck. We are moving to a new truck since the Mercedes will probably not be allowed into Turkey as it is nearly 20 years old, so we now have a Scania that is a few years younger.

Lene and Gary got back from Mombasa after spending a week there.

13th - Judiete the new girl arrives today, (Elyse's friend from Canada) before everyone arrives back from Mombasa. John H left the trip a week ago, a great traveling companion and he will be missed on the trip.


Leg 3

14th - Gary left to fly home to New Zealand today making our group drop down to 20, his presence in the group will be a loss. We had to thank him for all the work he's done as our Tour Leader from Gibraltar up to now.

Judiete and I went into Nairobi to get our Ethiopian visa. We spent the day walking around the city center before picking up our visa, visited the Massai marketplace. Came back via Citi Hoppa (local bus transport) for only 40Ksh each. Ron is also now engaged to a Kenyan girl....the sly old dog.

15th - Moved stuff onto new truck and out of my room. Today it rained for the first time in ages in Kenya - after such a long drought as well, good for Kenyan farmers. Chris is still waiting for parts for the new truck as some parts were broken on the drive from Arusha (the muffler fell off and is somewhere between Arusha and here).

16th - Hung around the campsite all day.

17th - Went into Karen and spent some time looking for jobs on the internet afterwards.

18th - Writing up journal and hanging around the campsite. We are supposed to be leaving Nairobi tomorrow to head north to the Mt Kenya area. Today is Kodai's last day on the trip, he is leaving so that he can spend more time with the ethnic people in Ethiopia.

19th - Leaving Karen Camp and our old truck and visited Karen for last shopping before the drive north. We are staying 6km north of Naro Moru and 1km from the Nanyuki road at Mountain Rock Lodge (formerly Bantu Lodge). The staff are friendly and it has a bar, lounge and restaurant. When we arrived Chris left straight away to return to Nairobi so he can pick up his new Australian passport and get his visa for Ethiopia.

Two other trucks are at the campsite: Geckos and Dragoman (who are on their way to Cairo). It is possible to use this lodge as a base for climbing Mt Kenya, but there isn't enough time to do the actual climb.

Dist cov. = 219 km

20th - Walked to the main road and got a matatu to Nanyuki for 30Ksh. Shopping was ok, except for all the curio sellers hassling us. Had to wait an hour for the matatu to fill up so we could leave, 50Ksh on the way back though. Watched 'Bruno' and 'Jennifers Body' (totally rubbish film) on the DVDs that Rob has bought this trip.

21st - Hung around the lounge area reading and watching films: 'The Freedom Writers' and 'Dazed and Confused'.

22nd - Chris has got both his passport and visa sorted, but Heather (who stayed in Nairobi to get here laptop fixed) and him won't get back till late. Went into Nanyuki for a few hours, internet and exploring.

23rd - Got up early so that I could walk ahead of the truck leaving today and managed to walk 7km in 75mins. The truck stopped at the Equator for the usual photos (6th and last time crossing the Equator this trip) before doing some shopping in Nanyuki. We drove north through Timau, Isiolo and Archers Post before stopping at a small village called Serolevi. We would need a police escort over the next 30km as there is a chance of bandits over this section, we arrived at 3.30pm and were told to wait an hour for the escort to arrive. They left just after we had arrived without telling us, so we ended up camping in the local police station.

Dist cov. = 192 km

24th - Joined a convoy of 8 trucks for the 30km and we were pushed to the front. There was only 3 men with guns sitting on the roofs of trucks for the entire convoy. We hadn't stopped to spend time in Samburu National Park as we were informed that due to the drought there were lots of dead elephants in the park and now farmers had brought their cattle into it.

Drove for the rest of the day getting behind trucks that were bogging in some mud, we loaned our tow rope so that a truck could be pulled out.

Reached Marsabit after passing through Laisamis and we are staying at the JeyJey Centre. We're all staying in rooms as it is cheaper than the normal camping fee that we pay. Chris told us that we had broken both our rear shock absorbers during the convoy. The left hand side (LHS) one had sheared off the bracket it was attached to and the right hand side (RHS) seals were broken.

Dist cov. = 161 km

25th - Today's road would be a lot worse than yesterday we were told - how right they were. To get to the border town of Moyale we had to drive with 2 policemen in the truck with weapons. The road was corrugated for 260km and it slowed us down to around 25km/h for most of the way. The road ended up breaking the rear leaf springs on both sides, RHS is a primary break, LHS is a secondary break. Luckily we have some spares with us.

The landscape was mostly desolate today with rocks and sand being the best feature to look at for hours on end. Coming within 70km of Moyale there were lots of camels, dik-dik and herds of goat and cattle. Also saw quite a lot of different types of birds: Northern Red-Billed Hornbill, Yellow-Necked Spurfowl, Vulturine Guineafowl.

Staying at a campsite near the Power Station, Kenya Wildlife Services.

Dist cov. = 249 km

26th - Unfortunately we can't cross the border today as the RHS leaf spring has to be replaced. Chris has the help of some locals and it looks likely it'll take the full day. There's not much to see around Moyale, and as it's Elyse's 24th birthday we went for drinks during the afternoon at the Prison Canteen.

The new spring is smaller than the broken one, but the majority of the time was taken up with removing the bolts to get the broken one off. Hopefully we should be able to leave tomorrow afternoon as the new spring has yet to be fitted.

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/andrewsinclair/4/1254821940/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/andrewsinclair/4/1254821940/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/andrewsinclair/4/1254821940/tpod.html Fri, 06 Nov 2009 06:43:18 -0500 The ULTIMATE Trans Africa Trip!

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Nairobi, Kenya

2nd - Drove to the border town of Malaba and picked Jess up - she went away for a day/night with some local Jewish people.

Stopped briefly in Eldoret before continuing on to Nakuru, 13 hours or so on the truck today. We are staying at Kembu Campsite near Njoro. Tomorrow we are going into Nakuru National Park.

Dist cov. = km

3rd - Spending the day at Lake Nakuru National Park. The park is one of the best places in Kenya to see white rhinos, but the parks most famous attraction is the flamingos that ring the lake in thousands. Getting into the National Park we drove through Nakuru town as the gate is 2km from the town center.

Inside the park most of the animals we saw had young with them. We saw the following: 2 black rhinos (mother + baby); 16 white rhino (1 two-month old baby); impala; water buffalo; warthog; zebra; baboons; giraffe (big family of 7or 8 including various ages of young); about 1.5 million flamingo; 2 tree-climbing lions (1 was hiding in the tree).

In the park, due to the drought, some of the rhinos have been shipped to other parks. We spotted several dead water buffalo and more would be on the way until the rains come later this month.

Back at the campsite I ended up learning Backgammon from John and playing Monopoly with Jess, Sam and Kodai. Also finished packing for Mt Kilimanjaro.

4th - Leaving Nakuru to drive towards Naivasha to do a quick ATM run. From town we drove over 19 speed bumps to reach Fisherman's Camp, which is beside Lake Naivasha. Along the shore/reeds there is a large chance of spotting hungry hippos grazing just on the otherside of an electric fence.

About 2km past the campsite is Elsamere Conservation Centre, the former home of Joy Adamson of Born Free fame. The entry fee includes afternoon tea (with a chance to see black-and-white colobus monkeys).

Unfortunately even though I wanted to see Elsamere, the times aren't right and I have to head off to Nairobi via Naivasha. 2hrs in a matatu with speakers blaring Kenyan pop songs with dance videos followed by a 30min taxi ride, I finally arrived at Karen Camp (Overland Camp) for the night.

Dist cov. = km

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/andrewsinclair/4/1253859120/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/andrewsinclair/4/1253859120/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/andrewsinclair/4/1253859120/tpod.html Fri, 06 Nov 2009 06:25:54 -0500 The ULTIMATE Trans Africa Trip!

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Kampala, Uganda

26th - Drove into Kabale with the truck, 7 people went at the border to where they would be tracking Gorillas tomorrow.

Staying beside Lake Bunyonyi, with terraced fields plunging into hidden bays and tiny islands dotted about. Lake Bunyonyi is estimated to be about 6,500 feet deep. Campsite is Bunyonyi Overland Camp.

Dist cov. = km

27th - Free day at the camp, played pool and had a buffet lunch for 14,000 Tsh.

28th - Picked up at 2pm to be driven into Bwindi Imprenetrable National Park for our chance to track mountain gorillas. The drive to the campsite offers some fantastic views across the hills and showing how much of the forest is slowly being destroyed for farming and charcoal use. Had to wait awhile beside a barrier as the guy with the key wanted a bribe, which he didn't get.

Staying at the Bwindi View Camp, but Nick, Christine and myself had wake up at 5am the next morning. So we went to bed straight after dinner.

29th - Drove 50km to where we would meet 3 more people and start our trek at 9am. Bwindi is home to about 330 gorillas in an area of 331 sq.km. Walked for about an hour before our guide spotted the family group we were looking for. This was a family of 12 gorillas (13 awhile ago, but one of the juveniles has moved to another group) including 4 silverbacks.

The first gorilla we saw was a black-back - the stage before silverback - lying on its back and occasionally staring at us. Moved slowly around to see more of them including my first silverback mountain gorilla. We moved around to the leader of this family - where we got within 5m of him - and he proceeded to mock charge us, making a lot of noise in the process. I was right behind the guide and Christine was just behind me and everyone just froze...running is NOT a very good idea in this instance. One of the infants, 2.5 years old, was climbing a tree before somersaulting to the ground via the vines, we didn't see him/her hit the ground though. A mother with the youngest infant (1 year old) moved past us and we only had the smallest of glimpes.

By the end of our hour we had seen 10 of the 12 mountain gorillas in this family, missing the 2nd and 3rd largest silverbacks.

A TRULY AMAZING EXPERIENCE!


Walked back out to the taxi and we arrived back at the truck by 2pm. Sat around the fire at the bar for Peggy's birthday.

30th - Drove through Mbarara and Masaka, and stopped on the Equator for the photos (my 4th time crossing the Equator on this trip).

Reached Kampala, the capital, mid-afternoon, and a few of us got out to look around. Sam, Jess, Kodai and myself ended up walking down the main street. Looked in Aristoc, a large bookshop containing useful books on Uganda, East Africa and beyond. Jess went to Tourism Uganda to check some things out. We spent a little time in Web City Cafe, and it had a fast connection, which is brillant for what I needed it for. Tried to look for the Cineplex on Wilson Road, which doesn't exist anymore - go to Garden City Complex for the cinema.

From here we got a taxi to Red Chilli Hideaway about 4km from the city centre. Another truck was here aswell, ATC (Africa Travel Company).

Kampala is a good city to walk around, shame I don't have more time to see it. The local people are really friendly and helpful.

Dist cov. = km

October 1st - Picked up at 8am by Adrift, the company that we would be white-water rafting the Nile with. It's a 80km drive to Jinja, located beside Lake Victoria and the source of the White Nile. We were taken to Nile High Camp, where we would be staying with the truck later tonight.

Martin, Tom, Kira and myself were also doing the Nile High Bungy - a 44m high drop over the river and costs $55 when doing the rafting aswell (a $10 reduction). I plunged to what I thought was mid-thigh on my water-touch bungy, but it was more likely (as seen on the video) to be up to my waist - nearly losing my t-shirt in the process.

There would be 3 normal boats and 1 extreme boat, extreme is flipping on virtually every rapid, wild (normal) is flipping 50% of the time if unlucky - for the 13 rapids. Compared to the Zambezi: the Nile has less rapids and a few sections of long paddling between rapids, but some of the Grade 5 rapids are absolute monsters including the last one - Itanda (The Bad Place).

My boat had Kira, Tom and I plus 3 other people, normal option, lots of chance for swimming early on and our guide Jeffery taught us on what to do if the raft flips and actually doing it.

We flipped big time on one of the Grade 5's, not a good one to do since rocks are near the main flow. The flip looks good on video, but everyone felt like they nearly drowned. I managed to pop up once to catch a breadth before being sucked under for around 10sec. We stopped for lunch on Adrift's private island, the next rapid is 30mins paddling away.

We went over a waterfall backwards, and told we wouldn't flip it as it was low-water. At the rapid named "Respect" ours was the only raft to paddle across the current to the Grade 4, all the others couldn't make it and had to settle for the Grade 3. We were even congratulated on making it by Henry - a South African Kayaker who would be the only person to down the Grade 6 (he also taught our guide how to kayak).

The last rapid - Itanda (The Bad Place) - is an absolute monster Grade 6, we would be walking around to the Grade 5 section further down. We had a choice at this point: either to do "50/50" - the Grade 4 or the Grade 5 - "The Washing Machine", we chose "50/50" for chance of flipping etc. Got through safely the raft before us flipped and they floated off downstream. The extreme boat was next and the guide's description of "The Washing Machine" was spot on. Basically people will fall out of the raft like popcorn and they are encouraged to throw away their paddles and to not hold on to the raft, plus take a big breath as you may be under for 15secs or more. Their guide rode the raft like a mechanical bull before being thrown off - looks really good on the DVD. The raft stayed there for ages and Henry went and fetched it in his kayak. The last raft with John H, Martin, Gwynne, Byrony, Nick and Christine aimed for the Grade 5 but slightly missed it and flipped anyways.

Up on the bank of the Nile by the buses we had drinks and a BBQ snack. Today was a really good day and comparing rafting on the 2 rivers - Nile and Zambezi - I would say the Zambezi is the best, just due to the amount of rapids you can do in a day, but the Nile is still lots of fun to do especially on those monster Grade 5 rapids.

Watched the video at night and I bought one for $45, as this video was much better than the Zambezi one plus this shows the bungy jumping aswell. There is a highlights section at the end, my bungy is the only bungy jump shown.

Unfortunately around mid-2010 the new dam will be built and the first lot of rapids will no longer be there. A good reason to come back and experience the new full day of rafting.



I would definetly come back to Uganda, at the very least to spend more time at Kampala and Jinja. But the main reason would be for the other National Parks and for climbing along Africa's highest mountain range, the Rwenzoris or Mountains of the Moon.

On a personal note...I've now lost 26kg on this trip.

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/andrewsinclair/4/1252869097/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/andrewsinclair/4/1252869097/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/andrewsinclair/4/1252869097/tpod.html Thu, 22 Oct 2009 08:04:28 -0400 The ULTIMATE Trans Africa Trip!

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Kigali, Rwanda

25th - Continued into Rwanda and past the towns of Kibungo and Kayonza before reaching the capital, Kigali. Ended up driving for about 13hrs without a proper lunch stop, so after getting into the capital some people pigged out at a service station on biscuits and sweets.

Kira had asked her dad about whether we could stay at a company house in the capital. It was a really big house and it was brilliant for us cooks that night (John H, Heather and I) with 2 stoves. Pool Table, TV and they had beers and soft drinks waiting for us there. Nice break after all the driving to get here.

Dist. cov. = km


The Land of a Thousand Hills, Rwanda is a lush country of endless mountains and stunning scenery. Kigali seems to be a safe city but we were there for less than a day, so no real conclusion about safety can be drawn.

Rwanda is all too often associated with the horrific events that unfolded in 1994. It has been etched into the world's consciousness as one of the most savage genocides in history. What happened is beyond belief, but the country has taken giant strides toward recovery.


26th - As we only have a few hours in Kigali and Rwanda we went to the Kigali Memorial Centre at 12pm, mainly due to the fact that no-one should miss going here at least as a sign of respect to what happened in 1994. For some reason, due to them cleaning on the last Saturday of every month the Centre wasn't going to open till 2pm. Gary managed to get them to open it at 1pm, as we couldn't spend too long here.

It is free admission but donations are appreciated. The Memorial Centre is a must for all visitors in Rwanda wanting to learn more about how it was that the world watched as a genocide unfolded in this tiny landlocked country. Buried in the memorial gardens are the remains of 250,000 victims of the genocide, gathered here as a final resting place.

The Memorial does require at least 2hrs to read and contemplate the facts and some of the videos and pictures. Some of the inner rooms of the downstairs have human remains, clothing from shallow graves and pictures of some of the people who died.

Upstairs is a moving section dedicated to informing visitors about other genocides that have taken place around the world to set Rwanda's nightmare in its historical context. "Wasted Lives" is a section on Rwandan children who fell victim to the killer's machetes and other painfully horrific deaths.


After leaving Kigali we drove to the border past the town of Byumba. Crossing the border at Gatuna and walked across no-mans land (2nd time this trip) into Katuna.


]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/andrewsinclair/4/1252303620/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/andrewsinclair/4/1252303620/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/andrewsinclair/4/1252303620/tpod.html Thu, 22 Oct 2009 07:44:46 -0400 The ULTIMATE Trans Africa Trip!

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Arusha, Arusha, Tanzania

10th – Drove to the border town of Songwe and crossed into Tanzania at Kyela. Had lunch at Tukuyu. Drove through Mbeya, the regional capital in southwestern Tanzania. Bushcamping along the road to Dar es Salaam.

Dist cov. = km

11th – Drove through Iringa, Mikumi NP, Morogoro and Chalinze before arriving in Dar es Salaam – campsite is Mikadi Beach Club on the coast. On the side of the road going through Mikumi NP were elephants, and further away were: buffalo, giraffe, impala.

We didn't get into the campsite until late at night mainly due to the traffic in and around Dar.

Dist cov. = km

Total Dist cov. = km

See "Zanzibar blog for the 12th to 16th".



17th – Left early and drove to Bagamoyo, which was the capital of German East Africa from 1887 to 1891. The crumbling German-era colonial buildings have literally been left for nature to take its own course.

Staying at a campsite off the road to Moshi.

Dist cov. = km

18th – Drove through Moshi and into Arusha, unluckily it was cloudy so we couldn’t see Mt Kilimanjaro. Stopped in town for a couple of hours for people to request Rwandan visas. The backdrop to Arusha is the impressive Mt Meru. Staying 25km west of Arusha at Meserani Snake Park. The Snake Park combines a snake park, massai museum and a bar. Currently including us there are 8 overland trucks here of different companies (except 2 Kumuka trucks), fortunately not all have their passengers…some are in the Serengeti and the Ngorongoro crater. Having a barbeque tonight and then off to the Ngorongoro Crater and the Serengeti NP with Fun Safaris tomorrow.

Dist cov. = km

19th - Picked up by Fun Safaris for a long drive to the Serengeti (In Swahili, Serengeti means Endless Plain) via the entrance of Ngorongoro Crater Conservation Area and driving past the Ngorongoro Crater. It took around 6 hours to get to the entrance before we started a 3hr game drive. Our driver/guide was Kopa (we were in one of 3 vehicles) and he took us to a point in the park suitable for finding leopards. We saw a gazelle sitting in a bush 5m away from a couple of lions who were lazying around. I saw my first leopard hiding in a tree, completing my BIG 5 list. 20 mins further down the road we spotted another leopard in full view and it had 2 kills up the tree - a red hartebeest and a gazelle. Kopa drove around to the other side of the tree, took about 5mins, to get much better views. The leopard chose to start moving around - yawning, stretching and jumping around the kill.

We made our way to the campsite spotting a hyena running off with a kill stolen from a nearby cheetah. Our truck moved off 10mins before the cheetah had a little fight with the hyena, losing yet again. Tonight we were warned about animals that may walk through the camp.

20th - Woke up early for our morning game drive. Saw 2 solo lions - 1 male and 1 female - before finding a pride right beside the road with 1 male and 3 females. Stayed here for a while and afterwards passing the raft of hippos found a family of 3 or 4 cheetahs, 1 mother and her grown cubs. They were hunting gazelle and would of probably caught one if another random gazelle hadn't run into the cheetah's targeted prey. Watched part of the chase, nothing was killed, but we spotted 2 hyena lurking in the distance. Went close to 2 giraffe before going back to watch the cheetahs.

Saw a Hyrax, a pink and blue lizard, that is a distant relative of the elephant. Stopped at the vistor's center to have a look around, there are some good exhibits about the National Park and the animals found within. Running around were some crazy, jumping Rock Hyrax - another relative of the elephant.

Spotted a leopard up a tree, but didn't hang around for long as there were loads of other vehicles there. On our way back to the campsite we spotted a cheetah eating its kill and just before the campsite I spotted my 4th leopard in 24 hrs jump down from a tree into the long grass - it may or may not have had a kill in the tree. Had lunch and packed everything up as we would be driving to the Ngorongoro Crater campsite.


Spent over an hour at a Maasai village, they greeted us in a traditional manner and Paul, who spoke the best English showed us into the village, the center of this one was dominated by a large tree. Lena was another one who greeted us and he collected the 10,000 Tsh ($8) from each of us. Then the Maasai started jumping for us and near the end Rob, Tom and myself had a go jumping with them. We were split into groups of 2, Lene and I were paired together, to be shown into a home and around the village plus the school outside of the main living area. Interesting to see this village and talk with the Maasai for a cultural experience.

Camping at Simba-B campsite above and on the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater.


21st - Drove down into the crater spotting elephant, hippos, flamingo on the lake, 2 hyena close to the road, before coming across a sleeping male lion on the other side of a creek. Hung around for a while and what seemed like ages the lion began to stir and started to clean itself. He came down for a drink, before luckily for our eyes jumping across the creek - very athletic and I managed to get a good picture of the initial jump point. He sat around for a few mins before walking between all the vehicles and all 3 of ours plus a couple of other vehicles moved around to take pictures of him over about 300m.

Managed to spot a black rhino off in the distance, about a km away from the road. Also spotted a pride of lions, 3 females and a limping male, they hid in a tunnel under the road and we could hear them growling underneath. Drove around for a while before revisiting this pride prior to a toilet stop.

Had lunch back at camp and we left for the long drive back to Arusha. We had a Pirate Night back at the Snake Park.

22nd - Free day at the Snake Park. Went into town for a couple of hours to use the internet, do some shopping and have lunch.

23rd - Chris and Gary have gone into town to do a money transfer with Western Union for the Gorilla side trip. We should've left at 10am but the queue was long and the person operating the procedure was very, very slow. Eventually left the snake park after 12, 3 hours behind schedule. Drove for the rest of the day and bushcamped off the road.

Dist. cov. = km

24th - Drove past Mt Hanang (3416m) into the town of Singida. Slow moving today as we have a large hole in our new radiator (George Jr.). Bushcamped beside the road.

Dist cov. = km

25th - Drove all day to reach the border at Rusumo Falls, called so due to the large waterfall in no-mans land.

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