Malawi to Zambia

Malawi as a whole was a great country and definitely somewhere we would both love to go again.  Immediately after crossing the border from Tanzania the whole atmosphere and attitude of the locals seemed to change.  There were still touts and people wanting your business, but they take "no" as an answer, which is great. 

After making it to Nkhata Bay we decided we would stay there for a few days.  We had a private room right on the beach, we also had access to a kayak and a wooden dugout canoe (which was a disaster trying to use!) along with snorkeling gear for free.  The hostel also had a bunch of hammocks, chairs, swings and other areas to just sit and relax.  While we were there Dave went snorkeling and took some photos with our waterproof camera to test it out (works great), we also did some souvenir shopping for the first time since we got to Africa and we spent the rest of our time relaxing.  Nkhata Bay itself was a small town built around some shops and restaurants.  The locals would head out to fish early every morning and a lot of them also bathed in the lake which was amazingly clear and fresh water.  Overall it was a relaxed place and we really enjoyed it. 

Our next stop after leaving Nkhata Bay was Lilongwe which is the capital of Malawi.  After getting there (previous post) it was so strange to be in a "city" again as we hadn't seen supermarkets and street lights for quite some time.  Don't be fooled though, the city was still very poverty stricken in some areas and it was clear where the line was drawn between the two sides.  While there we went into town and did some food shopping at Spar (a country of its own) and visited a Game store which neither of us had ever been into.  It was nice just to go into a store with prices marked.  We ended up buying some food to cook for ourselves (thinking the hostel had a guest kitchen ... which it did not).  Luckily the owners were great and allowed us to use the hostel kitchen so we had some amazing steaks and pasta for dinner one night (yummy).  The hostel also had a pool and some great people so we spent a lot of our time just hanging out there and chatting with other travelers. 

Lilongwe also has a huge market that sells clothes, shoes, jackets, belts and anything else you could think of.  We heard that there was a 'store' front in there that sold sweatshirts from universities back in the states so we decided to visit and see what we could find.  We did find one Purdue sweatshirt and a bunch of shirts, sweatshirts and hats from a ton of other colleges/universities back in the states.  It's crazy to think that the clothes Lilongwe gets (for free) get put in a stall for sale in the markets.  The craziest thing we saw by far was a University of Texas March of Dimes team shirt from the 2010 March Of Dimes walk that Lisa actually participated in (she has the shirt at home).  It took both of us by complete surprise and the guy kept asking if we wanted to buy it.  After laughing and trying to explain to the guy that we already owned the shirt at home, and him being completely confused, we called it quits and left the markets happily empty handed.

We also spent a day walking around seeing the town, buying our bus tickets, trying to change money (which was a nightmare), visiting some local shops (which were ran by Italians) and attempting to eat dinner at a highly rated restaurant (which turned out to be closed on Mondays - guess we'll have to go next time).  Changing money was by far the most difficult.  US cash is gold here and everyone wants it, banks don't have any no one at the hostel wanted to give it up.  However we needed some for the Zambia visa (countries only want US cash when you enter) so after going to 3 banks which were all out of US money we went over to the black market (with a cook from the hostel as our guide).  The exchange rate was horrible and we decided to take our chances at the border hoping there would be an actually bank there with money.  We spent the last night at the hostel hanging out as we had to catch the bus at 5am the next morning. 

The bus station was about a 30 minute walk away, which wasn't too bad except it was 4:45am, pretty cold and pitch black.  After getting to the street the bus left from we saw a huge crowding of people and a bunch of fires going.  We walked through and quickly realized it was the local morning fish market taking place along with fires going to keep them warm.  We got to the bus, bought some cokes and took our seats watching the local market and fires (fueled by wicker baskets) going on outside.  There ended up being 7 other westerners (3 Germans, 1 Kiwi, 1 Scottish and 2 Dutch) on our bus which was a first and was also kind of nice to not be alone.  Also for the first time ever (since getting to Africa) the bus actually left on time, well five minutes late, but that's still as on time as we've ever seen.  Although even with the westerners and leaving on time, you still know you're in Africa when people load the bus with straw, hay, flour (50 lbs bags), parchment paper, pots (55 liter) and fish (yes fish for a 12 hour bus ride to another country). 

An hour and a half later we were at the Malawi-Zambia border and were getting off the bus to walk across the border.  We exited Malawi customs with no problems and walked across to the Zambian customs office.  After getting in the office the lady handed us an "exit" customs card and told us they didn't have any "entry" cards so just make it work.  By this time the other 7 westerners were with us so we passed out cards to all of them.  The first lady walked away and a man walked over and told us what the visa fees were ($50 for single entry and $80 for double entry) and they only accepted US cash.  Four of the nine had enough US money, however the other five (us included) didn't have enough.  Two Kiwi and Scottish (Kate and Lucy) didn't have any US cash and needed $100 between the two of them.  We were short $30 between the two of us and the other German guy was short $30, so between the 5 of us we needed $160 total US cash which normally wouldn't have been a big issue.  However this is Africa and you never know what will happen.  The Malawian bank was closed indefinitely and the Zambian bank was supposed to open at 8am (it was not 8:45am) and no one knew where the bank people were.  After we told the customs worker we were short US cash and the banks were not operating, he told us to go to the "people on the road" who are the 'black market' guys.  We waited a few minutes (to give the bank a chance to open) as they couldn't even find the visa stamp so money would have done no good (how you lose a visa stamp at a customs office none of us could figure out).

After a few more minutes the bank had still not opened so hesitantly, but with no other option, the five of us walked over and just started asking "US Cash? US Cash? US Cash?" until we found a guy who yelled out to his friend who came over and pulled out a wad of US money.  He definitely had enough for the five of us so us and the German guy traded in Malawian Kwacha for US money (he was short about 850 MK so we lent him some money).  Kate and Lucy had much more trouble than us as they literally no money (they didn't go to the bank before they left Malawi).  They traded in all their MK and were able to get $17 US, we lent them the last $3 to make $20 total (now the three of us were wiped out and they were still $80 short).  After scrounging through their bags Kate ended up finding 70 euros which she was able to trade for $80 US (horrible exchange rate but no choice) which gave them the $100 they needed.  Proud of ourselves for being successful in changing our money we headed back to the customs office.

The German guy went first, paid his money and got his visa with no problems.  Kate and Lucy went next but the customs worker wouldn't take their $1 and $5 bills (since smaller bills get worse exchange rates) so they had to walk back over to the black market guys and change a $10, a $5 and 5 $1's for a $20. In the meantime we were paid for our double entry visas and had gotten our passports stamped (they found the visa stamp while we were changing our money over).  After the five of us finished we crossed the Zambia border and caught up with the other 4 to wait for the bus to pass through.  Next thing we know one of the 'black market' guys walks over to Kate and Lucy and says that they owe them 10 more euros since the euro to US rate is 1 to 1, which it is not.  We argued with them, laughed at them, tried to get more money out of them (trading MK for euros - which are worth more than US dollars and we would have actually made some mad money) and eventually he walked away. We got back on the bus, got weighed and were finally on our way to Lusaka (we were at the border for about 2 hours total). 

The rest of the drive was actually not too bad, we went through some mountains, passed an overturned car, passed an accident between some cotton trucks (cotton was everywhere) and could definitely tell when we had made it to Lusaka.  It was the first time since we left Cairo that we had seen a two lane road (what a luxury).  There's shopping centers (two stories), parking lots, lots of cars driving, access to gas and tons of people here in Lusaka, it's quite a change.  Our hostel even has a washing machine!  Other than the shopping centers a few museums and a movie theater Lusaka doesn't have much. Since being here we've gone shopping, cooked huge meals for ourselves (we have a kitchen at the hostel as well) and hung out with Kate, Lucy and some other travelers. It's been good and tomorrow we are back on the road again (actually the air this time) to Livingston to see Victoria Falls.

Our room in Nkhata Bay

Relaxing on the deck

Dave snorkeling

Locals bathing

Lilongwe market

Locals in the river by the market

Lilongwe traffic

Much needed road sign

African bon-fire

African McDonald's

First course offered: Public Health

Old school scale for the buses and trucks

Getting to Lilongwe

So God decided to throw us a curveball and show us how mentally tough we are with withstand the forces of Africa. A few days ago we stayed at a hostel in Mzuzu, called Mzoozoozoo, which is run by a couple of old British hippies, and they explained to us that there is a petrol shortage in Malawi at the moment, and we didn't think much of it until our adventure.

After a great few days in Nkhata Bay relaxing, shopping (we got the most amazing deals ever!) and hanging out we decided we would head on to Lilongwe for a few days before going on to Lusaka.  Waking up at 5:30am isn't a hard task when you have a bus to catch at 6 which would take us from Nkhata Bay direct to Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi. The touts at the bus stop told us that the buses wouldn't be running because there is no petrol for them. Us being the synical people we are thought "yeah right, you're only saying that because you run a taxi to the next town over". We told them we will would wait for the bus. 7:30am rolls around and we start thinking there was some truth to what they were saying and the bus wouldn't be coming.  We caved in and forked out the 500 kwacha ($3.50-ish) each to catch a taxi to the nearest "big" city, Mzuzu, which is an hour away. Arriving at the Mzuzu bus stop we went into the office of the non-existent bus (AXA) to find out if they were operating buses. There was no one in the office and we found out later that day that all AXA buses weren't running because they were unable to get petrol (considering they are a "reputable" company, they don't get petrol on the black market - which does exist).

We thought ourselves to be lucky to make the decision to leave Nkhata Bay and not wait for the bus which would have never shown up regardless of how long we waited. At the Mzuzu bus station we walked around to find the buses which ran to Lilongwe.  We found 2 of them which were packed to the rafters and charging us a Mzungu (white person) fee. The buses should have cost us somewhere in the vicinity of 1,000-1,200 kwatcha and we were told to pay 2,000. Admittedly it's only an extra $6-7, but we were kind of pissed because we heard them tell someone else to pay 1,000 right after they told us 2,000. After refusing to pay the Mzungu fee we waited for the next bus whenever that would be. Earlier in the day we spoke to a peace corps volunteer who said hitchhiking was easy, fast, safe and cheap in Malawi, so we thought we would give that a stab after both the buses left. We walked to the hitchhiking stand just outside of the main city and sat on the side of their highway, the M1, which has 1 lane going each way. After sitting there for 30 mins with no luck, we went back to the bus stop to find out when the next bus would be there. We were told 4pm (this is at 10:30am), not to mention it takes 6-7 hours to get to Lilongwe (which can turn into 10 hours very easily). We spotted another Mzungu sitting down at a restaurant and wanted to find out where she was going. Dave went up and asked where she was going.  She too was going to Lilongwe and she had a plane to catch the next day back to London. We asked if we could sit with her to make time go by faster, and maybe we could hire a private taxi to take us direct. No problems :-) We brought our bags over and were properly introduced with Nina, this lovely girl from Switzerland who was working for a charity-ish organization called "Microloan". We didn't HAVE to go to Lilongwe that day, however Nina did so we thought it would be best to stick together. Dave later inquired how much a private taxi to Lilongwe would cost, the first person told us 30,000 kwatcha! (approx $200), no way. We all understood there is a fuel shortage and Lilongwe is about 400kms away, but we're not idiots. After 30 seconds of haggling, Dave got them down to 20,000 kwatcha (about $130), and they weren't budging from that. We decided as a group that 20,000 was too much and we agreed it would be best to wait a little longer for the next bus.  As we were siting down having a coke Nina spotted 2 British chicks, Poppy and Tilly (yes, those are their names). We now had a band of 5 of us and the option to catch a taxi was starting to look somewhat more appealing (4,000 pp).

After hanging out and catching up over some more cokes, we saw a mini-bus going to Kasungu (about 90-120 minutes out of Lilongwe).  Nina went down to talk to them and got them down to 1,500 per person. We thought we were lucky to get so close to Lilongwe without having to pay through the nose and next thing we know the five of us (along with 8-9 locals) were packed into this mini-bus on our way to Kasungu. We stopped first for some air in the tires and then a few minutes later stopped at a petrol station for some gas.  We hesitantly handed over our money to the bus driver to pay for the gas, but the locals were doing it, so we didn't want to cause a fuss. We somehow got petrol and were on our way once again.  30 minutes later and 10kms out of Mzuzu, the underside of the mini-bus started to make some very harsh crunching sounds, as we were going up a hill and 30 seconds later there was smoke coming from the engine. All the locals jumped off the bus right away and 5 of us were right behind them. Dave said he had never seen Africans move so fast in his life (even at the Olympics).

So we (the 5 of us) are now 10kms out of Mzuzu, stuck on the side of the road with a smoky van and 8-9 locals. We soon found out that Poppy and Tilly can be extremely feisty when things turn to shit. They "asked" the bus driver what was happening and how long we would have to wait and he said "30 minutes" with a cheeky grin. He told them he had already called someone to come get us and a new bus would be there soon.  Stranded on the side of the road, with all of our bags under the melting African sun, at 1pm, we patiently waited the 30 minutes for the bus to come get us. Nothing. Poppy and Tilly went back over to ask the bus driver when the bus was coming. "20 minutes". We now knew nothing was planned and it was his way to purely avoid the current situation. Lece, Nina and Dave sat on the side of the road trying to wave down every car passing as Poppy and Tilly went back over to "discuss" the money situation. We had already handed over our 1,500 kwatcha and we are now 10kms out of Mzuzu. They were able to get us 1,300 kwatcha back as insurance in case we were able to get in a passing car (or give them the money back should their imaginary friend with his imaginary bus turn up).  Now there are 5 of us sitting on the side of the road waving our arms like a pack of galahs trying to get any vehicle to stop, being unsuccessful about 95% of the time. The other 5% are people pulling over with full vehicles, or people yelling "MZUNGU!!!, MZUNGU!!!"

We had a few options up our sleeve.

1) We could continue to try and make it to Kasungu (and  maybe eventually Lilongwe).

2) We could go back to Mzuzu and get accommodation and try again tomorrow.

3) We could go back to Mzuzu and try and get the 20,000 kwatcha taxi direct to Lilongwe.

The two of us (and Poppy and Tilly) were fortunate enough to have those options, Nina with her flight tomorrow didn't. She had to be in Lilongwe tomorrow morning. For her sake we ruled out option #2 and started to think option #3 is starting to look better. Nina said she would be willing to pay the entire 20,000 kwatcha and we offered to help subsidize it.  The 5 of us gave ourselves a deadline of 3:15pm before we would make a decision and do something as we knew it would be dark in not too long. Poppy and Tilly had the name of a cabbie they took in Mzuzu named "Wingame" (who is now known as Willliam), who would be able to pick us up and bring us back to Mzuzu for 2,000. 

3:30 rolled around and we were just about to take the expensive option of having to pay $150 to get to Lilongwe when a miracle happened.

Pulling over to the side of the road were 2 well educated, well nourished, well dressed (one in a suit) men, driving an empty Nissan Patrol.  Nina, Lece and Dave ran up the hill to the pulled over vehicle to see where they were going and how much it would cost. Nina offered 20,000 kwatcha to which the man responded "No thank you, I want to help, we are going to Lilongwe". We didn't know if he was serious or playing a very horrible joke. He loaded us 5 Mzungus and the 2 local women with their children in the vehicle and started to drive. The two of us sat with Tilly in the middle row with our backpacks on our lap, with one of the local children sleeping on Lece and Tilly. Poppy and Nina were in the back with the other 2 local women and a shitload of bags and a basket of fish (which stunk horribly as they too sat in the sun stranded on the side of the road). 30 minutes later we dropped off the local women and their child and continued our way to Lilongwe still dumbfounded as to how fortunate we were and still couldn't believe it. Another thing we found interesting was that we were never stopped or inspected by the police at any of the roadblocks. We thought they must have been somekind of governemnt officials (or one was with his driver).

The drive to Lilongwe was smooth and hassle free, we did have to slow down to a stop when we saw about a kilometer of cars backed up on the side of the road as they were all in a queue trying to get petrol. An hour after that we stopped at a BP just short of Lilongwe to get some petrol (apparently the Malawian Government sets aside a reserve at petrol stations), however they too were out of gas. We were able to stretch our legs and have a good chat with the civil servant. He was an awesome bloke who genuniely wanted to give us a hand. We found out he drove to Mzuzu that morning to oversee some preperations for celebrations on the 6th of July, and he was just going home (and he would make the same trip next week).  We also found out that he only picked us up to help because we were all waving our hands and running to his car and he could tell we really needed the ride (thank goodness we were on the state of desperate)!

We crammed back into the 4x4 and were on our way for the last of the trip. We couldn't believe when we saw street lights on the side of the road, we knew at least we have reached civilization. The civil servant wanted to stop in Lilongwe for something at the grocery store and we were more than happy to stop about 1km away from where we were all going to sleep that night. We pulled into Old Town's Metro Cash and Carry to get his things at 8pm, only to have the government vehicle unable to start when we tried to leave a few minutes later. After looking at the engine and making some phone calls he came back and said "25 minutes", but we would thought it would have been rude (excessivley rude) to catch a taxi or walk to the hostel after he just gave us a free ride. So we graciously waited in the vehicle and spoke amongst ourselves and to the goverment official for the next 25 minutes (which turned into an hour and a half), to find a wire coat hanger to re-connect the battery.  After finding the hanger, connecting the wire and starting the car while it was rolling we were all celebrating the success of the engine starting.  The civil servent then told one of us to get in the front as he was going home in the different car and the driver would take us to Mabuya Camp.  After 'goodbyes' and 'thank yous' we were back on the road for the last kilometer of our journey.  We pulled into Mabuya Camp around 10pm and still couldn't believe we had actually made it. We checked into our rooms/tents, got a banana each, got some drinks and hung for a little bit.  Shortly after that we said our good nights and all went to bed after a long, eventful, amazing, crazy day.  

Nina, Poppy (sitting with the hat), Tilly & Lisa with the long road ahead

Still waiting ...

All our stuff in the car

The savior-mobile

Having a laugh with the civil servant

Hanging out at Metro Cash & Carry

Traveling in Africa ... Always an Adventure

Three days later and we are in Nhkata Bay, an oasis in the middle of Africa, after some very interesting travel.  After finishing our Kili climb and safari we were leaving Moshi, Tanzania for somewhere in Malawi.  Our bus left Moshi at 7am (which turned into 7:30am) and was set to be in Mbeya around midnight (which turned into 3am).  After getting on the road we were already broken down which turned into a bathroom break on the side of the road, the 'usual' for African travel.  A few guys got out to fix it and about 15 minutes later we were back on the road only to break down about five more times during the trip. 

On the bus itself, you see some of the most interesting things and people.  The two seats next to us were occupied by a mom, her 2 girls and another teenage girl (maybe also her child).  The baby (maybe around a year old) had a full mouth of teeth and was drinking Coca Cola, orange soda and water and was eating muffins, meat rolls and wafer crackers during the trip.  Yet she was also breastfeeding.  We also had a man on our bus who's luggage was a bag of hay and another had a bag of straw (maybe wheat).  They tend to travel with the strangest luggage across the country and only a few actually travel with clothes as luggage.

After driving for 17 hours (around midnight) the bus made another stop, the attendant said something in Swahili and people started getting off.  Turns out we were changing buses on the side of the road in the pitch black at the same time we should have been getting to Mbeya (still no idea on how much of the trip was left).  By the time we got off the first bus and onto the second one everyone else had already gotten on.  We also had all of our bags (the bus was smaller so they wouldn't fit underneath) and only the back of the bus was left.  As soon as we started driving it was clear why everyone rushed to the bus to get seats up front.  The ride back there is so bumpy, but it turned out to be okay and three hours later we were pulling into Mbeya. 

After getting off the bus and being hounded by touts at 3am (yes they were still out there at 3am), we walked across the street to the New Millennium Inn.  They told us they had no room left so we walked next door to Motel No. 1 and got one of the two rooms they had left and at 20,000 TSH it was a steal.  We got in and got straight into bed as we were leaving again in a few hours.  Sleep was somewhat non-existent though as the monkeys and dogs sounded like they were killing each other the entire night and then around 5:30am the Mosque had a call to prayer that seemed to last for eternity. 

We got up around 6:30am and walked back across to the bus station to try and find our next bus we needed.  Most of the same touts were still out at the bus station (it seems as though they live there) and were all trying to get us to go with their company.  After a few minutes we walked back to the motel to grab our stuff and then try to find the right coastal going to the border.  We actually got lucky and walked out right as one was driving past so we were able to jump on.  We were then charged the "white person" price which was about 1,500 TSH extra which wasn't a huge problem until they then tried to charge us a "baggage fee".  We refused to pay it as it doesn't exist (you should see what the locals carry on the buses with them) and after our next stop the guy trying to get the money from us disappeared off the bus. 

The coastals themselves are quite an experience.  It took us about 5 hours to go 180 KM as we stopped every 10 minutes to pick people up and drop people off.  The 'long distance' coastals are supposed to hold 30 people, at one point we probably had about 40 people on ours and ended up getting stopped at a road block (they have them everywhere  in both Tanzania and Malawi and the cop just tell people to pull over at random).  We ended up sitting there for about 20 minutes while the driver and attendant were out on the road with the police and everyone on the bus was laughing, we were clueless as to what was happening.  After many more stops, drop offs, pick ups and people traveling with hay, straw and wheat we made it to a little over the half way point.  All of a sudden we stopped and they got on and said to us, "get off the bus, there is something wrong with it, you need to switch".  Next thing we know they are pulling our bags off the bus and everyone left on the bus is laughing at us as we had no idea what was happening.  Not wanting to be separated from our bags we jumped off and got onto a new bus.  The new bus finally started moving and we continued the process of drop offs and pick ups.  At one point we stopped to pick up someone who was traveling with about 10 buckets of who knows what and about 5 bags of hay.  After a couple more hours we were told to get off the bus again as we were at the border. We jumped off and started walking towards the border (about a 3 km walk). 

Of course there are many more touts at the border trying to exchange money on the black market and offer taxi rides across.  We got into customs and out of customs in Tanzania then crossed the border into Malawi.  The Malawi side was just as filled with touts as the Tanzania side as everyone wants your business.  We finally found a mini bus that would take us to Karonga for 350 MK each as opposed to 500 MK each so we hopped on and were on our way.  Shortly after leaving we were already stopping for gas, which they bought from some kids on the side of the road.  After filling up the van and paying them, the ones selling the gas got pissed and jumped on the bus.  The driver and other guy were yelling back (we couldn't understand any of it) and then we started moving so they eventually jumped out.  We found out later that people get gas on the black market as well since they can go days without any fuel in the petrol stations.  With all the stops for drop offs and pick ups it took about 1 1/2 hours to go 40 KM which wasn't nearly as bad as the coastal.  We made it to Karonga and were on our way to the next minibus that would take us to Mzuzu.  This time it would be a 4 hour trip for about 200 KM but an hour into the trip we got a flat tire.  While they were fixing the tire we had people walk past, cycle past and a few kids drive their cows past us on the M1, the main and what seems to be the only road.  After fixing the flat and a bunch of drop offs and pick ups we finally made it to Mzuzu five hours later.  Mzuzu itself is actually a pretty big town and has it's own university.  We pulled into the bus station and were instantly hounded with people asking where we wanted to go, luckily the bus driver already said he would drive us to the hostel so we just stayed in the bus.  After being dropped off at Mzoozoozoo and tipping the driver he made a point to be say "That's it? At least give me 500, they would have charged you 1,000" but what we gave him was more than fair (as the taxi price is only 500) so we got out, went inside and he left.  We spent the evening at Mzoozoozoo, had some dinner and went to bed around 8pm.

After sleeping the entire night, we were up by 6:30am and out the door to find an ATM and a taxi to Nkhata Bay.  Finding a working ATM and one with money was the hardest thing we did that morning, an hour later we finally had money and a few minutes later a taxi driver found us (which saved us from having to go into the bus terminal area).  The drive to Nkhata Bay only took about an hour and we were at the hostel by 9:30am.  The hostel, Big Blue Star, is great. It's right on the water with a bunch of little cabins, dorms and tent sites on the hill side and it's only costing us $16 US a night for a double room on the water.  There is also a restaurant on site and it's just a few steps into town.  We quickly decided that we would spend a few days here before moving on to our next destination which is still undecided.  Since we've been here we've done some shopping in town, relaxed on the patios, took a walk and have just been hanging out, it's been good so far and the lake is absolutely gorgeous.  We will probably head out in the next few days for Lilongwe and then from there onto Lusaka then Livingston for our white water rafting and microlight flight at Victoria Falls!

"Congratulations Barack Obama Shop" - Notice the American Flag is backwards

Completely normal for Tanzania

Tanzania border sign

Malawi border sign

Young boys "driving" down the road

Lake Malawi water

View from the hostel

Safari: Serengeti & Ngorongoro

Our next adventure after recovering from Kili was to book a safari.  We ended up booking a 4 day, 3 night safari to the Serengeti and to Ngorongoro.  Four days later we were back in Moshi and had spotted the Big Five: Lion, Elephant, Rhino, Buffalo and Leopard; along with many other animals.

Day 1 - We left Moshi around 9am in our safari pop-top jeep and headed for the Serengeti as it would take about 8 hours to get there.  We passed through Lake Manyara, Ngorongoro and multiple Massai Mara tribal areas as well as other local villages along the way.  The Massai are definitely some of the more interesting to watch.  They all wear red (some blue and purple as well), the females wear loads of earrings and necklaces and the males start herding cattle, goat and donkeys at a very young age.  We saw some boys about 5 years old with herds of goats, or course their goats are usually the ones all over the place as the kids are fighting each other with their herding sticks (or napping).  We also saw one older boy pick up a rock, throw it and hit the exact goat he wanted as it was getting to close to the road, herding is truly their life and they do it every day. We got into the Serengeti around 5pm and went on our first evening game drive.  We learned real quick to go where other cars were and were able to see a leopard (which are one of the hardest to see) on our first drive.  We also saw some hippos (they smell horrible), grand gazelles and thompson gazelles, dik diks, warthogs, hyenas, zebras, giraffes and a few other animals that night. We got to camp by 7:30pm (already dark by that point), laughed as the guide tried to set the tent up, ate some dinner and got in bed. The camp site isn't enclosed and the animals tend to know this so the that night we heard a bunch of hyenas and other animals going through the trash and trying to scavenge for leftovers.  It made for a long night of not leaving the tent and hoping nothing joined us in our tent.

Day 2 - We woke up the next morning, ate some breakfast and hit the roads for what would be a full day of game driving.  Our first task of the morning was to find the wildebeest migration.  On the way there we had to take a pit stop for an oil change and to get the tires checked, which ended up taking about an hour to do it all.  During that time we sat around and watched some monkeys, giraffes and mongoose that live in the staff area as it's safe and there is always a food supply.  After a few hours of driving and seeing some of the same animals plus some crocodiles, we finally found some wildebeest migrating. We didn't get to see the full million plus that migrate each year but we did see two migrating groups of about 3,000 to 5,000 each.  It was amazing to see all those at one time.  After that we set off to eat some lunch and find some more animals.  The rest of the day we were able to find some lions looking like they attacking each other.  Turns out that they were in their week of mating, and we figured the male pissed the female off, although it was pretty neat to hear a lion roar in the wild.  We saw another leopard, this time in his tree eating his kill from earlier that day (a gazelle).  We also found a herd of elephants, around 20 with a few baby's who are super cute with their not so little selves and their trunks.  We spotted yet another leopard (maybe the same one from the first night) and of course we saw all the other 'common' animals that live in the Serengeti that we had already seen along with a bunch of different birds.  Once the day had ended we went back to camp, ate some dinner and got to bed.  This night they put the trash cans in the enclosed food area so it was a little quieter and a better sleep.

Day 3 - We decided to get an early start this morning when the animals are more active.  We left camp around 6:30am since it took about an hour or so to get out far enough away from camp to spot some animals (the roads were all dirt and rocks).  The sun came up around 7:30ish (beautiful sunrises and sunsets in the Serengeti) and we started our search for animals.  We found a lot of the same animals plus some more lions and two cheetahs who were both really far away from the road.  We also found  another leopard, red bucks, more buffalo, a nile lizard, elands, hartebeest and a lot of the same animals we had seen the previous two days.  One of the coolest things we saw today were some female lions stalking their prey, some gazelles (the males don't hunt as often). Since they take forever to  attack we left and went back to the same spot
about an hour later.  They were still there stalking the gazelles and there was also a third one stalking a warthog. After about 30-45 minutes the two stalking the gazelles finally attacked and ended up catching a baby gazelle, sad but neat to see the whole thing take place.  They left with their kill and the 3rd one was still there stalking hte warthog who had no idea what had taken place, the whole attack was actually very quiet and the larger group of gazelles just stood there watching the whole thing.    After a little while longer the 3rd lion went to attack the warthog but she didn't end up catching it so we left shortly after.  We did some more driving, saw some more animals and on the way back to camp say and watched a family of baboons in the tree by the hippo pool (the babies are too cute).  After getting to camp we had some lunch, packed up and hit the road for Ngorongoro Crater.  We got into the Ngorongoro crater rim around 6pm that night, set up our tent, had some dinner and went to bed.  Our only visitors that night were some dogs and an elephant who walked up to drink out of the water tank in the middle of all the cars. 

Day 4 - The next morning we were up at 6am again, had some breakfast and were on our way into the crater (it's only open from 6:30am-6:30pm).  To get there we had to drive through clouds and fog in the dark (scariest drive with the lights off on the side of a mountain!).  The crater itself is a big open plain with some small mountains and has most of the same animals as the Serengeti along with some rhinos, which we saw the butt of in the grass really far away.  We are convinced they have a plastic thing they stick out there and tell people it's a rhino haha.  Although it was really chilly and windy that day and supposedly they lay down when it's windy and cold.  We also saw a bunch of lions both males and females; young and old; relaxing and stalking all in the few hours we were in the crater.  It's a pretty awesome thing to see six lions (five females with one young male) stalking a group of zebras and wildebeest at the watering hole.  We didn't see any attacks but then again there were about 20 jeeps watching them.  After about 6 hours in the crater We headed back up to camp for some lunch and to pack our stuff up, then headed back to Moshi.  We got back into Moshi around 9pm that same night, went back to Twiga Home, had some dinner and hit the hay for the next two days that would be pure African travel (more to come on that later).  

In front of the Serengeti gate

In front of Ngorongoro gate

Leopard

Hyena

Lions

Baboon family

Giraffe

Baby Elephant

Wildebeest

Buffalo

Hippo

Zebra

Going Pole Pole – We made it to the Summit!!!

Terminology needed for this blog:

Pole Pole – Very Slowly (pronounced pole-lay, pole-lay)

MAMSL – Meters Above Mean Sea Level

So as you see, we both made it to the peak of Mount Kilimanjaro, Uruhrru Peak, the tallest point in Africa.  We summited about 6:25am on Monday June, 13 after a 7ish hour hike up 1200 M (It sits at 5,895 MASL).  More about that later, first here is a day by day recap of our Kili Adventure.

Day 1: After meeting with a man named Philip around 10pm Wednesday night (we had just arrived in town), we had our 7 day Kili trek booked and were leaving the next morning at 10:30am on the Machame Route, aka the Whiskey Route.  Philip arrived that morning around 10am to drop off some stuff and take us into town.  We were both under the impression we would have 1 guide and about 3 porters, instead we had 8 porters so a total team of 11 including the two of us.  Porters are the ones that carry all the stuff; tents, bags, food, supplies, etc.  We loaded in the van with the team and supplies and hit the road for the Machame Gate, which is about 15 or so minutes out of town.  Upon getting there we checked in with the gate, ate a small boxed lunch, paid our park fees, used the last “real” toilet we would see for 5 days and hit the trails.  By the time we started hiking it was close to 12:30pm, we made it to our first destination, Machame Hut, at around 6:30pm.  That day we went from the gate which sits at about 1,800 MAMSL to about 3,100 MAMSL.  We got in to camp, ate some dinner (cucumber soup, potatoes and beef) and hit our sleeping bags.

Day 2: Today we got up around 7am, ate some breakfast, got ready and hit the trails around 8am.  Our task for today was to get from Machame Hut to Shira Hut which sits at 3,840 MAMSL.  The hike was short in distance but was also very steep in some parts.  We made it to camp around 1ish with no problems, got into camp, had a nap and then took a short hike to Shira Cave.  Dave started to cough up a little phlegm, but it was not much of an issue at this height. We could have walked longer to Shira Two but decided against it so went back to camp, rested some more, ate some dinner (carrot soup, chicken, rice and green beans) and hit our sleeping bags yet again.

Day 3: We got up again at 7am this morning, ate some breakfast and hit the trails around 8am.  The task for Day 3 was to go from Shira Hut to Lava Tower (4,600 MAMSL) and then down to Barranco Hut which sits at 3,950 MAMSL.  You go high this day to acclimatize better and then sleep at a lower altitude.  The first part of the day was not too bad, just going up in altitude from 3,840 MAMSL to 4,600 MAMSL.  This was the point that we started to get into cloud territory, which are actually pretty cold when you stand in them.  We got to Lava Tower, ate some lunch and then headed back down to Barranco Hut.  We got into Barranco Hut after about a two hour walk and went straight into our tent for dinner (leek soup and pasta with vegetable sauce) and sleep.  The next day would be the longest two hikes.

Day 4: Today started early again around 7am and flowed into Day 5.  Tasks included going from Barranco Hut to Karangra Camp and then on to Barafu Camp.  Our first task was battling the Barranco Wall, the cliff opposite our camp.  It took about an hour to get up the cliff face and then it was somewhat smooth sailing from there to Karagra Camp.  We got into Karanga around 11am, ate some lunch (fried chicken and French fries) and then started our next part of the hike to Barafu Camp.  We got into Barafu around 3pm and hit our sleeping bags.  They gave us dinner (pasta with meat sauce) around 5pm and then we got as much sleep as we could since we would bewaking up to start our summit at midnight.

Day 5: Part 1 - Today's task: Make it to Uruhu Peak and back down.  Our guide woke us up around 11pm (on Day 4) to get us ready to go.  We got up, had some energy bars, opened some hand warmers,and bundled in warm clothes for the long 6-7 hour hike ahead of us in freezing temperatures.  We went from 4,600 MAMSL to 5,892 MAMSL in one very steep climb lasting the entire night.  After many stops for water, breaths and to regain energy we had made it to Stella Point which sits at 5,756 MAMSL.  We got into Stella Point around 5:30am, had a short break and started hiking the last hour to get to Uruhu Peak.  The hike to the peak isn’t nearly as steep, but at 5,800 MAMSL you have to go very Pole Pole.  At around 6:25am we had made it to the tallest point in all of Africa!  We were at Uruhu Peak.  It was such an amazing feeling to know we had made it.  Just at the right time too also as the sun was rising above the clouds.

Day 5: Part 2 – The next part of our day would be going back down the way we came (in the light this time) and then heading down to Mweka Camp where we would stay for the night.  It should have taken about 2 ½ hours to descend the same route it just took us 7 hours to climb, however it ended up taking us about 4 hours.  Dave was having horrible coughing spouts and was very short of breath as soon as we started descending.  We made it to Barafu Camp (where we had stayed the night before) after about 4 hours to rest in the tent before the next part of our day.  After a nap Dave was not getting any better and was still having horrible coughing spouts.  We decided to go ahead and descend further to get out of the higher altitude to see if that helped any (Mwaca camp sits at 3,100 MAMSL).  Since Dave was still sick it was still slow moving and we had about a 3 hour hike ahead of us walking a normal pace.  After about 1 ½ hours we were still many hours away from High Camp which is a stop before Mweka Camp.  At that point Dave realized that he wasn’t getting any better with the lower altitude and agreed to be rescued off the mountain.  However we still needed to get to High Camp first so our guide and assistant guide got on each side of him so we could pick up the pace and get there sooner.  About an hour later we made it to High Camp and got Dave registered for the “Kilimanjaro Taxi” aka a metal stretcher with a unicycle wheel on the bottom and five to six guys driving it.  After Dave got strapped in, Lisa and the guide ran ahead to make it to Mweka Camp before Dave got there so we could sign in.  The Kilimanjaro Taxi eventually made it to Mweka Camp and Dave was still not doing good so we continued down to the point where an emergency vehicle could meet us.  The guys took off with the stretcher and Lisa ran behind with the guide again.  It took about 2 hours to get to the point to meet the car and about an hour of that was in the dark after the sun went down.  We eventually made it to the car around 8pm.  It had been a long day as we had summited just 14 hours before.  We crammed the 13 of us into one emergency vehicle and we headed to the main gate.  We stopped and dropped off a few porters, Lisa signed us out of the park, we got our certificates and we were on our way once again.  After a few more stops to drop off some more porters and pick up the drivers girlfriend we finally made it to the Kilimanjaro Hospital and got checked in to see a doctor.  Turns out Dave had fluid on his trachea and somewhat of a lung infection (and Lisa got a huge blister from running, which Dave kindly popped for her the next day).  He got some antibiotics and a few other medications and we were on our way back to the hostel.  We tipped our porters and guide, caught a taxi to Twiga Home, got settled in, each had a nice long shower and went to bed.  Our adventure had ended. 

Overall it was an amazing experience but also something we both agree we will never do again.

Machame gate entrance

Just started walking

Our porters in the rain forest

First glimpse of the peak

We made it to Machame Hut - Day 1

At Shira Hut - Day 2

Another landscape we walked through

We made it!!

With the guide and porter that acted as assistant guide

Dave's ride down: The Kilimanjaro Taxi

Hakuna Matata – Cairo to Moshi in Transit

We left Cairo on Tuesday afternoon to get to Dar Es Salaam and then on to Moshi.  Our flight left in the afternoon so we spent the morning packing, had one last meal at Kazaz and then walked to catch the public bus to the airport.  We got to the bus stop and the guy at the desk asked us if we read Arabic numbers (as all the buses were in arabic), we of course said no so he wrote out the numbers and said “Now’s a good time to learn Arabic”.  About 20 minutes later the bus was there and about an hour later we were at the airport.  Along the way we passed a small riot at some Mosque steps, saw a Hardee’s Burgers and  Cici’s Pizza as well.  Once at the airport we had some issues with checking in as we didn’t have visas into Tanzania yet (as you get them upon entry).  After talking to the head of Oman Air (who turned out to be an awesome guy) we were checked in and were on our way to Dar Es Salaam via Oman.  During our layover in Oman we walked around the airport looking for internet, finally found it but came to find that the Sultan of Oman does not allow Skype to be accessed, which was the reason we were looking for internet in the first place.  Our flight from Oman to Dar Es Salaam was great, it was nice and empty so we both got 3 seats each and were able to lay down and have somewhat of a proper sleep (it was an overnight flight). 

We arrived in Dar Es Salaam around 5:30am Wednesday, paid our money for the visas and got a taxi to the bus station.  The ride from the airport to the bus station took about an hour because of the traffic; although the driving is much better than in Cairo and horns are not used nearly as much.  We did however see an overturned bus on the side of the road, all the passengers standing outside it and another truck trying to flip it back over.  Although that could have been caused due to cramming about 30 people over what the bus can actually hold and people jumping on and off as they are driving, which is what the bus system is like.  Upon arriving at the bus station we were immediately pulled into an office and told that all busses were filled and we would have to take their company’s bus.  Luckily Dave had read online to go straight to the bus rather than stopping outside the terminal.  After more hassling we finally found the ‘full’ bus which clearly had seats left.  We got our stuff in the bottom and hopped on for the next 8 hours.  The bus was supposed to leave around 7am, we got on at 8am and it ended up leaving at 8:30am.  Time is something that doesn’t matter in this area (they also do their times weird so approximately 6am is “midnight” or 0:00Swahili time).

We were finally on our way to Moshi.  Driving through the countryside was unreal, there were random villages all around, some had houses made of sticks, others mud, some both.  The poverty over here is unimaginable until you see it.  The bus had many stops along the way for either check in points or to buy things.  One of the ways the villages make a living is to tout the busses when they pull up, they sell water, food, soda, fruits, necklaces, bracelets, anything you can think of.  In some instances they even jump on the bus and ride it 30 minutes up the road until the bus driver stops to drop them off (we assume they catch another bus back down).  There is also a bathroom break, which consists of pulling over on the side of the road, everyone getting off the bus and going into the bushes, it was quite an experience and completely normal for them (we were the only non-African’s on the bus).  We continued to drive and then stopped at a little highway restaurant (mostly for the busses) to grab some food.  We decided to split some rice, pasta and chicken and it was surprisingly very good.  That stop also had buildings for toilets, although the toilets were still just holes in the ground (there were stalls though).  After a 20 minute break we hopped back on the bus and were on our way once again.  At another stop we picked up a guy selling bracelets and necklaces so Dave bought two bracelets from him.  He also was helping the bus driver and assistant turn paperwork in and buying things out the window for people who wanted things.  At one stop a family bought a bag of tomatoes and a bag of onions for about 3,000 TSH which is about $2 USD; things are fairly cheap over here as well.

Eventually we came to a point where we could see Mount Kilimanjaro so we knew we were close; a little while longer and we were entering Moshi.  We made it to the bus station around 5pm, jumped off, grabbed our bags and started on our 30 minute walk to the hostel through town.  The walk was fairly enjoyable and we only had two people talk to us; one guy tried to sell us a Kili trek, the other one just wanted to practice his English.  (We later found out that their schooling here is in English so it is a requirement that they learn English, if they talk in Swahili in school they get a punishment at the end of the day.)  We made it to the hostel around 5:30pm, got checked in and unpacked, booked our Kili trek, took a visit to the ATM and then went to bed.  The next morning we got up and got ready to start our Kilimanjaro adventure (next blog). 

Some Swahili words:

Hakuna Matata – “No worries”, yes it’s a real saying and they use it!

Asante Sana – “Thank you”, you can also just say Asante for “thanks”

Mambo – “Hello”

Lala Salama – “Sleep well”

Pole Pole – “Very slowly” (pronounced pole-lay, pole-lay)

Twenda – “Let’s go”

Ako Tayari – “Are you ready?”

Simba – “Lion”

Rafiki – “Friend” 

Last meal in Egypt

Gathering on the way to the airport

First billboard in Dar Es Salaam

Overturned bus

House made of mud and sticks

House made of make shift bricks

Village on the way to Moshi