Tanzania

We entered Tanzania a week ago after two days of solid driving along the western shores of Lake Malawi, another sign how big this lake is, especially bearing in mind that our starting point was about a third of the way up.

Driving  up the lake was really beautiful with the road meandering through mountains and valleys  and the lake on our right. All along the way are little villages and local people offering their produce and services. Something we hadn’t seen before were roasted rats on kebab stick, head and tails included, decided to give those a miss!

Before we headed off towards the Tanzanian border we spent a few more days with Bruce and Beryl, this time in the Sheri valley where Bruce is GM of a large sugar plant. We had a very interesting tour of the plant and now know how sugar is made before it reaches the shelves of Sainsburys.  Stop buying organic girls, the sugar is regularly tested for pesticides and none are ever found in the final product!

Left Bruce and Beryl with freshly cut hair and our larders stocked with homemade cookies, homegrown tomatoes, peppers and carrots and our water tanks replenished with the last water from a ‘known source’. We were also lucky to be able to watch the Olympics closing ceremony and actually felt a pang of homesickness. Thank you again Bruce and Beryl, we hope we can repay the hospitality in the UK one day.

Now we are making our way slowly up to the Serengetti where we are hoping to see the annual wilderbeast migration.  Planning to stop off at a couple of game reserves on the way and also hoping to get a glimpse of Kilimanjaro on the way north. Pity I only brought my flip-flops!

As we are making our way closer to the equator the climate is slowly changing and it is getting hotter. Yesterday we hit 35 degrees for the first time. We have not had a single day of rain since starting our trip and the mosquitoes are now joining the tsetsies to plaque us. Up until now we have been relying on supermarket bought food mostly. As we are depleting our stores we are having to rely mostly on locally produced fruit and vegies, that is tomatoes and onions and bananas and oranges for Tanzania.  We are left with about six meals worth of meat in our freezer, also bought down south, so we are not sure what we will find up ahead.  The same goes for drinking water so, next time you drink a glass of cold sparkling mineral water, think of us!

The four of us are in good spirits and continue to marvel at the fact that we can pick up our maps daily and pretty much make up the route on the spot.  Difficult to imagine how we will settle back into ‘normal’ life after this but don’t worry Mel, we ARE coming back!

Malawi



We crossed into Malawi last Friday and were glad of another bit of respite after a couple of really gruelling days of driving on impossible dirt roads,  getting lost, losing each other despite two-way radios and then ending up (Don & myself) spending the night 100 km apart from Heather and Ian in different camps, us camping on the lawn of a guesthouse wondering where they had got to.

Arrived at Bruce and Beryl’s, who have the use of a house on Lake Malawi, and were spoiled once again and this time in real need of a bit of home comfort. Tired, covered in insect bites (tsetsie’s mostly), almost no clean washing and out of fresh fruit and vegetables.  We arrived late in the evening and had no idea of our surroundings and were greeted the next morning by this:

Spent a couple of days messing around on the lake, swimming, snorkelling, boating and after all batteries had been recharged headed off to a game park on the south of Malawi called Liwonde for two nights. A big ‘Thank you’ to Beryl and Bruce for a much needed break.

Malawi feels like Zambia’s little sister and has been described in travel guides as ‘Africa for Beginnners’. Although the landscape is dramatic with the contrast of the lake (which makes up 15% of the surface area) and mountains marking the edge of the Great Rift Valley, it feels altogether more gentle.  Roads are better, the Malawian people are very friendly and welcoming and the country side is green rather than brown. There are numerous stalls along the roadside with Malawians selling anything from fresh fruit and veg to handmade wooden toys to skinned animals, not always obvious what they are.

This made me miss you Jess :(





Internet access is getting more difficult now and we have to rely on internet cafes to update our blogs which means less regular updates from now on. But just hang in there....





Zambia - Bangweulu Swamps

Well there we were in the hills in the remote Bangweula Swamps when two little additions to the MacIntyre clan arrived and we only found out four days later as we entered an area with phone signal.

CONGRATULATIONS Al & Joy on the birth of your twins girls, Bella and Catlyn!  Your adventures from this point on will be much more exciting than ours! Al, this is what your mum and dad looked like when they received the news, amazingly, via a phone call from Jess in York!

We seem to have settled into something of a pattern with one day of travelling and two or three days of staying in a camp. So far we have managed to find a camp every night which is great. They range from very basic with nothing more than a “long drop” to slightly more fancy with hot showers (African style, e.g. an overhead bucket filled with water heated by a wood fire).  For the last two nights we have stayed in a camp at Kapycha which has a natural hot spring at 40 degrees Celcius. It was difficult to leave this place!

Bangweula Swamps was very special.  It is a vast area of swamp land (10,000 square km) and is best known for a rare prehistoric  Dodo-like looking bird called a Shoebill Stork. Only 60 are thought to still exist here and the only way to see it is to drive about four hours from the park entrance to the swamp area on an almost impossible dirt road, then take a  boat (not dis-similar to an Oxford punt!) for about an hour and lastly walk through ankle to knee deep swamp water, depending on the season. You then wait and hope for a sighting.  Well we were lucky and even though neither Don nor myself are knowledgeable of birds, this sighting was something really special. Here is a picture of it.

The other species you only find in this region is an antelope called a Black Letchwe (as distinct from Red Letchwe which is found in South Africa).  As you drive onto the plains immediately before arriving at the swamp land you suddenly see thousands (more like tens of thousands!) of them, another very special experience. We were lucky enough to have them cross right in front of us as we were in our boat and if we don’t make it to the wilderbeest migration, this will be the closest to it.

We have subsequently moved south and have just arrived in 'Buffalo camp' in the North Luangwa National Park which is only accessible from March to September. The entire camp, which comprises eight reed huts, is under water in the rainy season so each year the whole camp is re-built from scratch. North Luangwa Park is in the Luangwa Valley which is part of the Great Rift Valley of East Africa. The valley is estimated to be 175-300 million years old and is considered to be one of the last “True Wildernesses” left in Africa.

Well it is now next morning and needless to say we didn’t get much sleep. A large male elephant walked right up to the open end of our hut (they are only enclosed on three sides) and for about 10 seconds we made eye contact and neither of us knew what was going to happen next. Eventually he moved on and as we went back to bed he decided to walk through the camp on Don’s side of the bed. The space was too small for him to fit through and for a moment it felt like the whole hut was going to cave in. Amazing!

Zambia

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Arrived in Zambia and had one last soft landing as guests of Charlie’s and Margarete, Ann and Katherine who live just on the outskirts of Lusaka. Charlie is now in close competition with Ed for being the best ‘braaier’ ever. He braaied us a pork chop which was tender on the inside yet had crackling on the outside. Beat that!

Charlie and family took us to some friends of theirs who are involved in a conservation programme  breeding lions. We managed to get very close and for the first time ever, I heard a lion roar from a few metres away. It is awesome and you can feel the air vibrate. Managed to get some lovely shoots.

We then took a eight hour drive to a camp in Kafue  National Park, the largest game park in Zambia. Immediately as we got out of the car we were attacked by tsetsie flies. To our English friends, this is one of the worst plagues in Africa, the bite is very painful and they will not leave you alone. 

To make matters worse (or better as it turned out later) we were turned away at the gates since the camp no longer caters for campers with tents but instead has lodges for rent. We now faced our first proper predicament, drive back to the main gate (a two hour trip on dirt road) or camp in the wild. Well of course we camped in the wild; we found a nice little spot near a water hole and after a few moments of trepidation on the girls’ side, we relaxed. The tsetsie flies were a nuisance once again and we decided to make a concoction of all the things people have told us would deter them. Ian had bought an industrial size spay can and we were soon covered with a mixture of Tabbard and Dettol mixed with water. We stank!

The night was cold (temperatures range from frost at night to 35 degrees in the day) and we heard hippo grazing and making those lovely hippo noises right next to us. Very special.  Glad to have made the decision to go for a rooftop tent though.

Bush camping in Kafue

The next day we moved onto another camp (South Kafue)  and have been here since. Heather, Ian and Don have now gone for an early morning game spotting ride with a game ranger.  I stayed behind to have a lie in, make breakfast and do some writing. Unfortunately no internet here so will have to post this when we next have wifi.  We intend to stay in Zambia for another 10 days or so, there are some wetlands in the north which are meant to be stunning and then we will head for Malawi. 

a typical 'road' in South Kafue

View from our 'bedroom'

Last day in Mokore

Biggest Baobab tree in Zimbabwe

This is our last day on Mokore and we are all sad to leave. If any of you have watched the movie 'Out of Africa' this is what this place is like, a little sanctuary in a vast piece of wilderness. The only thing missing is Robert Redford washing my hair, oh well....

Having Al as our very own private game guide has been great! We have also learned how Biltong is made and have had a taste of Kudu, Impala and Bushbug (sorry Mel!!!)

We are spending our last day like most people spent their Sundays, going for a walk (with a rifle!) and finding a big Baobab tree,  Don playing with his new toys, the dogs having a rest, me on the internet, all pretty much like we would have done at home.

The truck has had it's final check up and is now totally self-sufficient, we are carrying 160 litres of fuel and 85 litres of beer, (sorry I meant drinking water) in our extra tanks, 6 bottles of red wine (yes I know, not nearly enough!). One last shopping stop for beers and fresh meat and vegetables tomorrow to stock up our fridge/freezer and then into the hills on Tuesday morning.

The single most valuable item on this trip for me so far has been our laptop, it has been great  being able to keep in touch with family and friends although from now on it will get harder. 

And finally, the photograph I know you have all been waiting for..... our toilet!

All you need to do is dig a hole and let nature do the rest. We have got a self-inflatable cubicle for those slightly more public places

                                               ....oh and drop your pants of course...

Mokore

Arrived in Zimbabwe a few of days ago where we are staying with Al & Joy who live on a little 'homestead' called Mokore, surrounded by hundreds of acres of wildlife. Magic! This is our last 'family stop' before heading into the hills for real so last chance to test all our equipment, recharge our batteries, dye our hair (or not?!).

 Al & Joy are expecting twins in four weeks and needless to say they can't wait.

Al taking us for a game viewing ride

Al and Joy's little house

our even 'littler' house

the view from the hunting lodges

Al works as a game ranger here and the whole area is what is called a 'conservancy' which is a multi-owned unfenced area of wildlife where commercial hunting is permitted and the proceeds are used for furthering conservation. This is also a black rhino sanctuary and contains the highest population of black rhino in Zimbabwe with approximately a hundred rhinos. Sadly, this  also attracts poachers and dealing with them is one of the more unpleasant tasks of Al's jobs.

This morning we had a tip off to see a family of wild dogs with 11 pups and we had the most amazing  sighting of the mother getting all 11 pups out of the den to feed them. We were able to watch the whole spectacle from about 30 metres away with four adult females circling the little group and us.

We have finally decided on a route; from here we will head into Zambia, then Malawi, Tanzania then Kenya and from there to Ethiopia. Our Ethiopian visa's run out at the end of October so by then we will be heading back south again but are planning to take a slightly different route, as yet to be decided.

And finally....

...we are off!

Planning to leave for Zimbabwe at the crack of dawn after spending 3 exhausting days doing our final shopping. How do you shop for a six months trip not knowing what you can get up ahead? Clothes are the easy bit, you don't need much. In fact we have reduced what we brought with us by half and left the rest with family. Car spares and general repair items are more tricky. You hear of people being held up for weeks waiting for a spare part for their car. Anyhow, it took a lot of planning and thinking and we hope we have it right. We will soon find out.

This would have been our UK camping weekend if we were at home so will be thinking of you guys this weekend. And here is a picture from one of those camping trips just to remind you that the sun does shine in the UK sometimes. And HAPPY BIRTHDAY Ben!