Re-integration Hokie-pokie

How do you re-integrate with society?

I always tell myself never to think about change - especially when it comes to yourself. The more you want change, the less you will get.

When we arrived back in Canada though, it really felt like something was a miss. I thought, well that is it, I have changed, and I will never be the same again. And part of that is true, somewhere deep within myself, but that was oh, so two months ago.. and now how quickly things get back into a rut.

I feel like I am stuck floating somewhere right in the middle of everything. I have a job, but no real place to live. I have a life but no real way to live it. I want so desperately now to just get on with my life to stop waiting for things to just work themselves out. It honestly feels like we are still travelling. We are settled but not quite. We do things like camping on the weekends, but we have no real place to put our gear because we still don't have a place tolive. And through this all, every day I check the paper for houses and apartments, but for what? Why am I so eager to get on with fitting into a box?

What is the rush to be normal and why are so many people desiring it so? Or do people not even desire it, it is just inherent in life? We are taught to have kids and a family and a house and these are goals that so many strive for.

Sitting here somewhere in the middle I find myself longing for some of these conventions and trappings of society. Maybe it is just all or nothing for me, really why sit on the fence in some middle ground nowhere?

But then I think it is not just that I want to settle down and have a house etc... I might trade it all in for travelling all over again.. I think it is just that after living a year doing something and going all out at it, I am not really wanting to just sort-of do something. Life is too short to waffle. Right now I want it all or nothing, and at least the option to choose.

I can't stand this Hokie-pokie much longer.

Middle Ground Blues

I guess I always thought that in most of my past life I was living an inbetween nowhere, or at least somewhere there in. School was hum-ho, it didn't inspire me, and other things, like the thought of travel and a more exciting life always promised relief. Or, then there is high school where the future seems rosy and the world is your oyster... It is really easy to live your life in the shadow of a dream of something to come. That dream will always be in front of you, and then, one day you will have passed it without ever really knowing when you were there - that is, when the Inbetween Nowhere became a reality. Is it ever a reality??

About a month ago, I had a whole different kind of hindsight. Back then, in the good old days when I wasn't working, being stuck in some midlife nowhere seemed a lot like just not having anything to do. Going from getting up in the morning and powering through mega bus rides and sight seeing and getting yourself fed and housed, to sleeping in and having no real purpose wasn't easy. I guess it seemed like I was stuck in some weird middle zone, which seemed mostly caught up in the fact that I didn't have a job and that a job would give me purpose.

When you have been travelling for a long time people always ask you, don't you just miss home and having a bed and a place to rest? You do and you don't. When you are in the thick of something you just do it and you know the end is a long way off so you aren't really thinking eveyrthing through. The dreams of home or of a different future definitely sustain you through and whether you love what you are doing or not, the idea of something beyond that moment keeps you moving forward. When you are home again and you realise how nice clean and crisp sheets can be or the wonderful rough feel of jeans it all comes back to you how much you really did miss it while you were gone.

But how quickly it fades. And the reality of finding a job or paying off bills begin to sink in. How I wanted purpose and a job in those few short weeks I was without. And now, now that I am a working person I dont really want to be back in those jobless days, but the reality that I am not travelling any more sinks in. The people, the sights, the diversity and the smells. All the ups and downs I took for granted.

Some people talk about Culture Shock, for me, the worst has always been coming home. Trying desperately to enjoy the pleasures and the wonders that our society offers, but missing desperately the life and freedom of the road and the all the adventures it holds.

At the time I thought it was the time I needed to re-integrate, but now I see it wasn't quite that. It wasn't really the jobless factor, it was just the being in middle and having no dream, no vision of what the future was. For a girl, who for the last 3-4 years has been driven by the idea of travelling, standing at the end of that long road is hard. There are new adventures and things to uncover, but it is a different path trying to dance between fitting into society and being your own person and figuring out where your path is and what new things will drive you that way.

French River, Ontario: Whatever Floats the Boat

A week spent dodging Small Craft Wind Warnings (SCWW) and surfing rapids can make anyone smile. But nothing really brings a true smile like the scenery of Georgian Bay, bowling ball swirly rocks and its back-broken trees.

Good conversation was had over nightly boxes of wine and quite a few mickies of spirits, and severe thunderstorms were ridden out from the safety of our thermarests. One could say there isn't much to do camping, but that just isn't the case on Georgian Bay. We moved every day, some days travelling upwards of 20km against the wind. We even got stuck on the Bustard Islands for three days following some thunderstorms and high winds. But eventually we were on the road again and we braved our SCWW to make the 2.5km crossing to the mainland and then spent an exhausting day moving against the wind and against water flow.

But hard work has its fun too and the rapids that weave between the rock fingers and islands make great fun both going down and up. There are so many nooks and cranies to explore kind of like Kafka's mind on water.

It made it pretty easy to forget all the things that should be on ones mind. Life is so easy to postpone. But reality is there and reintegrating with society is not an easy or a quick task. What does Whitehorse hold? Am I ready for a steady job? How about staying in one place for a year? Or more? So easy to just pretend those things aren't coming. But maybe I just have to take it as it comes and stop analysing ahead.

Home: Mrs. Chutney's C + B

Home, home at last and how tasty it is with cheddar and potable water aplenty. Coming home can be hard especially when you long for the simple pleasures, but you fear all that it entails.

No one can imagine how nice it is to wear jeans and a cotton t-shirt when you have gone a year without. The simple pleasures of a towel on the skin is delightful. How is it that the sounds of birds chirping amidst rustling, windblown leaves can be lost to the ears? Why do we sometimes have to loose something to appreciate it? Truly, coming back home to stay is a sensory delight.

And yet home is full of the unseen pressures. They say high school is full of peer pressure, but the same can be said of so much else. Questions abound and they aren't always easy to answer. People view travel as a care free life, and always say, if only they had the time or money they would be so lucky. But travel can be a mind numbing slog of diahera and language barriers. Yet at the end of it all, there is something missing... a place to call your own? Family? Friends? Security? Consistent challenge rather than daily change? These are the weeks and months of reflection to come.

But, before the rest of our lives loom and decisions await, they can wait just a little bit longer. A week paddling the waters of Georgian Bay's wind swept shores and extruded rocks offers a perfect way to get some peace, quiet and reflection about all that has happened in the last year.

And so begins the Inbetween Nowhere.

Cairo, Egypt: At Peace Amidst the Haggling

So to put an end to all our travelling we spent a few days in the chaotic, hectic haven of Cairo. Not to pass up on 4CAD ties and 20CAD jeans, we did a bit of shopping. It was definitely weird to see ourselves in real clothes again.

See you in Canada

Dahab, Egypt: If Justine Was a Chip, She would be 'Sea Salt'

So our 10 month backpacking trip is winding down, and on the Red Sea of all places. We have decided to splurge and have settled on a hotel with a pool, mini fridge and TV. All this luxury for only the small Egyptian fortune of 180 LE (incl breakfast feast). That is about 35 dollars Canadian.

We haven't done much other than swim, snorkel and contemplate getting that massage we have dreamed about for the last 10 months. The busy season is just about to get going, so we are enjoying less of the crowds and more of the corral bliss. The corral and fish life here is truly amazing and we have been snorkeling and enjoying the warm waters and aqua colouring.

The town is quite small, and there is no Four Season, or Hilton. And as such, the package tourists are not quite the same. Life here is pretty laid back and enjoyable. We have had a couple of dinner feasts and enjoyed some nice sundowners on our deck looking over to Saudi Arabia over the Gulf of Aqaba from our deck.

Our trip here from Luxor was an 18 hour episode on a bus that had seen better days. There was supposedly aircon....but was not quite up to Western Standards. After our long journies in S America(Chile and Argentina), we have come to appreciate the comforts of a luxory bus at basement prices. This definetly wasn't one of them.

We had heard that Dehab was laid back and a bit of a chill spot. So, that is what we were expecting upon our arrival here. To our surpise, we almost caused an international incident.

After 18 hours on the bus, we arrived in Dahab. There was no signage, no announcement, and we were two of the last 4 people on the bus, so when the bus was rushed and boarded by 6 young guys, we thought they were just getting on. But, to our dismay, they were touts trying to get us to agree to their hotels, and if not, to their cab rides into the town. We managed to get off the bus, and collect our bags, but they continued to swarm, yelling and being quite pushy. We tried to remain polite, and asked them to give us room....but they just wouldn't back off.

As we started to walk through the loading area, they just continued...and we kept telling them to back off. Suddenly, one of the guys seemed to realize that we were getting annoyed at some of the others, and took it on himself to try and push them back. The next thing we knew, there were punches flying! One of the guys took two solid punches to the face and was staggered before the rest of the group began pushing another guy back. The hurt guy regained his footing, and quickly recovered his lost flip flop, and began to run away from the group. As he hurtled over a concrete baracade toward the taxis, we thought he had had enough and was getting out of there before things got out of control. NO! He reached down, picked up a bottle, smashed it on the concrete baracade, and rushed back into the scrum! Swinging and yelling in Arabic, he slashed his offender, smashing the bottle in the process.

We were moving QUICKLY away from this, trying t0 descern where to go. The taxis were out, as the fight was right near them, so, we were making our way to the road. The crowd was enraged at this point and groups were trying to hold back both parties. The bloodied guy went to his truck, opened the door and retrieved something from under the driver's seat.

This was the last we saw. Another tout was beside us, hailing a passing cab (pickup truck), and shouting orders to us to get out of there. Our bags were thrown into the bed of the vehicle, and we dove into the back seat (Justine with her big pack still on got wedged in), expecting to hear gunshots in our wake.

We really have no idea what the hell was going on there. It was scary, and we were shaken up about it for hours afterwards. All we can say is that we are really happy that we haven't been privy to more of these types of episodes, and that it occured near the end of our travels. Hassle certainly has gone to extreme here in Egypt.

Thankfully, that was the only time we saw those guys during our entire stay (quite possibly because they were all in the hospital for the rest of our stay). And, the relaxed atmosphere of the rest of Dahab made it quite easy to shuffle the incident to the back of our minds. Ignorance is bliss for all those who would like to believe in pixy dust and peaches.

Cairo - Aswan - Luxor, Egypt: Sails Woven of Patience

So some of us have gone from loving to hating and back again of this country. Travelling in Egypt certainly has its ups and downs.

Firstly, it is hot here, and we mean HOT. Always over 40C in the days, more like 45C (over 110F) down in Aswan. That kind of heat doesn't make you want to do anything, and here we are trudging through the desert, fighting off pimping touts, hat salesmen, baksheesh grubbing locals, hords of tourists, and just about anyone else that thinks they can make a buck off of us.

And don't get someone started on that. EVERYTHING is open to haggling. And since we can't understand, nor even begin to read Arabic, we can't even get a fair start. Bottle of water, well we have seen people pay up to 10 pounds for a bottle. They charge locals 1.5opounds. They say even the locals have to haggle, but for us it is constant. Everything is a minimum of double the price for us. Just to use internet today, we asked one place, they said 10pounds, we turned to go and the price dropped to 5. Guess they just have to try.

But it gets hard, the heat, the hassle. YES TRAVELLING IS TOUGH. But the touts here aren't just hiking the prices, you can't walk anywhere without someone asking you where you are from or trying to sell you something. And when we tell them Canada, let us tell you, we have heard "CANADA DRY" about 10billion times now! The souqs and bazaars are a lesson in patience, as there are hundreds of shops and every shop owner comes into the street, stands in your way and says somethign to you, from EXCUSE ME, to DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH THIS IS, to WHAT IS THIS, to WHERE ARE YOU FROM? or how about HOW MANY CAMELS? or LUCKY MAN or the kissy whistling noises and on and on and on.

Oh and the little kids. Different culture, diferent people. Justine has had her boob accidentally touched by little kids a few times and they just don't take No Thank you for an answer.

And lets not even start with the flies that just won't stop dive bombing into our mouths and eyes.

Ahhh but all is not bad. Even though people can get downright rude and mean when you don't go with them or look in their shop, there are some wonderful moments amid the chaos. Smiling children saying hello, or the offer for tea amidst the haggling are just some of the few. Many people stop you to hassle you, but many also stop you to tell you that you are Welcome in their Country, and that can feel nice. We don't do enough of that in Canada. And even though, many of them still make a buck off of us, there are always people willing to help you out or let you know what something is. And, well, we suppose you can't blame them for trying to hike prices up, there are a lot of well-to-do package tourists (really hardly any backpackers) and, 1 CAD = 5.35 Pounds. Lets, put that in more of a perspective, we are paying 25pounds a night at our hostel tonight. We bought the sweetest, juiciest watermelon today, fresh off the wagon for a rather steep tourist price of 4 pounds. Life can be a constant haggle here, but do as the locals do, sip some piping hot tea, laugh it off and put it past you.

So hassle aside we have travelled to 40km from the border of Sudan and taken in some of Egypts greatest monuments. The last couple of days we have taken in some of the momuments which were disassembled, packed up and moved to higher ground when Egypt decided to dam up the Nile River. Can't say some of us think highly of that move, even though it allowed much more of the land to become fertile, and has helped support the population. Guess it has something to do with the fact that one of the greatest civilisations of all times lived for thousands of years perfectly fine with the land they had, and some of the greatest monuments of all times are tarnished by being reconstructed elsewhere with the daming up of the river. They say now that the dam stops all of the fertile soils brought with the yearly floods, the farmers now have to use a lot of fertilizers and that the river beyond the dam is slowly starting to grow higher with silt.

We have spent the last 2 nights and 2.5 days on a felucca, traditional Egyptian sailboat, on the Nile. The trip is sold as a relaxing sail down the Nile. It was quite relaxing, none of the aforementioned hassles, but it definetly wasn't a sail. Don't get us wrong, it is a sailboat and would be quite spectacular moving with the wind down the Nile river. But, alas, we "floated" down the river onboard the vessel. The sails were unfurrowed only once to make up for 2 hours spent sitting at the side of the river waiting for the strong desert winds to subside. Although it wasn't exactly as we expected, we did enjoy our time on the boat. It was sort of relaxing, and it was a great way to see a short section of the Nile River and the lives of locals living along the banks. Besides, we are on Egyptian time for the next two weeks, and at times it makes South American time look fast.

Now we are in the home stretch of antiquity with a couple of days in Luxor to take in the Valley of the Kings and other such things before we head for some (slightly) cooler weather and some snorkeling in the Red Sea. Too bad everyone else has the same idea. Hopefully we loose some of our cynicism and chill out a little before we head back to the real world in the coming weeks.

Happy Canada Day.

Nairobi to Nairobi: Random Photos

Here are a few photos from the beginning of our trip to see the Gorillas. These particular shots are from the very beginning of the trip, while we were in the Masai Mara, and hopefully will tide people over until Justine goes on another photo-posting-binge.

Dahshur, Saqqara and Giza: Giant Blocks and Blistering Sun

We have seen our fist sights in Egypt. We booked a private taxi to go and see the pyramids, leaving Cairo at 7:30 in the morning and not returning to the hostel until around 5 pm.

We first headed to Dahshur, the place that was farthest south, to see the Red Pyramid, which was the first true pyramid to be built. Very close by is the so called "Bent" Pyramid, which was kind of like the practice run for the Red Pyramid. Both were built for pharoah Sneferu. As they are a ways out of the city and not as well known, not as many people go to see them as the pyramids of Giza. Leaving Cairo early, we arrived at the pyramids early as well.

So early in fact, that we had the pyramid to ourselves, and were able to go inside and explore with no other tourists there. There is no real way to describe the feelings of being inside of the colossal stone structure after descending 63m. (the second image is looking up at the ceiling inside the pyramid)

From there, we headed to Saqqara. Saqqara is where the first stone sturctures were built. Imhotep, Pharaoh Zoser's chief architect, moved from using mud bricks to using hewn stone to construct much larger tombs. This is the first stage in the transformation to a true smooth sided pyramid, and is called a step pyramid, for obvious reasons.

Here, we also got to see the mastabas. Mastabas were the previous tombs used by royalty, and later by their officials. The Mastaba was a mudbrick structure that was build above the actual tomb which was dug/carved into the desert, often going down 10s of meters.

From there it was off to see what is often people's highlight, or disappointment: the pyramids and sphinx at Giza. Giza is now a suburb of Cairo, so the monuments are amidst the urban sprawl of a city that is 25 million strong. Some people are greatly dissapointed by this fact, and we had been told of this all the way back in Argentina. But, it doesn't take too much effort to look past this fact and still be in awe of the last remaining member of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

The day did prove to be long, hot and stinking. The temperature was upwards of 40C and we went through our 4L of water like some people would beer. We did have to pay out some "baksheesh", and were asked for a lot of it throughout the day, but Justine can be quite scary when she is hot and bothered, so we fended them off quite well.

All in all, the first day of sight seeing was very rewarding. And, we are excited for the things that lie ahead as we move south and get to see the antiquities of the Middle and New Kingdom of Ancient Egypt and not to mention what everyone in Cairo tells us as a much hotter climate. It is going to be a lot about aclimatizing and getting used to the culture here.

Cairo, Egypt: Urban Heat and History Helter Skelter

Our last days in Nairobi were busy and hectic. But, did provide us with some good anecdotes.

As it has been almost a year since we have had our hair cut, Justine decided to go for it when she found out it would cost about $2.50 USD for a trim (ever the myser). Well, it ended up being an experience. The women in the salon chatted away to her, while the hair dresser back brushed her hair into a major afro and then sawed through her hair with the dullest sissors on the planet. At the end of it all, Justine decided to put her hair into a couple of pony tails out of the way..but wasn't doing a great job, so the stylist did one braid for her, then grabbed the scissors, and hacked the uneven bottom off of the braid!

While shopping in the local market, we realized we have been in Africa just about enough time, when Justine was mistaken for a local due to her thread-bare shirt.

And finally, as we were leaving Nairobi, we went to the airport early and decided to kill some time reading in one of the common areas. Suddenly we were surrounded by a crowd of about 40 fourteen to fifteen year old school kids who were on some sort of class trip. They were noisy and quite excited to be on an outting. But, we tried to ignore them and continue reading. Before too long, Chris felt the kids brushing up against his hair from behind where we were sitting. After moving a little to get out of their way...he realized that there were touching his hair. Thinking he would embarrass them into stopping he turned around and greeted them. Wrong move! This was an invitation for EVERYONE to come forward and caress his hair, head and chin hair (after Justine demonstrated how to stroke his chin). Needless to say, Chris became extemely red, and could only laugh until their teacher shooed them away.

So ends Nairobi and Kenya

We have arrived into the heat and urban chaos of Cairo. Gone are the dirt roads, diesel and closed shops at 7pm of Nairobi. Welcome to 24hours of city life complete with KFC's and McDonalds.

We haven't been here long, and we haven't done much, but then again just adjusting to city life again can be a difficult thing. Not to mention a very different culture.

We spent the afternoon attempting to shrug off what is considered a cool summer day (35C) and take in a minute Egyptian history lesson. We explored the bottom floor of the Egyptian Museum and after several hours of mummies, hieroglyphs and stone works we escaped the internet, which we must say is a little bit faster here, so we might grace you all with some blog pictures, but keep your fingers crossed.

Nairobi, Kenya: Etcetera

Our last 24 hours in East Africa, and we will be sad to go. We spent the previous 24 hours haggling over goods and trading things too worn to continue. Now lighter in money and in goods we are moving on to Cairo.

A CBC article shed some sobering facts for us about this part of the world, and about some countries seen by others on a whim of a tour or as neighbours to established countries and never for what they really are. We were told the other day that Africans weren't that badly off, sometimes we just don't know what to say to people. There certainly are people who have done well for themselves, but there is a very severe other side of the coin, and that just isn't a conversation we wanted to have.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/refugeecamp/global-trends.html

Nairobi, Kenya: How to Killl Time

Back in Nairobi, and not for any of the reasons we planned upon.

We stopped in Lake Naivasha for what was supposed to be a jolly good time spent relaxing and biking through Hells Gate. Instead Justine spent most of the time puking in the shell of an old bus. Now don't fret, it wasn't the first shelter we could find along the way, it was just the cheapest that had a bed in the area. They had a series of combis, buses and cars converted into bedrooms, and along with the payment for a bed, Justine got a little more than she bargained for and got food poisoning to boot.

A few days of that and we headed for Nairobi, fearing the possiblity of malaria. 2.50 CAD later and we knew that she didn't have malaria. Now a few more doctors visits, a few body samples, several drug prescriptions and a lot of days spent in bed Justine is slowly starting to eat again.

Now what? We don't know. We have until next Thursday until we fly to Cairo, and Justine still isn't 100percent to take a matatu or any of the other forms of bumpy crowded dusty travel to get out of the city. So it may be another six days of twiddling our thumbs and dreaming of camels and pyramids for us. Although time has been passed well enough watching Chris dip spring rolls in Chinese tea.

Jinja Uganda: Rafting the Source of the Nile

After the Gorillas, we spent two days at lake Bunyoni just chilling out and relaxing. From there, we headed off to Jinga, a city located at the source of the Nile river. The highlight of the place was whitewater rafting.

Those who signed up would be able to say that they rafted the source of the Nile river, and also lay claim to riding class 5 rapids. Chris was eager from the start, and after sleeping on it for the night, Justine decided that she would go along. It helped that the day looked spectacular and promised to be hot.

Unlike rafting the Tat in the Yukon, the Nile is a warm river (27 C) and therefore, no wet suit was required. 19 people from our tour decided that they would pay the price for the privalge and we loaded up two rafts.

The trip was four hours and included lunch and free drinks at the end.

The rapids were great, and it didn't take either of us long to remember how much fun rafting is! We ran a number of rapids and although we got very wet, we didn't flip once. Although there were long lulls between the waves, we ran rapids that ranged from class 1 to class 5 with names like The Bad Spot, The G Spot and 50/50. The last rapid of the day was the appropriately named, the Bad Place, where we held on tight and hoped for the best as giant walls of water threatened to tip our boat and throw us into the frothing white water, there was defintely some fear at times and a lot of fun was had.

The day definetly got our adrenaline pumping, and after hours and hours on the bus, it was very nice to have a day of activity.

We are now in our last weeks in Kenya. We are heading off to Lake Nakuru, where we will hopefully see some White Rhinos, and then we end our overland experience at Hells Gate National Park. Our plan is to try and do a mountain Bike tour of the park for a couple of days on our own as we wrap up the final days in East Africa

Nairobi, Kenya - Uganda and the Congo: Gorillas Barefoot in the Bubble

So we are back in the bubble again, the bubble bus tour that is. We joined back up on a two week tour to visit the mountain gorillas of the DRC (Democratic Republic of the Congo - for the oldies, formerly known as Zaire) as well as to take in a few more parks and such.

We passed through northern Tanzania, flying on roads more pothole than road, underneath the shadow of Mnt. Killimanjero and into the bustling hub of Nairobi. Dusty and dirty it was, but metropolis, none the less and we enjoyed a few days of plentiful internet access and some real coffee before heading back out onto the backwoods of Kenya, Uganda and the Congo.

First stop was the Masai Mara game reserve, where we took in a rather crowded and uneventful game drive. We say uneventful, but we still saw quite a few lions and some cheetahs right by t he truck. But after the Sergengeti, we have to admit we were pretty spoiled, and it doesnt make for good game viewing when jammed into a tour with tons of other people.

From there it was onwards to Uganda where we passed by the shores of Lake Victoria before several long, dusty, and bumpy days to reach the border between the DRC, Uganda and Rwanda. The scenery in Uganda really is something to behold and stunningly beautiful with farm land and terracing climbing steep rolling mountains and hills, which occasionally dive into blue lakes below, farmed right up to the shore. The poverty is also equally stunning, and it is defintely some of the stereotypes that you see on the news, children barefoot, wearing clothing that can barely be called clothing, shredded and torn. And yet their zest for life takes your heart. Everywhere we go, children run yelling and smiling, waving to us from the side of the road. You can't help but smile when their faces light up to see you waving at them from the bus.

The mood was set for the gorilla trekking in the Congo, as we got up a t 4am with the full moon lighting the road in front of us. We drove to the border, waiting amongst teenage guards, complete with rocket launchers and AK47's . A few of them came with us, as we had to be escorted all the way into the jungle and back by the armed guards. We took a bumpy road through town, with the sounds of children yelling and laughing at us as we flew by. Then the long day began and we hiked for 4 hours through farmers fields of corn, potatoes and beans to reach the edge of the jungle. We had split into 3 groups, and ours finally reached the gorillas after a long, but never boring hike past coruses of peasant kids yelling "jambo."

Reaching the gorillas trully was one of the highlights that we thought it would be and at the same time it was nothing like we ever could have imagined. The jungle was hot and boggy and we were rained on along the way, and while t heir the sound of thunder echoed ahead, but then our first sitghting as a black body moved through the brush ahead. Then we were right beside one, napping in the bushes, not 2 feet from us. Mums and their babies swinging through the trees and snapping bamboo playfully around us. When they say these animals are habituated to human presence they aren't kidding, and a few of them playfully swatted at us. The park wardens as you not to touch the gorillas, but the gorillas themselves make it h ard not to. It can be part terrifying too, as a giant 350KG silverback walks 6 inches from you. And for the most part when not trying to push your buttons they are just doing what they do, munching on bamboo, breaking trees, sleeping and playing. We even saw the silverback charge another gorilla, beating his chest. The family we visited had 12 gorillas in all and only one silverback, its familiy name is Rigunda (spelling may be off). Being there in the middle of the jungle next to these beautiful and unique animals certainly is the treat of a life time. Each gorilla is unique in its facial expressions and face marking and the way they move, play and manipulate their surroundings is eery and human like at times. We paid 300usd each for 1hour with th e gorillas and both of us would not hesitate to do i t again in a second.

When our Dian Fossey, Gorillas in the Mist moment was over we faced a long walk back in the dark. We ended up having to wait until about 10pm for the last group to arrive and sadly t hey didn't even get to see their family of gorillas, which had been on the move all day. Luckily they were able to return the next day while the rest of us move don in Uganda. They were lucky, but it also showed that people underestimate how difficult it is to see the gorillas and how it is trully the gorillas and not us who are allowing the priviledge of a visit.

Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater Safari: Eye to Eye with Africa's Wildest

Another whirlwind week of safaris and animals galore. This one was a little rushed, we kind of jumped right into the safari. For one thing it is low season and for another thing if we thought Zanzibar was bad for touts, apparently Arusha is the worst in Tanzania. This is for one simple reason, the Serengeti.

World famous for animals, Arusha, the base town has more safari companies than quite possibly animals in the Serengeti, so we knew people would be aggressive. We pretty much jumped off the bus and got touted right away. We figured what the hell, and since Arusha is kind of a busy, bustling and chaotic town and not wanting to have to wait a few days to get a group together for bargaining power we hoped a tour for the next day.

We joined a 4 day, 3 night safari with two other Canadians. The itinerary would be the first day and night we would go to the Lake Manyara National Park, the second day we would head to the Serengeti, the third day, after driving through the Serengeti, we would camp on the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater and then do a game drive in the Crater on the final day.

The distances are large here, so we spent a lot of time in the vehicle. And, although our guide, vehicle and cook were good by budget standards, the highlights were definetly the animals! All three parks are located in stunning but entirely different surroundings. During the times that we were not viewing animals, we were in awe of the landscapes that surrounded us.

The Serengeti plains were formed when volcanic mountains errupted spewing ash over a great distance. They are extremely flat and with few trees, as only grasses can get root into the hard rock underneath the soil. The plains are broken by what they call kopjes, or rock magma that was pushed to the surface and cooled with the heat of the plains into interesting hill formations. You really can see where movies like The Lion King got its inspiration. And we weren't spared any of the stereotypes, we even saw a lion purched at the top of one of these rock cliffs much as you might imagine Simba doing in the movie (simba means "lion" in Swahilli).

Then there are the crater highlands. When the volcanoes errupted long ago they left a series of blown apart craters. The largest is the Ngorongoro crater which is more than 20km across and contains an astonishing amount of wildlife within its steep and lush walls. To get down into the crater you take muddy switchbacked roads, travelling from tropical vegetation at the rim to dry plains in the crater. It truly is stunning landscape.

Although we had seen most of the animals before on previous safaris, the experience here in Tanzania felt unique and exciting. The vastness of the parks, and the abundance of wildlife made for a memorable time. Some of our highlights included:

a leapord sitting in a tree

27 lions (including many big males)

Ngorongoro elephants with the largest tusks we have seen

3 black rhinos (we saw 3 out of the elusive 17 left in the crater and are quite luckyto have seen them).

hippos out of the water in the morning sunlight

a zebra fight

animal carcasses

The experience of the safari was definitely mixed. On one hand you see how big rich tourism is and there is something odd about flying by tiny mud villages in your Range Rover. But there are so many wonderful things that can't be described and one of them has to be the Masai culture. The Masai people still maintain their traditional dress, and while some try to hawk wares to weary travellers, the majority can be seen herding cattle in the plains. They have rights to herd and graze their sheep and cows, and it is fascinating to see tiny boys dressed in vibrant red blankets with amazing beadwork beating their cows with spears and sticks while zebras, wildebeast, elephant and giraffes look on. Their style of dress truly has to be seen to be appriciated, and even still it is hard to believe that it is not put on. In other countries you are only treated to traditional dress for special occastions or when they are trying to sell you something. Here the men, women and children all dress traditionally and aside from the vibrant blankets they were heavy beaded earrings (which cause huge wholes in the ears) as well as beaded crowns, necklaces, bracelets and giant anklets. They carry spears and sticks not for show, but for protection. It truly feels unreal and adds to the breathtaking scenery.

We spent a day after the safari in Arusha where we spent time watching the Rwanda genocide trials. That in itself as a fascinating experience. The trials have been going on now for more than a decade and while it might not seem like there is a lot to observe, it is interesting to see the speed of justice and just what hoops need to be jumped through to give everyone a fair trial and to clear all the wrong that was done.

We are now in Nairobi where we are going to jump on a tour for two weeks to Uganda and the DRC to trek to the mountain gorillas. The last few weeks in Eastern Africa have been crazy and hectic from 27 people jammed in to a tiny mini van (this meant we had to hang on to the outside while the driver flew over speed bumps and swerved in traffic) to crazy bargaining with touts. Nairobi seems to be no exception with dusty streets, a reputation that proceeds itself and people everywhere. It is hard to say you are tired, but sometimes it does start to wear on you the constant bargaining, always paying for rooms or food or anything. But, when your weary eyes take in the colour of the Masai beadwork and the wonders of the african savannah, you seem to find a little bit of peace amid all of the chaos.

Zanzibar, Tanzania: Chipati's On the Beach Revisited

A week in the tropical paradise of Zanzibar, it all sounds so blissful and wonderful. But Zanzibar has its ups and downs, not to mention we are smack dab in the middle of "rainy" season. While this was good for the budget, it meant we didn't see a day without rain, and presently it was raining for the last 24 hours straight on the island.

Getting to and from Zanzibar is half the adventure as it involves rabid touts, or in Swahili, papai ("ticks"), aggressive taxi drivers, pecan pimps, the high sea rocking the boat and the inevitable mass of people pushing to get in and off the boat. We sent early to book our tickets and still had a hard time avoiding touts that simply will not stop hounding you, they get comission if they bring you to certain offices. That and people rush the boat, trying to catch you off guard to grab your bags so you have to pay them for carrying your bags or to convince you to go to a hotel where they get comission. Getting out of the port is hard enough, where you not only have to dodge cab drivers and touts, but fork lifts and fishermen all moving at high speed between the shipping containers. And then there is the immigration stamping which allows room for about two lines of people and while you are getting stamped into Zanzibar people are pushing to get past you. All this sound like a boat load of fun? Then why not throw in the roll of the seas which involved our rather large boat (big enough for over 100 people and fairly new) smashing down on giant ocean rollers, people screaming and cargo slamming. We even lost somehing overboard which is where it all went downhill because we spent a half hour rocking in the waves, where upon the barfing began.

But the island, white sand, palm trees, tourqoise water and torrential rain! We spent a few days in the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Stone Town while is a winding labrynth of moldy houses filled with shops, mosques and muslim people all intermingled with rain puddles and touts. It is really hard to shake the touts, no wonder they are called ticks, and we spent a good deal of time trying to be polite. It is the low season on the island, so there isn't much business to go around and even if you tell someone no 3 times in a day, you will see them again the next day.

And once again, everything is open to haggling, especially when you are a tourist, they just jack it up when they see you coming. But there is a lot of fun that can be had once you learn the system and we spent a few nights eating at the lively ocean front seafood market sampling everything from shark, and falafels to Zanzibar Pizza (beef, veg, egg wraped in dough). We got hosed the first night, as we didn't really know the system but we haggled fiercly the second night and paid even less the third night.

We had our tout too, his name was Eddy. He was a pretty nice guy, but of course he is out to get the most from us and we are out to pay the least to him. On the first night at the market he introduced us to his "friend" who owned a stall, but ended up just being a food papsi and we ended up paying more for our meal than we should have. Justine, angry, told Eddy that we wouldn't give him our business because of his "friend." We then got discounts on going on a Spice Tour and transport to the North Beach. Of course we say discount, but no one would agree to do anything for us if they weren't making $$ off of us. It is a hard thing haggling though, because people are really friendly and you know that waht you are haggling over ends up being about 1 USD, but even all of that adds up for us right now. Still, sometimes you have to think, what is that really to me?

Touts may be a hassle, but the island has a very friendly vibe and nearly every local you meet greets you with "Jambo" or "Hujambo" to which you reply "jambo or sijambo". Then you might get a Mambo, so you say poa (cool). Being that there aren't that many tourists it is hard to get anywhere without having to get into conversations like that.

The north beach of Nungwi was pure tropical bliss and mosquitos. Sand with all of the whitening promise of Cologate, but none of the minty aftertaste. It really is picturesque with a rough edge to it. Beach boys and fishermen hang out on the beach waiting for tourists and you can't even sunbath in the rain without someone trying to sell you something.

Many of the fishermen still use wooden dhows with a sail to fish, and there is even a dhow building centre at Nungwi. They pull in all sorts of fish and tropical shells from the tourqoise water. Hours can be spent wandering the white sand playing with hermit crabs and looking at sharks that have washed up. But once that is done and it is raining again, there isn't much else to do but spend money on drinks or activities.

But onwards we move and from teh rain of the coast we are heading inland to Arusha towards the Serengeti and the Nogorogoro crater. We managed to travel the last month with only one 5 minute stint of rain, and our time here on the coast has been enough. We were also asking where Africa is, and although the mosques and the sea sickness weren't really what we were after when we asked that, we found a different answer to our question here on the coast, one that we won't forget anytiem soon.

Lusaka, Zambia - Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania: Cruise Control with Falcon Air

So one hellish and fun bus ride later and we are in Dar Es Salaam. What a different world we have stepped into, but first the bus ride here!

31 hours on an African special, which includes pink tinted windows, decals and of course a bus with a name/company on the front, "Falcon Air." We had about five different drivers/touts, who all sat on the floor for the full 31 hours staring out the windows. Of course the border crossing was a hoot, we arrived an hour and a half before the border opened at 5.30am and you couldn't even stand outside the bus without having to talk to someone who wanted to change money or sell you a leather jacket. Of course then there was the border rush which involved Justine taking an elbow to the face (not hard) and various other shoves and pushes. But four hours and 50 USD eac for the stamp and we had our visa into Tanzania. We can't forget to mention the pee stops which were mostly taking place in a mad dash into the bush or in a shadowy corner, when you could shrug off the banana pimps and cracker touts selling goods. Then there were about 30 plus police stops and a good many weighings of the vehicle. Finally, finally we arrived in Dar at midnight yesterday where the taxi drivers tried to get us to pay about 20 USD for what they called a 30 min ride (we were about 5 blocks from our hotel). FUN!

Dar is a weird and intriguing mix of Indian, Arab and Swahili culture, all mixed in with a humidity level that could drown a fly. We spent the morning fixing our phone, getting a phone number, listening to prayers from the mosques, enjoying Turkish tea with our phone dealer and former Markham, On resident Kassim and then going to the hospital. But don't worry, just Chris' eye. For those who don't know Chris has been with a red eye for about 5 weeks now. We have seen 3 doctors and then here we were directed to an Opthomologist by teh Canadian Embassy. We are hoping things get better.

For now, tomorrow we head to Zanzibar, where we hope to enjoy the white sand, the spices and the local cuisine.

Okavanga Delta, Botswana - Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe: Ending in an Exclamation Mark

Reflections and hindsight are both rosy and shaded grey. We are now done our little overland tour and are sitting across the Zambezi River and the mighty Victoria Falls, reflecting on the last few days of the tour.

From the Okavanga Delta, eastwards we travelled to Chobe National Park in Botswana where we once again took in a few game drives, these ones bringing a smile to our faces. We were finally rewarded with a lion sighting, and this one included lion cubs only a few metres from our truck. The early morning start not only yielded lions basking the morning sun, but baboons humping and a herd of buffalo drinking water at the water hole.

Our last few nights outside Chobe National Park were of course spent drinking and taking in a variety of drinking games, that although we might scoff at them, still served to bring our little group closer together. From what we can gather, not all overland tours are created equal, and in fact there is often a lot of squabbling and clashing of egos, ours did not end up this way. Although it has to be admitted by us, that there were a few annoying habits and sayings of the group, in all laughter often filled the air and there were no real blow ups to speak of.

The last night in Botswana was spent beside the river where a hippo grazed about 5 metres from our tent (on the other side of the electric fence, thankfully) and apparently a croc lived in the tree beside our tent, although this cannot be confirmed. The sounds of hippos called from the river and mongoose occasionally raded the campground for food.

We then crossed into Vic Falls, Zimbabwe for probably one of the most interesting 24 hours we have had in Africa to date.

Zimbabwe is in the middle of a political and economical crisis. Inflation is in the hundreds, if not thousands of percents. Long story cut short, the situation is not good and the Zim Dollar has been frozen by the government at 1 USD = 250 Zim Dollars. This means if you take money out of an ATM this is the rate the banks must charge you. The unofficial "blackmarket" rate is about 1USD = 20,000 Zim Dollars, but that changes daily. To buy a tiny pizza it cost us around 90,000 Zim Dollars, if we paid the offical rate, you can just calculate what that would have cost us. All this means that savings have been entirely wiped out and salaries are not keeping up with the inflation.

Victoria Falls is somewhat of an anomily, as the falls keeps tourists visiting, although the amount of people there has dropped dramatically. Outside of the small town, things are very much different with prices constantly fluctuating and doubling, tripling overnight. We have heard stories of 8 hour lines, just to buy tickets for transport.

But still the people we met, were all very friendly. Competition is fierce for souvenirs, but the sellers are all still friendly, even remembering our names the next day when we returned (although this also goes to show how few people are actually in the town and spending money). It is a tough situation, as it can be intimidating in the market, as people meet you blocks away, trying to get you to buy something, anything. They will even trade for the shirt off your back, literally. They wanted our shoes, hats, shirts, backpacks, anything we could give them because buying clothes is just too expensive for them. People ending their trip in Vic Falls went down to the market with armloads of clothes, sleeping bags and mattresses and came out with masks, intricately carved giraffes, spoons and other knick knacks.

As it stands we bought a two foot long mask, carved out of heavy wood for about 7USD, and we could have gotten them lower. And although they sold it to us for so little, they still patted us on the back and had a smile for us. We paid in Zim Dollars, although they all want USD because it is at least stable.

We also visited Vic Falls, which was a crazy experience. Right now the water is at an all time high and the falls are spread out over a kilometer, much like Igauzu Falls. But instead of the beautiful thin rivelets of Igauzu, Victoria Falls is a pumping, seething froth of water flying into a giant gorge. The mist churned up is so thick that you can literally step from sunshine into a downpour of mist. We were drenched in seconds taking in the rainbows caused by the mists. Really was a beautiful experience and worth the 65 USD ea for a visa into Zimbabwe (Canadians have one of the highest visas because of our political stance on the country's situation) and the20 USD ea park entrance. What a rush though.

And for others the rush didn't stop there. You can bungee jump and zip line the gorge, do flights and when the water isn't so high you can white water raft the Zambezi. Right now though rafting is apparently something akin to being suicidal, although we heard a story about when the water was low, and even then it involved a floating body.

Of course there was the last night party which involved eating out at a restaurant. In a group this is never that easy, but in a group, combined with a town that has limited resources can be hard. Some people just couldn't grasp that yes, they are in Africa and in a country with some issues and that why the hell don't they have everything on the menu and why does it taste like crap? Our waiter came out with a list of what they had (something like 7 t-bones, 6 half chickens, some snitzel etc and we had to figure it out for ourselves). As is, they had 3 bottles of wine, all different and only a few bottles of beer. We drank them out of all of that and headed to a local bar for a few drinks and some local nuts. Mingling was enough for people after a while, so they headed off to a gringo bar, where the rest of the night was spent partying with tourists and overlanders, we left them at 2am, while they were still going strong.

Oh - Did we mention we got to pet Cheetahs in Namibia? Wow, they purr like a motorbike, crazy freaky experience, how did we forget to mention that?

You have to love hindsight, and thinking back what a trip it was, cheetahs, seals and lions, desert dunes, gemsbok and tiny spiders, hippos, crocs, beers, tents, corks, long days, wooden masks, dead vleis and so much more that we will remember with time, once we have finally digested the hectic, whirlwind of the last 3 weeks.

So suffice of to say our 24 hours in Zimbabwe including the falls, the market, getting to and from the market, drinking at a local bar and onwards to a tourist haunt. Completely exhausted we packed up the following morning and caught a taxi to the border to Zambia where we are enjoying fending for ourselves in one of the best hostels in the last 8 months, Jolly Boys. Crossing the border was kind of a sad thing, we say we are looking for what Africa really is, and waiting for our transport we sat there talking with a young man, who remembered us from the market the day before. We weren't going to buy anything from him, and even though he probably could be off trying to sell wares and make ends meet elsewhere he sat there telling us about his country, his language and his life. No matter how hard things were for him, he had a smile and we joked freely with him like we had known him all his life. Sometimes when travelling you get your guard up, you have to becareful after all, but it was a reminder that there are great people out there, and of all the places we have travelled so far Zimbabwe has been in the worst of states, but we would have loved to have more time to travel it. We left it with a smile, but with a heart wishing for more.

For now we are just happy to be on our own, back on the road again.

Swakopmund, Namibia - Okavanga Delta, Botswana: Blurry Beer Goggle Landscapes

So when are we really in Africa? These days it kind of feels like we are drifting in and out in some sort of drunken haze. We have covered so much distance in such a short time, seen so much and met so many people.

The tour is both a blessing and a hindrance. Gone are the early mornings searching for your bus or trying to find a hostel, and instead are the early mornings up to watch tour mates struggling to pack efficiently or break down their tent. Frustrations have grown on us at times, as people seem to loose their minds after not showering for three days, and the idea of having a chore as simple as doing the dishes can be a rough day for some.

BUT that aside the people we have met on the tour, while not all like us, have taught us how to relax and have given us a different kind of friendship that grows through the laughs and the frustrations that can be shared day in and day out.

We have travelled north and westwards stopping to see a sea lion colony on the Atlantic coast and moving inwards to visit odd rock formations at the tiny village of Spitzkoppe. Onwards and north-eastwards we travelled to Etosha National Park where we took in several days of tour mates drinking and doing game drives for animals. While the lions have still elluded us we were woken up in the middle of the night; their chilling roars and grunts just outside of the fence of the campground. We were up early every night and in bed late, as the waterholes are lit up at night and we enjoyed a few beers while watching giraffes go spread eagle just to get a drink. Days were spent spotting Gemsbock, Impala, Springbok, wildebeasts, giraffes, elephants, Red Heartbeast and many more animals.

Onwards and into Botswana we have moved to take in a few days in the Okavanga Delta, which is a large swamping river delta home to all of the above mentioned animals. We were poled in by locals in wooden hollowed out canoes and we spent two nights bushcamping in the wild. So wild they say that it is pristine. While we didnt quite agree with pristine, we did have to give it to them that they did take every trace with them, and we also did have to have a few people up all night stoking the fire to keep away the animals. We took in a walk into the bush where we heard the sounds of lions, and as we tracked the lion we came across elephants, hippos, zebras, impalas and other such animals all in the wild and with our guide having the security of a cellphone and binoculars in case of an attack.

While the tour has been a nice relaxing break, it has also been quite tiring with almost every morning starting around 530am and going as late as people can make it. We usually drop out around 10pm, but a lot of our tour mates keep it going much later than that. Sometimes you really feel like you could be in Africa, when you are sitting around the fire in the middle of the wilderness listening to the mournful sounds of hyenas and the grunting of wildebeast and lions. Then to add to the wild sounds, the locals occasional will sing and dance in a harmony that can be matched nowhere else in the world. But then you are just as quickly serranded by the sounds of drunken tourmates singing "Sweet Caroline" or "Roxanne."

Flying by in our giant truck past villages and shacks you really do get to see the living conditions for many of these people is quite poor. But hardly have we seen a sullen face. Children will often run waving at the truck and villagers often wave and smile as we pass. Which is not to say everything is rosy, there are many people who ask for money, and it is a hard thing not to give when people have so little in their lives. But, and it is hard to remember, encouraging a begging culture is not a good thing, instead we prefer to give out healthy food or give money in exchange for a craft.

If one thing that can be added is that the tour is kind of an odd continuation of what we found in South Africa, that we are kind of in an isolated bubble, where we stay at campsites and hostels and visit parks and attractions that only foreigners or rich locals have access to. You start to wonder is this what it is all about, travelling in a bubble? How do we get out of that bubble? Africa is a land of a thousand misconceptions and stories, many of them not true, but just as many based upon horrifying truths, ranging from AIDS to rape and violent crime. We are still trying to figure out how to get under the skin of Africa?

Cape Town, South Africa - Swakopmund, Namibia: The High's and Low's on the Party Bus - er...truck

Over a week now on the party truck and so much has happened. As said, we were a little sceptical about doing an overland tour and especially for three weeks, and so far some of our fears have been both right and wrong.

Our meeting the night before consisted of being encouraged to drink heavily to get to know our tour mates, and the day of boarding the bus (which our tour "leader" insists upon calling a "truck") two of our tour mates showed up with 3 - 24's of beer, several bottles of wine and a few 26'ers of spirits, which they also went through within the first 5 days on the road.

That being said, it has not been all bathroom toilets and hangovers. These drinkers and the rest of the crew, while enjoying the drinks of life are very inclusive and genuinely fun people to be around. They take to heart the saying "go hard or go home", as the nights are filled with fun and the days just don't stop there.

Most of the first week was spent driving through some amazing scenery. The north of South Africa quickly turned into barren rolling hills with a few quiver trees and scrub brush attempting to survive in the scorching surroundings. We spent time on the Orange River where some people went canoeing and others relaxed and drank. Crossing into Namibia it got even more barren - barren, but BEAUTIFUL. Reminds us a lot of Bolivia, except being on a tour makes it somewhat sugar coated. The land is sparsley populated and concentrated in a few centres, so entire days are spent flying over dusty gravel roads passing by virtual desert on all sides.

From red sandy dunes to flat parched yellow grass, the land is lonely, forlorn and ruggedly beautiful. It is amazing still to pass by animals that live in this landscape such as ostrich and the beautiful Gemsbok. We went on a desert walk with a local guide, who picked out tiny footprints and brought the seemingly barren sandy desert alive with mice, beatles, jackles and gemsbok. We took in a Vlei, or a dried up water hole with dead trees, and apparently the filming spot for part of The Cell with Jennifer Lopez. Continuing on our "famous people-were-here-once" tour, we are now in Swakopmund, Namibia, where Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt holed up to have their baby not too long ago. And---get this!--- apparently our cook, Franko, was one of the cooks for Survivor and also on Tomb Raider.


Anyway, the tour, so there are 15 of us on this kind of giant truck with seats and a cooler for beer. Our tour guide is a Canadian doing his first solo tour with us, and although there is a fair amount of drinking and the general age level is a young one, this isn't some frosh tour week. People are friendly and we consist of Canadians, Aussies, Germans, Americans, a Belgian and a Norweigan. Some of the people are even going on after the three weeks and are traveling with this company for up to 56 days!

Life is definitely more expensive on the tour, but traveling through Namibia there is virtually no public transport and hours of barren nothingness, so a tour or renting your own car is really the only way to go. In the coming weeks we work further north, away from the Kalahari Desert and into big game country. Our time in Swakopmund has been spent getting Chris to see a doctor, we thought he might have had his cold sores on his eyeballs again, but it turned out to be a bad case of pink eye. Other than that we have watched our tour mates throw themselves out of planes, board down sand dunes, rip themselves to shreds with quads, kayak the ocean and visit townships, all of course for a lot of money, which we don't have, hence us just watching and enjoying the scenery.

For now the tour travelling may not be the same exciting challenge as getting to a bus or finding a new town, but we are learning many other things about other people, about relationships and feelings, about drama, about chillaxing, about how great a cold beer can be after a 40c desert day, and of course about more drinking games than we thought existed.

The Drakensburg: Plateau Mountains, San Paintings and Spitting Cobras

After a couple of days again, back in Durban, we headed off to the Drakensberg Mountains. This is where South Africa borders the constitutional monarchy of Losotho. It also has some of the highest points in southern africa, and a spectacular setting to do some hiking (if we had planned better or had more time).

While in Durbs, we decided to take in a western movie and settled on Ghost Rider, we would not recommend it, and along the lines of our Argentinian movie going exerience, the popcorn was just not the same as back home. We also took time to watch some surfing and think about our towels and Justine's shirt which we had left hanging on the line in St.Lucia.

Time in the Drakensburg was well spent. We spent one day on a brief tour of Lesotho, by climbing high up the Sani Pass road on a series of switch backs that would rivel many of the roads in the Yukon for roughness. The tour was interesting, as we had lunch overlooking the mountains of Lesotho and also spent time visiting a local village woman. She baked some bread which we tried, as well as some local beer. It was quite good and we spent time learning about her life, without a husband and many kids, and how she only lives in the high mountains in the summer to sell wares and will travel by foot down the valley for the winter months.

Lesotho is quite remote and many of these people have to travel a day just to get supplies from the cities. As we learned on our last day, the reason it takes a day is mostly because local transport can be interesting. True local, local transport are Mini Bus Taxi's. These are little mini vans which should probably hold only about 12 at the most, but we were in one with 21 people. They cram as many people in as they can and they only leave when full. We spent 4.5hours waiting for one to take us 20km down the road. We waited that long because they were waiting for another mini bus taxi from Lesotho. All in all to get back to Durban it took us about 12 hours to go about 200km, and that was just a small taste of what these people have to do in order to travel.

Other time was spent hiking into the mountains of the Drakensburg to take in Sani Bushman paintings of animals and people dating back thousands and thousands of years. We had to hike to the rocks where the paintings were, and on route, a fellow backpacker almost stepped on a snake. It ended up being a spitting cobra, which is able to accurately spit its venom up to 3m. Luckily, there were no issues and we got away with just a close view of this attractively coloured snake! The paintings were beautifully drawn in different shads of red, white and black and depict humans in many different forms of dress and daily life. You are able to walk right up to the paintings and seeing them with the dramatic backdrop of the mountains of South Africa was really a beautiful sight.

After all this fun and hiking, we had to call it to a close a day early as we managed to convince the Baz Bus to carry our towels without us to Durban. We went back to Durbs a day early to get our towels, only to find that locating our towels in the bowels (haw haw) of the backpackers was harder than we thought. Finally, the day we were to board a bus to Cape Town the towels were found, only for Justine to realise she hasn't seen her brown shirt in two weeks... not sure what happened to that. Ahh the joys of travelling.


Boarded a bus to Cape Town and we were reminded of something else interesting we have seen, fake trees. They have cell phone polls that they decorate, rather well in fact, like trees. Until you get up close you can't tell they are fake, and even then, surprisingly, they aren't tacky, they are just a little taller than normal trees.

Now you may ask, why are we heading back to Cape Town????

Plans have changed, Madagascar is going to be another time for us, instead we are heading north to Namibia. The flight to Madagascar was over 1000 USD each, and we have decided to channel that money into a 3 week tour from Cape Town through Namibia, Botswana and ending in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. Not sure if a 3 week tour is for us, but we are told that travelling Nambia and Botswana either requires a lot of time or a lot of money, which seems to be the case for most things in Africa, but a little more so there. Not wanting to deal with buying/renting a car, we decided to relax and let a tour do the touring for us.... so we head out on April 15.

Blogs may be few and far between, or not at all (truth be told we know nothing about the tour we are taking, so this could get interesting).... But the map is updated so at least you should know where we are, even if we aren't posting.

Happy Easter to all .

Milwanwe Reserve, Swaziland to St. Lucia, S.Africa: Chillin' Like a Hippo

Ahh it is all a blur of expensive internet, backpackers and buses, but we will provide the recap, as it has been a while since we last posted....

So, from Kruger we jumped the Baz Bus and headed to Swaziland. To our surprise, we were the only backpackers on board. We had taken the local buses along the coast, but because there are a lot more backpackers on vacation along the coast the Baz Bus was always so hopping and busy, so we were surprised to be the only ones on board. The drive was nice though, and crossing the border was very simple. Swaziland is a seperate country, a Kingdom infact, within the borders of South Africa. It is one of the only true Kingdoms left in Africa.

We stayed in a great backpackers within a reserve there. There were a number of animals within the park, and we got up close and personal with an ostrich (it stole our cheese and cracker lunch one day!) and we enjoyed the warthogs nibbling at our feet. But, for the most part, we just chilled out and relaxed poolside with the mountains of Swaziland and the wild impalas and zebras grazing nearby. Sometimes you need that!

In hindsight, Swaziland is one of our first countries to make it on the list of places to go back to. With a car or a little more time there are a lot of remote areas to visit and a very rural population that differs from some of the more developed parts of South Africa. As an interesting note, the backpackers that we stayed at was almost entirely populated by Canadians. Go figure, no one really talks about travelling South Africa back home, and here they all are.


Our next stop was St Lucia, back in South Africa. St Lucia is a estuary zone that is recognized as a World Heritage Area. The town is really quite small, and the main street is said to have once been a Hippo trail. Seemed far fetched, until we were called out of the hostal on our first night to see the Hippos that were out of the water and in a small grassy area directly across from our hostal! It was amazing. You were able to get really quite close, and there were also some safari vehicles there that lit them up with spotlights allowing us to get a very good view of them. Hippos have very sensitive skin that burns and they only come out at night. Getting close to them is rare, and they can be very agressive, so we were quite lucky to see them, and right in the town to boot.

The next day we decided to visit a Zulu village in the area. We were guided through the modern village and visited a traditional healer. The village is said to be one of the fastest growing in South Africa. The people there were displaced by the government during the apartheid, but have since moved back as the farming in the area is superior to the inland. The issue is that more people are migrating than the area can sustain.

At the spiritual healer, we had our fortunes told. Not to be too much of a non-believer, neither of us really were overwhelmed with the insight. Chris heard that he would have a good life, he didn't need to worry about his future anymore, and would have two boys. Justine is in the lucky (she was repeatedly told this), she is going to have a good life, a long life, but she needs to stop drinking cold water as she has kidney problems, and should only drink warm water. She will have a big house and again be in the lucky. Nothing was said about her kids, and she had a water bottle sitting beside her during the entire fortune reading.

We ended the day with a tour of a recreation of a traditional Zulu village. We ended up investigating the traditional homes, dressed in traditional clothing, and finally watched and participated in some traditional dancing! Children roamed the streets, fetching water from wells and playing with created toys. Most of the houses were traditional made of either mud brick or woven thatch, while some were more modern out of concrete block. It was an interesting experience, as we felt a little singled out as the only outsiders, but having a local girl as a guide, allowed us to feel welcome and gave us insight into their lives and beliefs.

Kruger NP, South Africa: Big 4 Out Of 5

So we survived, or well, we are at an internet cafe, so we still have to get back to our hostel, but we managed to figure out the driving-on-the-other-side-of-the-road thing, and doing that while dodging giraffes, elephants and all sorts of wild animals. Our trusty vehicle was a little Volkswagon Chico, and even though it was small, it served as good transport.

We weren't sure what to expect, especially when all we could really reserve were camping pitches. And given that we had left our tent in Canada we were hoping we could even find a tent to rent. Our hostel kicked in with one they had lying around, and even though it had no pegs and was missing a pole it still held out the rain (sort of) and provided a place to sleep.

The park is actually quite big and there are many roads both paved and gravel. This meant that even though it is a busy time in the park, you can drive for some time without seeing anything but animals, and there are a lot of them. The short list of animals we saw are:

Giraffes

Buffalo

Elephants

Impalas

Waterbucks

Wildebeests

Jaguar

Common Duikers

Steenboks

Tourtoises

African Wild Cat

Zebras

Warthogs

Hippos

Rhinos

and more birds than you can shake a stick at..

A few things struck us as we drove the park. One was that there is a lot of driving to be had, but with a lot of driving there are A LOT OF ANIMALS. The speed limit on the paved roads is 50km/h and you need to go slower to really spot them all. Often times they are right on the road, including giant elephants and giraffes. (this can be quite startling!)

It really is amazing to see the animals in their natural habitats, and relatively undisturbed by the massive human presence. They graze by the roads and in the land and it really was amazing how well adapted these animals are to their surroundings. Giraffes looming above you munching peacefully, not caged in and able to reach to the top branches. Elephants literally sneaking up on us and playing in the water holes, fanning themselves with their ears and using their trunks for just about everything. Warthogs staring at us and running with their tails held high. Impala EVERYWHERE. It truly was a great experience, and of all the things to marvel at, we marveled at not only the landscape and the animals, but how well Disney is able to capture some of these animals unique and interesting characteristics.

Umkomaas to Jo'burg: Pulling a Cotopaxi

So diving is turning out to be another expensive habit. We paid a lot of money to be able just to get to Umkomaas, the town near the Aliwhal Shoal. And then there was more money involved, including gear rental and paying for the dive and the room, which wasn't cheap by our travellers budgets standards.

Now did we mention this freak storm that has hit the coast? So, it really was kind of a fluke, not only did it hit on the spring equinox, but on that day they were due to have the highest tide in over 20 years, these two factors, combined with a storm in the Indian Ocean brought giant swells to the coast, erroding the coastline, pulling roads and buildings into the ocean. The shoal has been desimated and the visability under water was next to nothing. Not the best time for a dive for beginners. We were with a large group which multiplied factors and were given inproper weighting. A lot of things combined to make half of the group have to abort the dive, while those who remained underwater saw next to nothing.

sigh.

So with that we retreated to Durban and are now in Jo'burg. They say Jo'burg can be dangerous, and when we arrived in the bus station, immediatly people are trying to "help" you. One of the guards said he was "tipped" off that people could be following us. So we had to wait for our hostel to pick us up under the watchful eye of bus station guards. Hard to say if there was real danger in the bus station, and one never likes to believe rumours, but it was an interesting introduction to Johannesburg.

Tomorrow we head out on our whirlwind tour to Nelspruit and onwards for 4 days in Kruger National park. We are renting a car and driving ourselves around, so wish us luck figuring out a standard on the other side of the road!

As a note the drive to Jo'burg was beautiful with huge cliffs and dry mountains spread out among dry plains. It was what you see of Africa in the travel books, just no wild animals, only cows and huts. We will probably see more of the "stereotypical travel book look" in the coming days, get our fill of zebras and lions and then move on. (Easter weekend is more like two weeks here, so we were rushing to Kruger to avoid the crowds, only to find out they will be there in full force anyway... hopefully not another Machu Picchu style photo fest of avoiding humans in the photos)

Coffe Bay to Umkomaas: Laid Back Feel except Transport

Coffee Bay was wonderfully welcoming. The hostal was different, in a good way. Upon arrival, it seemed like we were stepping back into our first year uni frosh days: lots of backpackers (hippies and surfers), bar, free arrival drink (which you are only allowed to drink with your left hand or you have to chug it - drinking game anyone?), music, etc. But, the place was very community orriented. They hired local students as guides, as long as they remained in school, created a scholarship to send one student a year to high school for the required 3 years, support local handicraft, etc. We were treated to a traditional dance by local teenagers from the village nearby which was amazing to watch as they sang, whistled and beat upon drums.

We spent our time there trying to figure out what we are going to be doing in S Africa...we think we have it now! (check in on our calendar for an update) And, we managed to do a 4 hour hike along the coast as well. It was hot thirsty work! We were of course followed by school children wanting to be our guides and trying to sell wares. We are definitely in much more of what we imagined Africa to be like. Farm houses and huts dotted jagged coast line and wavy fields of grass covered the hills, it was very picturesque.

We left Coffee Bay yesterday with a desire to go diving. But, as some of you may have heard, S Africa's Indian Coast was hit by the largest swells in over 30 years. Don't worry we are safe, but it has affected the visibility of some of the diving spots as well as caused Millions of Rands of damage to coastline businesses. So that, and things have closed, or changed operating procedures...not to bore you with details, but the first place we stopped didn't offer any diving right now, so we are now are trying to get to Umkomas (currently waiting for a pick up and we found internet, hence the blog).

Our plan is to try and get a couple of dives in at Aliwal Shoal, supposedly ranked in the top ten dives in the world! Then it is going to be off to Kruger National Park for a self-directed safari! We are trying to arrange renting a car and booking some huts in the park to stay at. Our plan is 4 days in the park, and hopefully seeing the BIG 5! From there it is going to be a whirlwind tour backtracking and such, and we hope to work out the details.

All this planning is getting to us... arg.

Hogsback to Coffee Bay: From Middle Earth to Africa

Winding, twisting our way from the beach bliss up to Hogsback was a treat, that was just starting. Monkeys, tropical forests, mountain views and thatched (sp?) roofs waited for us in our retreat at Away With The Fairies. Although it rained we still enjoyed a fireplace in our room and misted in views with monkeys hopping in the branches.

Back to earth, we went on our way to Coffee Bay and we seemed to finally enter Africa. Africa so far has been chilled out beach towns and swanky retreats, but to get to Coffee Bay we passed through rural areas where thatched roofs and mud brick homes passed by along with many moments of cow dodging, goats on the road and many a school child walking home. There were no more white people in these towns. Friendly faces waved at us, but our van must have stood out with its all white passengers.

Coffee Bay seems to be the place to party and relax for a few days or years. The theme party in the bar tonight is "Night of the Living Dead" and we have already had our free welcome drink. This is the circuit for recent frosh leaders and high school kids, but the high school ends there! In this circuit, no one is left out or made fun of. It is a real, friendly atmosphere. Could be the availablitiy of certain herbs, but that is just what we hear, something about Pondo Fever.

Okay. This keyboard has had one too many beers spilled on it. Too Sticky.

Kynsna: Friendly Beachtown Blues

Along the coast. Everything here is a little different. People are friendly, buses aren't as available and they sell cheddar at the grocery store. Adjusting to backpacking in South Africa is an everyday adventure, from remembering that they are speaking english to you, to realising that there are less buses, and yes, when they say the only bus that comes through town is at 2.30am, that is the only bus. Highlights include not having to pay to use a bathroom, and TP actually stocked up.

Internet is big money too, and thus blogs are experiencing a new revolution - being cut short.

We are moving along the coast in the next few days, enjoying the surf, the hot weather and the white beaches.

Capetown: Getting a Jump Start

Capetown and we are attempting to get back into the swing of things. Taking a week off in Canada was a nice holiday from our holiday, but the week off, combined with time spent relaxing in Argentina and Chile seem to have made us soft.

Not that being soft is a bad thing here.

The atmosphere in Capetown is pretty relaxed and the backpacker scene here is young and vibrant. The weather is hot and the views of craggy dry cliffs from the surrounding mountains are quite beautiful.

They say South Africa is the rainbow nation, and so far we have seen that. Capetown, at least in the central tourist areas, is a mix of many races, colours and faces. The people are pretty friendly and it is pretty hard getting used to the fact that they actually speak english here, even if the accent can be hard to understand.

The flight here was long and we had stunning views of the Alps and the deserts of northern Africa. Yesterday we spent the day wiping sleep out of our eyes and figuring out cell phone issues. Today we climbed Table Mountain for views of the city bowl of Capetown.

Time will now be spent figuring out where we are going and how. There is a very good backpacking route here, so much that they have a special backpackers bus that hits a lot of the main stops. As with anything that is touristy it is more expensive, but it does go to places that will be a lot harder and time consuming than the regular buses. This is why we mean we have to get back in the swing of things, because the backpacker bus would be easier, but where is the adventure and intrigue? Perhaps we save that for Madagascar.

Midland: Time Warp

Our time back in Ontario seems a blur of photographs once past, brought to life and hours and hours infront of the computer. Once again we are just about packed up and ready to hit the road. Tomorrow we head to Toronto for a family visit and following that we fly on Saturday via Amsterdam to Cape Town, South Africa.

This half of the journey is from Cape Town, South Africa overland north towards Nairobi, Kenya and then onwards via the air to Cairo, Egypt. All with a time limit of just over 4 months. It is going to be rushed, we know that much, but definitely an adventure.

On another note of adventures past, the photos are up. If you did not recieve any invites, you missed out on about 15 or so albums, so let us know!

Also check out our new addition to the blog, an interactive map.

Keep checking the blog, we love the comments and we always love to hear what everyone back home is up to.