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4 kids world tour year
  • Ezyian
  • Flo M

4 kids world tour year

With mum and dad, we visit 36 countries on a world tour in 365 days. We visit schools, homes, and hospitals to experience the lives of other children Read more
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  • Trip start
    August 5, 2022
    4 kids world tour year

    Departure France: Here we go!

    August 5, 2022 in France ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    Today is the big day. We set off from Grandpa's house on Lake Geneva, near Thonon les Bains. The place is called Port Ripaille.

    I think we are all excited, but also all a bit nervous. Since I did the planning, my worries are focussed on where might I have messed up? What did I overlook? What is plan B if X doesn't work? Then, there are more existential worries. Like, will someone, somewhere, rob us of all our stuff or money? Will it be too much for the kids, and we have to give up? ... and so on.

    This summer, the flight schedules in Europe have been a mess, but we are flying with Egyptair, which seems not to be caught up in the chaos. We shall see.

    Since our car is parked for the year in a cellar in the mountains, our first trip is two train rides to the airport. Off we go!!!    Read more

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    Geneva airport

    August 5, 2022 in Switzerland ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

    Max had been with us in "Ripaille" and he comes with us to the airport. Some tears are shed as we all say good bye. We don't know when we will see him again. He plans to join us somewhere, but for now it's not clear where. As always I love seeing my kids, big ones included, so I will undoubtedly miss Max and Alex.Read more

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    Arrival Egypt

    August 5, 2022 in Egypt ⋅ 🌙 29 °C

    Our first flight, our first visa, our first border control, our first hotel, and our 1st airport transfer.

    Everything on the flight runs smoothly, but the border is a bit hectic. It turns out all of us need a visa on arrival. Would be better if they called it what it really is, namely a "tourist tax", but overall, we can't complain. Bags are all there. The transfer guy is waiting, so we head into town just an hour after we land.

    The hotel, like all those we booked, is 2 or 3*, but it has good reviews, and it's one of the relatively small number of decent budget hotels near the centre of town. Since we are 6, we are usually split 3:3 or 4:2 into two rooms, but sometimes we do have apartments or rooms for all of us. This one in Cairo has one room on a modernised floor, and one is not modernised. All in all, with the breakfast included, it was really quite good.    Read more

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    Pyramids and reverse taxi hijack

    August 6, 2022 in Egypt ⋅ ☀️ 35 °C

    Well, you can't take kids to Cairo and not visit the pyramids, can you? So, of course, we did.

    I am always paranoid about rip-offs, but getting there, getting into the pyramid area, and moving around were all not too bad. of course, there were lots of "offers," but we turned them all down. That said, Flo and the kids did hire two camels for all of us, after doing a really good haggle, something they will need in some other places later.

    It wouldn't be Cairo, though, without one or two bigger hassles, and so it was when we tried to get back from the pyramids. First, it was difficult to find a taxi, but we eventually got one at a fair price. Once in the car and driving a few km, the problems started. "What was the name of the hotel again?". "The Atlas International", "Ah, that's not the Atlas I understood, so the price will be [double]." So we tried to go back to the agreed price, but to no avail. So instead I said to the driver we had changed our plans and we wanted to go to the Swiss Hotel, which on Google Maps was pretty close). he wanted to stop across from the Swiss hotel, but I told him we wanted dropped off in front of the hotel. So he did, then everyone got out, ran quickly into the hotel past the security, and I informed security that the driver was a shameless cheat. I gave security enough to pay him for that part of the trip. He was mad as hell, but security wouldn't let him in (which I had assumed). By the time we had had a cold drink to cool off, he was gone. The next taxi was fair and fun, with loads of Arabic music blasting all the way to the Atlas.    Read more

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    Cairo street food & markets

    August 6, 2022 in Egypt ⋅ 🌙 34 °C

    After the pyramids and our two taxi rides earlier, we ventured out into the centre city and its endless markets. They are literally kilometres long and walked quite a few of those kilometres. They go in phases, loads of food shops, then lots that do mobile phones, then lots of lighting shops, and so it goes on with a multitude of categories.

    Note: A long time afterwards, the kids told us that they had found Cairo very intimidating. Later, in similar circumstances, they were unphased as they got used to chaos, hoards of people, noisy busting shops, and hustlers wanting to sell you their bargains.    Read more

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    Egyptian Museum Cairo

    August 7, 2022 in Egypt ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    We visited the stunning Egyptian Museum Cairo. Old hot building, no aircon. But it has Tutankamun, tuya, yuya, and many more treasures of ancient Egypt. Very interesting display of everyday objects and tools.

    We took a local guide as the museum can be a little overwhelming, and he did help find the highlights. After he had finished, we continued for quite a long time.

    Later, we went to eat at a local grill. The food was great. Note that at the end of the trip, the toilets associated with the grill that were shared with several establishments were voted worst toilets of the trip. Now, that really is a serious accolade.    Read more

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    Eating Koshary

    August 7, 2022 in Egypt ⋅ 🌙 32 °C

    Egyptian national dish Koshary. The only thing on the menu is Pasta, rice, lentils, chilli, and tomato sauce. Great 👍in my humble opinion and also that of most of the kids. However, Flo and Lola had a distinctly different opinion. Quelle surprise.Read more

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    Egyptian Civilization Museum

    August 8, 2022 in Egypt ⋅ ☀️ 36 °C

    The main attraction is about 20 royal mummies, but no photos allowed of them. Amazingly well preserved. 3 of them murdered. Two you see holes in the skull, 3rd a CT scan shows a stab wound into the neck. Other exhibits ( see photos) cover Egypt from pre- history up to 1960. Somewhat eclectic mix, but quite well done.Read more

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    Nairobi & Giraffes

    August 10, 2022 in Kenya ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C

    Arrived in Kenya at 4am. Hotel sleep to midday. Most things closed due to election. We go to "Out of Africa" author Karen Blixen's coffee farm, which is now a museum. The next day, we visit the Giraffes and spend 4 hours feeding them, being licked by them, and kissing. One not so nice, tries but fails to do headbuttsRead more

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    On the road to Masi Marra

    August 11, 2022 in Kenya ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    In tgeory we had a four hour journey from Nairobi to Masi Marra. In this case, it was 10.5 hours because the driver arrived late, then broke down for 4 hours. Then, we had additional problems with the car, and went the wrong way, so 30km on very poor dirt track at 20km. Saved by paying 2 Masi $16 to show us the way on roads not shown on Google maps. At the long breakdown, we were next to a school, and the kids had real fun playing with local kids, and the local Masi children seemed equally happy. We were rewarded with a lovely sunset on arrival and the best camp we have ever been to in Africa. Masi Duma Camp in Talek. 200m from the entrance to the reserve area.Read more

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    Masai Marra Safari Pure

    August 12, 2022 in Kenya ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    From 0630 to 6 p.m., we journeyed through Masai Marra, probably the best reserve in the world bar none. Famous for the wildebeest crossing the Mara River in millions and being attacked by crocodiles . We saw not millions but maybe 10k wildebeest, and the cross waiting. The day started with lots of Zebra, then lions who killed and ate a wildebeest. Then, the animals never stopped, elephants, hippos, giraffes, leopards,warthog, vultures, and a solitary secretary bird ( long-legged vulture). Amazing place. We also had breakfast and lunch in the reserve. Super! 👌Read more

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    Rest and Road to Nakuru

    August 14, 2022 in Kenya ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    The 2nd day in Masi Mara was dedicated to rest and home schooling. Part of the education was to take the children to the village of Talek, where they could see the typical houses and shops of the locals. A typical house is made of stone shaped like breeze blocks with a corrugated roof. It has two bedrooms no matter the size if the family and roughly 6 to 8m2 per room. No toilet, no running water. Thankfully, water in Talek is available in the town. Later, a driver told us he walked 15km per day to collect water after school, and then he had to milk the cows. Although our children see the grinding poverty, they have not yet significantly reduced their endless demands.

    Two other observations about Talek. It's maybe two or three thousand people who are farmers, hotel workers, guides, and park rangers. Park entrance costs $300-$600 per day with car and driver who is also a guide. Bush camp costs $150 to the sky is the limit. It is clear that practically none of the $millions generated by tourism goes to the people of Talek. You might think those with money would act in their own self interest, by ensuring there are good roads, but the last 30km to Talek has a road that despite being a national highway is unimaginably dreadful and dangerous . In many places you must drive alongside the road because it's just too fucked up. If you ever go to Talek, don't even think for a second of driving yourself.

    We took a car that in Europe would fit max 4 people to Nakuru. Why? It cost $140 for a 3.5 hour journey. A small bus would have cost $300.

    On the road I gave my first history lesson on the subject of colonialism. Kids were hugely interested. Later in our house I wrote a test, and they all got almost everything correct 😉. A subtle part of our home schooling is that all kids use surface laptops, that are a PC, tablet combi with touchscreen and pen. They are already far ahead of Kids at school, who of course still mostly use pencil and paper.

    In Nakuru we had a self catering place for $80 per night. The hotel that ran the place wanted $20 per person for breakfast, so we declined and bought bread cornflakes and yogurt at the supermarket. We also bought for a picnic next day, in place of going to Nakuru lodge in the park at a cost of $$$.    Read more

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    Lake Nakuru National Park

    August 15, 2022 in Kenya ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    On a previous trip to Kenya, this park was impressive due to the lake having literally millions of flamingos. Unfortunately, a change in climate and water flows have raised the level of the lake and reduced its salt levels. (It is an inland salt lake). These changes have led to a huge reduction in the food available for flamingos, and now there are only a few thousand left. It's still impressive but not magical. The changes have also killed many trees that were formerly on the waters edge because they are now in water and the soil had been washed away.

    That's the end of the sad part. The park remains a very interesting visit. It has 60 white rhinoceros. It also might have the largest number of Rothschild's giraffes. For my taste, they are somehow more elegant than their cousins, the Masai giraffe. It also has a fascinating selection of birds, monkeys, and other animals. The kids loved every minute, and after I got over my initial disappointment, I did too.

    The day ended with our first self-catering, pasta, and sauce out of a jar 😋🙃.    Read more

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    Road to Amboseli

    August 16, 2022 in Kenya ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    After talking to a local taxi driver, we decided to travel from Nakuru to Nairobi in a Matatu. Matatu's are the main mode of transport in Kenya. They are all (as far as I observed) Toyota Hiace mini buses with 9 passenger seats. You find them at various places. They travel a defined route, and they go when they are full. For a tourist, the questions are: Where do I find the right one? Maybe the bus station, maybe not. Where do I get a ticket? ( Cost is not a serious question as the rides are far cheaper than anything else. Our cost for 6 Nakuru to Nairobi is $28. Tourist taxis quoted $150-$300 !). The questions were answered by the taxi driver who took us from our self-catering. The Nairobi bus does not leave from the bus station , but it is close by. Tickets at the ticket office, of course 😀.

    We have the back 6 seats. We wait 20 mins till the bus fills up with a young woman, a middle-aged woman, and a cool dude. A blast of music from the speakers tells us we are off . To our surprise, at least on this main route, the bus was in good shape, comfortable, and pleasant. Highly recommended, not joking!

    For the 2nd part, we had hired a "Noah", that us an 8 seater Toyota that I have not seen in Europe, but us ideal for 6 of us and 6 bags. This taxi was needed because Matatus didn't go near Amboseli Park or Madi Mari for that matter.

    En route, I gave the children a lesson to follow up on colonialism with the path to decolonisation. They loved it. Nora even said best history lesson ever. It's much better than school.

    After that they wanted more, so I gave them "10 types of corruption ". They were again super interested and demanded I define more types. In the days that followed, they were on the lookout for corruption, and it did not take long for them to find it.    Read more

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    Walking in the Bush b4 sunset

    August 16, 2022 in Kenya ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    We stayed like most people outside Amboseli in Masai Simba Camp, which is the standard here. It's a rather charming bush camp run by local people. Well run by them! After you arrive in the early evening, a guide takes you for a walk in the bush. He shows various footprints and poo. That helped identify animals and when they were there ( poo freshness) . Giraffes 🦒 feet are distinctive, as is their poo, which is about the size, shape, and colour of maltesers.

    We saw using our tracking many Giraffes and many different types of birds, such as hornbill and weaver birds . There were loads of porcupine tracks and lost needles. The children were determined to collect every single one that we saw. We also saw a porcupine den, which is huge, maybe 5m across. The burrows are large enough for big dogs, and two days later, we saw one abafonded by porcupine, which is now home for spotted hyenas. We did not see porcupine itself as they only emerged at night.

    We ended the walk with a beautiful sunset, with the horizon broken by elegant Giraffes 🦒.    Read more

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    Amboseli National Park

    August 17, 2022 in Kenya ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    This is our 3rd Safari in Kenya, each one very different, even if some of the animals are the same. Masai Mara is long dry grass, acacia trees, and the Mara River. Lake Nakuru is obviously a lake, but also the surroundings are green and jungle. Amboseli is mostly semi dessert with a large wet area in the middle. Early morning and late afternoon when air is clear, it has the backdrop of kilimanjaro.

    The "fun" begins 25km before we even get to the park gate. The road is mega super awful. If you stay on it, you probably have to go at 10-15 kmh. Of course Tom our driver does not stay on the road. He drives in the V-shaped drainage at the side. There is no covering, just packed sand/earth. Tom drives this at 40-60 kmh. It's absolutely terrifying. Every 300m, he gets around obstacles by banking the car to the max left, then right. It seems to me he needs the forward momentum to stop the car landing on its side( see films in this post, which do not show the full horror).

    Then we reach the park, with roads a bit better, = so bad no one in Europe would use them. At first, the park is a bit underwhelming. We do see lots of elephants and various birds. However, as time goes on, the number of animals we see dramatically increases, till at lunchtime, there are animals everywhere. It's because they all go to drink in the time window 11am to 2pm. Normally, in parks, animals drink 1st thing in the morning, but here they know it can flood, so they stay away from the water and walk to it together to have safety in numbers.

    Enjoy the photos.

    Of course, the trip ended with a 2nd hair raising ride. It seemed Tom went even faster, maybe because he wanted to get home. I put on Google maps to nervously watch how much more of this hell was to come . I survived in one piece, which seems to be my 2022 theme    Read more

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    Masai Simba to Tanzania

    August 18, 2022 in Kenya ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    In the morning, we went for an early morning walk to see the Giraffes and birds, and we visited a small Masai village. Flo has written about that, so I will skip it here except for the most memorable moment. In the tiny house that sleeps 6 in about 4m2, the children asked, "Where do you store your clothes?" The answer is that we wear the only clothes we have!
    Breakfast, then a drive to the Tanzanian border with Tom. Today, his driving on fairly normal tarmac roads is chilled, but this is Africa 😀, so after 10 minutes, Tom pulls off the road and says we need to stop to have the exhaust repaired . The service garage us truly basic, but they have welding equipment, and after 45 minutes, we are back on the road. Then we drive uneventful with views of Kilimanjaro to the border.

    The border would make the most bürokratic civil servant proud. That mixed with good old attempts to pocket money means crossing took nearly two hours, despite the fact that there was never any queue .

    To cut a long story short, it was a bit like this. Start at passport control Kenya side, but one step back to get health clearance. Health clearance, covid certificates, and yellow fever. We politely ask why yellow fever, since we are leaving Kenya. Well, they have it in Tanzania, and most people who cross come back. Ok, it makes some sense. Luckily, we all have our WHO yellow fever certification. I ask what happens if we don't have it. He says we can vaccinate here. Next back to passport control of Kenya. We have to sit one by one whilst visas are examined, photos, taken, etc. We are done with the Kenya side in 40 minutes. Then we are smart. we go do Tanzanian health check 1st. It's a repeat of the Kenya show. On to passport control. Sorry, we need your e-visa printed, and we can't do it here. You need to go to the cyber shop on the Kenya side. Flo and the kids wait, whilst I walk 200m back to Kenya . 15 minutes to print two pages. I walk back across the border setting off the metal detector, but nobody gives a shit. (Multiple previous checks never detected my army knife). Back to Tanzanian passport control. They then ask for the children's visas. I explain they are in mine. Turns out they aren't. This was true. Then the fun starts. Where will you exit Tanzania? This felt like a round about way of saying if you exit here we might be able to let the kids in for some chai (they don't ask for money, they ask for tea,usingvthe word chai). Well, we would leave at a different post, so that possibility wouldn't work. So we paid $200 for 4 visas. Tanzania wins the prize as the most expensive place for a family just to enter. Fun part 2: Flo asks for a receipt. The officials claim they gave us one. Flo shows she has none. They then bizarrely claim that a reciept takes a long time and has to be approved by telephone. Well, we just wait till they finally issue a receipt. It is important in case the visa is somehow wrong/ false/ double, and we get problems leaving.

    We say goodbye to Tom, who has been invaluable in helping us navigate the burocracy and potential traps, even if he did take life-threatening risks in Amboseli.

    Welcome to Tanzania 😉

    We now have a Tanzanian driver. What is noticeable with him and most others is that they speak very little or no English. Tanzanian is near the very bottom of most development tables, e.g., Human Development Index, its 163 out of 189 countries. Oddly, houses and infrastructure seem in our non representative sample far better than in Kenya, but educational levels and skills seem by comparison to be very poor. ( I base these comments on observations not impacted by language skills)

    After 2.5 hours, we reach Moshi. Sorry, sir, wrong hotel 🏨. You are in the other one we have with the same name. I see Flo really nervous for the 1st time, but luckily, the story is true, and the other one has a better location, even if it looks less charming.

    Anyway, for $45 per night for 6 people, including a decent breakfast , who are we to complain 🤔.

    But we are still worried a bit about the risk of theft. I spot some foreign workers, and so I ask them about that and any general advice or tips. A nice South African, here to extend the local brewery, says he has no security concerns, but in town do not speak to anyone who tries to attract your attention. So we relax and begin to enjoy Tanzania , including Kilimanjaro beer
    for $1.30 each.    Read more

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    SIM card, home school, hot Springs

    August 19, 2022 in Tanzania ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    We slept in ! No planned activities, other than washing our clothes. Well, that is if you don't count home schooling, which you must, and the uniquely Tanzanian experience of getting a SIM card.

    The children had home schooling from 10 am to 1 pm. This is going well, but it's tough on Flo. In school, they don't constantly make demands of the teacher. At "home" with Flo, they do "mum", "mum", [repeat 1000x].

    In parallel, I went to get two local SIM cards. I came back 3 hours later with 1. Why? Well, a passport is not enough. They need to take a photo and fingerprints. They write into an app every single detail of your passport and visa. This job is delegated to a junior who repeatedly fucks up. I try to explain my name is Ian not LAN, but with initially no success. I eventually take the phone from her and do the entries myself. (Precision is important because if the name spelling is not exactly the same it gets rejected and you start again).

    Whole process in shop took 2 hours 15 min. Only 3 in queue in front of me. For comparison, in Egypt it took 5 minutes, and in Kenya 10 minutes.

    Also in Tanzania most things are cash only, even sophisticated companies like Airtel.

    Then I say to Flo, leaving to come back in 5, but it took me 30 mins why? I tried to take a tuk-tuk like I had on the way in for 500 Tanzanian Shillings, or about 25c. But the price rose 10x to 5000 and although that's still only $2.5 , I don't encourage rip offs, so I walked back.

    The children had worked hard, Flo too and I was exhausted by a SIM card, so we decided to go swim at the nearby hot ( more like 30C) springs. More than warm enough, and a lot of fun playing Tarzan by swing from a tree into the water. See Flo's blog for more.    Read more

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    Moshi to Karatu: 2 x 1/2 is less than 1

    August 20, 2022 in Tanzania ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    We travel to Karatu to be able to visit Ngorogoro crater the next day. Travel as always requires planning and negotiation. I asked for a price, so I got a quote $300, as I expected,but I said that I couldn't afford that, we would take the bus for around $60-80. So then I get an offer, we take you half way for $65, then you take the bus, and that saves you at least 2 hours. Ok, it's a deal. In the car, the guy makes a call. My friend in Arusha can do the 2nd part for $65 . I plead poverty again, we will take the bus. Price drops to $50. I don't immediately agree, and so the price goes down to $45, Ok deal. So with splitting and haggling, the price is 1/3 of the original, and only marginally more than the bus, whilst being 3h quicker.

    We arrive in Karatu. Hotel a bit underwhelming, but Ok. They know location, location, location, and hence charge 3x more than in Moshi for a similar room.

    We rest in the afternoon, as tomorrow is a 6am start.    Read more

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    Ngorongoro drops down in our estimations

    August 21, 2022 in Tanzania ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    15 years ago, Florence and I visited Ngorogoro, which is next to the Serengeti in Tanzania. It's the crater of what was Afica's biggest volcano, which erupted explosively 2.5 million years ago. What is left is a crater 650m high and 25km across. The big African animals live in the crater all year. The bottom of the crater has a salt lake (flamingo habitat) and a smaller fresh water lake and marshland. The inside and outside of the crater walls is jungle straight out of Tarzan.

    Ah, I mentioned we have been here before, so let's go back to the crater floor. The area that was not covered by the two lakes was green, and in wide parts, elephant grass grew to 3 or 4 meters. Seeing elephants in that grass was wonderous. There were also plenty of lions, hippos , birds, and other animals. I found it hard to say if Masai Mara or Ngorogoro was my favourite African reserve.

    As a result, Ngorogoro was high on my list of things the children should see. When I went to book a hotel and a driver, I thought the prices that were more than 80% higher than Kenya meant it was still top. Unfortunately, far from it. Large parts of the crater floor are very dry, the elephant grass covers only a small area, and that grass is shorter. We did see a male lion, lots of hippos,and some smaller cats, as well as lots of antelope, wildebeest and Buffalo, but it just wasn't the same as we experienced it previously, and without prompting the kids rated it last on their parks league table.

    What happened? Undoubtedly, drought played a big part, but I suspect that poor water management is also to blame. After all, the dryness is only on the crater floor.

    Sad 😔.

    Recommendation is simple. If you want to see the jungle book live, then by far the best is Masai Marra. It's just as good as ever and whilst it's not cheap, you can have excellent accommodation and guides for $100 and $150 respectively. The latter includes a car all day, big enough for 6-8. It's also a good idea to visit more than one park and I was charmed by Amboseli. Let's hope that drought does not degrade it. A couple of the kids made Nakuru their second choice, and I can see why (rhinos, monkeys, birds, butterflies. ..). I hope better water management can return Nakuru to its former glory. That leaves Ngorogoro a poor 4th in my recommendations. A car costs $450 for 6 hours, and hotels are expensive. Compare that to Masai where a car and driver it cost $150 all day. Somebody in Tanzania needs to start thinking about the future!    Read more

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    Arusha to Nairobi: School start

    August 22, 2022 in Kenya ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C

    Today, we travel back to Kenya, to Nairobi from Arusha. In Arusha, we had a lovely little hotel in a strange part of town. The bright star hotel is great value. Two rooms with breakfast for 6 people cost only $55. If you stay here, you might be disquited by the approach as the road is a total mess, and the area at 1st seems to be poor, but the hotel is well protected and has good rooms and nice staff. It also provides a good dinner for $5, but expect to wait longer than an hour that they say it will take.

    I also investigate how to get to the border. There are apps like Gettransfer.com & Rome2Rio and advisory sites like TripAdvisor, and if I had used them, we would pay $100-$220. So I asked the hotel and called the local taxi company, who both quoted $100. So, I resorted to the African approach. I contacted the friend of our driver in Moshi ( Praygod - really his name!), called Erasto, and asked him if he had a friend who could take us. Of course he did, stupid to even consider he didn't. Price $60. Stilla bit high, but should I waste time and take risks for maybe $10-15 savings? So we take the friend of the friend Felix. His English is not great, but he has a good car, but it looks like there isn't enough space for luggage because he has four large drums in the boot. I suggest he offload them and pick them up later. No, no, he has to deliver them on the route. heh, this is Africa, and so it all fits somehow.

    Kids are happy to start the school year by sending whatsapp photos to friends to tease them as Geneva school restarts today. They are schooling in the car. Then we have a surprise, we encounter 4 giraffes on the road. This is the main Tanzania to Kenya highway, so more photos, more stuff to tease friends in Geneva.

    Soon after, Felix stops at a post office to deliver his drums. A very small amount is spilt. It's cow's milk🥛 . Turns out Felix's sideline is to deliver milk in whatever drums he happens to have.

    After 90 minutes, despite the odd duststorm, we reach the border. We had already had our passports checked twice, 30km, and 10km from the border, and we are about to find out why.

    Felix is paid $5 to negotiate a good price for a taxi to Nairobi. So we cross the border at an unofficial crossing , where locals have damaged a concrete barrier enough that a car can cross. This is the unofficial taxi stand, whereby optically it's not like anything you would find in Europe. Cars, small busses, chaoticly parked, currency dealers, and plenty shady guys. Felix tells some locals what we want, and then two sprint off at high speed running to find their friend 😤. Two minutes later a car arrives. Felix negotiates $80 , so he gets his $5, and we go. By comparison, I paid $150 the other way.

    Bernard is our new driver, namesake of Flo's dad and Oscar's middle name. He tells us we are in Kenya as we drive aling a dusty narrow street. We then pass the official border, and to be clear, we pass it by, with no control at all. The shuttle bus has to stop there for 2 hours. So, the official route is 6 hours. The unofficial route is 4 hours. Onward to Nairobi with kids studying in the back 😀.

    I was intending to end there, but the fun continued. First, we saw vultures, loads of them feasting on a zebra carcass, and then later, the road is blocked by a herd of 🐫.    Read more

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    Kigali sad past, hopeful future

    August 23, 2022 in Rwanda ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    On our way this morning to Kigali, the capital of 🇷🇼 Rwanda. A country with a terrible genocide not 30 years ago, that is now the fastest growing country in Africa. It's also a lot in the news because of its deal with the UK to take in asylum seekers.

    For the first time on this trip, Flo and I don't know what to expect, as we have never been to Kigali before.

    Departure from Kenya is very smooth, it's really nice that Kenya has become a much friendlier place to visit. ( But plan to be at airport early, as there are two checks before the check in, though white people seem to be waived through the 1st one). African airports, unlike those in Europe, seem to have a few delays, and there are no significant queues.

    I had lost a little sleep because I realized that our quick crossing of the border in Namanga by the back door, meant that we lacked an entry stamp into Kenya, but whilst the very jovial passport officer noticed it, he did not make anything of it. In the past, this might have cost time or chai. (If officials in Kenya ask for a cup of chai, you know you have a problem that only money will fix.

    Well, we arrive just before midday in Kigali, and wow, this is like a different planet, clean, modern, and organized. Beautiful streets lined with grass and trees. Modern, well constructed buildings. Something we haven't seen in Africa before. We thought maybe it's only a fancy show, close to the airport, but no construction, roads and the general environment is so much better than we have seen before. ( Let's see what it's like outside Kigali), but Rwanda at least initially surprises massively on the upside.

    Our first stop is the genocide memorial. It's a strange place. The small museum is ok, but quite close to what is in Wikipedia with good photos and videos added. Three of the children, who are under 12 are not allowed in, because it's too graphic, which I think is not the case, but hey I let Alex watch Kill Bill at age 4 or 5. So we don't learn much new. However, there are mass graves, I am not sure how many, and they are stark in their simplicity. Rectangular slabs of concrete, about 5m x 4m, with no decoration, no label, no names. In some ways, I feel it reflects the horror these people suffered. We can't pretend God took them, that it was justified.

    I attach only 1 photo of the memorial .

    After that, we visit a local market, Kimironko, and then we are back in the Africa we know, bustling, chaotic, and not that clean. The children are at 1st intimidated. Everyone wants us to buy veg, fruit, live chickens, geese, oils, coffee, household goods, trousers etc. It's quite large, and most sellers have little stock, so compared to Switzerland, the staffing level is maybe 100x higher. We have some fun buying two mangoes , some limes and avocados at about 20% of the Swiss price, and the sellers seem happy that we paid way too much.

    I'm off now to sleep in a hotel, where we have one room with 3 double beds. A "standard triple room" 😉    Read more

  • 4 kids world tour year

    Volcano Park Rwanda

    August 24, 2022 in Rwanda ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    We leave Kigali at 0900 for the Northern province and Volcano park, which is famous for gorillas. We will not even try to see them as that would cost $12,000!. So we plan to chill after the hectic of the trip so far. Fun fact for gorilla watchers, you need a negative covid pcr test done locally.

    We plan to do some walks in the lutious tropical forest.

    The journey here is over high mountain roads that are higher than 2000m. There is a lot of activity along the road with goods such as sweet potatoes, bananas, coconut, and much more moving up and down on bycles. The bikes are carrying upwards of 100kg, and many need 2 or 3 people to push uphill. I ask the driver, they must have good brakes for downhill." No, he says they don't. They use their feet!

    I ask the driver why there is not a co-op approach to have a shared van. He says it exists, but the vast majority of transport from farms is still by bicycle.    Read more

  • 4 kids world tour year

    Gokoro & Twin Lakes

    August 25, 2022 in Rwanda ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C

    Today, we went for a guided hike on one of Rwanda's "hills," colline Gakoro, to be precise. The description "hill" is a little misleading as it is 2400m high, as are many of the others. ( The land of the 1000 hills has approximately 8,500 hills). Gakoro has good views of the 3 volcanoes that are the border region of Rwanda, Uganda, and Congo. Unlike elsewhere in Africa, everywhere is green and lutious, no sign of drought. That is the case, right the way to the top, and the volcanoes look the same, and they reach 4100m. I asked our guide, Peterson, if it ever snowed. "No, never" was his reply.

    On the way to the start of our walk, we pass through several villages. The construction looks good, but the people lack running water, and the farmers here also transport potatoes by bicycle. Plots of land are small, and there are a lot of people. The average age in Rwanda is only 19!, and due to the genocide there are very few people over 50. These sights re-emphasise that lifting the countryside out if poverty won't be easy, and that is 60% of the population. ( In Switzerland, 2% are farmers).

    There is one tradition here that serves the people well, before you get married, you have to build your own home and plant an allotment with banana and avocados. Well, in theory, it's good, but I suspect that with a strong increase in population, it's unsustainable.

    Peterson had said the walk was easy, and technically, it was, even if it went up and up for two hours. He missed that for northern Europeans walking uphill in full sun at 28C, is a little strenuous. I am glad to say, however, that with a few short breaks, we made it with reserves to spare.

    Of course, just as we were reaching the top, we were overtaken by 3 ,15 year old girls, each of whom was carrying 20 kg on their heads in yellow plastic containers. The kids and Flo tried to lift one of them, and they just about managed to lift one off the ground. The girls, and especially their necks, must be really strong, incredible really from a European perspective.

    Also near the top is a nice new health centre, funded as the plaque says by the Chinese, via a company that they presumably own that provides television. Where the West fails to act or, in the case of the UK, drops out, China is ready to step in, which will have consequences.

    Throughout our walk, we are accompanied by between 3 and 15 local kids. It's school holidays and so there are plenty around. Nora made friends with one holding her hand and walking together for almost an hour. You can see in my photos a short video of her singing. Most of the kids speak a small amount of English. They ask our names and where we come from. Others we pass by simply shout "hallo." The children are warm and friendly to us , and don't hassle, as happens elsewhere.

    We picnic on the top, and half of our food that we don't eat is eagerly taken by our new friends. Their poverty is visible in torn clothes that often have holes, too, but they are nice, cheerful kids, with ambitions, and hopes for some at least of a better life.

    We decend to lake Burera, and then go down to Lake Ruhondo. We cross the lake in a small boat, and then go to a restaurant for a drink. I have a beer for $1. We joke about ordering some of the items on the menu, for example, a whole goat for $80.

    We head back to the hotel around 6 and order food by phone in the hope the kids will be in bed by 8 pm. We'll no fast food here. The beef stew is delicious even if it's just reaching the table at 8pm. Kids do go to bed relatively easily as at 9 pm they are more than exhausted.    Read more

  • 4 kids world tour year

    School, chilling and dancing in Musanse

    August 26, 2022 in Rwanda ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    Today, nothing is planned. We all need to slow down a bit.

    Kids are getting better in home schooling, not asking questions all the time, being more focused, and mastering the basics of writing on tablets, managing files, etc.

    Another guest tells us there is something going on from 2pm, local arts, crafts and music, do we go at 1730, only to discover it closes at 1800, but, but, but, boy did we have fun in that hour, dancing almost the entire time. After my hilarious attempts, one by one, the whole family joined in, and then two boys from the dance group took it upon themselves to show the kids how to dance like a local. See the videos. There is a lot of unplanned fun.    Read more

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