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Sophie Jones

Sophie Jones

traveled in 33 countries Read more
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    • Sophie JonesTravelerSophie's Trip

      Southern Malawi

      May 22, 2023 in Malawi ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

      After a crazy week of travel in northern Mozambique I headed straight to Monkey Bay on the southern tip of Lake Malawi to decompress. I stayed at a rustic little eco lodge with a pod of hippos living nearby that you can hear at night! What they didn't tell me before I arrived was that due to cyclone Freddy the lake levels were high, which meant I had to wade through thigh high water to get there. I was only worried about the leeches and schistosomiasis (fresh water parasite) at the time and only learnt about the hippos and crocodiles in the area after! Luckily on the way back out a couple of days later I got a lift on a canoe. Next I went to Cape MacClear a few km further along the lake for more of the same, except with a more lively backpacker scene, where I met some nice people to chill and go on a sunset boat trip with.
      Once I felt sufficiently rested, I got back on the minibus to head to Zomba, the old colonial capital with some pretty nice historical buildings. Zomba rests at the base of a high plateau which I went on a nice hike on to see some view points of the area, and a nice waterfall. Next I went onto Mulanje, the highest mountain in Malawi. To climb it would be a 3 day hike which I didn't have the time or the energy for, so I settled for a nice day hike on the mountain, seeing more nice viewpoints and waterfalls. My favourite part was visiting the tea plantations in the area by motorbike which looked really striking with the luminous green tea leaves, the burnt red earth, and the mountains rising dramatically out of the landscape in the background.
      Then onto Blantyre which I used as a base to visit Satemwa Tea Estate, one of the oldest tea estates in Malawi, established in 1923. I went to Satemwa for a tour of the plantation and to perform a tea tasting. All of the tea was excellent, and the cream tea that I had after in the fancy estate house was even better!      Read more

    • Sophie JonesTravelerSophie's Trip
      1

      Ilha de Mozambique

      May 7, 2023 in Mozambique ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

      Ilha de Mozambique, or Mozambique Island, is a small island just off the Northern Mozambique coast. It's connected by a 3km long bridge that you get across in the back of a pick up truck for 10 metical (12p). It was the capital of Portuguese East Africa from 1507 until 1898, and is where Mozambique gets its name from. There is a fort and a Stone Town at the northern end that contains many 16th century buildings that are slowly crumbling away. The whole island is a UNESCO world heritage site. It was really beautiful to wander around it, and with hardly any tourists to be seen.
      As beautiful as the island is I can understand why so few tourists make it there, as it took almost 3 full days of travelling there on the worst roads imaginable, and then 3 days getting away. Despite the awful roads, the coaches in Mozambique aren't that bad, if a little packed with cargo. The worst part is the minibuses. In Africa a common and cheap way to get around is by minibus. They wait at designated places and only depart when they are full, so you can be waiting a while in the blazing heat for them to get going. The problem in Mozambique is that they have a different definition of full - they seem to defy the laws of physics. You will often get 25 people in minibuses designed for 14 people, with 2-3 people in the passenger seat, sometimes sharing the seat with the driver. The first row behind the driver, designed for 4 people max, can have 9-10 people as they have people sitting facing both directions, with legs interlocking. Add to this cargo that often includes live chickens and baskets of fish, the abundant BO and bad breath, and sellers at the regular stops shoving all the food imaginable in through the windows hoping to make a sale, it is not the most comfortable!      Read more

    • Sophie JonesTravelerSophie's Trip
      1

      Vilanculos

      May 1, 2023 in Mozambique ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

      Vilanculos is another Mozambican beach town, although a bit bigger and busier than Tofo it's just as beautiful. I stayed in a laid back hostel with little roundhavels and a really nice outdoor communal area right by the beach. So obviously I spent even more of my time in Mozambique just chilling out and enjoying the vibes!
      I went on a boat trip that took us to a couple of beautiful islands that mostly consisted of white sand banks and crystal clear water. After climbing some sand dunes, chilling in the water, and having a great beach barbeque, we went snorkeling on the 2 mile reef, a marine National Park with really interesting sea flora. I saw a load of really large and colourful fish, plus some reef sharks. I didn't get to see any dugongs unfortunately!
      As I was loving the Mozambican food I decided to take another cooking class. We went to the market to get the ingredients, which is always interesting! Then we went back to the restaurant and cooked coconut and peanut fish curry, crab shells stuffed with crab meat and vegetables, matapa (made from cassava leaves) and another dish made from another type of leaf, pap (a staple in Africa made from maize flour), another fish dish, and a sweet dish made from cassava root and coconut milk. It was all excellent!      Read more

    • Sophie JonesTravelerSophie's Trip
      22

      Tofo

      April 24, 2023 in Mozambique ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

      Mozambique has one of the longest coastlines in Africa and has some of the best beaches. Tofo is a quintessential lazy African seaside town with not much to do aside from chill by day and party by night. After a few days in my very rustic beachside bungalow and chilling out on the deck of the bar overlooking the Indian Ocean, I moved to another hostel further down the beach where Maria, a friend that I made in Namibia had just arrived.
      We went on a dhow (traditional sail boat) trip into Inhambane Bay, stopping by Survivor Island where we visited a traditional village and ate a local lunch consisting of crab, scallops, fish, bean stew, and matapa - a Mozambican dish made from cassava leaves. After more sailing we went to Pansy Island which is more of a sand bank with loads of really cool "pansy shells" - shells with a pattern of a pansy flower on them, and then went snorkeling where we saw loads of really cool starfish.
      Another day we went on a "sea safari", where you go out on a power dinghy boat and try and spot some large sea game like whale sharks or Manta Rays. The sea at Tofo beach is known as Whale Shark alley as they are often found there so we had high hopes of seeing one. After spending 2 hours of driving around at sea we hadn't seen anything - as is the case with wild animals, there are no guarantees. So just as we had put our life jackets back on for the bumpy ride back to shore the captain spotted a Whale Shark! So we all quickly took our jackets back off, got our flippers and masks/snorkels on and jumped in. Swimming with a Whale Shark was one of the most magical experiences of my life, they are huge but so gentle and graceful. If you don't know what one is give it a Google - unfortunately I don't have an underwater camera for pictures but they are very beautiful. And don't worry - they only eat plankton! There were also huge shoals of fish and small jellyfish the size of golf balls which were very cool to see/swim through.
      The other great thing about Mozambique and Tofo in particular is the great food! There is great fresh seafood and being an ex-Portuguese colony there is also great chicken Peri Peri and chips! And of course plenty of very cheap local beer.      Read more

    • Sophie JonesTravelerSophie's Trip
      1

      Maputo

      April 19, 2023 in Mozambique

      After the best part of a day travelling from eSwatini I arrived in Maputo, the capital of Mozambique. Maputo is an interesting city consisting of a mix of old Portuguese colonial architecture, old soviet style concrete blocks complete with peeling paint and rusted iron bars, and modern high rise buildings. Much of the centre consists of wide avenues lined with acacia trees, fruit stands and sugar cane juice presses, giving them a uniquely African feel, and are especially beautiful to wander around as the sun dips low.
      Maputo has a long history which made it an interesting city to explore. I visited the National Art Museum, the stunning Natural History Museum which had some interesting taxidermy and a collection of elephant foetuses, and the Botanical Gardens complete with fruit bats which I always love to watch. I also did a walking tour which took me to the old Portuguese Fort which the city was built around in the 18th century, and the oldest parts of the city which is now the red light district. We also visited the train station, which is the 3rd most beautiful train station in the world according to someone (can't remember who), the central market, Casa de Ferro - a building made out of iron that was designed by Gustave Eiffel, Maputo Cathedral and city hall, and a statue of the first president of Mozambique - Samora Machel on Praça da Independência. We followed that up by having a local lunch of fish matapa - a sauce made from cassava leaves, and the local beer dois M (2M). Being in an ex-Portuguese colony I also enjoyed being able to find good Pastel de Natas and Sumol!      Read more

    • Sophie JonesTravelerSophie's Trip
      1

      eSwatini

      April 15, 2023 in Swaziland ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

      Leaving Johannesburg I headed for eSwatini, formerly Swaziland. After spending the night in a lodge in Ezulwini Valley enjoying the gorgeous mountain views, I headed to Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary. Here I stayed in an old villa converted into a backpackers accommodation where I could watch the zebras wandering past and the wild warthogs that scurried under the fences to feast on the grass every morning. Mlilwane is a former farming and tin mining area that was rehabilitated in the 70's to a sanctuary for zebras, warthogs, wildebeest, various types of bucks and other herd animals, and crocodiles. With the exception of the crocs there are no predators, which means that it is safe to wander around on the many self guided hiking trails. There's something magical about wandering around the open plains with the animals, where they keep a careful eye on you but are otherwise happy to continue grazing and just doing their thing. The one thing that did make me a bit nervous was the huge crocodiles! The first time I saw them I was a fair distance away so felt pretty safe, but the 2nd time the path went right past a huge lake where I saw at least 5 large crocodiles, some which were pretty close. Luckily they seemed about as interested in staying away from me as I was from them!Read more

    • Sophie JonesTravelerSophie's Trip
      11

      Johannesburg

      April 6, 2023 in South Africa ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

      For months people have been telling me how dangerous Johannesburg is. As I'm getting a bus into Park Station, a place supposedly notorious for criminal activity, I was worried that I was about to find out for myself! Unsure of where to go to wait for an Uber without getting instantly robbed, I asked a stern looking security guard. She told me where to go, and then said to wait 5 minutes as she was finishing her shift and also had to hail an Uber. She walked me out to the road, waited with me by the security hut, and waited with me until my Uber arrived before getting into hers. Honestly god bless South African women, they have saved my skin on more than one occasion while I've been travelling around South Africa on the, at times, sketchy public transport system.
      I made it to my hostel in Jeppestown in the centre, which is a part of Maboneng, or "place of light" in Sesotho, one of the local languages. Maboneng started when artist Johnathan Liebmann bought a block of warehouses in the deprived Jeppestown and brought in prominent artists to transform them into galleries and studios. Slowly the area was gentrified (often a dirty word but in this case I think it was needed) with the opening of cafes, restaurants, bars, club's, and hotels, and more recently apartments, supermarkets, and international chains - making the turn around of the area more sustainable. This makes the area really vibrant and a fun place to spend a few days. But for me - only a few days was enough as one of the club's played music so loud that the windows of my hostel rattled until 3am! I don't think you're supposed to sleep in Maboneng, just do as the locals do and party all night.
      While there I did a walking tour of the inner city, which was a great way to see the area safely. I saw some amazing street art, visited a traditional medicine market, learnt about the history of the city, went to Gandhi's office, and walked through some pretty sketchy areas (where I'm pretty sure I saw Eco, the guide, slipping money to guys on the street when greeting them - protection money maybe? Or have I just watched too many gangster films?).
      The next day I went with him to Soweto, or the South West Townships where black people were forcibly moved to in the 1903 after an outbreak of the plague, and again in the 1930s by the apartheid government. There we went to Kliptown the earliest settlement in Soweto, Vilakazi street where both Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu lived and the site of the start of the student uprisings, the Soweto Gold Brewery, and had braai at the Soweto towers, an old power station where you can bungee jump from between the towers if you want to (I didn't, but I did go to the top for the view!) Finally I went on yet another bus tour to see some more of the city, and visited Constitutional Hill, the site of a prison that housed many political prisoners including Gandhi and Madela.
      Many travellers skip Johannesburg because of the safety concerns, and I nearly did too but I'm glad I gave it a go as it's a really interesting city and I had a lot of fun. You just have to be super careful!      Read more

    • Sophie JonesTravelerSophie's Trip
      1

      The Wild Coast & KwaZulu-Natal

      March 27, 2023 in South Africa ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

      I spent a few days watching the surfers in Jeffery's Bay before heading off to Coffee Bay on the Wild Coast. The Wild Coast is so called because of the wild coastlines which reminded me a little of home, helped by the fact that the weather was pretty rainy while I was there! Apparently Coffee Bay is named that because of a shipwreck that contained coffee beans leading to coffee trees growing along the coastline. I went for a long hike to see the "Hole in the Wall", but I mostly enjoyed seeing the cows chillin' on the beaches. This region used to be a part of Transkei, an area independent of the apartheid South African government populated by the Xhosa people. This results in a strong Xhosa culture that gives the area a much more "African" feel than a lot of the rest of South Africa, as I was once again seeing roundhavels, cattle on the roads, and I loved listening to the language as it's one of the "clicking" languages.
      Next I went to Durban for a few days, and any time I'm in a big city I take the opportunity to go to nice cafes & restaurants, get any provisions that I can't usually get (like books!), and go to the cinema (Avatar 2 - 3D). I also took in the waterfront, wandered areas that were safe (which were limited), and took a trusty bus tour to see the rest.
      Finally I went to St. Lucia, which along with Durban is in the KwaZulu-Natal province, a Zulu region. St. Lucia is famous for the iSimangaliso wetland park populated by loads of hippos and crocodiles, amongst other animals. This obviously makes it the perfect place to be on a boat trip when a really bad storm hits! You could see the storm approaching for about an hour before all hell broke loose, with epic thunder and lightning, hail (first time in over 10 years apparently), and wind strong enough to blow us 3km off course even against the engine. The captain had to drive us into the trees to stop us from being blown further away, and then drove us back as soon as the wind died down a little. I was convinced we were about to become hippo or croc food! I had a large glass of wine with dinner that night.      Read more

    • Sophie JonesTravelerSophie's Trip
      1
      111

      Franscehoek & the Garden Route

      March 12, 2023 in South Africa ⋅ 🌬 21 °C

      From Cape Town we picked up the car and explored some of the Cape Peninsula including Hout Bay and Boulders Beach, which houses a colony of African penguins. We then drove along the stunning coastline of False Bay then inland to Franscehoek in the Winelands.
      We hopped on the wine tram/bus lines and visited some beautiful vinyards, and participated in some wine tastings, including a Pinotage experience (my new fave red wine!), and a wine and chocolate pairing. I could have spent a week here alone!
      We then drove on through some beautiful farmlands to Mossel Bay, the start of the Garden Route. In Mossel Bay we saw some dramatic coastal scenery and rock dassies (like big guinea pigs- the closest living relative to the elephant!), had some braai (South African barbeque) on the coast, and saw some dolphins in the sea.
      Next we headed along the coastal N2 towards Knysna, a scenic harbour town situated on an estuary. We took in the great views from The Heads, a pair of headlands that flanks the river mouth, and a catamaran trip to experience them from the estuary.
      Next we moved on to where I sadly had to separate ways with mum and dad at Jeffery's Bay where I stayed behind and they went off to Addo Elephant National Park for a safari. I had a great time with them and wish they could have stayed longer! 💖      Read more

    • Sophie JonesTravelerSophie's Trip
      11

      Cape Town

      March 9, 2023 in South Africa ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

      After leaving Lesotho I spent a day in the Drakensbergs which were stunning, before heading to Durban and flying straight to Cape Town.
      I had a few days spare in Cape Town which I used to chill, wandering around the different areas, getting coffee, and going to watch movies.
      Then I was lucky enough that mum & dad flew out to join me for a couple of weeks! I had 3 days in Cape Town with them where we went on a bus and harbour boat tour, did a walking tour of some of the historical areas in the CBD, visited the District 6 museum about the forceful relocation of a community of people based on race, visited the colourful and historic Bo Kaap area, visited Robben Island where Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners were imprisoned, and went up table mountain.      Read more

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