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African Adventure

September 2019 - March 2020
Overlanding from Nairobi to Namibia Read more
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  • True North TravelsAfrican Adventure
    Day 71

    Dar Es Salaam

    November 25, 2019 in Tanzania ⋅ ☁️ 32 °C

    To the Capital! We get a bus from Moshi all the way down to Dar Es Salaam without any issues. We arrive in the late evening and head to our accomodation- the Slow Leopard in the upmarket district of Oyster Bay. When we get there, it's busy with revellers, making a strange change from the sleepy backpacker places we've experienced for much of our trip.

    The dorm room is nice and air-conditioned, but the pod system means that we can't hang up mosquito nets. This is a problem, as there are many mosquitos. We're awaken during the night by Martyn shouting "FUCKERS" as he smashes the walls of his pod in a futile attempt to reduce the size of the room's mosquito population.

    We spend the next couple of days wandering around the city. We start with a walking tour, which consists of a presidential compound that we're allowed nowhere near, a fish market that's so smelly we dare not venture near, and a branch of the Hilton which is the only place we can find with air-conditioning. It turns out that Dar is incredibly hot- maybe too hot? So we spend a lot of time indoors cooling off. After some disappointing cocktails at the hotel, we find an Indian restaurant which is incredible (we will end up coming back here a lot).

    That night, we head out on the town with some of the other guests from the hostel, ending up at a terrible nightclub that refuses to play Parte After Parte.    Read more

  • True North TravelsAfrican Adventure
    Day 74

    Zanzibar

    November 28, 2019 in Tanzania ⋅ ☁️ 5 °C

    We're off to Zanzibar today, which we are pumped about. Just the name Zanzibar sounds so exotic, one of those places that seems unreachable when you're a kid.

    To get there, we need to take a ferry from Dar. Just getting the tickets is a bit of an adventure, as the ferry terminal is full of touts and scammers. There is one specific office for the Ferry company, but everyone outside tells you that they will sell you tickets. We almost get caught out- we are led into what looks like a proper office- it has computers and a card machine and official-looking signs. We clock onto the scam when we're asked for our passports. We had left them at the hotel and tell them as such. They say that actually, it's not a problem, we don't need passports after all. Laura read about this scam in the guidebook, and drags us out of the shop. We decide to play it safe and book online.

    The next morning, we head to the terminal to pay for and collect our tickets. We're quite hungover after a night on the town, and we rudely wave away all the touts. Feeling decidedly un-British, we collect the tickets from the office, which has no computers, doesn't take card, and makes the scammers look incredibly sophisticated.

    We arrive into Zanzibar mid-Afternoon, and head for Paje, a strip of beach on the eastern side of the island. Unfortunately, the miles of pure white sand we were promised have been taken over by masses of seaweed, rotting in the hot sun. We opt to have cocktails in a beach front bar instead, and talk football with the bar staff. They tell us that there are two big teams in Tanzania- Simba Sports Club and Young Africans. If you're a Man United fan, you're a Simba fan, and if you're a Liverpool fan, you're with the Young Africans. From that moment, we are die hard Young Africans.

    The next couple of days are spent snorkelling and relaxing on the beach. We move to a different resort further north for a change of scenery. It's a little bit more expensive- around $35 per night, but we have a beach to ourselves. It's a nice treat.

    One morning, we head out on the reef at low tide. Dodging sea urchins, we look for starfish, sea sponges and other weird marine life. It's a little disconcerting how our guide just picks up the creatures and hauls them out of the water. At one point, a man dressed as a Maasai Tribesman (Zanzibar locals call them Fake Maasai) is holding about 10 starfish, stacked one on top of the other.

    Next, we head to Stone Town, the capital of Zanzibar and birthplace of Freddie Mercury (there's a pub quiz question for ya!). It's an incredible place, with winding alleys leading to markets and cafes. We spend time getting lost among the souks, mosques and forts.

    There's a dark history to the town- it was one of the most important locations in the Eastern slave trade. Slaves would be brought here from all over Africa before being sent to the Arab world. This continued long after the Atlantic slave-trade had been abolished, and there is evidence that slaves were still brought here at the start of the 20th Century.    Read more

  • True North TravelsAfrican Adventure
    Day 78

    Mafia Island

    December 2, 2019 in Tanzania ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    We've been really excited about Mafia Island for a while now, and today, as a little belated birthday treat for Chris, we're heading there.

    To reach the island from Dar Es Salaam there are two options. First, you can catch a bus to a small village a few hours south, then a boat across the ocean. Or, there’s a 30-minute flight. Now, our first instinct was to go with the boat, as we had planned not to fly anywhere in Africa. However, the stories were heard about the boat were more than enough to put us off. People told us of delays and engine problems, of being stuck out in the ocean, of not having any safety measures, of being crammed into a tiny wooden boat with too few lifejackets. Et cetera, et cetera. We decided to take the flight, despite it being more expensive. It was Chris' birthday after all, and not dying at the bottom of the ocean would be his birthday present.

    The flight is an experience in and of itself. We board a tiny plane, reminiscent of a minibus with wings, and Katie is invited to sit in the co-pilots seat. The plane was “open-plan”, meaning that the passengers aren’t separated from the captain and our new co-pilot. After the pilot delivers a short safety demonstration, he turns to Katie, points at the console and says “don’t touch that”. Chris notices Katie’s face being decorated by a look that screamed “now that you’ve told me that I can’t touch anything, I definitely want to touch it”. Luckily, the precious controls remained untouched by Katie’s inexperienced flying hands, and we land safely.

    When we arrive at Afro Beach Bungalows- the premier spot to swim with Whale Sharks- we’re upgraded from our usual camping to a thatched bungalow. Nice. Or maybe not, as during the night, our room is invaded by massive flying cockroaches. We can hear them first, click-clacking their way through the thatched walls, before they drop down with a surprising thud, and make a bee-line straight for our mosquito net. They’re dropping out of the walls and coming into our mosquito net (it’s one of those pointless nets that has an opening at the side), and no matter how many we manage to flick out the door with a flip-flop, they keep coming. We opt resume our camping life, and get in our tent.

    The next morning, we’re off out with the sharks. As usual, we’re told by the crew that sightings aren’t guaranteed, but it’s a good time of year to spot them, as they’re migrating south to escape the northern winter. As we head out to sea, we’re given our briefing. If we see a shark, we should stay in the boat, and one of the crew will lower themselves into the water. If they determine that it’s safe to swim, only then should we enter the water.

    At this point, the excitement is mixed in with fear. Is it dangerous? Could these animals, which can grow up to 18 metres, pose a threat to us tiny humans? We don’t get much time to think dwell on it, as we quickly see a whale shark. The crew shout- with what I would call reckless abandon- “there’s a shark, quickly, jump in!” Without further ado, we’re plunging into the water, in the midst of a quite a few sharks.

    It’s an unparalleled rush. Here we are in the ocean, completely out of our element, swimming around with these huge creatures. Our guide directs us to areas where the sharks will pass by, and we get within metres of them. We’re careful not to make contact, as our touch can wipe of precious mucus from the bodies of the sharks, exposing them to infection. This can be a little tricky, as the Whale Sharks are curious creatures that swim right up to us.

    Another obstacle comes in the form of a blanket of jellyfish, floating just below the surface of the water. Thousands of egg-sized jellies wash over us, bouncing off our faces, falling into our hands and brushing against every inch of our bodies. Luckily, they don’t sting. But it is, frankly, a gross sensation. Larger, more dangerous jellyfish lurk in the depths, but fortunately they are easily avoided.

    At one point, our guide makes a slight misjudgement on the trajectory of a particularly large shark. We end up separated from him by a few metres of open ocean, and the shark turns towards us. It’s heading directly towards us, its huge gaping mouth threatening to suck Chris up. He frantically tries to push Katie out of the way, but that's met with shouts of “I can’t see! I can’t see!”. The shark is swimming closer and closer, and with a last gasp of strength Chris pushes Katie aside and it glides just past us. The guide checks to see if we’re ok, and we just about manage a thumbs-up.    Read more

  • True North TravelsAfrican Adventure
    Day 85

    TAZARA Pt. 1: Booking a Ticket

    December 9, 2019 in Tanzania ⋅ ☁️ 31 °C

    We're crossing from East to Southern Africa today- from Tanzania to Zambia- on one long train journey: The TAZARA Express.

    We've been excited about this for a while, since it's featured in lists of the "best train journeys in the world". It's seems the best way to cross the 2,000 kilometres from Dar Es Salaam to Lusaka.

    So we were disappointed when we failed to get a ticket. When we were back on Mafia Island, we called up the train company to book tickets, and we were told that it books out months in advance, and the only tickets available were for the hard wooden seats. For a 48 hour train ride. The booking agent admitted that those seats probably weren't for us.

    Having to rethink our plans, we booked an expensive flight from Dar to Harare with Air Zimbabwe, and decided to do Zim before Zam. On the way to get the plane, we call up the airport to ask which terminal we need to go to. "What does it say on the ticket?" they ask. "It doesn't", we respond. "Which flight is it?" "The 10pm to Harare," we say. "Well then it's terminal 3" comes the terse response.

    When we reach terminal 3, we're told that the flight has been cancelled, having never left Zimbabwe. We're not quite sure why we weren't told that over the phone. In any case, we're told to come back the following day, and we're given a number to call for updates. The next day, we hang around the hostel until evening, debating whether to head to the airport. Eventually, just before it's time to leave, we get a text: "The flight has been cancelled again". We would later find out that the plane would never depart- though they kept advertising it. We feel bad for the guy who flew from the Comoros and got stranded in Tanzania, being repeatedly told to come back the next day, just for the flight to be cancelled again.

    At a loss for what to do, we decide to take another punt at the train, and ask around the hostel. We're encouraged to go to station to ask again, so sure enough, the next day we head over, not exactly full of confidence.

    At the train station, a huge building on the outskirts of the city, we're told that, in actual fact, there's plenty of room in first class. We end up getting an entire compartment for a fraction of the price of the flight.

    It would be months before we receive a refund from Air Zimbabwe.    Read more

  • True North TravelsAfrican Adventure
    Day 86

    TAZARA Pt. 2: The "Express"

    December 10, 2019 in Zambia ⋅ 🌧 19 °C

    And so, after much faffing about, we board the train, ready for this 48 hour, 2000 kilometre epic train ride through the heart of Africa. We settle down in our private compartment, and we're soon introduced to our attendant, who services the first class carriages. The meal service is detailed to us. We have the choice of chicken, beef, or fish, and so we opt for a nice chicken lunch, which is pretty tasty. We would end up having for almost every other meal on the journey, completely grinding down our vegetarianism.

    In the evening, we head down to the bar cart, grab some beers, and chat to a pair of Japanese travellers. One of them had been to the same hostel at Lake Bunyonyi and had ordered the infamous Pad Thai. So distressed was she by the quality of it that she went into the kitchen and taught the chefs how to cook it properly.

    At random points through the night, and the following days, the train stops for extended periods. Sometimes these will be at stations, sometimes in the middle of the wilderness, for no obvious reason.

    After a day and a half, in the dead of night, we reach the Zambian border. The customs guards come in and issue our visas. After that, a money changer comes in to change our money. We had tried to change in Dar Es Salaam, but nowhere dealt in Zambian Kwacha, so this guy is our only hope, and he knows it. His rate is eye-wateringly bad, so we just change the bare minimum to afford the last few train drinks and meals.

    After 48 hours, the train still hasn't arrived, and we're starting to get a bit restless. Not only that, but Katie is starting to get a bit sick. Fortunately, the compartment next to us is occupied by a Zambian doctor, and she advises us to go to hospital when we arrive. Fortunately, it doesn't turn out to be anything too serious.

    As the journey stretches endlessly onward, the bar starts running out of cold drinks, then we start running out of water. The taps turn off. At one point, someone starts banging on the door of our carriage's toilet, telling the occupier to stop using the water for bathing. Sure enough, we find out that someone has used all the water, which is also used to flush the squat toilet. Tempers are starting to fray.

    Very early the next morning, a full 63 hours after we had left Dar Es Salaam, we reach our destination- New Kapiri Mposhi. Which is not Lusaka. We have to then split a taxi to take us the remaining 200 kilometres to Lusaka. Three hours later, after a mammoth journey across Africa, we've arrived. It's been exhausting, but an adventure in itself. We've crossed 2,000 km across this continent, and we're ready to start exploring southern Africa.    Read more

  • True North TravelsAfrican Adventure
    Day 94

    Victoria Falls

    December 18, 2019 in Zimbabwe ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C

    Chris' family has arrived into Victoria Falls, ahead of our tour around Botswana and a tiny bit of Namibia.

    Today, we head to the Falls themselves. When Chris' parents, David and Clare, were here 30 years ago, there was little tourist infrastructure. You could just walk right up the Falls, with no barriers or anything.

    Things are different now. Nowadays, you have to pay USD35 to get near the waterfall, which just seems outrageously expensive for a natural wonder. We pay up though, since it would be silly not to see the big waterfall if you're in Vic Falls.

    Ahead of us in the queue for the tickets, an elderly American traveller is trying to work out the payment system. Since Zimbabwe doesn't have a currency that foreigners can use, most transactions are made in US Dollars. But! The ticket office won't give change. The man therefore has to barter for his ticket. After a lot of back-and-forth, the guy pays for his ticket with a mixture of USD and Botswana Pula. He also gets 3 bottles of Coca Cola in place of change.

    In truth, we were a little nervous about the state of Victoria Falls. The media in the UK had reported that there was no water, that the falls were dry. BBC news footage showed videos of the waterfalls with zero water running over it. On the way across to the falls from the Zambian side, we saw rivers that were bone-dry. Had we come all this way, and paid 35 bucks each, to see bare rock faces?

    We needn't have worried. The falls were thundering. The cascade was so intense that at one point we sheltered behind a rock, thinking it was raining. We hid for a good few minutes before we ventured out and realised it was just the spray from the falls. The sheer power of the water is unfathomable- and this was the dry season.

    Most of the fences stopping you from dropping into the Falls are just prickly thorn branches, twisted into the shape of a fence. At one section, however, there is no fence, and it's possible to lean out over the edge and look into the raging water below. It's a rush.

    The next day, we decided to drop into the Falls. To do so, we signed up for the Gorge Swing- a cross between a bungee and a giant swing set. There's a terrifying 70m drop into the falls, before you're caught by the swing and thrown across the river. It is pure adrenaline, and the views from the bottom of the swing are outstanding.    Read more

  • True North TravelsAfrican Adventure
    Day 95

    Elephant Sands

    December 19, 2019 in Botswana ⋅ ☀️ 34 °C

    It's the first day of our organised tour through Botswana. We're in a minibus with six others, who are great fun. The tour leader, a young guy from near Johannesburg, is not so much fun. Katie distrusts him straight away, whilst Chris tries to give him the benefit of the doubt. In time, Katie's instincts would prove true. But more on that later.

    Today, we're heading out of Zimbabwe to a lodge in Botswana called Elephant Sands. It's an incredible place: it is built around a watering hole, where herds of elephants come to drink. A small series of spikes separates them from the bar area, but the rest of the property is spread about, with no barriers to stop the lumbering giants from walking where they please. It means that sometimes, you're forced to stop and give way to a 6 ton elephant.

    The rooms have lots of windows, and are designed so that the bathrooms look out across the grazing area. Chris was able to do a number 2 whilst watching an elephant a few metres away.

    To be honest, it's quite refreshing to be able to stay in nice places and rooms like this. If we were still on our backpacking budget, we probably wouldn't have come to a place like this, and we would have missed out on this incredible opportunity.

    With that though, we go to sleep, drifting off to the sound of giant footsteps outside.    Read more

  • True North TravelsAfrican Adventure
    Day 98

    Okavango Delta Makoros

    December 22, 2019 in Botswana ⋅ ⛅ 34 °C

    Another day another safari. This time we're guided through the Okavango Delta on makoros- traditional canoes. They're sort of a African gondola, with the guide pushing the boat along using a long pole. They don't sing in a stereo typically Italian manner, though.

    The delta is a huge wetland area home to a huge array of wildlife. As we glide along the still waters, we spot hippos bobbing just above the water, silently gazing at us. At one point, the guides worry that we are getting too close to the huge beasts and steer the boats to a shallower part, where we seem to float on the reeds. It must take a huge amount of strength to push us across it.

    We navigate our way through the small channels of the delta, formed by the hippos pushing through the reeds to make little roads. Arriving at a large island in the delta, we have a spot of brunch, before setting out on a game walk. Since it is wet season, the animals have plenty of hiding spots in and amongst the bushes, so we don't see a lot of game. It is pretty exciting, though, to be walking in the wild African bush, home to cheetahs and lions and all manner of wild beasts. Our guide points out lion tracks in the sand, but by the time Chris (at the back of the line) reaches them, they look more like adidas tracks.

    As we make our way back to the boats, the guides suddenly change direction and decide to take a shortcut, through some bushes. Because the bush can be home to dangerous animals, one of the guides goes in first, and disappears into the foliage, reappearing a few moments later to give the all clear. I really have no idea what an unarmed guide would do if he found a lion.

    We go through into a small clearing, and the ground start shaking. We stop, as the bush starts to sway and a low rumble turns into a thunderous racket. A herd of buffalo is stampeding just metres away, separated by an impenetrable line of trees. It's pretty frightening, especially as we been told before that the buffalo are the most dangerous safari animal. Luckily, they charge off in the other direction and we're able to make our way out of the bush unscathed.    Read more

  • True North TravelsAfrican Adventure
    Day 99

    Ngepi Camp

    December 23, 2019 in Namibia ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

    Today we’re leaving Botswana for a brief visit to Namibia.

    To get there, we have to get back on the ferry to cross the Okavango delta again. We are expecting a much shorter queue than before, and our hubris is punished by a huge queue, and a ferry that breaks down after a couple of crossings. The main ferry is replaced by a tiny boat, which can only carry two cars at a time. The crossings take over 40 minutes, and there at least 30 cars in the queue, so this will take a while. When we realise that this will make us miss our only proper day in Namibia, we decide to cross the ferry on foot, and have our amazingly patient driver wait in the queue and follow us later.

    After crossing the delta (passing a solitary hippo), we grab taxis to the border, where a 4x4 picks us up to take us to Ngepi Camp. This is an incredible place, sprawled out along the river. We are staying in little treehouses, built directly on the banks of the river. They have no walls, and everything is completely open plan- the only thing separating us from the hippos and crocs is a mosquito net, and there is nothing to separate them from the toilet...

    The camp has an amazing swimming pool, which is just a cage built into the croc- and hippo-infested river. Whilst we are swimming, we spot hippos a couple of hundred metres upstream. I can’t think of anywhere else in the world like it.

    After a few beers (and a terrible shot) in the lively bar, we head back in the pitch dark to our treehouse. As we approach, we hear a large rustling in the bush directly next to us- almost certainly a hippo- and, hearts in mouths, we scramble into bed. After an nervous (but in a fun way!) night’s sleep, we awake early to the sound of a crocodile splashing it’s way into the river a few feet away from us. Being in bed, it’s a comfortable way to experience heart-pounding terror.    Read more

  • True North TravelsAfrican Adventure
    Day 101

    Christmas in Chobe

    December 25, 2019 in Botswana ⋅ ☀️ 35 °C

    Santa Clause has come to Botswana, and his first gift is an early wake-up, so that we can catch a morning game drive in Chobe National Park, one of the jewels in the African Safari crown.

    We catch some good animal sightings here: early on, a hippo crosses in front of our vehicle on it’s way down into the river. We see some adorable newborn baby baboons (babyoons?); some giraffe with distinctive, darker spots, and finally, as we are leaving the park, a female lion lazing in the bush. No matter how many lions we see, there’s still the undeniable thrill of seeing one of the world’s deadliest predators up close and personal.

    After the safari, we hang out at the lodge until it is time to go on a sunset boat safari on the Chobe river. We see a good number of Elephants (I refuse to call them Ellies) crossing the water, we see crocodiles basking on the water’s edge, and we accidentally slam into a hippo, which causes our large boat to lurch violently. As the captain nonchalantly leaves without checking on the health of the hippo, we hope for the best.

    After a traditional African Christmas dinner of pizzas and schitnzels, our tour leader (a white South African) launches into a highly awkward drunken rant about how there is a white genocide in South Africa, that all black South Africans are lazy and that Malawians are preferred as they work hard for cheaper, and that Nelson Mandela was nothing but a terrorist. It makes us extremely uncomfortable, but what can we say? We can’t call him out on his incredibly racist views, as he’s still our tour leader for another day, and we need him to escort us back. However, given how drunk he seems, he probably didn’t remember it. We make our excuses and head to bed.    Read more

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