Category: Africa

On The Move

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Sitting still doesn’t come naturally to me.  After a day of relaxing on a beach, my feet start twitching, and I’m ready to get up and start exploring.

All the travelling to reach new destinations can sometimes take it’s toll.  I don’t even want to think about the ludicrous amount of hours I’ve spent waiting at airports or train stations; the number of times I’ve rushed in a panic to catch a flight; the amount of delays that have frustrated me, and the hours of sleep I’ve lost to jet leg; the irritation of bartering over prices for a local taxi, tuk tuk or bus; the air miles I could have earned if only I had been clever enough to sign up in the first place; and all the plane food I’ve consumed (and yes, I’m one of those rare few people who actually enjoys plane food. It’s food…what’s not to like?!).

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Letters

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Tanzania is one of the most incredible countries I’ve ever been to; not only is the wildlife and landscape amazing, but we also fell in love with the people when we did some volunteer work in Moshi.

Every afternoon we would make our way through the fields to Swiwsco Orphanage, where we helped look after the children and played with them until we were all exhausted. The boys all loved Alex, one of very few male volunteers, who played football with them and taught them some tricks.

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The time I was almost mugged in Namibia

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Namibia was the 7th country on our 4 month trip travelling across Africa and, so far, we had had the best time of our lives.

As we were coming close to the end of our overland trip, we decided to have a meal out with the tour group rather than cook food out of the truck for a change. It was after a day of skydiving so everyone’s adrenaline was pumping and we were all in high spirits as we headed off to a little Italian restaurant.

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Perspective

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Safaris are just one of the many things that Africa is known best for, and for good reason.  They are an amazing way to see the incredible wildlife up close in its natural environment, in a way that you just can’t at the zoo.  No matter how many safaris I went on in my 4 months travelling around Africa, I was always overawed every single time.

This photo of a male and female lion relaxing together was taken in Etosha National Park in Namibia.  Even though Etosha is not as well known as some of the other African national parks, it was one of our favourites as the animals were in abundance.

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A Road Trip along the Garden Route

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After 3 months doing volunteer work and travelling overland through Africa, Alex and I were thrilled to finally get some time alone at the end of the tour when we planned on hiring a car and driving up the Garden Route.  Having been on a set itinerary for the overland tour it was a huge relief to just have free time to be able to go where we wanted, when we wanted (well, as much as my plan-aholic self would allow!).

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A Warm Welcome to Uganda

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During our time gorilla trekking in Uganda we stayed in a quiet little village up in the mountains of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.  All we could see for miles around was the lush green jungle and mountains covered in a foggy mist.  It must be one of the quietest places I’ve ever been to – away from the constant hum of the big cities and towns in Uganda, no beeping horns of trucks and bikes, or the hustle and bustle of people everywhere.  It was blissful and made a nice change to the noise we had become used to in Kenya and Tanzania.

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Living with Lions

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After a short drive out of the city and into the bush in the back of a dusty truck, I found it hard to believe what I was seeing.  Inside a fenced off area a group of people were sitting on a picnic bench chatting away and…wait…what…this can’t be right…several lion cubs and two full grown cheetahs sitting within a few feet of them?  Was I seeing things?!

But no, my eyes were working perfectly fine it seemed, as we were shown to our room within the fence.  Yep, our little cabin at the lion reserve was actually inside the lion enclosure.  I knew that we would be working closely with lions – that’s what we’d signed up for when we decided to volunteer at a lion sanctuary in South Africa that looks after orphaned cubs – but this went far beyond what I could have imagined.

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Losing My Heart To Africa

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The only man I envy is the man who has not yet been to Africa – for he has so much to look forward to.” Richard Mullin

For my first post about one of my adventures, the only thing that I could possibly talk about is somewhere that is very close to my heart.  In fact, it’s somewhere so close to my heart that I’m pretty sure I left it there when I returned home and it’s been calling me back ever since.

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