Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe

A land that is portrayed bad in the media, has some of the best game parks, sites, and people in the world

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The Black Rhino

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What can I say about Zimbabwe!!!!  It has just about everything you can ask for in a country that is given a negative portrayal in the media.  Let’s forget that they had the second biggest hyperinflation in history just 8 years ago and their president is not exactly the most liked person.  Let’s forget that prices are somewhat expensive compared to other African countries as they use the US Dollar.  Lets also forget that they had an unfortunate incident with a certain Lion that was killed which was not covered correctly by the press.  Let’s just focus on how much this country has to offer in all the different regions.

First of all, Victoria Falls is one of the natural wonders of the world and is split by the Zambia and Zimbabwe side.  With just a few accommodations and restaurants in this little town, it almost feels like you are right at home staying here.  With so many activities here, you can spend a life time and still not get the full effect.  Different things to do are High Tea English style at the ever so quaint Victoria Falls Hotel, a helicopter ride over Victoria Falls, a sunset cruise down the river with many different game animals, and the ever so famous extreme activities (I only did the flying fox across the gorge as my fear of heights led me to cancel the gorge swing and also the zipline).

Victoria Falls High Tea

Extreme Activities (which i chickened out on the last two)

Helicopter ride over Victoria Falls

Sunset Cruise with Animal Safari

 

Bulawayo was next up as I saw this town which was a blast from the past (looked something like 1960’s small town America).  I really did not spend much time in town at all in the city as my main focus here was to see the Black Rhino staying in its natural habitat. THIS IS ONE OF THE ONLY PLACES IN THE WORLD THAT YOU CAN STILL DO A WALKING SAFARI!!!!!  Of course, this was also the final resting place of Cecil Rhodes who helped to colonize parts of Africa and Rhodesia is named after him. To my luck we actually got about 5 meters from 3 Black Rhinos and were able to take pictures of them for a long while before they scampered off.  We also got to see some petroglyphs that some people think are thousands of years old and tells about how life was with the Khoi people of the area long ago…

Walking Black Rhino Safari

 Next up was probably one of the highlights of the trip for me as we stayed at Antelope Park.  Started in the mid 80’s it was home to many Antelope, now it is a Lion Release program for all of the lions in the area.  Many of the farmers here will shoot the lions as they threaten their livestock, but through efforts of this organization, they are able to save them then release them into an area in order to help the species.  They had different programs including the Lion Feeding, Elephant Encounter, Lion Cages, Lion Walking, Lion Cub Viewing, and of course Horseback riding across the game park.  This place was truly and amazing experience and one of my favorite campsites across Africa.

Elephant Encounter


Lion Cub Viewing

Safari Horseback Ride

Lion Enclosure

Lion Walking

Lion Feeding

We then made our way down to one of the southern most parts of Zimbabwe to see The Great Zimbabwe.  This is a structure perhaps a thousand years old that is one of the best preserved signs of Civilizations in Sub Sahara Africa.  I have taught this before in my classes and it was truly an amazing experience to see.  This was only shadowed by the band of monkeys that invaded our camp trying to get food and harass us.

 

We then headed to a National Park called Chimanimani.  This park located in the Zimbabwean Highlands was once a favorite vacation spot for people back in the hay day.  The town now has very little tourism as they are trying to recover from the financial crisis that looms.  I did a hike to the Bridal Veil Falls to see this great natural wonder before heading off to lunch in a traditional village and finally to see a traditional Medicine Man who told us about his remedies from tree bark and roots found in the area….

Stayed in Harare for about five days sorting out visas was a fun time.  Met some great people around the city and did not take too many pictures as it is a capital city and I am not a big fan of any capital city…….and the adventure continues….

Botswana

Botswana

The land of Hippos, Giraffes, Ostriches, and Elephants

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Botswana certainly lived up to its reputation of having good game parks.  The country is sparsely populated like that of neighboring Namibia, but what it lacks in people, it makes up in amazing scenery and wildlife.

I have always wanted to go to the Okavango Delta since I was a kid and saw pictures of it.  As you know most Deltas empty out into a sea or ocean, but the Okavango Delta empties out into into the Kalahari Desert and pretty much disappears.

I decided the best option to see this was do a three day bush camp right in the middle of one of the islands on the delta.  Of course to get here, you have to spend an hour on Mokoro’s (floating canoes), through endless fresh waterways and vegetation.

 

My experience at the Okavango Delta was nothing more than fascinating.  It was an easy three days of laying around camp and reading or talking and taking safari walks across the delta.  We were able to get close enough to animals without being in a vehicle and see how they help each other watch for predators around.  We were warned at night to be careful if we left our tent in case lions or hyenas decided to come to our camp with gave an added thrill to the experience in knowing that we were among all the animals.  Six of our group members actually got chased by an angry elephant and had to run for their lives from it.  The best experience about the delta was of course getting close to the hippos (about 100 meters), which was too close for comfort for some of the people in our group as they are known for having very short tempers when provoked.  The rest of the pictures below will speak wonders about what we saw

 

Chobe National Park was a great surprise for wildlife also.  Chobe River which straddles Zimbabwe, Namibia, Zambia, and Botswana is the only place in the world where four countries meet.  The cruise we took down the river proved to be a great way to see wildlife and how they use the river for their daily lives.  We were able to see crocodiles, hippos, and elephants just to name a few.  The pictures below will give an up close and personal view of the journey we took.

 

Overall Botswana was a beautiful country with massive amounts of wildlife running everywhere (not just in national parks).  This is a country that I would surely recommend to anyone who wants a great shot of seeing wildlife…..

 

Namibia

Namibia

The land of vast deserts, stunning scenery, game meat, and the best town in Africa (Swakopmund)

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I would rank Namibia up there with Madagascar and Iceland for scenery.  I have heard so much about it in the past but I was excited to witness it for myself.  We entered Namibia from Angola and we were very surprised to see how advanced many of the BIGGER towns and cities were.

We stopped in Etosha National Park (two times) and this was the first shower that many of us had at the campsite in 28 days!!!!  The animals were out in numbers from Giraffes, Wildebeests, Rhinos, Zebras and Elephants just to name a few.  We even got a look at two lionesses that were happily resting under a tree.  This place was teeming with so many animals, we didn’t know what to do with ourselves.  It is truly one of the best National Parks thus far I have encountered.

As we headed south, we went along with Skeleton Coast, with its vast desert and almost unbearable wind and cold, it practically made everyone put on all their cold weather gear in preparation for the drive.

Cape Cross was a place where explorers landed hundreds of years ago, however today it is home to one of the biggest seal colonies in Africa.  I have seen seal colonies before but when you see thousands of them in one place barking and waddling around, you come to appreciate the area in which they live.  Many of them you can get really close to as they rarely jump or move away.

Situated  in the middle of the desert, Spitzkopp had some of the oldest cave paintings in Namibia done by bushmen.  The height of the mountain just jutting out of the desert amazes even me.  We spent a good night relaxing under the mountain where our tents were perched.

Sossusuvlei  in my opinion is one of the modern wonders of the physical world.  Red Sand dunes brilliantly line the desert.  The sunrise after a walk up to one of the dunes was beautiful especially with the fluffy clouds.  Although I did not walk up the highest sand dune in the world, I decided to take my time in photographing Dedvlei which used to be a lake hundreds of years ago, but is now just a petrified type forest.  I would love to say that I photo edited these photos, but I did not.  The white clouds, green trees, red sand, and blue sky always look this way…..take a look at the pictures to see for yourself

Swakopmund is one of those cities I could probably go back to time and time again.  It is literally a diamond in the rough and the center of all extreme sport activities in Namibia.  The dunes that surround it begged me to go sand boarding, which I did and crashed several times.  The relaxing feel of the city with its serene nightlife, game meats, and many restaurants, caused me to go back a second time…..

Second time in Swakopmund let me relax the feeling of the town, and get some shopping in.  Hanging around at Beryl’s restaurant by day and Desert Tavern by night.  I also decided to partake in a small cruise of seal and dolphin watching which we loved….Swakopmund you are officially my favorite city in Africa!!!!

Taking different excursions around Swakopmund, I decided to do a Seal and Dolphin Excursion.  It was very difficult to see the dolphins, however the seals and massive pelicans came on board in order to see what food we had.  The pictures are worth a thousand words on here.

Went on a beautiful township tour and saw how most of these people really live.  Again, even though they have very little, they are all very happy.  The highlight of this was probably the school with children (see pics below).

We had the opportunity to go to a Cheetah farm in which there are tame and wild Cheetahs.  A family a number of years ago started taking in Cheetahs from nearby farms as farmers were killing them because of dangers to their livestock.  Watching the Cheetahs being fed and how they ate was an experience that I soon won’t forget.

From there we headed to the beautiful city of Windhoek which was the first real modern city we had scene since Morocco.  Walking around it made me realize that for the last four months, we really had been in the wild west part of Africa and now we are slowly getting back into civilization.

We then headed onto Orange River for some great Kayaking down the river and in preparation for meeting our border crossing into South Africa….

South Africa

South Africa

Please click here for Return to South Africa Winter of 2016-2017

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The African land of Milk and Honey

After traveling through some of the craziest parts of Africa over the last five months, South Africa seemed like such a long time away, and finally we got in here.

One of the most developed countries in Africa that has seen its share of struggles, this country pretty much has it all-hospitality, bars, restaurants, nightlife, small villages, beautiful mountains, rolling hills, a lovely coastline etc etc etc.

We first stopped into a Winery stuck in the highlands in the North and stayed here for two nights while we enjoyed the different varieties of wine they had as well as the lush landscape…

The coastline was wonderful as first we went to the Cape Agulhas where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet…

Then it was time for a bucket list activity which was Cage Diving with Great White Sharks in Hermanus…..this was a lovely town that had a small type feel to it with many things to do in the vicinity….

Coming into Capetown we ran across a colony of penguins that were not afraid of humans and even posed for pictures it seemed sometime.

THEN CAPETOWN, this is where many people who I have been with for five months would get off and a few more would get on…..but I walked around this beautiful city and ate some of the best food and sampled some of the best wine I ever have….Will I be back again…..HELL YEA

Angola and Cabinda

Angola and Cabinda

One of the most scenic countries I have seen, and just 16 years removed from Civil War…

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MIRADOR DA LUA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cabinda

Cabinda is technically apart of Angola, but is separated from the rest of Angola by a narrow strip of land of DRC.(SEE MAP BELOW)

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GREEN-CONGO RED-CABINDA BLUE-DRC PURPLE-ANGOLA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Consisting mostly of tropical rain forests, this republic or enclave has some of the largest off field oil reserves in the world.  It accounts for perhaps about 60 percent of Angola’s oil production but is also one of the poorest areas.  After Portuguese rule, it was given to Angola, but many of the people consider it an independent country as a lot of guerrilla activity takes place (although we saw none and people remained very nice).

 

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Angola

This country has had its share of problems since the Portuguese gave it up some years ago.  Most of the Portuguese who lived there after it came under Communist rule with help from Cuba, left the country which accounted for most of its skilled workforce and thus plunging their economy into bankruptcy.

The Land

This is probably some of the most beautiful lands I have seen.  From Tropical Rain Forests in Cabinda, to jungles,to a desert landscape, this country has it all.  The sky was always beautiful and the beauty of the trees and the land will always stay etched in my mind.  The highlight was camping below the Christo Rei statue over looking one of the cities.  The capital of Luanda has a very western feel to it and is also getting very expensive.  But just look at the different landscapes below and you will agree that it is a country of natural beauty!!!  If you don’t believe me, just look for yourself below:

The People

With being able to communicate with a lot of the people and seeing how happy they were, I really enjoyed talking to them and meeting them.  Most of them spoke Portuguese but easily understood by me because of Spanish, helped me communicate and learn about them.  They all loved their pictures being taken and even would do some poses.  The kids were always extremely friendly and loved to chat and know about us. The way the people dressed here was beautiful and always had a lot of color.  A lot of the kids wore colored ribbons in their hair which looked lovely. The gallery below will show you all….

Democratic Republic of Congo

DRC

  People are welcoming and friendly to all outsiders, despite the bad press

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A quick four night jaunt through the DRC was something that I was always looking forward too.  We did not hit any major towns and stayed pretty close to the ocean as we made our way on muddy red dirt roads (which is the main road running through the country).  We had to put up several times with rigs stuck in the mud, which delayed our journey sometimes.

It was a country full of friendly people always willing to help you out.  The scenery was beautiful as it was situated right in the tropics.  Humidity and Heat were always at an all time high.  Rain was almost evident pretty much every single afternoon.

It is a shame that DRC gets so much bad press as all the problems they have in the country.  But with many of the people wanting to make a change, I for see a great future for this country.  As we left this country, we were sad that we could not see more, but there is always time for that in the future…..

Congo

Congo
Digging the truck out of mud to the rich city of Point-Noire
Congo has always fascinated many people from the stories you hear on TV to the Michael Crichton bestselling book “Congo.”
I can tell say that the little time we spent here was worth it!!! Crossing over from Gabon we stayed at the border crossing station over night. In the morning we continued through checkpoints until we hit a fork in the road as the National Guard told us to take this road as it is the best. Long story short is we got stuck for seven hours in the mud and it took a total effort to get the truck out…SEE PICTURES BELOW

The rest of the time was spent doing bush camps and waking up early in order to avoid dubious checkpoints that tried to get money out of people. The people in the small villages were very friendly and let us fill up our water cans with their water.

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In the end we crossed into the second biggest city of Point-Noire which was unbearably hot and humid. I spent my day there walking around the city of oil expats photographing everything I could as my grandma and grandpa spent time there in the 60’s and 70’s.  Great Place with great people and now onto the next place…

Gabon

Gabon
The story of Rain along the Equator and Bush Camps with stunning scenery….

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As we have gotten pretty lucky on our trip with rain so far, it seems that it all decided to come down in one fail swoop while we were in Gabon.
Gabon a country in Africa with enormous wealth and a small population seemed to be the most green of the countries we have been too thus far. I would definitely rank it up there in one of the most scenic countries with rolling hilly jungles and endless rivers as far as the eyes can see
We entered from Cameroon and it was decided that we would not be going to any big cities along the way as we were going to stick to the small roads and small villages.
Our goal (which we didn’t know if we would accomplish because of rain) was Lope National Park. Fortunately we made it to Lope, despite stopping on a dirt road because of heavy rain along the way.

 

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Rain at Bush Camp

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We arrived to Lope with hopes of seeing different types of animals such as Buffalo, Mandrills, Elephants and Chimps. In reality we saw a few herds of Buffalo, some monkeys in a distance, and Elephants as it got too dark. It seems like the trackers for the animals were not out that day to track the animals. We actually saw more monkeys along the road to Lope than we saw in Lope.
Overall Gabon despite all the rain, (5 of 6 days), it taught us to always be prepared. Lighting fires was a different story……and onto Congo….

Cameroon

Cameroon
Country 100, hiking Mt. Cameroon, and the humidity of the tropics strikes many times
Going into Cameroon I did not know what to expect. I have heard about the humidity and of course Mt. Cameroon which is the tallest peak in Western Africa. Being this was my 100th Country, I decided to shake it up by upgrading and also doing Mt. Cameroon!!!
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Coming into Cameroon from Nigeria we were automatically struck with a wave of humidity and heat. Sometimes reaching 95 degrees with 100 percent humidity. Sleeping in tents, this was not an ideal condition for anyone, but we survived. Getting into the coast, the humidity and heat got worse with very little breeze, so I decided to upgrade to a hotel room for the duration of my stay in Limbe.
Hiking Mt. Cameroon was something I have always wanted to do and nothing was going to stop me. Little did I know, most of the mountain had no paths and jagged rock is what you walked on (straight up, and strait down, as level areas do not exist). It was a hard journey of 6 hours the first day, then staying at a camp halfway up the mountain where it got very windy and a little cold at night. Then the next day hiked all the way to the peak then back down, which a few days later, people were still walking slow.
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The Pygmy Village we went to visit was fascinating as we saw this group of people dancing and talked to the chief. We basically learned that they are still hunters and gatherers and deny any government help whatsoever. Fascinating to see how their village works!!!!

The people of Cameroon are very friendly in the English speaking parts, but as we moved into the French speaking parts, we found them very cranky (could be again because of the heat or we did not speak French). But overall the people are friendly, welcoming and always ready to help with whatever you need!!!!

 

Nigeria

Nigeria

The friendliest people (and chimps and drill monkeys) coupled with a million roadblocks

In the news, we always hear a lot of negative things about Nigeria because of extremist groups that are in the country. Often times we base what we see on the news as fact about the country. Imagine if everyone in the world based what they saw on TV about the US as truth and happening all the time. They would probably think that we are crazy with shootings in schools all the time.

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SEVEN PEOPLE ON MOTORBIKE!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let me start off by saying that this is probably one of the most friendly countries that I have ever been too in my life with everyone trying to help you and show you around and making jokes (easy when they speak English). Even the police and military had time to make jokes and talk to us to ask us how we were doing.

 

Of course you have your scams that people in villages try to do, such as the tax for the roads (which were not good), but the driver would just mess with them for a while at the roadblock then get out of it. The roadblocks are set up with legit people and people just trying to make a dime. The most times we got stopped in a day was 19 (which made me feel safe for security purposes).   But it was always fun talking to the officers and them making jokes and asking what they always do “WHAT DO YOU HAVE FOR ME?”

We were initially expected to bush camp for much of the time we were there, but with lack of bush camps and safety concerns, we were put up in different small hotels (some worse than our tents), but it made it all the more fun in getting to know locals. Most of the hotels consisted of nothing more than a bed, a bucket with a tap to wash yourself and have put together toilets (this is why I prefer the bush more). But I did and everyone enjoyed our time at the hotels and getting to know people around and having beers with them.

 

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Chimp at Drill Ranch

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the highlights of Nigeria besides the people was the Drill Ranch where they take Drill Monkeys and Chimpanzees that have been pets of people and try to rehabilitate them back in the wild. It was started by an American Couple some Twenty Eight ago and it is way up in the forest near Afi Mountain with hardly any roads to get there. Our whole group enjoyed our time going around there with people putting donations to help keep the ranch going and volunteers coming in and out over the last twenty some odd years. They also have another outlet in Calabar Nigeria and another in Limbe, Cameroon,  in which they get the primates ready to head up to the Drill Ranch in the mountains….See the pictures for yourself:

 

Benin

Benin
The Birthplace of the REAL VOODOO
It seems that even though Benin’s size (about the size of Ohio) is smaller than the rest of its neighbors, it holds more interesting sites that many countries that surround it.
The evidence of the French, Portuguese, Dutch and English colonial empires is still seen in many cities and towns along the south.
Voodoo was born here many years ago and spread to the Americas with the shipping of slaves over the Atlantic. I had a chance to visit a voodoo village to see some of the shrines they have built which was amazing. Hollywood has done a good job at damaging how people view voodoo and it is nothing more than praying to gods like most religions do (with the performing of more rituals.

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Catholicism makes up around 30 percent of the population with Islam making up another 20 percent, and voodoo and/or animism finally making up about 50 percent. Even though the monotheistic religions follow their own rituals, many of them incorporate forms of voodoo into their everyday lives.
I had the chance to do the slavery walk which is when colonizers took the many slaves to the ports to be hauled off to different parts of the New World. Along the way, there were many statues of different animals and people that have some significance of the native people.

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Lastly seen in a few parts of the country are the stilt villages in which people live and work above the water, mostly doing fishing. This was the highlight of the country for me as we got to see how people function in everyday life. Interesting to see all in a square kilometer was a church, a mosque, and a voodoo shrine…..Why was it interesting? Shows how different people can all get along in a small community and there is no fighting over religion or beliefs….

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Togo

Togo
A small country with a big heart and the running Naked Man

Togo was a stop we made in order to get a visa and in turn wait for the visa. The country is very small and we entered it from Ghana and made our way south to the Coast.

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We skipped staying in the capital Lome, because of how hectic and hot it was and instead stayed right on the hot and humid beach at a small campground overlooking the Ocean.
Going into Lome only one time to see what the hype was, you can run into very persistent people, trying to take you to the fetish market(for voodoo rituals) where you can find anything from chimp heads, to dried snakes, to skins of different animals. I declined to go as I had already seen one in Mali and the smell in the sun was something out of a dump.
We bush camped one night at a waterfall and got to walk up to it one morning in order to see it. To me, this was the highlight of the country as I enjoy going out into nature and walking and staying in small towns (not big cities).
In an interesting note, it seems that man African cities/villages will have what they call a town idiot who seems to be the person who is always naked. I witnessed my first one in Togo and will continue to look out for them running in the streets or just sitting around naked waving at people enjoying the hot damp climate…..
Most of the time was spent sitting around the beach camp reading, writing and going through pictures as we prepared to enter neighboring Benin……

Ghana

Ghana

God, Jesus, Gold, English, wildlife, and the land of funny signs

PLEASE SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM AFTER THE WRITING TO SEE MORE PICTURES

This was the first country on our trip in which the local populace spoke English, which was easier for us to communicate.  The rest of the countries thus far on our trip had been part of the former French West Africa Colony, but Ghana seemed a lot different as we passed onto here from the Ivory Coast.

As you will see from the photographs, every shop has something to do with Jesus or God and all of us found it quite funny, so I decided to get as many pictures of this as I could!!!!!  The Ghanaians are extremely friendly people and ever so pious in their worship of Christianity….

Trying to find places to bush camp were very difficult, so the first night out, we stayed at a chicken and pig farm on some peoples property and they welcomed us with open arms.  It seems that this place reminds me of the Bible Belt in the United States with churches on just about every single corner.

The highlight of Ghana was probably Mole National Park (not Accra or Kumasi), as we were able to see warthogs, African Elephants, annoying baboons, crocodiles, and kob antelopes to name a few.

We went down to Kumasi as a few of us visited the Military museum which showed the glory of the Gold Coast Regiment of the British Army.  Many of them went to fight during WW2 against the Italians and also Japanese.

Some time was spent relaxing at a beach side campsite called Big Millys.  This is located about 45 minutes of of Accra in Kokrobite, but everyone I talked to in Accra knew about it as it is a popular place to hang out, get food and have a drink.

Other time instead of going to Cape Coast with the slave forts (I will kick myself in the leg later for not doing this), I stayed with a friend I taught with in Cairo Tom Mischler and he showed me around the school where he works and we got caught up talking about everything.

As the weather gets humid and more hot, I can only expect what we will run into next as we leave Ghana…..

Ivory Coast

Ivory Coast

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A quick trip through a country with one of the largest churches in the world
With the border being closed between Guinea and Ivory Coast, we were not able to enter on that side, so we had to go back up through Guinea to Mali and enter Ivory Coast from that border.

 
I was impressed with this country as this was the first country we had been too that actually started to have a lot of churches. The people were very friendly everywhere and their local dress mirrored that of the neighboring countries of Mali and Guinea.

 
The highlight of this fast jaunt through this country was of course the Basilica Notre Dame de la Paix which the president built in the 80’s to pay tribute to Catholicism. At the behest of Pope John Paul, he did not make it as high as St. Peters in Vatican but with the addition of the Gold Cross on the top, making it one of the tallest churches in the world.

 
The president moved the capital from Abidjan to Yamoussoukro as this is the area he was from. The roads here are the best we have seen forever as this capital (without any embassies are all are located in Abidjan) has a six lane highway that pretty much leads to nowhere……..as we drove down this road, we knew we were getting closer and closer to Ghana which would end the first part of our trip……

Mali

Mali

A country plagued by violence that is pretty tame

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Coming into Bamako (the capital of Mali), we had already been bush camping pretty much without a shower (except a waterfall shower and bucket shower in Guinea) for about 18 days.

No one knew what to expect going in there as we had heard reports about violence (In the northern part of the country) in the month leading up to us entering there.

I guess when the news reports something of an isolated incident, everyone gets scared. I can tell you that this country was friendly as any place could be. The people were dressed very colorful and welcomed us with open arms.

We stayed four days at a campsite called (insert Sleeping Camel), which is the longest time we had stayed at any one place since our trip began. It was nice to just relax for a few days and see what the city had to offer.

A great tour guide to show you around this city of Bamako that is still expanding their tourism is Seck Bolo:  His contact information is the following:

 Fluent in both English and French. Email Address is Seckbolo@yahoo.fr. Website is Trek.dogom.free.com. Cell is 75309507 or international (00223)75309507

The country is predominately Muslim; however it seems that most of the people are very liberal as most of them drink alcohol and party pretty hard as seen by their nightlife. A good amount of the population is rather poor with more than 90 percent of the country living in the southern fertile part vs. the arid desert like northern part (which coincidentally where Timbuktu is which we were unable to visit because of constant fights among extremists.

Leaving Mali we headed East toward some more bush camps and into the great wide open of the Ivory Coast……

Guinea

Guinea
Now we are definitely into the wild west of Africa!!!!!

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We were not supposed to go into Guinea for the part of the trip, but there was a problem with terrorism going into Mali (but because of border closures we came into Mali anyway).
Coming in from Senegal we were greeted in a very welcome way at the border as it took very little time as we had our visas. Our goal was to travel all the way down the country to hit the Ivory Coast border and also see the very famous chimpanzees.
As we rolled across the border, we noticed an environment among others that was more relaxed than that of our predecessor countries. The people were very colorful in their clothes (like that of Senegal) except they were very friendly……
The tarmac roads in Guinea are few are far between, sometimes you will run into a good highway and other times miles and miles of red dirt roads that suffocate us as other cars or trucks would pass us and made anywhere wearing a white shirt into a crimson red color. In one part they had not completed the highway so we had to take a small make shift ferry in order to cross the small part of the river.
The kids looked like the poorest in the world, but also the happiest, as we passed by or parked our truck, we would always have a plethora of little and big kids following or gathered around our truck waiting to get their first glimpse of foreigners.
We celebrated Christmas and New Years in bush camps along way. Christmas ( which I do not celebrate was done at a small National Park with waterfalls in which we had our first bath in days albeit the cold water. After leaving our Waterfall area, we had a broken spring on the truck which took four hours of fixing by our driver with a few of us pitching in help. New Years was spent at a small quarry bush camp in which some people partied into the wee hours of the night with a contingency of countdowns going on.
It seemed everywhere we camped, we had locals that would pass by for their daily wanderings and come and look at us cooking with amazement. One time we had to set up at a soccer pitch with a mass of locals watching the kids play a soccer game. I take it they had never seen four guys cooking food for the whole camp before.
The memory I will take away from this country is the happiness and friendliness of all the people despite not having much money at all. In one town, we ran into a kid who spoke almost perfect English from Sierra Leone. The boy had to come live with his brother because his parents had died. The boy could not afford to go to school, but he was the happiest kid I have ever seen in my life. I gave him a pair of my old shoes to take and do with them as he pleases. Perhaps he will wear them, or perhaps he will sell them off to help feed his family. Perhaps I will never know, but to see the smile on his humble face made me realize one thing: US AS FIRST WORLD CITIZENS HAVE A LOT TO BE THANKFUL FOR AS THE STUFF WE TAKE FOR GRANTED CAN BE USED FOR STRUGGLING PEOPLE ACROSS THE WORLD….

The highlight came on the eastern part of Guinea where we got to do Chimpanzee trekking.  They Chimps are not used to humans at all, so they kept a good distance from us up in the trees.  It was a hard trek but seeing the chimps in their natural environment was great…

Senegal

SENEGAL

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Starting to be the real Africa?
The Africa that we know seems to be coming alive as we reach into Senegal. As we cross the border from Mauritania, things seem to be a bit livelier. About 10 kilometers before the border we noticed a big change in vegetation for the greener.
We stayed in a make shift hotel on the border and decided to hit the border the next morning. As we got up in the morning, we packed up and waited at the border. The border was riddled with trucks and people from all walks of life, as we passed on the small ferry; we noticed a shift in the mood of people.

We got to the border on the other side of the river and were ushered away from what seemed to be the Customs to a small restaurant/bar. After exchanging money, I had a beer at this café that seemed to double as a prostitute place and then scurried on out to meet the bus and the plethora of kids around there.
As we drove down the highway (note that highways now are sometimes tarmac and sometimes dirt), we got into St. Louis, which was one of the first French colonies in Africa and one of the oldest. We ended up staying at a place called Zebra Bar which was in the local national park.
Going back to St. Louis, I noticed how much the city had deteriorated which swamps of trash everywhere, in the middle of market places. The streets were bustling and someone was always willing to give you a Bon Jour!!!!
The people were still very friendly and were always willing to talk and share any information they had. Even if they did not speak English, they made an honest attempt to help and communicate with you…
I went on an excursion to see some birds and beautiful beaches one morning and that was a relief to escape the campground and the bustling city life. The quiet countryside reminded me of our bush camps while traveling through the Western Sahara with very little noise or pollution.
We spent two more days driving east and stayed at bush camps until we entered into what I have deemed as the wild west of Western Africa GUINEA…and the ROAD GOES ON….

Mauritania

 

Where Africa starts to divide-North from Sub Sahara

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Driving across the border to Western Sahara, we get to “NO MANS LAND”, which is in fact a barren wasteland with broken down cars between the two borders. We spent some time at the border to get our visas and then headed to the town of Nouadibou.

Here we stayed in a campsite in the middle of the city and went about and walked around the city a bit and talked to the locals who vs. the people in Morocco were extremely friendly and not looking to make money off of you. All they wanted to do is speak English and understand why you came to their country.

We then headed to the desert at a National Park for three days in which we did a bush camp. Dirt, dirt and more dirt was all we saw for three days. We stayed in different bush camps by usually large sand dunes or near Savannah like Acacia Trees in order to collect firewood. On the very last night we rode along the beach during low tide in order to find a camp ground, in which we camped by the sea and listened to the waves as they rocked us to sleep.

The next two nights we spent in the capital in Nouakchott, which I was not impressed with unlike Nouadibou. The city seemed to be overcrowded and very dirty. People were always trying to hound you for changing money and cared not to talk to you. It seemed more like a Morocco type environment to me. I did get to go into some shops and talk to some of the people to buy some food for the cooking events. I noticed a slight up on price for simple vegetables as most of it is imported from Morocco. It seemed like the favorite thing that everyone bought was Chicken imported from America…Go Figure!!!!

As we approached the Senegalese border, we knew that we had to camp near the border as the ferry over to Senegal stopped running that night….so another bush camp in a hotel parking lot and we were off to Senegal the next morning……

 

Morocco

Morocco

Medinas, Mazes, Mud, Visa Waits, Bush Camps, and the Absence of Technology….

Morocco seems to always be the hottest tourist destination for just about any person that travels to the North African Countries.  From the combination of the vast treeless deserts, to the rugged Riff and Atlas Mountains, to the densely forested areas surrounding Rabat , to the beautiful seaside towns of the Atlantic Coastline, this country pretty much has anything for any type of person.

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In the major cities, the maze of medinas will keep you busy for hours on end as people wander through the streets in amazement with tightly packed food and souvenir stalls. There is something for every person from all walks of life to be found in these places.

We ended up going to Chefchauan, Fes, Vollobulus (Roman Ruins), Rabat, Casablanca, Marrakesh, Ait Benhaddou ( where many Hollywood Films like Alexander, The Living Daylights, Prince of Persia, Time Bandits, The Jewel of the Nile, Mummy, Gladiator, Kingdom of Heaven, Prince of Persia, and Babel were filmed), we then ventured into Todra Gorge followed by the majestic seaside town of Essaouira.

Along the way we slept in very cold and windy weather, some days were even rainy and cold while we bush camped. Cooking our own breakfasts, lunch and dinners, we ate an assortment of food ranging from soups, stews, stir fry, burgers, veggie sandwiches, veggie scrambles, and sausages just to name a few. We always cooked over and open fire so collecting firewood and getting a good fire started was essential to eating and heating up water to cook. It takes a total team effort of all 21 people in order to make this work!!!

I was very impressed with the Moroccan food and the way they cooked things!!!! I fell in love with Fes and the rolling Medina all along the city. Marrakesh which is a famous tourist destination for all people failed to impress me as it reminds me of a scaled down version of Istanbul with people annoying tourists and wanting money for the simplest things like taking pictures. Casablanca once portrayed in a popular Hollywood film, is nothing more than an overpopulated city with condos and hotels lining the streets….

Todra Gorge with its endless rugged rust colored mountains remains as one of the most picturesque sites in Morocco. Seeing how the Berber people live and how simple they enjoy their life is probably one of the most important lessons I have learned thus far, which makes me wonder in amazement. Essaouira with its beautiful medina and rugged coastline is a popular tourist attraction and the seafood will not disappoint. Cat Stevens even resides there for most of the year as he is their most popular resident.

So now I ponder some questions that I always have when I travel.   After camping (either bush camp or campgrounds) and interacting and seeing how the people in rural parts of Morocco live, I wonder…

  • To what extent do people need material things in order to be happy?
  • Is the simple way of life a better way of life for all humanity?
  • Why do us from first world countries yearn to have all material items (myself included)?
  • How would a more simple way of life change the world for the better or worse?
  • How does the absence of technology change the way people interact with each other?

As the trip continues hopefully all of us on this expedition can try to understand these questions and share with other people……

As the expedition continues to parts unknown we hope to get more insights into life and the way people live and function…..

 

Life around Camp

Life around Campsites and Bush Camping

How does cooking, cleaning, and being around a fire, bring people together?

With the rapid takeoff the last 15 years of internet and mobile phones, we have lost the time honored tradition of speaking to each other when we eat.

With a lot of families this was a time where everyone got together and discussed the current days events and happenings.

Being around a campfire while cooking meals and enjoying beers on this trip aims to do just that.

We are divided into cooking groups of 3-4 people, given a budget, going to a local market and purchasing foods to cook for that lunch, evening, and breakfast. Communicating is essential in cooking as many people have their own ways of doing things.

While the cook groups cook, people enjoying anything from tea, coffee, beer, wine or spirts while sharing stories around the fire usually about traveling around the world or talking about the many walks of life we all come from.

The campfire is the source of life for people on this trip….As the fire dies each night, so do the stories people share as they slowly move to their tents in anticipation for the next days events…..and then more stories to follow……