Where the hell is Chris?
A mate and I try to go from Cairo to Cape Town in 3 months without any planes.
That’s right, the blog is being updated once again. This particular update has been waiting to be posted for a year at least and is full of photos, as befits yet another full day of safari.
The management apologizes in advance for the poor quality of the words, however, and assures the readership that the writer and producer responsible have both been sacked.
Trigger warning: this post has some of the more aggressive wildlife of Africa in it, including a few fascinating and somewhat mortifying pictures of their victims. I’ll warn you when the more graphic photos are coming up.
I know, I know… it’s been a long time since the last Africa update. We had just finished up in Malawi, and headed south to Zambia for some sweet safari action. Spoilers: it turns out you take a lot of photos on a safari.
Sometimes, nothing goes wrong for a little while and you simply have amazing times with awesome people. This is that post. I promise it will be back to regularly scheduled misadventure soon, but first:
Weary from 13 hours of travel in 5 different vehicles and nothing to eat, we arrived in Nkhata Bay to pizza and a puppy.
The train we took from Tabora across Tanzania to Dar es Salaam was of the old 1950s rolling stock, and not in the best of shape. But at least it got us there safely and reasonably on time! We figured that this time we were getting the 1970s cars, and that we’d arrive in Mbeya at a thoroughly safe time of day.
We were wrong on both counts.
When we last left our heroes, they had just made landfall on the Tanzanian island of Zanzibar in the Indian Ocean. What magical sights await? What shrieking animal will disturb the night air?
Which recurring characters will buy the first round of tequila shots?
The main reason we went to Tabora in western Tanzania is to catch the train there to Dar es Salaam on the east coast. We didn’t have tickets yet, as you can’t book remotely. If they were sold out at the station, we were up shit creek without a paddle.
Official Notice: The photos in this post were edited from the back seat of a Volkswagen in sunny South Africa. The management apologizes for any noticeable deterioration in quality.
How do you make important decisions when you get to a new city? Your happiness, safety and account balance are at stake: flip a coin!
If you’re going to travel from Alexandria to Cape Town overland, you’ll of course want to get wet in the Mediterranean, Indian and Atlantic (not to mention the Nile). So when you get to a beach town in Kenya, it’s time to check off the Indian Ocean!
In a charming little bay here, there were kids climbing on a neat little rock island out in the water. But… the swim was way too far. Something didn’t add up. Continue reading “On schoolchildren and other wildlife”
Getting into Kenya was surprisingly easy. Once across the border, we wanted a quick, short ride to a stop like Archers Post or Isiolo, but it wasn’t to be. All the buses from the border left together at 1500 and it seemed like a waste of a travel day not to go as far as we could. “Fuck it”, I imagine one of us said, “let’s take the overnight bus straight to Nairobi.”