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December 18, 2005

The Namib Desert

The thing that Namibia is perhpas best known for is its huge sand dunes and vast deserts. I could not possibly have gone to Namibia and missed the desert which is how I found myself climbing a sand dune in...

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Posted by Jillian at 02:55 AM | Read Comments (1)
December 13, 2005

Etosha, The Great White Place

Having seen the wildlife of the sand dunes, gone sandboarding down them (on one you can reach speeds of us to 80km/h), and quad biking up the sides of them, it was time to see something a little different for...

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Posted by Jillian at 09:00 AM | Read Comments (0)
December 11, 2005

Transparent Geckos and Other Cool Critters

After the safari in Kruger and a few days hanging around Pretoria I treated myself and flew over to Windhoek, Namibia. Windhoek isn't all that exciting of a place so I soon went to Swakopmund, on the coast of Namibia....

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Posted by Jillian at 03:37 AM | Read Comments (0)
December 04, 2005

Kruger

After island hopping in Vilankulo it was time to leave Mozambique and head back into South Africa. I went to Pretoria, where I met up with David, a British rock-climber that I had met in Cape Town, to go on...

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Posted by Jillian at 04:03 AM | Read Comments (1)
December 02, 2005

Island Hopping

From Tofo, I headed up to another beach town, Vilankulo, with Anna and Maria, to women I had met in Tofo. After a couple of fairly lazy days Anna, Maria, Alex and Kieran (who had by now caught up with...

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Posted by Jillian at 05:00 AM | Read Comments (0)
November 29, 2005

Tofo, Mozambique

Mozambique is only a few hours mini-bus ride away from Swaziland, so I figured that I might as well go there for a week or so. I'm not much of a beach person and beaches are Mozambique's main attraction, so...

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Posted by Jillian at 10:57 AM | Read Comments (0)
November 27, 2005

Swaziquad

The best day I had in Swaziland was the day that I went quad biking. I went with three women from my hostel, Gwen, Doreen, and Diane. Our guide, Richard, picked us up around 8:30 in the morning and we...

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Posted by Jillian at 08:32 AM | Read Comments (1)
November 26, 2005

The Golden Lion Film Festival

One of the things I love about independent long term travel is the flexibility it gives you. You can completely change your plans on a whim. When I was at the internet cafe back in Cape Town researching information to...

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Posted by Jillian at 06:43 AM | Read Comments (0)
November 24, 2005

St. Lucia

One of the towns I was most looking forward to visiting in South Africa was St. Lucia. St. Lucia has 5 different ecosystems and is thus know for its biodiversity. I unfortunately had only about two days to explore, but...

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Posted by Jillian at 02:07 PM | Read Comments (0)
November 20, 2005

Coffee Bay

From Nature's Valley I travelled onto a town called Coffee Bay where I did yet more hiking, this time with a guide and five other travellers. The hike was along the coast over springy grass-covered rolling green hills. The hills...

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Posted by Jillian at 04:10 AM | Read Comments (1)
November 19, 2005

Hiking in Nature's Valley and Hogsback

Many of you have written to me and mentioned that you are behind in reading my blog and are trying to catch up. What I have never mentioned to you is that no matter how far behind you may be...

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Posted by Jillian at 03:47 AM | Read Comments (0)
October 15, 2005

Adventures in Oudtshoorn

After getting in three weeks of relaxation in Cape Town it was once again time to hit the road. My first stop heading northeast along the southern coast of South Africa was an interesting town called Oudtshoorn. The Cango Caves...

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Posted by Jillian at 05:20 AM | Read Comments (2)
October 06, 2005

Cape Town

After I left Zimbabwe, I headed into Botswana. My plan was to visit the Makgadikgadi Pans and then the Okavango Delta before heading into Namibia. This didn't quite work out. When I got to Botswana I was just really tired...

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Posted by Jillian at 06:39 AM | Read Comments (2)
September 16, 2005

The Problems of Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe has gotten a lot of bad press lately which gives people the impression that it is a dangerous country (not true) run by a crazy leader (true) where all the people are starving (no more than their neighbors) and...

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Posted by Jillian at 06:45 AM | Read Comments (0)
September 13, 2005

Visiting Isabel

A few years ago I started sponsoring two children who live in Africa: Chantal in Rwanda and Isabel in Zimbabwe. Given the political situation in those two countries, I wasn't sure that I wanted to go visit them, but eventually...

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Posted by Jillian at 06:32 AM | Read Comments (2)
September 04, 2005

Livingstone

Livingstone is a nice, small city in Zambia really close to Zimbabwe, Botswana, and Victoria Falls. It is ideally set up for parting backpackers and other travellers from their hard-earned money. I was there for almost a week. Here is...

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Posted by Jillian at 11:39 AM | Read Comments (1)
August 26, 2005

A Day by the River

As I mentioned in my entry about South Luangua Park, I spent one day just sitting by the river, watching what happened. While I was watching I took notes on it all -- way too many to type them all...

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Posted by Jillian at 09:47 AM | Read Comments (1)
August 19, 2005

The Elephants Don't Want Me to Eat

I recently spent about a week at a Flatdogs Camp, just out of South Luangua National Park in Zambia. It was amazing. I stayed in a safari tent which was, by my current standards, incredibly luxurious. I had my own...

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Posted by Jillian at 05:07 AM | Read Comments (0)
August 12, 2005

Its a Small World (Blantyre and Beyond)

After a lovely (but rather un-noteworthy) hike in Zomba, I travelled to Blantyre, which is Malawi's largest city. (Not, however, the capital city, which is Lilongwe.) I was going to be spending a few days in Blantyre and then Lilongwe...

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Posted by Jillian at 05:50 AM | Read Comments (0)
July 28, 2005

The Night Bus: From Nkhata Bay to Zomba

From Nkhata Bay, my next stop was the town of Zomba, in the south of Malawi to do some hiking. From reading my guidebook and talking to people it seemed that the best way to get there was to take...

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Posted by Jillian at 04:27 AM | Read Comments (0)

Lake Malawi

I finally managed to reach Malawi on July 6, after travelling from Rwanda, through Uganda, and across Tanzania. The day's travel was pretty uneventful: it just took four minibuses, a sharetaxi, a private taxi and a little bit of walking...

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Posted by Jillian at 04:03 AM | Read Comments (2)
Latest Comments
Jim L.: Congrats on being the first to reach the banana pe... [read]

Mom: Absolutely awesome photos. Thanks to you and Dere... [read]

Mom: Somehow I can't imagine you on a quad bike. but..... [read]

Jen: Wow. I am shocked, SHOCKED that you have now trave... [read]

Retha: Dear Jill, I'm really glad that you seem to be en... [read]

Mom: Dear Jill, We've retold your snake story a couple... [read]

Grandpa: Good decision,Have no regrets!Things are the same... [read]

Mom: Jill, as much as we wanted you to come home in ear... [read]

Brother Dave: I'm glad you stayed in Africa a bit longer so that... [read]

Maris Dursin: Jill, I've just finished reading about your ... [read]



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