The Adventures of Jim & Rhonda

Hi folks, So sorry it’s been such a long time since the last blog!! We’ve been covering THOUSANDS of kilometers and seeing so much stuff it’s mindblowing! We’re doing great and are currently in Swakopmund, Namibia on the Atlantic coast. I’m going to do a couple of blogs from here and hopefully get things up to current by South Africa!

The Ngongoro Crater is absolutely amazing! We camped for 1night near the crater rim and had some great local entertainment from one of the tribes. Dancing, singing, and acrobatics..very cool and the boys who did the gymnastic moves were amazing. If they lived in the States they’d be part of Cirque du Soleil! On the way to that campspot we stopped for some shopping and Jim and I , of course, had to buy some things. It’s fantastic to have a place to store things on the truck without having to worry about carrying them on our back! Jim bought a masai drum and shield and I got a gorgeous wooden bowl. Beautiful stuff although I must say the cowhide that makes up the drum and shield definitely has an odor about it!

In the morning we headed out around 6:30am for the crater. The road leading in is in very poor condition and with all of the recent rain was huge vats of mud. We had a 4wheel drive, which is essential, and passed about 6 trucks and cars that were stuck. The crater itself is huge, 19km across it encomposses a very large area. The game viewing was great and we were blessed with near perfect weather. We saw our first black rhino (the white rhinos are the more common) , hundreds of zebra, wildebeest, some jackals, elephants, buffalo, etc. and then, the highlight of the day….a huge male lion literally lying right on the edge of the road. We parked about 4feet from him and he was nice enough to even get up and pose for some photos! He was absolutely gorgeous with a huge, luxurious mane of hair..just amazing.

That afternoon we headed back to Arusha for 1 night and then had to endure 2 long days of driving to get to Dar es Salaam on the coast. Our first night at Tembo (meaning elephant in Swahili) Jim and I once again upgraded because it was pouring down rain and the thought of putting up a tent was not appealing! That stop was just overnight but it was beautiful scenery along the way. Tanzania is still in rainy season (as you guessed!) and everything is lush and green. We passed near Kilimanjaro again but never did see it as it’s been clouded in.

The next day we arrived in Dar es Salaam, the large port town on the Indian Ocean. Dar itself didn’t look great and officially has the worst road we’ve been on this entire trip running through town. However, we arrived at our campsite and were thrilled! The sun was shining, the campground is on the beach, and we could upgrade to a beach bungalow for only $8/night!! woo hoo. They were tiny, bathrooms were still with everyone else..but for 2 nights it was lovely to be able to fall asleep to the sounds of the ocean rather than being back behind the main buildings in the camping area! I know, I know, for a “camping” tour we’ve been doing a lot of upgrading but hey, it was worth it!

Our time in Dar was just spent doing laundry, lying on the beach and in the bar, and swimming. The water is gorgeous and warm and everyone was enjoying days of no rain! On day 3 we packed up to head to the spice island of Zanzibar for 4 nights and, as soon as we started walking to the ferry with our packs the rain arrived again! ugh. The ferry crossing was uneventful except for the fact that they played the worst movie any of us had EVER seen..but, no worries it was at least over quickly!

Upon arrival in Stone Town the sun greeted us and we could see what an amazing town we had come upon. We had 1 night here and then were heading up north to the beach for 3 nights. After lunch and check in Jim and I and Julie & Darian, another couple from the tour, headed out to walk around and take photos. The town has a labrynith of streets and fantastic buildings. It was originally used as a slave trading headquarters for the Middle East and many of those buildings still remain.

At sunset we met up with the rest of the crowd at Africa House hotel (gorgeous!) and bar to have a sundowner and then headed to the night fish market for dinner. It was great fun, just 1 street full of fresh fish that you could get grilled up but most of us tried out the “Zanzibar pizza”. Not really like a pizza at all, it was dough and fillings but was enclosed like a calzone and deep fried. Delicious! Two pizzas each and a coke set us back $3! We then headed to Mercurys for a drink. It’s a restaurant dedicated to Freddy Mercury, who was born on Zanzibar (who knew??). Bedtime pretty early after a truly great day.

The next morning we headed out for our StoneTown and spice tour on the way North. We got to visit some of the old slave buildings in town and then went to a spice farm to see the actual plants that make up the spices we all use. Jim and I had done similiar tours in Bali and India but it’s still interesting. Our beach hotel was not quite what we had hoped for. Originally we thought everyone got their own accomodations on Zanzibar but then our guide Rene said due to high season she had booked us all in this particular one. We figured, ok, $50/night is a bit less than the places we’d looked at so we went with it.

The first room they gave us was gorgeous, however WAY back from the beach. So, we asked for one of the beach rooms (where some of the group had rooms) and were told we could have one the next day. Fair enough, we moved the next day to one of the beach rooms… which were not nearly as nice but were at least right on the beach. What we didn’t like about the place was the location. When we’d been looking at properties we’d found some only a few miles outside of Stone Town but still on the beach. This property was near a village but it was a $30USD taxi ride there and there was nothing actually to see once you got there. And, being in a remote spot there were only 3 other restaurant choices within walking distance…1, at a French owned hotel had only fixed prize menus starting at $60pp and the other 2 were exactly like our hotel, basically. There was also very little to do except a snorkel tour. We all ended up being a bit bored just hanging out which was too bad. Zanzibar is a gorgeous, gorgeous island with amazing turquoise water and it’s just great…but the property had no palapas or beach chairs and with no where to really walk to or anything it just wasn’t quite what everyone had hoped for. 1 couple went back to Dar  1 day early and 1 woman went back to Stone Town for 1 night and I’m thinking we should have done either of those 2 options. But, it was at least nice to be in 1 spot for 3 nights!

Our ferry back to Dar had a much better movie playing but was really rough. We were fine but, unfortunately, a few people spent the 2hrs throwing up. Not nice! Back in Dar we were at the same beach bungalow for 1 more night and had a great time there, by the end of the night we were all a bit tipsy (ok, drunk!) and all jumped in the pool with our clothes on! Good times in Tanzania!

The next morning we were off for a long drive to Malawi. As I mentioned we have covered thousands of kilometers on this trip which is not great but….the only way to truly see things right? We crossed over the border (no visa fee this time thank goodness!) into Malawi and spent the night at a fantastic camp called Old CountryInn. It was set up in the hills and had some really unique architecture to the buildings. Jim and I upgraded again (I know, we’re a bit spoiled) to a very cute room with actual curtains on the windows, a chair and flowers! Dinner was put on by the camp and was one of the best meals we’d had since we’ve been in Africa. Spinach soup and actual good bread to start, a very tasty beef stew and sauteed vegies over rice and brownies and hot chocolate with Amarula for desert. So good! Too bad we were only there 1 night and then yet another long drive to get to Lake Malawi.

That is it for now. I’ll try to get the Malawi and Zambia blog info up to date tomorrow before we head back to the wilds of Namibia. We’ll be home before you know it but for now we are absolutely still Living the Dream in Africa! Love you all, Jim & Rhonda