Africa United... - Paddy&Kavitha

Rwanda, Rwanda!

Paddy&Kavitha — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Well we left the best to second last: Rwanda.
This place has gone through a recent genocide you would not believe it. There are reminders along the way as you see the convicted and guilty work the roads and fields in their uniforms.
Don't get me wrong though, the locals don't want to ponder on 1994. They have moved on very fast and are very proud to be Rwandan. The people are so nice and friendly, the country so green and beautiful and they really need tourists to come over [OR Muzungu's as they call us], and enjoy themselves, so GET YOUR ARSES OVER HERE.
What do they offer: try this...

These endangered fella's are so cool. We also went and visited the chimps and other primates around the place. On the West coast is beautiful Lake Kivu. Sip beers there at sunset and the word 'heaven' comes to mind.

We even had a village to ourselves. The locals danced, sang and laughed with us. Most used to be poachers but now they get dosh from the likes of us... all good in the hood.

Rwanda we love you, we will be back. People spread the word... this is a jewel...

check ...
www.ecotours.com

Last chapter is Uganda...

Earplugs anyone?

Paddy&Kavitha — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

8 Countries, 11,200 Kilometres!

Paddy&Kavitha — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

We spent Christmas Eve in a Snake Park in Tanzania. Christmas Morning we packed up our tents for the last time. We waved to Maasai tribes and crossed into Kenya before lunch.

A piss stop on route to Kenya was so hot when I walked out: there was an old man cycling up hill in this sweltering heat. Crazy to think we'd be in 4 degrees Dublin later on that day.

We packed our gear; wooden hippos and all and sat down to a small Christmas dinner [no Turkey] with the remainder of our group. A few Kenyan beers later we were off.
We're so close to the equator here.. We'd have to come back to cross it in 2009!

First stop London to Dublin. We drove through modern Nairobi and said farewell to Africa for a while.
The Mulligans were waiting!!!!!!!!

Serengeti & Ngorogoro Crater

Paddy&Kavitha — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Animals heaven.

The herds of buffalo, zebra and wilderbeest were all settled on the Tanzanian side. One day on a game drive we witnessed a cheetah mother kill a reedbok [deer] and her and her 4 kids eat it in front of us for hour and a half. All this I caught on video!!

We saw lionesses sleeping in trees which is unique to these parts. The herds just dotted the flat landscapes and the sounds of wildlife just blew us away.
On Christmas Eve we entered the Crater to witness a lioness fighting off 3 hyena and jackals to finish off her wilderbeest breakfast.

Two giant male Lions came along and she ran off.

We came across another pride and their cubs sheltering from the sun in the long grass. On the side of the dirt road lay a half eaten buffalo. Two lionesses sheltered in the shade of our 4x4! My hand was inches from here fly infested fur. Christmas and we spent it with Lions.

Truely an amazing experience. Great to know that these animals will not be effected by the litter and destruction of their human neighbours.
Santa Claus didn't need to visit here.. but he would have loved it.

Tanzania : Stone Town battles; Zanzibar paradise

Paddy&Kavitha — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Alright! We entered Tanzania to discover Irish had to pay $100 for a visa. Doubin the price of other nations. I tried to discover why and later in the week I saw Kerry Gold - perhaps Cheese and Butter in the supermarkets , perhaps this caused it.

This place was to be a highlight. We entered Dar es Salaam and could see poverty in our face. Dar es Salaam means 'place of Harmony' ; this is dated..trust me.

Ignoring the litter this place offered a gateway to beautiful Zanzibar. A couple interesting ferry journeys we stayed 2 nights in Stone town [the birthplace of freddie mercury] and haggled with the dodgey locals on food; drink, directions & personal space.

Where slaves were sold to Arabia in the past now left a buzzing gluttered town behind.
We left it behind and headed for Zanzibar. The waters crystal blue; the seafood delicious and the stars Bright.

Two nights here and we savoured the white sands and peace of these East African islands.

Pushing onto Christmas week we left and headed for Wildlife Heaven: Serengeti & Ngorogoro Crater!
Zanzibar deserves a 3 month visit!

Malawi - Lakes and Locals!

Paddy&Kavitha — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

We spent our days waving to the locals from the truck and sleeping under the stars by lake Malawi.

This freshwater lake takes up half the country and provides Malawi with its lifestlye. Snorkelling, swimming, drinking and chill'n was the draw of the day. We had dinner in a local village on Kande beach and danced one night away with singing children!

HIV and poverty are really evident here. We visited schools and clinics in Kande; a reality check really.

Mango season provided us with free refreshment from the heat. One afternoon of soccer with the locals was enough to see why they saw Malawi is one of the friendliest parts of Africa!

Zambia/Zimbabwe!

Paddy&Kavitha — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

With news of a cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe we settled on the Zambia side and got ready for a bit of R & R and activities:
We settled down with the locals of Livingstone and haggled on wood carvings, eat crispy chicken and drank Mosi!
We witnessed a village chiefs new wife's kitchen party on our way to bungi jump over the Zambesi river.
This is no-mans land: Not Zimbabwe, not Zambia! tied together we jumped 110 metres down! As we curled our feet over the edge, Kav screamed " I can't do it"!!!! We jumped. All good. The best adrenalin rush ever!!

Next day when we calmed down we headed over to Zimbabwe and visited a Lion park and walked with cubs and witnessed the locals walking across the border to buy their bread and meal and milk. All this with their billion dollar Zimbabwian notes.

One of the natural wonders of the world exists here in the shape of Victoria Falls! Overall [heightxwidthxdepth] it is bigger than Niagara and the views are amazing!

Back to Zambia; sunsets in a pool by the Zambesi, we got ready for our next chapter: Malawi!

Botswana: Wildlife, Wildlife!

Paddy&Kavitha — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT

We entered this place with great enthusiasm. Relatively small population this country has a huge concentration of animals in the north, this is home to the Okavango Delta!

We stocked up at Maun and headed into this Delta via mokoro The water is only a few metres deep. We are canoed in by polers through the reeds and camped in the Delta: no fences, no limits, just wild Africa!

We canoed around and saw hippo coming to their waterholes; and we had a few walks around looking for animals: unfortunately the land mammals were shy in the Delta so we decided we'd jump on a small plane and see them from the air. We rocked up and our Irish pilot flew us scarily low over this vast National Park and we saw all the Mammals in their glory, Elephant Hippo Giraffe were all visible. We got off the plane and camped overnight with the creppy crawlies of Africa

We moved on after that to see Chobe National Park We saw carcasses the river, crocs chill'n and new born impala all over the place. After an afternoon of R&R we cruised the Chobe River for one of the most spectacular sunsets of our lives. Sipping on beer you could see giraffe grazing; baboons messing, birds nesting, snakes swimming, hippos strolling and best of all Elephants crossing thee shallow waters right in front of us. This was a highlight for us. A must do for every person out there. Chobe we love

South Africa to Namibia : The Sand Country!

Paddy&Kavitha — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Our first night we stayed in a vineyard and we watched Ireland loose a miserable game of Rugby to the all blacks. Pride hurt we battled on and stayed a second night on the Nambian border. We swam across Orange River that day and set foot on Namibian soil. We quickly swam back as threats of shots from the government over diamond protection made us swim quick. Next morning we entered Namibia properly. From the largest sand Dunes in the world to cool German style towns; this place is nuts. This new country doesn't have the racial tension of Sth Africa but has the same mix of people.

We slept in the coolest of spots: deserts where beetles stand on their heads to drink the dew that drips down their bodies in the morning to foxes with ears bigger than dumbo and the cool german influenced beers and food. Not to mention the activities:
Desert walks; Dune climbing for sunset; ski diving; quad biking; camping; eating talking drinking. The excitement of the group and what was ahead was at full tilt at this stage. Nambia is a little jewel. Small population; great sites; cool landscapes and lots to do!

Sky Diving - Namibia style!

Paddy&Kavitha — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT

OMG we just jumped out of a plane at 10000 feet over the dunes of Namibia.
Mum and Dad, Pat and Paddy - i know what your thinking but it was all fine!!!
Loved it

South Africa is Huge!

Paddy&Kavitha — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Alright I won't bore you too much but we left Kruger and our plan was to get to Cape Town [on far west coast] by the 15th to start our trip.
Our trusty 4 x 4 was to become our home for the next week. To be honest you need a good 3 months to taste South Africa. We drove south to Durban [ which is dodge place but food is quality!] and stopped in a place called Ermelo! Most locals don't even know this place but we stumbled on this really arty,cool Lodge and ended up drinking the night away with the south african/Irish owner and an American dude who was working there to help get SA ready for the world cup 2010.
Hungover and late we drove to Durban and nearly ran out of petol on top of a mountain in the fog. Listening to Springbok v Wales we arrived to a place that isn't safe to walk around at night so we chilled in our hotel bar and watched rugby! In the morning we walked the beach front and ate 'bunny chow' a lamb curry in an emptied out slice pan? Kav loved it!
We drove the next few days through mountain village sin Eastern Cape [local white Sth Africans advised us not to?] it was cool. We visited Mandela's hometown saw thousands of school kids walking home after school and tried thumbing lifts. No wonder these guys are good at athletics - they walk and walk!!

6 hours of driving each day and stopping at Port St John; [cool lodge in a valley]; Chintsa [needed 3 weeks hereto enjoy beaches and the backpacker mecca that is Buccaneers] ; then to Pletenburg Bay; stopping at surf centre that is Jeffreys bay and headed via Knysna and last leg to beautiful Cape Town
We had a lot of rain ; a lot of driving and a lot of good times! In Cape town we stayed put for 3 nights and explored her lovely beaches; brilliant peninsula that is the most southern point of Africa! The Indian ocean meets the Atlantic here and so we jumped in and swam [in a cage] with GREAT WHITE SHARKS!!!!!!!!!!!

Brillaint, Brilliant, Brilliant!

Next chapter was to start our 41 day trip from Capetown to Nairobi Kenya! The night of the 14th we meet our new friends that will share this journey: 2 Irish; 2 Scots; 3 Aussies; 3 Sweds; 3 English ; 1 yank , a Kenyan Driver called Patrick and our lovely and sweet South African guide: Morinki

KRUGER!

Paddy&Kavitha — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Alright we had 4 big nights in Kruger National Park. We drove through the Jo'burg traffic and country side of northern Gauteng and arrived at a place called Crocodile bridge. We arrived to a gate that looks like Jurrasic Park entrance and we were greeted by warthog and 2 giant deer type things - Kudu. A sign said "Do not exit your vehicle"-- this was cool.
We check-in; cook Braai [bbq] and wake to our first drive through park. A hyena laugh was heard as we drove through a kind of misty; dry red and green landscape.
We managed to see giraffe on side of raod- nthen a guy with a gun brought us out over a carcass to show us hippo in a river. Over the next few days we just drive around and listen and look for animals. We see buffalo; elephant; cheetah in the distance; which was cool ; then day 2 we see 3 white rhino and come across a line of cars looking left into a tree. We join the rat race and get to see a leopard sleeping in a tree! Really hard to see these guys but earlier someone had witnessed lion stealing a kill from it in a tree. Anyway it wakes up and starts to move around tree- posing for us. It jumps off and is gone. We hang around and wait to see if he/she comes out. I see Impala walking straight into its path and we sit and wait. Sure enough they all start freaking ot and make noises and we see the leopard walking through the bush looking for dinner. Still no lion at this point we go to bed

Kruger didn't disappoint. We come across lion walking across the road in front of us. Kav jumps up the sunroof to get a picture and the lioness freaks out and threatens to jump at us!! This was brillant. Then the rest of the pride walk across and the King is the last one to follow , and he looks at us with a stare that would put fear into a rock.

Day later we witnessed a lioness hunting a warthog - national geographic eat your heart out. The warthog got away.

The camps you stay here are unreal - you all must give it a go!
We escaped and went onto look at people instead.

Starting to get excited

Paddy&Kavitha — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Adventure to discover this amazing continent.
Animals; people and places.
Wake to the sun; sleep when its dark or when tired.
No watches, no phones, no tv.
Can't wait.
Use all sides of the brain.

Holy Sht?

Paddy&Kavitha — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Alright we arrived. Got the 4x4 at airport and headed for the city. The arrows are different colours - red. Our first traffic light of the same colour - a local chic rocks up to the window with a blind dude on her arm, looking for money. I go "sorry, no, no".. and we drive on. Her smile back was brilliant. Our first encounter and no car jacking! We soon realise not to believe the hype!
We arrive to accommodation through jacaranda trees and park. Check in; head out on Soweto tour and expect to see all the shanty town sht. Don't get me wrong we do - but some of it is real nice -not seen too often on tv.
Noble peace prize street brings us to Mandela's house and Bishop tuttu's; and some other guy from 70's.
guide said there was no other city that held more than one prize like this; i stayed quiet on the Belfast thing. The stadium for 2010 world cup is being built and will be brilliant. The place is mad though - poor and dirty but full of happiness and contradiction.. on to Kruger........less politics........
-paddy-