I've always had a calling to Africa. Not necessarily in a spiritual way but I've always felt like I should be there. Doing something. I just love Africans. I love the way their face lights up when they smile or the way it naturally rests when they're thinking. They always seem so positive and don't feel the need to be always "doing". I love the way the women represent strong, independent females. I love their real woman curves. I love the way they carry huge loads on their heads while having an infant strapped to their backs.You never see the babies crying here. They're not ones to carry on, they just chill there being tied onto their Mumma's back with some cloth. I love the way men hold hands with each other in friendship, something never seen in the western world. I love their market places with the faded umbrellas, usually untastefully branded with a phone provider or Coca-Cola, over each stand of home grown goods, their produce neatly stacked in miniature towers and the rich aromas of dried fish and raw meat that accompany the experience. I love that 10 neighbouring stalls are offering the same 4 vegetables because you become more in tune with what's in season and what's regional.
And then of course there's the wildlife and the landscape. Vast open planes playing host to giant baobab trees and herds of elephant alike. This was a place I just had to discover. And it's not my first hurrah into Africa having once volunteered in Uganda with my sister Hannah when I was 20 and also venturing to Sierra Leone earlier this year for Street Child's annual marathon (which I highly urge you to do if you're looking for a marathon with purpose). So it was a place I had to discover more.
Because logistics in Africa seemed way too time consuming to figure out, it seemed easiest for me if I just jumped onto a tour and let them take me through. Obviously there's less risk of anything going wrong doing it this way and I also don't know anyone who's travelled overland across a large proportion of Africa so I didn't have anyone to ask for advice. At the TNT travel show in London I booked onto a Topdeck tour which cost me an arm and a leg but I at least got discounted to roughly £1400 for a 22 day tour which included most of my meals, accommodation and a handful of activities. Not too bad, all things considered. The tour is actually through Acacia Africa though and Topdeck just sell the places available so you might be able to get it cheaper if you look through their tours online directly. Just whatever you do, don’t pay full price as these are easily found discounted at expos and don’t allow them to book any pre-tour/post-tour accommodation on your behalf as they will charge at least double. But be warned, this kind of trip is not for the faint hearted. It's not the camping or the luxuries you'd expect to miss out on being in Africa that was the hard part. It was the hours spent on the road with determined positivity. It's very slow going. A 500km journey isn't a simple 5 hour drive, it's a slow, agonising, bumpy, dusty and hot waddle along dirt roads and potholes sometimes averaging 30km/h. We were often rising at 4am to pack up and hit the road in an attempt to avoid traffic. With the sun yet to rise for a few hours we would all attempt a moment of shut eye but the conditions often thwarted any cosy plan we had before pulling over for some road side breakfast.
This was not unexpected for me. It was for this reason exactly that I booked onto the tour. I wanted to see as much of Africa as I could in a short time frame and having someone else work out the logistics and tell me what time I needed to be up suited me just fine. Living in each others pockets like this we were very well acquainted with each other in a very short period of time. We all got to experience everyone's ugly upright sleeping on a daily basis, mouth agape, double chins and all. Toilet stops didn’t allow for much modesty, as we’d pile out of the truck to find our own patch of land and mark our territory. We quickly become comfortable with each other as we all saw each other at our worst. Between the 18 of us on board we had a solid book exchange happening in addition to German lessons and card games to pass the time. As far as campsites go, we were treated. There were always great showers and toilet facilities, occasional pools for whirlpool parties, a bar to purchase drinks from and the tents are almost as easy as pop up tents going up or down in less than 10 minutes. Individual lockers in the truck meant that you didn’t even have to unpack belongings every night, just simply take your sleeping bag and pj’s and you’re done.
Body clocks change entirely on a trip like this in the most magnificent way. I’ve never been more in tune with the sun (probably being malaria aware as well, it’s handy to pre-empt sunrise and sunsets for those nasty mosquitos). I saw more African sunrises in my few weeks there than I ever saw in Australia or England despite in England there being that window either side of winter where the sun is rising on your way to work. By 8pm the whole crew would be either in bed already or the last few would be sipping drinks around the campfire preparing to retire for the evening. I’m trying not to get too boring with the day-to-day life and activities of the past 3 weeks but read on for more details of the countries and activities that were included in the trip. I’ve tried to make it easy for a skim read as I understand that normal people have busy lives and don’t necessarily have the luxury to read all day like I do.
Tanzania
Meeting in Dar Es Salaam came with huge surprises for me. It was the first venture back into the Southern Hemisphere since leaving Australia as well as the white sand beach that reminded me so much of the familiar coastlines of home and it was completely not what I expected to find in a capital city of East Africa. Real, fine, white sand is a rare treat, I’ve come to learn, where once it was the expectation being spoilt for choice in Australia. From Dar we hit the ferry up to cross the channel and get to Zanzibar Island, a huge bucket list place for me. For the 4 days we would spend here we were treated to real beds and bedrooms, something that Will and I haven’t had much of since leaving London as the share dorms tend to offer more travel advice and experiences as well as being more affordable for our budget.
Zanzibar is a blissful blur of palm fringed beaches, winding cobbled alleyways and lush tropical forests. For the history aspect of the island, stay in Stone Town where you can do a spice tour and the slave markets museum and for the lazy beach bumbs, head north to one of the beaches where you can drink in the sights of the crystal clear waters and partake in some diving and whale spotting or visiting the sea turtle sanctuary. Zanzibar is a typical clash of cultures with its intriguing history as a major trading centre for spices. Zanzibaris have been trading with the people of the Arabian Peninsula for centuries and the Arab influence is evident in architecture and street stall offerings.
Once back on mainland, there wasn’t much in the way of big tourist attractions between Zanzibar and Lake Malawi except for long days on the road. These drives were broken up by segments spent driving through national parks where animal spotting was spreading excitement through the group like wildfire. For me, a highlight of the entire tour was doing this exactly. Herds of elephants, giraffes and zebras, buffalo and baboons. You don’t need to pay a cent to see these and it just amazed me to see these animals so casually going about their day so close to human settlement.
Malawi After a 15+ hour day on the road we entered Malawi with our sights set on Lake Malawi to spend the night. The main road in Malawi seemed to team with the entire population all walking along to their destination. There were few cars despite the road being a rare, pot hole free, treat and bush toilet stops were few and far between as a result of the masses of pedestrians always by the road. All of them would stare curiously up at our overland truck as we rumbled by and enthusiastically wave when they caught us watching them. Women side saddled behind their partners on a pushbike or carried large faggots on their heads, children ran up from their dwellings simply to stand and shout a greeting at us while waving excitedly. The joy it brought them to do this was undeniably cute. The Lake itself was a wonder. I’ve seen it on maps before and I’ve been to lakes where you can’t see the banks on any side but the one you stand on and yet I was still so unprepared for what we saw. The lake resembled the ocean in every way. The beach we stayed on could have been the coastline of any East African country, the only difference being that the water was fresh water. We hiked, we partied, we paddle boarded, we swum and we relaxed.
Malawians were humble and very poor in our sense of the word but I couldn’t help but feel that they seemed to have it figured out much better than the western world. The sense of community felt was huge, nothing went to waste and sharing was so natural. Every one knew everyone as a result. We employed many Malawians at each stop to help us cook, clean dishes and set up camp and they were so grateful for our tips and the food they received in return. I’ve never seen someone so happy to do my dishes. I loved the heart of these people so much.
Zambia Onwards to Zambia and the landscape was very similar with mud brick, thatch roofed houses but with less people teaming the roadside. The main destination was Livingstone but this took a few days on the road where we would stop to be introduced to a local delicacy, which can only simply be described as rats on a stick. Unfortunately when they came on board to offer us a taste we were all so taken aback that we quickly refused and no one bought one. I think we could have easily talked one of us in to having a treat if we weren’t so shocked at first.
We stayed in Lusaka, the capital city, for one night on our way to Livingstone and shared our campsite with giraffes and zebras alike. With a huge team effort of everyone pitching in to get dinner under way we could spare some time to watch them graze on by. This was another thing I loved about the overland trips; we were all expected to chip in and help. Team work makes the dream work.
We had 4 days in Livingstone where our tour split up and we all changed trucks onto new tours. Some of us were going to Mozambique, some to Cape Town but we were going to Johannesburg. Thank goodness we had 4 days here because Livingstone was the most amazing place. In a city this big I never expected what roadside wildlife we would encounter. Set on the banks of the Zambezi River wildlife was in abundance. From where we were staying, without leaving the boundaries of our campsite we could spy elephants passing by or on the opposite bank, we could see crocodiles swim across the river while we were eating, we could see hippos bathing while we were sipping beers in the bar pool. Driving around town we stumbled upon zebras grazing in the middle of a round about and we were constantly terrorised and once chased by a huge baboon who was after some Kwan apples.
Of course from Livingstone you could also see Victoria Falls, however from the Zambia side it was very dry and quite disappointing. Livingstone also offers a selection for the adrenalin junkies on board with bungee jumping and white water rafting on offer but for extortionate prices. Will took the plunge on the bungee despite its ropey history whereas I on the other hand could not think of anything worse after having done one once before and never wanting to do one again. Sarah and I were on official photographer duties. I was relieved that many of the others from our group who did the Livingstone bungee completely agreed with me on the fact that they will never do one again also.
Zimbabwe Saying goodbye to Mumma Liz, with our new tour leader and tour group we continued on through Zim for the last week of our tour. We managed to talk the guide into taking us via Victoria Falls from the Zimbabwe side which was much more satisfying than Zambia as we got to experience the famous spray from this side which can be seen from up to 30km away in the right season. You walk through beautiful tropical rain forests on this side as the constant spray from the falls provides the fauna with the perfect damp environment.
We were taken to Matobo National Park where Ian so passionately taught us about the plight of the white and black rhino. Ian has 64 in his park and he knows them all personally. He speaks of these rhinos like his family describing how proud he was of his baby girl the first time she mated. Sadly he estimates that at current poaching rates the rhino won’t be around in as little as 2 years. With 50 rangers employed (and rarely paid) to protect the rhinos in this park I asked one man what he would do if he saw a poacher. His response was somewhat shocking for me as he replied, “For sure, I shoot to kill.” Even more shocking was the fact that they kill or capture 25-30 poachers every month just in this park. If they are handed over to authorities alive then they are sentenced to a minimum of 25 years jail, which is a death sentence in Zimbabwe. Unfortunately laws are a little more cloudy as you head south into South Africa with one park ranger unable to even tell us what the penalty is as the government are so heavily involved in the illegal trade of rhino horns.
South Africa Finally once we got to South Africa we got our game drive on heading to Kruger National Park where we were on the look out for the Big 5. We managed to tick off 4 of those 5 throughout the day but the elusive leopard slipped our notice. I can only imagine how many we drove passed but didn’t spot. We chanced just 1 white rhino, many herds of elephant, mating lions and soaking buffalo as well as the other African classics that don’t get named as one of the Big 5.
From Kruger the tour took us onwards to Johannesburg where we said goodbye to some great friends and parted ways to onwards adventure. The goodbyes were surprisingly hard but here’s to hoping for a 2018 Australian reunion. I can’t emphasise how much the overland trip was the right thing for us. We met a solo traveller in Cape Town who shared stories of her journey through Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Ethiopia. Experienced though she was she couldn’t convincingly say that it was great to do solo. She was very clear about how hard it was, sometimes having to take 3x 15hour buses in a row to get somewhere and not seeing another white person for days. Over landing was so easy for us and so much fun. There are plenty of companies that offer the same kind of thing so check them out and get on it!
Additional info. (Bonus points if you've made it this far!) The major cost for most of us once we were there was definitely visas. All of them were attainable from the border and all had to be paid in USD. The following is a guide for Australians: Tanzania: $50 Malawi: $50 Zambia: $50 Zimbabwe: $35 South Africa: free
For Mumma Liz, Turbs, Squara, Smellodie, Ro, Vicki Chickie, My Cutie, Sexy Legs, Leyla, Charlie, Eva, Joe, Laura, Josh, Bel, Penny and Brit; This is T.I.A.
