Toronto, Canada

We have returned from our trip to south eastern Africa (Mozambique, Victoria Falls, Lesotho, Swaziland, and the eastern half of South Africa).

The highlight for us was Mozambique. It's still relative untouristed, especially in the north. Supposedly the middle area around Tofo is busy with beach-going South Africans, but we didn't go there so can't really say. We loved Mozambique Island and Coral Lodge. To give an idea of how untouristed Mozambique Island is, there is only one store selling souvenirs on the whole island. The whole island is a UNESCO Heritage Site and the centuries old buildings are being quickly restored. There was hardly any hassling of tourists, for the most part nobody gave us a second glance. Maputo was also amazing, with a unique architectural style in the core, great food, and artsy feel.

Victoria Falls was cool to see, and the last of the big four waterfalls on my list (Iguazu, Angel Falls, and Niagara being the other three). I would put Victoria Falls 3rd on the list, if only because it's hard to get a big picture view of its size. Maybe in high flow season if I took a helicopter I might have a different opinion.

The safaris were good with lots of game. We both liked the remoteness of Kidepo in northern Uganda better than any of the safaris on this trip, with maybe the exception of Mountain Zebra NP because of the interesting landscape. We saw the big five on this trip, which wasn't really a goal, but cool anyways. One thing we realized about safaris this time around is to stick to the highlights for each game reserve. For example, Mkhaya is known for its rhinos -- so it's better to focus on the rhinos there, and not try to find the one hyena (I made that up) in the park.

Lesotho was a contrast to the rest of South Africa. It reminded us of Bolivia, as both are at an altitude and people wear distinctive clothing that's somewhat similar. Lesotho had the least-developed infrastructure out of the places we visited this trip. It would be better with a 4WD.

This was one of the few times I've rented a car on vacation. It's really the only way to see South Africa / Swaziland / Lesotho, as it's all very car-centric. It was interesting as we got to see parts of the country that we wouldn't normally if we just flew from place to place. In particular we loved the Karoo region around Cradock.

Our next vacation is hopefully to North Korea. Depending on how long we have, we may try to tack on Cambodia while we're half way around the world.