Next on our itinerary was Stone Camp in Mkhaya Game Reserve. It's the best place to see rhinos in all of Africa.
Rangers pick you up from the park gates at either 10am or 4pm. We had booked 48 hours starting at 10am, so left Ezulwini Valley at 8am just to be safe (our hotel said it was a 90 minute drive).
We followed the GPS most of the way and then the directions from Stone Camp to get to entrance gate by 9:40am. Another car with tourists pulled up shortly after, so we figured we were in the right spot. It was slightly drizzling as we waited.
At 10:04am the ranger arrived in an open safari vehicle. We followed him to a secure parking place, and transferred our packs. We had been warned that we could only bring a small overnight bag, as there wasn't much room for luggage in the safari vehicle. Heather and I travel fairly light (about 15kg each) so we were okay with our regular packs.
The drive in is also a game drive, and we saw lots of giraffes, and some rhinos! The park is fenced off for breeding purposes, where the ranger would stop, open the gate, drive through, close the gate. It was like being on a TTC streetcar when the driver has to change the switching to turn.
It had stopped raining halfway through the two hour game drive, and was getting hot in the sun when we arrived in camp.
I wasn't sure what to expect. I knew there was no electricity (Heather and I arrived with our devices and cameras fully charged), but wasn't sure about plumbing.
The cottages turned out to be much better than I hoped! They are open-concept, with a only a two-foot stone wall between us and the wilderness. They had running potable water (hot and cold), showers, and comfortable beds with mosquito nets. Due to the drought there were hardly any bugs. It was almost better than Inyati!
We had another evening game drive at 4pm, so didn't have much time after lunch to relax and enjoy the place.
As advertised, we saw plenty of rhinos on the game drive, about 20-30 in different groupings. Today we saw only the more common white rhino. The name had nothing to do with the color of the rhino, but was a lost-in-translation thing from way back when.
Dinner was excellent around a fire. They even had cold beer! I had a Sibebe, the local Swazi beer. Heather had a chilled Sauv Blanc from South Africa. As Marissa said, this is our kind of camping.
Walked back to our cottages along paths lit with paraffin lights. Our cottage was similarly lit, looking very pretty. There were hardly any bugs which made getting into bed easier.
Tuesday, December 13, 2016
Monday, December 12, 2016
Ezulwini Valley, Swaziland
Heather and I were still on safari time and were up at 6am, so got ready and went for breakfast when it opened at 7am.
The manager, an eccentric old lady, came over to find out what our plans were for the day, and then gave us a Swaziland tourism magazine and suggested we take a day trip to nearby Malkern Valley, which had all sorts of arts and crafts shops, and a nice pub for lunch.
So we waited for Marissa and Nancy to wake up, and headed out. Having a car was coming in very handy!
First stop was Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary, so that Marissa could check out horseback riding for later in the afternoon. At Mlilwane it's possible to do a self-drive and self-walking safari, as there's no predators in the park. We were more interested in souvenirs so carried on.
Malkern was another 15 minutes down the MR103. There's occasional speed bumps at shared taxi stops and school crossings, otherwise the limit was mostly 80km.
We drove to Swazi Candles, which had the famous Swazi candle-making shop, as well as a number of other little craft shops. One-stop shopping :).
The candles were actually pretty cool. We bought some, as well as a bunch of other souvenirs. It was our only chance for souvenir shopping in Swaziland so we stocked up.
Had lunch at Malandela's, where they had large draft beers, that tasted like Coors Light according to Marissa. I thought it had a little more taste, and hardly any alcohol, but anyways they were pretty refreshing in the heat.
We later stopped in at Mantenga's Cultural Village, and then called it a day.
Had dinner at the same restaurant as yesterday as we weren't very motivated to find another place.
The manager, an eccentric old lady, came over to find out what our plans were for the day, and then gave us a Swaziland tourism magazine and suggested we take a day trip to nearby Malkern Valley, which had all sorts of arts and crafts shops, and a nice pub for lunch.
So we waited for Marissa and Nancy to wake up, and headed out. Having a car was coming in very handy!
First stop was Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary, so that Marissa could check out horseback riding for later in the afternoon. At Mlilwane it's possible to do a self-drive and self-walking safari, as there's no predators in the park. We were more interested in souvenirs so carried on.
Malkern was another 15 minutes down the MR103. There's occasional speed bumps at shared taxi stops and school crossings, otherwise the limit was mostly 80km.
We drove to Swazi Candles, which had the famous Swazi candle-making shop, as well as a number of other little craft shops. One-stop shopping :).
The candles were actually pretty cool. We bought some, as well as a bunch of other souvenirs. It was our only chance for souvenir shopping in Swaziland so we stocked up.
Had lunch at Malandela's, where they had large draft beers, that tasted like Coors Light according to Marissa. I thought it had a little more taste, and hardly any alcohol, but anyways they were pretty refreshing in the heat.
We later stopped in at Mantenga's Cultural Village, and then called it a day.
Had dinner at the same restaurant as yesterday as we weren't very motivated to find another place.
Sunday, December 11, 2016
Ezulwini Valley, Swaziland
I skipped the morning game drive at Inyati because we had a five hour drive today and I didn't want to be tired.
We were on the road by 10:30, Marissa navigating with Garmin, Google maps offlined on my iPhone, and the directions that Marissa had printed off before the trip. We decided to take a shortcut through a nature reserve on the border. The South African side had great views as we climbed to the pass. We stopped at a little interpretive site roadside for pics.
Exiting South Africa was easy, although the border officials seemed surprised to see us. Entering Swaziland was also easy - no fees for Canadians, and just a $5 fee for the car. They didn't ask to see the document from Avis allowing us to take the car into Swaziland.
A few hundred metres down the road there was a police check, all they did was note our license plate number. We were only the 6th car through.
Then we found out why. The next 18km was a pretty rough gravel road. There were other little cars like Citroëns meeting us the other way so we figured it was possible in our little Toyota Corolla. It was slow going though, it took about 45 minutes to get to pavement. So much for our shortcut! It did have nice views though.
The rest of the drive in Swaziland was on good roads. They even have a short stretch of highway where the limit is 120km, it's the road between the main city and the Royal Residence.
It's a very hilly country. I was trying to use the engine to brake on downhills but the little engine couldn't handle the weight. Hopefully the brakes will last our trip!
We reached Mogi Boutique Hotel around 5pm, well before sunset. It's a nice location on the side of Ezulwini Valley. The views would be nice if it wasn't rainy :)
The Mogi doesn't have an onsite restaurant but they recommended a place just down the road. We were told it's dangerous to walk so we piled into the car and drove.
The restaurant had wifi so we all checked our email. (Lightning the previous night had knocked out the router at Mogi). The food was okay, a little touristy, but it was reasonably priced and had vegetarian options for Marissa.
We were on the road by 10:30, Marissa navigating with Garmin, Google maps offlined on my iPhone, and the directions that Marissa had printed off before the trip. We decided to take a shortcut through a nature reserve on the border. The South African side had great views as we climbed to the pass. We stopped at a little interpretive site roadside for pics.
Exiting South Africa was easy, although the border officials seemed surprised to see us. Entering Swaziland was also easy - no fees for Canadians, and just a $5 fee for the car. They didn't ask to see the document from Avis allowing us to take the car into Swaziland.
A few hundred metres down the road there was a police check, all they did was note our license plate number. We were only the 6th car through.
Then we found out why. The next 18km was a pretty rough gravel road. There were other little cars like Citroëns meeting us the other way so we figured it was possible in our little Toyota Corolla. It was slow going though, it took about 45 minutes to get to pavement. So much for our shortcut! It did have nice views though.
The rest of the drive in Swaziland was on good roads. They even have a short stretch of highway where the limit is 120km, it's the road between the main city and the Royal Residence.
It's a very hilly country. I was trying to use the engine to brake on downhills but the little engine couldn't handle the weight. Hopefully the brakes will last our trip!
We reached Mogi Boutique Hotel around 5pm, well before sunset. It's a nice location on the side of Ezulwini Valley. The views would be nice if it wasn't rainy :)
The Mogi doesn't have an onsite restaurant but they recommended a place just down the road. We were told it's dangerous to walk so we piled into the car and drove.
The restaurant had wifi so we all checked our email. (Lightning the previous night had knocked out the router at Mogi). The food was okay, a little touristy, but it was reasonably priced and had vegetarian options for Marissa.
Saturday, December 10, 2016
Sabi Sand Game Reserve, South Africa
I forgot to mention that while in Zimbabwe I bought some trillion dollar bills. The million and billion bills were fairly cheap; the trillion dollar bills started at $5 and the 100 trillion was over $50.
The two full days at Inyati went like this:
5:00am wake up knock at door
5:30am tea / coffee/ snacks
6:00am game drive
9:30am breakfast / brunch
4:00pm high tea
4:30pm game drive
7:30pm wash up
8:00pm dinner
10:00pm sleep
The game drives lasted over three hours each, which was much longer than we were used to. We found it a bit long to be sitting around, and also with the heat we were guzzling water without a washroom break. Woe is us.
The highlights included a cheetah resting on a termite hill, many leopards (the main reason we were here), elephants grazing within inches of us, a pack of wild dogs catching and eating a baby impala.
It was amazing how fast the dogs ate the impala. The dogs were laying about in the shade when a group of impalas accidentally walked up on them. We were parked by the dogs observing them, as wild dogs are a rare sighting. One dog noticed the impalas and they gave chase. Our driver followed them for about 200m where they caught the baby impala. Then they all surrounded and pulled bites, just 10' from the vehicle. In less than five minutes the impala was gone, bones and all.
The 2nd day was stinking hot, over 40C. Thank goodness the lodges were air conditioned.
The food was okay, matched nicely with mostly South African wines. (They have a walk-in cellar from the dining room. This was not the GAP Adventures safari I did when I was in my 20s).
We met a nice family from Singapore, as well as a number of other couples. Most of them were well-traveled.
Inyati doesn't overcrowd the safari vehicles, the most we had was six, plus the driver, and the tracker. So there was lots of space to spread out camera bags and water bottles and sunscreen etc.
It was a great safari experience at Inyati, we saw leopards, and plenty other animals as a bonus.
The two full days at Inyati went like this:
5:00am wake up knock at door
5:30am tea / coffee/ snacks
6:00am game drive
9:30am breakfast / brunch
4:00pm high tea
4:30pm game drive
7:30pm wash up
8:00pm dinner
10:00pm sleep
The game drives lasted over three hours each, which was much longer than we were used to. We found it a bit long to be sitting around, and also with the heat we were guzzling water without a washroom break. Woe is us.
The highlights included a cheetah resting on a termite hill, many leopards (the main reason we were here), elephants grazing within inches of us, a pack of wild dogs catching and eating a baby impala.
It was amazing how fast the dogs ate the impala. The dogs were laying about in the shade when a group of impalas accidentally walked up on them. We were parked by the dogs observing them, as wild dogs are a rare sighting. One dog noticed the impalas and they gave chase. Our driver followed them for about 200m where they caught the baby impala. Then they all surrounded and pulled bites, just 10' from the vehicle. In less than five minutes the impala was gone, bones and all.
The 2nd day was stinking hot, over 40C. Thank goodness the lodges were air conditioned.
The food was okay, matched nicely with mostly South African wines. (They have a walk-in cellar from the dining room. This was not the GAP Adventures safari I did when I was in my 20s).
We met a nice family from Singapore, as well as a number of other couples. Most of them were well-traveled.
Inyati doesn't overcrowd the safari vehicles, the most we had was six, plus the driver, and the tracker. So there was lots of space to spread out camera bags and water bottles and sunscreen etc.
It was a great safari experience at Inyati, we saw leopards, and plenty other animals as a bonus.
Thursday, December 08, 2016
Sabi Sands Game Reserve, South Africa
It took a couple days in transit to get from Victoria Falls and to Inyati Game Lodge, one of the lodges in the private game reserve of Sabi Sands.
First was getting out of Victoria Falls. The check-in at the airport was really slow, as they only had one counter open. We were able to take both the large masks as carry-on without any issue.
We actually got served a hot meal on the 90 minute flight to Johannesburg. I hadn't booked a vegetarian meal for Marissa cause I figured it would just be cheese sandwiches but oh well.
We had no problems getting through immigration. Picked up our bags and found our way to Avis to pick up our cars. Nancy had messed up her reservation and got a stick shift. They only had a van remaining for automatic, so we ended up squishing into our car. Heather and I had booked a compact because we wanted a non-descript car because of concerns over car theft and car jackings, more so in Johannesburg.
Anyways we had trouble with the GPS because it switched to a simulated mode inside the airport, and didn't switch back automatically once we exited the parking lot. So we spent about an hour circling the airport down some small streets before we figured it out.
We hit some construction about 75km from Nelspruit, with only a single lane shared. We waited about 20 minutes at a time for the light to change for our direction.
We reached Jorn's guesthouse in Nelspruit around 10pm. The night watch opened the gate to let us in, and then showed us to our rooms.
...
At breakfast we could see the grounds at Jorn's. it was a pretty nice place, if we had had a morning flight it would have been cool to hang out at the bar.
Packed up our stuff into the car and then onto Inyati! It took a while to figure out how to use the Garmin, which seems decades behind Google maps. Marissa became our Garmin expert, and was comparing between the Garmin directions, Google maps which she had printed off at home, and Inyati's directions. We missed a turnoff after getting gas, but other than that things went smoothly. The roads were in great shape, and I was starting to figure out the various road markings and signs. Driving a stick on the right side was pretty easy (the pedals are the same), I didn't stall at all.
We reached our entrance to Sabi Sand Reserve right on schedule. The Garmin kept on trying to take us a different way, so we switched the voice to James because it was less annoying.
Paid the entrance fees for us and the car. The onto Inyati! It was about 10 minutes over dirt roads to reach the lodge. They were well organized, the person greeted us by name and our bags disappeared off to our rooms.
It was hot, about 33C. We had lunch at the main lodge, then went to our rooms to get ready for our first game drive that evening.
At 4pm we met up in the main lodge again for high tea. Met our guide (Omega) and tracker (Rodger). It was the four of us plus a French couple in our safari vehicle.
At 4:30pm we started off on the game drive. It was still a bit hot, we had layers of sunscreen and bug repellent. The two main animals on our checklist here were leopards and wild dogs (this was Marissa's addition to the list).
Almpst immediately we saw our first leopard(s)! It was a mother and son, trotting along. They stopped to drink at a small watering hole, and then the mother led the son to a baby impala she had killed earlier and hid in a tree.
We watched for almost 30 minutes as the son leopard ate the impala. We were very lucky to see this, even the guides were taking pictures.
We left in search of other game, also to give other safari vehicles a chance to view the leopards. The lodges coordinate to limit sightings to two vehicles, so that you don't end up with 10 vehicles looking at a lion like in Kruger.
We saw rhinos, giraffes, elephants, hippos, just to name the bigger ones. The wildlife is very plentiful here.
It was a long game drive, ending around 7:30pm. We were escorted by a guard to our chalets (the animals roam freely through the lodge grounds). At 8:15pm we were picked up to walk back to the main lodge for dinner.
Dinner was served to everyone at the same time, which I guess allows the guests to meet and talk over dinner. I had the kudu for my main, which wasn't as gamey as I had hoped.
We were in bed around 10pm, excited about the game drive, but not looking forward to the 5am wake-up call.
...
FYI I've added pics to the Victoria Falls album and the South Africa album. Links are in the right nav bar
First was getting out of Victoria Falls. The check-in at the airport was really slow, as they only had one counter open. We were able to take both the large masks as carry-on without any issue.
We actually got served a hot meal on the 90 minute flight to Johannesburg. I hadn't booked a vegetarian meal for Marissa cause I figured it would just be cheese sandwiches but oh well.
We had no problems getting through immigration. Picked up our bags and found our way to Avis to pick up our cars. Nancy had messed up her reservation and got a stick shift. They only had a van remaining for automatic, so we ended up squishing into our car. Heather and I had booked a compact because we wanted a non-descript car because of concerns over car theft and car jackings, more so in Johannesburg.
Anyways we had trouble with the GPS because it switched to a simulated mode inside the airport, and didn't switch back automatically once we exited the parking lot. So we spent about an hour circling the airport down some small streets before we figured it out.
We hit some construction about 75km from Nelspruit, with only a single lane shared. We waited about 20 minutes at a time for the light to change for our direction.
We reached Jorn's guesthouse in Nelspruit around 10pm. The night watch opened the gate to let us in, and then showed us to our rooms.
...
At breakfast we could see the grounds at Jorn's. it was a pretty nice place, if we had had a morning flight it would have been cool to hang out at the bar.
Packed up our stuff into the car and then onto Inyati! It took a while to figure out how to use the Garmin, which seems decades behind Google maps. Marissa became our Garmin expert, and was comparing between the Garmin directions, Google maps which she had printed off at home, and Inyati's directions. We missed a turnoff after getting gas, but other than that things went smoothly. The roads were in great shape, and I was starting to figure out the various road markings and signs. Driving a stick on the right side was pretty easy (the pedals are the same), I didn't stall at all.
We reached our entrance to Sabi Sand Reserve right on schedule. The Garmin kept on trying to take us a different way, so we switched the voice to James because it was less annoying.
Paid the entrance fees for us and the car. The onto Inyati! It was about 10 minutes over dirt roads to reach the lodge. They were well organized, the person greeted us by name and our bags disappeared off to our rooms.
It was hot, about 33C. We had lunch at the main lodge, then went to our rooms to get ready for our first game drive that evening.
At 4pm we met up in the main lodge again for high tea. Met our guide (Omega) and tracker (Rodger). It was the four of us plus a French couple in our safari vehicle.
At 4:30pm we started off on the game drive. It was still a bit hot, we had layers of sunscreen and bug repellent. The two main animals on our checklist here were leopards and wild dogs (this was Marissa's addition to the list).
Almpst immediately we saw our first leopard(s)! It was a mother and son, trotting along. They stopped to drink at a small watering hole, and then the mother led the son to a baby impala she had killed earlier and hid in a tree.
We watched for almost 30 minutes as the son leopard ate the impala. We were very lucky to see this, even the guides were taking pictures.
We left in search of other game, also to give other safari vehicles a chance to view the leopards. The lodges coordinate to limit sightings to two vehicles, so that you don't end up with 10 vehicles looking at a lion like in Kruger.
We saw rhinos, giraffes, elephants, hippos, just to name the bigger ones. The wildlife is very plentiful here.
It was a long game drive, ending around 7:30pm. We were escorted by a guard to our chalets (the animals roam freely through the lodge grounds). At 8:15pm we were picked up to walk back to the main lodge for dinner.
Dinner was served to everyone at the same time, which I guess allows the guests to meet and talk over dinner. I had the kudu for my main, which wasn't as gamey as I had hoped.
We were in bed around 10pm, excited about the game drive, but not looking forward to the 5am wake-up call.
...
FYI I've added pics to the Victoria Falls album and the South Africa album. Links are in the right nav bar
Tuesday, December 06, 2016
Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
Heather and I were up at 6am (we went to bed at 8:30pm, so that's actually a long time to sleep!) so went down to the main lodge for breakfast at 7am. Mornings have been the best time of the day so far, before the sun heats up the day.
Our taxi picked us up just before 9am to go to the curio markets. According to the Lonely Planet, it's one of better places for souvenirs.
Our driver gave us an extra cell phone so we could call him to pick us up when we were done. We thought it was a great idea, as the driver basically doubles his business. Although we did feel like we were a character on The Wire carrying a burner.
There were both shops with marked prices that accepted credit cards, and a curio market which was the opposite. We went through the priced stores first to get ballpark prices, and then checked out the stalls. It's low season and so we spent more time trying to fend off vendors than actually looking at the stuff for sale. We were more interested in the stuff in the real stores, so went back. Ended up buying a couple large-ish masks that we have to get through our flight tomorrow.
We couldn't figure out how to turn on the burner phone (we would make terrible drug dealers). We took another taxi back to the hotel and had them call our driver to explain. We needed another drive at 3pm so we could get return his phone then.
Had grilled cheese again cause we liked it so much. We lazed about until 3pm, and then headed out into heat.
Our driver dropped us off at the park entrance. (We made sure we knew how to use the burner this time). We started off at the Lookout Cafe, overlooking a bend in the gorge. We had Malawi shandies, a mix of bitters, ginger beer and lemonade. Very refreshing.
At 4pm we paid our $30 USD entrance fee and toured the Falls, this time from the Zimbabwe side. The pathway was in excellent shape and well marked. There's 16 lookout points spread across the width of the Falls. The mist blows towards the Zimbabwe side and the humidity and fauna was very different from our first day on the Zambia side. I had to wipe my camera lens every time I took off the cap - there was a constant fine mist. In high flow months you get soaked and can only use waterproof cameras. You probably couldn't see much either.
There's a 1.2km walk back to the entrance gate after the last lookout. It winds through the rainforest and was like a mini safari - we saw guinea fowls, bush backs, vervet monkeys, and a few others.
We had now visited the Falls for three days straight and hadn't got out-waterfalled. The Zim and Zam sides were very different views at low flow, and the swim in Devils Pool a different experience. I preferred the Zambia side because you can see right down the gorge. From the Zimbabwe side for the most part you don't get a view of the full drop. Heather liked them equally.
Compared to other waterfalls, Angel Falls is my favourite just because it's sooo tall (980m). (By comparison Victoria Falls is about 108m). I also liked Iguazu Falls better because you can get a fuller view. Maybe if I saw Victoria Falls at high flow I might re-rank but right now it's 3rd on my waterfall list.
We didn't do the helicopter ride because at low flow it would just look like an extension of the gorge. At high flow I would definitively go up in either a helicopter or ultralight.
Our taxi picked us up just before 9am to go to the curio markets. According to the Lonely Planet, it's one of better places for souvenirs.
Our driver gave us an extra cell phone so we could call him to pick us up when we were done. We thought it was a great idea, as the driver basically doubles his business. Although we did feel like we were a character on The Wire carrying a burner.
There were both shops with marked prices that accepted credit cards, and a curio market which was the opposite. We went through the priced stores first to get ballpark prices, and then checked out the stalls. It's low season and so we spent more time trying to fend off vendors than actually looking at the stuff for sale. We were more interested in the stuff in the real stores, so went back. Ended up buying a couple large-ish masks that we have to get through our flight tomorrow.
We couldn't figure out how to turn on the burner phone (we would make terrible drug dealers). We took another taxi back to the hotel and had them call our driver to explain. We needed another drive at 3pm so we could get return his phone then.
Had grilled cheese again cause we liked it so much. We lazed about until 3pm, and then headed out into heat.
Our driver dropped us off at the park entrance. (We made sure we knew how to use the burner this time). We started off at the Lookout Cafe, overlooking a bend in the gorge. We had Malawi shandies, a mix of bitters, ginger beer and lemonade. Very refreshing.
At 4pm we paid our $30 USD entrance fee and toured the Falls, this time from the Zimbabwe side. The pathway was in excellent shape and well marked. There's 16 lookout points spread across the width of the Falls. The mist blows towards the Zimbabwe side and the humidity and fauna was very different from our first day on the Zambia side. I had to wipe my camera lens every time I took off the cap - there was a constant fine mist. In high flow months you get soaked and can only use waterproof cameras. You probably couldn't see much either.
There's a 1.2km walk back to the entrance gate after the last lookout. It winds through the rainforest and was like a mini safari - we saw guinea fowls, bush backs, vervet monkeys, and a few others.
We had now visited the Falls for three days straight and hadn't got out-waterfalled. The Zim and Zam sides were very different views at low flow, and the swim in Devils Pool a different experience. I preferred the Zambia side because you can see right down the gorge. From the Zimbabwe side for the most part you don't get a view of the full drop. Heather liked them equally.
Compared to other waterfalls, Angel Falls is my favourite just because it's sooo tall (980m). (By comparison Victoria Falls is about 108m). I also liked Iguazu Falls better because you can get a fuller view. Maybe if I saw Victoria Falls at high flow I might re-rank but right now it's 3rd on my waterfall list.
We didn't do the helicopter ride because at low flow it would just look like an extension of the gorge. At high flow I would definitively go up in either a helicopter or ultralight.
Monday, December 05, 2016
Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
We woke up from a not very good sleep. The power cut out around 3am and so we had no a/c or fans. Ripe fruit dropped on our corrugated metal roof with a loud bang-thud-thud every so often.
The temperature was pleasant at 7am when me and Heather woke up to have breakfast. At 8:25am we were picked up by taxi to get to the Livingstone Lodge, the jumping off point for Devil's Pool. Paid $98 each (luckily the credit card POS had a connection so we didn't have to use up US cash). At 9am, right on schedule, a motor boat picked us up for a five minute ride through the Zambezi and small rapids to Livingstone Island. We then walked about five minutes, with close up views over into the gorge. (I think these were the tourists that were in my pics yesterday).
We then swam about 15m to the rocks from which you enter Devils Pool. It wasn't deep (probably could have touched the bottom the whole way) but the current was strong. There were a couple ropes for those who weren't strong swimmers.
We waited for our turn to enter Devils Pool. The guides allow only four people at a time so that they can watch over the group. Another guide had taken one camera per group as the official photographer, and was busy snapping away. They run a tight ship here!
We bum-stepped into Devils Pool and the current immediately took us across. The infinity-pool-like wall stops you from going over, but it can be unnerving for some. It's possible to look over the edge all the way down. I took some pics with my underwater camera.
The official photographer had us in all kinds of poses. He took his job very seriously, getting upset when our arms weren't in the perfect position.
After a few minutes our time was up, and we went back to Livingstone Island, where we were served a fancy breakfast including eggs benedict (!) all made fresh in a kitchen tent on the island. I wasn't aware that breakfast was included as we ate at the hotel prior to the excursion. I didn't think I was hungry but still managed to finish it. There was no time to sip and enjoy our coffee as the guides had us lined up for the motor boat back to the mainland.
Our taxi driver drove us back to the Green Tree Lodge and waited while we changed and finished packing.
Next up was the border crossing to Zimbabwe. Land crossings are generally more complicated especially if there's a no-man's land in between.
Exiting Zambia was straightforward. Got our passports stamped (no forms to fill out). In the meantime our driver had arranged with a no-man's land taxi driver for the 1km drive to the Zimbabwe entry. It's possible to walk but it was hot and the ride was just $5 between the four of us.
Entering Zimbabwe was a little more confusing as there were lots of people milling about. But it was also straightforward - paid $75 USD each and gave our passports at one window (again, no forms to fill out) and then a couple minutes later handed back to us through the next window. The visa is a full page sticker, very nice.
Once again in the meantime our driver had passed us off to our next taxi, this one on the Zimbabwe side, to take us to our hotel. We had to run our bags through an X-ray machine at the border, which I think was just procedural as I didn't see anyone monitoring what was inside (I'm sure their process just says to X-ray the bags).
Victoria Falls (the town on the Zimbabwe side is named after the Falls) is right beside the Falls, as opposed to Livingstone which is about 10km away, so it was a short taxi ride to Bayete Guest Lodge.
Bayete was much nicer than our last place in Livingstone. Tourist infrastructure is more developed in Zimbabwe and there was more choice between mid-range hotels.
It was just after noon and we already had had a full day. So we planned out excursions for tomorrow (Marissa's going horseback riding; Heather and I are shopping for curios) and then relaxed in the main lodge.
Had a few Zambezi's (the local beer) to celebrate going to Devils Pool. Went off-menu and ordered grill cheese with tomato for a snack - we weren't too hungry as we'd had two breakfasts already. Based on the great grilled cheese and nice atmosphere in the main lodge, decided to have dinner there as well.
So later on we got back to the main lodge and had a tasty dinner of grilled chicken and nice sides. They made Marissa a vegetarian meal of rice and lentils, also very tasty. Heather ordered a bottle of white, as they just wrote her room number and kept it in the fridge for the next day. Overall another full day at Victoria Falls!
The temperature was pleasant at 7am when me and Heather woke up to have breakfast. At 8:25am we were picked up by taxi to get to the Livingstone Lodge, the jumping off point for Devil's Pool. Paid $98 each (luckily the credit card POS had a connection so we didn't have to use up US cash). At 9am, right on schedule, a motor boat picked us up for a five minute ride through the Zambezi and small rapids to Livingstone Island. We then walked about five minutes, with close up views over into the gorge. (I think these were the tourists that were in my pics yesterday).
We then swam about 15m to the rocks from which you enter Devils Pool. It wasn't deep (probably could have touched the bottom the whole way) but the current was strong. There were a couple ropes for those who weren't strong swimmers.
We waited for our turn to enter Devils Pool. The guides allow only four people at a time so that they can watch over the group. Another guide had taken one camera per group as the official photographer, and was busy snapping away. They run a tight ship here!
We bum-stepped into Devils Pool and the current immediately took us across. The infinity-pool-like wall stops you from going over, but it can be unnerving for some. It's possible to look over the edge all the way down. I took some pics with my underwater camera.
The official photographer had us in all kinds of poses. He took his job very seriously, getting upset when our arms weren't in the perfect position.
After a few minutes our time was up, and we went back to Livingstone Island, where we were served a fancy breakfast including eggs benedict (!) all made fresh in a kitchen tent on the island. I wasn't aware that breakfast was included as we ate at the hotel prior to the excursion. I didn't think I was hungry but still managed to finish it. There was no time to sip and enjoy our coffee as the guides had us lined up for the motor boat back to the mainland.
Our taxi driver drove us back to the Green Tree Lodge and waited while we changed and finished packing.
Next up was the border crossing to Zimbabwe. Land crossings are generally more complicated especially if there's a no-man's land in between.
Exiting Zambia was straightforward. Got our passports stamped (no forms to fill out). In the meantime our driver had arranged with a no-man's land taxi driver for the 1km drive to the Zimbabwe entry. It's possible to walk but it was hot and the ride was just $5 between the four of us.
Entering Zimbabwe was a little more confusing as there were lots of people milling about. But it was also straightforward - paid $75 USD each and gave our passports at one window (again, no forms to fill out) and then a couple minutes later handed back to us through the next window. The visa is a full page sticker, very nice.
Once again in the meantime our driver had passed us off to our next taxi, this one on the Zimbabwe side, to take us to our hotel. We had to run our bags through an X-ray machine at the border, which I think was just procedural as I didn't see anyone monitoring what was inside (I'm sure their process just says to X-ray the bags).
Victoria Falls (the town on the Zimbabwe side is named after the Falls) is right beside the Falls, as opposed to Livingstone which is about 10km away, so it was a short taxi ride to Bayete Guest Lodge.
Bayete was much nicer than our last place in Livingstone. Tourist infrastructure is more developed in Zimbabwe and there was more choice between mid-range hotels.
It was just after noon and we already had had a full day. So we planned out excursions for tomorrow (Marissa's going horseback riding; Heather and I are shopping for curios) and then relaxed in the main lodge.
Had a few Zambezi's (the local beer) to celebrate going to Devils Pool. Went off-menu and ordered grill cheese with tomato for a snack - we weren't too hungry as we'd had two breakfasts already. Based on the great grilled cheese and nice atmosphere in the main lodge, decided to have dinner there as well.
So later on we got back to the main lodge and had a tasty dinner of grilled chicken and nice sides. They made Marissa a vegetarian meal of rice and lentils, also very tasty. Heather ordered a bottle of white, as they just wrote her room number and kept it in the fridge for the next day. Overall another full day at Victoria Falls!
Sunday, December 04, 2016
Livingstone, Zambia
It was a busy day today. We were at OR Tambo at 9am to check in for our flight to Livingstone, on the Zambia side of Victoria Falls.
I had had a hard time keeping it straight when planning about which city was on which side, and what excursions were on each side. Canadians only get a single-entry on each side, ($50 USD for Zambia, $75 for Zimbabwe). The tour operators don't make it clear about which country they occur, as they just want to book everything for you. Anyways, we would find out if I booked it correctly over the next couple days :)
There was a long line up to check in, about. 45 minutes. It was quite a difference from two weeks ago when we flew through to Mozambique. December is the start of busy season, oh well.
The flight was 1:15h, plenty of time for a cheese sandwich and drinks to be served. It hit the spot.
Immigration took a while as the official had to fill out lots of paperwork for each person. We took 45m to get through, and there were at most 75 people on our flight.
Anyways our luggage was waiting st the carousel, as well as a taxi driver from the hotel. It was a bit confusing as it was a person with airport access who greeted us, and then handed us off to the taxi driver outside.
It was hot, about 35C. It was much more humid than Johannesburg. There had been a mix up with the reservation and so we were all in one family-sized chalet. I had originally booked the family chalet when it was just Marissa, as it was cheaper for her; but then when Nancy joined it was just as easy to have two chalets. The Green Tree Lodge either mixed it up or overbooked, it wasn't clear.
The manager was very good at going through our options for excursions. We had reserved Devils Pool in advance for tomorrow morning, which was good, because it's getting popular and you need to book at least a week in advance. Other people at our lodge had showed up expecting to book and couldn't get in :(
We arranged for a taxi to take us to the Falls at 4pm, when it would be (slightly) cooler. The sky darkened with storm clouds just as we left. We drove through heavy rains for the ten minute drive to the Falls, at which point the rain slowed to a light drizzle. The heat and humidity had broken, and it actually felt nice out!
Paid the $20 USD park entry fee and we were off to see Victoria Falls! It was still drizzling enough that I kept my camera on my pack. And then we were there! It's low flow at this time of year, and on the Zambia side there's not much water, but the plus side is that you can actually see the gorge. At high flow, all you see is a big mist.
There's different vantage points along the well maintained path. It's also possible to walk out on the dry river bed of the Zambezi, and peer over into the gorge. We didn't do this, although the tourists who did made great subjects in my pics.
It stopped drizzling after about 10 minutes. There were still dark clouds on the horizon which also worked well for pics, instead of a bright haze.
It was quite impressive to see the size of Victoria Falls, with some imagination for high flow season.
Bought a little knickknack for a souvenir from Zambia, as we were in the country for only 24 hours.
We decided to stop for dinner in town, at Olga's Italian restaurant. They have the best pizza in town. I think it's also the only pizza in town, so the claim of best is factual. We had a Mosi beer (the local name for the Falls is Mosi au Tonya, literally, smoke that thunders). Drove back to the lodge and called it a night.
I had had a hard time keeping it straight when planning about which city was on which side, and what excursions were on each side. Canadians only get a single-entry on each side, ($50 USD for Zambia, $75 for Zimbabwe). The tour operators don't make it clear about which country they occur, as they just want to book everything for you. Anyways, we would find out if I booked it correctly over the next couple days :)
There was a long line up to check in, about. 45 minutes. It was quite a difference from two weeks ago when we flew through to Mozambique. December is the start of busy season, oh well.
The flight was 1:15h, plenty of time for a cheese sandwich and drinks to be served. It hit the spot.
Immigration took a while as the official had to fill out lots of paperwork for each person. We took 45m to get through, and there were at most 75 people on our flight.
Anyways our luggage was waiting st the carousel, as well as a taxi driver from the hotel. It was a bit confusing as it was a person with airport access who greeted us, and then handed us off to the taxi driver outside.
It was hot, about 35C. It was much more humid than Johannesburg. There had been a mix up with the reservation and so we were all in one family-sized chalet. I had originally booked the family chalet when it was just Marissa, as it was cheaper for her; but then when Nancy joined it was just as easy to have two chalets. The Green Tree Lodge either mixed it up or overbooked, it wasn't clear.
The manager was very good at going through our options for excursions. We had reserved Devils Pool in advance for tomorrow morning, which was good, because it's getting popular and you need to book at least a week in advance. Other people at our lodge had showed up expecting to book and couldn't get in :(
We arranged for a taxi to take us to the Falls at 4pm, when it would be (slightly) cooler. The sky darkened with storm clouds just as we left. We drove through heavy rains for the ten minute drive to the Falls, at which point the rain slowed to a light drizzle. The heat and humidity had broken, and it actually felt nice out!
Paid the $20 USD park entry fee and we were off to see Victoria Falls! It was still drizzling enough that I kept my camera on my pack. And then we were there! It's low flow at this time of year, and on the Zambia side there's not much water, but the plus side is that you can actually see the gorge. At high flow, all you see is a big mist.
There's different vantage points along the well maintained path. It's also possible to walk out on the dry river bed of the Zambezi, and peer over into the gorge. We didn't do this, although the tourists who did made great subjects in my pics.
It stopped drizzling after about 10 minutes. There were still dark clouds on the horizon which also worked well for pics, instead of a bright haze.
It was quite impressive to see the size of Victoria Falls, with some imagination for high flow season.
Bought a little knickknack for a souvenir from Zambia, as we were in the country for only 24 hours.
We decided to stop for dinner in town, at Olga's Italian restaurant. They have the best pizza in town. I think it's also the only pizza in town, so the claim of best is factual. We had a Mosi beer (the local name for the Falls is Mosi au Tonya, literally, smoke that thunders). Drove back to the lodge and called it a night.
Saturday, December 03, 2016
Johannesburg, South Africa
We had breakfast in the kitchen just for a change of scenery. We ordered poached eggs for the main which were cooked perfectly but seemed to put the chef's talents to waste.
We had our chauffeur (that still sounds weird) drive us to CIRCA, a gallery about 1km away. It had an exhibit, The Dark City, which was really well done. It examined the lives of people living in a "bad building". The "bad buildings" were deemed so by city planners for demolition and replacement. This particular one had no electricity, no toilets, and only one water tap for 220 residents. Anyways it was an excellent exhibit.
Next onto a couple galleries with art that maybe we looked like we could buy, having rolled up in our 7-series, but was very expensive. It was interesting just to look at the art though.
We wandered through a couple more galleries, and then found a place that had authentic pieces from around Africa. Some we recognized like the large tent pegs from the Sahara, and crosses from Ethiopia. We particularly liked the Nigerian beds, made from a single piece of wood. We had seen one in our guest house, used as a coffee table, but didn't know what it was.
Our driver picked us up at 2pm as prearranged, and we were whisked back to the guest house for lunch. I tried the impala (?) carpaccio, which was good but not as gamey as I had hoped.
After lunch we were driven to our hotel near the airport, where we were meeting Marissa and Nancy, and then flying out the next morning to see Victoria Falls. Marissa and Nancy are joining us for the next two weeks for Victoria Falls and some safari.
Dinner was better than expected, roasted chicken and various vegetables. Marissa and Nancy didn't get in until 11pm, so I watched a couple bad movies that I wouldn't even watch on an airplane. We had a celebration beer when they arrived and then went to bed.
We had our chauffeur (that still sounds weird) drive us to CIRCA, a gallery about 1km away. It had an exhibit, The Dark City, which was really well done. It examined the lives of people living in a "bad building". The "bad buildings" were deemed so by city planners for demolition and replacement. This particular one had no electricity, no toilets, and only one water tap for 220 residents. Anyways it was an excellent exhibit.
Next onto a couple galleries with art that maybe we looked like we could buy, having rolled up in our 7-series, but was very expensive. It was interesting just to look at the art though.
We wandered through a couple more galleries, and then found a place that had authentic pieces from around Africa. Some we recognized like the large tent pegs from the Sahara, and crosses from Ethiopia. We particularly liked the Nigerian beds, made from a single piece of wood. We had seen one in our guest house, used as a coffee table, but didn't know what it was.
Our driver picked us up at 2pm as prearranged, and we were whisked back to the guest house for lunch. I tried the impala (?) carpaccio, which was good but not as gamey as I had hoped.
After lunch we were driven to our hotel near the airport, where we were meeting Marissa and Nancy, and then flying out the next morning to see Victoria Falls. Marissa and Nancy are joining us for the next two weeks for Victoria Falls and some safari.
Dinner was better than expected, roasted chicken and various vegetables. Marissa and Nancy didn't get in until 11pm, so I watched a couple bad movies that I wouldn't even watch on an airplane. We had a celebration beer when they arrived and then went to bed.
Friday, December 02, 2016
Johannesburg, South Africa
Our flight was at a decent time (11:25) (great planning if I might say so myself). We had plenty of time to have breakfast, pack up and catch a taxi to the airport.
I was a little concerned about the two sculptures, as they were made from gun parts and bullets. One had lots of bullets and seemed more durable so I packed that in my big pack which was checked baggage. The other was carry on, which even if they were useless as weapons, were still plenty of reason for officials to look for bribes.
So sure enough as we went through security they flagged my carry on. I was trying to explain what it was, and then Heather whipped out the official documentation that we had waited for the printer to be installed yesterday. The line up was starting to back up behind us and so the security guy just waved me on. Phew!
We then had to spend our remaining meticais. We had about $80 CAD equivalent. I was planning to use it to pay the outstanding balance at the hotel but they automatically deducted from our credit card on file. Bought some souvenirs to use it up.
It was less than an hour to Johannesburg, but we will got served a sandwich and drink! The customs official was very friendly, wishing us well on our trip. Our baggage was already touring around the conveyor. We were almost out of the airport when someone with a police vest pulled us over to look at our bags. He asked us some questions and then said he was going on lunch break and was wondering if we could help out. Heather said we didn't have any cash as we just arrived and needed to go to the ATM. So for the second time today we avoided a shakedown for bribes.
Our driver from 33 Melville was waiting outside arrivals. We walked to the parking garage and then got into a late model BMW 7-Series! I was quite surprised. We then listened to classical music on the 40 minute drive to the guest house (plus an interesting interview about supernovas).
Heather had found 33 Melville on agoda. The place is quite amazing for the price, they could easily charge double or triple. We had a host, butler, and chef on call at all time. I felt slightly like we had met the wrong driver at the airport and there was another Eric D'Souza going to a lesser place. We've paid more for a b&b in Owen Sound. But we were
In the right place. I'm not clear on how they make money; our theory is that the owners live in the other half of the house and by running a b&b they can then claim the expenses of the full staff.
Our room was bigger than a floor in our house. Everything was decorated with great taste - it was perfect for ideas. Anyways it was by far the best all-round service we've had, probably ever.
We had a mixed platter for lunch outside on the covered patio. Light jazz played over the speakers. Had a coffee, then debated dipping in the salt water pool but it looked like storm clouds so we didn't. I caught up on my blog and Heather read her book. Every so often the host popped by to see if we were okay.
We had ordered the special for dinner, chicken with harissa. We were seated at a long table, and then they brought out our dinner. The chef matched it with a local Sauvignon Blanc. The whole thing was still surreal to me.
I was a little concerned about the two sculptures, as they were made from gun parts and bullets. One had lots of bullets and seemed more durable so I packed that in my big pack which was checked baggage. The other was carry on, which even if they were useless as weapons, were still plenty of reason for officials to look for bribes.
So sure enough as we went through security they flagged my carry on. I was trying to explain what it was, and then Heather whipped out the official documentation that we had waited for the printer to be installed yesterday. The line up was starting to back up behind us and so the security guy just waved me on. Phew!
We then had to spend our remaining meticais. We had about $80 CAD equivalent. I was planning to use it to pay the outstanding balance at the hotel but they automatically deducted from our credit card on file. Bought some souvenirs to use it up.
It was less than an hour to Johannesburg, but we will got served a sandwich and drink! The customs official was very friendly, wishing us well on our trip. Our baggage was already touring around the conveyor. We were almost out of the airport when someone with a police vest pulled us over to look at our bags. He asked us some questions and then said he was going on lunch break and was wondering if we could help out. Heather said we didn't have any cash as we just arrived and needed to go to the ATM. So for the second time today we avoided a shakedown for bribes.
Our driver from 33 Melville was waiting outside arrivals. We walked to the parking garage and then got into a late model BMW 7-Series! I was quite surprised. We then listened to classical music on the 40 minute drive to the guest house (plus an interesting interview about supernovas).
Heather had found 33 Melville on agoda. The place is quite amazing for the price, they could easily charge double or triple. We had a host, butler, and chef on call at all time. I felt slightly like we had met the wrong driver at the airport and there was another Eric D'Souza going to a lesser place. We've paid more for a b&b in Owen Sound. But we were
In the right place. I'm not clear on how they make money; our theory is that the owners live in the other half of the house and by running a b&b they can then claim the expenses of the full staff.
Our room was bigger than a floor in our house. Everything was decorated with great taste - it was perfect for ideas. Anyways it was by far the best all-round service we've had, probably ever.
We had a mixed platter for lunch outside on the covered patio. Light jazz played over the speakers. Had a coffee, then debated dipping in the salt water pool but it looked like storm clouds so we didn't. I caught up on my blog and Heather read her book. Every so often the host popped by to see if we were okay.
We had ordered the special for dinner, chicken with harissa. We were seated at a long table, and then they brought out our dinner. The chef matched it with a local Sauvignon Blanc. The whole thing was still surreal to me.
Wednesday, November 30, 2016
Maputo, Mozambique
We had a late start to the day, having had too much fun the night before. We did miss out on most of the heat so it wasn't too bad.
Took a taxi to the baixa area (lower escarpment part), where most of the classic Maputo buildings are found. Started at the train station, which makes lists of top railway stations in the world. Then zigzagged our way to Praça da Independéncia. Stopped in at the Info building near the plaza, and were met by a gregarious woman. We had beeen referred by both the good book (Lonely Planet) and our hotel in Ilha to call on Jane Flood, who runs walking tours of Maputo, with an architectural focus. Turns out the woman who welcomed us was indeed the one-and-only Jane Flood! She had loads of recommendations for us, and was very helpful.
It was getting late in the day, so we finished our tour of the plaza and then took a taxi home. Maputo is known for its king shrimp, so we headed over to Marna Brasa based on the recommendation from the guest house folks. It was excellent, with a vinho verde. (Most restaurants here have three categories for wine: red, white, and green. The green refers to the age of the wine - verdes are very young wines).
...
We were up at a more reasonable hour this morning. Had the same breakfast (scrambled eggs, buttered toast with the crust cut off, bacon, fruit salad, plain yogurt, and good tea/coffee). It's a standard breakfast served almost everywhere we go, but they do a good job of it here.
Started at the National Art Museum in the baixa. It was good, although half of it was under construction. Walked across to Txhapo Txhapo, a hip little restaurant recommended by Jane Flood. It was quite good, and their mixed fruit drinks were excellent. The air conditioning was a nice break from the heat.
Then onto a couple art galleries in search of souvenirs. First went to Núcleo de Arte, which had some very interesting paintings and sculptures in their showroom. Walked next to Tilandia, which was also good, although I found Núcleo to be more interesting. We went back and this time wandered through the back rooms beyond the bar, where the artists were at work, or at least in the process of getting inspired. (By that I mean drinking and smoking up). There were more pieces on display here, for lower prices. We ended up buying two paintings and two sculptures. It was a long process to pay, as they had to unpack a new printer to print off the document needed to take art out of the country.
By the time we were done it was almost 5pm so we took a taxi home. We had no energy to head out, plus the restaurant at the guest house was quite good and had great atmosphere. Their special of the day was grilled shrimp, so while in Maputo, eat as Maputans. Had another vinho verde, and called it a night.
Maputo was a really enjoyable city, with lots of arts and culture, and really cool architecture. The food was also really quite good. We were glad we tacked it onto our trip to Mozambique.
Took a taxi to the baixa area (lower escarpment part), where most of the classic Maputo buildings are found. Started at the train station, which makes lists of top railway stations in the world. Then zigzagged our way to Praça da Independéncia. Stopped in at the Info building near the plaza, and were met by a gregarious woman. We had beeen referred by both the good book (Lonely Planet) and our hotel in Ilha to call on Jane Flood, who runs walking tours of Maputo, with an architectural focus. Turns out the woman who welcomed us was indeed the one-and-only Jane Flood! She had loads of recommendations for us, and was very helpful.
It was getting late in the day, so we finished our tour of the plaza and then took a taxi home. Maputo is known for its king shrimp, so we headed over to Marna Brasa based on the recommendation from the guest house folks. It was excellent, with a vinho verde. (Most restaurants here have three categories for wine: red, white, and green. The green refers to the age of the wine - verdes are very young wines).
...
We were up at a more reasonable hour this morning. Had the same breakfast (scrambled eggs, buttered toast with the crust cut off, bacon, fruit salad, plain yogurt, and good tea/coffee). It's a standard breakfast served almost everywhere we go, but they do a good job of it here.
Started at the National Art Museum in the baixa. It was good, although half of it was under construction. Walked across to Txhapo Txhapo, a hip little restaurant recommended by Jane Flood. It was quite good, and their mixed fruit drinks were excellent. The air conditioning was a nice break from the heat.
Then onto a couple art galleries in search of souvenirs. First went to Núcleo de Arte, which had some very interesting paintings and sculptures in their showroom. Walked next to Tilandia, which was also good, although I found Núcleo to be more interesting. We went back and this time wandered through the back rooms beyond the bar, where the artists were at work, or at least in the process of getting inspired. (By that I mean drinking and smoking up). There were more pieces on display here, for lower prices. We ended up buying two paintings and two sculptures. It was a long process to pay, as they had to unpack a new printer to print off the document needed to take art out of the country.
By the time we were done it was almost 5pm so we took a taxi home. We had no energy to head out, plus the restaurant at the guest house was quite good and had great atmosphere. Their special of the day was grilled shrimp, so while in Maputo, eat as Maputans. Had another vinho verde, and called it a night.
Maputo was a really enjoyable city, with lots of arts and culture, and really cool architecture. The food was also really quite good. We were glad we tacked it onto our trip to Mozambique.
Tuesday, November 29, 2016
Maputo, Mozambique
Breakfast was dull at Hotel Milénio. We were still feeling full from the heavy curries at dinner, so I just had boiled eggs and a bun. The stuff labelled as butter was some sort of processed stuff so I didn't have any.
Anyways we packed up and took a taxi to the airport, a short 3km drive from the centre of town. This was our only internal flight in Mozambique and the only option was LAM, of which I read unpleasant things about their reliability and cancelled flights. We arrived two hours before our flight, and were promptly and efficiently checked in. We boarded on time, and left the gate on schedule. Maybe we were lucky, or maybe you just can't trust everything you read on the web. We scored with the emergency exit row seats and lots of leg room. Flipped open their in-flight magazine and saw a feature article on Jardim de Aloes, where we had just stayed! Overall we were quite pleased with our LAM flight.
In Maputo the guest house had arranged for a taxi to pick us up and sure enough there was a driver with an Sr Erick Da Sousa sign waiting. From the air, I hadn't seen much traffic and it was a quick ten minute drive on good roads to Sommerschield Guest House, in an upscale residential area. We were greeted by Rita and Sylvia, who were great at making us feel at home. They opened the guest house because they wanted people visiting Maputo to have a home away from home.
They have a little restaurant open all day and so we had some lunch, and then headed out to tourist for the afternoon. Walked all the way into town down Av Julius Nyerere, about 4km. The architecture in Maputo is really cool - mostly designed and influenced by Pancho Guedes. The architecture is very distinctive and if I saw a picture of a random building I could likely guess if it was from Maputo.
We stopped in at JN 281 to check out the menu (based on their high rating in tripadvisor), made reservations, and then took a taxi back home. Had some issues with the water (they were doing some work at the guest house to add another 5,000L tank, there have been water shortages in Maputo recently). But everything was fixed up and we were good to go. It was still a bit early so we had a beer on the patio, with a nice breeze blowing through.
Then onto JN 281. Their specialty is picanhna, a popular cut in Brasil but not so common back home in Toronto. We both ordered it. The owner, Pedro, came by to recommend wines. He was quite the character and wine connoisseur. We selected our wine, which he decanted and then came by every couple minutes to sniff to see if it had opened up yet. In the meantime, we were being served slices after slices of picanhna, cut super thin and medium rare. We were worried we would fill up before Pedro allowed us to drink the wine! Finally he gave up on the the bottle, and opened another pricier one (but for us, Pedro said, the same cost). Because this also had to breathe for five minutes, he suggested a caipirinha, to which we obliged. It took them almost five minutes to make the drinks, but never mind, it takes time to make a good drink from scratch. Eventually we had the wine with the picanhna, which went very well.
Somehow we still had room for dessert, a homemade chocolate mousse of a secret family recipe. It was excellent. We took a taxi home and rolled ourselves into bed, rather full from dinner.
Anyways we packed up and took a taxi to the airport, a short 3km drive from the centre of town. This was our only internal flight in Mozambique and the only option was LAM, of which I read unpleasant things about their reliability and cancelled flights. We arrived two hours before our flight, and were promptly and efficiently checked in. We boarded on time, and left the gate on schedule. Maybe we were lucky, or maybe you just can't trust everything you read on the web. We scored with the emergency exit row seats and lots of leg room. Flipped open their in-flight magazine and saw a feature article on Jardim de Aloes, where we had just stayed! Overall we were quite pleased with our LAM flight.
In Maputo the guest house had arranged for a taxi to pick us up and sure enough there was a driver with an Sr Erick Da Sousa sign waiting. From the air, I hadn't seen much traffic and it was a quick ten minute drive on good roads to Sommerschield Guest House, in an upscale residential area. We were greeted by Rita and Sylvia, who were great at making us feel at home. They opened the guest house because they wanted people visiting Maputo to have a home away from home.
They have a little restaurant open all day and so we had some lunch, and then headed out to tourist for the afternoon. Walked all the way into town down Av Julius Nyerere, about 4km. The architecture in Maputo is really cool - mostly designed and influenced by Pancho Guedes. The architecture is very distinctive and if I saw a picture of a random building I could likely guess if it was from Maputo.
We stopped in at JN 281 to check out the menu (based on their high rating in tripadvisor), made reservations, and then took a taxi back home. Had some issues with the water (they were doing some work at the guest house to add another 5,000L tank, there have been water shortages in Maputo recently). But everything was fixed up and we were good to go. It was still a bit early so we had a beer on the patio, with a nice breeze blowing through.
Then onto JN 281. Their specialty is picanhna, a popular cut in Brasil but not so common back home in Toronto. We both ordered it. The owner, Pedro, came by to recommend wines. He was quite the character and wine connoisseur. We selected our wine, which he decanted and then came by every couple minutes to sniff to see if it had opened up yet. In the meantime, we were being served slices after slices of picanhna, cut super thin and medium rare. We were worried we would fill up before Pedro allowed us to drink the wine! Finally he gave up on the the bottle, and opened another pricier one (but for us, Pedro said, the same cost). Because this also had to breathe for five minutes, he suggested a caipirinha, to which we obliged. It took them almost five minutes to make the drinks, but never mind, it takes time to make a good drink from scratch. Eventually we had the wine with the picanhna, which went very well.
Somehow we still had room for dessert, a homemade chocolate mousse of a secret family recipe. It was excellent. We took a taxi home and rolled ourselves into bed, rather full from dinner.
Monday, November 28, 2016
Nampula, Mozambique
We had another enjoyable breakfast at Jardim de Aloes wth Bruno and Judy. Judy gave us a tour of the other two rooms, which had cool antiques that she had collected over time. It's almost like they started the b&b to have somewhere to display all their art! They've also done a great job restoring the place - the old roof beams are hand-hewn from iron wood and are in great shape.
Our driver was waiting at 10am to drive us to Nampula, 2.5 hours from Ilha. We had arranged for him to drive us to see e highlights once in Nampula. We could have just walked around but it was the hottest part of the day.
We stopped first at the busy Sunday market, which had mostly local items for sale. There was a small area with souvenirs, but nothing special. We saw the Cathedral of Nossa Senhora de Fâtima from the outside. Then off to the National Ethnography museum. There was a small market behind the museum, which had better quality than the Sunday market. For a transit stop, it wasn't too bad of a town.
We arrived at Hotel Milénio about 3pm. I was a bit surprised that they had my reservation as they had been spotty with emails. We threw our stuff in our room and grabbed a snack in the hotel lobby (the main restaurant was only open until 3pm for lunch, we just a missed it). We then tried to have a beer, only to discover to our horror that the hotel was dry. This was not mentioned in the Lonely Planet.
So we just used the rather fast wifi to catch up on news.
It's a bit dangerous to walk around at night, so we had dinner in the hotel restaurant. It was mostly Indian food (there's a sizeable population of Indian descent in Nampula). Probably would have gone better with beer but as previously mentioned, the hotel is dry.
Our driver was waiting at 10am to drive us to Nampula, 2.5 hours from Ilha. We had arranged for him to drive us to see e highlights once in Nampula. We could have just walked around but it was the hottest part of the day.
We stopped first at the busy Sunday market, which had mostly local items for sale. There was a small area with souvenirs, but nothing special. We saw the Cathedral of Nossa Senhora de Fâtima from the outside. Then off to the National Ethnography museum. There was a small market behind the museum, which had better quality than the Sunday market. For a transit stop, it wasn't too bad of a town.
We arrived at Hotel Milénio about 3pm. I was a bit surprised that they had my reservation as they had been spotty with emails. We threw our stuff in our room and grabbed a snack in the hotel lobby (the main restaurant was only open until 3pm for lunch, we just a missed it). We then tried to have a beer, only to discover to our horror that the hotel was dry. This was not mentioned in the Lonely Planet.
So we just used the rather fast wifi to catch up on news.
It's a bit dangerous to walk around at night, so we had dinner in the hotel restaurant. It was mostly Indian food (there's a sizeable population of Indian descent in Nampula). Probably would have gone better with beer but as previously mentioned, the hotel is dry.
Sunday, November 27, 2016
Mozambique Island, Mozambique
Breakfast at Jardim de Aloes was on the mid-roof terrace, shaded by the large leaves of an old almond tree. We chatted with Bruno and Judy about our trip, places to see in Ilha (Portuguese for island, and shorthand for Mozambique Island), and restaurants to try and those to just have a coffee.
It was just after 10am by the time we started touring around Stone Town. There was hardly anyone about - probably because it's the hottest part of the day. The old alleys and buildings are cool to see, half of them in states of reconstruction. In five years or so Stone Town will look very different.
We zigzagged through Stone Town, stopping in at the one souvenir store to browse. (I'm sure the number of stores will change too as tourism increases).
By noon we were tired from the heat, and stopped in at Anchor d'Ouro for pizza. Whiled away a couple hours sipping on lime drinks. We thought about a coffee but the power was out so they couldn't run the machine.
We walked back home to wait until 3pm for the cooler air to wander around the rest of Stone Town. There was a wedding somewhere in Ilha and we saw cars decked out in tissue paper flowers, and women in bright red dresses.
Had a beer in the hostel across the street from our hotel, and then went to our rooftop terrace to watch the sunset.
We debated trying another restaurant for dinner, but ended up at Karibu again. Had their tuna with sesame seeds which was the highlight, and a couple other dishes.
We watched the stars from our rooftop terrace after dinner. The wifi was finally working so I posted some pics.
It was just after 10am by the time we started touring around Stone Town. There was hardly anyone about - probably because it's the hottest part of the day. The old alleys and buildings are cool to see, half of them in states of reconstruction. In five years or so Stone Town will look very different.
We zigzagged through Stone Town, stopping in at the one souvenir store to browse. (I'm sure the number of stores will change too as tourism increases).
By noon we were tired from the heat, and stopped in at Anchor d'Ouro for pizza. Whiled away a couple hours sipping on lime drinks. We thought about a coffee but the power was out so they couldn't run the machine.
We walked back home to wait until 3pm for the cooler air to wander around the rest of Stone Town. There was a wedding somewhere in Ilha and we saw cars decked out in tissue paper flowers, and women in bright red dresses.
Had a beer in the hostel across the street from our hotel, and then went to our rooftop terrace to watch the sunset.
We debated trying another restaurant for dinner, but ended up at Karibu again. Had their tuna with sesame seeds which was the highlight, and a couple other dishes.
We watched the stars from our rooftop terrace after dinner. The wifi was finally working so I posted some pics.
Saturday, November 26, 2016
Mozambique Island, Mozambique
We had arranged for a dhow back to Mozambique Island at 2pm, so had a relaxing morning. Packed up our bags which had become more strewn about than normal cause we had had four nights here, plus there was lots of space to spread out. Had lunch, and then boarded the dhow. It was full tide so the dhow was able to come all the way up to the lagoon, and we didn't need to wade through water to board.
Our stay at Coral Lodge included a day trip to the Island, so we had a guide for the afternoon courtesy of Coral Lodge. We docked, and has our bags taken to Jardim de Aloes, owned by a friendly Italian named Bruno. A couple minutes later our guide (Eddie) arrived and we rushed off on our tour.
We quickly saw the Palace of São Paulo and the Fort of São Sebastião. Our guide explained the dark history of slavery with Mozambique Island. There's two colours of rocks used to build the fort - the black coral rock was cut out by slaves from the southern part of the island. That area (Makuti Town) is the poorer half, which floods during rainy season due to the digging out of all the rocks. The lighter coloured rocks were brought from Portugal as ballast for empty ships coming to pick up slaves.
After the Fort we walked through the alleys and streets of Stone Town, and then through Makuti Town. The contrast is quite obvious. We reached the southern point (the island is about 3km long) just in time for the sunset.
By the time we walked back to our hotel we were pretty much done for the day.
Our room at Jardim de Aloes was filled with really cool antiques. My end table was an old safe. It was almost like staying in a museum!
Bruno had recommended Karibu's for dinner, and gave directions - left, right, right, follow the road with the archways, take the fork to the right, pass through two pillars, and you're there.
It was a great little Portuguese restaurant, in a centuries old building with original floors and 20' ceilings. The food was excellent - we split two appetizers and two mains which was too much food but we wanted to try everything.
Walked back home (the alleys are really beautiful at night), and fell asleep.
Our stay at Coral Lodge included a day trip to the Island, so we had a guide for the afternoon courtesy of Coral Lodge. We docked, and has our bags taken to Jardim de Aloes, owned by a friendly Italian named Bruno. A couple minutes later our guide (Eddie) arrived and we rushed off on our tour.
We quickly saw the Palace of São Paulo and the Fort of São Sebastião. Our guide explained the dark history of slavery with Mozambique Island. There's two colours of rocks used to build the fort - the black coral rock was cut out by slaves from the southern part of the island. That area (Makuti Town) is the poorer half, which floods during rainy season due to the digging out of all the rocks. The lighter coloured rocks were brought from Portugal as ballast for empty ships coming to pick up slaves.
After the Fort we walked through the alleys and streets of Stone Town, and then through Makuti Town. The contrast is quite obvious. We reached the southern point (the island is about 3km long) just in time for the sunset.
By the time we walked back to our hotel we were pretty much done for the day.
Our room at Jardim de Aloes was filled with really cool antiques. My end table was an old safe. It was almost like staying in a museum!
Bruno had recommended Karibu's for dinner, and gave directions - left, right, right, follow the road with the archways, take the fork to the right, pass through two pillars, and you're there.
It was a great little Portuguese restaurant, in a centuries old building with original floors and 20' ceilings. The food was excellent - we split two appetizers and two mains which was too much food but we wanted to try everything.
Walked back home (the alleys are really beautiful at night), and fell asleep.
Friday, November 25, 2016
Cabaceira Pequena, Mozambique
The hottest part of the day is between breakfast and lunch so we relaxed in our villa, watching dhows pass by on the water, a nice breeze going through the open windows.
After lunch we were restless so decided to try to walk to the point closest to Mozambique Island, where we could see a big baobab tree. On google maps I could see a foot path the whole way so it didn't seem too complicated. We asked the manager if it was dangerous and she said it was okay, but preferred if we went with a guide from the lodge. She also provided aqua shoes as we had to cross the lagoon.
We started out at 3pm, feeling a little silly having a guide carrying water for us for what we figured was a 30 minute round trip. The guide set out at a quick pace, and we were at the 400-year old baobab tree in about 15 minutes. Then the guide continued on, more inland thorough grasses, then back to the shoreline. We passed by piles of rocks and wood which the locals use to dry out the white rocks, which are ground down and used for whitewashing walls.
We eventually arrived at the village of Cabaceira Pequena, pop. 1,600. Our guide (and most of the staff) are from the village. We walked down the main road, seeing village life as it has existed for centuries. Saw women getting water from the well just outside town. There were four mosques, a hospital, and a primary school. On the way back to the resort, we passed by a soccer game which half the village was watching from the sidelines. It was two teams from the village, teenagers, who were really good. We stopped to watch for a couple minutes, during which one team made a substitution and by the time they changed shirts (they only have 11 shirts for each team) we had left to get back before sunset.
It was really cool to see the village, and the two hour walk was much more than we had planned.
We cleaned up and went to the main lodge for dinner. We had the "Mozambique special" which was rice and five different curries. It was okay. They ran out of our favourite, the prawn curry. We had a last beer at Coral Lodge and then headed off to bed.
After lunch we were restless so decided to try to walk to the point closest to Mozambique Island, where we could see a big baobab tree. On google maps I could see a foot path the whole way so it didn't seem too complicated. We asked the manager if it was dangerous and she said it was okay, but preferred if we went with a guide from the lodge. She also provided aqua shoes as we had to cross the lagoon.
We started out at 3pm, feeling a little silly having a guide carrying water for us for what we figured was a 30 minute round trip. The guide set out at a quick pace, and we were at the 400-year old baobab tree in about 15 minutes. Then the guide continued on, more inland thorough grasses, then back to the shoreline. We passed by piles of rocks and wood which the locals use to dry out the white rocks, which are ground down and used for whitewashing walls.
We eventually arrived at the village of Cabaceira Pequena, pop. 1,600. Our guide (and most of the staff) are from the village. We walked down the main road, seeing village life as it has existed for centuries. Saw women getting water from the well just outside town. There were four mosques, a hospital, and a primary school. On the way back to the resort, we passed by a soccer game which half the village was watching from the sidelines. It was two teams from the village, teenagers, who were really good. We stopped to watch for a couple minutes, during which one team made a substitution and by the time they changed shirts (they only have 11 shirts for each team) we had left to get back before sunset.
It was really cool to see the village, and the two hour walk was much more than we had planned.
We cleaned up and went to the main lodge for dinner. We had the "Mozambique special" which was rice and five different curries. It was okay. They ran out of our favourite, the prawn curry. We had a last beer at Coral Lodge and then headed off to bed.
Wednesday, November 23, 2016
Cabaceira Pequena, Mozambique
We woke up jetlagged at 4am, Heather wandered out to the deck facing the ocean to watch the sunrise at 4:30am. (We're at the eastern end of the time zone, the sun is up from 4:30am - 5:30pm). It was cloudy so it just got brighter but no colours. It was very surreal to watch in our tired state.
We fell back asleep until 8am or so and then went to the main lodge for breakfast. The food was great again, although the tea was disappointing, maybe cause our last trip was to Sri Lanka. Heather said the coffee was good though.
We didn't do much until lunch, adjusting to the heat and the time. Then more eating. It was a seafood stew, with lobster, calamari, shrimp, fish. Way too much food but very tasty. I added a little homemade piri piri sauce, which was too hot for me.
After lunch we tried snorkeling up the lagoon but the tide wasn't high enough and so we gave up. The snorkeling gear was brand new, the best I've ever used.
I walked down the beach and tried not to step into the crab holes. The holes are ginormous here, about 4" diameter. The crabs come out of their holes with sand, scoot sideways like in the cartoons, dump the sand, and then scoot back in. Very entertaining. There were also the most interesting shells I've ever seen. I'll have to post a pic of our collection.
Dinner was a choice between seafood and something else. We went with seafood, getting our fill while on the coast.
...
Today we had a little excursion to a nearby island. We tried more snorkeling near the island, but the visibility was bad, so didn't try for long. Had a pretty picnic lunch on the island. It's supposedly one of the highlights of a stay at Coral Lodge. The staff do a great job, but it's just not our thing. It was interesting enough though, and the shells on the beach were even cooler.
Came back home in the dhow, relaxed, cleaned up, and we're just having a cocktail before dinner. There's no wind today, and so a million mosquitoes. The hotel gave us bug spray which we used liberally. There's other guests that arrived today so we no longer have the place to ourselves, it's okay though, I tipped the maître d' so we have the best table :)
We fell back asleep until 8am or so and then went to the main lodge for breakfast. The food was great again, although the tea was disappointing, maybe cause our last trip was to Sri Lanka. Heather said the coffee was good though.
We didn't do much until lunch, adjusting to the heat and the time. Then more eating. It was a seafood stew, with lobster, calamari, shrimp, fish. Way too much food but very tasty. I added a little homemade piri piri sauce, which was too hot for me.
After lunch we tried snorkeling up the lagoon but the tide wasn't high enough and so we gave up. The snorkeling gear was brand new, the best I've ever used.
I walked down the beach and tried not to step into the crab holes. The holes are ginormous here, about 4" diameter. The crabs come out of their holes with sand, scoot sideways like in the cartoons, dump the sand, and then scoot back in. Very entertaining. There were also the most interesting shells I've ever seen. I'll have to post a pic of our collection.
Dinner was a choice between seafood and something else. We went with seafood, getting our fill while on the coast.
...
Today we had a little excursion to a nearby island. We tried more snorkeling near the island, but the visibility was bad, so didn't try for long. Had a pretty picnic lunch on the island. It's supposedly one of the highlights of a stay at Coral Lodge. The staff do a great job, but it's just not our thing. It was interesting enough though, and the shells on the beach were even cooler.
Came back home in the dhow, relaxed, cleaned up, and we're just having a cocktail before dinner. There's no wind today, and so a million mosquitoes. The hotel gave us bug spray which we used liberally. There's other guests that arrived today so we no longer have the place to ourselves, it's okay though, I tipped the maître d' so we have the best table :)
Tuesday, November 22, 2016
Cabaceira Pequena, Mozambique
We finally reached Coral Lodge in Mozambique, 39 hours after we left Toronto. We were trying to figure out if it's the most distant place (time-wise) of all the places we've visited. Without doing all the math, it's up there.
We flew Toronto- Amsterdam- Johannesburg on KLM. The first leg was on an older plane and it was funny to watch everyone trying to use touch gestures on a non-touch screen. There were auto-massage booths at Schipol (€2 for five minutes) that were great. I would have extended my massage but was trapped by the chair and couldn't reach to tap to pay with my iPhone in time.
We stayed overnight in Johannesburg at Sunrock Guesthouse near the airport. The next morning we were back at OR Tambo Intl to catch our flight to Nampula in northern Mozambique. The check-in and departure was really quick, and we were on our way!
The bureaucracy was very structured on arrival. We had to show our Yellow Fever certificate before even entering the airport. The immigration official very closely checked our facial features to make sure it matched our passport pics.
The Coral Lodge driver was waiting at arrivals for us. We tried to get meticals from the ATM but the machine wanted a 6-digit PIN so it didn't work. Oh well. We had USD and rand so we were okay for cash.
It's a tight schedule to get to Coral Lodge from Nampula in the same day as the plane arrives with just enough time to drive to Mozambique Island (2.5 hours) and then cross back to the mainland by dhow (30 minutes) before it gets dark.
The road from Nampula to Mozambique Island is the best paved road in the country. There was a little notebook in the car with the background of each town we drove through. Saw lots for sale along the roadside - grass bundles for thatched roofs, sacks of charcoal, cashew fruit.
The bridge to Mozambique Island is a single-lane road. Every 500m or so there's a place to pullover and allow opposing traffic to pass. The full Mozambique Island is a UNESCO heritage site and it looked really cool as we drove through. We have a couple days here later on to explore.
We reached the north end of the island where we transferred to a dhow. There's no pier or anything, we just rolled up our pants and waded through knee-deep water to board. The water was calm and the sun was just setting as we navigated the sand bars at low tide.
We reached Coral Lodge a few minutes after sunset. We waded into shore while the staff picked up our bags and carried them to our room. We're the only guests right now (there's 10 villas, so it's not busy even when full). We have the entire beach to ourselves which fades into the distance on both sides.
We cleaned up and went to the main lodge for dinner. It was a three-course meal, all very excellent. First was calamari, freshly caught that day. Then a half-lobster each, which was so big we didn't even finish it. Dessert was panacotta, wrapped in a thin shell of fresh mango. Mmm good. A very enjoyable start to our vacation!
We flew Toronto- Amsterdam- Johannesburg on KLM. The first leg was on an older plane and it was funny to watch everyone trying to use touch gestures on a non-touch screen. There were auto-massage booths at Schipol (€2 for five minutes) that were great. I would have extended my massage but was trapped by the chair and couldn't reach to tap to pay with my iPhone in time.
We stayed overnight in Johannesburg at Sunrock Guesthouse near the airport. The next morning we were back at OR Tambo Intl to catch our flight to Nampula in northern Mozambique. The check-in and departure was really quick, and we were on our way!
The bureaucracy was very structured on arrival. We had to show our Yellow Fever certificate before even entering the airport. The immigration official very closely checked our facial features to make sure it matched our passport pics.
The Coral Lodge driver was waiting at arrivals for us. We tried to get meticals from the ATM but the machine wanted a 6-digit PIN so it didn't work. Oh well. We had USD and rand so we were okay for cash.
It's a tight schedule to get to Coral Lodge from Nampula in the same day as the plane arrives with just enough time to drive to Mozambique Island (2.5 hours) and then cross back to the mainland by dhow (30 minutes) before it gets dark.
The road from Nampula to Mozambique Island is the best paved road in the country. There was a little notebook in the car with the background of each town we drove through. Saw lots for sale along the roadside - grass bundles for thatched roofs, sacks of charcoal, cashew fruit.
The bridge to Mozambique Island is a single-lane road. Every 500m or so there's a place to pullover and allow opposing traffic to pass. The full Mozambique Island is a UNESCO heritage site and it looked really cool as we drove through. We have a couple days here later on to explore.
We reached the north end of the island where we transferred to a dhow. There's no pier or anything, we just rolled up our pants and waded through knee-deep water to board. The water was calm and the sun was just setting as we navigated the sand bars at low tide.
We reached Coral Lodge a few minutes after sunset. We waded into shore while the staff picked up our bags and carried them to our room. We're the only guests right now (there's 10 villas, so it's not busy even when full). We have the entire beach to ourselves which fades into the distance on both sides.
We cleaned up and went to the main lodge for dinner. It was a three-course meal, all very excellent. First was calamari, freshly caught that day. Then a half-lobster each, which was so big we didn't even finish it. Dessert was panacotta, wrapped in a thin shell of fresh mango. Mmm good. A very enjoyable start to our vacation!
Saturday, November 12, 2016
Toronto, Canada
We're off to southeastern Africa for six weeks to see Mozambique, Victoria Falls, safaris, and trekking in Lesotho. We didn't think we'd be back on safari so soon (we were in Uganda three years ago), but on our last couple trips we've met a few people who have really liked Mozambique, and so the trip was planned around that.
The Mozambique visa was one of the more laborious visas that I've applied for. There's no consulate in Canada, so we had to FedEx our passports with return envelope (I would have said couriered, but the instructions specified FedEx) to the Mozambique embassy in Washington, with proof of flights, hotels, 2 photos, and a money order payable to the embassy. I wasn't sure how to declare the contents on the FedEx site (to send across the border) as there's a dropdown with dozens of options including a birth certificate, but no passport. I think I selected personal items. The embassy processed our request rather quickly, and within three days we had our passports back with a nice looking full-page visa sticker.
In South Africa we're renting a car for almost three weeks. Car rentals are pretty cheap there, about $20 / day. Almost half of that is for the GPS! It's left drive in South Africa, and I've rented a standard, so it will be a little different. I have driven stick in England for a couple days, and didn't run into anything, so we should be okay.
Our friend Marissa and her friend Nancy are joining us for a couple weeks for the safaris in South Africa and Swaziland. You may remember Marissa from some of our previous trips. In Swaziland we're hoping to see rhinos at Mkhaya Game Reserve. The accommodations are a little freaky -- the walls on the cottages are only about waist-high, with the rest open to the outside!
Victoria Falls is the last of the big four waterfalls that have been on my list forever (the others being Niagara, Angel Falls, and Iguazu). There's others that have added to list over time, such as Kaiteur Falls and Gullfoss, but it started with those four because they were marked on the world map I had at the time. Victoria Falls is at low-flow while we're there which means we can swim in Devil's Pool, overlooking the falls. We're staying in both the Zimbabwe and Zambia sides of the falls (or Zim and Zam, as the guide books call it), so we'll get to a total of six countries this trip.
The Mozambique visa was one of the more laborious visas that I've applied for. There's no consulate in Canada, so we had to FedEx our passports with return envelope (I would have said couriered, but the instructions specified FedEx) to the Mozambique embassy in Washington, with proof of flights, hotels, 2 photos, and a money order payable to the embassy. I wasn't sure how to declare the contents on the FedEx site (to send across the border) as there's a dropdown with dozens of options including a birth certificate, but no passport. I think I selected personal items. The embassy processed our request rather quickly, and within three days we had our passports back with a nice looking full-page visa sticker.
In South Africa we're renting a car for almost three weeks. Car rentals are pretty cheap there, about $20 / day. Almost half of that is for the GPS! It's left drive in South Africa, and I've rented a standard, so it will be a little different. I have driven stick in England for a couple days, and didn't run into anything, so we should be okay.
Our friend Marissa and her friend Nancy are joining us for a couple weeks for the safaris in South Africa and Swaziland. You may remember Marissa from some of our previous trips. In Swaziland we're hoping to see rhinos at Mkhaya Game Reserve. The accommodations are a little freaky -- the walls on the cottages are only about waist-high, with the rest open to the outside!
Victoria Falls is the last of the big four waterfalls that have been on my list forever (the others being Niagara, Angel Falls, and Iguazu). There's others that have added to list over time, such as Kaiteur Falls and Gullfoss, but it started with those four because they were marked on the world map I had at the time. Victoria Falls is at low-flow while we're there which means we can swim in Devil's Pool, overlooking the falls. We're staying in both the Zimbabwe and Zambia sides of the falls (or Zim and Zam, as the guide books call it), so we'll get to a total of six countries this trip.
Wednesday, December 30, 2015
Toronto, Canada
So we're finally home after nine weeks traveling through Myanmar, Bhutan and Sri Lanka! It was our longest trip together so far. Each leg was unique, and having Bhutan in the middle varied the climates too.
Myanmar has amazing sights. Bagan is one of the coolest things to see in the world (#2 on my list), in my opinion, topped only by Machu Picchu. Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon made it in at #16, so it was quite the start to our trip. The food on the other hand was disappointing -- it was very heavy, as Burmese like to cook with lots and lots of oil. We were lucky to be able to stay at Macleod Island off the southern tip of Myanmar in the Andaman Sea. This area was previously off-limits to tourists, but now it's possible to visit. It's off the beaten path right now, but that will change quickly. Tourist infrastructure is coming along here -- we used ATMs in all the tourist places, and mid-range accommodation is more readily available around the country (unlike say Jordan, where there's maybe 3 cities with midrange hotels). Wifi was pretty good in almost all the places we stayed at. Cheap domestic flights make it easy to get around -- we either flew or took boats on the Irrawady to get between cities.
Bhutan was exactly how I had pictured it. Tiger's Nest was really cool to see, although I enjoyed even more the five days on the Druk Path trek, and the dzong in Punakha. Having a full-time guide turned out to be not so bad, and in fact is a great way for Bhutan to teach visitors about the history and culture of their country. Out of the three countries we visited this trip, Bhutan is the one you should visit now before it changes. Bhutan has historically followed a "high value low impact" strategy, but the National Council is debating dropping the tariff for international visitors. So I think the low number of tourists, which was one of the main attractions for us, will soon change. There were 68K international tourists in 2014 (up from 38K in 2011), and in addition 65K regional tourists who are exempt from the tariff. fyi if you are thinking of going to Bhutan, you should read the Bhutan Tourism Monitor's annual report, it's really useful for trip planning. In terms of infrastructure, we were able to use ATMs and there was decent wifi at all the hotels. The food was really good, and very spicy (chilies are a main ingredient in some dishes!), but all the restaurants can tone it down for tourists. We got accustomed (a little) to the spiciness and found other food bland afterwards without the chilies.
Sri Lanka has a little bit of everything -- ruins, beaches, diving, colonial towns, trekking, safari. There's lots of boutique hotels, more so in the south. I was very surprised at the ruins -- Polonnaruwa was amazing, up there with other ruins in the world. ATMs and wifi were everywhere.
From a technology standpoint, fast wifi is now so ubiquitous that I was able to upload all my outtakes as we went (average of about 100 pics a day). Another change on this trip was downloadable Google Maps (I know it was possible previously to download maps from 3rd parties, but it's much easier in Google Maps). So now, when we look at the map while walking about, we don't attract the attention of every local as we used to when pulling out the guide book to look at the map.
We started thinking about our next trip on the flight home. It will likely be food-based -- maybe Argentina (there's lots to Argentina that we haven't yet seen). Anyways, I'm sure we'll change our minds about 10 times before we settle on a place. Until then!
Myanmar has amazing sights. Bagan is one of the coolest things to see in the world (#2 on my list), in my opinion, topped only by Machu Picchu. Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon made it in at #16, so it was quite the start to our trip. The food on the other hand was disappointing -- it was very heavy, as Burmese like to cook with lots and lots of oil. We were lucky to be able to stay at Macleod Island off the southern tip of Myanmar in the Andaman Sea. This area was previously off-limits to tourists, but now it's possible to visit. It's off the beaten path right now, but that will change quickly. Tourist infrastructure is coming along here -- we used ATMs in all the tourist places, and mid-range accommodation is more readily available around the country (unlike say Jordan, where there's maybe 3 cities with midrange hotels). Wifi was pretty good in almost all the places we stayed at. Cheap domestic flights make it easy to get around -- we either flew or took boats on the Irrawady to get between cities.
Bhutan was exactly how I had pictured it. Tiger's Nest was really cool to see, although I enjoyed even more the five days on the Druk Path trek, and the dzong in Punakha. Having a full-time guide turned out to be not so bad, and in fact is a great way for Bhutan to teach visitors about the history and culture of their country. Out of the three countries we visited this trip, Bhutan is the one you should visit now before it changes. Bhutan has historically followed a "high value low impact" strategy, but the National Council is debating dropping the tariff for international visitors. So I think the low number of tourists, which was one of the main attractions for us, will soon change. There were 68K international tourists in 2014 (up from 38K in 2011), and in addition 65K regional tourists who are exempt from the tariff. fyi if you are thinking of going to Bhutan, you should read the Bhutan Tourism Monitor's annual report, it's really useful for trip planning. In terms of infrastructure, we were able to use ATMs and there was decent wifi at all the hotels. The food was really good, and very spicy (chilies are a main ingredient in some dishes!), but all the restaurants can tone it down for tourists. We got accustomed (a little) to the spiciness and found other food bland afterwards without the chilies.
Sri Lanka has a little bit of everything -- ruins, beaches, diving, colonial towns, trekking, safari. There's lots of boutique hotels, more so in the south. I was very surprised at the ruins -- Polonnaruwa was amazing, up there with other ruins in the world. ATMs and wifi were everywhere.
From a technology standpoint, fast wifi is now so ubiquitous that I was able to upload all my outtakes as we went (average of about 100 pics a day). Another change on this trip was downloadable Google Maps (I know it was possible previously to download maps from 3rd parties, but it's much easier in Google Maps). So now, when we look at the map while walking about, we don't attract the attention of every local as we used to when pulling out the guide book to look at the map.
We started thinking about our next trip on the flight home. It will likely be food-based -- maybe Argentina (there's lots to Argentina that we haven't yet seen). Anyways, I'm sure we'll change our minds about 10 times before we settle on a place. Until then!
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