Sunny London
On Lake Victoria
Frolicking fillies in the fall
The Rock
Even the Royals seem to have suffered from the finanical crisis.
Does anyone have a napkin?
Ballooning in the Serengeti
The orange rocket bus
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Random Photos
Sunny London On Lake Victoria Frolicking fillies in the fall The Rock Even the Royals seem to have suffered from the finanical crisis.Does anyone have a napkin? Ballooning in the Serengeti
London and the end of Africa
We are once again back in the departure lounge looking forward to another 11 hours jammed in an aeroplane, this time on our way to Rio. London has been great although I am sure Rosie and Lance will be happy to have their house back again and some peace and quiet for a while. In 5 days here we managed to squeeze in quite a lot, several days in downtown London, a day in the country, a parade at Windsor Castle yesterday, the Lion King Show in the west end, about 50 beers and too many bottles of wine…..
The Lion King was amazing. No other word for it. Being a good colonial bumpkin I’ve never seen a big stage production and it blew me away. I had no idea it was possible to do something so complex on stage. Awesome! Quite an impressive parade at Windsor Castle yesterday too – a dress rehearsal for the Prime Minister of India’s visit in a few days time. Lot of cavalry, troops, marching bands, coppers, horse poo and elderly people looking confused. Entertaining to watch the young troops on parade fainting after an hour or so of not moving. Was a bit worried as they all had bayonets fixed and I thought someone was going to get skewered if they fell the wrong way.
It would have been nice to have a bit longer here as there are still quite a few things we didn’t get the chance to check out, but we’ll be back I’m sure.
Having now survived our three months in Africa I feel qualified to offer some travel advice to other would be explorers of the Dark Continent and answer some commonly asked questions.
Q: How much luggage can I take?
A: If you can lift it you can take it. Even if you can’t lift it, you can pay someone who can. Unless you routinely travel with a 20kg bag of maize, 4 chickens, a goat, a large mattress and a broken television you’ll be fine. Any more than that and you will struggle to fit it all on one seat with you.
Q: Are there any specific road rules I should be aware of in Africa?
A: There is only actually one road rule in Africa, and that is that the other vehicle always gives way. Just remember that you have right of way at all times. This applies no matter what and supersedes all other road rules such as traffic lights, roundabouts, lane markings or other signage. This rule applies equally to all vehicles. Should another driver forget that you have right of way, he can be reminded by vigorously flashing you lights and repeatedly sounding your horn to let him know that he should get out of the way. Importantly, new drivers must also understand that regardless of lane markings there are always five lanes on every road. The outer lane in each direction is reserved for slow moving vehicles (donkey carts, tractors, pushbikes carrying coffins, exceptionally decrepit vehicles etc). Inside this there is a second lane in each direction used by normal vehicles and trucks busses (and faster donkey carts). In the centre of the road is a single lane available for use by exceptionally fast and impatient traffic going in either direction. Should you encounter a vehicle coming the other way in the centre lane, remember rule 1. Driving in the centre lane is most successful if you have a manic look in your eye, an old and smashed up vehicle which proves just how far you will go to enforce your right of way and a horn that plays a loud and annoying tune.
Q: How should I pack my livestock before boarding a bus?
A: It is generally considered impolite to allow your animals to run around the cabin of the bus so they should be at least partially restrained. Chickens can be placed in the overhead lockers, or under the seat in font of you. Goats are generally better checked in as they don’t fit so well in the overhead locker.
Q: Is this where we saw those lions yesterday sitting on all those rocks?
A: No, because there are no rocks here.
Q: Why are that elephant’s legs a different colour?
A: They are wet.
Q: Why is that zebra reddish looking?
A: It is dirty.
Q: Is that a zebra?
A: If it has horns and no stripes, probably not.
Q: Will we see a tiger?
A: Unlikely.
Anyway, I hope that is helpful. I need to go and check in my goat for the flight to Rio now, so that’s all we have time for today.
The Lion King was amazing. No other word for it. Being a good colonial bumpkin I’ve never seen a big stage production and it blew me away. I had no idea it was possible to do something so complex on stage. Awesome! Quite an impressive parade at Windsor Castle yesterday too – a dress rehearsal for the Prime Minister of India’s visit in a few days time. Lot of cavalry, troops, marching bands, coppers, horse poo and elderly people looking confused. Entertaining to watch the young troops on parade fainting after an hour or so of not moving. Was a bit worried as they all had bayonets fixed and I thought someone was going to get skewered if they fell the wrong way.
It would have been nice to have a bit longer here as there are still quite a few things we didn’t get the chance to check out, but we’ll be back I’m sure.
Having now survived our three months in Africa I feel qualified to offer some travel advice to other would be explorers of the Dark Continent and answer some commonly asked questions.
Q: How much luggage can I take?
A: If you can lift it you can take it. Even if you can’t lift it, you can pay someone who can. Unless you routinely travel with a 20kg bag of maize, 4 chickens, a goat, a large mattress and a broken television you’ll be fine. Any more than that and you will struggle to fit it all on one seat with you.
Q: Are there any specific road rules I should be aware of in Africa?
A: There is only actually one road rule in Africa, and that is that the other vehicle always gives way. Just remember that you have right of way at all times. This applies no matter what and supersedes all other road rules such as traffic lights, roundabouts, lane markings or other signage. This rule applies equally to all vehicles. Should another driver forget that you have right of way, he can be reminded by vigorously flashing you lights and repeatedly sounding your horn to let him know that he should get out of the way. Importantly, new drivers must also understand that regardless of lane markings there are always five lanes on every road. The outer lane in each direction is reserved for slow moving vehicles (donkey carts, tractors, pushbikes carrying coffins, exceptionally decrepit vehicles etc). Inside this there is a second lane in each direction used by normal vehicles and trucks busses (and faster donkey carts). In the centre of the road is a single lane available for use by exceptionally fast and impatient traffic going in either direction. Should you encounter a vehicle coming the other way in the centre lane, remember rule 1. Driving in the centre lane is most successful if you have a manic look in your eye, an old and smashed up vehicle which proves just how far you will go to enforce your right of way and a horn that plays a loud and annoying tune.
Q: How should I pack my livestock before boarding a bus?
A: It is generally considered impolite to allow your animals to run around the cabin of the bus so they should be at least partially restrained. Chickens can be placed in the overhead lockers, or under the seat in font of you. Goats are generally better checked in as they don’t fit so well in the overhead locker.
Q: Is this where we saw those lions yesterday sitting on all those rocks?
A: No, because there are no rocks here.
Q: Why are that elephant’s legs a different colour?
A: They are wet.
Q: Why is that zebra reddish looking?
A: It is dirty.
Q: Is that a zebra?
A: If it has horns and no stripes, probably not.
Q: Will we see a tiger?
A: Unlikely.
Anyway, I hope that is helpful. I need to go and check in my goat for the flight to Rio now, so that’s all we have time for today.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
To hell and back
Kakamega Forest Reserve was lovely, although really only a tiny fragment of the vast rainforest which used to stretch from Kenya, across Uganda and into the Congo. Mostly these days it is all tea plantations and corn fields. Whilst our walk in the rainforest was great, the journey there and back was more entertaining. The only way to Kakamega was to catch the local matatus (mini-vans) about 1.5 hours each way. As usual we were presented with a selection of decrepit vans in which you have to sit and wait at the station until they are full before they depart. In this instance it didn’t take too long, at least less than an hour this time…. In the end though we made it there and back again with no problems, but saw a variety of entertaining things from a chap carting a pair of severed cows heads along the side of road, a shiny new coffin strapped to the carrier of someone’s pushbike (he looked a bit wobbly but was managing to ride it), a mysterious matatu shuffle which caused lots of Swahili arguments as people were kicked out of ours and put in another (no idea what was going on) and were kept company by a box of cheeping chickens. It is lovely here how attached people are to their pets and you often see them taking them on trips with them, chickens squawking with joy and excitement at the adventure off being stuffed in the cargo compartment/over head rack of the bus or goats wriggling with enthusiasm at getting taken for a ride in a box on the back of someone’s pushbike (all the while being securely tied down to make sure they are comfortable and can’t fall off and injure themselves).
The day after our Kakamega adventure we went “fishing” on Lake Victoria – which was really boating. Our fishing guides assured us they knew what they were doing, but I suspect otherwise. After securing a few small catfish from the local fishermen for live-bait we were taken to a “deep” section of the lake where we trolled around for a while. I managed to hook 3 fishing nets, but no fish. Never a good sign when the lake is full of old nets which will still be killing fish long after they have ceased to be used. We then decided to try the live bait as I was getting sick of untangling lures. Apparently the preferred technique is to put the hook through the tail of the catfish and then troll it around flapping on the surface while it quickly drowns. I suggested that perhaps that wasn’t the most effective use of live bait, retrieved them whilst they were only half dead (about 30 seconds), added a weight and sent them to the bottom. Unsurprisingly (given the confused look I got when I asked if there was a reason we were fishing in that particular location) we didn’t manage to catch anything on our not-so-lively live baits. Never the less it was good to get out on the water and we had a very interesting chat with our wannabe fishing guide whilst we waited to hook another discarded fishing net.
From Kisumu we headed to Nakuru for a night before continuing on to Naivasha where we are now and spending today visiting the Hell’s Gate National Park. Hell’s Gate is an interesting park with volcanic steam issuing from the hillsides and narrow steep gorges to explore (with the compulsory guide….). We were also able to hire mountain bikes and go for a bit of a ride (although I got a flat tyre so it turned into a push instead). Apparently some scenes from Tomb Raider II were filmed in the park along with scenes from selection of other Hollywood films.
We are in Naivasha tonight, before heading to Nairobi tomorrow and flying out for London on Sunday night to sponge off Rosie and Lance and bore them with endless travel stories and photos. They can’t wait.
The day after our Kakamega adventure we went “fishing” on Lake Victoria – which was really boating. Our fishing guides assured us they knew what they were doing, but I suspect otherwise. After securing a few small catfish from the local fishermen for live-bait we were taken to a “deep” section of the lake where we trolled around for a while. I managed to hook 3 fishing nets, but no fish. Never a good sign when the lake is full of old nets which will still be killing fish long after they have ceased to be used. We then decided to try the live bait as I was getting sick of untangling lures. Apparently the preferred technique is to put the hook through the tail of the catfish and then troll it around flapping on the surface while it quickly drowns. I suggested that perhaps that wasn’t the most effective use of live bait, retrieved them whilst they were only half dead (about 30 seconds), added a weight and sent them to the bottom. Unsurprisingly (given the confused look I got when I asked if there was a reason we were fishing in that particular location) we didn’t manage to catch anything on our not-so-lively live baits. Never the less it was good to get out on the water and we had a very interesting chat with our wannabe fishing guide whilst we waited to hook another discarded fishing net.
From Kisumu we headed to Nakuru for a night before continuing on to Naivasha where we are now and spending today visiting the Hell’s Gate National Park. Hell’s Gate is an interesting park with volcanic steam issuing from the hillsides and narrow steep gorges to explore (with the compulsory guide….). We were also able to hire mountain bikes and go for a bit of a ride (although I got a flat tyre so it turned into a push instead). Apparently some scenes from Tomb Raider II were filmed in the park along with scenes from selection of other Hollywood films.
We are in Naivasha tonight, before heading to Nairobi tomorrow and flying out for London on Sunday night to sponge off Rosie and Lance and bore them with endless travel stories and photos. They can’t wait.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Malindi and Lamu Island
Mombasa to Malindi was an easy couple of hours on the bus and we found ourselves an aging hotel which would have been nicer before the pool went green and the ceiling went mouldy and fell in. Those things aside it was still ok for a few days. It took nearly 3 months, but I finally succumbed to a decent case of the crook guts so was feeling a bit tender and not up for much so we just bummed around the resort for the afternoon, no pun intended. The following day we visited the Gede ruins – the remains of a Swahili town from the 1200s. Quite interesting site and reasonably well preserved for the age. I tried valiantly to do the tour on our own but eventually gave in (no doubt due to my still weakened condition) and accepted the services of a guide for a few $$. As it turned it he was pretty good and quite entertaining.
From Malindi we took the bus another 4 hours north to Lamu Island. As Lamu is getting a little close to Somalia (only 50km away as it turned out) so we questioned a few people about security before we left and were assured there are no problems, hakuna matata. There were no problems, but that may be due to armed military escort that we picked up shortly after we left Malindi. As always with an armed escort you are never sure if you should be glad to have them along, or concerned by the fact that they are required! By the time we reached Lamu I was more concerned about getting off the bus as the windows were jammed shut, the road dusty and the climate definitely tropical....
Lamu Island was a highlight of our trip. There are (almost) no cars on the island and the only transport is by donkey, walking or boat. The streets of the the old town are narrow, crowded lanes full of local people, donkeys, the odd tourist, donkeys, shops, donkeys, old Swahili houses and a few more donkeys. Not surprisingly you need to be a little careful where you put your feet.... We spent three nights there, the first day just walking up to the nearby village of Shela for a swim at the beach and lunch in a swanky resort. The following day we took a trip on a small sailing dhow including another nice seafood lunch on the beach. We did a little fishing – Nicole starred with two snapper with a combined length of 3 inches. The first was released quickly, but that is never the done thing in these places and the skipper swooped on the second one before it could be set free to grow to more than 2 weeks old. I guess you have to eat. Interestingly the local kids must never see cars as when we did see one parked up and there was a crowd of kids all sitting around gawping at it. It was even more interesting than asking the tourists for a shilling – and that is pretty interesting.
The trip back from Lamu to Momabsa set a new record for Arabic wailing music torture. The bus was a bit delayed leaving while the conductor rustled up a few more punters, but to attract would-be clients they cranked the not insubstantial stereo in the bus to full wailing, piercing volume. That was ok until we had to leave as we just got off the bus and hid – but on our departure the volume wasn't reduced any great amount, despite my requests. I resorted to ear plugs as the ipod was grossly out gunned, but while they reduced the physical pain and hearing damage a little they were unable to block it out top any large degree. Ear plugs work for industrial applications only apparently – and this was clearly outside their design parameters. The closest thing I have heard was an anti-personnel siren – the type used to force intruders to leave a building or to destroy the moral of enemy combatants. My advice for anyone contemplating a similar trip is to buy the very best noise canceling headphones you can find.
We are now in Kisumu on the shores of Lake Victoria, having overnighted in Mombasa and Nairobi. Tomorrow we head for the Kakamega Forest Reserve and then the next day I may do a bit of fishing for Nile Perch and Tilapia on the lake.
As a bit of housekeeping, it seems that text messages sent to us from non-telstra phones only get through sporadically if at all. If you have texted and not received a reply it is most likely that we haven't received it. We will be in London in a week so I assume the phone system in the UK will be a bit better.
From Malindi we took the bus another 4 hours north to Lamu Island. As Lamu is getting a little close to Somalia (only 50km away as it turned out) so we questioned a few people about security before we left and were assured there are no problems, hakuna matata. There were no problems, but that may be due to armed military escort that we picked up shortly after we left Malindi. As always with an armed escort you are never sure if you should be glad to have them along, or concerned by the fact that they are required! By the time we reached Lamu I was more concerned about getting off the bus as the windows were jammed shut, the road dusty and the climate definitely tropical....
Lamu Island was a highlight of our trip. There are (almost) no cars on the island and the only transport is by donkey, walking or boat. The streets of the the old town are narrow, crowded lanes full of local people, donkeys, the odd tourist, donkeys, shops, donkeys, old Swahili houses and a few more donkeys. Not surprisingly you need to be a little careful where you put your feet.... We spent three nights there, the first day just walking up to the nearby village of Shela for a swim at the beach and lunch in a swanky resort. The following day we took a trip on a small sailing dhow including another nice seafood lunch on the beach. We did a little fishing – Nicole starred with two snapper with a combined length of 3 inches. The first was released quickly, but that is never the done thing in these places and the skipper swooped on the second one before it could be set free to grow to more than 2 weeks old. I guess you have to eat. Interestingly the local kids must never see cars as when we did see one parked up and there was a crowd of kids all sitting around gawping at it. It was even more interesting than asking the tourists for a shilling – and that is pretty interesting.
The trip back from Lamu to Momabsa set a new record for Arabic wailing music torture. The bus was a bit delayed leaving while the conductor rustled up a few more punters, but to attract would-be clients they cranked the not insubstantial stereo in the bus to full wailing, piercing volume. That was ok until we had to leave as we just got off the bus and hid – but on our departure the volume wasn't reduced any great amount, despite my requests. I resorted to ear plugs as the ipod was grossly out gunned, but while they reduced the physical pain and hearing damage a little they were unable to block it out top any large degree. Ear plugs work for industrial applications only apparently – and this was clearly outside their design parameters. The closest thing I have heard was an anti-personnel siren – the type used to force intruders to leave a building or to destroy the moral of enemy combatants. My advice for anyone contemplating a similar trip is to buy the very best noise canceling headphones you can find.
We are now in Kisumu on the shores of Lake Victoria, having overnighted in Mombasa and Nairobi. Tomorrow we head for the Kakamega Forest Reserve and then the next day I may do a bit of fishing for Nile Perch and Tilapia on the lake.
As a bit of housekeeping, it seems that text messages sent to us from non-telstra phones only get through sporadically if at all. If you have texted and not received a reply it is most likely that we haven't received it. We will be in London in a week so I assume the phone system in the UK will be a bit better.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
The big question....
I had better get this out of the way upfront, although I think most people already know thanks to my excitable mother and Harper - Nicole and I are now engaged. Nicole has finally given up the search for someone better and has agree to marry me instead. Yay.
The journey from Mombasa to Diani Beach was pretty cheap and easy - about $4 in total using tuk-tuks and the local mini-vans (matatus), although you always feel as if you are taking your life in your hands getting in one of those. They all have encouraging logos such as "Dead or Alive" or "Relax, God is in control" plastered across the windows in between all the American rapper posters. Once again this is a blessing as it is better if you can't see out, although it is sometimes useful if the driver can. Judging by the frequent crumpled remains of written off mini-vans strewn along the side of the road, if God was in control he obviously took the opportunity to sort out a few sinners here and there. I was justifiably nervous getting in....
As it was we arrived in Diani Beach alive and decided to spend 4 nights (our longest stay in one spot so far!!) at the Diani Marine Divers Village (google it for a look if you are curious). It is by far the nicest place we have stayed, and also the most expensive, but made a great break. We took a dhow trip to Wasini Island on our first day and did 2 dives in the marine park (which was full of fishermen and fish traps - I am not sure what they are conserving but it isn't fish), which was very nice before landing on the island for a sea food lunch of bbq fish and more crab than we could eat. Accompanying us on our dive was a Norwegian lad by the name of Thor-something. In the good viking tradition he was about 6'8" but had only done 4 dives, 7 years ago, in the North Sea. We were ferried out to our dive site in a 5m banana boat powered by a long suffering 15hp engine (pole pole - slow slow - as they say here.) Things sped up once Thor hit the water through. Luckily both dives were very shallow but he still chewed a full tank of air in less than 20 minutes. It was great to watch as he tore across the reef, legs bicycling at a hundred miles an hour and arms flailing the whole time. Just when you thought you were safely behind him, he would come charging out from behind some patch of reef and belt you in the face on the way past before stirring up another huge cloud of silt and disappearing off in the opposite direction. Thankfully when he ran out of air he was banished to the surface to snorkel along behind us while we completed the other 40 minutes of our dive in peace. The reef in the marine park was actually really nice, although the fish stocks were somewhat depleted, and particularly our first dive was very good with +20m vis.
Unfortunately for the second days diving Nicole was feeling ill and couldn't come along. As it turned out she didn't miss much really. The first dive was a nice wreck with a good school of snapper and some big lion fish, but the second dive was pretty poor with low vis and very flat reef with almost no fish. It must have really upset one of the German divers as he started vomiting as soon as we surfaced. I didn't think it was that bad, although maybe he was thinking of the price - Euro108 - for two dives within a couple of miles of the resort and no lunch or soft drinks.
We are now back in Mombasa again having taken the easy option and got a taxi back this morning (no sense pushing our luck too far with the mini-buses!). We are heading north along the coast tomorrow to Malindi and then on to Lamu Island after that.
The journey from Mombasa to Diani Beach was pretty cheap and easy - about $4 in total using tuk-tuks and the local mini-vans (matatus), although you always feel as if you are taking your life in your hands getting in one of those. They all have encouraging logos such as "Dead or Alive" or "Relax, God is in control" plastered across the windows in between all the American rapper posters. Once again this is a blessing as it is better if you can't see out, although it is sometimes useful if the driver can. Judging by the frequent crumpled remains of written off mini-vans strewn along the side of the road, if God was in control he obviously took the opportunity to sort out a few sinners here and there. I was justifiably nervous getting in....
As it was we arrived in Diani Beach alive and decided to spend 4 nights (our longest stay in one spot so far!!) at the Diani Marine Divers Village (google it for a look if you are curious). It is by far the nicest place we have stayed, and also the most expensive, but made a great break. We took a dhow trip to Wasini Island on our first day and did 2 dives in the marine park (which was full of fishermen and fish traps - I am not sure what they are conserving but it isn't fish), which was very nice before landing on the island for a sea food lunch of bbq fish and more crab than we could eat. Accompanying us on our dive was a Norwegian lad by the name of Thor-something. In the good viking tradition he was about 6'8" but had only done 4 dives, 7 years ago, in the North Sea. We were ferried out to our dive site in a 5m banana boat powered by a long suffering 15hp engine (pole pole - slow slow - as they say here.) Things sped up once Thor hit the water through. Luckily both dives were very shallow but he still chewed a full tank of air in less than 20 minutes. It was great to watch as he tore across the reef, legs bicycling at a hundred miles an hour and arms flailing the whole time. Just when you thought you were safely behind him, he would come charging out from behind some patch of reef and belt you in the face on the way past before stirring up another huge cloud of silt and disappearing off in the opposite direction. Thankfully when he ran out of air he was banished to the surface to snorkel along behind us while we completed the other 40 minutes of our dive in peace. The reef in the marine park was actually really nice, although the fish stocks were somewhat depleted, and particularly our first dive was very good with +20m vis.
Unfortunately for the second days diving Nicole was feeling ill and couldn't come along. As it turned out she didn't miss much really. The first dive was a nice wreck with a good school of snapper and some big lion fish, but the second dive was pretty poor with low vis and very flat reef with almost no fish. It must have really upset one of the German divers as he started vomiting as soon as we surfaced. I didn't think it was that bad, although maybe he was thinking of the price - Euro108 - for two dives within a couple of miles of the resort and no lunch or soft drinks.
We are now back in Mombasa again having taken the easy option and got a taxi back this morning (no sense pushing our luck too far with the mini-buses!). We are heading north along the coast tomorrow to Malindi and then on to Lamu Island after that.
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