The mainland of this vast county differs hugely from the slow and sleepy Zanzibar. We narrowed our choice to the Ngorongoro crater and Tarangire National Park. We decided to skip the famous Serengeti National Park, because the great Wildebeest migration had already wondered off (although all the Tanzania’s safari agencies claimed otherwise). We decided to catch up with them Kenia’s Masai Mara.
Zambian Orient express
The dream of wild life safari from the window of a luxurious train passing through African bushes and red earth savannas came true! In Kapiri Mposhi we boarded the first class compartments, men and women separately. Soon it turned out that our wagon is full of other ‘mzungu’ (white men), backpackers from different parts of the world who just like us are traversing the black continent. My travel companions were mainly Scandinavian, a group of 3 Danish journalists, one Finnish web-designer and a Dutch anthropologist – I enjoyed a splendid company in our ‘girls’ compartment during the next 2 days.
June 8, 2010
Yo from Jo
So we crossed the third big water, the Indian Ocean and landed in Johannesburg. During the long flight, I watched two movies: the beautiful scenes of ‘Australia’ (a good-bye the vast, dry, red continent), and inspiring ‘Invictus’ (hello South Africa, and World Cup, and apartheid).
Yes, apartheid. Read the rest of this entry »
Mauritius
We had mixed feelings before coming here. We knew Mauritius only from tourist magazines that advertise its 5-star hotels, sunny beaches and golf courses. Our worries were amplified on the plane, where we could see (and hear) many kids. Mauritius must be indeed a typical family destination, we thought.
May 24, 2010
Koalas and Kangaroos in Adelaide
Next stop was Adelaide, where we were hosted by Hung and Tam in their house in the green suburbs. We were also greeted by 8 month old Bella, their small girl always curious about everything around her. With Bella, we had our crash course on how it might be being a parent. Did not so bad!
May 5, 2010
Fiji
Bula! is the Fijian greeting used all over the islands. However, instead of “Bula” we heard “Czesc!”from Kasia and Michal who were decided to drop by! Soon afterwards Ania and Lucien joined too, slightly delayed (by one week) by the volcano on Island. So in the end we were 6 happy travelers on Fiji. What a meeting on the other side of the globe! The world is getting really small and “flat”.
March 1, 2010
New way of volunteering
Ying and Eric, the couple running the school in Providencia, Costa Rica, strongly rely on volunteer teachers. The conditions are fair– at least a three month stay, accommodation and food for free. The only cost covered by volunteers is the travel ticket. There are lots of candidates to choose from, because volunteering is in fashion and looks good on CV. The economical crisis that left many people jobless additionally extended this market.
January 30, 2010
Saturday’s market in Otovalo
We’ve visited Otovalo just before entering Colombia. It is famous for its Saturday market, claimed to be the biggest in South America. It was an interesting experience indeed. Read the rest of this entry »
December 26, 2009
Moai Christmas from Easter Island!
(photos, moto video)
You probably heard about Easter Island (or Rapa Nui) before. Especially about its people, who, completely devoted to sculpturing, almost led to the extinction of their own civilization (with some “help” from outside).
What you might not know, is that Read the rest of this entry »