I flew into Kampala, the capital of Uganda, on December 29th. Chris had arrived the day before for a work meeting. I got a taxi into the city and found him at our hotel, the lovely Kampala Serena. It felt great to have a little luxury after 10 days backpacking in Ethiopia. Kampala is a nice, fairly small and clean capital city- but big enough to have a movie theater, which we hadn’t visited in quite a while! We went to see Avatar and had dinner out in the city.
Kampala, UgandaThe equator in Uganda
On the 31st, our driver picked us up and drove us to the southwestern edge of Uganda, right next to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest (home to the Ugandan mountain gorillas). The scenery the whole way was beautiful and although the drive was long, it was totally worth taking the time. Around 6 pm we crossed the border into Rwanda, and found ourselves just outside of Volcano National Park (home to the Rwandan mountain gorillas). Essentially the same mountain range runs through Congo, Rwanda, and Uganda, and the gorillas migrate between the three. Tourists can visit the mountain gorillas through either of the three countries, but costs and procedures will vary. Our permits cost us $500 for the day, as they were discounted for “low” season.
You never know what you’ll see next on a drive across Uganda
Early in the morning on Jan 1 (no staying up late for us, although we did share a bottle of wine at dinner to celebrate New Year’s Eve) we arrived at the park staging area and met the other trekkers and our guides. Only 30 people are allowed to trek each day and we were in a small group of 8. They gave us hiking poles- gaiters are also good to have along- and off we went up the mountain. The guides knew from some trekkers who spend the night near the gorillas where they were, so we only had to hike about an hour before we found them.
Deah, Parc de Volcanessilverback gorillas, Parc de Volcanes, Rwanda
Once we located the gorillas, we were able to watch them for one hour, from a distance of seven meters- close enough to smell them, anyway. We stood in the dripping rain, and watched the babies play, the mothers nurse, and the silverback choose a mate and make sweet, sweet gorilla love. All too soon it was time to hike down the mountain and find some dry clothes for us.
“Getting Jiggy”Chris, hiking in Parc de Volcanes, Rwanda
The next day, the 2nd, Chris had to fly back to Khartoum but I decided to stay for four more days. We went into Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, and visited the Genocide Memorial center, free for all visitors to the city. It is an amazing place. Rwanda, for all its bad press and the terrible things that happened fifteen years ago, is an incredibly forward looking country that is trying, probably harder than any other African country, to put the past behind them and move positively to the future.
Milles Collines, RwandaKigali, Rwanda
Taking a moto-taxi, I decided to go to Lake Kivu, one of Africa’s great Rift Lakes, and the sixth largest lake in the continent. At an altitude of 1,614 meters, the weather is always cool and rainy there with occasional patches of sunshine each day. I was able to find a lovely guest house, Home Saint Jean, run by a church for only $20 a night, and stayed there for the next three days, just enjoying some solitude before heading back to work. Each night I watched the fishermen hang lanterns on the ends of their boats to entice the fish, and I read each day. A nice way to unwind before heading back to the hustle and bustle of Khartoum!
Last week we went to the mausoleum in Omdurman (which is on the other side of the Nile River from Khartoum) that houses the resting place of Hamad Al Nil, a 19th century Sufi Muslim leader. Every Friday night at his resting place, crowds of Sudanese pilgrims gather and make their sunset prayers. Women often pray to the ascetic leader’s bones and pray for a blessing, especially to cure illness.
The tomb of Hamad Al Nil
In addition to the women that visit the mausoleum to pray, a sect of Sufist Muslims (males only) gather to chant and beat their drums in a type of ritualistic worship. Sufism is a form of Islam that believes in purifying the soul to find inner peace. One way they purify their souls is to chant until they reach a physical ecstasy and they begin to dance and whirl around the circle, often on one foot. While most Sudanese men wear white robes on Sundays, the Sufists are easy to find because they tend to wear green and red robes. Some of the members of the sect are called simply “the poor”, and they spend their whole lives on the compound of the tomb of Al Nil, owning no possessions but the clothes on their backs, which are a colorful combination of patchwork cloths.
At the end of the ceremony, an elder walks around the circle with burning incense, a mixture of frankincense and gum arabic, and blesses the chanters and the crowds that gather. On the week that we went, there were about 300 Sudanese gathered, and perhaps 30 western visitors who had heard of the ritual and went to watch.
Whirling DervishesWhirling Dervishes
The following weekend, Chris and I drove out to the pyramids at Meroe, also sometimes written as Merowe. Merowe was the capital of the Nubian kingdom (also called the Kushites) from about 300 bc to 300 ad. The city of Merowe is only about three hours north of the Sudan’s capital Khartoum. We went to three different sites of pyramids. Surprisingly, there are actually more pyramids in Sudan than there are in Egypt, although the ones here are smaller height and a smaller base, but rising at a much steeper angle. When we arrived at the first site, some guides with camels offered to show us around, so we gladly took them up on their offer! Later in the day we drove to another site called Naqa, and saw the Temple of Ammun and the Temple of the Lion. Finally, we ended up at Musawwarat es-Sufra and saw the ruins of a large building called the Great Enclosure, which is believed to be a building where the Nubians captured and trained elephants.
Temple of AmunMeroe, SudanDeah in SudanDesert TaxisMeroe pyramids, with the tops back onChris, Meroe Pyramids
Hello, everyone! I am in transiting through Dubai and feeling a lot better after getting some sleep. For some unknown reason, I can’t seem to sleep on planes, even after taking sleeping pills. So this flight was pretty bad for me. It was fourteen hours. The first five weren’t so bad and the last five weren’t so bad, but the four in the middle just about killed me. Only me and about four others were awake and we kept congregating in the back to talk and kill time. On the plus side I did get to watch 4 different movies, 5 episodes of 30Rock, and 5 episodes of 2 and a Half Men. Comedy really helps on long flights!
Wow, what an amazing three weeks spent traveling around southern Africa! It felt so great going to the airport to leave Angola. Once again, I had good luck getting through the Luanda airport and soon I was heading towards Johannesburg. Once there, I spent only one night, and immediately grabbed a bus to Gaborone, the capital of Botswana. From Gaborone went to Francistown, and decided to stop there for the night as well (and had to share the last hotel room with a guy from my bus!). Finally, the next day, I bused from Francistown to the Botswana/ Zimbabwe border. Without too much trouble, I was able to hitchhike from the border crossing into the little town of Victoria Falls, where my adventures were to begin (a huge thank you to the border guard, who very kindly waited until just the right vehicle came along- a Wild Horizons employee- to help me find a ride).
When I checked into my hostel in Vic Falls, ahead of me were two girls, Sonja and Steffani. They were from Germany and just arriving as well. We wound up going out for a walk to check out the town, and we signed up to go rafting together the next day, which was AWESOME! Definitely worth the money and a great adventure activity. That night, Sonja and Steffani and I, plus Rob and Dave, two other guys from our rafting adventure, headed up to the Wild Horizons office to watch the dvd of our rafting trip. After the viewing, two of the Zimbabweans who work for Wild Horizons, Victor and Future, took us to get some wine and beers and then we went up to the “Hippo Pool”, which technically was closed (due to the likelihood of hippos being there at night), but the moon was full and we were dying to see the falls up close and we had a lot of fun.
Wild WarthogsAt the bridge over the Zambezi River
The next day we ventured over to the actual Victoria Falls National Park, and got to see the falls in all their glory. Pretty impressive. Unfortunately, it’s hard to get the full scope from a picture, it’s so massive! While at the park I ran into Morton and Jasper, two Danish guys who were leaving the next day. We made plans to travel to Botswana together the next morning. That night we all went over to another hostel for some wood-fired pizzas and drank at their bar there. The hostel and restaurant owners all have to shop for food in Botswana, because the grocery stores in Zimbabwe are so bare, due to inflation. I brought a pack full of dried noodles to keep me fed for the few days I was here, and I wound up giving the rest of it to the cleaner at the hostel when I left. I also gave my old Teva sandals to Victor, our rafting guide, and he gave me a Zambezi-god stone necklace. I was also able to secure a Zimbabwean hundred million dollar bill so now I’m a millionaire!!
Victoria Falls
After a couple of taxi rides and some nice people who gave us lifts, Morton and Jasper and I made it over to Botswana, where we stayed a night at Chobe River National Park. We camped in luxury tents, which make camping pretty damn nice, and it was there that I met Henrietta, who as luck had it, was going to the Okavanga Delta the next day (as was I). The four of us went on a sunset river cruise that night and watched all the wild animals such as elephants, hippos, and buffaloes that came down to the river to drink.
Chobe River National Park
Henrietta and I had to suffer through a really, really, long bus ride to get to the Okavanga Delta the next day. At that point, I was pretty damn tired of busing, so I made arrangements to stay in Maun (gateway to the delta) a few extra days and take a flight straight from there to Jo’Burg later in the week when Chris was flying to meet me. Henrietta and I stayed in the delta for three days, and for two days we took a mokoro safari into the interior parts, which was really cool. Mokoros are these flat-bottomed canoes that are poled through the shallow delta waters. The hostel we stayed at gave us tents and cookware, and we got a guide, and we went and spent a night camping way out there. The next morning we got up early and our guide took us on a bush hike and we saw tons of animals, like zebras, giraffes, elephants, wildebeest, etc. Definitely fun, although we both got bad sunburns from riding around in the mokoro!
Finally my last day in Botswana, and I flew back to Jo’Burg via Gaborone. Much faster this time! I arrived soon after Chris did, and we grabbed a rental car and headed toward our hotel. The next morning, we drove to Hazyview, which is a small town outside of Kruger National Park. We based ourselves from there for the next few days. That’s where our hot air balloon ride was. We really enjoyed the ride- although the best part was the landing! At the last minute the winds changed and we ended up landing on a tree, then bumping down to another tree, then landing on the ground. Then it took over 3 hours to get the balloon and the basket onto the trailer and get us out of the area we landed in. Not the best landing our pilot had ever made but it was pretty fun!
After the balloon ride, we were all pretty hungry, and we got to have a champagne brunch with our pilot at a lodge. Then Chris and I spent the rest of the day driving around Kruger National Park. Still no lion sightings though!
We spent a day going to Swaziland, which was really interesting, as it is an independent country inside of South Africa. They have a king there, who has 13 wives! And his father had 70 wives! It’s a very pretty little country, full of valleys and hills and small mountains. We visited a candle making factory and a glass factory and watched the workers and bought souvenirs. When we got back to our hotel, we had a fabulous buffet dinner. Yum.
Welcome to Swaziland
After Swaziland, we drove over to Lesotho, another country inside South Africa. They have a king also. We stayed in this little mountain lodge that reminded us both of staying at Monica and Andy’s mountain house. There we sat on the porch at night, drinking Cape wines and looking at the amazingly bright stars. The weather at night was nice and crisp and cool, but warm during the day. We spent one day going on a pony trek around the area, and then later hiked up to the top of a hill where you can see pterodactyl footprints. Again, a very picturesque country to visit.
Finally, it was time for Chris to go back to work and for me to go home and look for work. After enduring a 22 hour plane ride, I arrived back home the day after Thanksgiving. In the last week, my sister had gone into premature labor and delivered Nicholas Paul, my new nephew! He’s still in the NICU, but he’s doing fine, and I’ve been able to go up and see him and hold him. He should be able to come home from the hospital in two or three weeks.
It was a great vacation and I definitely recommend some backpacking around Southern Africa for anyone who is interested- there is tons to see and it’s pretty cheap. And you’ll meet a lot of really friendly travellers!
This weekend Chris and I went camping with our friends Lorrie and Margaret, and Margaret’s daughter Lina. We left Luanda on Sunday morning and drove east, in search of the Kalendula Falls and the rocks called Piedras Negras. These are two natural attractions of Angola that a lot of people who live here have heard of, but not many people have actually been to. Although they are only 6-8 hours away from the capital city now, this was not always the case. In the past, when there was just a dirt road, it could take over 12 hours to travel to the next closest major city, Malange. Also, during 30 years of Angola’s civil war, people did not travel within the country from province to province. Chris and I had tried this trip last year over Thanksgiving break, only to wind up getting as far as N’Dalentando, where I was thrown in jail.
We stopped in N’Dalentando, just to say hi
So we were pretty excited to try the trip again. This is my last week visiting Angola so this would be our last chance to try to see the infamous waterfalls. We had a good time driving out towards Melange, enjoying the scenery and the countryside. Angola is actually a very beautiful country once you get out of the capital city-very green and pretty. We finally found the little town where you turn off the main highway to head towards Kalandula, and turned onto a dirt road for the last 45 kilometers. At last we reached the falls, and they were amazing! It is reputed that the Kalandula Falls are the 2nd tallest in Africa, at 105 meters. Apparently there used to be a hotel here, which we could see across the falls from where we were (you can see it in the picture of Chris, below). It gave the area a whole kind of weird “Lost” vibe, being at this place and finding an old structure that none of us knew had been built there. One of the visitors at the falls said there used to be a bridge leading to the hotel. Maybe there is a road on the other side, but we couldn’t see one. I wonder if anyone will ever rebuild there.
Deah and Chris, Kalendula FallsChris at the falls
We had brought camping supplies, so we found a good area to camp in- next to a farmer’s cassava field (always good to be near farmland in a country filled with mines)- and we spent the night close to the falls. The next morning, we found a trail that led down to the river at the bottom of the falls. It took about 30 minutes to hike to the bottom, but it was totally worth it to see the view of the waterfalls from below. We sat on some boulders that reached halfway across the river and we felt like we were in the middle of the water.
At the bottom of the falls
After a while we packed up, found the main highway again, and then found the little dirt road that leads to Piedras Negras, a grouping of old volcanic (?) rocks that are supposed to be really, really old. I could only find a little information on them, so I don’t know how old they are. The road leading to the rocks is being paved right now, so I imagine in a few more months the area will start seeing some tourists. It is really worth going. The rocks stand out against the skyline in an area that is otherwise very flat. In one area, there are two small parts of the rocks that are blocked off so you can’t walk there. We went over to investigate, and discovered that there are footprints in the rocks there. A woman who was with a group of people explained that they are pre-historic footprints. I would love to find out how old they are.
Prehistoric footprintsPedras Negras
After the footprints, we packed it up and headed back home. It was a long drive home, but again, with the beautiful countryside, it made for a really great trip. I am very happy that we went.
Welcome to KalandulaGoats!Margaret, Lina, and Deah
PalmTreeMusings 