Zambia

Actually ended up illegally in Malawi for 3 days as the visa expired but got away with it no problem..eventually got from Lilongwe (a really pretty capital,certainly the nicest i've seen although very very ex-pat) to Chipata, a small but quite lovely town about an hour from the boarder. From there we took a hilariously entertaining taxi trip to SOuth Louangwa National Park (7 people, 6 backpacks, a dirt track and one toyota carolla..) where we stayed in possibly the craziest campsite in Africa! Platforms built into trees on which campers can pitch their tents while elephants, hippos and even lions stroll around below!i kid you knot, the campsite has no boundries and there were lions footprints outside our tent on morning. Same morning we watched from our side of the Louangwa river bank a family of elephants swimming across (inc a baby), climb up the other side and dry themselves off with dust showers, accompanied by a soundtrack of 3 male lions clearly marking out their territory. Did a night safari here which was a totally different experiene form our serengetti etc extravganza..the drivers shine UV torhes all around so as not to damage the animals eyes. Honestly the first hour and a bit i was doubting how good this would turn out to be as we saw little other that Poku (like gazelles) and birds of various varieties. BUT THEN we 'stumbled across' a pack of wild dogs, apparnelty only found in some parts f southern afric - and they were really surprisingly beautiful. BUT THEN even better we spotted a lioness on the hunt and followed her for about an hour on her chase for Poku. In our completely open roofed safari cars it was a little disconcerting when one ran right up beside our car!The whole experience was entirely different from our big Tz safari..far less tourists with few set paths to follow etc.

Back to chipata and then a longlong bus ride to Lousaka - i'm cnvinced by the end of this trip a world record is in order for time spent on african bus trips. There we were met by the Nowa's and treated like absolute princesses for 2 days, shown round Lousaka (shopping malls included!) and taken to church and the Kafue Misson..what a treat to see it all at last after so many stories and photos. ALthough a boarding school along the same lines as the secondary school in our village the differences were huge..they have so much space there! Met lots of teachers and were shown round the health centre..all very special and so lovely to see the Nowa's again.

And today i threw myself over the Victoria Falls!! And absailed down the cliffs of the Zambezi gorge and generally have turned into an adrenaline junkie overnight! WHat can i say about the falls..truely spectacular (and we got absolutely drenched!)

On friday we're taking a ptentially 4 day train trip back up to TZ and then to zanzibar when i'll do some more blogging - we have free internet here but there's an insanely long queue and i'm being shouted at!Lots of love xxxx

Tales from Malawi

And now i'm in Malawi! AFter a hectic month back at school, Mummys trip out to see me (and take me to a luxury hotel in zanzibar again!), a craaazy football tournament between our various schools in Arusha, lots of laughs,nights out,teaching,clothes-making etcetc and now its the school summer holiday. 3 long days travelling through TZ (thorugh 2 National parks in the south, v beacutiful - although bings about a completley new conception of the country..its just so vast and seemingly sparcely populated in the south) and we arrived in time to take the ferry down Lake malawi and to Likoma island..we were practically the only people staying and we camped on a beautiful beach about 10m away from the lake, on the horizon of which is the amazing mozambiquian (?) coast line. THe lake is so incredibly clear (largest freshwater lake in the workd i think), and basically looks just like the sea. After a weeks indulgant chillage, we made our way back to the mainland and Nkhata Bay. One sunset cruise and a few drinks later a girl i'd just met pursuaded me to do a weeks Naui ocurse (same as Padi..ie scuba diving) begining the next day and how glad am i that she did! Absolutely loved it, was with a great group of people form all over the place and i honestly never knew how much i like pretty little fish!also did lots of pot-holeing..but 18m underwater!vair vair cool i'm sure you'll aggree.Travelled down to Lilongwe yest with some new amigos and have managed to negociate a visa waver into zambia so moving on on tuesday..and will update more soon!

Exploring the East Coast and Zanzibar

So this is insanely out of date for which i appologise muchly..haven't actually been able to get onto this thing in ages. Lots to catch up on but will begin by filling you all in from where i left off a few months ago..over easter we had 3 weeks off school for travels and so did lots of exploring in Tz..first went across to the NorthEast and Usambora Mountain range and a small town called Lushoto..seriously beautiful and much more authentically african than the ex-pat-ed and touristy Arusha. Went hiking through a rainforest and up to IrenteView point (via a farm house with CHEESE!!)..reportedly a stunning view across the expansive valley, although, typically, when we got to the top it was entirely covered in cloud..turned out to be quite special in the end though as the clouds randomly parted giving little snapshots of the incredible view below.

Headed next down the East coast via Tanga to a beachy place called Peponi..camped practaically on the beach,swam in the warm bath that is tjhe indian ocean, took a Dhow saling to a sand island in the middle of the sea, ate amazingly for the first time in a while (to be fair it wasn;t that oong after safari but the importance of yummy food on this trip should not be 'mis-underestimated').

THen it was ZANZIBAR!!!!! Stone town was fab,totally mixture of cultures and great fabric shopping,night market foodi etc..met up with lots more of our mates and headed all together first to the East coast and Paje..long stretches of white sand and tourquoise sea and a site all to ourselves, followed by a trip up into Nungwi on the northernmostpoint of the island, where i celebrated my 19th with Africa's finest! Massive meal out with everyone, duringin which the girls negociated lots of free food for the birthday girl (although the next day i realised that no fool gives away decent Lobster for free) followed by cocktails and antics on the beach..details and photographic evidence when i get back!

Safari Snaps

More Safari snaps

African sky

Chui, Punda MIlia, Twiga, Mbuni,.Nyati, Tembo, Kiboko, Simba, Heroe

Our 5 day safari has definitely been the best part of the trip so far..felt like a five year old again being so excite by animals! Considering we saw the big 5 and much more besides, its quite funny how excited i was seeing the first babooooon in Lake Manyara - took millions of photos, clearly oblivious of how good things would get! Just a little further on our car (an open topped safari classic!) stopped suddenly for an elephant, literally about 10metres away on the side of the road. Bosco, our driver, was full of animal trivia..did you know tembo are pregnant for up to 22 months!!imagine! Also in Manyara we saw Giraffes, Topi, Zebra, Hippos, but close ups of all were to follow in Serengetti and Ngorongoro. Had my first decent nights sleep in 2 months in a nice hotel, although as with the animals, the accomodation just got better and better through the week.

Next day was a drive to Serengetti via ngorongoro view points - even without the wildlife the parks would be breathtaking. Serengetti just goes on and on and on, totally flat plains, low, clear blue sky, nothing but acacia trees to be seen..ph wait a minute that was when we first saw A LIONESS!!! She walked right up beside out car, on route to a wildebeast carcus surrounded by voltures. Got some amazing pics but none of these computers seem to want to upload\ them. Also that day got within touching distance of Twiga, Tembo and Punda MIlia..todays tembo trivia from bosco was "You will notice that he has 3 back legs...". Spent the night in a luxury tented camp - shower, tiolet and kingsize bed in a tent - genius! Beautiful sunset and up for Sunrise over the serengetti with Twigga strolling in the distance. A full days driving in Serengetti began with a real close up of hippos and crocs, both of which provided big yawns for photos - im sure we were closer than was actually safe. Lots more Twiga and Tembo (pretty standard by now), and some baby zebra - they're brown and white and fluffy! Then out of nowhere we were beside a tree with a babyleopard asleep in its branches. That night was spent in the most incredible lodge with stunning views across the plains and fab food (always a priority!). A pool at the front of the hotel meant maximum tannage and ultimate viewage at the same time..so un-roughing-it-gap-year it was unreal! Another days drive back through Serengetti to Ngorongoro took us past a big daddy lion again within metres..seriously the whole week was so sureal! Bosco said we'd been pretty lucky...people spend days driving around with no sightings at all. Another night of luxury and another gorgeous sunset over ngorongoro and another night of fattening up :) Rhinos were the main excitement the next day through Ngorongoro followed by, on the way home, that typical Tanzanian image of a Maasai tribesman in full dress, apparently also with full mobile reception. BIZARRRE!