2.1 - Overland - Part 2 - Zambia - Malawi - Tanzania - Kenya

Sonja – 24 – German - lover of birds, questioned everything and was shocked by everything but adorable.  Favourite saying: “NO! Really?” to everything.

Leah – 26 – Australian – Great fun and bubbly.  Has a skill for impersonating a drowning person.  Favourite quotation: “I lost my thongs last night” - she was referring to her flip flops but we’re not sure the guests eating their breakfast realised that.

Gillian – 33 – Canadian bike mechanic and ex-guide.  Favourite phrase was to say “right?” after every comment.

Kim – 24 – British – full of games for the truck.  Best quotation “I’m not allergic, I’m intolerant” after the guides had cooked a special meal for her and she had tucked in to our lasagna!

 

Before leaving Livingstone we fitted in a flight over Vic Falls in a microlight.  We swooped over the magnificent waterfalls which cascade down and lead into a zig zag river.  It truly deserves the title of a wonder of the world.

 

With our new group we then set back off on the road again with music of The Lion King blaring out of the truck speakers whilst travelling through the beautiful green rolling hills of Zambia.  

We pulled in at a local barge dock on the Kafue River (our truck’s namesake), loaded our tents and bags onto the boat and cruised down to our secluded camp where we were treated to local food and an extraordinary traditional dance display including audience participation and much gyrating of the hips.

The next day we were taken on a gentle walk to visit a local in his home and meet his large family and to see how they live before heading back to the mainland on the barge.  We took this good opportunity to have a dance lesson with the boys from the previous night’s troupe and of course Lauren (previously nicknamed "mosquito" by Karl owing to her dancing) joined us.  We then hit the road again for a couple of long driving days to Malawi.

We spent four wonderful days on Lake Malawi.  With white sands and small lapping waves it is hard to remember that this is a lake apart from the fact that it is made up of fresh water.  We met another Acacia truck there and together with them and their eccentric guide, Kalvin, led the campsite in an over-due competitive game of flip cup. 

During our four days we were taken on a village tour by a local guide (who stuttered throughout) and were escorted by local lads with amusing names such as “Chicken Pizza”.  This was a bit of a theme of the area and we therefore felt it important to create our own names:  “Banana Split” (Izzy), “Strawberry Shortcake” (Leah) and “Rice Pudding” (Hels).  That afternoon we sailed, canoed and swam over to a nearby island for some jumping off and snorkeling amongst the rocks.

After Lake Malawi we had another couple of long days in the truck crossing the border to Tanzania in order to make our way to Dar es Salaam.  This capital city is bustling with crazy traffic - well done to Tony for getting us through without a scrape.

We stayed there a night before jumping on tuk tuks early in the morning to take us via a small local ferry (for which the UK health and safety would have had a field day) to the main cat which sped us in just 2 hours over to the spice island of Zanzibar.

Lee, Kim, Lauren, Hels, Leah, Sonja, Izzy and Gillian

We spent our first night in the capital, Stone Town, a fascinating place with history of slave trade, tiny alleys, markets and spices. We were guided around the town and on to a community project where we were shown all the spices and fruit plants grown in the area.  We were then force-fed so much fruit that we ended up rolling out of there.  What a wonderful day.

After Stone Town we headed north to a beautiful white sandy beach where we relaxed, read our books and drank cocktails. The group went on an amazing snorkelling trip where we viewed millions of tropical fish off a private island and ate a delicious fresh tuna lunch before sailing home on a dhow boat.

The following day we met the two lovely American girls, Annie and Hunna, who were joining us for the rest of the trip up to Kenya before heading home after a university placement in Cape Town. It was a shame they only joined the trip in Tanzania as it would have been good to get to know them a bit better.

We weren’t ready to leave Zanzibar but jumped back on the ferry where we met some amusing young Maasai men who would grunt loudly whenever an attractive lady appeared on the television.  A tuk tuk ride later (with Hels at the helm for the last part – what was the driver thinking?) we were back in Dar for an early night before embarking on a 2 day journey to Arusha.

We also bid farewell to Lee who was staying in Dar/Zanzibar to teach taiquondo (at least that’s what we understood).

Our early start was somewhat delayed by a breakdown in Kafue's starter motor. After much fiddling with spanners (in the dark) by Tony, our only answer was to bump start. Now this truck weighs more than a herd of elephants so this was no easy task. In fact us girls (plus Prosper and Sammy) struggled so much that the wonderful Massai security guards stepped in to help and we finally managed it with a lot of huffing and puffing.

We spent a night in Moshi en route to Arusha from where we could see the snow capped peak of Kilimanjaro towering above us. After another long day on the truck we arrived in Arusha at Snake Park Campsite run by the formidable Ma.  Intrigued by its name we immediately headed into the snake park to terrify ourselves by seeing all the many types of snakes lurking in the undergrowth.  To steady our nerves we hit Ma's bar for some drinks and to introduce our Zimbabwean Prosper to darts.  We wish we hadn't as what we thought started out as beginner's luck soon turned into a white wash at our own game.

Olduvai Gorge

After a magnificent cooked breakfast (a rare treat) the next morning, we set off in 4x4s on our next safari trip to the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater (our driver was the shy Mirage). On the way we visited the Olduvai Gorge and a museum which houses paleoanthropological artifacts from the area. Tectonic movement and volcanic activity over the centuries have created a unique archaeological site excavated by the Leakeys who then founded the museum. 
 
We later arrived at our bushcamp set to rise early to spy the best game (assuming they hadn't spied us during the night on one of our midnight trips to the loo!).

Serengeti means “endless plains” and other than a few rocky outcrops and acacia trees the land was flat and ideal for spotting game. We were thrilled to catch lions basking on rocks and also to encounter three young male lions who crossed our path to sit under a shady tree right next to our 4x4. On our way back to camp for lunch we spied a leopard hanging out in a tree.  This on top of seeing hundreds of wildebeest moving in the migration, zebras, giraffes, buffalo etc and a close encounter with three hyenas that Sonja spotted prowling through the long grass made for a spectacular morning.  That afternoon we made our way to the Ngorongoro Crater and passed some of the most beautiful land yet which is all owned by the Maasai people.  It was at this point that we both considered giving up our conventional lives and becoming Maasai wives (although we were slightly put off by the fact that a lot of them take more than one wife)!  

 


We arrived at our campsite on the ridge of the crater to find 4 elephants making their way to our bathrooms as we were setting up our tent literally metres away. What a close encounter (too close for comfort?!).

 
The next morning we descended into the crater. Words and photos don’t do this extraordinary place justice and we felt like we were in a scene from The Lion King with animals at every turn. As well as spotting a rhino and countless wildebeest and zebra we felt privileged to watch a really wild encounter.

Stand Off Between Lion and Mr Warthog

A pride of 7 lions were on the prowl for lunch. Spotting a family of warthogs they began their stalking. Mr Warthog turned to face them down distracting the lions while Mrs Warthog trotted her young to safety before he scurried after her (warthogs can run faster than lions...). Missing their fast food lunch the lions (accompanied by three scavenging hyenas) strolled around our vehicles finding shade and cover from oncoming game.

Tempted by a limping zebra the pride considered a snack, but in the heat of the day they opted for a snooze instead and we headed off exhilarated by this rare treat (even our guides Sammy and Prosper were buzzing). 

Prosper, Annie, Leah, Hunna and Lauren

Feeling like the cat that got the cream, little did we know that just around the corner we would watch three hyenas cause carnage amongst zebras and wildebeest as they hunted them down, finally rounding up a baby wildebeest before devouring it in front of its mourning mother.  It felt like a real scene out of a wildlife documentary!

 
   

On our five safaris we were thrilled to spot the big five but felt that this wish list is overrated and our highlights have been witnessing the strange interactions and peculiar habits: from a chameleon’s strange dance across the road, a warthog standing down a lion, zebras resting their heads on each other’s backs, to hippos waddling around on land.

After our three-day excursion we were delighted to return to Ma’s and the following day were taken by a lovely Maasai guide, Jonathan, to visit a traditional village, a museum about their culture, an education centre and a market. Jonathan explained some of the Maasai customs including the circumcision of teenage boys (he dealt extremely well with our endless probing questions - all of us girls were so intrigued that no one held back...).  During this rite of passage the young boys dress in black with feathers and white faces and stay in the bush until they are healed before they return to their villages as men.  Jonathan also showed us how they construct their houses (the women build these) and the traditions within families and marriage.  They are a fascinating people and a frequent site along the roads of the Serengeti standing out in their bright red and purple Maasai blankets.

We celebrated our last night all together in Ma’s bar with our usual round of darts and some of her deadly shots. The bar was pretty lively with several other trucks based there for the night before they themselves were heading on safari.

On our last day we drove straight up through south Kenya to Nairobi where we pitched our tent for the last time set to spend a couple of days before heading to Ethiopia.  The rest of our group left one by one and a core few of us - Lauren, Prosper, Tony, a Kenyan (Nash) and Ugandan (Benjy) - headed off to check out the Nairobi nightlife. We were delighted to hear some western music to dance to and have a chance to let our hair down in a big city.

The next day we headed to visit Alice Murphy (a friend of Izzy’s) for a delicious lunch and a much needed dip in the pool to remove the haze from the night before. Alice had been to Addis Ababa over Christmas so was able to give us the low-down on the Mother Teresa hospital and we left excited and a lot more prepared for our month of volunteering.


 With Hels’ birthday just around the corner we treated ourselves to a visit to the David Sheldrick baby elephant sanctuary for the feeding hour.  It was carnage with baby elephants charging for their bottles of milk and then frolicking around in the mud.  An hilarious sight!

In the afternoon we  took ourselves off to a mini festival, “Blankets and Wine” held on each first Sunday of the month.  With Afro beats, a buzzing atmosphere and a young fun crowd we were speedily falling in love with Nairobi and as we sat on a Maasai blanket with Sonja and Prosper we felt totally at home (this might have been the South African wine talking!).

Monday was our last day and Hels’ birthday so in order to break up the enormous treat of packing bags(!) we headed to the renowned “Thorn Tree Café” for lunch. Famed as a starting point and notice board for safari travellers over the last century it was a little oasis of calm in a hectic capital city. 

What a great last day to our overlanding trip.

A Final Note.....

 

When we signed up to this overland trip we most definitely kept our expectations low. Both of us have travelled pretty extensively in the past, very much in an independent way and we knew therefore that we would need to adjust to this way of travelling. Africa is a huge continent and we felt that overlanding would be the easiest and safest way to go.

On reflection we both agree that it probably would have been better for us to have travelled the first leg up to Livingstone independently in order to have been able to take it more slowly, spend more time in Namibia and stay longer in the Okavango Delta. We loved the second leg though and with the vast distances covered (sometimes 12 hours in the truck a day) and special interaction with the locals in all the places we stayed, we really felt that travelling with Acacia was a good decision, with Tanzania just pipping Malawi to the post as our favourite country.

Finally we would like to thank our amazing guides: Sammy who answered all our questions with a massive grin and encyclopedic knowledge; Tony who skillfully navigated some of the worst roads we have ever travelled and kept Kafue ticking over while entertaining us with his library of African tunes; Prosper who endured our music and banter in the main part of the truck (despite fighting malaria for a week of the journey) and cooked the most delicious dinners for us.  Thanks guys for being amazing!

Sammy

Tony

Prosper

Statistics

Number of times asked if we are sisters: 7

Number of nights spent in a tent: too many to count!

Number of punctures: 1

Number of bump starts: 4

Number of avocados eaten: 23

Number of people who caught Malaria: 1

Number of Ma’s revenge shots each: 1 (any more and you’d be mad)

Number of countries visited on the overland: 7

Number of things stolen: 0

Number of pre-6 o’clock starts: 36