Dubai, UAe

Dubai,

September 21-25th 2010

Language- English and Arabic.
Currency- UAE Diram.
Capital- Abu Dhabi

I arrive early morning. 

Our approach to the arabian peninsula is greeted with candle sticks along the coast.  OIL and GAS. 
I watch the videoof us landing at the airport.
When one flies with Emirates you get the benifit of watching this happen right infront of you. 
Dubai is a hub and many passengers are  transfering to another flight.  Few passengers actually make it to the customs. And as of January 2011 all Canadians need to pay for a visa which costs $60 dollars.  I was lucky with my trip not yet having this cost.

I take a taxi to a hotel near the airport.  My own room with my own fridge and aircon.

THe big attractions are the Mall of the Emirates and the Dubai Mall.  One has the indoor ski hills. A few beaches are occupied  due to the heat.  There comes a time when the sun is too hot and no one will visit the beach.   
THe Jurimaih Hotel. The one and only 7 star hotel.  $2300/ per night.  No thanks.

South Africa

I am back in South Africa.
We visit Orange, Cederburg and Cape Town.


Orange, our first night camping stay right on the river that divides Namibia to South Africa. For the first time we see a few families sharing the campsite with us.  The site offers sailing and other activities.
Our next stop takes us south.  Hills get bigger and the flat land becomes sparse. Green is now a colourful scene around us.
Cederburg for us is a winery. After one sitting we are all tipsy. 7 glasses in a time of 45 minutes.
The tasting was wonderful.  A beginning of the farewells.  It has been a long journey for me on this african adventure.

The next day our destination is Cape Town. A familiar for me.  It was alittle more than two months since i was last there. 
We say goodbye to some of the our safari members. The group skrinks.  We spend the evening at the Mama Africa resturant. It is to be said that the resturant is a popular one, but does not make it special then any other ciyy resturant.
A few of us go out for the evening and celebrate our last night together. I make it back to the Ashanti lodge very intoxicated.

Matt, a good friend of mine and i take time to view the city. Gradually others depart on other journeys, some fly back to europe or Australia.

I have transfered back to the Penthouse Lodge on the main street. I am welcomed again and am recognised from my previous stay. Everything is the same.

I am to depart on a mini adventure along the south coast to Port Elizabeth.  My orignal plan was to go to Durban, but was unsure just how long it would take.

After a few days in Cape Town i am off with two new people. One of whom was on my safari.   Both are from Belgium.
We drive southeast. Mosel Bay.  Seeing the ocean and the coast i found wonderful.  Some feelings make me reminise of Nova Scotia. Our night is spent in an old passenger train carriage. A train occasionally passes on the neighbouring track making its journey known to the hotel visitors. 
Kynesa,
A small town along the coast is a haven for South African campers. Much of a weekend getaway type of place.

Around here we visit a sanctuary for birds and other wildlife.

My last few days are spent in Port Elizabeth.  THe new Stadium can be seen form anywhere in the city.  A busy city for S.A. 

The 19th i depart back to Cape Town.  The two Belgians head further east to Durban and up to Johannesburg on their way to a month of volunteering near Neilsprit.

My Flight was superb.  1time airways was a liking. Leather seats great in flight service and sunny weather all make for a pleasant flight.

Once again i am greeted at the Penthouse hostel.

 A few emails are sent and a few drinks are consumed. 

Next destination.   Dubai, UAE. 

Namibia

We now venture into Namibia.
Currency- Namibian Dollar
Language-English, Afrikaans
Capital- Windhok

First night is just on the northern panhandle of the country. The road neighbours Angola. Not much difference in the country side.

Estoha NP.

I enjoy this park..

We get to see more animals. A watering hole is a common place to see the animals. Enjoyable.
Swakopmund, Spitskop.
All in the dessert. Namibia has a history of germany. Many germans left europe and fled to Namibia. Many buildings have the german stlye. One minute you walk down a busy road the next you are in a dessert.
Fish River Canyon the second biggest to the Grand Canyon. Just a spectacular sight. Slighty less touristy. 
We cross the border to S.A. The border was was a breeze.  As Namibia and S.A are alike. Many S.A travel to Namibia for short trips.  The currency trades at equal rate. The S.A. Rand is excepted in main cities in the country.

Botswana

I have traveled extensively through out the African continent. Writing blogs can be challenging.

I last left my blog in the DRC. Traveling back through Kenya and down to Cape Town.

AFter Zimbabwe our safari took us through Botswana.

Currency- Pula

Language-English

Our first night is spent in Chobe national park. We actually camp in Kasane, just the other side of the Zimbabwe border. A story of the camp site is that s a hippo drowned in the camp pool. I can only imagine.

THE Okavango Delta is where we head next. Passing through Maun, Botswana's second largest city.

We are taken by a big wheeled truck that can taken on driving through deep deep water.

Upon arriving at the delta. We take our gear and proceeds to the Mokoro. A boat made from a tree. A paddle like pole is used to move us in the direction of travel. I am literally making the boat sink.. These are not meant for deep water travel. The tents are set up. making sure we keep our door clsed. WE don't want any creatures sliding in. A safari walk takes us through the habitat. A couple of Elephants are fighting amongst themselves. One looks at us and we are told to run. NOt knowing that anything could be around. A lion perhaps. We are lucky.

After two nights in the delta we head back to Maun and ride a cessna for an flight over the delta.

Namibia is next.

Zimbabwe

Victoira Falls.

For some of us this was an end point to the journey. Others a new group.

Victoria Falls is a really well built city for tourists. Infact that is what is relies on.

I will digress later.

D.R.C.( Demoratic Republic of the Congo)

This will be one of the most interesting part of my journey. My day started at 5.30am wake up. A quick breakfast we had to make our lunch for the day as well. Our truck ride to the border was not long. Still dark.The crossing seemed to take a while. Waiting for ournpick up also seem to take a while.We boarded a alterain truck to take us to the park. On many occasions we were followed by young children up the hill. They were trying to grab on to the back of the truck. THe guards at eh vback of the truck had to show their guns inorder to send the keds away. THese children would make death signs to us and pretend to shoot us.

Our truck was to heavy to make it up the hill. We all got out and walked up 4 km. Local people followed us.
Arriving to Varunga National park. Now being close to 11am. Some of us ate our sandwiches. There were two groups of 6.

Our group seemed to take forwever to trek up the mistly mountain.

Gorillas in the mist. Literally that ius how it felt. Two hours or more later our group finally caught up to th e family of Gorillas. It was 7pm by the time we were back at the park office. I was getting tirsty, tired and hungary. Our drive back most of us fell asleep. Going through the border seem to take an extra long time.

Arriving back at camp was 10.45pm. Had a quick very late dinner and fell sleep.My next day was spent resing and to tired for me to do the day trip to Kilgali. I would be alone and would be to much. Laundry was done and alot of sleeping.

Uganda

On my travels I have not kept up with my blog. In doing so I have gooten ahead of myself and totally forgot a few weeks. Unfortunatle the downside is that it is not fresh in my mind. The memories arn't either. Uganda is actually a well governed country. The roads are surprizingly well surfaced. When I was volunteering in Kenya I was away frm any sort of news in fact i didn't knwo who won the world cup til a few days later when I was back in Nairobi. Nairobi this time I could feel I could walk around by my self.

I was talking to another travelier at the Nairobi youth hostel. I tld him of my soon to be overland trip east. He shouted "Your going to Kampala". Have you heard the news". I said what news I have been in rural Kenya. There was a bombing there a day or so ago. HMmm.

I checked out the news and it turnd out into be something to do with the Somalia conflict.

Kampala would be safer after something has happened. After the ctiy would be surrounded by high security there wouldn't been any attacks.

Crossing the border was a bit of a slow process. Our first night was in a town called Jinja, a few miles from Kampala. This is where we shall return to on our way back to Nairobi.

Our Camp site was suberb. Upon arriving I decided to do my laundry. Well, Not such a good Idea. Just as I put my clothes up to dry it downpoured. I forgot to close my tent door. My new never slept in Sleeping bag got soaked. My clothes were far from being dry.

None the less. A really good campsite. Located beside the Nile R. We past through Kampala. Crowded. A long drive before our next site. A big coke bottle statue centers a roundabout in the center of town. Must be to do with the World Cup. A big mosque stands on a hill. Skyscrapers sit in the city valley. Kirsoro is where we Camp. This is close to the the borders of Rwanda and the D.R.C. A slight confusion to those who plan to do the day trip to Kilgali. Using a Canadian Passport I could have gone for free. No Visa fee. Our tour leader gave me s stamp to the wrong group. Instead of my going to Rwanda on the next day I was going to the Congo.