The African Adventure Comes to an End
Our final few days in Africa were spent enjoying the beach, swimming in the sea and eating a ridiculous amount of cocnut (OK, the last one was just me!). Next stop: Asia.
See It Do It Live It
African Children
A lot of the children we met in Zambia don’t have very much. No shiny plastic toys, no books. They often make their own toys, and their own fun.
Zambian Shops
Some of the shops in Zambia have great names. Here are a few from Kapiri Mposhi:
Lets Go Fly A Kite
If you find yourself on a beautiful desert island beach, which happens to be one of the top places in the world for an adrenalin filled (and very expensive) water sport, do you: a) Spend the equivalent amount of money on generic artwork, beach massages, doughnuts and polished shells. In other words, get lots more ‘stuff’ for your money. b) Decide that you will spend the next 12 days watching from the beach, convincing yourself that you made the right decision, and it probably isn’t that much fun anyway. c)…read more
There’s nowhere better Zan Zi Bar
We are not only cheapskates, but we are also gluttons for punishment, so to get to Paje we once again headed to the dala dala rank. We were pointed to the correct vehicle and hopped in. The only other people there were a Belgian couple who had been royally ripped off for their fare, and charged double the going rate. We were wise to this by now and paid the correct price, before being told that our bags also counted as ‘people’ and we had to pay for them too….read more
Stone Town
We decided to stay in Stone Town (capital of Zanzibar) for four nights. Through some slightly convoluted organisation we were to stay in a room above a cake shop, and obviously had high hopes. Sadly, we arrived during Ramadan so no cakes were to be available. The room was also completely terrible (even with our significantly lowered standards). There was a double mattress perched on top of a single bed frame, only one pillow between two, no lighting or window in the bathroom and only a bucket of cold water…read more
Dar Es Salaam
For our one night in Dar Es Salaam, we decided to return to Couchsurfing. This is partly because we had no idea when the train would arrive, so couldn’t book accommodation in advance, and partly because the best way to explore a new area is with someone who already knows it well. We made contact with Gidion, who works in tourism, and organised to stay with his family. When we arrived, it turned out that Gidion was away in Arusha park but his brother William came to meet us at…read more
All Aboard the Tazara Express
For many years Zanzibar has been at the top of my dream holiday destination list. By great coincidence, Kapiri is at one end of a train line to Dar Es Salaam, and so the next phase of our journey was planned. The Tazara trains are half owned by Zambia and half by Tanzania, and the line was built by the Chinese. The trains used to have a reputation of reliability, but that has slipped in recent years. The online reports warned that Kapiri station is chaotic on departure day, and…read more
Monkeying Around
What do you get if you cross two sheep, a circus monkey, a few talking parrots, peacocks and about a hundred chimpanzees? Answer: Chimfunshi Wildlife Sanctuary, tucked away in the depths of the forest in Zambia’s Copperbelt, just near the border with the DRC. And it was to this remarkably un-touristy attraction that we made our way on our last weekend in Zambia. In fact making our way there was (as always in Africa) its own little adventure, involving a crowded but entertaining 3-hour bus trip, an overnight in the…read more