African Stories

Brief Summary

After travelling around Kenya ( Mombassa and Nairobi) I took an over-land truck down from Nairobi to Harare. There were nineteen other people on the truck plus two Kenyan drivers and a Kenyan Camp Master. It was a seven week overland tour through Tanzania, Zanzibar, Malawi, Zambia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe. We saw the big five. Buffalo, Rhino, Lion, Leopard, and Elephants. We walked close to Elephants ( 20 metres), Buffalo ( 70 metres ) and Rhino ( 5 metres, Yep 5 metres from a family of white rhinos ) I climbed Mount Kili, went snorkeling in Zanzibar, camped in the Seringeti. Saw Victoria Falls. A few of us Bungi jumped from Vic Falls bridge, and most of us rafted down the Zambezi. After the truck trip finished in Harare. I continued down to Jo-burg and Capetown. I climbed Table mountain, saw Robben Island, and did a tour of the cape. Now I'm in Hong Kong starting the Asian portion of my trip.


Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro.
About half ( 12 ) of our overland truck group took the option of climbing up Kili. The highest mountain in Africa. We all payed a lot of money with park entrance fees ( 350 US ) and porters fees ( 160 US ) to get very tired. It took us 5 days to get to up and back. There were three huts on the way. The first day was a four hour walk through what looked like a rain-forest to the first hut. The next day was about a 6 hour hike up to the next hut. The third and fourth day were the hardest. On the third day we walked the whole day to get up to the final hut. The landscape looked like Mars, there were no plants it was red and rocky with strange rocky peaks. The final hut was very cold and isolated. It felt like an Antarctic station. Then at midnight we started the final assent. None of us had ever seen so many stars in the sky. But stars weren't interesting as we plodded along. It was necessary to go 'pole pole' which means 'slowly, slowly' in Swahili. By morning (about 8am)we had made it. There was snow, and it was freezing. Three of our group didn't make it. But none were sick. It took almost 4 hours to get back to the top hut. Down a scree slope which was very tiring. We had about an hours rest there until we descended to the next hut. We got there in time for dinner. I was too tired to go and eat and just crashed on my bed. One of the problems was that our overland truck guide advised us wrongly about what food to take. We ran out of jam on the first day and would have run out of bread and fruit unless our porters had not told us we needed more food. We had to barter with other climbers for more food. We all became instant friends with an American called Eric who gave us some biscuits and peanuts. The porters were local Tanzanians who carried our food and gear in sacks on their heads. My bag was fairly light. But a guy on our truck nick named 'Layer Chris' ( who was obsessed with having exactly the right gear particularly the right number of clothing layers for the cold ) packed a tonne of stuff including a large book he never touched. The Porters were also very amusing. Some knew almost no English and would respond to any question by saying "Yes, my friend". Others knew some English and taught us some Swahili on the way up. There's a picture of me at the top at my web-site (kiwimartin.freeservers.com)

Vespas and street food in Zanzibar
In Zanzibar we were free to do whatever we wanted. Melissa ( American from the truck ) , myself and Eric ( who saved us on Mt. Kili ) hired Vespas for the day in Stone town. We rode up North, saw a chamber where slaves were kept. (Zanzibar was a major trading centre for Slaves ) Had a bit of a Spice tour, and had lunch at a small beach resort. Then went to the East coast and got completely soaked by storms that were passing. We didn't get cold as the sun was fairly hot. The roads were mostly good but some where incredibly bad. The only map we had was from Lonely Planet book, it was very simplistic. To get back to Stone town it looked like the best way was right down the middle of the Island. The road turned out to be insanely bad. The tarmac had almost completely gone. We had to weave all over the place to avoid the bigger pot holes and chickens. The local children waved us along, getting very exited to see us, often jumping up and down while waving. It took us at least two and 1/2 hours to make it back to Stone town. It was tiring because the bikes were jumping around. When we eventually made to some sealed roads we had hardly any time left. We had to get the bikes back by 6. We zoomed along the roads overtaking one another to make it back, only having a rough idea where we were going. We got stopped by police at a road block. They asked us for our driving Permits. None of us had an International Drivers Licence but luckily we had gone to the police station earlier and bought permits for the day. After we got into Stone town itself, we couldn't remember how to get back to the place we rented them from, which was closing at 6:00. We eventually found a local who knew the way to the shop, and we followed him on his push bike to the shop. We got there about 6:30, but they were still open. The street food in Stone town in front of the old fort on the waterfront at night was superb. It was virtually free, just a few pence/cents per item. There was all sorts of food; Very fresh seafood, potato cakes ( curry, beef, stuffing ), nans, Zanzibar pizza ( nothing like a Normal Pizza ), sugarcane drinks and cakes. Most of us ate there every night. You would just walk along picking out different things wondering what they would taste like and being pleasantly surprised by how good they were.

When Pythons Attack!, Botswana
We took a flight into the Okavango Delta in Botswana. We took makoros ( canoes with guys at the back with poles ) out to a bush camp. We had a bit of a play with the makoros and it is much harder than it looks to get them going where you want. We spent three days on the island bush camp, and took the makoros out to different places for walking safaris. We saw elephants up close ( about 20 metres away ). We spotted a lone Buffalo in the distance (lone buffalos are quite dangerous and can charge). We got a bit concerned when we noticed the first thing the guide did was look for a tree to climb. It didn't charge. But we were all keeping a look out for the best tree to climb as we walked. One of the last things we were going to do was see a hippo pool. We had seen many hippos on the trip so far so we weren't too excited. In the end we couldn't find any so the guides took us to an island for another walking safari. One of the old guides found a python under a bush. There was a bit of excitement as we all gathered around to see what it was. The guides told us climb up on a fallen tree while one of them was busy poking the snake with a long stick. When the snake slid away to find a more peaceful resting place all the guides went mad, shouting "Run away, Get away" as they ran, some going behind their clients. Myself and the Aussie Danny couldn't see what all the fuss was about and stood on the ground and watched the python go right past us. It was about 6 foot. The funny thing was our driver/guide from the overland truck was with us. It was his first trip. He had made a habit of getting very drunk and snoring a lot at night. The previous night he gave a rambling drunken speech around the campfire in which he told us that we should be more of a team. He told a story about how one friend abandoned another friend when they saw a lion by climbing up a tree. Guess who was way up the tree when the python came along. We all turned around and couldn't believe how far up he was. To be fair he is scared of snakes and reptiles.

Arrested in Bulawayo
In Bulawayo Zimbabwe we had a few free days. I was told to go and change some of the truck money, which were my 300 pounds worth of travellers cheques. When we had been to Zimbabwe previously ( Vic Falls ) we got a rate of 180 Zim dollars to the pound so I had to get at least close to that rate. The bank rates in Zim are terrible, as the government sets the rate. There is a black market and a lot of us had been using this in vic falls. I went out with Melissa ( from our truck )for the day to get a few things done, first one being to change the TCs. We walked to the Library where we had been approached the previous day to exchange money. I assumed that there would be a similar person there today. There were a whole lot of women dressed in white. When I looked at one of them she approached me and asked if I wanted to exchange money. I told her I needed to exchange 300 pounds TC. After lots of walking and talking to other people to arrange it I finally ended up down an alley in a back entrance of a building. Melissa stayed out of the way ( good idea ) I didn't think that was such a good idea myself so I left. As I was leaving they had found the women I needed to talk to. She had a look at the TCs and said they didn't change them. I thought fair enough. I caught up with Melissa and we decided to split up and meet up later as it was taking a long time to change the Money. No point us both wasting time and risking being arrested. I went straight around the block as I needed to change 20 US for my self as I needed Zim for my bus trip to Jo-burg after the overland expedition had finished. I found another woman ( dressed in white like the others) What we were doing was so obvious. And I thought that at the time. We agreed on 160 which wasn't too bad. I asked for a calculator to do check the Zim dollar number. I was given one and did the calculation. We walked up the street trying to be at least a little discrete. But probably looking obvious. Once she had the wad of money. I asked to count it, keeping my 20. As soon as she handed me the money a guy (not in a uniform )came between us and told us we were coming with him and flashed some ID. I had heard that this sometimes happens as a con and the guy might not be a Police officer but just trying to con me into giving him a bribe or stealing my money. So I said "Right, lets go to the Police station then. Where is it?" So the guy said "Year it's right around this corner" motioning with his hands. "So, we're going to the police station then?" "Yep". So we all walked that way. He talked to the woman. She seemed concerned which was a bit of a worry. He told her that she had been really obvious and he seemed a bit puzzled. I was thinking now he might be legit. I thought I might be fined a little or spent a couple of days in Jail. But it was a worry not knowing what was going to happen. I was glad they caught me exchanging only 20 US, rather than 300 pounds. He didn't talk to me again until we got around the corner. He said he was sorry I was caught, and asked me if I knew what I was doing was illegal. Of course I lied. And and tried to play dumb ( which isn't to hard ) I said I just wanted some Zim for spending and this lady was willing to sell me some. After we walked on a little further the only other thing I could think to do was to ask to see his ID again. So I stopped and let him walk ahead a bit. When he turned around I asked him. He told me he wasn't trying to con me or get a bribe. Then he said he wasn't a police officer but he was taking me to the police because what we were doing was wrong. I considered bolting at this point, but getting chased or getting in a fight was bound to bring police attention. Before I could decide He said he would let us off. I thought he was saying to reverse the transaction, but when I asked he said I should keep the wad of Zim dollars and I should give the 20 US to the Woman. I thought I had clicked to what was going on then. I thought the wad of Zim would either be half paper or the wrong amount. So I asked to count the money. Surprisingly he agreed. I counted it, and it was all there. As we all went our separate ways I checked the money again, checked for my wallet etc. Everything was intact. I think he was just somebody tiring to turn me in to the police. Much later in the day I managed ( mostly through a bit of luck ) to change the 300 pounds at a rate of 248. Which was unbelievable. 180 was the best we got last time. It amounted to about 75 thousand Zim dollars. ( The largest Zim note is a hundred ) So it was a huge bag of cash. I got a ride back to the camp site and got a few free beers. We had plenty of money in the kitty now, and could afford to go out to eat on the final night. .


Martin's World Trip