Immingham
A business trip to the wonderful English industrial/port town of Immingham.
South Africa revisited
Crossing the border from Botswana in a kind of desolate area of South Africa. We notice how things are getting colder, some morning there’s even frost on the ground when we wake up. It’s winter in South Africa. I don’t remember much of this last leg of the trip since I’ve started to feel home sick. I’ve been travelling for 4 months now and start to miss the things I have at home, my family and friends. I do remember stopping at some wineries before finally reaching Cape Town again and the fare well party we had on the last days.
We spent some days in Cape Town, doing some sight seeing, shopping and eating at restaurants, the latter was something we rarely did during our time on the road. Packed with a lot of memories of places I’ve been and people I’ve met I finally left Africa for the every day life in Sweden again. And possible new adventures somewhere else.
Botswana revisited
We enter from the north and ends up almost directly in Chobe National Park which is probably the best ever National Park I’ve ever visited. Easy the largest elephants, and plenty of those to boot. Lots of wildlife everywhere. Some nice bush camps on the outskirts of Chobe before we finally reached Maun again. I must say I really loved the place where we camped in Maun, at Sedia Hotel.
And once again we stop at Lake Ngami, I think the water level has dropped significant since the last time we visited. Then we head on towards the Kalahari desert which is also one of the amazing places on earth. One morning after breaking camp and starting to drive, 3 lions crosses the road in front of us. I guess we were the “morning snack that got away”, we were lucky at least. Those lions could have lied hidden only meters away in the tall grass without us never knowing.
Zimbabwe revisted
From Chimoio, Mozambique we drove more or less straight to Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe. Time to let some of our travel companions leave and some new join us. One of the newcomers was Franciska, a friend of mine since 10-12 years back. Our first stop on was in the Chinhoyi Caves, then we proceeded to Lake Kariba. Once a very nice holiday location but now it would seem the tourists had deserted it due to the violent land grabbing a few years prior to our visit.
From Lake Kariba and the national park Chete we continue west towards Victoria Falls (second time for me now but it’s a place well worth visiting twice). We camp at Shoestrings Backpackers again, and we do white river rafting again. This time we were out of luck though, our raft flipped and we probably spent a good third of the trip just picking up our stuff and crew members out of the water again.
Despite being a country with a lot of bad history and open wounds amongst it people I think Zimbabwe is one of the nicest countries on this trip. I have many fond memories from here and would like to go back some time.
Mozambique
We more or less drove straight to Maputo after having crossed the border. We stayed at Fatimas Place for some days which gave us the time to explore the city for a while. Then we continued north to Tofo where we stayed at Fatimas Nest for yet some more days. A nice beach, reggae music and fresh pineapple for days at end. Can’t really complain about that.
Then we headed north on mostly dirt roads and poorly maintained asphalt roads until we reached Chimoio. Where we ran into a Danish guy who had opened a bike shop and was selling used bikes from Copenhagen to the Mozambiqueans. We stayed at his compound for the last night in Mozambique, felt a bit safer than bush camping since large parts of Mozambique still is not cleared of land mines.
Eswatini (former Swaziland)
Also Eswatini was a short stop, but we had the time to do some fun stuff also. We tried white river rafting, although, it was very low water levels so there was a lot of pushing the raft around rather than navigating rapids. But still, it was a nice day on the river. We also had the time to party in Manzini in the evening.
Lesotho
This was just a quick visit on our way north. The best memory I have from Lesotho is playing football with some kids and how hard it was since we were some 2 km above sea level. Air is much thinner up there, you won’t noticed until you do something physically challenging. Good times to be had never the less.
South Africa
The first part of our journey through South Africa went through Springbok south wards to Langebaan at the Atlantic coast. We stayed there for a couple of days before we continued to Cape Town. This was the end of the line for most of us, but not for me. While most of my travel companions for well over 2 months went home one by one I took the time to explore Cape Town and its surroundings with a girl named Lisa whom I met on a travel forum. We tried wineries in Stellenbosch; Villiera, Laibach & Simonsig to mention a few. We also did shark cage diving in Gaansbai for example.
After about a week it was time to continue the trip with 4x4expedition.se and some new travelers had joined the crew. Via L’Agulhas (which is about as far south you can get on the African continent) and Garden Route to Port Elisabeth and then Addo Elephant Farm. Then we dashed north and slightly east into Lesotho and after that we went via Drakensberg into Eswatini, previously known as Swaziland. Before leaving South Africa for Mozambique we made a stop in the Kruger Park of course.
Namibia
Namibia is probably one of the top destinations I’ve ever been. I’ve always been fascinated by deserts and Namibia has a lot of it. With that said, the first stop in Namibia was the Hoba meteorite just outside Grootfontein. From there we continued to Etosha National Park. From there we continued to the Skeleton Coast National Park and then to Twyfelfontein or /Ui-//aes.
Some other places we visited on our way south was Cape Cross, Swakopmund, Dune 7 outside of Walvis Bay until we finally reached Sossusvlei. Moving futher south we reached Fish River Canyon in /Ai /Ais-Richtersveld Transfrontier Park, where we celebrated easter. The next day we crossed into South Africa via Noordoewer.
Botswana
From all the African countries I’d pass trough on this trip I think Botswana was the most “wild” of them all. When driving on the road we from time to time had to stop to let an elephant pass for example. Our first real stop was in Nxai Pan National Park. Then we proceeded to Maun where we would stay for some days. From Maun we took a flight over the Okawagna Delta before we continued north to Lake Ngami. From there we went west towards Namibia.
Zimbabwe
After crossing the bridge over the mighty Zambezi river we also found ourself in Zimbabwe. The 4th country on this trip so far. The town on this side of the border is named just Victoria Falls. We choose to stay at Shoestring Backpackers for a couple of days.
From the bridge that crosses the gap between Zambia and Zimbabwe the brave bungy jumps and the foolhardy will try their luck at white water rafting, which I did with Shearwater and I had a blast! Ask for captain Titanic!
After Victoria Falls we proceeded to Hwange National Park where we stayed for one night inside the national park. After Hwange we crossed the border into Botswana.
Zambia
The most prominent memories from Zambia is that it’s here I’m starting to really enjoy the African night sky due to the fact that there is no light pollution when you’re in the midst of nowhere. Too bad my camera was not top notch to truly capture it. Also, playing some football with the locals was really wholesome.
However, the first major stop was in the capital Lusaka, then we proceeded to the town of Choma, which also is an important milestone in my life. It’s here I start drinking coffee.
From Choma we continue south west to Livingstone, on the border to Zimbabwe. It’s safe to say that the main attraction in Livingstone is the Zambian side of Victoria Falls. But we also went on a walking safari in Mosi-oa-Tunyato see rhinos up close. There is a somewhat uneasy feeling being just a few meters away from a 3-5 ton animal that can stampede on you. Luckily they have bad eyesight.
Victoria Falls it self is massive. The roar of the water thundering down, the massive mist that the waterfall throws up at anyone who is close enough. It’s truly one of the worlds wonders of nature. Both good and bad maybe, but the water levels were to high too reach the Devils Pool.
Malawi
If I thought the roads in Tanzania was bad sometimes, then the roads in Malawi was always bad. But what Malawi lacked in roads they made up for with the people. I think the people we met in Malawi was some of the friendliest during the entire trip. One of the first stops we did was on The Mushroom Farm camp site, situated high up on a mountain close to Livingstonia. That was some of the sketchiest roads I’ve ever driven on. But the view was fantastic with Lake Malawi in the background.
We continued south to Nkhata Bay where we stayed for a couple of days and I even made a dive in Lake Malawi. It was a very strange experience diving in sweet water and swimming around with thousands upon thousands of aquarium fishes. Then a short stop in Lilongwe before driving into Zambia.
Tanzania
The first part of this trip started at a camp site in the outskirts of Dar es-Salaam where we met the rest of the “team”. And the cars that would become my home for coming 4 months. Ronnie and Lena was the people behind 4x4expedition.se which was the travel company which arranged this trip. The journey begun with navigating the rush hour in Dar es-Salaam, then proceeding south west to Mikumi National Park where we got to see the first wild life of the trip.
From Mikumi we continued to Iringa further to the west/south west. We travelled on roads (or the lack of) through a beautiful countryside until we hit Mbeya, just a tad bit north of Lake Malawi. Somewhere around here we tried to find a crater lake in a old volcano but failed and almost got lost in the jungle instead. After that we crossed over to Malawi.
Zanzibar
On the 12th of February 2012 I left a ice-cold Sweden (-19°) on a plane and finally land in +35° Dar es-Salaam in Tanzania. Then together with 2 of my total 10 (to be) travelling companions we proceeded to the island of Zanzibar where we had rented a house for a week. But before we went to the rented house we stayed one night in Stone Town.
It was mostly relaxing and doing some sightseeing around the island. We also went on a snorkeling/diving tour where I got to brush off my diving skills again. And visiting places such as the restaurant called The Rock. We also went swimming with dolphins, which I in hindsight regret doing because I did not really like the way the organizers kind of “chased” the dolphins around. You should respect wild life, always.
Anyway, this was the beginning of an epic adventure through 10 African countries over the course of 4½ months.
Hong Kong
Last stop before heading home again. I had no real plans for Hong Kong except for meet up with someone I used to play computer games with. I arrived quite late in the evening so I headed directly to my hotel where I more or less crashed straight away. The following day Howard met me in the lobby. He took me out on a eating adventure where we tried the Cantonese cuisine. 9 courses over the day, from breakfast to supper in the evening.
The next day I explored Hong Kong on my own, took a boat trip out in the archipelago to Lamma Island. Later in the evening I met another friend I’ve met online. Together with her friends we went to a rave party on the 23rd floor in a skyscraper. Last day in Hong Kong I spent mostly strolling around.
Malaysian Borneo
I flew from Krabi to Kota Kinabalu with Air Asia for really cheap. Realized I had not spent as much money as I thought so I treated myself to a 5-star hotel (I was used to live in the cheaper side of hotels/hostels). Then after a couple of days my friend arrived (again) and we checked in to a hostel located around Jalan Gaya (Gaya Street). From there we went on a white river rafting on the Padas river and also planned our expedition to climb Mount Kinabalu.
On our way to Mount Kinabalu we stopped at Sabah Tea Garden and Poring Hot Springs before finally entering Mount Kinabalu National Park. From the entrance to the base camp it took us roughly 3 hours to walk (mountain guide speed) which gave us plenty of time to drink tea at base camp and enjoy our clothes that would not fully dry due to the extremely cold and moist climate.
They woke us up at night to start the ascension to the peak so we could see the sunrise, but we were greeted with cold rain and clouds instead. Back in Kota Kinabalu my friend left for Thailand again and I aimed for Semporna. But first I had to fly to Tawau and then take the bus to Semporna. I had booked a bunch of nights at a place called Singamata Reef Resort with the intention to learn to dive. And eventually I got me PADI Open Water certificate. And I also made an amazing drift dive with sea turtles around an island called Palau Sibuan (which at that time is the farthest east I’ve ever travelled).
I really wish I had had the time to take a trip to Brunei or dash over to the Indonesian side of Borneo too. Or to see the orangutans on a jungle trekk.
Thailand (one year later)
I flew to Phuket, took a taxi to Ao Nang where I waited for a friend for a couple of days. Then we moved to Krabi and waited yet another day for my friends friend to arrive from Sweden. The 3 of us went on a small version of the trip I had done the previous year, Koh Samui, Ko Pha-ngan and then back to Ao Nang. I decided to split because I had already been in Thailand, and I wanted to go to Borneo and I had limited time.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Can’t say I knew much about Kuala Lumpur when I landed there. I knew I wanted to see the Batu Caves and the Petrona Towers. On my way from Batu Caves I met some other backpackers and decided to stick with them while being in Kuala Lumper and that was a good thing. I would probably not have visited Bukit Bintang (which is Kuala Lumpurs equivalent of Khaosan Road in Bangkok).
I also spent some time around Sentral and China Town before it was time to leave for Thailand.
Quick stop in Singapore
I had never planned to stay long in Singapore, it was just a (unnecessary) stop on the way from Bali to Kuala Lumpur. But I thought since I was in the area and had not made any further bookings it would be sad to miss it. So I booked a plane ticket and off I went.
I took a walk in town, ended up at Raffles Hotel and ordered a Singapore Sling (now I can cross that off the list as well). I hope I can come back one day, I know I missed a lot.
