Below are the email updates sent out during the March to May, 2002 travels, in order. Hint: print this out for easier reading.

 

P.J!'s updates from East/Southern Africa trip

Subject: Update: white and black

Jambo,
 
That is a greeting in Swahili. Erin and I are currently traveling in Africa. Our plan was to fly one way to London and buy a ticket to Africa- LON is the cheapest in the world for buying tickets to many places, even for within a couple days.Within the couple days we would go to Ireland, where I had been before, but Erin had not. Since her name is an interpretation of the country's Gaelic name (Erieann, or Eire), I figured she better see it. Thus we would travel from areas with white people to those with black people.
 
These updates will remain somewhat short, saving a more detailed format for some possible later time. Also, I tried to narrow down the mailing list to those who either said they care, those who I thought may care, and those who I thought should care. This resulted in half of the 250-long address book, so if you dont want to recieve the emails, please let me know.
 
P.J!
 
Th328 caught the Denver RTD to DIA and then a one way Continental flight to HOU then GTW.
 
Fr329 arrived at London Gatwick at 6am.  The student travel agency (STA) was closed (out of business like Council Travel?), so opted for Trailfinders (a sweatshop of ticket agents). Bought London to Nairobi for Wednesday, returning from Johannesburg 6 weeks later. All busses (i.e., /boat) immediately to Dublin were booked for the Easter "Bank Holiday", but managed to find an overnight train (i.e., /boat)...
 
Sa330 arriving at 8 am in Dublin. Walked into town and found Shane Mulligan, friend of Ankesh Kadakia, a college friend of mine. Shane and his Danish girlfriend took good care of us, and showed us around town. This time in Dublin included plenty of time in the Temple Bar district. Stayed with Shane.
 
Su401 more time in Dublin.
 
Mo402 rented a car for one day. Erin wanted to see Galway, and it was extremely coincidental that my mom was currently taking a short tour, and was in Galway that night. Stayed with my mom at her hotel. Left side driving skills were easy to pick back up.
 
Tu403 returned to Dublin, caught the boat back to Holyhead (Wales), Train employees were on strike so our return tickets were useless, but I realized I had a friend nearby. I met Paul Ewer while traveling in Beijing (China, 1.5 years ago). Caught the free (provided for stranded travelers) but to Chester, then Paul took us to his place in Warrington.
 
We404 Train off strike, so used our tickets from Warrington to Crewe to London. Caught he Tube to Heathrow, and Swiss airline to Zurich, then connected to Nairobi overnight, flying over the Mediterranean, Sahara and Equator.
 
Why Africa? Well Erin had interest in seeing the animals, and the Kilimanjaro area, and I dont need much excuse to go to a new place. I had been to a little of Morocco and Egypt, but never Subsaharan. I might have liked to make quick work with an overland trip across the coutinent, but there are a string of Central African countries : Angola, Congo(s), Sudan, Ethopia, Somalia, etc which, due to wars, form a large barrier to overland travel. That leaves west Africa (i.e., northwest), and East and Southern Africa. We decided to do the latter two.
 
Th405 arrived in Nairobi in the morning. The city ranked with Georgetown, (Guyana) and Lahore (Pakistan) at the top of my scary list. It is called Nairobbery, for a good reason. The bus from the airport was full of thieves, they all pick each others pockets, so by the end of hte ride everyone makes out about equal. Between Erin and I we have 7 stashes for money on our persons (ankle, waist, etc), and the thieves only got one, so I figured that was good score.  It scared us from Kenya, so we caught a bus south into Tanzania. Passed through the Serengetti, with typical acacia trees, 10 foot termite mounds, views of Kilimanjaro, straw thatched houses, and random Masai Mara tribal people. Arrived in Arusha and found a cheap hostel.
 
The cheap hostel and third world travel was all new to Erin. She was going through the same culture shock which I went through when my mom first took me to India 5 years ago.
 
Fr406 Safaris are expensive business, moreseo than we recognized, so we opted to only visit the place with the highest conceentration of neat animals. This is Ngorngoro Crater, and we paid a bennie ($100) each... spent the night near the crater in a cheap hotel. Squat toilet, broken mosquito net, cold dripping shower, broken bed.
 
Sa407 toured the crater in a Land Rover with a half-Masai guide. Saw elephants, lions, wildebeest, zebra, flamingo, ostrich, monkey, baboon, endangered black rhino, and I cant remember the rest. Returned to Arusha's cheap hotel.Tanzania is an Islamic country, and this hostel was next to the mosque, good for the 5am call to prayer on the loudspeaker (which I had not heard since the middle east).
 
Su408 Caught an all day bus east to the (effectively) capital of Dar es Salaam, much less shady than Nairobi. The people are downright nice. Dar is on the Indian Ocean and in tropical humid heat.Businesses are guarded by heavy arms similar to Central America. Found a cheap but decent hostel and sweated the night under mosquito net and fan.
 
Mo409 Caught a boat a few hours through the Indian Ocean to the island of Zanzibar, a former colonial stronghold, slave trading area, and even once property of Oman. It now claims some autonomy and requires its own immigration, even though it is part of Tanzania. The island had neat architecture and a large backpacking traveler culture now.. as well as lots of fish stands and cheap Indian food (lots of Indian immigrants in East Africa). cheap hostel
 
next update: Zanazibar, Zambia, Zambezi, but not much Zimbabwe.

Subject: update: Zanzibar, Zambia, Zambezi, Zimbabwe

Alo
 
I think that is Hello in something, although some peole speak with clicks here (written with / and ! for text translation). Recent travels have been in south central Africa. Nothing racist but black people who have not showered smell bad, especially a packed busload of them. Erin has had some fun adjusting to the third world, but is now fine, partially since the areas have gotten progressively more developed. We also found return tickets from London, in time for Philmont (I will be CD Miners). the update is below.
 
P.J!
 
 
Tu409 on Tanzania's Zanzibar Island in the Indian Ocean, swam with 19 dolphins and kicked it with the muslim and Indian population. The island has touts of the worst variety, they follow you for hours and call you racist. (a tout is a poor local who wants to sell some service or item)
 
We410 spent some time on the north part of Zanzibar island at Nungwe. Basically a beachfront cottage with palm trees and Swahili Dhows floating by for $10.
 
Th411 returned to Stone Town, Zanzibar, then caught a boat back across the ocean to the mainland. The boat anchored in the choppy waters overnight to avoid arriving in Dar before sunlight (which is not safe), so sleep was had with bonus kung fu movies on ship TVs.
 
Fr412 Back in Dar es Salaam, which was still extremely hot, humid and raining most of the time. We had bought train tickets to leave Dar a few days ago, since we were told to buy them 48 hours in advance. We arrived on time for the train to Lusaka (Zambia) but were told the train was broken. Even better we could not get a refund immediately since we had to wait for them to get their money back from the bank. A few hours later we bought a bus ticket to Lusaka from a woman who told us it was a comfortable bus which took 24 hours.
 
Sa413 showed up at the bus stand for the bus which left promptly at 6. Day was spent passing through the fields and mountains of central Tanzania, with bonus sightings of giraffe and elephant in a national park en route. Arrived at the Zambia border post at 8pm, and since the border was closed then, we were told the bus would leave tomorrow evening at 5! Never trust a Tanzanian ticket salesperson. Slept in the worst excuse for a hotel I have ever been in, and paid 66 cents for the privelege.
 
Su414 Spent the day in a dusty hole of a town... Tunduma. Watched amazing red tape and inefficiency along with border touts and petty theft. Ate some tasty Indian Chapatis, perhaps the only consolation prize. Reboarded the extremely packed (people in the aisles and jumping over seats all night) bus for a night ride ...
 
Mo415 arriving in Lusaka Zambia in the morning... a somewhat developed city. Found the cheap hostel, which had a pool.
 
Tu416 roamed Lusaka, then caught a better bus for a few hours to Livingstone, the gateway to Victoria Falls, found the cheap hostel again.
 
We417 Checked out Victoria Falls, neither highest or widest in the world, but quite impressive at high flow- hardly visible through the mist.
 
Th418 crossed the bridge to Zimbabwe, the town of Victoria Falls. Recent elections troubles have sent the country into turmoil, with white farmers being killed. The town was desolate, with no tourists. A new thing to me: official exchange rate was $55 zambian per $1 U.S. but black market rate was $300. This allowed for purchases at six times less than cost. David Stowe, please explain the macroeconomics of the situation to me.
 
Fr419 Visited the falls from the other side and hung out at fancy resort hotels, stayed at cheap hostel $2.
 
Next update: Botswana, Namibia, etc

Subject: update: Botswana, Namibia, South Africa

Hallo
 
that is hello in Afrikaans, the the dutch derived language of the initial settlers of the cape region. South African travels are easy, with treated water available and easy transport (we even rented a car). ten percent of the people (whites) live first world while 90% (blacks) are still under economic apartheid. That is, through the facade of nice cities and interstate type highways one can often glimpse the "townships", as they are called: massive areas of slum like living. The update follows.
 
P.J!
ps room available at the phat pad... let me know if you know someone who needs a place to live in Denver!
 
Sa420 hitched a ride with a white Zimbabwe colonialst type to the Botswana border at Kazangula. This is a 4 corners region for Zimbabwe, Zambia, Namibia and Botswana. Botswana has a strong economy, especially by charging tourists way too much. Spent the night in a small bungalow on the Chobe River, which was infested with Crocodiles and Hippos running around the campsite at night.
 
Su421 caught a large comfortable bus from the Botswana border, across Chobe National Park in northern Botswana and into the Caprivi Region of Namibia. The Caprivi region was infamous for violence of Angolan insurgents, so the bus was escorted by a heavily armed military convoy for a few hours. That was somewhat interesting, but Angola is rapidly becoming peaceful now, since the recent death of one of the lead troublemakers.
 
Mo422 arrived in Namibia's capital of Windhoek early in the morning... it might have been Germany since the colonial remnants include the architecture and food. roamed town and stayed at the backpackers place.
 
Tu423 caught a minibus west to the atlantic coast to the town of Swakopmund. The high and dry midlands transformed into the endless Namibian sand dunes at the coast, quite interesting.
 
We424 roamed Swakopmund and played on sand dunes.
 
Th425 checked out nearby Walvis Bay, which was the last part of Namibia to remain colonized by South Africa (see a history book).
 
Fr426 caught a bus back to Windhoek, then continuing through the night...
 
Sa427 into South Africa and to one of its three capitals: Cape Town. The place has to be one of most interesting in the world. found a cheap hostel on Long Street.
 
Su428 climbed up cape towns iconographical Table Mountain and took the cable car down. stayed at same hostel
 
Mo429 roamed Cape Town, including historical apartheid districts, and the museum for robbins island, the alcatraz like prison island where Mandela stayed for much of his life. took out a rental car for the next few days... spent the night in Muizenberg, further down the coast.
 
Tu430 continued down towards the Cape of Good Hope, which is not actually the southern tip of Africa. Played with some Penguins (which I missed doing in Patagonia), then drove north into the winelands around Cape Town. Erin checked out some wineries, then we headed to the coast to Mossel Bay.
 
We501 Spent the day driving the "garden route" between Mossel bay and Jeffreys bay, which is a tourist haven so it was not too interesting actually. It was somewhat scenic, with green forests and the sea. stayed the night at a surfers hostel in Jeffereys bay (where world famous waves are, dude).
 
Th502 swam in the Indian Ocean, then drove north into the interior of South Africa. This region is called the Karoo, which must be Afrikaans for Pampas (which I once thought was Spanish for west texas). Boring and hot scenery. Made it to Kimberly by night.
 
Fr503 Kimberly is where De Beers sold his ranch to Cecil Rhodes (of Rhodesia and Rhodes Scholar fame) who started what is basically the world's diamond monopoly. Toured one of the De Beers diamond mines, including going half a mile under the earth. Drove east through Bloemfontein (the second capital of S.A.) and made it to the Lesotho border at Maseru.
 
Next update: Lesotho, Swaziland, Mozambique, and Bunny Chow.
 

Subject: update: Lesotho, Swaziland, Mozambique

Bom dia

That is good day in Portuguese. Recent travels have been in Lesotho, Swaziland, South Africa, and Mozambique (where people speak Portuguese). Aside from Mozambique, the history of the region has been shaped by the Dutch settlers (Boers), the British (as usual), and the Zulus. Lesotho and Swaziland (those two small countries surrounded by South Africa) are remnants of the Boer-Zulu-British conflicts; i.e., the only peoples to remain independent of the other three powers. The region is currently enveloped in an HIV/AIDS crisis (up to 50% of the population in some places), and a falling currency (the South African Rand, which is now recovering but still low... good for our dollar). The last update left Erin and I traveling in a rented car towards Lesotho. This update brings us back home.

P.J!

 Fr503 toured the De Beers diamond Mines in Kimberly, South Africa, then drove to the Lesotho border. At the border met some American Baptist Missionaries...had dinner with one of the families and stayed in the capital city of Maseru with Lee, another missionary. He was an Eagle Scout who had been to Philmont.

Sa504 Lesotho is "the friendly mountain kingdom", and has the highest low point of any country (like a mile). The tourist industry consists of riding ponies, and the economy centers on supplying water from major reservoirs to South Africa. So Lee took us and a couple other missionaries (Mary and Nikki who were visiting from their post in Swaziland) to ride ponies, then to tour a newly completed dam project (designed by Montgomery Watson Harza engineers actually). Stayed with Lee in Maseru again.

 Su505 Left Maseru and drove through the Lesotho lowlands. Exited back into South Africa, then drove through the Drakensburg mountain area. Stopped at the train station in Petermaritzburg to see a train station which made Gandhi famous (separated rail classes for colored people), then drove to Durban and returned the rental car. Stayed at a cheap hostel.

 Mo506 Durban has a high Indian (i.e., from India) population, a result from colonial import of indentured labor. This means there are also interesting offspring (Indians with Afros), as well as tons of tasty Indian food. One such food is Bunny Chow, which is a half loaf of bread hollowed out and filled with curried whatever- a food from a racist time when black golf caddies (on white's golf courses) were not allowed to use dishes to eat. Durban also has a high Zulu population, since it is capital of the Kwa-Zulu Natal Province (yes homeland of former king Shaka Zulu).

 Tu507 Stayed in Durban again, eating Indian food and swimming in the Indian Ocean.

 We508 Caught a backpacker type bus along the coast and then into Swaziland. Met with Nikki and Mary (the Baptists), and spent the night in the capital city of Mbabane (don't ask me how to pronounce that) with Mary.

 Th509 Our goal was to get a visa for Mozambique, but in true embassy style, the place was closed for the Ascension day holiday. So instead Mary showed us around local crafts stores, then we joined Nikki in teaching some Swazi youngsters about Jesus' ascension. We went to some rather undeveloped villages (i.e. huts) for the event. Stayed at Nikki's in Mbabane.

 Fr510 procured a Mozambique visa, then caught an overpacked minivan (most common third-world transport) into Mozambique and to the capital of Maputo. Stayed at a cheap hostel.

Sa511 After the Portuguese left Mozambique, a socialist (communist) regime took over the country, followed by a long civil war. It has been peaceful for only about ten years. The result is that Maputo street names include Avenida de Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, Salvadore Allende, Ho Chi Minh, Mao Ze Dong, Kim II Jung etc. The country is developing itself, but large piles of trash (fermenting in the humid sun) disguise any more charming aspects. We bought some gifts at the Saturday morning crafts market, and stayed at the cheap hostel again.

Su512 Took a ferry across the bay to Catembe, to get a feel for rural Mozambique. It was like most other undeveloped places in the world, with the added bonus of possible land mines. Stayed in Maputo.

Mo513 Next mission was to get to Johannesburg, South Africa, to fly back home. Options included a 7 hour bus or a 17 hour train (as scheduled). Since we had not taken train yet on this trip, we bought a cheap first class compartment and caught the train out of town... into South Africa at Komatipoort...

Tu514 the train broke in the middle of the night, making the trip actually 24 hours. We disembarked in Pretoria, one of S. Africa's three capital cities, and the less risky sister city to Joburg. Joburg is so infamous for crime that cars legally have flame throwers to torch potential carjackers. The metropolis has hundreds of township suburbs, the mostly black shantytown areas which reflect economic apartheid. We roamed Pretoria, including touring a mosque where the Immam (head of the place) lectured us on the stupidity of Americans and how 9/11 was committed by the Israeli Mossad (secret service). (we told him we were from Toronto, as was our usual story). Headed to Joburg Airport, and caught Swiss (airline) out of town.

We515 ...flying over the length of the continent, with bonus sunrise over the Sahara, clear views of the Libyan coast, Sicily, Italy, and the Swiss Alps... arriving in Zurich for a connection. Maximizing use of connection time is important, so we spent the day roaming downtown Zurich... where the price of one serving of chocolate or cheese can pay for a Mozambiquan's food for months. caught the connection flight to London, then the Tube (subway) and a bus to Brighton... where my cousin Amanda is at school.

Th516 Roamed brighton and stayed with Amanda again.

Fr517 returned to London and flew direct to Denver, with bonus clear views of Greenland.

Fr 524 will head to Philmont for the summer.