Everything seems to move a little slower in Malawi. It is very laid back and relaxed, something I am not used to, even back home. With all the long hauls and pre-dawn wake up calls, this down time at a beautiful peaceful beach is welcomed. The wakeup call this morning came late at 5:30. My […]
When you are traveling 10,000 kilometres in two months, there are bound to be some long driving days. In the last 2 days, driving time totalled 18 hours. When we arrived in Malawi, the lazy legs and cramped back were well worth it. Malawi is one of the poorest countries in all of Africa. They […]
I have always wanted to see Victoria Falls. I have seen it featured in countless documentaries, including Planet Earth. Standing in awe, getting drenched in mist, I quickly realized that I had seen exactly nothing yet. I had a chance to photograph the falls from a number of angles. The most impressive was the view […]
This day started very similar to the last. The walk into the canyon was still very dangerous. It was raining today, so that added a little more spice to the already terrifying descent into the gorge. As soon as I got into the raft, I immediately noticed that the water was much more turbulent. Our […]
Since I have rafted the Kicking Horse River in British Colombia and the Mountains of Northern Thailand, I thought why not try the Zambezi? Could it be that much harder? The answer is YES. We are in high water season, so the first ten rapids were closed because they are too dangerous. This should have […]
The Chobe River is the border between Botswana and Zambia. My afternoon yesterday was in a riverboat, a few metres from Elephants, Monkeys, Crocodiles, Buffalo and Hippos. The Hippos were actually swimming alongside the boat! Families of Elephants looked inquisitively at me as the shutter opened and closed hundreds of times. The large bull chased […]
In Africa, water is the most precious commodity, except in the wet season which we happen to be right smack in the middle of. In the past two days we have seen what the wet season in Africa truly means. A sunny scorcher, can turn into a fury of lightning and a flash flood of […]
Our local guide “Galaxy” pulled us aside right before venturing out on our hike to give us the two minute survival brief. He explained that if charged by a rhino, elephant or hippo, you have to run as fast as you can in a zig zagging pattern and then up a tree. At this point […]
In Africa, the bush means the wilderness. For the past two nights, I was truly roughing it. Charging batteries? Showers? I don’t think so. Out there, the only creature comfort we had was fire. Our polers brought us to our site with their Mocoro’s (African dugout canoes). With an efficient assembly line, we unloaded supplies […]
Our first view from the Okavango Delta was a majestic one. 1,000 feet above the tributaries and grazing elephants, we got the bird’s eye view of the entire area. You get a true appreciation of the vastness of this green oasis in the middle of the Kalahari. The title of this entry does not even […]
If you have ever seen that movie, you know what a San Bushman is. I had the experience of a lifetime when I got to go for a walk with a family of San Bushmen yesterday. They showed us how they survive. How they find water, food and the virtual hospital they have in plants […]
My Kilimanjaro summit is still over a month away, but I have been feeling lazy the last few weeks. As most of you know, I am a little bit of a gym junkie. Being away from the iron for this long is a little out of the ordinary for me. Today I had the privilege […]
I normally consider myself to be a morning person, until this leg of the expedition. We are up every morning before dawn to get the best sightings of wildlife. I have spent the last three days on game drives through Etosha National Park and it has been worth every 4:30 am rise. After a quick […]
It was a stark contrast from Quad Biking through the massive sand dunes in Swakopmund, Namibia yesterday to the walk through the shanty towns today. Sure, I had a great time enjoying the natural scenery and the adrenaline of flying up the dunes at 90 km/hour, but the walk I took through the townships today […]
A 4:30 AM wake up call usually comes with a very important purpose. This morning it definitely did. The Namibian desert is home to the world’s tallest sand dunes. 800 kilometres of rust red sand, towering more than 300 metres. Our wake up call was to watch the sunrise over dune 45. I could not […]
