We decided to give Botswana a miss in order to have 3 extra weeks in India.
This past week has been an incredible ending to our time in Africa, with a good mix of relaxing and adventure. But that seems to be par for the course.
So to recap, here are the higlights of our travels so far...
- 4 day safari in the Masai Mara
- Checking out the market in chaotic Nairobi
- First minibus ride to Kimana
- Hiking Chyulu hills with the Masai, including a traditional goat meal
- Getting a ride to the Kenya-Tanzania border from two Isaeli guys, crammed in the back of their jeep
- Being called an muzungu for the first time (when it wasn't annoying yet) as we walked from the border to the closest town in Tanzania
- The 7 hr bus ride that took 10 hours to get to Dar
- Surviving the Dar bus station insanity
- Exploring the streets of Stone Town, Zanzibar and haggling for dinner at the night fish market
- Running on the beach with local kids in Bwejuu
- Meeting the workers at Neema Crafts in Iringa, where disabled people are given employment opportunities, otherwise unavailable in most of Tanzania
- Listening to the choir singing in the church next to our guesthouse window
- A hellish minibus ride from Mbeya to the Tanzania-Malawi border
- Experiencing true Malawian hospitality in Karonga with James, who drove us around to find a place to sleep and invited us to a braii (bbq) at his restaurant where we ate and drank for free
- Camping at Lake Malawi in Chitimba
- Hiking 12k up to Livingstonia for a few nights at the amazing Lukwe camp overlooking the hills
- Taking a dip in the Machewe falls...just us and our companion dog
- The best Indian food we've had so far in Mzuzu
- Self-catering in Lilongwe
- Hiking and horseback riding on the Zomba plateau (on a Fresian no less!)
- Haggling in the Zomba market for fresh bananas, mangoes, avocados, tomatoes, onion and green peppers
- Spending the weekend at Ernest's house, eating his wife Patricia's delicious mandazis and nsima, and playing with their daughter, Abigail
- Biking to and from Grace Orphan Care for a week of business lessons
- Standing on a dirt road, laughing out loud at my first marriage proposal from a lorry full of men passing by... one yelled "will you be my wife!?"
- Spending each day teaching with Victor and sharing nsima every day at lunch with the Grace gang
- Watching as the electrical work was completed at the Grace Maize Mill
- Spending 4 days sick in Blantyre - luckily it wasn't Malaria! Just a bacteria infection...and hey, we had tv and a fan with no blackouts!
- Traveling to Lusaka via bus, minibus and taxi after our flight was cancelled by AirMalawi ...because they had to do maintenance on the plane...riiiiiiiight
- Going to a movie and eating subway in uber-western Lusaka
- Jumping into Devil's pool at the edge of Vic Falls
- Canoeing with (and very quickly away from) hippos on the Zambezi river
- Rapelling down, zipping across and swinging down into the Batoka gorge...oh yeah, and hiking back out of it!
It has been one hell of a ride (in some cases, literally!) and we're better for it! We've learned a lot...but here's our top 5 favourite observations
5. We can expect to hear one or more of the following from every child we pass in some variation or another..."HELL-O!", "WHERE! ARE! YOU! GOING!?", "How are you!?", "Where you come from?", and our favourite (mostly heard in Malawi) "Give me my money!"
4. Canadians aren't the only ones using the word "eh". Everywhere we've travelled in East Africa, "eh" is a regular part of the language, whether it's Swahili, Chechewa or another tribal language. The difference is how it's used here. Often it's a deep "eh" to indicate your following along with what the other person is saying, but depending on the inflection of your voice, it could show surprise, sympathy or questioning/disbelief. We love listening to it and we will miss it!
3. African women can carry anything, anywhere as long as they have their kangas (bright coloured fabric) to wrap their kids around their back and to cushion the load balancing on their heads, whether its a huge pail of water, a basket of mangoes or a huge bundle of firewood...oh yeah, and they do it all barefoot
2. African vehicles do not have a maximum capacity - if you can pay and force yourself and all your crap on board, you can come
And the number 1 lesson...we get it Africa...we are azungus/muzungu (white people) - thanks for the reminder EVERYDAY
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