Post #1
From: Ms.A
Jambo, Jambo
Have been here in Kenya for 2 weeks now, the first 3 days in Nairobi, a dangerous and uninteresting city. Can not go out at night except in a Taxi door to door. We did have a day out of the city in a national park and saw 2 lions, a rhino, a warthog, baboons, etc... Took a 7 hour bus ride to Mombasa, a much better city. not as dangerous, and has some history and culture as an old trading port - some arab influence. [We] then went south on the coast to Diani Beach near the Tanzanian border and found a lovely spacious 4 bedroom house on the beach for less than $20 [U.S.] per night. 
Big beach with a coral reef, wonderful place to chill out. But even there it was not safe to walk around the streets after dark. Kenya does have some serious problems and is considered the most dangerous country in the region. (We are very careful though and follow local advice.)
We arrived back in Nairobi today by night train from Mombasa - nice train ride, old train from the colonial days, waiters in starched white uniforms, private bedroom for two, etc...
Mr.B arrives tonight and we leave on safari for Uganda and Tanzania on friday - do not know when our next e-mail stop is, but we will check for messages tomorrow.
We met an interesting English woman artist doing sketches for an exhibition of etchings. We met her in the Nairobi museum and again in Mombasa. She joined us for a couple of days at the beach and came back on the same train. She had traveled alone through Tunisia, Libya, and Ethiopia - gutsy!
We are looking forward to getting on the road for some serious traveling after beach lounging - it will be quite safe since it is an organized safari.
Post #2
From: Ms.A
Hi everybody.
We are in Kampala, Uganda, 1 week into our safari and we are enjoying it very much. We seem to have a good group (young kids) and an excellent traveling truck. 
We are roughing it and it is very adventurous. Before leaving Kenya we traveled around Nakura National Park and saw plenty of lions, rhino, giraffe, zebra, one leopard from behind sneeking away - he had been stalking gazelles at a waterhole until we screwed it up. We camped that night in open country not far from where we saw the lions and the leopard - pitched the tents close together and kept eyes and ears open... it was a great day with classic African vistas, the flat acacias, a lake full of pink flamingos spread across the Rift Valley, truly an exciting experience. We even saw lions on the hunt near some gazelles but did not see the kill (everybody on the truck was rooting for the lions - no gazelle supporters - that is the real world for you - we all wanted to see a lion kill!!!). [The] next day we crossed into Uganda and camped on a beautiful bluff overlooking the source of the Nile at Lake Victoria. Mr.B went white-water-rafting, while we walked around local villages, ate their food, and drank their homemade banana beer - it was fascinating and our first exposure to African village life - wonderful people.
We leave Kampala early (we always have to get up between 5 and 6!) tomorrow morning on a long drive to the Congo border to go trekking (with 20 armed guards with AK 47's!!!) into a mountain gorilla habitat. We are very excited... Talk to you when we get back.
Post #3
From: Ms.A
Hi everybody.
We have returned from gorilla trekking and are now back in safer territory. It was quite an experience with trackers and guards hacking through the forest following gorilla sh*t until we found them. We spent an fascinating hour watching a family of about ten of them from as close as 2 meters. They seem to carry on their normal life, eating leaves, fighting, and one group even saw them screwing (apparently it went quick!!!). Because we were in the Rwanda/Congo area there were many armed guards that we could not see until we were hiking back to camp when they came out of the bushes and hiked back with us. This has become the standart procedure since the killings 2 years ago. Yesterday we left southern Uganda and went north to some big waterfall on the Nile, took a 2 hour boat ride up the Nile to the waterfalls and saw many hippos, huge crocodiles, wild elephants and even a leopard (we were very lucky!). The boat dropped us off an hour's hike away from the falls from where we walked to a campground and met up with the truck (our home on the road).
We are still enjoying an interesting trip. Tomorrow we travel from Kampala up the Nile to camp on an island, and will be going back to Kenya in a few days. Our next E-mail will be from Nairobi before leaving for Tanzania.
Post #4
From: Ms.A
Hi everybody.
Mr.B left yesterday... and so did the Safari-truck... so now we are on our own... sad.
We had a wonderful time with everybody - a good, fun group of Kiwis, Aussies, English, and U.S. - lots of laughter and teasing. We were very much tempted to stay with the truck, but at the end we decided to go it alone. Whenever we passed another Safari truck our guys chucked water balloons at them - full of mischief... a blast!
Mr.I had a fungus on his little toe and had to go to Nairobi Hospital, cost 5 bucks. No problem. Mr.B and Ms.A had bouts of food poisoning but immodium and antibiotics did the trick.
After leaving Nairobi the last time, we traveled to Arusha in Tanzania and then went on a 4 day Land Rover trip into the lovely Serengeti (us, Mr.B, and two extremely funny English guys), one of the highlights of the trip so far. After one day we camped overnight in the bush. There was a herd of wild elephants near camp and you could hear the jackals and Mr.B snoring at night.
The second day we drove further into the Serengeti and stayed at a beautiful lodge (it only cost us 5 bucks!). On the way we drove across beatiful vistas of the Serengeti plains ('serengeti' means 'endless plains' in the Maasai language), filled with wildlife - huge herds of wildebeast, zebras, giraffes, water buffalo, impala, gazelles, etc... The giraffes look especially beatiful and graceful in this setting (Mr.I says they taste good too!). A cheetah with three 3 week old cubs walked around our jeep for quite a while unafraid of us - fascinating! We saw a zebra carcass (lion kill) being finished off by a hyena and some vultures. Later we saw 2 lions lazily sitting under a tree with a half eaten zebra. We also saw a leopard lounging in a tree, in a nearby tree was a dead impala hanging over a branch - killed and put there by the leopard for later eating. We came out of the Serengeti through the Ngorongoro crater which was also filled with wildlife, including rhinos - beautiful lush place, we had a lovely room overlooking the crater.
Back to Arusha, where we camped at a snake farm where we were lucky to see the once a month python feeding... 4 live chickens get thrown in with 2 tenfoot pythons!!! We all watched and cheered (sick bunch) as a python struck and coiled around the first chicken in a split second - did not know they were that fast, the bite and coiling are almost instantanious, all you could see was a wiggling leg sticking out, then the python swallowed it whole - the other chickens looked terrified. In the next cage, we saw a similar scene with a cute little hamster... tough world out there!
The next two days we traveled down to Dar es Salaam via Lushoto (where we camped in a lovely mountain hideaway), and then crossed the sea to Zanzibar where we have been for the past week. Zanzibar town (Stonetown) is a fascinating old moslem town, once settled by arabs from Oman (good sketching material for Ms.A) narrow winding streets, exquisite architecture. They have their own unique music called Taarab, an african, arab, indian mixture. We were fortunate to walk into a rehersal by a well known group of 12-15 musician and dancers and their famous 87 year old woman singer (Bi Kidudi) who also played the drum - a powerful display, unforgetable. There are beautiful beaches with clear warm turqouise water and coral reefs at the north end of the island where we are staying in a bamboo beach cottage.
Next week we leave by train to the Malawi - Zambia border. We hope to travel down Lake Malawi on a steamboat for three days heading in the general direction of Victoria Falls.
Post #5
From: Ms.A
Jambo everybody.
We have been off the e-mail map since we left Zanzibar about 2 weeks ago and we are enjoying traveling independently, even though it is slower and tougher than cruising on a Safari-truck. We are getting our feet wet on the ground in Africa.
We took a night and day train from Dar-es-Salaam to Mbeya on the Malawi/Zambia border. We had a first class sleeping compartment to ourselves. It was a great train ride (apart from a slight altercation with the police during the evening), beautiful scenery and wildlife (giraffes, elephants, zebras, etc.). 
After leaving the train at noon, we took a series of Matatu's (crowded vans) to the Malawi border and down Lake Malawi [Nyasa] to Chitumba where we got dropped in the middle of nowhere at night and lugged our bags a couple of kilometers to a beach campsite on the lake. Luckily they had one chalet left which we took just before the nightly downfall of tropical rain (it still rains most nights).
The following morning we waited 3 hours at the side of the road for a ride south, ended up having to take a local bus heading to Mzuzu (which we never got to on this bus because it broke down on the way). When it came to a mountain all the passengers (about 10,000 of them) had to get off and walk to the top because the bus could not handle it... Finally - after it took 10 minutes to get it into gear (by now it did not have a clutch) - the driver gave up and everybody settled down patiently for a 5 hour wait for the next bus (which would now have to carry 20,000 people and it is getting dark).
We managed to get a Minibus into Mzuzu eventually, spent the night there, and got a minibus the following morning to Nkahta Bay on Lake Malawi. A picturesque bay, clear warm water, good for snorkeling. We stayed at the friendly Mayoka village where we had a cheap bamboo hut on the rocks by the water. After 4 lovely days swimming, snorkeling and kayaking we travelled down the rest of Lake Malawi (500km) on a lovely old steamship (the Ilala, built in Glasgow) to Monkey Bay - 2 nights, 3 days with our own cabin - just like something out of a 1930's movie. It was wonderful, a truly unique experience.
After getting off the boat, life on the road turned to sh*t in a hurry! We got on the back of a small Toyota pick up truck with 25 (no kidding) other people for a one hour ride on a rough, sandy road to Cape Maclear in the dark. We arrived in what looked like a Baja ghost town - Mr.I would not get off the truck until we saw a man with a key to a room. Minutes later we had a basic room, beer, chicken, and chips. We did not like it at first, but as often happens, it grew on us and we stayed 5 days. The locals are lovely people but they suffer from extreme poverty (local famine and cholera - life expectency of 39! - hardly any old people), even though there is no legitimate reason for it. There is farmland, water, and fish but the goverment is corrupt. It was shocking indeed to see hungry people and we tried to help out a little bit. Inspite of that, we enjoyed being with the people and felt a little sad (and angry) when we left. We got a ride to Blantyre where we are now.
Leaving tomorrow for some mountain hiking in Mulanje for a week, before heading for Mosambique - we have changed our plans and are now going counter-clockwise through South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Victoria Falls, and ???
Post #6
From: Ms.A
Hi everybody.
We have not succeeded in sending a message since Blantyre, Malawi over a month ago...
Since then, we went on a 4 day hike in the Mulanje mountains near the Malawi-Mosambique border, had a local guide - had a great time. Then went to Mozambique and travelled on minibusses and pickup trucks to Villankulu (for those with maps) a lovely beach place where we stayed in a bamboohut for a few days. We went south to Inhambane, an interesting old Portugese town, not much English spoken in Mosambique (Spanish helped somewhat). From there we went to the capital Maputo. First real city since Nairobi - nice place, good restaurants, tree lined avenues, but a lot of trash in the streets and petty crime - it is still Africa. All the streets are named after famous communists - we stayed on Ave. Patrice Lumumba, just off Karl Marx and Engels, etc... Saw some interesting metal sculptures made from old weapons (guns, bullets, etc.) from the civil war that killed 2 million people 10 years ago. Then we went to Swaziland and stayed in a wonderful backpackers lodge in a game reserve, beatiful mountain views and hikes - had to watch out for crocodiles, hippos, and mambas. (Do not like black mambas - you are dead in 20 min!)
After 5 days we took a Baz bus (South African backpackers bus service between lodges - for Gringos, because local transportation is not as safe in South Africa as in the other African countries - an apartheid legacy).
Arrived in a city called Nespruit in the north - modern, clean shopping malls, [but] sterile - felt like we have been taken out of Africa and dumped back in the first world... It was time to rent a car, which is the only practical way to get around safely (except for the Baz bus).
[The] car came with a free cell phone. We immediately drove north to a bush camp at Krueger National Park, saw some more animals (giraffs, lions, etc.), then went to Blyde River Canyon and stayed 4 nights in Graskop, [We] had a self contained chalet on a cliff top with stunning canyon views - it remended us a bit of the Grand Canyon... Ms.A had Bilharzia symptoms (a parasite carried by a watersnail, goes through your pores and settles in your bladder, if untreared causes serious internal organ dammage, but we took the appropriate medication which is fully effective - all Ms.A's terrible symptoms are gone now). We knew we had been infected from swimming in Lake Malawi. From Graskop we drove to St. Lucia on the east coast of Kwa-Zulu-Natal (Zululand). It is a huge protected wetland area with costal coral reefs and 90% of Africa's crocodiles live here, which in combination with the large hippo population kill and eat an occasional tourist and fisherman - you do have to keep your eyes open. Once again we had a great place to stay ($12 a night), a bungalow with kitchen in a beatiful garden leading down to a lake with the above animals in it... visited a traditional Zulu village - we like the Zulu, they are [a] proud and beautiful people, more sophisticated than you might expect. We are still in Zululand (almost 2 weeks now) up in the Drakensberg mountains where we are renting a house in a remote camp wth no electricity - at the end of a 4wd road - left the car down below. Beautiful scenery, hikes, local guide (and friend by now) - getting to know the local Zulu village. Last night it snowed at the top of the mountains which border Lesotho where we are going in a few days.
Post #7
From: Ms.A
Hi family and friends.
Since the last letter we left the Drakensberg mountains (after 10 days of hiking and renting a house in a mountain bush camp to ourselves) It is low season here now (winter), heading south in June is like heading north in December to us "northern hemispherics". Went to Lesotho - cold mountain country area, very different from S. Africa - no Apartheid legacy and no Boers (Afrikaaners!!!). Back in the 3rd world again.
Stayed in a Malealea backpackers mountain lodge known for its horse trekking - 2-4 days into the mountains. There we met a woman from Paris that we had met in Zanzibar in Feb. We arranged to go horse trekking the next day. There was thunder and lightening all night and we got up in the morning looking at dark skies and rain... Mr.I was not keen to get on a horse and ride into an icy rain storm, possibly snow, with the idea of spending a night out there. Being outvoted by two women he went along with it. It started off great, we rode across a river and up into the mountains and into a rainy ice storm.
We had raingear and made it ok to the Basuto village hut where we could make a fire, cook, and dry out. That night it snowed just above us and rained where we were (all night!). Next morning we decided to go back in the rain rather than go foreward in the snow. We trekked all day in cold pouring rain until we got to the river that we had previously crossed only to find that it was too deep to cross now. (These decisions were of course made by our guide - who was now starting to look nervous, which Mr.I picked up [on] like lightening (of course). Not being able to cross, we headed down river to a village (native african round huts) where we were taken in and given shelter from the storm - the people were very kind and it was a great experience of real Basuto village life - because tourists do not usually end up there. The following morning we again left on horseback in the rain heading for a bridge to cross the river to get back to the lodge... As we left the village we wondered why a bunch of village children were following us and our guide showed signs of anxiety. We soon came upon a deep, fast flowing river that we had to cross in order to get to the bridge. (We then realized that was why the children were following us.) The alternative was to trek back into the mountains, cross the river where it was a stream, and trek back on the other side (2 days!). After a lot of discussion between our guide and the locals, he made the lead horse (Ms.A's horse!) cross the river on its own to see whether it could be done. It got across and a boy sent it back. The guide decided it could be done, he did say: keep your feet in the stirrups, do not worry about getting your legs wet, ride the horse! WHAT EVER YOU DO, DO NOT LIFT YOUR LEGS AND FALL OFF THE HORSE! One by one we obligingly obeyed and successfully crossed the river to the cheering of the children. It was tough and we were proud of ourselves,
We crossed the bridge and rode back to the lodge feeling like great adventurers. It was a great experience, exposure to local village life and we were very happy that we did it. We became very friendly with the french woman (Ms.L) and ended up traveling with her for the next couple of weeks. (She is quite a character, extremely outspoken, french/jewish.)
We left Lesotho to cross the mountains heading for the Wild Coast south of Durban, back in South Africa. Would you believe it? On the way we got stuck in the mountains due to a snowtorm. Fortunately, we got stuck in a lovely hotel where we had a delicous 3 course dinner, drinks, and conversation around the fire with the local Afrikaaners! Outside was now a beautiful Christmas card scene... it snowed 15 cm. that night and we did not know when we would be able to leave. We did leave around noon and made it to the Wild Coast village of Port St. John. Rested up for 2 days and moved south to Coffe Bay where Ms.L had previously stayed. There we shared a 2 bedroom house, part of a backpackers lodge, overlooking the ocean for a week. We hiked the coastal cliffs, went canoeing for a day, horse riding, watching World Cup football and the Tyson/Lewis fight (at least Mr.I did). We are now in a place called Cintsa, on the beach just north of East London where we do more of the same.
The backpacker lodges in South Africa are incredible value. The last few weeks have been quite a trip, a variety of wonderful experiences.
Talk to you later.
- except wherein noted.