Apr 26, 2013 - Antananarivo

It may occur that some letters in my text are wrong! I apologise for that but I'm not used to french keyboards! They are wired! It seems to get easier to pack every time I go on a trip, and then last minute amendments are taking there tall and yet again I got more stuff with me than i will ever need! The airport pick up was pleasant and rather uneventful. And so was the flight. Arriving @ the hostel, i met to girls from Belgium, Lara and Maraike. They were just finished with a volunteering job spending their last days in Tana. I got...

Dec 2, 2012 - Botswana to Johannesburg

Sunday, dec 2- Botswana to Johanesburg This morning, of course, it ended up being a beautiful sunny morning without rain! I woke up one last time hearing the lions roar....I am going to miss those lions!! Back on the road...through the game reserve where we saw giraffe, zebra, wildebeest, jackal, eland, and a bunch of birds. Why does everyone want to tell me about birds?!? then, it was through the farms and 16 gates, onto the main paved roads passing the small villages of huts, Veterinary border patrol, the dead cows and then "bam" ! A...

Nov 21, 2012 - Ambohibary to Antsirabe to Antananarivo to Johannesburg

Five o'clock am and I received a knock on my door with 2 buckets of boiling water! It was the last morning in Mafagascar....just as i got used to the basic lifestyle of Madagascar, i must leave. it was the Last morning breaky in the rural inn so I requested a true Malagasy breakfast so they prepared just that...rice in boiling water called sosona similar to how we would eat oatmeal...not great. They served kikozny which is smoked jerky from the meat he bought yesterday at the market...I took a tiny bite but couldn't get past the picture of...

Nov 20, 2012 - Rural village of Ambohibary

Another early rise at 5:30 am. I received 2 boiling buckets of water for my shower and it wasn't as bad as I had remembered. I had to take a little cup of hot Water And mix it with cold water bucket and pour it over myself...first try I scalded my stomach. Talk about hot! I got used to it by the end of the "shower" but couldn't wash my hair that way. As I was packing my day pack, I screamed! a huge bug the size of a quarter was about to jump into my backpack...I took my shoe and whisked it way only to land somewhere near my other bag!...

Nov 19, 2012 - Travel to Ambohibary

It was much nicer to sleep in a cleaner place! No morning roosters to wake me up...just birdies singing their hearts out chirping very loudly. And, of course the squalling of the indries is the distance makes it such a unique place. It's such a crazy sound! Luv those lemurs!! It is a basic place here but the people are very nice and accommodating. Breaky is served outside and this little lady who served me last night is up early serving me breaky this morning too. She is sweet and we had a nice talk. She told me about the history of...

Nov 18, 2012 - Andasibe - hiking for lemurs

Well, I survived my first night at this place!! Luckily I was dead tired and slept like a rock, but at 4am I awakened to roosters crowing and they were competing with each other to see who could crow the loudest. At 4:30am the birdies decided to join in! So, I attempted to shower....now there was only a trickle coming down from my hand held shower but it was HOT water so I wasn't going to complain...it never felt so good to be clean! Now, breakfast is included...I was so looking forward to my coffee! I asked for sugar and cream...and I did...

Nov 17, 2012 - Traveling to Madagascar

I arrived back in the motherland!! Oh how I love Africa....feels good to be back!! The airport has such good shopping, but not a whole lot of time to spare before connecting to my final leg. When you travel you always have to prepare for things to go wrong and it seems as if some things have been unraveling already...my iPhone has started to break and won't allow me to get wifi so when I check email messages it costs me ALOT...but, luckily I checked my messages before boarding the flight for Madagascar. My travel agent informed me that one...

Sep 22, 2012 - Up in Mahajanga!

Hello! What an easy sail up here! It only took me 13 hours! These boats, in this picture are folks, voyaging, and trading, like me! I traded my eggs and chicken for various spices, rice, and coconut milk. The milk is my favorite; the taste is so rich in flavor! Boy, am I glad I ran into that lovely couple! I better save some of my "trade-ins" for my family and friends back home. The temperature is SUPER hot and dry! People told me that it can reach up to 38°C!! The "fihavanana" tribe is located in Mahajanga. In this picture of them, they...

Sep 21, 2012 - My Stop in Morondava, Madagascar!

Oh boy, I have met people from Italy! To be specific, this kind couple is from Rome! I told them what I am doing, and they are very interested in my voyage! I showed them around my ship, and they told me about a place where I can trade my goods, for ones from here!! They told me to travel up to the city of Mahajanga, which is in Madagascar...convenient right!? I am going to leave Morondava, the city I am currently in, and head north, to Mahajanga. Blog you soon!!

Aug 4, 2012 - The last of reunion and the start of... Madagascar!

So we've wound up the twistist road this motorbicyclist ever did see on the way to Cilaos. Tis quitely mental, with buses, frenchmen, single lane sections and tunnels carved into the rock. The locals take i onva break neck speed. Fortunately, I was driving a turbo disel Citron C5, which needless to say makes nasty smelly brake smells (twas an automatic). Cilaos was specaticular, sat right up in an extinct volcano, surrounded by clouds and green stuff (plants). We had fun. The next day we did volcano take 2 - leaving early in glorious...

Dec 1, 2011 - Grassland Lodge

Saturday , dec 1st - Gradslands Lodge, Kalahari Botswana Today's sounds were a bit different waking up...instead of the hippo I awoke to massive lions roaring at each other. It echoed throughout my little chalet in the morning. Ah, it felt so good to sleep in! I can't remember the last time I got 9 hours of sleep!! I woke up to about 2 dozen of those dead flying insects in my bathtub and several more scattered around the floor and shower...at least they were dead! Nothing like taking a hot shower by candle light this morning...actually it...

Nov 30, 2011 - Duba Plains to Grassland Lodge in Central Kalahari in Botswana

Friday, nov 30th Up and out early for my last game drive before heading to the Kalahari Desert. It was another colder morning. While we had our coffee, Obie said the weather didn't look good and that it may rain...it was hard to tell as it was still be before sunrise. As we got ready to leave it started to drizzle which turned into a heavy rain. ...the other couples wanted to wait till the rain stopped to go out. When it started to lighten up we out on our rain ponchos and headed out. We started to search for buffalo and it started to rain...