Day 3, 4, 5, and 6: Makambako, Chisimba Falls, Kapiri Mposhi and the Kafue Bridge.

Day 3:  We traveled through the Udzunga Mountains passed forest of Baobab trees and many small villages and stopped at the town of Makambako.  It was a bit of a crossroads with a large highway running through it and a nice market where they seemed to specialize in clothing, shoes and many different varieties of printed fabric.  The designs were beautiful and I was sure that Tim Gunn from Project Runway would pop out at any moment and tell me I had 10 dollars to spend and 3 hours to make a three-piece spring collection for my next challenge.  We also found the cutest little guy in the whole market watching us shop.  It was a nice stop.

A very busy market.

Shopping for fabric.

Little cutie all bundled up.

Another cutie.

Big highway next to town.

We continued the rest of the day through the Rift Valley with spectacular scenery at every turn.  That night at dinner there was an Africa theme with the train crew dressing in their best African outfits and some of the passengers joining in as well.  Special thanks to Emily for giving the ladies a traditional African head rap with our newly bought fabric.

The ladies got tired of the head dresses.

Kevin and Lisa looking good.

Day 4:  In the morning the train passed through the Poroto Mountains and stopped in Tunduma, where border crossing formalities with the local authorities were completed allowing us to cross from Tanzania into Zambia.  The tracks in Zambia are said to be the worst of the trip and it was quickly evident that the rumors were true.  Our speed dropped to around 20 mph and the motion of the train took on a new life of its own.  At around 1430 we stopped in the town of Kasama and loaded onto buses for a 35 kilometre journey to the Chisima Falls National Monument.  Located in the village of Kalonga, the monument consisted of three consecutive falls, Mutumuna, Kaela and Chisima.  The site was dedicated in 1964.  It was a very cool site with huge black boulders and crystal clear, cold water.   After a couple of hours of hiking and climbing, we headed back to the train.  The dressing theme for dinner was the best of Scotland.  With some of us sporting kilts, long dresses and a lot of plaid, the evening was enjoyed by all. 

Lisa and Steff cooling off.

Day 5 & 6:  We continued our run through Zambia passed the Muchinga Mountains to the city of Kapiri Mpohi.  We took on supplies and water and the train engines where moved to the opposite end of the train, placing the observation car in the rear.  This is the only place to do this since we left Dar es Salaam.  Later on we passed over the 477-meter long steel girder truss Kafue railway bridge.  Since the rules for dinner state that you have to have a jacket and tie, we had bathrobe night.  We went with the "Big Lebowski" theme.  The next day was a cross country ride making our way to Victoria Falls.

Waka and Steff.

Kafue Railway bridge.

Bathrobe night.

Elvis status:  Still missing.

Next time:
Victoria Falls and beyond.

Cheers,

J & P

Departing Dar es Salaam on the Rovos Rail "Pride of Africa",

Our gang of 13 intrepid travelers departed the lovely Upepo Gardens overlooking the Indian Ocean and crawled our way through morning traffic to the train station in the center of town.

 

Thanks Karianne for all your hospitality.

The Gang of Travelers

All Aboard

Day one:  We departed shortly after 1300 local time and traveled south away from the hot and dusty coast down the TAZARA railway line.   Construction of the line was started in 1968 by the People’s Republic of China.  Seems they were looking for a way to show their leadership of the non-alignment movement and solidarity with the third world.  The line was completed in 1975 at a cost of 240 million US$.  At Kapiri Mposhi, it was connected to the Old Colonial Line.  The day passed with spectacular scenery running down both sides of the train.  After dinner, we retired to our cabin and slept deeply with the rocking motion of the train.

The Train is nearly half a kilometre long.

Day 2: At 0700 we stop for a visit to the Selous Game Reserve located just southwest of Dar es Salaam.  The reserve is the largest in Africa spanning 55,000 square kilometres.  We loaded up in topless Land Rovers with local drivers and headed out into the bush.  The roads were surprisingly good considering the terrain and after a 15 kilometre ride we came upon some of our first wild life.  It started with a few scattered giraffes and a zebra here and there until we approached a large lake.  This beautiful watering hole was where the action began.  There were dozens of wildebeest, zebras, impalas, and as we got closer to the lake we spotted many crocodiles, hippos, water birds, and a large bird that resembled a Bald Eagle.  Our driver saw a fresh print in the road and about 100 yards away we saw a pride of lions resting in the shade of a tree.  There were 6 younger lions sleeping together under the tree and 50 yards away the mother lion was dozing by herself.  It was extraordinary. 

Larry in the bush.

This one was about 18 feet tall.

Zebra in the front, Wildebeest and Impalas in the rear

The young ones.

Mom.

This young male went for a stroll around our vehicle.

As we left the lake and headed farther up the trail, we came upon a small group of monkeys who were busy grooming one another.  They were not very keen on us stopping so close to them and they made their disapproval clear.  After another few kilometres were came to our late morning destination, a gigantic Baobab tree.   For folks that have never been on the Safari Ride at Animal Kingdom, the Baobab tree is referred to as the “Upside down” tree.  It looks like the roots are sticking up in the air and it only has leaves a few times a year.  This tree was rumored to be about 1000 years old.  There is no way to tell the age because the trees are fibrous, so they do not have rings in the middle you could count.

The folks from Rovos had set out a spread of snacks and cold drinks. After all, what would a game reserve visit be without a nice gin and tonic or sparkling wine and some pretzels. 

Kookie Monkey.

1000+ year old Baobab tree.

Nice Spread for lunch.

We made the trek back to the train and traveled further south for the rest of the day.  After Dinner and a little socializing in the observation car we headed off to bed.  A great day in Africa.

We didn't see any signs of Elvis today but one of the guides did know all the words to Viva Las Vegas.

Cheers,

James and Pat

Two Days in Zanzibar (Part 2)

Stone Town Market

After the Slave Trade museum and church we headed to the open air market.  The market is massive with everything from meat and chicken to fish and lots of vegetables and spices.  The smell of the place was a combination of the best spices and scents of fresh produce to the harsh smell of unrefrigerated meat and poultry with a lot of hard working human sweat thrown into the mix.  In a few dozen steps you could go from loving food to never wanting to eat animal produce again.  To think that this market has been here for well over 500 years is amazing. 

Our guide Awesu Ismail with the horns.

 

Yummy, Yummy Octopus.

Peppers a plenty.

After the market and street tour, we headed back to lunch at an  outdoor café near Freddie Mercury's house with very good grilled octopus and chips.  We then went back to the hotel for a nap. 
Dinner at the Zanzibar Palace Hotel was called Swahili Experience with dishes of rice and beans and peas accompanied by skewers of beef and chicken.  It was a very nice meal.
The next day Awesu took us out to a spice farm where they grow everything from the famous Zanzibar cloves, lemon grass, cinnamon, ginger, and many kinds of pepper corns. 
Interesting fact about pepper corns, the black and white and red pepper corns are from the same plant, just picked at different times of ripeness. 

Awesu's assistant demonstrates how to use fruit as a lip stick or hair color.

After the spice tour, we headed back to town to get ready for the evening.  The whole island was celebrating a holiday known as Eid al-Adha. 
Eid al-Adha is an Islamic festival to commemorate the willingness of Ibrahim (also known as Abraham) to follow Allah's (God's) command to sacrifice his son Ishmael. Muslims around the world observe this event.  Everyone was dressed up in their best clothes and even the really little kids had on their bright new outfits.  The place was packed starting at sunset and stopped around 11pm.  We had dinner at an Indian Restaurant named The Silk Route just to the left of the tunnel after you leave the waterfront park.  The food was terrific and after many courses, we pushed our way home to the hotel for our last night on the island.

I am going to skip over the 5 hour delay and broken plane with a flat tire fiasco that we endured to get back to the mainland. Sometimes, traveling in small countries can test your mental strength, but we did have beer.   Needless to say, we were very happy to get home and sleep in just a little bit the next day at the Upepo Garden Guest House. 

Upepo Garden guest house by the sea.  Upepo means "Wind". 

Had a great breeze all day.

Excellent napping area on the beach.

 
So now after a dinner with 7 of our party, we head off to bed.  Tomorrow we join the "Pride of Africa", Rovos railway train and start our journey south across Africa.  We will be out of internet range for around 5 days so stay tuned for our next post.

Cheers,

James and Pat. 

 

Two days in Zanzibar (Part 1)

Zanzibar Airport

The flights over the Atlantic and Africa were rather uneventful except for a 55 minute delay at Newark airport. 

Interesting fact:  When the airline brings in the wrong plane to your gate and unloads it, then has to have it towed away while having your plane towed over at which time they have to stock it with food and do all the cleaning and preflight stuff before you can get aboard. do you know what they call that?  "A SEVERE WEATHER DELAY".  You have to love the airlines.  
   
After a one hour stop in Zurich, Switzerland and another in Nairobi, Kenya we made our way to Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.  We scored some inexpensive business class tickets so we had the lay down seats the whole way across.  I must admit after traveling long distances on C-130's during my career, I can really appreciate that particular perk.  And surprisingly, the food was not bad.

We contracted with Breakdown Safaris in Dar es Salaam to handle the logistics and transportation for us until we board the train.  Kathy Phinney and Fanuel Mateja did a great job of meeting us at the airport and getting us to the Upepo Garden in Mbezi for the night.  More about the hotel later.  We only had a short night sleep and we were off to the airport the next morning for Zanzibar.

Zanzibar Island

The Zanzibar Archipelago is located 25 to 50 kilometres of the west coast of mainland Tanzania.  With a population of 1.3 million people it covers roughly 930 square miles or 2461 square kilometres.  Ha Ha, again with the metric system and I even used that weird European way of spelling kilometres.

After a 22 minute flight on a very small plane we made our way through customs and into town.  The Zanzibar Palace Hotel is in the middle of Stone Town about 2 blocks off of the waterfront.  The building itself dates back to way before any housing records and it really did have a wonderful, old world feel.  Mr. Frans Fiegge is the director and he and his staff made our stay there as easy and relaxing as possible.  With a 20 foot ceiling covered by many century old logs, middle Eastern lanterns, brass beds with mosquito netting and giant tile bath tubs the place was old world cool.  Tending the dining room and the bar, Iddi was "The Man" when it came to taking excellent care of us.  Thanks to everyone there for the great stay and hospitality.   

No bugs tonight

Iddi

Ye olde ceiling fan.

Zanzibar was a major location of the slave trade in the 1800's.  Over top of the location of the slave market in Stone Town they built a church to try and heal some of the bad karma that existed there due to it's history.  Right next to the church and Slave Museum is also a Mosque.  The figures of slaves in the pit is a very striking sight.  The majority of the slaves that were sold there went East to the middle East, India, and Asia.  Inside of the church is a cross that was carved from the tree that Dr. Livingston died under in Zambia in 1873.  Dr. Livingston of Stanley and Livingston fame, was instrumental in getting the slave trade stopped in Eastern Africa.   

Church and Mosque

Inside the Church

Dr. Livingston's Cross

Moving Piece

 Next we went on to the market and to our other tours.  That we will cover in the part 2.

Cheers,

James and Pat