Tofo To Malawi

After an eight hour bus ride we arrived at Fatima's Nest in Tofo and our first real glimpse of the Indian Ocean with its long, sandy beaches and big rolling waves. We spent two days swimming and exploring the area and sleeping in a traditional thatched hut. From here we had to take a bus into Inhabane, transfer to a boat across the bay to Mexixe. We had to wait a couple of hours for the bus to fill up to take us on to Vilankolos, another beautiful spot on the Indian Ocean. From the bus most of the homes along the way were made with walls of sticks or reeds or rocks held between sticks then plastered with mud. The roofs were thatched with large overhangs to keep the rain off the walls. Vilankolos is known for its archaepeligo and shallow warm water. There is not much choice of food in town as Mozambique is quite a poor country, but the scenery is lush and green and we found the people to be very friendly and helpful. There didn't seem to be any Internet in town and we met a lawyer who let us use his office computer to check our e-mails. Donna mentioned that he spoke English quite well and he told us that he'd fasted for a month in the bush and when he arrived home he went to get something to eat, he was struck down and when he woke he began to pray and it was in English. Wish I could learn a language that fast! We began to travel with three other Canadians and we had a marathon bus ride. We left at 4:30 am and with two mini-buses ended up in Chimoio late that afternoon. We spent the night there, rose the next morning at 4:00 am to catch the bus to Tete over rough roads and we thought that we would have to spend the night there, but we managed to catch a bus which cross over the Zambezi River and to the border of Malawi and luckily from there another mini-bus that took us to a backpackers hostel in Blantyre. The countryside into Malawi has very large hills and is quite lush. We noticed immediately that there is more wealth here. Tomorrow we catch a bus to Monkey Bay where we will take a boat, named the Ilala, up Lake Malawi, a three day trip. What an adventure!

Mozambique

We caught a mini bus from Nelspruit and rode with the locals to Mozambique. It was a very interesting ride. The people on the bus were so helpful. They looked after us. One fellow took to the proper places, we got stamped out of South Africa, walked across the border, and then had to get our visas. One fellow who has sat with me waited with us. I thought the people on our mini bus would be impatient; however, they laughed about it all. We also had an unexpected stop when there was some great excitement as someone got on our mini bus and the others from another mini bus got very angry as the bus doesn't go unless it is full which meant that they would have to wait. It got a little tense. They blocked us in with another van, put blocks under our tires to prevent us from leaving. Then our driver and another passenger paid the other fare and we were off. The driver also took us right to our lodgings. Everyone was so helpful. We have also adopted a young lady from Austrailia who has been tagging along with us. Today we all walked about Maputo, the city where we are staying to look at the sites. Trying to get money from ATM's is an interesting experience. Tomorrow we are up early and off to Tofo right on the Indian Ocean. It's nice and hot here and we look forward to a swim in the ocean.

Johannesburg, South Africa

We have arrived safely in Johannesburg after a long trip. First there was a train ride from Marrakech to Casblanca, then we flew to Paris, changed planes and then continued to Johannesburg. That was just about the only way we could do it and it was also the cheapest way. Once we landed we got picked up at the airport by a van from Diamond Diggers, a hostel. It's a very nice place and we've met and talked with lots of people. Because all out planning had been French West Africa, we've had to get our heads around about what we are going to do here. Our first plan is to travel by bus tomorrow to Nelspruit where we hope to look around, go to Kruger Game Park, the largest in South Africa, and get our visas for Mozambique.

Change of Plans

We went to Agadir and were hours from hopping on a bus heading to Mauritania. Checking the travel warnings we discovered that both Mauritania and Mali had been up-graded to severe travel warnings. Even soldiers are being kidnapped. Since we had planned to travel overland to the other countries in that region, it became apparent that it was too dangerous to do that part of our journey. Flights within Africa are almost non-existant, so we are headed to South Africa via Paris, just a small detour. We will arrive in Johannesburg on March 12th.

Essouira

Essouria was the next stop on our travels in Morocco. After a three hour bus ride we headed into the medina to get our lodgings. We found a nice place, the Hotel Samara, where there was a wonderful view from the roof top patio overlooking the Atlantic Ocean with the surf pounding on the rocks below. In front of us was the old wall surrounding the city, replete with canons pointing to the ocean. This was the setting for for the opening of the film Othello, one of the stars being Orsen Wells who even has park named after him in town. Essouria is much more laid back than Marrakech, quite quiet and we did a lot of exploring. It is supposed to be famous for it's fish but the area near the wharf for eating was somewhat disappointing. Perhaps the cold wind discouraged people from dining there. Before bed we watched the waves crashing on the rocks with an almost full moon illuminating the town and water. After Essouria we begin the long and challenging trek to Mauritania.

The Sahara Desert

We took a four day trip with a French couple and a Moroccan driver. We crossed the snow capped peaks of the High Atlas Mountains to Ait Ben Haddou which is a famed adobe castle. A shallow river separates the town from the castle and berbers on horseback ferried people across the river. Next on to Ouzazarte situated on a wide oasis. It is a modern city and the Hollywood of Morocco with its famous cinema studios. We crossed the Anti Antlas Mountains which are made of black rock cut by deep canyons. We passed through date and fig orchards and mud walled Berber villages until we reached Zagora where we mounted camels and rode into the desert. The sun set as we rode and we had only a small sliver of crescent moon to light the way. Our young guide leading the camels was very self-assured and we were confident he would not get lost. After almost two hours we reached the Berber camp and were treated to a lovely soup and chicken and vegetable tanjine. Around the campfire we were entertained with traditional instruments and singing.

The next day we arrived at the Merzouga Erg which are huge shifting dunes and where they filmed Lawrence of Arabia and many other desert films. We rode into the desert on camels again as the sun was setting. All the young bloods began to race up a huge sand dune. Donna followed suit and showed how fit she is. She made it to the top and then came down not out of breath while some of the young guys were completely exhausted. From the top she just leaned back while descending. It was so high it was just like flying on the way down. It was cold with the wind blowing sand everywhere almost instantly covering up everything behind you.

The next day we continued on to the Toudra Gorge, through the Dades Valley and the Route of a Thousand Kasbahs. Kasbahs are the ancient mud walled villages that are now being abandoned in favour of modern housing. A few families still live in them and nomads use them part of the year.

Still no pictures but if you Google these places you will get an idea what they look like.

Marrakech

Our trip by train was relaxing. Marrakech has a very modern and clean railway station. We had a positive feeling coming into the city as opposed to Casablanca. We caught a local bus to the Djemaa El-Fina which is a huge atmospheric space in the heart of the medina and the backdrop for one the worlds greatest and most curious nightly spectacles. It is a page out of medieval pageantry. There were snake charmers, acrobates, musicians, male dancers (maybe), food and juice stalls and stalls where you could buy just about anything your heart desired. We stumbled upon a really funky hotel completely covered with brightly coloured ceramic tiles. Some walls had full tiles but others were a collage of fragments of tiles. There were honey-combed stuccoed ceilings and doorways. The place looks like a modern art museum piece. We were told that this was a magical place and it is.

We may be out of contact for a few days as we are off on a trip into the desert. Very exciting!