Ex-Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, South Africa, Swaziland & Namibia

At the end of our four-year stint working in Tanzania, Trish and I took a three-month leave of absence to travel in South Africa. Our journey took us:

• from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania to Mbeya, Tanzania by train,

• then we walked over the border into Malawi where we spent four weeks

• a two week stint in Zambia before catching a flight to….

• South Africa, where we spent 6 weeks on the Baz Bus moving clockwise from Johannesburg to Nelspruit to Durban to Port Elizabeth to Cape Town, and then….

• a final sojourn in Namibia to see the sand dunes and a final safari.

Our daughter, Zoe, was stowed away the whole time in utero, and arrived in Canada two months after we did. She claims that she still remembers hearing drums in Johannesburg.

Ex-Tanzania

“Leaving on a slow train….don’t know when I’ll be back again….”

The train from Dar es Salaam to Mbeya, Tanzania took about 24 hours for what might have been a 10-hour drive. But it was a fun way to cross the country one more time again. To cap it off, we ended up taking a bus to the border and walking over to Malawi. A fitting end to nearly four years of living in Tanzania.

Malawi

We never intended to travel for four weeks in Malawi. It just took that long to get around.

Zambia

We had been to Zambia several times for work before, so it was fairly easy going. But we basically made a beeline for Lusaka, and then headed southwest to Livingstone and Victoria Falls. We toyed briefly with carrying on to Zimbabwe, but as is often the case, it was not a happy place at that time, and we didn’t think that adding more tourists to the mix was going to be helpful. So instead, we caught a flight on to Johannesburg.

South Africa

We had the great luxury to spend close to six weeks travelling clockwise around South Africa, with a safari at Kruger National Park and brief detour through what was then called Swaziland. Along the way, we met up with Trish’s Dad in Port Elizabeth and drove along the Garden Route to Cape Town.

Namibia

By the time that we got to Namibia, Trish was likely about 7 months along in her pregnancy, so we took it a bit easier and joined a combo-tour with a driver. We were still camping everywhere, but it was a bit safer than hitching rides in pick-up trucks.

Visiting the dunes was a key highlight of that trip (heck, my life). Amazing shapes and colours.