Livingstone is the city on the Zambian side of Victoria Falls, the largest and most famous waterfall in Africa. The falls are a major tourist attraction, and are a highlight of many people’s journey to ‘the dark continent’. Victoria Falls is about one kilometer across, where the entire Zambezi River Continue Reading
Africa
Things never work out quite the way we planned
We arrived in Zambia about a week ago, and spent the first five days in South Luangwa National Park. Like many of our stories, this one started off with a transportation challenge. South Luangwa is about 120 kilometers from the small town of Chipata, and there isn’t any regularly scheduled Continue Reading
Observations about Malawi
Malawi is a beautiful country extending in a narrow strip along the western shore of Lake Malawi. The lake covers one-fifth of the country’s total area. People are very friendly. Most speak English. The first Europeans to reach Malawi were the Portuguese in 1616, but the most famous explorer to Continue Reading
Rest and Relaxation
After a challenging few days of getting here, we finally reached the country of Malawi. We arrived after thirteen hours of travel from Mbeya Tanzania, to a popular backpacker hangout called Nkhata Bay, on the western shore of beautiful Lake Malawi. Our arrival just after dark was blemished by our Continue Reading
How are we really doing?
A few people have asked how we’re really doing. Rest assured that we’re doing our best to tell the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, in our blogs. Of course we tend to emphasize the more interesting or adventurous bits, but we’re trying to give you a complete picture. Continue Reading
trHotel Burundi
Do you know the line from the Eagles’ song “Hotel California”, which says, “You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave”? Well, that’s what our last week has been like. Our objective is to get to Zambia, but we’re still working on it. We decided Continue Reading
Observations about Burundi
Burundi has experienced a similar history to Rwanda. They were both German then Belgian colonies, and both have experienced civil wars and ethnic violence along Hutu-Tutsi lines. The violence in Burundi continued until very recently, with the last rebel group laying down its arms in 2008. Burundi is the most Continue Reading
Observations about Rwanda
Rwanda is known at the ‘Land of 1000 Hills’. It is a lush green country, with many mountains, almost all of which are cultivated by hand in a beautiful patchwork. It is expensive. Prices in the capital, Kigale, are about the same as Vancouver. Imported goods are a lot more Continue Reading
Genocide – by Patrick, April 7th
Today is my birthday. It is also the 15th anniversary of the first day of the genocide that took place in Rwanda in 1994. On this day, one group of Rwandans began killing another group, and within three months over one million people had been murdered. We went to the Continue Reading
Helping the Batwa
On our first morning in Kabale, in the mountains of southern Uganda, we met a young blond woman named Yana. We were in a bakery, and she offered to assist us. We got to talking, and she told us that she is a volunteer who has been in Uganda for Continue Reading