Hubbers in Africa

[Kranswurm]

Use Google maps.. It's the main town where all Kilimanjaro hikes originate from. There are basically two towns in that region. Moshi and Arusha. Moshi for the mountain....Arusha for the Serengeti

I have not done Kili nor been to Tanzania.

Always wanted to do MT Kenya for some obscure reason.

Mulanje is pretty cool

All might be revealed soon when hopefully I plonk myself down in Palma for the upcoming Anadarko Gas project

[geomark]

6 months - Turn around point is southern Ethiopia after seeing a Red Wolf in the Ethiopian Highlands

 

Put car on boat at Dar Es Salaam to get back to CT - we fly home.

 

Wildlife, twitching, landscapes, ecosystems, culture, people ...

So afraid I’m not into birding so can’t help with that side of it.  So assuming starting Kasane, if you haven’t done Mana Pools then look at Lower Zambezi NP then Great E Rd towards Malawi and South Luangwa NP.  Big floodplain riverine woodland like Mana and more hippos than you’ve ever seen before. If had more time and the season right have the wildebeest migration in Liuwa Plains NP in the NW of Zambia but logistically difficult.  The main Tazara Rd through Zambia is pretty boring and not aspirational. In Malawi lots of spots in the south but quieter and more spectacular rift valley scenic as you go north. Check out Livingstonia mission station and Nyika Plateau NP and Matema mission in Tanz at the N tip.

In Tanz you’ve got 2 options, the route less travelled up the W or the main route E along the Tazara.  Going up through the middle is *** roads and boring. Going W will be an *** roads but an adventure into little visited parks, the swamps at Katavi NP then Mahale Mnt NP and Gombe Streams (Jan Goodall’s chimps) on the shores of Lake Tanganyika. Side note when you look at a Tanz map Game Reserve = hunting area or restricted land use, not what you think of as a game reserve here mostly need NP’s for areas you can go as a tourist.

If go E along the Tazara the Ruaha NP is great, the most geared to self drive in all of Tanz, most of the others assume you will have a local driver/guide and not big on signposts etc. Highlight here is lesser kudu if can find them and roan. Think lowveld with gnarly old baobabs etc at the bottom of the rift valley. Next NP is Mikumi, nothing real unique, grassland and miombo woodland, apart from more reedbok than anythimg I’ve ever seen before.

Skip Dar, it’s really nothing special and head N of it to the old slave and trading ports, Bagamoyo and coast up to Tanga. Leave car in Tanga and ferry to the Zanzibar islands. Ungunja (what most people think is Zanzibar) is very tourist developed, Pemba only about 4 tourist enterprises and much better bet, awesome diving.

Then Usambara Mountains, a last outpost of tropical forest and high number of endemic species, like Madagascar, lots of funky chamelions etc, quite unique and threatened island of ecosystem.

[geomark]

The package tourism central the main route for most 5 day tourists.  Will leave Meru/Kili etc to your choice but they are busy.  The main thing here is to get to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA) and Serengeti NP at the right tme of year for the migration to be around, otherwise they’re all in Kenya.  It’s truly bucket list stuff and big enough to escape the crowds.. Lake Natron highly recommended, awesome sceanary, millions of flamingos, far fewer people. Also Lake Empakaai.  The joy of the Masaai country is if you have time and sense of adventure can go all over. Tarangire NP to the S worth a visit for oddities like dozens of pythons on the swamp edges.

The west, Mwanza and S round the lake skirt Burundi and hit Rwanda. Rate Nyungwe Forest NP for a rain forest and primate experience and Volcanoes NP for a bucket list gorilla experience. You’ll hate the price but thank me later.  Akagera NP no great shakes after Tanz.  Then of course the genocide memorials, there are a series across the country not just Kigale.

Uganda you have a plan. To get to S Ethiopia you need to get E of Turkana and possible security issues. I only know the country W of the lake. A lot of the NE no go these days.  Will leave Kenya to someone more current with it, but I would spend more time elsewhere, it is better advertised through films etc but I think better parks etc in Uganda and Tanz.

[The Guy in Pink]

Two years ago I took my wife on a 5 day & 6 nights Primate tour in Rwanda & Uganda. 

It was an organised thing, we had a Toyota Prada and a guide for the two of us and we stayed mainly in lodges run by the local communities who use the funds for things like providing clean water points from springs for the people in their areas.  The accommodation may be rated about 3 star, but the service and effort put in to please was 10 star.

We trekked to see Chimps at Primates lodge, spent two days in Queen Elizabeth park , trekked to up to 2400m to spend time with a family of Mountain Gorillas and walked to see the Golden monkeys at The Volcanoes Park in Rwanda.  We finished up at the Genocide museum - for about 2.5 hours -  far too short to really absorb it. It needs a day on its own.

[Slowbee]

As we start to head towards next year - and all the challenges that it will bring, we have decided to do our final "long" trip in July. The plan is to head to Swaziland, through the Kingdom into Mozambique, head towards Kosi and Banga Nek area, taking in Tembe and Ndumo. Then some Mkuzi and St Lucia before heading to Durbs. We promised our daughter a visit to Ushaka as she really wants to see dolphins.

 

We will put our car on a truck and ship it back to CT, while we fly back. Should save us 4 days.