A second submission to this week’s photo challenge: Anticipation
Two years ago we were lucky enough to visit Zanzibar just before Christmas – an island of the coast of Tanzania which is a dream destination for many but right on our doorstop it’s an affordable destination.
This Christmas we are spending the holiday period back on Zanzibar and very much anticipating our return to this Island Paradise.
Posted in Holiday, postaday, travel, Vacation, Weekly Photo Challenge
Tagged Anticipation, Zanzibar
We travelled back from the UK via Istanbul in Turkey. We flew using Turkish Air with a 15 hour delay between flights. We wanted to take the opportunity to visit the city, though this was planned long before recent events, we felt reassured it was going to be safe to visit.
What we didn’t realise was that as part of the flight we had the option of a free walking tour of Istanbul with breakfast and lunch. This took in two of the most famous sites in Istanbul, the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia, a former church turned mosque, turned museum.
Here are some pictures of the day.
Today we arrived back in MK my home for 26 years prior to moving out to Mwanza. We are staying on a campsite to the north of the city. A picturesque landscape of woodland and lakes near Olney.
It’s the first time back in MK and a great opportunity to catch up with old friends.
We’ve actually been back in the UK a week now. Surprisingly it has not been the culture shock we anticipated – for me I have slipped back into the UK environment with no real surprises, though it has felt a bit cold. Maybe the 40+ years of UK living have made the experience much more ‘normal’ than I expected after two years on the equator.
Having initially stayed with family near Abingdon it gave an opportunity to visit ex-colleagues in Thame and it was good to catch up and see them. Life has changed little, it seems, though perhaps I detect a slightly greater pressure on all as they embrace the challenges of the British Education Reforms – something I am glad to have escaped.
This week a chance for the kids to catch up with school friends and us all to meet church friends and wider MK friends as well as family. It also gives us a chance to sort out things for our son’s impending entry into University. MK’s reassuring familiarity is a real bonus.
Our journey back to Kigali was straight forward enough. Having decided against the Congo / Nile Trail as the roads were quickly becoming impassible (we started along it and quickly gave up – having had some unfortunate recent experiences!), we returned via the route from whence we came.
However, and hour or so in and seeing signs to Volcano National Park we decided to turn left. The next hour or so took us up into the mountains skirting the edge of the park and gave us some excellent scenery. The road itself remained good and doubled back to our original route puting us about 10K further back. It was worth the diversion and provided an interesting view of rural Rwanda.
Later we passed and explored a rope suspension bridge.
Stopping in Ruhangeri we found virtually all the shops and businesses closed or closing. We managed to get a lunch order in for Brochette (meat kebab) and chips at a small bistro/bar before it too closed. Here in Rwanda they are observing a National Week of Mourning in commemoration of the 1994 Genocide. In this annual event the Rwandans gather at memorials to remember their loved ones, this daily event closes businesses early in the afternoons with some re-opening in the evenings. We saw many Rwandans walking from these ceremonies as the finished or gathered in specific locations in every village and town.
Approaching our destination we got some excellent views from the top of the ridge as we descended down towards Kigali.
Reaching the Discover Rwanda Youth Hostel our only frustration was the poor parking of other guests who made it impossible to park inside. Seemingly unwilling to move their vehicles we unloaded and headed out to a fabulous Italian Restaurant (Sole Lunar) possible the nearest good Italian Restaurant to Mwanza (another 13 hours journey away).
Tomorrow we head home. We have greatly enjoyed our first family trip to Rwanda and hope to be back soon.
We’re here for four days in the Discover Rwanda- Gisenyi Beach Hotel. We booked this place on a last minute deal with Expedia and we’re really pleased with our choice.
This old colonial house is part of a group of hotels run by the Discover Rwanda Group which is linked to AEGIS Trust a charity supporting the country following the 1994 Genocide. They also run the Youth Hostel where we stayed in Kigali and the Genocide Memorial in Kigali. From AEGIS’s own blog the following quotation
Through the Museum Cafe, the Museum Gift Shop and the Discover Rwanda Youth Hostel we offer beneficiaries career opportunities in various industries by providing training in high-demand areas such as tourism, customer care and the culinary arts. We are committed to providing top-level training in skills that will create the best career opportunities for our beneficiaries and put 100% of the proceeds back into Aegis’ continued work in Rwanda
This also applies to our location too. We’re in a family room with a great view overlooking the garden towards the beach.
Gisenyi Beach Hotel has a relaxed home from home feel. A place to chill and unwind.
Food is excellent and in the evening as it cools to a chilly 21°C (for us that is cool!) they light the open log fires.
The hotel is a stone’s throw from the beach, just beyond the palms which are alive to the chatters of the hundreds of fruit bats hanging in the branches. The noise is actually quite soothing as you drift into sleep.
The waters of Lake Kivu are warm and though the sand beneath makes the water brownish the lake is clean.
Genocide is the intent to systematically eliminate a cultural, ethnic, linguistic, national, racial or religious group.
The term did not exist before 1944 when it was used to describe the atrocities committed by Nazi Germany against the Jewish People. Sadly this was not the only occasion in which it has occurred and since 1944 there have been further atrocities.
In my lifetime there have been three major genocide events among others.
In 2013 I spent a short time in Cambodia and visited the Choeung Ek Genocidal Center in Phnom Penh – you can read about this place here. It was a both humbling and awesome experience and one which lives in the memory still.
On our visit to Kigali we visited the Genocide Memorial.
This like Choeung Ek is a place to commemorate the innocent victims of mass slaughter and both explain the causes and warn future generations of the dangers which led to genocide.
The account below is my understanding of the events leading up to 1994 and beyond and any inaccuracies are my own. However I have tried to convey a simplified account based on information gleaned from the exhibit.
In the case of Rwanda the origins of the genocide lie with the colonial powers who ruled this country, Germany and notably Belgium in the post world war 1 era. Belgium strove to impose a view which divided the hitherto uniform Rwandan society into three groups Hutus (85%), Tutsis (14%) and Twa (1%). In particular they allied themselves with minority Tutsis whom they regarded as more intelligent than the majority Hutus. Over time this differential split society into privileged and underprivileged. All Rwandans were allocated identity cards which (in some cases arbitrarily) conferred one of the three ethnic groups. Hutus were discriminated against but as general education levels rose became more vocal. Eventually the Belgians realizing the errors of their ways reversed the situation and Hutus took power. On independence in 1961 Hutu goverments dominated and discriminated in their turn against Hutus. Even so in many communities Hutu and Tutsi lived alongside one another and we’re friends, in some cases their was intermarriage. When in 1973 a hardliners sized power tensions increased still further. A narrative developed referring to Hutus as ‘cockroaches’ and stirring up racial tensions. Many Hutus were driven out of the country and a rebel group RPF was formed made up of mainly Tutsis. The army was solely Hutu and there was also the Hutu militia (Interahamwe) who were being trained up. In spite of attempts at a peace treaty, and following a plane crash (shot down by assailants unknown) which assassinated the Rwandan and Burundian Presidents in 1994 the violence erupted.
On April 7th 1994 the genocide began, Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed in a 100 day period. Neighbour turned on neighbour, friend on friend, urged on by the Hutu government and it’s militia.
An estimated 1,000,000 people were killed in this period (20% of the population and 70% of Tutsis). Much of this killing involved machetes, clubs and other blunt objects. Tutsi women and girls were raped (many by men with known HIV), Tutsis were maimed and killed. There was no leniency shown to children or the old all were targeted and often mothers and fathers were murdered in front of their children or vice versa. The West ignored or in France’s case actively supported the Hutus prior to the genocide and in spite of warnings the UN reduced it’s peace keeping forces prior to the genocide. The RPF mobilized and strove to regain the country and after 100 days drove out the Hutus, many fleeing to Congo DR.
Below are images from the memorial.
The time since 1994 has seen a reorganization of the country and attempts at reconciliation, which appears to have been largely successful. The large death toll and HIV infection have nonetheless left an impact, but the country looks to be booming 22 years on. It is only to be hoped that the racial tensions of the past have been reduced. The exhibition ends on a positive note referring to the way survivor victims have moved on.
The gardens beyond the memorial house the mass graves and like Choeung Ek are a place of peace and reflection.
From the grounds of the Memorial Garden you can see the skyline of Kigali rising like a Phoenix from the ashes a symbol of hope for the future of this country.
The Peponi Bandas and Beachside Camping Complex is located along a stretch of coast between Tanga and Pangani on the Indian Ocean Coast of Tanzania.
There are a range of accommodation options ranging from a Banda ($630 pp for a 6 night stay) to a bring your own tent option ($6.50 pppn).
Regardless of the option you have access to the same facilities including a small pool, beach bar and restaurant area and numerous places to relax.
We chose the bring your tent option which has been good value, the tent is pitched under a Banda and provided with a light and an electrical socket. When our air bed sprung a leak the manageress was happy to loan us some bedding from the pre-erected tents (a third option for accommodation).
The menu is tasty and well prepared. At 13000 TZS it is a lot cheaper than many places in Mwanza, where we live in Tanzania.WIFI is provided free of charge but is purposely limited to a small area is of the complex well away from the beach front so that people are not permanently on their phones which has been quite refreshing.
The property leads onto a beach front whilst not the pure white sands of Zanzibar the beach is nonetheless excellent.
The beach teems with crabs which scurry for their holes, numerous wading birds trawl the beach which has a large tidal range as much of this coast does. There are many varieties of birds in the trees along the coastline too.
The site is laid out in a landscape of palms and other trees. Bush babies clamber the trees by night and monkeys by day. A large curiosity of Banded Mongooses roam the grassy areas in the afternoons.
We are really enjoying our stay here and after two solid days of travel it has been good to go no further than a stroll along the beach.
Day two of our travels and after 18 hours on the ‘road’ yesterday a more relaxed morning. We were staying at Rafiki Backpackers where we had stayed one night in the summer on our journey through Moshi on our trip from Lake Victoria to Victoria Falls.
The previous night I was asleep as my head touched the pillow and I woke up refreshed after a solid night’s sleep. A leisurely breakfast and a trip to Nakumat (the lack of a proper supermarket in Mwanza makes this a must if only to pick up some coffee supplies and a Valentine’s present 💝, secretly smuggled out when Anita was unaware!).
Back on the road we headed South East past stunning mountain landscapes (Pare and Usambara Mountains) and on towards Tanga. One day we must return and visit these mountains and see for ourselves this amazing landscape).
A five hour journey to Tanga and a half an hour on a rough unsurfaced road brought us to our final destination of Peponi Beach along a stretch of coast near Pangani, this to be our home for the week.
Pitching the tents in the light for a change and eating a tasty meal complete with a free Valentine’s Day pudding!
Fatigue set in and after two days of travel we needed to sleep. There was a lovely breeze, but even with the fly sheet open we sweated buckets in the hot night time air. The ocean climate being significantly more humid than we are used to in Mwanza. This and the slowly deflating air bed meant a fitful night’s sleep – we’ll need a puncture repair kit!
For many years this has been my desire.
A balloon flight, over the Serengeti!
On Saturday I realised my desires, in celebration of my upcoming 50th birthday.
We were already in the Serengeti for a safari with our visiting mums. Staying on a campsite in the middle of the Serenera.
We were up early before dawn, for the drive from our campsite to the balloon launch site. As we travelled we were able to witness life in the dark of the Serengeti.
A white mongoose 
A pride of lions.
We arrived just before sunrise.
Our balloon was still to be inflated as we received our briefing.
We clambered onboard and hooked up while the basket lay horizontally, then as the balloon filled it suddenly righted.
The hats were a vital part of the kit to prevent hair being singed.
Then suddenly we were rising up into the dawn skies.
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Sadly the effects of El Niño have meant that the teeming herds of Zebra and Wildebeest had already moved south, and so were not where they were supposed to be, but you can’t have wild animals on cue.
From above the plains of the Serengeti were different, revealing the tracks of beasts which had wandered through.
Below we found scattered herds of topi and hartebeest, elephants and impala; hyena, jackets, even a pride of lions.
All too soon we were back on the ground and off on a mini-safari to see a cheetah we had viewed from above.
The cheetah turned out to be a leopard and what an encounter we had. 
The leopard suddenly sprung from its hiding place and rushed our vehicles …..
…. before turning and running away
We left the great beast alone and returned for a Champagne toast – a long way from the leopard. 
Then a cooked breakfast under the open skies of the Serengeti. 
All in all a fabulous start to the day.
Today we have flown to Moshi in Northern Tanzania. We’ve been here before as part of our trip from Lake Victoria to Victoria Falls and back again last summer. On that occasion our three days in Moshi were set between two 12+ hour bus trips, this time it has been an hour flight from Mwanza.
We’re here at the start of our safari through the Serengeti and also to meet our visitors from the UK, returning with them to Mwanza for Christmas.
A bonus would be a sight of Kilimanjaro – the elusive mountain. Last summer we saw nothing of Kilimanjaro in our three days here. Although we had hoped for a view of the mountain from the air cloud cover made this impossible even at height.
Moshi is the Kiswahili word for smoke and the town is aptly named as it’s clouds shroud the town. El Niño hasn’t helped with a more intense rainy season is n 2015.
A colleague visited Moshi on this very day last year and saw this ….
Our view today is this ….
We are here for a couple of days so we hope that at some point the elusive mount will reveal itself.
A submission to this week’s photo challenge on the theme of Trio.
Last summer we spent a day in Chobe Game Reserve in Northern Botswana – you can find out more by clicking the link
We spent the morning on a River Cruise and the Afternoon on a Game Drive. Both were fantastic trips with amazing wildlife.
Early on our boat trip we came across these three Impala drinking from the river.
Here are some other Trios from our day.
Posted in Botswana, Holiday, postaday, Weekly Photo Challenge
Tagged postaday, weekly photo challenge
The rainy season has definitely begun and although we’ve had some good weather we’ve had our fair share of showers too!
Our hired tent is sheltered under a tin roof and fitted with proper beds, we have a covered porch / verandah and the weather has remained warm. The kids’ tents are standard but come with bedding and are dry enough although one has transferred to a second tent under a thatched roof following some heavier rain yesterday.
We have been to adjacent beach every day and swam most days. Yesterday we had a new experience having gone down to the beach, when a thunderstorm hit with torrential rain. We stayed in throughout watching the water bubble as the droplets bounced on the lake’s surface. It was dramatic enough in the skies above but calm on the sheltered waters of the bay. We watched the many Cichlids darting about amongst the rocks and waited for the storm to pass – we were no wetter in the water as we would have been be on land.
The weather cleared to give sunny evening and a sunset viewed from one of the terraces here at Jakobsen’s Beach, where we had a BBQ.
Some mornings have been very lazy as the rain has lingered from the crack of dawn to mid-morning. Today Friday has been one such day and I write this beneath a small Banda just as the rain has subsided.
Other mornings I have been up with the lark (as I do when camping) exploring the site and listening to the exotic bird calls eminating from the thickets and trying to grab a photo or two. Down on the beach dragonflies, damselflies and butterflies (in many colours) have danced about on the sand in the sun.
We have ventured into Kigoma a couple of times to get provisions, but mainly (unusually for us here in Africa) we have stayed in one place and relaxed. Tomorrow we return on the long drive back to Mwanza. Reflecting back on the whole experience has been peaceful calm and very relaxing. I would certainly recommend Jakobsen’s Beach, if you’re ever in the vicinity.
This is the famous phrase uttered by Henry Stanley when he met David Livingstone back in 1871.
Until today I knew the phrase exchanged between the two explorers but not the location or even the reason why it was uttered.
The place they met is now a museum in Ujiji a small town south of Kigoma. Though overshadowed by Kigoma now, Ujiji was the major town at the time and on the shores of Lake Tangyanika, though now the waters have receded 500m due in part to population growth and in part due to seismic disturbance.
David Livingstone was on his third trip to Africa and the famous explorer /abolishionist had been living in Tanzania for 5 years. In Britain he was thought dead and Stanley was sent to find out if this was true. After months of travel he finally found Livinsone under a Mano Tree in Ujiji, wher he proclaimed the famous phrase
“Doctor Livingstone I Presume”.
The mango tree is long gone and even two of four replacements have died but there is a monument and two remaining trees.
There is also a museum dedicated to the region and the explorers – it’s small but worth a visit.
We spent the afternoon here before returning for a cooling dip in the lake.
Sunday 25th October
Jakobsen Beach and Guesthouse is located on the outskirts of Kigoma on the shores of Lake Tangyanika. Owned by a Norwegean couple this place is remote even with it’s proximity to the town.
Twenty years ago the land was bare, they have planted some trees, but most has self seeded to form a jungle. Bird life abounds and though much is unseen there are some amazing sounds emanating from the branches. We have seen a palm nut vulture, giant kingfisher, tropical boubou among others today.
We are staying in a bedded tent set in a jungle clearing. The kids have a standard tent each with mattress provided.
There are other options including self-catering chalets, a guesthouse and you can even bring your own tent and camp. Here we are very much at one with nature – other than birdsong there is the sound of cicadas and crickets. There are monkeys in the trees and this morning we woke to the snorts of a small herd of zebra feeding nearby.
This group of four are descended from some who wandered here a few years back and made themselves at home here. The monkeys are cute to watch as they jump from branches and onto the roof. They were really keen on grabbing our food and almost got to a jar of biscuits today when we weren’t looking.
Today is Election Day in Tanzania and so we have stayed onsite rather than venturing out into town. We have instead relaxed on the covered porch outside the tent and by the lake. There are two small beaches here with bandas dotted along the shore. The water is pleasantly warm and crystal clear – we took the opportunity to take a dip. The weather today was pleasantly sunny in the afternoon after a morning which promised rain and delivered thunder but nothing else.
There were some amazing butterflies on the beach in a variety of colours.
In the evening after we had cooked dinner we wandered up the hill to grab a soda and play cards. It’s quiet here and the lack of phone signal means we spend much less time on digital devices which is refreshing. However, it does delay these blog posts, which will await a trip to Kigoma tomorrow.
Posted in Africa, Holiday, Nature, Tanzania, travel, Vacation, Wildlife
Tagged Jakobsen Beach, Kigoma, Lake Tangyanika
Saturday 23rd October
We’re ‘upping sticks’ and heading out of Mwanza- for the week that is. It’s half term (mid-term) break and co-inciding with the election as it does makes it an excellent time to escape Mwanza (an opposition (Chedema) stronghold where some folk may not take kindly to losing). It was a good day to get up and leave town early as in the last day of the campaign the President, an ex-President and the man who would be president were coming to town to campaign for the governing party (CCM).
We were out at 4:30am packed for a week in Kigoma on the shores of Lake Tangyanika. It’s a long journey estimated at 10 hours but in reality more like 16 with stops and this time unlike our journey from Lake Victoria to Victoria Falls we’re taking the car.
The journey takes us from Mwanza to Shinyanga and on to Nzega and Tabora where we turn right and head across country to Kigoma.
Our early start allows us to make a good pace out of Mwanza, though the road is not good to begin with. Once into open country we cross the plain towards Shinyanga and the road improves, though the frequent villages mean we need to keep switching from 80kph to 50kph at regular intervals. None of this seems to deter the coaches one of which regularly passes us at 100 kph only to be overtaken by us when it stops, as it does regularly, on the route.
We stop for Chai and Chapatti at a local stall just south of Shinyanga – so far no police have stopped us (a regular pastime seems to be stopping car drivers and demanding money for a spurious infringement whether it can be justified or not).
Beyond Shinyanga we are surprised to find they are building a new Tarmac road – this is the first road building program we have seen in Tanzania -at first the road is slow as the surface is newly gritted but soon we are zooming along. It is the first time we have taken our car (ANA Gari) on a long trip, but newly serviced ‘she’ is behaving herself. The road takes us all the way into Tabora and on out towards Kigoma. This is so much better than we had expected and we make excellent pace, fewer villages and 100kph limits really help eat the miles.
We get about a quarter of the way from Tabora to Kigoma before the road stops and we are on a mud road. This has been graded and although the rippled ridges give it the feel of driving on a washboard we are able to travel well, though oncoming lorries and coaches tend to hog the road and we share it with bicycles and pedestrians many of whom tend to meander the roadway as they seek the best route.
We cross the railway line many times on our route and on one occasion this passes nearby a market where we are able to source some provisions (we are self-catering this week). We also grab some late lunch at a local cafe (beans and rice and meat followed by banana).
The road is dusty and the aforementioned lorries kick up plumes which gets everywhere and coats everything. We travel like this for an hour then suddenly the road diverts and we see the next phase of construction of the new road alongside for many miles.
Finally we are allowed on and we have the luxury of Tarmac. This road lasts a long while but suddenly reverts to mud. The road keeps swapping from mud to Tarmac to mud over the remainder of our journey in 20-30km stretches. One such piece of Tarmac is possibly the best road we’ve been in here an excellent stretch which ends quite suddenly after Kikwete Bridge (named after the current President). We imagine this was built for him so the bridge could be opened before he returned by helicopter. This excellent road both starts and finishes in the middle of nowhere.
Talking politics we encounter numerous rallies along our route representing Chedema, CCM and a third party ACT which seems stronger in this region than elsewhere.
The land either side of the road is jungle forest but there is evidence of mild deforestation – the people here ‘harvest’ the wood and burn it to make charcoal- there are bags of it along the roadside and these enormous sacks are loaded onto bikes and pedaled off.
Late afternoon dust turns to mud on the muddier road as the aftermath of rain take its toll – we have had little rain ourselves but there’s been a lot. Then it’s back to Tarmac and the last leg of our journey into Kigoma.
This takes much longer than it seems on the map – that last stretch of a journey always does. In the pitch black we arrive in Kigoma and sought out Jakobsen’s Beach – not the easiest place to locate in a the dark. After a couple of lost turns and a little more luck than judgement we finally stumble on the road to our accommodation. This road quickly becomes a dirt track which almost disappears into a ditch at one point – we persevere and finally find our place. We’re here for a week in a bedded tent, self-catering. Untypical of recent holidays we’re not going far but after a 16 hour journey to get here- not that I’m complaining.
Today we say farewell to Malawi.it has been a great 10 days. Anita has introduced us to her home country of old, the place she lived for almost two years, the people she knew; Paul and Helen; Bambo James and his family; the villagers of Chilimba; Saulos and Patricia; the family of Pastor Ndomondo; Sam. All of these name have become faces to me now.
We have enjoyed traveling from Likoma to Monkey Bay to Zomba, Liwonde, Dedza and now Lilongwe. Malawi is a great place with fabulous friendly people. We shall come back some day I am sure. Next stop Zambia!
While we were on Lake Nyassa/Malawi we were blessed with some very dark skies. No light pollution and a late rising crescent moon gave us the chance to see the Milky Way in glorious detail. This combined with the fact I was able the find a setting on my camera with a very long exposure and large aperture meant I was able to capture some of this on ‘film’. You can follow our journey across Africa on Victoria to Victoria
We have emerged from a dead zone where internet connectivity was limited or non- existent. This has been both refreshing and frustrating in equal measure.
Our sister blog has suffered as it has not recounted the dailtbtravels over the past 5 days.
We have traveled across Tanzania crossed Lake Victoria into Malawi and now are in Monkey Bay. You can read more on our blog VictoriatoVictoria
Graham has been to: Austria, Belgium, Botswana, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Spain, Ethiopia, France, United Kingdom, Gibraltar, Gambia, Greece, Croatia, Hungary, Italy, Kenya,Cambodia, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malawi, Netherlands, Qatar, Rwanda, Slovenia, Slovakia, Senegal, Thailand, Turkey, Tanzania, Uganda, Vatican, Vietnam, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
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