WanderWheels publishes first 3 posts on Africa tour

wickychicky

Observer
Hello everyone!

Today we posted the third of our little reports on our trip, which will takes us from South Africa back to Germany over 'only' 10 months, up the eastern side of the continent.

You can find us at http://www.wanderwheels.wordpress.com/

The first may not interest you soo much as it's more about friends: but we do add an odd sentence about First Impressions of South Africa.
https://wanderwheels.wordpress.com/2017/02/16/great-times-with-old-friends-in-south-africa/

We continue into Lesotho, which was far too short, but a huge highlight!
https://wanderwheels.wordpress.com/2017/03/02/the-kingdom-in-the-sky/

And then return to South Africa for part two.
https://wanderwheels.wordpress.com/2017/03/17/taking-a-closer-look-at-south-africa/


As we condense a lot of impressions into a little post, there's a bias towards informing our friends, family and colleagues back home, of what we've been up to, what we notice most etc.

But if any of would like any specific insights on anywhere, I would be happy to consider them going forward.

And if anyone planning a similar trip has any questions, we may be able to help with, just let us know!

A great weekend to all and happy viewing!
Helen & Jens
 

wickychicky

Observer
Namibia was next en route, 6 weeks meandering, having friends to visit and paragliding, with our first foray into sand driving along the beach to Sandwich Harbour.

Despite the time we had there we still missed so much out, particularly the north with damaraland and kaokafeld: good reasons to return 1 day!


Some people we met on the road, who made an impression on us:
https://wanderwheels.wordpress.com/2017/04/17/chance-meetings-namibia/

A more humorous look at the animals we saw:
https://wanderwheels.wordpress.com/2017/04/22/animal-encounters-in-africa-part-1-namibia/

Descriptives of the breath-taking landscapes:
https://wanderwheels.wordpress.com/2017/04/28/the-colours-of-namibia/

Some short statistics on our travel anniversary, 16 April:
https://wanderwheels.wordpress.com/2017/04/15/happy-anniversary-2/
 

wickychicky

Observer
Our 4 weeks in Botswana were packed to the brim and we loved it!

Here we recount our kalahari crossing and have some funny stories of our animal encounters there

If only we had more time!

https://wanderwheels.wordpress.com/2017/05/26/3-scorpions-and-a-lion-in-botswana/

https://wanderwheels.wordpress.com/2017/06/02/animal-encounters-part-2-botswana/

https://wanderwheels.wordpress.com/2017/06/08/animal-encounters-part-3-botswana/

https://wanderwheels.wordpress.com/2017/06/01/close-to-our-hearts/


Wishing everyone a nice weekend!
 

smlobx

Wanderer
Thank you for sharing your travels with us.
I particularly enjoyed reading about your experiences in Botswana as we will be there next May...
 

wickychicky

Observer
Thanks for your positive comments!!

A game of snakes and ladders is how Jens describes our short time in Zambia.
We were just a couple of weeks too early for the tracks we thought about doing, and although we knew how big Zambia is, we didn't actually really put it into perspective: I don't think we would ever have managed our original plan in the short time we were intending to be there.

Lower Zambezi and South Luangwa National Parks didn't disappoint at all.

And Bruce got a full service and 2 new BF Goodrich tyres in Lusaka. All set for the continued journey back to Germany!

https://wanderwheels.wordpress.com/2017/07/23/dead-ends-in-zambia/

Happy Sundays from Rwanda!
Helen & Jens
 

wickychicky

Observer
Malawi was a welcome change after all the recent animal experiences.

It was really nice to be surrounded by many nice people and you can choose whether you stuck to tourist/expat things or get more involved and try to understand the culture and the country.

Yesterday we were sitting with another couple who were holed up in Blantyre for a couple of weeks awaiting spare parts.

They now have a completely opposite view to ours regarding Malawians, and they guy we were sitting with even went as far as to insinuate they might be "dumb" and that it's no wonder they are one of the world's poorer countries when the men never go out to work in the fields and never improve their standards or learn from others.

We did at least agree that we are not fully convinced that foreign aid is always a help and not a hindrance to a country's development.

Anyhow, none of that is discussed in our blog: more the glimpses of what we saw and enjoyed, including a rare paragliding opportunity.

Hope you like it as much as we enjoyed the country!

https://wanderwheels.wordpress.com/2017/08/14/malawi-big-lake-bigger-hearts/

Helen & Jens
 

wickychicky

Observer
What better antidote to Rwanda's difficult history - a trip round Uganda and celebrating 2 birthdays, with friends from Germany.

What a great country this is for a visitor: at least on the surface. We didn't dig into the vicious past with Idi Amin or the current political situation, which is not our usual style.

The country is a little microcosm of East Africa we found: parks with animals, savannah landscapes, lush forests, chimps and gorillas if you can afford them, hiking in the mountains if you're feeling fit, dirt roads which look fantastically sticky and slippery when wet, and wonderfully friendly, well-educated people with very little language barrier. GREAT!!

https://wanderwheels.wordpress.com/2017/09/26/equatorial-celebrations-in-uganda/
 

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