World Travels - Africa

I flew into Nairobi on my own, having set up a summit attempt on Mount Kilimanjaro, which I talk about below, and faced my greatest fear - failure. Kili itself take about 8-9 days all in and is the easiest of the seven summits since there is no technical climbing required.

I went through Central and South Africa: Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa. These areas are 'classic' Africa with the big national parks and safari opportunities.

Western Africa I leave for another time, that area is a bit more people and culturally rich. The Horn also just opened up and I considered a trip through Ethiopia on the Blue Nile and seeing the gorillas in Uganda. Next time...

I decided to travel through Africa on a tour, a overland truck tour to be exact. My friend Jennifer recommended Dragoman, a UK company that runs affordable adventure tours all over the world. They were great, professional, fun, and organized.

A organized trip in Africa releived me of some of the difficult logistics (getting from place to place) as well as having someone handle all the border crossings. Their truck was custom designed to hold tents, cooking gear, passengers, luggage, and opened up on top so we could safari. We had two experienced drivers and an incredible cook who used to work at the Nairobi Sheraton, boy did we eat well! I highly recommend Dragoman to anyone looking into adventure travel.

The last advantage (or dis-) is that your travel partners are chosen for you, which in this case meant meeting some wonder and interesting people. And as those who know me know I get along with anyone!

In the map below, the orange squares are Travelogues I wrote and clicking will open that piece. The blue circles are just little snippets of interest, holding your cursor over it should tell you a little about that spot.

Top: our specialized Dragoman truck as we unpack and get ready to prepare dinner - you can see the washing bins. Bottom: our tents set up on the Masai Mara with the Ngorongoro Crater in the background.

Click here to see my Africa photos.