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Road Trip!

After five months of travel spent almost exclusively on buses…school buses, overnight fully reclining buses, long distance buses that lacked working bathrooms, buses that were nearly empty, buses where we had people practically sitting on our laps…we’ve traded the buses in for our own wheels. That’s right we’re now traveling by car, a rented orange Kia Picanto to be exact.

Southern Africa has so much to see: the second and third largest canyons in the world; massive reserves full of lions, elephants, giraffes, zebras, and other amazing animals; the world’s oldest sand dunes; beautiful beaches; amazing waterways; and so much more. Unfortunately, much of it is rather hard to get to. The bus system is limited, often leaving you hundreds of kilometers from where you actually want to be. Then you’re left taking minibuses, collectivos, or hitching, none of which are especially safe (or all that cheap for that matter). And you have to factor in all the time you’ll lose making the many connections. The other option is the “backpacker buses,” such as the well-known Baz Bus, which travel a set circuit that hits most of the highlights. It’s not cheap though; a hop-on, hop-off ticket between Johannesburg and Cape Town costs over $200 per person, and it still wouldn’t get us to all the sites we want to see. Plus there’s the little factor of being 24/7 in the company of other backpackers. Could be good. Could be bad.
So craving the freedom of the open road, the right to stop when and where and for however long we want, and the adventure of exploring part of the world completely on our own, we went for the car. It’s really a pretty good deal, averaging out to about $25 per day (plus fuel), and lets us get to all the places we want to go. There’s only one slight hitch: the car’s a manual, and we both have always had automatics. Jeff had, however, given a manual a go once many, many years ago, and luckily, he was game for a challenge. There were a few rough starts, a few killed engines, but by the end of the first day, we were cruising along just fine. In six weeks, as we point the wheels back to Johannesburg from Botswana (after heading clockwise around South Africa, up through Namibia, into Botswana, and with a quick hop to Victoria Falls), we’ll be old pros. Well, at least Jeff will. I’m not even particularly fond of driving an automatic while sitting on the left side of the car and driving on the right side of the road; I’m not even going to think of touching a manual with the driver’s seat on the right side and the traffic driving on the left side of the road. I’ll just stick to navigating. Wish us luck!
Editors Note: Theresa and Jeff are experiencing “technical difficulties” as their adventures in Africa begin. As they work through these difficulties they are still going to try to post as often as possible.  So please continue to check back often and leave your comments, and I’ll continue to be the “invisible hand” that makes sure their stories make it to Lives of Wander.
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Budgeting for Africa

This the third in our three part budget outline. See Part 1 – South America and Part 2 – Southeast Asia.

We’re currently planning on spending approximately three months working our way down the east coast of Africa, from Ethiopia south to South Africa.  This leg of the trip has been the most difficult to nail down a budget for.  There’s a couple of reasons for this. First, our sole experience in Africa has come from our amazing trip to Egypt in 2006. We found Egypt to be fantastically easy to navigate and very cheap, characteristics that do not seem to fit the rest of the east coast as well. The second is also entirely our fault, because it is the part of the trip furthest away. Therefore we’ve done the least planning for it, so we really don’t have a great idea of our must see places and our must do activities (more specific than … go on safari, and … see Victoria Falls, etc).

Among things that are not our fault, Africa has a less developed tourism infrastructure that well known backpacking destinations like Southeast Asia do. Overall, there seem to be two poles of tourism service, the “very low” and the “over the top”, but little of the happy medium for budget minded travelers like ourselves. This makes it difficult to predict how much we will spend on average. And finally, it seems there’s more variance between the countries we’ll be visiting than Southeast Asia or South America. But I won’t back down! We’ll give this a go.

Every Day Expenses

Food seems like it will be quite cheap on the whole, I think we’ll be quite comfortable assuming $10 a day. Accommodation seems as though it will vary quite a bit depending on what is available in a given area. I think $40 a day should be a comfortable number, we’ll be well under that enough that it will make up for the times we’ll pay substantially more. Transportation will be somewhat the same way, since while buses are cheap, they may not exist in some places we want to go and private transport or airplane is not cheap. I think we’ll be safe and budget $20 a day. For our daily activities then this comes to $70 a day.

Activities

This is also a very uncertainly defined area at the moment, there are a number of things we want to do, but they can also vary wildly in cost.

Gorilla Trekking $1000

Safari $2000

Climb Kilamanjaro $1500

Any number of other adventure outings requiring guides $priceless

Put this all together and we expect the costs for Africa to be quite substantial. 90 days at $70 a day comes out to $6300 and you add it our additional activities and the total balloons to ~$12000.

Now, as evident throughout this post, this part of our trip is thusf ar the most poorly planned and the most poorly researched. So there are bound to be inaccuracies in this, and we would love to have you correct them. Any experience in Africa? What were your expenses? How easily were you able to get around?

———-

So to summarize our entire budget and come to one big number, our entire budget comes to $32000 for two people. This presumes our RTW flights are covered with frequent flier miles and is based off of daily projected costs in each area with costs for the additional activities we hope to do factored in as well. This number does not include pre-trip costs such as insurance, immunizations, moving, storage, gear, etc. We’ll address these issues and their costs as they come up.

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A Few Facts about Zimbabwe

Did you know that:

During Mugabe’s rule the average life span of Zimbabweans has fallen from 65 to 30 years, the lowest in the world? Mugabe himself is 84.

Mugabe was inspired by Gandhi’s passive resistance movement and once vowed to use similar principles to help his own nation gain independence? He has, however, killed tens of thousands of people in ethnic cleansings since taking power.

Zimbabwe, under Mugabe, has the highest inflation rate of any currency in the world? Current estimates put it at 100,000%. Money is virtually useless.

Zimbabwe was once called the “breadbasket of the world”? Since Mugabe began his program of forcefully taking farms from white farmers and redistributing them (primarily to friends and political cronies), 1/3 of the population has had to rely on the World Food Program to avoid starvation.

In 2005, 10,000 of the poorest Zimbabweans were left without a home when Mugabe had the shantytown to which he had has his administration relocate these people destroyed? One of Mugabe’s many palaces was only a mile down the road.

Zimbabwe has the potential to be a wonderful place. The marvelous Victoria Falls lies on its border. Splendid African wildlife roams its plains. The land is arable and has a history of abundant production. The education system was once one of the best in Africa. In the 28 years that Robert Mugabe has ruled, however, Zimbabwe has been brought to its knees, virtually destroyed by a man the world once thought would save it.

Things do not look good, but on April 2, there was a ray of hope, as word leaked out that Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change had garnered over 50% of the votes in the March 29 election. A run-off was supposed to occur within three weeks between Tsvangirai and Mugabe. It looked like regime change might be on the way. However, Mugabe, not surprisingly, has not been cooperating with the process. Official results have yet to be released, and Mugabe has cried foul in regards to the counting of votes. He has also begun to crack down harshly on opponents, arrest journalists, and instigate violence in order to derail a run-off.

The future of Zimbabwe is at a crucial point. We must hope that the pendulum swings in the right direction. We must also do more than hope. I strongly urge each of you to contact your congress person, your president, and the United Nations to ask them to do everything in their power to see to it that this election process can continue and continue peacefully.

U.S. Representative to the United Nations: Mr. Zalmay Khalilzad, usa@un.int, (212) 415-4000
The president: comments@whitehouse.gov, 202-456-1111
Find your representative’s info: https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml
Find your senator’s info: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

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Travel Take Two: Egypt

Welcome to the first entry in what we plan to make a recurring series here on Lives of Wander in the run-up months to our actual departure. I mean, you did come here to read about travel, didn’t you?

What we’ll be doing in our Travel Take Two series is take a second look at some of the trips Jeff and I have gone on together. We’ll recall the highlights—the events that make travel the wonderful adventure that is. We’ll also remember the lowlights—the moments when you want to say screw it and jump on the first plane home. And we’ll see what kind of lessons we’ve taken away from each trip, lessons that hopefully will help us maximize the highlights and minimize the lowlights on our RTW trip.

Destination: Egypt—A 7-day tour through Cairo, Aswan, and Luxor with a sidetrip to the Red Sea.
Date: June 10-17, 2004
Travel Partners: My brothers Gregory and Mark accompanied us on this trip. We also spent two of our days with friends Kate and Ben

THE HIGHLIGHTS:
For me, the most amazing thing about Egypt was that it was just as incredible as I thought it would be. When you’ve spent your entire life imaging a place, you often find that when you get there, it doesn’t live up to your expectations. This was not true for Egypt. I think I spent the entire trip walking around wide-eyed and slack-jawed. So what did I love?

1. The Pyramids of Giza. Completely awesome in person, it was phenomenal to wander around the only surviving ancient wonder of the world.

2. Luxor Temple. We explored this temple at night, when it felt absolutely other-worldly. The avenue of sphinxes glowed, bats flittered around, and robed men would pop out from behind columns looking to get a tip by explaining something or pointing something out to you.

Temple of Luxor

3. Tour of the West Bank—Valley of the Kings, Valley of the Queens, Temple of Hatshepsut. It was cool to get to go inside the tombs, and it was nice to have a guide who gave us little history lessons at each site and explained art work, hieroglyphics, and ancient Egyptian religious beliefs.

4. Local food. The steak shish kebabs at Amoun Restaurant in Luxor and the chicken fatta at Cafe Riche in Cairo (each maybe about $2) were awesome.

5. The Egyptian Museum. It was like a huge warehouse of treasures. You couldn’t turn around without seeing something amazing, but the mummies and the Tutankhamun exhibit were the best.

Egyptian Museum

6. Just exploring Cairo. The city was a cacophony of sounds, sights, smells. Wandering along the Nile, hearing the call to prayer blasting out over the city, being out on the streets after dark when it seemed the whole city would come out with huge crowds at sweets and icecream shops, exploring the confusing alleyways of the market, dancing in the back seat of a taxi with a very enthusiastic driver…it was a mad, mad city but in a completely intoxicating way.

7. The friendly people. Almost without fail, everyone we met was friendly. I can’t even count how many times we were told “Welcome to Egypt” from people we simply passed on the street.

8. Getting to travel with my brothers. The combined trip to Greece/Egypt was both Gregory and Mark’s first major international trip, so it was really cool to get to share the experience with them. We’re hoping that family and friends will meet up with us at times on this trip so we can share the adventure of travel with them.

THE LOWLIGHTS:
While there were certainly “lowlights,” I have to say that in the big picture all of them were rather minor and had little effect on our enjoyment of Egypt. I think that all of my travel companions would agree that this was a fantastic trip that we’d all be happy to do over.

1. The bus ride to Hurghada. The air conditioner didn’t work for the majority of the trip. A young girl threw up in the aisle. A Bollywood movie was played at absolute top volume and involved multiple women screaming in the most shrill voice I’d ever heard. In general, it wasn’t a pleasant trip.

2. Hurghada. Hurghada was our access point to snorkeling in the Red Sea. While the snorkeling was good (though the waves at our last stop were a little much for me), the hassle of Hurghada was annoying. The town was rather dumpy and quite the tourist trap. No one would give us a straight story when it came to organizing a trip, and the hotel rooms we reserved were not what we were given. We were happy to spend the whole day out on the boat and away from this town.

3. The unexpected stop on the bus ride from Hurghada to Cairo. Somewhere in the middle of the desert, in the pitch-black, our bus stopped, and we (the only non-Arabs) on the bus were made to get off and talk to a soldier with a big, scary gun. It was a bit nerve-racking, but it turned out fine as they just wanted to know where we were going.

4. The constant requests for baksheesh (tip). Wherever we went, people called out for baksheesh. I have no trouble tipping people if they provide me with a service, but I find it frustrating to have people ask for a tip for doing something like showing me where a McDonalds is when a) I didn’t ask them to, and b) I have no interest in going to McDonalds. That’s not a service. That’s an annoyance. It’s hard to always say no because you know these people don’t have much money, but just handing out money indiscriminately isn’t the answer.

5. The 25 mosquito bites between my elbow and wrist that I received in one night at the Africa Hotel. Overall our hotels were not so great, except for the New Radwan Hotel in Luxor, which with its pool and air-conditioning (at the crazy rate of about $14 a night) was a true treat.

LESSONS LEARNED:
Egypt was a new experience for us in many ways. It was the first predominantly Muslim country we’d ever visited. It was the first time we’d visited the African continent. It was the poorest country we’d visited. There was a lot to learn.

1. Not all jellyfish sting. Who knew? Until I swam through an entire swarm of them, I had no idea. I guess the big takeaway point here is that what is true at home may not be true elsewhere. Be open-minded. Be daring.

2. It’s important to maintain perspective when haggling over prices. When we were in Hurghada, we were trying to find the best deal on a snorkeling trip. We’d walk into a place that had a price listed on the wall, but when we’d ask at the desk, they’d always say that price wasn’t right and quote us something a little higher. This was really frustrating, and we spent some time haggling, before realizing that we were really arguing over the equivalent of a dollar or two. It wasn’t worth it.

3. Always ask to see a room before you commit to it, and don’t be tempted to book multiple nights before you’ve stayed at a place. It’s good to have a place booked for your first night (especially if you arrive at 3 a.m. as we did in Cairo) but don’t commit to more than one night without having seen the place. In the morning, you can book another night if the place is good, and if it’s not, you can find somewhere else where you can ask to see the room first.

4. Agree on a price before you get in a cab. Most of the world’s cab drivers don’t use meters…or they don’t use them properly. So it’s important to find out how much a trip should cost by asking a local or checking a guidebook and then agreeing on a price before you get in the cab. Oftentimes, the cab driver will try to raise the rate when you get there, but stick to what you agreed, pay, get out, and walk away. Ignore the cab driver yelling at you as long as you paid what you agree. If, however, by some accident you should realize that you actually stiffed the guy, then run back to the cab as fast as you can, pay up, and add a nice little tip to the top to make up for your mistake. (Real life experience speaking here. Ooops.)

5. Eat local. We ate almost every meal at local restaurants and never once got sick. We then went to a McDonalds one day when we were in a hurry and we all got sick. Yuck. (Bonus tip: Carry toilet paper with you at all times in the developing world…chances are the bathroom won’t have any and I don’t know about you, but I have no interest in learning the left hand method so popular in that part of the world.)

6. If you’re only going to have a short time in one place, have a plan for what you want to do. Just exploring and stumbling across things is great when you have lots of time, but isn’t the right way to approach only one day in a place. We didn’t get the most out of our time in Aswan, because we didn’t really have a plan.

7. Bring ear plugs. Those Bollywood films are really, really painful. Ear plugs are necessary if you plan to maintain your sanity.

8. Dress appropriately. When we were at the Valley of the Kings, a tour bus pulled off and a number of tourists got out wearing clothes that were entirely inappropriate—bikini tops and cut off shorts, men’s tanktops, etc. Egypt is a Muslim country, and while no one expects you to wear a burka or shalwar kameez, it’s only considerate to wear conservative clothing. Not only is this a simple matter of respect, it also protects you from unwanted attention and/or harassment. The same is true if you’re visiting a Catholic Church in Italy, a Buddhist monastery in Southeast Asia, or your new boyfriend’s grandma right here in the U.S.

9. “Just close your eyes, pray to Allah, and go.” As we were standing across a huge intersection from the Egyptian Museum, staring at buses that didn’t ever stop but only slowed enough for passengers to jump out of, cars that paid no attention to lane lines, and automobiles that used their horns instead of their brakes, wondering how in the heck we were going to get across, a local man approached us and gave us that advice. He then grabbed us by the hand and led us through the traffic, dropping us off right in front of the museum, then wishing us a good visit and disappearing into the crowd. His advice has stayed with me. Sometimes to have the experience of a lifetime you just have to set aside your fears and go.

Aswan FeluccaNile WashingEgypt CrewPalm Date TreeSphinx

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Volatility

Sometimes change seems to happen at a slower than snail pace. Other times change seems to burst forth suddenly. The world can be a staid place. It can also be extremely volatile.

For many years, Kenya has been considered one of the most stable countries in Africa. Sure, Nairobi is a fairly dangerous city, and many Kenyans suffer from a lack of things we would consider basic necessities. Undoubtedly, Kenya is part of the developing world. But politically it has been stable, avoiding the troubles that plague many African nations: civil wars, despotic rulers, and violent rebel armies. Democracy seemed to have taken root. Corruption, on an African scale, was minimal. When Americans considered traveling to Africa, Kenya was often at the top of the list of places they might go.

But suddenly, our perceptions have been challenged. The results of the recent presidential election (which international monitors are now questioning the legitimacy of) sent the country into a spiral of violence. As I’ve followed the news, what I’ve found so disturbing is the way in which a dispute over election results has transformed into ethnic violence, pitting members of native ethnic groups or tribes that have been living together peacefully for years against each other. A large amount of the violence seems to be directed by members of the Kalenjin tribe against members of the Kikuyu tribe. Though my knowledge of Kenyan tribal history is practically nil, my understanding is that the Kikuyu are currently in power, while the Kalenjin consider themselves historical owners of the land.

In this Washington Post article from today’s newspaper, one of the survivors from the church that was set aflame while it was packed with Kenyans (most Kikuyu) fleeing the violence described the attack and then noted that the most disturbing thing for him was looking out into the mob that was attacking and seeing a man named Paul, who he described as “my neighbor, my friend.” For anyone familiar with the Rwandan genocide, the similarities are haunting.*

It is scary to see what lies beneath the surface and to witness how fragile peace can be.

As for us and our trip, what does this mean? At this point, nothing, really. We probably won’t make it to Kenya until just a little less than a year from now. Much can happen in that amount of time, and it’s futile to speculate. For now, this is a reminder that things can change quickly, that our itinerary will never be set in stone, that a place that was once a certain must-see could become a must-miss. While we are anxious to see as much of the world as we can, and while we won’t be deterred by idle and baseless fears, we do value our lives and safety and will never knowingly put ourselves in a dangerous situation.

Let us all hope and pray that the violence soon ends in Kenya.

*If your knowledge of the Rwandan genocide is limited, I highly recommend that you read General Romeo Dallaire’s Shake Hands with the Devil. I discussed this book on Spargel in May 2005.

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Bad News Gorillas

Sorry for the recent lack of posts. In the past three weeks, one or both of us has been in Stockholm, San Diego, Bloomington, or Richmond, so it’s been a little hectic to put it lightly.

Also, we’re thinking of making the leap from this Blogger host to our own domain and Jeff’s been working hard on making that happen, which is why you’ve been hearing a lot more from me lately than from him. But don’t worry, he’ll be back soon. If and when we make the leap to our own domain, we’ll let you know, so stay tuned.

Anyhow, in a recent post on the things that interest me in Africa, I mentioned gorilla trekking, which is a possibility in Rwanda, Uganda, and Congo. I was pulling my information from a guidebook, which is of course outdated even before it hits the stores. The slow nature of research and publishing mean that guidebooks are always a step behind. I’m aware of this, so I definitely don’t treat guidebooks as bibles. The guidebook I was working from put the cost of gorilla trekking at around $250 dollars per person. I figured this had risen and thought that maybe I’d read somewhere else, perhaps on a message board, that prices were now up to around $375. Well, I spent a little more time looking into this last week and found out that in fact, prices had risen, as of July 1, 2007, to $500 per person! Wow.

On a backpacking trip, where it’s possible for two people to get by on something like $25,000 to $30,000 for an entire year, spending $1,000 on one day is a lot. In fact, it’s not even one full day; you only get to spend one hour in the presence of the gorillas (although it could take you many hours to trek to their location). And the $500 doesn’t cover lodging or food; it simply covers the privilege of spending one hour with these magnificent animals.

Which leads to the other side of the equation. These are amazing creatures that few people ever get to see in their natural habitats. It’s clearly an exclusive activity and as such, you pay the price. Plus, while Rwanda, Uganda, and Congo–all rather poor countries–could turn this into a huge profit maker by making into a Disney-type enterprise, they haven’t. In fact, they’ve been quite diligent about protecting the gorillas by instituting strict regulations and keeping the number of people allowed to see the gorillas each day to a small handful. (A maximum of 8 people can be in one group, and the number of groups depends on the number of groups of gorillas with a one-to-one ratio maintained between people groups and gorilla groups.) And while I haven’t been able to find any hard information on how the $500 fee is used, it seems that it does get put back into conservation and in supporting local people.

So really, I’m not complaining that $500 is too high of a price. Clearly, gorillas are worth $500. We just have to decide how much seeing gorillas in the wild is worth to us, and how it compares to all the other things we want to do.

If it were you, what would you do?

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Planning the Africa Leg of the Trip

I’ve finally finished my perusal of Lonely Planet’s Africa on a Shoestring, which I was using to get an idea of places worth visiting. Actually, I’ve been done for a while, but I was holding out on posting, hoping Jeff would finish the Asia guidebook and we could also post about that region. Unfortunately, Jeff has been swamped with work as he tries to get everything done in time to graduate with his PhD early next summer, so Asia will have to wait a bit.

Anyhow, on to Africa. While others might think of South Pacific islands, in my mind Africa is the definition of exotic. It’s a place so entirely different from my “ordinary.” As we’ve talked about this trip and slowly begun to turn it into reality, Africa has always been my goal, the one place I most wanted to go. I’m pulled to this continent by its stunning natural beauty, its awesome wildlife, and its unique culture. I think I could spend our entire year here, so narrowing places down was hard, and there is still much decision making to do. There will certainly be some wonderful places that end up on the cutting room floor.

So why don’t I then begin with the places that we will not be going.

West Africa: Because Africa is such an enormous place, we had to first narrow possible destinations down by location, and when it came to East versus West, East won. The Serengeti, Victoria Falls, and Mt. Kilimanjaro just held too much sway. Perhaps on RTW Take 2, we’ll do West Africa.

Countries We’ve Already Been To: So that’s only Egypt. Africa is very much a land of unknowns to us. If Egypt is at all a taste of the continent, we’ll both be very happy. I don’t think either Jeff or I would have any resistance to going back, but this trip is about the places we haven’t been, not the ones, no matter how cool, that we’ve already experienced.

Unsafe Spots: Yes, life is about taking risks, but not unnecessary ones. So we will be avoiding Sudan, Congo (Zaire), Burundi, Somalia, and Angola.

And now for the exciting part, the countries that interest us. Yes, I know this is way too much, but for this go-round, I was being open to the possibilities, noting everything that captured my imagination.

Rwanda: I can see the radars going off already. For most of us, our defining image of Rwanda is that of the merciless civil war that pitted Hutus against Tutsis and led to what can only be called genocide. However, the country has moved on from the atrocities of 1994, and it is now a safe place to visit. Highlights of Rwanda are the Parc National Nyungwe Forest, where you can see chimpanzees in the wild, and Parc National des Volcans, where you can go on gorilla treks and explore the volcano.

Uganda: Like Rwanda, Uganda has the gorilla thing going on. We’ll obviously only go see them once (it’s not cheap!), but where, I’m not yet certain. The bad news with the Uganda gorillas is that they live in an area right near the border of Congo and sometimes cross over, which then means you are out of luck, since you can’t follow into Congo (and don’t really want to). Also, apparently, Uganda is the more popular destination, making it harder to get a spot on a trek. Other cool things in Uganda include Queen Elizabeth National Park–which was wildlife walks and drives and has hippos(!), Ssese Islands–a lovely beach area, and Jinja–the source of the Nile and a hot spot for whitewater rafting.

Tanzania: If there’s one country that really has it going on, Tanzania might be it. You’ve got Serengeti National Park and the Ngorongoro Crater, Mt. Kilimanjaro, and Zanzibar. So crazy wildlife, amazing mountain trekking, and great beaches and scuba diving. There’s also the Usambara Mountains, which are known as “Africa’s Switzerland,” and are great for hiking. What’s not to love?

Kenya: Often thought of as the traditional land of the safari, Kenya is home to the Masai Mara, famous for the annual wildebeest migration, and Tsavo National Park. Tsavo just happens to be the name of the lion that resided at the Louisville Zoo when I worked there (and may have been the lion that was thought to have escaped one Halloween although it turned out he was just doing a very good job of hiding). Interesting trivia, huh? Kenya also offers an opportunity to mountain bike at Lake Naivasha and & Hell’s Gate National Park. Seriously, a park named Hell’s Gate, how can you not want to see that?

Ethiopa: This isn’t your mother’s Ethiopia, no longer the image associated with the “There’s starving children in Africa” ploy to get you to eat your vegetables. These days there is plenty of injera to go around, t hough I can’t say that I’m much of a fan of this spongy bread. But I am intrigued by the city of Addis Ababa and it’s markets, the ancient sites of Aksum, and the rock churches of Lalibela.

Madagascar: I don’t know about you but I associate Madagascar with lemurs, and I think it would be awesome, although potentially deafening, to be in a forest full of lemurs. From my days at the LZ, I can recall the piercing noise just a few of those creatures could make. It was insane. The Parc National de Ranomafana is the place to spot some of these endangered critters. For great hiking and waterfall exploring, there’s Parc National de I’Isalo, and for swimming with the whales and sharks (eek), there’s the lovely waterfront town of Ifaty. Main problem here is that Madagascar is pretty darn far away from the mainland and not so easy or cheap to access.

Mozambique: Africa with some Latin flavor thanks to its Portuguese colonizers. The diving is good at Bazaruto Archipelago National Park, and the dhow trips around the Querimba Archipelago sound enticing. But I’m not completely sold yet.

Zambia: Sharing Victoria Falls with Zimbabwe, Zambia is an adventure lover’s paradise. There’s gorge swinging, microlight flights, white water rafting, riverboarding…

Zimbabwe: This country offers up the same Victoria Falls adventures as Zambia, but also has a few other things peaking my interest. The canoe safaris at Mana Pools National Park sound pretty cool and the hiking at Chimanimani sounds top-notch. The issue here though is whether I want, through my tourist dollars, to support the out-of-control President Robert Mugabe.

Botswana: You know those cool National Geographic pictures of rivers just teeming with hippos, so many that it seems you could walk across the water on their backs, that’s Botswana, specifically the Okavango Delta. Want to explore that in a dugout canoe? Yeah, me too. Unfortunately, I’m not sure that’s going to happen. Botswana is expensive, the land of luxury safaris, and fancy resorts. So most likely, unless we win the lottery prior to this trip, Botswana will be a no-go.

Namibia: German is one of the languages officially spoken here, so I think that means that I better go. It might just be the only place on this trip where I could put my language skills and college degree to work. And it’s a happening country, so it’s worth a visit with sandboarding in Swakopmund, wildlife watching in Etosha National Park, and red sand dunes exploring in Namib-Naukluft Park. The only trick here is that it’s not an easy country to get around, but I think I’m willing to work a little harder for this one.

South Africa: There’s lots going on in this popular African destination. Just in Cape Town alone, you can revisit history at Robben Island, get a peek at penguins on Cape Peninsula National Park, and take a hike up Table Mountain. Then you’ve got the Winelands, the coastal town of Cintsa which is like a summer camp for grownups, the ancient rainforests of Hogsback, and Kruger National Park, where I’m psyched about the exciting and affordable walking safaris.

Wow, that’s a lot. Africa just oozes excitement. There are so many unique things to see and do. But if you’ve actually read through all of my descriptions, you’ll have noticed that there is also a fair bit of overlap with the main themes of safaris and adventure sports. Obviously, we’re not going to do the same activities over and over while just simply switching countries. We have to narrow things down, figure out what’s best, where we can get the most bang for our buck, and what places really capture the authenticity and awesomeness that we’re looking for. This isn’t the Amazing Race (they’ve rejected me twice, damn it), so we’d like to actually spend time in the countries we ultimately end up choosing to see, not just breeze through, checking off sites. The planning is underway, but there’s still a lot to do.