London to Cape Town 1998

JUNE TO DECEMBER 1998

Starting in London, England and travelling through Scotland, France, Switzerland, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Israel, Egypt, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana, Namibia, to Cape Town, South Africa. Travel companions: Brad, Paolo, Jeff, Jen, Geraldine and Tanis -- Adventure of a Lifetime!

LONDON, ENGLAND - June 17, 1998.

Truly an amazing city. Such diversity of people, cultures, heritage, buildings, history and so much different from Vancouver.  And yet, as I sat in St. James Park sipping on a Coke, looking up at the trees and the ducks in the pond, I might have forgetten that I was not in Stanley Park. But then I turned around and there was Buckingham Palace, the queen waved to me and I remembered that I was far from home and my travels were just beginning!

The Pennine Way - June 25, 1998.

I awoke in the morning to the sound of the rain coming down hard. I decided to try to wait out the rain for a while in my tent. Lacking a stove, my breakfast consisted of a Snickers bar and a few pieces of dry bread. By noon the rain had not subsided and I was out of food so I had no other choice but to break camp and trudge on towards Dufton.

After a very quick pack up, I set off down the rapidly-disappearing-under-a-gush-of-mud-trail. The moors of England are not a nice place to be on a rainy day. The ground (if you could call it that) was soaked and as I stepped I literally sunk into the peat soil right through the thin grass layer on top.

And then the fog came down... The trail disappeared... And I completely lost my sense of direction! So I wandered...

Which way to go? Back? Which way was back? Forward? Should I cross the creek that had suddenly appeared in front of me?!?

My mind thought of the warning from An American Werewolf in London: "stay off the moors!" Great. But I pushed on...

What was that ahead? Could it be a trail marker through the mist? I continued on towards the cairn through the rain as it seemed to come down even harder. But wait! Oddly the trail marker had moved to the left! I slogged onwards through the bog only to see that the trail marker I had thought I'd been following was a sheep! Damn the sheep and their over-abundant sheep dip! Now I was getting a little worried.

And then suddenly a bridge! And an actual trail marker on a slightly muddier section of mud that must have been the trail! Now with direction I pressed on with purpose. Suddenly, the clouds cleared and I was standing atop the edge of a high cliff looking down into a huge valley, the bottom lost in the mist. High Cup Nick! I had seen this valley on a map and I knew where I was.

The trail descended the right side of the valley all the way down to the pub in Dufton! Woo hoo!

July 1, 1998 - We hiked past Hadrian's Wall, the northernmost remnant of the ancient Roman Empire's conquest of Britain.

Edinburgh Castle, Scotland

The symbolic stronghold of the Scottish empire towering above the cobblestone streets and overlooking the Royal Mile of Edinburgh. From towering castles to royal palaces, through the narrow close alleyways and winding cobblestone streets of the Royal Mile, Edinburgh envokes romantic images of a mythical fairytale world of long ago; a time of kings and queens, knights and princesses, and dragons and wizards. An amazing city with much to offer the curious explorer.

The West Highland Way by Brad & Paolo

From Glasgow to Ben Nevis, up and down the craggy peaks of the West Highlands; the classic Scottish hiking experience. Spectacular 152 km (95 mile) walk beginning in the Glasgow suburb of Milngavie (pronounced Mull-guy) to Fort William, set at the mouth of Glen Nevis in the foothills of Ben Nevis, with scenery right out of Braveheart.

Our week-long journey was highlighted by our passing through Glen Coe; an amazing valley surrounded by steep rocky cliffs, cascading waterfalls, gurgling rivers and tall craggy peaks. We hiked the Devil's Staircase out of this valley where Paolo met his future wife Beverley, for the first time!

On July 5 we climbed to the top of Ben Nevis - the highest point in Scotland at 1344 metres (4400 ft.) on a relatively sunny day with incredible views in every direction!

 

PARIS, FRANCE - July 8, 1998.

Our introduction to Paris was a whirlwind: We arrived in the evening just before the France - Croatia World Cup soccer match. We were met at the bus station by hostel-owner Maryse, who whisked us off to the Hotel de Ville (City Hall) square where the game was being broadcast on a huge outdoor television in front of thousands of screaming French fans.

When France won 2 to 1, the celebration in the streets lasted late into the night! We paraded all the way down the Champs-Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe.

And then 4 days later, France defeated Brazil in the final and the celebration was even bigger! Allez la bleu!

The cheap way to see the Louvre is to walk along the garden pathways outside, but on Sunday, entrance is free! So go say bonjour to the Mona Lisa.

A restaurant nearby sold one of our favourite Parisian meals, the Grec Frite; a huge sandwich of shaved meat, french fries and mayonaisse on a french baguette, only 22 francs!
 
Mont Blanc, France.
Incredible hiking opportunities abound from the idyllic setting of Chamonix, at the base of the the towering Mont Blanc, pinnacle of the Alps.

Massive sheets of glacial ice flow down from Mont Blanc's "Mer de glace." At 4807 metres (15,771 ft.), Mont Blanc is the tallest peak in Western Europe and a popular destination for climbing in the summer and skiing in the winter, and was the tallest mountain I'd ever seen... until Kilimanjaro a few months later.

I crossed from France into Italy over the sea of ice on an incredible journey up and over the mountain on the Aguille du Midi telepherique skyride!
 
ROME, ITALY - July 26, 1998. 

From the ancient Coliseum and the Roman Forum to St. Peter's Cathedral and the Sistene Chapel, the streets of Rome are like walking through a real-life history lesson. Combine that with Italian pizza, pasta and gelati and you have an amazing city to explore!

The Coliseum in Rome

Venice - Walk through the narrow carless streets of Venice over the bridges of the Grand Canal as a gondola floats by...

Michaelangelo's David

Florence - A city oozing with art and culture, smaller and slower paced than Rome, but with a unique charm of its own.

ATHENS, GREECE - August 5, 1998.

The Parthenon in Athens

Christy and I explored the ancient ruins atop the acropolis in Athens. Nowadays, scaffolding holds much of it together, but it is very impressive nonetheless. From the acropolis we had incredible panoramic views of the sprawling white-washed buildings of Athens and the rolling hills of the surrounding country-side all the way out to the ocean.

ISTANBUL, TURKEY - August 17, 1998.
This great city at the crossroads of Europe and Asia was also a crossroads in my own journey. I said goodbye to Christy and set off for my own adventure in Africa.

The characteristic skyline of Istanbul with its towering minarets and huge mosques.

Ephesus - The 11th century BC city of Ephesus is one of the largest and most well-preserved examples of classic Greek civilization. 

View of the Great Theatre of Ephesus from the Arcadian Way

The quantity and quality of well-preserved ancient ruins and artifacts allows you to travel back in time as you walk the ancient marble streets of Ephesus. For more information and some amazing pictures check out: http://sailturkey.com/panoramas/ephesus/

Goreme, Cappadocia - Looking like a city on the Moon, the other-worldly town of Goreme is near the centre of Cappadocia and the starting point for many explorations and adventures of this unique landscape from the cave dwellings and underground cities to the fairy chimneys and ancient valleys of the exiled.

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL - September 3, 1998.

The ancient city of gold and stone was magically (and perhaps unusually) peaceful during my visit. I walked the biblical pathways in awe of the overwhelming sense of historical significance and power that flowed from the stone walls and cobblestone streets of the old city.

The view from atop Mount of Olives where Jesus began his journey of the cross before his crucifixion. The walled old city of Jerusalem is in the centre of the picture just beyond the cemetary. Note the golden dome of the Dome of the Rock in the Muslim quarter. The skyline of the new city is in the background. 

The Dead Sea - The lowest point on the surface of the Earth at 395 metres below sea level, where the salt content is so high that you can easily float on the surface of the water!

The Dead Sea from Masada

The sun rises over the mountains of Jordan, reflecting off of the salty surface of the Dead Sea. Masada (Hebrew; "fortress") is an ancient ruin on a mountaintop in the desert near the Dead Sea about 48 km southeast of Jerusalem, the scene of the last stand made by the Jewish Zealots in their revolt against Roman rule (AD66-73). Two fortified palaces were built there in the 1st century BC by the Judean king Herod the Great. Masada is a national symbol of heroic patriotism as the last remaining rebels - about 1000 men, women, and children - withdrew to the remote mountaintop and withstood a 2-year siege by the Roman Legion. When the besiegers finally captured the fortress the remaining rebels took their own lives rather than surrendering.

Ein Gedi Oasis - A cool, green oasis hidden in the hot, dry desert hills on the shores of the Dead Sea. Crystal clear pools fed by cool waterfalls and shaded by large green ferns give home to many plants and animals in the otherwise dry, hot, inhospitable desert surrounding the Dead Sea. But for us, it was just a beautiful spot to cool off and escape the hot afternoon sun. And I think I saw the lead singer of Radiohead lounging near a waterfall in one of the pools too! Weird.

A sidenote: We camped on the beach of the Dead Sea the night before going to Ein Gedi, in what had to be +35 degree heat, therefore we didn't set up our tent. Then after dark, we noticed (and felt) several small, dark things crawling around and over us. I turned my headlamp on to discover that the beach was covered in cockroaches in the middle of the night! We quickly set up the tent and spent a very hot, sweaty and sleepless night inside the safety of its thin nylon walls as the cockroaches scurried everywhere outside. Bizarre.

EGYPT - September 9, 1998.

The Pyramids and the Sphinx at Giza

The only remaining wonder of the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World. And they truly are incredible! Bigger than you might expect, considering they are thousands of years old and surrounded by many hidden tombs and ancient Egyptian artifacts to explore as you walk the dunes of the surrounding desert. The Sphinx, on the other hand, is quite a bit smaller than I expected, but still pretty cool.

Cairo - A huge, busy city with over 20 million people sprawling almost endlessly along the thin strip of hospitable land along the Nile River surrounded by the encroaching desert on all sides.

Looking south from the top of the Cairo Tower: The view of the Nile River and even one of the Pyramids of Giza off in the distant haze to the right.

From Cairo we flew to Nairobi, Kenya with a brief stopover in Khartoum, Sudan on the way...

KENYA - We spent a few days in Nairobi, making arrangements for our Serengeti safari and adjusting to the culture shock of East Africa.  Only 2 months earlier, the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi was bombed by terrorists killing more than 200 people. Scary stuff.

SERENGETI SAFARI, Tanzania - September 26 to October 1, 1998.
6 day safari from Arusha to Lake Manyara, Ngorongoro Crater, Serengeti and Tarangire Parks.

Lions of the Serengeti

Our very rustic camp was the site of the Jen-stalking hyenas and Jeff's baboon attack. You can see the baboon walking in the background! A late night trip to the outhouse turned out to be a little more frightening than expected for Jen as the glowing eyes of the local hyenas were alarmingly close and Brad with the flashlight was nowhere to be found (as I bolted back to the tents like a chicken)!

We met some young Maasai on the road during one of our many truck break-downs. Jeff shared the Canadian flag, some gum and Egyptian pounds with one young Maasai warrior.

Far too often on our way to the Serengeti, our safari truck was broken down at the side of the road with its hood up with Gideon examining the engine and Masai sucking gas out of some tube! Ahh, the adventure and excitement of Africa!

Ngorongoro Crater - A huge, incredible, ancient volcano crater, 600 metres deep with an area of 260 sq. km! The "Jurassic Park" of safaris with abundant wildlife-viewing all year round due to the contant water supply in the crater.

The clouds cling to the lush rim of the Ngorongoro crater as an elephant feeds amongst the huge acacia trees. Not far from here we spotted two lionesses stalking (without success) the huge herd of wildebeest and zebra that roamed the crater floor.

The large lake near the centre of the Ngorongoro Crater, surrounded by animals: zebra, flamingo and wildebeest in the background and impala in the foreground.

Our camp was atop the crater rim, elevation 2400m, which meant chilly nights and amazing views of the entire crater from a distance! A hungry kite (hawk, top right corner of the photo) swoops down and grabs a piece of chicken right out of Jen's hand!

We visited a Maasai village one day while our truck was being repaired and it turned out to be one of the best days of the entire safari! The children seemed almost as fascinated by us as we were of their village as we walked around, toured the banana fields and even stopped at a local "bar" which served us fermented banana beer! Mmm delicious? No, not really!

The Safari Stats:
Participants: Brad, Paolo, Jeff, Geraldine, Tanis, Jen & Wendy
Guide: Masai
Cook: Gideon
Breakdowns: 22 (between 2 trucks)
Lions: 10 (including 2 hunting lionesses!)
Cheetahs: 3
Leopards: 2
Hyenas: a few far too close to our Serengeti camp!
Rhinos: 3 (from far away)

Elephants: over 100 (their abundancy surprised me!)
Giraffes: less than 100
Monkeys: over 100
Baboon attacks: 1 (on Jeff!)
Hippos: 40
Crocodiles: 3
Huge birds: Quite a few!
Including many ostriches (which taste like beef!)
And hundreds of flamingo!
Zebra, gazelle, wildebeest, buffalo, antelope, warthogs, etc.: Too many to count!

KILIMANJARO, TANZANIA; October 3-8, 1998 via the Marangu Route.

Kilimanjaro - October 7, 1998 - 6:30 AM

5895m/19340ft The highest point in Africa.

(top) Lucas, Paolo, Moot, Jeff, Brad

(bottom) Rob, Tanis, Jen, Sophie.

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We summited Uhuru peak just after 6 AM on October 7th, just as the sun was rising over the African savannah. Although I was dizzy, short of breath and very cold, the experience was incredible. Struggling against the intense cold, the oxygen-deprived delerium and nausea to the highest point in Africa was definitely one of the more difficult things that I have done in my life, but also one of the most rewarding. The trek established a powerful bond between the group of friends on the mountain that day - the Kili gang: Brad, Jeff, Paolo, Jen, Tanis & Geraldine. Awesome!

 
Day 1
The day began cool, misty and early. The Marangu route trailhead was enshrouded in cloud and the quiet stillness in the air seemed unusual considering there were several expeditions packing up to depart on this morning. Briefly we met our porters who would carry most of our gear and food as far as Kibo Hut, our high camp, before they set off at a fast pace, balancing their heavy loads on their heads.

We hiked in the clouds for about an hour before the sun first burned through. Here the trail was more of a dirt road with two distinct tracks worn into the soft soil in many places. We gently climbed the lower slopes of Kilimanjaro in the high plateau rain forest. The jungle here was still thick and dense and the trail obviously required regular maintenance to avoid being swallowed up by the encroaching foliage. In some places the gap in the trees above the trail that now displayed the bright blue morning sky would be completely lost behind the canopy of branches and vines and it felt like we were walking in a forested cavern. The constant music of a multitude of birds filled the air and occasionally a monkey or two would chatter from the tree tops high above. The insects were very few in number, which was a pleasant surprise for this part of the trail. But the mosquitoes that did show up were industrial strength and the size of hummingbirds!

About two hours into the trek to our first night’s camp at Mandara Hut, the trees parted briefly to our left and we were afforded the first view of our goal. The distinctive snow-capped peak of Kilimanjaro framed by the deep blue African sky still looked far away, but just the sight of what we had come to conquer had us all giddy with anticipation. From a distance, the summit of Kilimanjaro resembles a wide, almost flat-topped dome rising alone out of the surrounding African savannah flaunting its volcanic origins.

Map of the many routes up Kilimanjaro

The Kili Gang - Day 3 at Horombo Hut

Crazy coincidence when Paolo and I bump into SloRide (Christian) who we met on the PCT in '96!

The Kili Gang
(Jeff, Paolo, Jen, Geraldine, Brad, Tanis and our guide Moot)

Sunrise on the Uhuru Crater near the summit of Kilimanjaro

After the trek it was off to Zanzibar to eat, drink and relax!

Zanzibar sunset at Kendwa Rocks

MALAWI - October 23, 1998

One day, while we were travelling from Tanzania to Zimbabwe through Malawi, our vehicle got stopped at a road-block. When I say "road" I mean a third-world, dust-consumed, dirt-track somewhat resembling a transportation corridor. And when I say "block" I refer to the man and woman dressed in army fatigues and carrying very large machine guns (not to mention a few other menacing looking weapons strapped to their belts!). So the woman looks in our vehicle (kind of a land rover-like truck) and has a brief conversation with the driver in some native tongue, and then glances around the vehicle and looks at me.

"Why are you not wearing your seatbelt?" she asked me.

My first thought was, "This thing has seatbelts?!" and then I thought, "Is it really the law to wear seatbelts in Malawi?"

I looked around and noticed that no one else was wearing seatbelts either, including the driver. The roadblock-guard did not seem impressed when I pointed this out to her.

Taking note at the size of her gun and imagining what a Malawi prison must be like, I decided to shut-up. She actually wrote me a ticket for not wearing my seatbelt! I think the fine was 40 kwacha or something (maybe $10 CAD), but I left Malawi a few days later and never paid the fine. So now I am probably WANTED in Malawi! 
 

VICTORIA FALLS, ZIMBABWE / ZAMBIA - November 10, 1998

We took a day trip across the bridge over the Zambezi river and hiked from Zimbabwe to the Zambian side of the falls. No one brought a camera so we only have our memories of the view from the top of the falls looking down as the water crashed down all around us. Incredible!

There was a group of elephants in the forest near the top of the falls, just hanging out, munching on some trees; very cool!

Late one night in the Victoria Falls campground, I woke to the sound of loud chewing in the tree above my tent. I opened the door of my tent and peered up into the darkness. Something big, VERY BIG, was eating the tree that had provided shade on my tent earlier that day! It was an elephant only a few feet away! While trying not to hyperventilate or startle the elephant, I slowly crept out of the tent where I met Paolo a short distance away at his tent. We both bolted for cover but then returned to snap several photos of the incredible encounter!

Victoria Falls, elephant at our campground

Victoria Falls, Zambezi Whitewater Rafting - Novermber 8, 1998

We actually flipped over like this TWICE! And it is all on video. One of the unique twists of rafting the Zambezi are the crocodiles that lurk at the side of the river; incentive to stay in the raft!

Zambezi River Rapids - Highlights:
4. Morning Glory - First rapid of the day and I fell out on this one!
6. Devil's Toilet Bowl - round and round.
8. Star Trek - The raft flipped over and we all fell out this time!
12.&13. The Three Sisters & The Mother - What a beautiful rollercoaster ride it was...
18. Oblivion - It looked like we were approaching a huge tidal wave in the middle of the river and then the world went upside-down and got very wet! The rapid tossed our entire raft straight up, out of the water, flipped us over and everyone flew out in all directions. Wow.

NAMIBIA - November 11, 1998
We rented a car in Windhoek, the capital of Namibia, and started our 2 week road trip through Namibia to Cape Town, South Africa. First stop: Etosha Pan National Park for our own "drive-thru" safari! Excellent campground in the park with amazing night-viewing of unsuspecting animals as they gathered near a well-lit watering hole near our campground! But if you stopped to think about it, those animals were also very close to where we slept unsuspectingly in our tents, and a few jackals did come sniffing around our camp too!

Next stop: Damaraland with its towering desert mountains (Brandberg), ancient rock-art petroglyphs at Twyfelfontein, the petrified forest and incredible desert campground with an amazing shower built right into a huge tree!

Next stop: Swakopmund. We drove through the barren desert of the Skeleton Coast to arrive at this beautiful, little coastal town that resembled something out of Bavaria - very evident German influence!

After a couple days relaxing and eating well in Swakopmund we set off on the long drive through the Namib desert to Sossusvlei. The vast Namib desert (almost 50,000 sq. km!) is almost 2000 kilometres from north to south but with an average width of only 100 km! We arrived at the Sossusvlei campground (actually several kilometres from the big dunes) in the late afternoon and since it was recommended to visit the dunes early in the morning for the most spectacular views (not to mention the hot sun later in the day!), we got to explore Sesriem Canyon which is hidden in the desert only a couple of kilometres away from the campground. The deep, narrow canyon is an amazing place to explore reminding me of something right out of Indiana Jones adventures!

The next morning, we set off before sunrise to climb famous Dune 45 as the sun came up and turned the desert sand to bright hues of red and orange, spectacular!

Sossusvlei is an area of the largest sand dunes in the world, Big Daddy Dune towering 300 metres! Because we only had a 2-wheel drive rental car we had to walk the last few kilometres, but our walked proved rewarding as we spotted several Oryx and a couple racing Ostriches! As the morning sun rose, the sand became increasingly hot so we had to head back. But we did spot a few more of the amazingly-adapted desert animals: the dune lizard, which stands on only two legs at a time, switching back and forth to keep from getting too hot! And the black tok-tokkie beetle, which popped out from beneath the sand (where it keeps cool during the day and warm at night) and scurried away across the dune, leaving its distinctive little tracks in the sand!

Last stop before we headed to Cape Town: Fish River Canyon - Namibia's version of the Grand Canyon. Quite impressive but not nearly as big as the Grand Canyon. The hot desert sun appeared to have dried up the river when we were there also!

CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA - November 23, 1998
Our incredible 2 week African road trip ended here as well as our six month London to Cape Town journey.

View of Cape Town from Table Mountain

We met up with Geraldine again and spent a very relaxing 10 days: explored Cape Town and the Cape of Good Hope, climbed Table Mountain and bought our flights back to Canada as well as many souvenirs! It was nearing Christmas and basking in the warm southern hemisphere sun felt strange while the city was decorated for Christmas!

Cape Town is definitely one of the most beautiful cities in the world, but yet its amazing natural setting still can't hide the underlying political turmoil that plagues many South African cities. But our stay was enjoyable and safe and I felt sad to leave and end my journey...but excited to get back home to see missed friends and family and sleep in my own bed again!