Tunis, Tunisia. Visited on 7-9 February 2025 – Stop 1. Sousse, Tunisia. Visited on 10-11 February 2025 – Stop 2 After 10 days in Iraq, I was relieved to leave – the security checks throughout the journey suggest the country,…
Kairouan, Tunisia. Visited on 12 February 2025 – Stop 3. Monastir, Tunisia. Visited on 13 February 2025 – Stop 4 From Sousse, I made a day trip to Kairouan, less than 60 km away in a louage, a local pooled…
30 June – 1 July 2023 After more than a week’s European holiday in Cyprus, I flew to Casablanca, Morocco, a city that became well-known for a classic war and romantic movie of the same name. I happened to arrive…
From Casablanca, I took a train to go south to Marrakech, one of the top tourist destinations in the world. It was only a two-and-a-half-hour ride. As the train approached Marrakech, the landscape outside the widows appeared undulating and pinkish.…
5-6 July 2023 From inland Marakech, I now took a bus westward toward the coast to Essaouira, about 2 hours away. In Marrakech, the heat was scorching. Just 2 hours away, Essaouira was semi-arid and sunny but chilly; the wind…
7-8 July 2023 From Essaouira in the south, I finally made it to Rabat, the capital of Morocco. Unlike the names of Marrakech and Casablanca, Rabat did not sound so familiar to me before I planned to come. A distance of…
8-9 July 2023 From Rabat, I then explored the northern part of the country, starting with Fez. Every major city in Morocco seems to have an old market or old souk, where they have been buying and selling from ancestral…
10 July 2023 While at Fes, I made a side trip to Meknes, just an hour away. Some of the well-known attractions were Lahdim Square, Bab Mansour, Medina, the Royal Palaces, the Mausoleum of Moulay Ismail, and numerous old city…
12 July 2023 From Fes, I rode in a bus to go further north, to Chefchaouen. I headed straight to the medina. If blue is your favorite color, this will be your dream world. After days of the earthy red-hot…
13-14 July 2023 Africa sounds like a different and remote world. Yet, my next Moroccan destination Tangier, in North Africa, can see Spain, which is in Europe, on a clear day. I sat down to dinner at a small restaurant…
14-17 Egypt is synonymous with pyramids. Raised on the vast and harsh ground of the desert, these were built to loom large and to reach for the sky. Under the blue sky, the triangle clearly points to the heavens, perhaps…
18 I barely recovered from being awestruck by the pyramids and sphinx before taking the train to Luxor. This was indeed where the ancient Egyptians of power thought about their mortality, dreamed of immortality. One after another, they kept coming—tombs,…
19 Not many things are still standing after more than 3,000 years. Here in Luxor, sure, some are headless, without an arm and a leg, dismembered, disfigured, others in tatters, even pulverized. Notwithstanding the odd missing pieces of the jigsaw…
Arrived into Nairobi early this morning from Kuala Lumpur.
Departing Nairobi for Masai Mara, about six hours’ drive away, with 6 others early in the morning.
We spent an entire day traversing the vast expanse of this reserve.
After 3 days 2 nights in Masai mara, I headed back to Nairobi.
From Nairobi, I crossed into Tanzania via the border town of Namanga into Arusha, Tanzania.
We started driving towards Serengeti the next morning, stopped at a viewpoint to have a peek at Ngorongoro Crater.
Early next morning we set off for central Serengeti.
We spent a night in a camp site near the Ngorongoro Crater, a conservation area.
After four days at the Serengeti safari, I was back in Arusha.
After a day at Stone Town I took the local mini bus to Nungwi, a beach on northern Zanzibar.
6 am the bus departed for the border town Mbaye. It would take an epic 15 hours.
Descended from the mountains at Livingstonia, I waved down a pick-up to get down to Chitimba.
After 2 nights at Kande beach at Nkhaka Bay, I was on my way again. At 6 am, I started walking for 3 km to the bus stop, caught a pick–up truck to Goromoti, then another taxi to Monkey Bay, and after an hour’s wait there, to finally arrive at Cape Maclear at night fall.
At 5 am I was on a motor bike taxi leaving Cape Maclear for Monkey Bay to catch the bus for Lilongwe, Malawi’s capital, at 6 am.
After 2 nights I left Lusaka for Harare, capital of Zimbabwe, fifth country on this trip.
After a couple of nights in Harare, I took a big bus to Victoria Falls, another long ride but for the first time with air conditioning.
Can’t come to Zimbabwe and not see the Victoria Falls.
After seeing the Victoria Falls, I walked from the town Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe across the border into Zambia for a second time.
From Livingstone, Zambia I took a taxi for a short drive into Botswana, first to go to the camp site at Kazungula.
The Chobe River safari ended past 7 pm, at 9 pm I was again on a bus on my way to Maun, finally arriving early in the morning at the Okavango Delta.
I hitched a ride with a young German couple in their rented vehicle at Okavango Delta, departing at 6.30 am to arrive at Windhoek, Namibia’s capital late that afternoon.
A short stay in Windhoek was more than enough. I then took a small bus heading for the coastal town of Swakopmund.
After 2 days stopover at Swakopmund, I drove solo southward in a 4-wheel-drive to tame this Namibia desert.
Arriving at Siesrem around 3pm, I checked into the camp site. Each campervan is given its own parking lot, each with its own luxuriant tree that provide shade.
After a night at the Siesrem camp site under an almost topless tree, I set off early into the desert, under the scorching sun, not on a dying wish, just a wish to see the Death Valley.
After 3 hours at the famous Death Valley and Sossusvlei, I continued my solo drive south in my stud 4-wheel drive.
From Keetmanshoop, I went on another marathon bus ride, this time a midnight bus that would take more than 15 hours.
From Cape Town I was plotting my last fling with Africa.
From Mossel Bay I next moved on to Tsitsikama, on the Garden Route, more for its many activity based attractions.
From Plettenburg I walked 3 km to the main trunk road to wave down a local mini bus.
From Plettenburg I arrived back in Cape Town early morning of 30 December.