TRIP DIARY: MAMA AFRICA 2015

UAE

20.1 ABU DHABI, leaving Italy with an Alitalia flight (6 hr)

21.1 DUBAI, moving here by bus and spending a whole day around the airport waiting for my next flight to Cape Town

SOUTH AFRICA

22.1 – 30.1 CAPE TOWN, arriving here with an Emirates flight (9hr)

- 22.1 In my first day here I went to sleep at the “forty8 hostel” in the city centre and then I met Filippo which is working here, driving around with his car and going to the beach

- 23.1 Together with Filippo driving to Simmon’s town to see the penguins and then around the Cape peninsula and to Scarborough beach

- 24.1 Walking around the Bo Kaap neighbourhood

- 25.1 Visiting in the morning the Waterfront and then going in the afternoon with Filippo and Donna to Camps bay

- 26.1 Another day around the city centre, Hyde park and the Good Hope castle

- 27.1 Back at the Waterfront for visiting the aquarium

- 28.1 Moving to the Ashanti lodge in Green Point and visiting Table Mountain for the sunset

- 29.1 With a rented car, driving around the Cape peninsula up to Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope

-30.1 Last walk around the Waterfront and then meeting the Acacia’s group to get ready for the road trip

31.1 HIGHLANDERS CAMP, Leaving the city with a big overland equipped truck after visiting the Langa township, having lunch there, and then heading north to this campsite in this wine region

01.2 ORANGE RIVER, driving all day long up here, nearby the Namibian border, a relaxing campsite where we could have a nice swim into the river

NAMIBIA

02.2 CANYON ROADHOUSE, heading into Namibia via the Vooilsdrift border post, and crossing the Namibian sandy desert up to the Fish River canyon, which is the second largest canyon in the world

03.2 SESRIEM, another full day driving over the Namibian dusty roads to reach this place, which is the gateway to the Naukluft national park

04.2 SOLITAIRE, waking up early in the morning before reaching this town, for going to climb the famous Dune 45 and have the opportunity to see the sunrise from the top of the dune. After the hike up we have been walking around the Sossuvlei desert

05.2 – 06.2 SWAKOPMUND, Leaving Solitaire and heading for the Atlantic coast, crossing the Tropic of Capricorn, we arrived in this coastal town. Here I could hang around this German style town and it’s market and relaxing for a while

07.2 SPITZKOPPE, driving back inland to reach this national park surrounded by this red rock formations, and where we could also see some Bushman paintings. This was the first day we broke down the truck engine

08.2 OTJITOTONGWE, after few hours driving we arrived in this place, where there is a cheetah park, a nice spot where to familiarize with this awesome animals

09.2 – 10.2 ETOSHA NATIONAL PARK, arriving here in a campsite inside the park, we stopped for two days in order to have plenty of time for some very interesting game drives with our truck around the park

11.2 WINDHOEK, a full driving day to reach the capital city of Namibia, having a walk around the city before reaching the campsite

BOTSWANA

12.2 GHANZI, leaving Windhoek and crossing the Kalahari desert to reach the Botswana border, then we arrived in Ghanzi late evening due to several police roadblocks, we had to set the campsite quite fast before the sunset

13.2 MAUN, waking up early morning we had a walk in the bush with some native bushmen showing up plants and animals, then we drove to a campsite in the city of Maun

14.2 OKAVANGO DELTA, Leaving the campsite in Maun, we had first a drive on an open 4WD truck through the Okavango river delta, and then with a canoe to reach the Elephant camp inside the delta. Here we had the opportunity to walk around the river system and spotting few hippos

15.2 NATA, canoeing and driving back to Maun, the we drove to the Elephant Sands campsite in Nata where we could sleep in a place surrounded by the elephants

16.2 KASANE, driving up to this city, which is the gateway to the Chobe national park, here we took a cruise over the Chobe river where we spotted a lot of crocodiles, hippos, elephants and more

ZAMBIA

17.2 – 19.2 LIVINGSTONE, moving from Kasane we took a ferry across the confluence of the Chobe and Zambesi rivers into Zambia, we settled for three days at the Waterfront campsite and from here we had the opportunity to visit the Victoria Falls from both Zambian and Botswanian side

20.2 LUSAKA, a full driving day to reach the capital city, sleeping at the Pioneer campsite

21.2 CHIPATA, another full day driving on the Great Eastern Road through many small villages, sleeping at the Mama Rula camp

22.2 – 23.2 SOUTH LUANGWA, settling down for two days into the Wildlife campsite, from here we had some awesome game drives inside the South Luangwa national park, probably the best of the entire trip

MALAWI

24.2 LILONGWE, after we arrived at the border we broke down again the engine, we have been waiting several hours for a mechanic, spending our time to have some fun into a local pub, we could reach the capital city of Malawi only late at night

25.2 – 27.2 KANDE BEACH, another day full of problems for our truck, after several hours we could finally reach Kande Beach, where our truck definitely abandoned us. We have been stuck here for three days waiting for a new truck to rescue us from Tanzania, fortunately it was a great location with a nice beach on the lake Malawi and a small interesting town to walk around

TANZANIA

28.2 IRINGA, after the new truck came to rescue us, we had probably the longest drive of the whole trip, about 20 hours for crossing the Malawi countryside, the border with Tanzania and the Tanzanian highlands before arriving here at the Kisolanza campsite

01.3 DAR ES SALAAM, another full day driving towards the Indian ocean to reach this city, one of the busiest in the world where we have been stuck few hours for a traffic jam, here we settled into a campsite at the beach side called Kipepeo village

02.3 – 05.3 ZANZIBAR, arriving here by a ferry

- 02.3 STONE TOWN, sleeping here in a guest house and visiting around the old city, an interesting Arabic style city, and also doing an excursion to a local spice farm

- 03.3 \ 05.3 KENDWA BEACH, sleeping in a nice resort at this beautiful beach, the perfect place where to relax after this African experience, laying down at the beach, do some snorkelling and having parties before going back home

06.3 DAR ES SALAAM, back here with the ferry and sleeping again at the Kipepeo village

07.3 Leaving the village to reach the airport, where I had my Emirates flight back to Dubai, here taking a bus to Abu Dhabi and my final Alitalia flight back home