Travels off the Beaten Path – Details, episodes & analysis

So Africa is a wrap after 50 odd episodes. This episode sums up my epic journey overland across Africa by car, truck, bus, boat, train, bicycle, horse, camel, donkey and on foot. I travelled from the top to the bottom of Africa. Over that journey, I had the most incredible experiences with wildlife, immersed myself in amazing cultures and viewed stunning terrain. This journey changed my life in so many ways including: i) to take every opportunity to come my way, ii) to be so grateful for what I was experiencing and yet somehow always remaining safe, iii) to open my mind to the diversity everywhere in this world, iv) to seek a new career pathway through my discoveries and interests that arose in my travels, and v) to stop searching for my place in this world but find it is inside me all along. To celebrate competing my African stories, I created this episode as a video to listen and/or watch - including some of the photos and videos I took on my journey.

Has this journey aroused your interests to travel? I am also a travel coach. If you planning on a trip to Africa and are on the fence, just do it. If you need help planning, get in contact with me and we can plan that African experience you dream about. Safe travels!!

Videos in order:

1. Moholoholo Animal Rehabilitation Centre, Kampersus, South Africa

2. Nungwi, Zanzibar

3. Mountain gorillas, Mikeno Volcano, Buhumba, Democratic Republic of Congo.

4. Kisangani, Democratic Republic of Congo

5. Congo River, Zaire

6. Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania

7. Nigerian wedding, Kano, Nigeria

8. Samburu ceremony, Timau, Kenya.

Music played in order;

Solitude, Sand Take me to the Lake, Punch Deck - Magheda, Ambient Bongos by Alexander Nakarada, Bumbumchack by Alwin Brauns, Tribal joy by Alexander Nakarada.

https://www.serpentsoundstudios.com
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Creative Commons / Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In this episode I recount my period I spent volunteering at a game reserve in the Limpopo Province in eastern South Africa. It was at the Enkosini Eco Experience (https://www.enkosini.org/) at Makalali Game Reserve, near Hoedspruit. Here I was involved in monitoring studies of predators and herbivore numbers, movements and behaviours. I also took part in the elephant contraception program, where elephant herds are monitored and females are given contraceptives to slow the density of elephants in the reserve. While I was there, we were lucky to be involved in removing radio collars off three bull elephants. This required watching the vet dart the elephants from a helicopter and being part of the ground crew. The experience was an amazing experience of morning and night game drives, walking safaris and bush camps. One particular encounter with lions was especially memorable.

I was also able to visit the Moholoholo Animal Rehabilitation Centre and Jessica the hippo. While these have become tourist attractions, they do play a vital role in educating the public and rehabilitating wildlife back to the wild. In light of this, I discuss the merits of zoos with animals restricted in their movements.

Lastly, I dwell on the lessons I picked up volunteering, including the gratitude I felt in being able to enjoy this experience and being immersed in this African landscape teeming with wildlife. I finish with my telling of my respect for the wildlife I encountered and suggest we should consider showing respect to the animals through keeping noise to a minimum when we experience these wildlife encounters.

In this episode I take a break from my travel stories and discuss the issues associated with travelling during the covid-19 pandemic. I discuss the requirements for entering most countries when travelling internationally - proof of vaccination and a recent negative covid test. I give my views on the controversial vaccination as a scientist and compare it with other global pandemics in history. I also give my travel tips on staying safe while travelling during covid as well as some of the pitfalls to be prepared for, such as sudden lockdowns and border closures and forced quarantines if exposed. 

With careful planning, practicing safe measures and becoming vaccinated, it is possible to enjoy travel again as we enter this new era of global travel. 

Photo: Covid-19 - Fusion Medical Animation on Unsplash

This episode recaps my arrival into South Africa from Mozambique. I get dropped off at the first big town Barberton over the border (I mention it was Komatipoort in the episode but I was incorrect) and am overwhelmed when I step into a supermarket and see wall to wall of overstocked shelves after 18 months of experiencing countries where they were lucky to have three items on a shelf. This was especially mind-blowing when the memories of a week ago when I had run out of food in Mozambique were still very fresh and raw. 

Within a week, I had managed to go from no money, food or water in a neighbouring country to having a job as a stable manager at the beautiful Hartfield Stables, near Diesploot, Midrand in Johannesburg. It felt a bit surreal. I describe how my daily life changed looking after and riding the horses and managing the staff. On my days off I only felt safe driving to Fourways Mall and parking my buccy (a utility) under security and watching a movie. I recall the time I had to get ambulance to the farm at night for a nearby stabbing and I sat like a sitting duck at the crossroads waiting for them to turn up and noticing they carried guns. Car hijacking is a major crime in South Africa and we lived close to a township with local shabeens. The only time I felt safe to park and go explore the surrounds was when I set off by car to Blyde River Canyon in the northern end of the Drakensberg range and I camped with the safety of the stable dog. I also visited God's Window, the Three Rondavels and Bourke's Luck Potholes and marvelled at the sheer beauty of the rock formations and vistas. 

My lessons include reflecting on my reaction to South Africa entering early 1995 when it was just coming out of the apartheid era and election riots were still occurring, especially in KwaZulu-Natal province. I had traversed the length of Africa wandering off in the middle of the night to drum beats, hitchhiking where needed, turning up in bizarre situations and experiencing so many amazing events, especially as a solo traveller.......but in South Africa I could not do it. I was not brave enough. I either thought my luck had been too good, or my intuition just warned me not to do it.  

I also reflect on my reaction to entering a fully-stocked supermarket after such a long period of living only on essentials and what was the only fare available through each country. I was shocked at the excess and the stark contrast between a rich and a poor African country. We may have only experienced shortages recently in the western world as a result of panic buying in covid. But this is reality to many poor countries and it is amazing  how simple it is to live when you are not spoilt for choice and you discover it is just over-indulgence.  

Photo: The Three Rondavels viewpoint at Blyde River Canyon, Drakensburg. Source: J.Murray

This episode recounts my journey through Mozambique with my South African friend, Errol. We left Cape Maclear in Malawi and travelled south into Mozambique. Little did I know realise I was entering a frontier land. 

Mozambique gained independence from over four centuries of Portuguese rule in 1975, then descended into a civil war from 1977-1992. Over a million people were killed between the two warring parties and five million displaced, with forced marches and child soldiers, and destroyed infrastructure across the rural region. The war ended with the collapse of Soviet and South African support with peace talks ending in the Rome General Peace Accords. The United Nations spent the next two years helping to rebuild the country. 

We arrived in the country as the UN was pulling out. We travelled down to Beira and then along the coastline down to Maputo. During that time, we passed impoverished rural villages scraping a living on their farmland, and old derelict Portuguese buildings with no windows and bullet holes in the walls. We grabbed a lift with a guy who was tasked to find the remaining land mines buried in the countryside. He was slightly crazy but who wouldn't be with a job like that. I had noticed quite a few maimed people, mostly missing some of their leg. It was a sobering reality check of the realities of war.

At Vinancular, we went over on a boat to one of the islands close by, Magarque or Benguerra. When we tried to land, we were chased off by security guards and told it was a private island. However, we slipped away and moved to the other side of the island where we spent a couple hours of bliss. It made me wonder how these beautiful islands were not developed being so close to South Africa.

At Xai Xai (pronounced shi, shi) we went to a campground right off the beach and backed by dunes. The first few days spent here were wonderful. We celebrated my birthday with a couple of South African lads on a weekender and a huge yellow-finned tuna caught by Errol, stuffed with vegetables and cooked on the coals. It was delicious. Errol left to do some business in Maputo for a few days. I had enough food and money to last that time. Unfortunately, Errol was away for ten days. I ran out of money and food. I remember living on a small baguette a day until I could not even buy that. I had to choose between food and water so I ended up just drinking the local water out of the tap (something that is not advised to do at any time). I was feeling sick for quite awhile. I thought I first had malaria and took anti-malaria medication to stop it. Then I felt the lack of food and drinking the local water was the reasoning for being sick. But it did not go away. 

I started looking around for how I was going to get out of my pickle. I could not leave as I had no money to pay for the camping. I thought of selling my camera. I had now run out of money to buy bread. At the local bar, some South Africans who lived there offered to smuggle me out on a boat at night. I felt uneasy with these people and did not trust them. I did not want to have to put my life in their hands but I was running out of options. Just when I thought I would have to escape with these others, Errol returned. I was so happy. Errol really was a saviour. We left the campsite and travelled to Maputo, where he found a lift for me into South Africa. But that is another story...

My lessons through Mozambique were immeasurable. Just going through Mozambique in the aftermath of a civil war was a sobering experience. Seeing the bullet holes everywhere, the maimed locals from land mines and the empty derelict buildings with a non-existent banking economy except for the blackmarket, was an eye-opener. My experience at Xai Xai was some of my lowest days feeling uncertain and desperate. Yet I somehow survived unscathed. 

This episode continues the story of my travels through Malawi. I left off from last episode being stuck at the capital Lilongwe, where I spent a day in the bank trying to getting money wired from Australia. This was the days before internet so they relied on phones. It was explained to me that the bank had to make a call to the old capital, Blantyre, to South Africa and finally to Australia. They could not make that first call from Lilongwe to Blantyre so I was kicked out of the bank at the end of the day with no money and facing a weekend and Christmas in a very bad way.

A South African man, supposedly a diamond smuggler, came to my rescue and whisked me off down to Cape Maclear on the beautiful Lake Malawi (the longest freshwater lake in the world) to spend Christmas and New Year (1995) there. Cape Maclear was a fishing village but was used to South Africans and intrepid travellers coming to stay. The waters were beautiful and clear and it was like swimming in an aquarium as this lake is one of the Great Rift Lakes where African cichlids originate. I fell in love with the boldness of the cichlids and in later life kept a cichlid tank for many years. I spent the days swimming and snorkelling and did attempt a dive, but I panicked.

In the interim, I still had no money and had the South African guy, Errol, pursuing me around the area. I escaped in a dugout canoe across to the closest island, Domwe Island. At the time this island was uninhabited and had no development. The only activity would be fishermen landing at the small beach to cook their meal before heading out to a night of fishing. I spent three blissful days here swimming with the cichlids and watching the African fish eagles do amazing stunts overhead as they locked talons mid-flight in territorial displays and caught fish from the lake right in front of me. There were also blue or samango monkeys on the island that would come down to watch and play in the trees above.  

This period in my travels, when money became an issue and I lost my independence when I had to rely on someone else, was a difficult time. It was the first time I felt uncertainty and a feeling of being trapped and I had no control of my destination. It was the first time I had started to stop just going with the flow and reacting to each situation or opportunity that was presented to me. I started to look within myself, a task I had been avoiding, to start thinking what I really wanted and who I really was. It is amazing that sometimes when everything you take for granted is taken from you, as a Westerner, it makes you start questioning yourself.  

In this episode I leave Zanzibar and head to the Malawian border by boat, train, minivan and bicycle. There was a "no man's land" between Tanzania and Malawi of which you could walk or be "doubled" on a bike riding on the centre bar while the cyclist pedalled to the other side of Songwe River and the Malawian border post. I chose the cycle with another cyclist carrying my backpack. 

At the border post I was very short on funds and the border officer asked to see my money, the first time I had ever been asked. I was very nervous as I showed him by equivalent of $20 in local currency. He stared at me for awhile then suggested "I better hurry to get to the bank before it closed". I did not argue and was out of there as quick as I could. I got a lift with a truck driver to Chitimba on the shore of Lake Malawi. I stayed at a campsite owned by the driver who had abandoned us when the overland truck lost its brakes and crashed in West Africa (see Episode 13 for that story). However, while we reminisced about West Africa, the conversation was a bit strained. 

I then travelled to Livingstonia, an old missionary station on the highlands named after Dr Livingstone, a British explorer. It was founded by Dr Robert Laws, a disciple of David Livingstone after his third attempt to get away from the malarial zone down by the lake shores. I mention what I was told that this is where Stanley found Livingstone and said the famous saying "Dr Livingstone I presume?" However, this is not quite the case as that happened close by in Tanzania. However, Livingstonia, or Kondowe as it is called locally, was beautiful with the old colonial buildings and the views to the lake. See `https://www.malawitourism.com/regions/north-malawi/livingstonia-mission/ to read about the history of the mission.

I left Livingstonia and travelled to Llongwe, the capital of Malawi. While out wandering the town, I came across a political rally as protests from the May elections. The crowd was starting to get restless and build themselves into a frenzy so it was time to get out of there.  I noticed how intense it was and how people could change within the mob atmosphere. It reminded me of when I saw a young lad being chased by a mob through the markets after being accused of being a thief. They nearly caught him but he managed to escape over a fence but not before a bit of rough handling. It made me realise that you should never yell out "thief" in Africa for the small amounts they steal as the people will chase and seriously injure or even kill someone when they catch them with the mob mentality, and it is not worth someone's life.  `

I also reflect on my close brush with getting stuck at a border post. I could easily have been kept there as I did not have enough money to support myself. However, I just went with the flow, and things just turned out. Somehow I got out of that border post and picked up a lift as well. My positive outlook pulled me through yet again. I found it always allows you to see your way. 

The black market money-convertors were also a common occurrence to negotiate through any of the African border crossings. Even though it was illegal, they seemed to be tolerated as they exchanged money in the open. The rate was often better than the banks and you did not have to pay commission. Regardless, you had to be careful and keep your wits about you, know the exchange rate and what the new currency was worth, and it was an easy deal. Sometimes, even the banks dealt with and passed on counterfeit money so you had to be careful. However, this is all part of the challenge and adventure of overland travel. 

Photo: Old stone building that housed the missionaries, Livingstonia, Malawi (1994). Source: J Murray

This next episode is a wonderful interview with an amazing person Lungi Mchunu from Johannesburg, South Africa.

Lungi is a sailor, a polar explorer, and a climate change activist. She was the first African female to sail to the Artic. What started out as a dare has led her to endless possibilities and to her personal legend. She has battled fear, pushed past her limiting beliefs and social conditioning, hitched a ride to the ends of the earth, came face to face with death yet she’s still filled with love, enthusiasm, and determination to continue her climate change advocacy and highlighting the importance of the polar regions to the rest of the planet.

I met Lungi as part of the amazing women’s global leadership program for women in STEMM, named Homeward Bound (www.homewardboundprojects.org ), that both of us were lucky to be chosen to participate. The program ends with a journey to Antarctica to find ourselves while seeing first-hand the effects of climate change. Covid has postponed our trip but I hope to meet this amazing Lungi in person either on the ship to Antarctica or around a campfire somewhere on this planet.

In this episode, Lungi tells us about her time when she joined a sailing expedition to the Artic, losing herself in the beauty of the Norwegian fjords, and including the time where she had to be winched to safety onto a helicopter and camping at Svalbard when an Artic storm hit for a week and she saw was surrounded by walls of sea water.

She’s currently working towards completing her Pole-to-Pole ambitions with her training commencing with the Arctic Circle trail in Greenland during the peak of winter in 2021 and sailing around the world solo in the next edition of the Vendee Globe.

Lungi expressed some great inspirational one-liners during the interview:

· What would you do if you are not afraid?

· There is no such thing as being cold, just wrong clothes!

· Find your limit and go beyond it.

· You go out to these crazy places, only to turn inward…….

· The world has some ways of opening you up.

· Do whatever makes your heart skip a beat.

And not to forget a saying by Lungi’s mother – When a child is born, their hands are closed in a fist with all their blessings and talent and then they open their hands. Then they  spend the rest of their life finding it again.

It was a such a wonderful time spent with Lungi. I leant so much about exploring a realm I do not normally think about – the ocean. From learning you must give a lock of hair to King Neptune as you sail across the equator to not letting limiting beliefs stop your dreams.

I hope you enjoy this interview.

You can follow Lungi on @Lungisails on IG and Facebook.

This episode is again based in Nungwi in northern Zanzibar. I spent six weeks lazing at this idyllic spot wandering over the white sands and through the village and helping the women fish. I narrate the cultural events I witnessed while staying in this small fishing village over four consecutive weekends. This includes 1) a soccer match between two villages, 2) a visit from a Muslim child prophet, 3) a disco with associated ghetto blaster , and 4) witch doctors working on a cursed woman.  

Zanzibar has been exposed to many cultures for the last two thousand years with known trading routes and external influence between the 16th and 19th century. This includes the Arab countries bringing Islam, the Portuguese and other Europeans, India and Persia. 

I was blown away by the ease this village adopted cultural practices but still retained their traditions and belief systems as part of a melting pot of cultural diversity represented in one small population. With the pressure applied to this village later on with increased tourism expansion, I wonder if this plasticity has been lost or whether they have adopted new customs and lost others. These events that I witnessed will never be repeated again. I am so glad I got the opportunity to witness these amazing events. Once again, tourism leaves its mark. 

Photo: Tanzanian witch doctor. Source - medicalaid.org

In this episode I introduce you to one of my favourite places in all of Africa - Nungwi on the northern tip of Zanzibar. This was "Paradise" - a small fishing village with limited tourist exposure with strong traditional and Muslim ties. At the time it was difficult to get there, 85 kms of rough potholed roads that took hours to arrive. Therefore, not many tourists arrived. The men of the village were fishermen and boat builders, sailing their dhows during the night and landing their catch in the mornings. The women fished themselves in the shallows using nets, noise and teamwork. 

I spent six weeks at this village camping in my tent, lazing on the hammock and strolling along the white sand gazing out at the crystal blue water. Initially I spent time with a German girl also travelling solo but she had to leave after a few days. So I spent the time there alone watching the activities in this village and even joining in with the women in their effort to catch the small sardines with their nets and beating pots. The sunsets were some of the best I have ever seen. It was often made even better as you lay on the hammock, listening to the lapping waves and watching in the foreground of stunning colours, the fishermen raising the sails on the fishing dhows ready for a night of work.

Sometimes I would stroll up the beach, away from the village and sunbake. Often I had a group of village children trailing behind. At one stage a young girl asked me why I was sunbaking and it really made me consider the purpose and why women, and even some men, change the way they look to reach a prescribed beauty when really we should be happy in our own skin. The thought were so profound that I have never sunbaked again.

I discuss how Nungwi has changed from my initial shock seeing some tourists turn up scantly clad in a primarily Muslim population and showing no respect for the culture......to current day when the hordes of tourists have found out about Nungwi and it is now covered with huge resorts from the big hotel chains and it seems the occupations are ferrying tourists around on boats or working in the hotels to cater for their needs.

Is it progress or loss? Have they lost their culture in improving the village economy? And are they now immune to the way westerners disrespect other cultures and display their body for all to see. I am so glad I saw Nungwi when I did - a special place!

Photo: Fishing dhows getting ready to set sail J.Murray Pentax Z-10 200mm Sigma lens.