From Blantyre it was off to the shores of Lake Malawi, something we’d been looking forward to for quite sometime. Aside from diving and snorkeling and looking at the fish, I also wanted to eat some as well.
One of the reasons Lake Malawi is so unique is that just about all 1200 varieties of fish are decedents of one fish specie, the first cyclid from here on known as the “mama cyclid.” In a way that made for a very limiting menu but in another way there was endless variety, not to mention that everything here is completely unique and not found in any other part of the globe.
The butterfish I had was so good that we later purchased two …

Harare and out of Zimbabwe
Leaving Zimbabwe we had two choices to get to Malawi: north through Zambia with bad roads and a $50 visa fee or east through Mozambique with slightly better roads, a shorter distance, and a $30 visa fee. We opted for the cheaper, faster, easier route and headed to Harare for one last hurrah in Zimbabwe.
Coming from a great couch-surf in Bulawayo we opted to try for a second with Harare. We had some time to spare before meeting our host nd enjoyed a quick taste of the posh life at the fancy hotel (the bus’ drop-off point) before hailing a cab to head into town. Our taxi-driver, Forbes, took us not only to our final destination, …

One of the things we most wanted to do while in Zimbabwe was go to Great Zimbabwe National Monument. The site was home to a great medieval city serving as a link between the Swahili traders in East Africa to the Bantu speaking peoples of Southern Africa. This city is proof of civilization in Africa long before the colonists arrived.
Formerly known as Rhodesia, one might wonder where the name Zimbabwe came from (or the name Rhodesia for that matter!). Zimbabwe actually means house of the large stones. Scattered across Zimbabwe are the ruins from a great Shona kingdom that ruled the area in the middle ages, but most of these ruins are small scale. All of course, but one- the …

It was hot and humid as we stepped off the bus in Victoria Falls, but that didn’t stop the hawkers from approaching us. Waving thousands, millions, billions and trillions of dollars in our faces, these guys would stop at nothing to make us rich. Finally we relented and for 4 USD we became trillionaires…in a currency that isn’t legal anymore.
While the effects of hyper inflation will be felt in Zimbabwe for years to come, entrepreneurs around the country are cashing in on their worthless paper currency. Printed by the reserve bank in denominations up to 100 trillion Zimbabwe dollars, we as well as many other tourists, were happy to snap up a few bills as souvenirsBecoming a trillionaire was easier …

All I knew about Zimbabwe before we arrived in Africa was that it was the country of the evil Mugabe. Shortly after starting the trip we met two travelers who had actually been there who told us when they left the government was unveiling the $750,000 note. We’d eventually heard the country had dollarized and was “more or less” safe but that still didn’t stop the majority of people from asking “why would you go there, you’ll be killed for your shirt!”
The concept of hyperinflation is interesting enough. When our friends traveled through, it was phase one of the hyper-inflated currency…a few months later the government knocked 12 zeros off the money and then started all over again before topping …

A long time ago when we first heard about traveling in Zimbabwe we heard of travelers bringing staples like sugar and rice into the country with them, to be used for barter. With the country going through hyperinflation, unable to trade for much in the way of anything, this was more valuable at the time than money. Before going to Zimbabwe we asked around a bit and were assured that markets were generally stocked and that things had stabilized but that didn’t mean that the barter economy hasn’t evaporated entirely either.
Zimbabwe is now the third country we’ve visited using the US Dollar rather than its own currency. Unlike the other two, Panama and Ecuador, Zimbabwe is far …

Maybe it seems we’ve lingered here too long, but we didn’t seem to mind. In the two months we spent in South Africa before heading north for Zimbabwe we visited 5 countries: SA, Mozambique, Namibia Swaziland and Lesotho. We drove 12,000 kilometers, ensured our annual park pass paid for itself twice over, and saw all of the big 5 and then some. We entered a swim race, saw our first rugby match, celebrated a birthday and the new year, and even managed to make new, life-long friendships. In short, we got to know this place pretty darn well.

South Africa really is an interesting country but it is a country which defies easy classification. Many people back home think of South …

We have hardly any space for souvenirs, so our purchases tend to be small and insignificant. I buy myself earrings in every country- usually aiming for something “crafty” made from local materials at an insignificant price ($4 or less!): coconut, coins, shells and sacred stones. It didn’t take a long time for me to start making jokes about purchasing earrings made from South Africa’s famous stone, the diamond. Although Danny continues to point out that he already bought me one of those, I heard a rumor that diamonds are found on the coastline of Namibia pretty regularly. As the first line of the guidebook states: “The shifting sands of the Namib Desert conceal the world’s largest stash of gemstone diamonds.” …

Exiting Etosha we drove quickly through Namibia’s capital Windhoek before crossing the border directly into the Kahalari Desert, and the trans-frontier park shared by both South Africa and Botswana. This park is known for two things: being in the middle of nowhere and being home to a lot of cats. We knew we’d see lions, (the ONLY animal other than wildebeest we’ve seen in every park) but we were looking for cheetah.
We quickly made camp and went out for a drive and found a dead lion. Eventually the animal moved so in fact, it was not dead, just nearly dead. It was skinny and alone. Other visitors told us that earlier it opened its mouth revealing an abscess, probably earned …

Throughout South Africa we’ve been hearing about Cape Malay food, but never really understood what it was.  We knew where the cape is, but what is or where is Malay?  What is this cuisine you speak of?
We went to the Capetown waterfront and asked the security guard the best place for Cape Malay food.  Pointing us in the right direction, we headed off to taste things which we couldn’t pronounce but wanted to try.  So I ordered a chicken curry rootie, unsure what rootie was, but figuring that anything with chicken was safe.  Danny opted for the babottie, a surprise for sure.  What came was delicious, and licking my plate clean so to speak, I was hungry for some more.
A …