33 hours after leaving Kampala we arrived in Lamu cranky, exhausted and rattled to the bone. Fortunately we had a nice place to stay courtesy of Nikki’s professor, and dropping our bags in his kitchen we felt an instant wave of relief.
On the northern coast of Kenya, Lamu embodies traditional swahili culture, and stepping onto the island is almost like stepping into a different world. Donkey’s bray, men call out to each other in Kiswahili, Arabic and English, trading and inviting you into their shop with a genuine smile and a welcoming hello. Traditional Swahili homes covered in coral, stone and white plaster form two story walls that shelter passersby in the shade and bathe them in …

We’ve seen so many things in the last year: nearly twenty-five countries, the ruins of civilizations, four oceans, new continents and perhaps thousands of new people. We prepared for this trip by saving money, researching the practical financial, health and emotional considerations, but one thing we hardly touched was our itinerary. We hardly knew what to expect and while we had an idea of our initial direction, many of you may remember the answer we gave last year when asked where we would go…everywhere. While our route hasn’t surprised us very much, there has been one thing that we hadn’t relied on, the kindness and incredible hospitality we’ve received. The best experiences of the …

The trip to Malawi was a long one but worth it. We’d have to cross through Mozambique and needed a visa before doing so, which cost $30 at the border or $110 at the embassy in Harare so you can guess which option we chose. Rushing to the front of the bus at the border though quickly caught the eye of just about everyone else aboard with them all wondering why the mzungu (swahili for foreigner) was cutting the line. Having been the first people in the office and the bus still waiting for us a good 10-15 minutes, everyone was soon thankful we’d cut in front.
Once inside Malawi we were greeted by some of the warmest …

The Garden Route is a seemingly mythical stretch of coastline in South Africa stretching about 400 miles from Cape Town east along the Indian Ocean. This stretch is known as a surfer’s paradise offering bay after bay of relatively warm waters abutting sleepy seaside towns where ones biggest worry is when to sleep. But since we don’t surf and I happen to be from South Florida, which makes me a spoiled little brat when it comes to all these world class beaches we keep coming across, we skipped most of the Garden Route.
The one big Garden Route activity we were sure not to miss was the Tsitsikamma National Park. As we hadn’t arranged to hike the five …