The apparent centerpiece of our room here in the Seychelles is the shower. As in, it’s literally in the middle of the room. 🤷♂️ (don’t ask about the weird window installed in the toilet room so you can make immediate direct eye contact with anyone who hears a plop). -S 🇸🇨
Whew boy! That’s the third increasingly worrisome flight in a row. This time we had to abort our landing less than 1000ft from touch down.
Our second day in Mauritius found us exploring the southern part of the island. -J 🇲🇺 First stop was the Black Gorges National Park and Biosphere Reserve. Next, a Hindu temple with two prominent statues. Then our favorite part, La Vallee Des Couleurs (23 Colored Earth) Nature Park. We also visited a tea plantation in the morning (with a tea tasting), had a nice seaside lunch, and visited a rum plantation in the afternoon (with rum tasting).
At the end of our first day tour in Mauritius, we walked around and enjoyed a Botanical Garden that also served as a refuge for giant tortoises . ~J 🇲🇺
I found another fun Umbrella Street in Port Louis, Mauritius. -J 🇲🇺
When the Dutch colonized Mauritius in 1638, they began a long history of slavery and slavery-related practices on the island; kidnapping people from East Africa and bringing them to the island against their will. The French continued the practices when they took possession of the island in 1715. Slaves were primarily used to grow and harvest sugarcane, but they were also used to build the buildings in what is now Port Louis.
📷 I think this trip has really inspired Jen to get into photography a bit more seriously. She’s been really loving her new camera and clearly enjoys taking photos with it. -S 🇲🇺
This bird has some pretty great eyelashes.
After a month of mass produced African lagers, we finally had a chance to visit a local craft brewery. Crafty Dee’s, here in Dar es Salaam, is Tanzania’s first craft brewery, and one of Africa’s most awarded too. The beer was a welcomed improvement, and the food was delicious. 🍻 -S🇹🇿
To break up the long days on the road, we had several short stops for tours: a rubber farm in Malawi; a coffee plantation in Tanzania; and in Zanzibar, a tour of Stone Town (the capital) and a spice farm. -J 🇲🇼🇹🇿 The Malawi rubber farm The Tanzania coffee plantation Tour of Stone Town, Zanzibar, and its markets Zanzibar spice farm More photos can be found at: www.icloud.com/sharedalb…
Put a bird on it. 😉
Roadkill fines in Mikumi National Park—listed in USD, not local currency. -S 🇹🇿
Here’s a video recap of what we thought about our 24-day overlanding safari tour of Africa. What did we like? Dislike? Would we do it again? Find out below. And here’s a short montage video someone on our tour made for his students—focusing on the first few days of the East Africa portion of our tour—using a 360 camera. And if you missed it, here’s more on the overlanding truck we used:
A video discussion of our wildlife experiences in Africa. Did we see everything we wanted to? What were the game drives like? Find out in the video below. -S 🇿🇦🇧🇼🇿🇼🇿🇲🇲🇼🇹🇿
A story in three photos… 😂
-S 🇿🇲
🎶 …Everybody was kung fu fighting… 🎶
Some vervet monkeys playing around our campsite at Lake Malawi on New Years Day. It was fun to watch these two chase and wrestle around; should have stayed longer to get more shots!
On our full day in Zanzibar, we visited the Jozani-Chwaka Bay National Park and Biosphere Reserve. The park is famous for its monkeys, specifically the endangered and endemic Zanzibar Red Colombus Monkey, but also the Blue Monkey. It was an up close and intimate encounter…minus all the tourists, of course. -S🇹🇿 You can find other photos here: www.icloud.com/sharedalb…
Elephants peacefully snacking on some grass in Mikumi National Park in Tanzania. -S 🇹🇿
A little bit about the overlanding vehicle we’ve been traveling in the last three weeks through Africa. -S
Join us for our next Zoom call! We will have finally finished our 24-day African Tour and we’d love to share our updates and impressions, tell some stories, and see all of you. Scheduled for 10:00 am Arizona Time (12:00 pm EST) on Sunday January 12, 2025 (it will be 8 pm our time). Here is the link: zoom.us/j/92084755972 In the meantime, we’ve included some fighting zebras to catch your interest 😁