DRC

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has only a few towns that are safe enough to travel to. Happily, one of these towns in Goma, just a few kms from Gisenyi where we were relaxing along the shores of Lake Kivu enjoying the sights, especially the local fisherman venturing out at dusk, their song floating to us along the water. They, uniquely, head out on three 8 meter long canoes lashed together 3 meters apart with 10 meter bamboo poles pointing forward and behind (fore and aft for you nautical types). They are quite a sight.

We purposefully held off on heading over to Goma until the DRC's 50th anniversary of independence was over. When we arrived in Goma we were greeted by dusty streets filled with UN soldiers and their blue helmets, some of them in tanks parked around the UN headquarters close to our hotel. I have to say, as a tourist, there's nothing quite like entering a new country and seeing armed tanks in the street, and this was definitely a first for us. It of course doesn't take long for you to ask yourself the obvious question, "What the hell have we come here for?" Although our (usually easy to adhere to) general rule of thumb is to not approach anybody in an armed tank, these mostly Indian, machine gun carrying peace keepers, seemed like nice guys and were more up for a chat about cricket than anything else. We took these to be a common sight, but it turns out they were just there for the anniversary in case any trouble started brewing (word on the street was the celebrations were drunken but peaceful, much like a 50th anniversary party anywhere else).

After a few quick arrangements with the helpful Vianney at the ICCN tourist office we were set to head up the amazing Nyirangongo Volcano. Nyirangongo towers over the countryside at 3740m and has erupted twice, once in 1977 and once in 2002, though the 2002 eruption was so sluggish that there were few casualties despite a huge amount of the town being coated in lava. This lava has now largely been turned into fences and buildings, but you see it - and stumble over it - everywhere in town. The volcano was also a rebel stronghold for 9 months in 2009 but the trail has been open since this March and there haven't been any major problems.

Unsurprisingly, the walk up was not easy. Who would have thought walking up the side of a volcano would be steep, slippery and muscle-ache-inducing? The top 200 m involved a scramble up a very steep slope of volcanic rock, though the porters in their rubber boots didn't seem to be having any problems whatsoever. The roughly 6 hour walk was a lot of fun and the scenery was lovely. As an added bonus, we didn't get drenched by any rain or even hemmed in by any fog which was more than welcome. We were accompanied up to the top by Bosco and about 3 other armed guards/guides who didn't talk much but seemed happy to answer a few questions.

The views at the top more than made up for any hardships were were feeling during the walk. It was incredible, one of the most amazing thing either of us have seen and probably the best thing we've seen on this trip. From the top you can look directly into the crater and see a lake of bubbling lava about 500 m below. You can even feel the heat from the molten rock when the wind blows towards you. The views just get more incredible as the sun drops and the night takes over. The whole lake glows a hellish red and you can literally see the lava roil below. It's incredible. A rare opportunity to peer through a portal and spy on what is happening much deeper under this planet's more commonly viewed outer crust. It's incredibly powerful, mesmorising and highly, highly recommendable.

It's also very cold. It got to about 2 degrees, maybe zero when we were all tucked up in our little tent pitched somewhat precariously on its little ledge, praying we wouldn't have to take a night trip to the dunny. Not so long ago a tourist lost her life here, falling over the edge into the volcano itself.

The walk down left us jelly-legged for days (literally 6 days, to various degrees) but it was still totally worth it.

This is truly a dangerous area to be. Not only do you have to deal with the volcano and its associated treachery (lava, eruptions and perilously steep walls), the on-going rebel activity in the area but you also have to be careful in the surrounding Lake Kivu as it releases deadly CO2 and methane which collect on the surface and can asphyxiate swimmers! "Is anywhere safe?" you may ask, well with their strict 'no weapons' policy we had no bother in the bars.

But it's not all doom and gloom, thanks to the high numbers of UN workers there is an extremely well stocked (albeit expensive) supermarket, offering rarely found (for Africa) first world tastes (cheeses, sliced meats, good fresh bread and Belgian beers.) Needless to say we dined on many homemade sandwiches during our short stay in the DRC.

Rwanda

We took a quick flight from Arusha to Kigali, Rwanda, not on a private plane this time, but we did get pop and snacks. We spent a few fairly uneventful days in the pretty city of Kigali where we managed to book permits to see the gorillas - we were told that they were the last permits until August, but we heard the same thing about two seperate dates so I'm not sure how true it was. We also visited the incredibly moving Kigali Memorial Centre which commemorates the genocide that occured in 1994. It was very beautifully done, emotionally moving and as shocking as it needed to be.

Rwanda is also one of the few places in the world where you can trek chimpanzees, however after looking into it, it would prove to be a bit of a mission to get to the park where they are occasionally found. It also would be very expesive, and of course there are never any guarantees that you will see them. Also, as the permits for the gorilla trekking were a whooping $500 (US) each, we felt we'd already invested enough cash in the pursuit of the heirsuit. Sorry you chimps, but as you aren't as endangered as your larger cousins, you aren't the primate of choice at the moment.

After Kigali we headed down to Huye, mostly because we had a few extra days on our hands waiting for our gorilla day and also because we wanted to see the ethnographic museum there. The museum did not disappoint! We had a great time noodling around the exhibits, including a life-sized traditional house that you could walk inside. We even caught a glimpse of the Intore dancers and got to listen to their incredible drumming, especially beautiful because it was an outdoor performance and the beat was echoing off the trees behind them.

We headed to Musanze, jumping off point for the Parc National des Volcans, the Rwandan home of the gorillas. The town was an okay place to spend a few days but the real highlight was obviously the beasts themselves. The morning of our trek we got assigned to a medium sized group, Hirwa, with about 12 members that were a 'medium' walking distance. The hike was incredible - we went up through farms and eucalyptus plantations into the forest behind that was rich with bamboo making it as dark as the evening when you were in the thick of it. It was also unfortunately rich in stinging nettles and I'm very glad we both had reasonable hiking pants, I would not have wanted to do the walk in flip flops and shorts (though a few people in other groups were!). After walking for about 90 minutes, the trackers asked us to leave our bags and they hacked a hole through the bamboo. We walked through it and 'le voila' - a mother gorilla grooming a baby about 1.5 meters away. It was incredible. There was also the family silverback lounging with a few adolencent males about 2 meters away and another mother with a playful baby about 5 meters away. The whole thing was unnerving but incredible. We spent the next hour following the family as they meandered through the forest, getting to watch them feed on bamboo, play fight and roll down hills, and watch the silverback look absolutely magnificent and huge and occasionally lost in contemplation. It was fabulous.

On safari in the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater

After a few days relaxing on the amazing beach town of Kendwa with its sand like flour, we took what amounted to a private flight (since we were the only people on the tiny plane) from Zanzibar all the way to Arusha, the jumping off point of Tanzania's most famous safaris.

We did a three day tour with two excellent Swiss girls that included Serengeti National Park and the Ngorongoro National Reserve, as well as a night overlooking Lake Manyara, the perfect place to see England's second game in the World Cup. The safari was amazing. Our time in the Serengeti and incredibly fruitful; we saw all the exotic but usual species including zebras, giraffes, warthogs, wildebeast (well, the few who didn't make it on the migration with the rest of their friends), loads of other ungulates and lots of gorgeous birds. On top of that we also spotted loads of elephants and hippos, and an entire pride of lions gorging themselves on what was left of a zebra. We were able to get within a few meters of the action with our guide jostling for position with about 20 other tourist-packed jeeps. We also got a great view of a cheetah as it sauntered across the road just a few meters from where we were parked.

We spent our last night on the rim of the Ngorongoro crater which provided breath-taking views in the day and an unexpected assortment of wildlife at night. We were thrilled with half a dozen zebras wandered into the camp but not so happy when a few buffalo followed suit, running around the tents in a craze just before we headed to bed. I was walking to the bathrooms to brush my teeth before bed, concentrating on not stepping in the poo that covered the camp when I looked up and saw a buffalo about 3 meters in front of me, completely taking my breath away and getting my adrenaline pumping (buffalos are one of the most dangerous members of the 'big five'). I don't think that buffalo was too worried about my presence.

The Ngorongoro crater is gorgeous. It was formed by a huge volcano that collapsed sometime long, long ago creating steep, green hills running all the way down to a few lakes that remain wet year round. At first glance we didn't think that we would see much in the crater since it looked pretty dry and small, but it was incredible. We saw lots more zebras, wildebeast, buffalos, hippos, and, amazingly, lions. Most spectacular was the huge male lion that sat down about 4 meters from our car and posed majestically. It was incredible and really the last sight that I wanted to see. It was perfect.

Zanzibar

After another few days on the road, the kind that breeze past easily with 7 hr bus journeys each day, we rocked up to the nondescript city of Dar es Salaam, and took the smooth and fast ferry to Zanzibar.

Zanzibar was a major stop on the trade route to India and Persia and it shows in the architecture, food and distinct Zanzibari culture. It feels like you've stepped into a few country as soon as you get off the ferry (in fact, you get your passport stamped and have to fill out immigration forms). The plump fort sits on the waterfront surrounded by whitewashed buildings with amazing and intricately carved wooden doors gracing most doorways. Most of the men wear the kofia and some don the kanzu while many of the women are robed in colourful kangas (robes with traditional Swahili sayings) or the black bui-bui. We spent our time ambling along and getting lost in the warren of alleyways and side streets. We also chowed down on a few delicious curries and pilau rice dishes, washing it all back with some sugarcane juice at the market. The whole place is amazing.

And just like that, we're up-to-date. We are actually in Zanzibar and tomorrow we'll be heading up to Nungwi to hopefully do some diving and meet up with a friend of ours. We hope you're all well!!

Tanzania

We took a few days to meander up from Nkhata Bay to the border with Tanzania. Crossing over was a breeze with particularly nice officials on the Tanzanian side, but also with the regular assortment of shady characters asking to change your money or offering transport. We were hoofing it away from the border when a large white 4wd pulled up behind us. Just as I was about to offer up my best 'no thanks', I looked up and saw a white guy behind the wheel offering to take us away from the border, always a tempting offer. We hopped in and ended up catching a lift with Andreas (a wonderful German guy who now lives in Melbourne) all the way to Iringa.

Well, actually about 40 km short of Iringa to be precise - to one of those heavenly stops you remember for years to come. Since Andreas was driving around, he had all of his camping gear and we made it to The Old Farm Guesthouse which had both camping facilities as well as great little chalets. And the food! We rolled into the camp just on dusk and asked about food. They said that we could have it, but it would be best to go in right away. We'd been eating at a lot of 'local' places (ie. fried chicken and rice) for days and were expecting to enter a hall, get a plate slopped in front of us and chow back in record time under the fluorescent lights. How wrong we were. We were escorted to a fashionably decapitated mud-bricked house, drummed in the door, taken to our candle-lit table, and presented with the wine list (a wine list!!). We were presented with three courses, each more delicious than the last. We even had roast beef - real roast beef- and gravy. It was amazing, and no doubt more amazing because it was the last thing we were expecting. In fact, it was so good that we stayed another night just for the food, though we did take a day trip to the nearby Isimila sandstone pillars which were great.

Likoma Island

Likoma Island was magic. It was one of those places where we drifted from our lovely beach hut to the restaurant, into the water for a swim, over to the hammocks, played a few games of boa and repeated the whole thing a few times each day. The food was great, the guys who worked in the bar were hilarious and helpful, and the island was incredibly beautiful. We thoroughly enjoyed our entire week between ferries.

Getting back onto the Ilala was, happily, much less dramatic than when we unloaded onto Likoma. We spent the night on the top deck and were soot-streaked by morning when we arrived in Nkhata Bay.

Ilala Ferry

The Ilala ferry runs up and down lake Malawi once a week, as it has done since the 1950s. It it slow, smelly and constantly belches out soot from its smokestack. It is also a lot of fun to take and the only real way of getting to Likoma Island.

We boarded at Monkey Bay on May 21st - the trip to Likoma Island (around 150 km) takes more than 30 hours. It was slow. But in that time we met the other tourists on board and the locals who were on the top deck, many of them clustered around the bar.

The night went very smoothly, thank heavens, and we were able to sleep through the night. We'd splashed out on the 'owner's cabin' - the only one on board with an ensuite bathroom (though it sounds much more grand than it actually is) - but it was quiet and I didn't find out until the next day that they don't actually change sheets between guests so I slept very soundly.

Likoma Island's harbour is a fairly basic affair. Essentially, they don't have a jetty so the little lifeboats ferry passengers to and from the island. But in the most hectic, least-organised way possible. People were literally scrambling over each other to grab hold of the rope ladder on the Ilala's side, one fellow even lashed out with his foot while he was climbing, knocking another guy to the ground in the lifeboat. It was all fairly entertaining to watch from the comfort of the top deck, but it was quite another thing to get in the middle of the scrum and fight your way into the lifeboat (maximum capacity 22, actual capacity at least double that, plus all the bags of mealie, flour, crates of pop, etc). It was mad. I was very glad that we'd had our India training to teach us how to push and take up as much space as possible. We bullied our way onto the lifeboat as some of the first passengers (at the end it's standing room only and our balance isn't that good) and eventually pushed our way out of the boat once on shore - though the shore passengers were fighting to get on at the same time. I don't often need a drink but I needed a drink after that.