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South Africa, Pretoria, 23 June 2024

Posted on Sunday, 23-June-2024 by Chris Desmond

I booked a private tour to Pretoria and the Cullinan Diamond Mine, there were no group tours available. The small town of Cullinan is popular with day trippers from the big cities. There was a Porsche and BMW motorcyle gathering on with some nice bikes and cars. Pretoria is another place you are advised against walking around alone. We also visited the Voortrekker Monument, very impressive and a Pilgrimage site for Afrikaners.

Cullinan Diamond Mine

Cars & Bikes

No Underground tours

Staff Housing

Mongoose?

Spot the animals

Entry to the Mine after a Breathalyser

The Big Diamond

Daimonds

The Pit

Lunch

Union Buildings

Palace of Justice

Paul Kruger Statue

Voortrekker Monument

Very Impressive

Circle the Wagons

The Trek

The making of

Pretoria

The Architect

Art

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South Africa, Johannesburg, 19 – 23 June 2024

Posted on Sunday, 23-June-2024 by Chris Desmond

Antananarivo to Johannesburg South Africa – taxi to the airport at 11:00 no traffic took only 45min. This is a small airport, not many flights, no queues or problems with check-in or security. Uneventful flight of 3 hours soft landing at Johannesburg, this is my 3rd time at this airport so I was familiar with the layout, I do not need a Visa for South Africa just stamp and go no questions asked. The airport is huge and well organised but as with all big airports can be confusing. I got an MTN sim card which was free and ZAR 365 or US$20 for 7GB of Data valid for 30 days which is expensive compared to other countries. Both Uber and Bolt operate from this airport and there is a seperate section of the multi-storied car park set aside for them to pickup and drop off passengers. I called an Uber ZAR 200 or US$11, the hotel shuttle costs US$40, trip took 30 minutes into the CBD. I noticed the taxi was fairly new and in good condition instead of the usual dilapidated cars. Apparently the Traffic Police here are very strict and cars that are not in good condition are taken off the road, people also have lane discpline and mostly follow the rules, there are speed cameras as well and many Police road blocks for Registration and Licence spot checks.

Antananarivo Airport

Embraer E190

On board

Control Tower

Up in the air

At the end of a long hard day

My Hotel was just outside the CBD right next to a big Shopping Mall so all I had to do was cross the road to find a restaurant or supermarket, the Museum Africa was also a 5 minute walk. I had been warned by everyone not to walk anywhere and met people who had been robbed at gun or knife point in the CBD. One couple parked and had their hire car with all their luggage stolen, so only park in car parks with security.

Museum Africa – definitely worth a visit, an insight into Gandhi’s early days.

Art

Museum Africa

African Countries

Rivonia Trial of Nelson Mandela and friends

Greed

The First President

Apartheid

Townships

Apartheid

Relocation

Pick pockets

High Court

Inside the Musem, use the ramps, lifts don’t work

South Africa vs Australia in 1902

Gandhi

San People

White and Black families

Art

Rehydrate

I booked a tour of Johannesburg, the only way for a tourist to see this city. We visited the prison where Gandhi and Mandela were held, a drive through Sandton and Rosebank where the rich whites live, the CBD and Gandhi square, Soweto where we stopped for lunch and visited Mandela’s house and the Apartheid Museum.

Fancy hedge

The Old Fort prison where Gandhi and Mandela were held

The Old Fort prison

Constitutional Court

The Old Fort prison

Mandela lived here

Letter from Mandela

The Old Fort prison

Art

Drilling in the CBD

Main Street

Gandhi Square

Gandhi

Mosque

Soweto

Tailor

Soweto

Mandela’s House

Memorabilia

Vilakazi Street

Hector Pieterson Memorial

Football

Apartheid Musuem

Johannesburg

Sunset

Posted in South Africa | 1 Comment

Madagascar, Antananarivo, 13 – 18 June 2024

Posted on Tuesday, 18-June-2024 by Chris Desmond

From Maputo to Antananarivo, Madagascar I had to fly via Johannesburg stop there overnight and catch a flight the next day. I stayed at a hotel close to the airport that had a free airport shuttle, very convenient. Johannesburg to Antananarivo was at three hours the longest flight between African countries. For some unknown reason I was upgraded to Business class, something that has never happened to me before. You have to fill in an Arrivals card and a Covid card when you arrive, these were not distributed on the flight and there were no signs so there was confusion at immigration and it took ages. Next I had to change some money and the exchange rate was not good. Then I bought a Telma SIM card for MGA 1000 and 2.5GB of Data for 15,000 a total of MGA 25,000 or US$6, it started working immediately and I never had any problems. The taxi into the city was a fixed price MGA 80,000 or US$18, traffic comes to a standstill as you approach the city and it will take at least an hour.

Johannesburg Airport arriving

Johannesburg Airport. The next morning

Departure lounge

At the Gate

No Borading Bridge here.

Business Class meal

Madagascar

Antananarivo – more commonly know as “Tana” population 2 million and it is set among steep hills, which means you are always walking up or downhill very narrow streets and steps, the language is French. There are many different ethnic groups from Asia living here along with the natives. Crowded with whole families sleeping on the streets and the most distressing part were the hundreds of children begging some looked only a few years old. There were also the usual crowd of touts, money changers and beggars. I also experienced my first phone snatching attempt which was unsuccessful because I had a tight grip on my phone, the thief kept running. This is not a tourist destination.

Butcher

The local drop

Breakfast

Streets

The main square

The old railway Station

No idea

Hotel de Ville

Sleeping on the street

The local drop

Analakely Market

Pizza, disgusting

Cathedrale catholique d Andohalo

The view from the Cathedral

No idea

Cable car to get across town

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Mozambique, Maputo, 08 – 12 June 2024

Posted on Wednesday, 12-June-2024 by Chris Desmond

Mozambique Visa – Getting this visa was a complete nightmare. This is one of those countries that that seem to exist only in Africa where the visa commences from the date it is issued, not from the date you enter the country and you can not apply for the visa more than 30 days before you enter the country. To apply for the visa you must create an account and login, next you have to submit a bank statement, a hotel booking, flight booking, passport and photo. Two days later I received a reply that said my Visa was Disapproved because I had not paid for my hotel. I contacted Booking.com and the Hotel and they said that they can not accept payment in advance because it is against Mozambique law. The Hotel people told me to apply through Expedia as they accept payment advance. So I cancelled my first booking and booked and paid for another hotel. In my second application I sent them the receipt from Expedia showing that I had paid for the Hotel. A few days later I received another Disapproved email which said that I must submit a receipt with the Hotel letterhead and not from Expedia. Contacting the hotel by phone is impossible because the lines are so bad and they only speak Portugese. After doing some research I found they had a Facebook page with a WhatsApp number. I contacted them on WhatsApp and sent them the email I received from the Mozambique Immigration Department. After many attempts with different Hotel staff I finally received a Confirmation from the Hotel. I submitted this in my third visa application and a few days later I received another Disapproval email with exactly the same reason hahaha. I sent this to the Hotel asking what else could they send me and they did not reply. By now time was running out and I was ready to give up and write off my airfares. I was now in Gabarone my last stop before Mozambique and I had been telling everyone I met about this issue hoping for a solution. The most common answer that I received was “This is Africa”. Then my Gabarone Airbnb host said that Mozambique has a High Commission here and I should go and see them. The next day I went there first thing in the morning on a Tuesday, at first they did not believe me so I emailed them all the documents and asked if I had missed something and they still did not believe me asking if I had actually submitted all these documents – HELP. Anyway they finally agreed to look into it, there are only two staff working in the High Commission which is located in a house. I went back the next day and they had done nothing and said come back on Friday, my flight was on Saturday and they would sort it out. Back I went on Friday and they asked me to apply for the visa again while I was in the the building, to their surprise I had all the documents on my phone and after 3 attempts already I knew the system quite well. I applied using my phone and received an email acknowedging receipt of the application which I showed to them. They immediately called the Department concerned in Mozambique and 10 minutes later I received the Visa.

Gabarone to Johannesburg a 35 minute flight, 2:15 hrs layover at Johannesburg and then a 45 minute flight to Maputo. Immigration was complete chaos, it took about an hour to process 3 people, computer slow and then computer down hahaha. And the Visa fee was US$150 per person, you can pay with your credit card. Do not buy a SIM card at the airport it will cost you double, the official Vodacom shop has closed and there are only 2 agents. I finished up buying my SIM card in the city from a street seller and paid MZN 500 for the SIM and 300 for 4GB. It was a Sunday and the Vodacom shops were all closed. The taxi fare to the city is MZN 1,200 a complete rip-off as most airport taxis are, the return fare using the Apps Bolt or Yango was MZN 200. Use the Apps in Maputo most rides are around $2. Do not use the Yellow taxis they are in worse condition and charge 400% more. There are also 2 scams I experienced. When you call a taxi using the an App the driver will accept and then will immediately msg that he has arrived and waiting while he is still miles away, at the end of the journey you will get charged an additional fee for waiting time. The second one is an App driver will accept the fare and a Yellow taxi will turn up and at the end of the journey instead of the declared App fare of 50 he will charge you 200 or more. The lesson is if the driver is far away and says he has arrived and is waiting Cancel the ride, there is no Penalty and if a car with a different number plate arrives do not get into the car, cancel the ride because it could be anyone and book again.

Gabarone Airport

Gabarone from the air

Johannesburg

Johannesburg Airport

Maputo Airport

Maputo – population just over a million and they speak Portugese.

Maputo Mall

The local drop

Breakfast

Saint Anthony Catholic Church

The Sea

The Bee

Nice

The View

Food

Maputo Cathedral

The Town Hall

The Man in front of the Town Hall

French Cultural Centre

The Iron House

Tunduru Gardens

The Fort

Bus Station

Fresh Fish

The Docks

The Art Gallery

Old Mosque

Interesting Wiring

Workers Square

Public Transport

Railway Station

Railway Museum

Central Market

The Waterfront Restaurant

Posted in Mozambique | 3 Comments

Botswana, Gabarone, 03 – 07 June 2024

Posted on Friday, 7-June-2024 by Chris Desmond

Victoria Falls to Gabarone, Botswana took 1:10 hrs, both airports modern and clean. Botswana Immigration took two minutes, no visa required and it did not cost anything, just had to give them my Hotel address. There are phone shops at Arrivals and ATM’s, bought a Mascom SIM for BWP 10 and 5 GB of Data for BWP 100 about $8. The ATM fee was $3 and the Exchange rate was good, the first time this has happened, normally it is a rip-off hahaha. I had a free pickup but you can download and use the taxi App inDrive which I used on the return journey and it cost $4. Most fares around the Metro area are $2-3.

Victoria Falls Airport

In the air

Gabarone, Botswana

Gabarone – this is a planned city and building only started in 1964, population 246,000. Broad 4 lane roads, clean, not crowded, modern buildings and Shopping Centres, the most developed city I have been to in Africa so far. The whole of Botswana has a population of only 2.4 million and it is a big country. It has the highest per capita GDP in Africa and all this wealth comes from Diamonds. The people also have access to free health care and free schools.

A new museum has been built but the exhibits which have been in storage for several years have yet to be relocated. Instead there is an Art Exhibition in the building at the moment.

Museum

Beautiful

Art Exhibition

Christ the King Cathedral

Main Mall is a Market

Pedestrians only

Main Deck – Nice

Main Deck

Beef Seswaa – Tasty

Botswana Craft

The Three Dikgosi Monument

Botswana High Court

Car Wash

CBD

The Fields Shopping Centre

Pizza

The Bus Station Market

The Parliament

ISKCON Temple

Doppio Zero – Nice

Naked Burger

The Local drop

Posted in Botswana | 2 Comments

Zimbabwe, Victoria Falls, 30 May – 02 June 2024

Posted on Sunday, 2-June-2024 by Chris Desmond

Harare to Victoria Fall, Zimbabwe, both in the same country so no immigration formalities. The Harare International Terminal is brand new and very nice. Flight took an hour uneventful. I had organised a taxi with the hotel $30 which is the standard fare, no Uber here.

Harare Airport

Inside

Old Harare Airport

In the air

Victoria Falls Airport

Victoria Falls – small town full of tourists, no beggars or touts a relief, things here are a little more expensive. Each entry to the Zimbabwe Falls NP is US$50 if you leave to get lunch and come back that will be another $50. Entry to the Zambia side of the Falls is $20 and a $30 Visa fee when you return to the Zimbabwe side. The Falls themselves were disappointing because there was too much water flowing over them and the spray blocked the view and you get wet from the spray. It takes about two hours to walk to the end and back. There are some monkeys along the way for entertainment hahaha and a Cafe. I went on a 10 min helicopter ride over the falls and this was the best part of the trip, cost $160 last minute fare. This is the best way to appreciate them.

Posted in Zimbabwe | 2 Comments

Zimbabwe, Harare, 25 – 29 May 2024

Posted on Wednesday, 29-May-2024 by Chris Desmond

Lilongwe to Harare, Zimbabwe – short flight 1:15 hrs. While waiting in the Departure lounge I chatted to a guy sitting next to me, first time travelling out of India on a business trip and he said when he arrived in Lilongwe he was at the luggage belt and saw his suitcase coming around. Instead of waiting for it to come to him he put his backpack down and went to get it. During those couple of minutes someone opened his backpack and stole his travel wallet which had $2,800 and his yellow fever card. He went to the Police but they refused to register a complaint because he could not provide a receipt showing the source of the USD. The same guy was ahead of me and when we got to immigration where there is a security guard who checks your passport and he asked him for $’s to let him through, he said he had none, they did not try that with me. At the Gate we met another guy who had $300 stolen from his backpack while in transit from the Airport to his Hotel, it was in the back of the hotel shuttle. Zimbabwe Visa on Arrival for which you pay US$30 cash or credit card quite painless. SIM cards and ATM’s are availabe at the Harare Airport I bought an Econet SIM with 10GB for US$13. The Taxi App to use here is Rida cheap and plentiful or inDrive which has fewer cars.

Heading to Lilongwe Airport

Lilongwe Airport

Check-in

Harare Airport

Zimbabwe currency – THEN

Zimbabwe currency – NOW

Harare – population 1.5 million, broad 4 lane streets mostly in good condition, cleaner and less crowded. The currency is the US$ though in April a new currency was introduced called the ZiG which was 9.5:1 then and now it is 14.5:1 US$. The previous currency got out of hand when they ran out of space to add zeroes after they got to Trillion dollar bills hahaha. The ATM’s dispense US$, I learnt this the hard way when I withdrew what I thought was $400 ZiG and it turned out to be US$400 with a US$15 ATM fee, the highest fee so far. I wanted a ZiG note as a souvenir and it took a lot of searching to find one, they are rare and only 10’s and 20’s have been printed so far. They have a Museum an Art Gallery, some nice Churches, an impressive Heroes Monument and a surprising shopping centre called Sam Levy’s Village where you mainly see the white population.

Harare Security

Harare Park

Crossing Closed

The man on the top

Telephone Exchange

High Court

Gava’s

Gelato

Cathedral of the Sacred Heart

National Art Gallery

Power or Poverty

National Art Gallery

Cathedral of St Mary

Africa Unity Square

Tyre Repair Shop

National Museum

Milton Street

Chinhoyi Street

First Street

Reserve Bank

Heroes Acre Memorial

Sam Levy’s Village

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Malawi, Lilongwe, 20 – 24 May 2024

Posted on Friday, 24-May-2024 by Chris Desmond

Lusaka to Lilongwe another short flight 1:10 hrs. I used the Yango app to call a taxi cost MWK 250 or US$10 which is half the price of the Airport taxis. There is an ATM at the Lilongwe airport but the maximum withdrawal was MWK 80,000 or US$45 and the Fee was 10,000 hahaha. The only time you need cash is for taxis otherwise you can use your card in most places. The Airport taxi into Lilongwe cost US$25 on the way back using the taxi driver I found on the EcoDrive app it cost 30,000 Kwacha or US$17 which according to the taxi driver is the standard fee.

Lusaka Airport

In the Air

Looks like a river

Lilongwe – population 989,318, not a tourist destination. The only interesting thing I found was the Lilongwe Wildlife Centre which is in the heart of town and is a very nice walk through the forest alongside a river. I did not see any wildlife hahaha not even a bird which was strange. The whole place is surrounded by an electric fence to prevent poaching.

Breakfast

Electric Fences

Nsima

WW Memorial

Maula Cathedral

Downtown

Chewey Chicken

The local drop

Lilongwe Wildlife Center

Lilongwe Wildlife Cente

Electric Fences

Lilongwe Wildlife Center

The other local drop

Malawi Stew

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Zambia, Lusaka 15 – 19 May 2024

Posted on Sunday, 19-May-2024 by Chris Desmond

Dar es Salaam to Lusaka is a two hour flight. Departure is from Terminal 3 which is new, with modern facilities, air-conditioned and clean but the clever security people are the same. My luggage was scanned at the entrance to the terminal and I was asked to open my suitcase, this has only ever happened to me in the Caribbean in the past hahaha. I have no idea if these people get any training or what sort of equipment they use or do they just want to have a stickbeak. Check-in and immigration only took a minute, no queues and efficient. Comfortable flight with Air Tanzania on a fairly new B737-MAX9. Landed at Lusaka, bus to the terminal which was also new, clean and air-conditioned, immigration only took a minute, no Visa fees, once again fast and efficient. There are 3 ATM’s at the terminal, my Mastercard only worked at the Zanaco Bank ATM no fees and a good exchange rate. Next door is an Airtel shop where I bought 6 GB data for ZMW 100 + 5 for the SIM card or US$4 in total. The recommended rideshare service here is called Yango and you can bargain with the driver on the app hahaha. I paid 350 Kwacha or US$14, a regular taxi was US$30, you need a local phone number to use the App. Good roads and clean on the way to my hotel. Checked-in, paid with my credit card and they said that Lusaka only has electricity for half the day or less and they only run their generator in the morning and evening and rooms start on the 4th floor with no Lift when the power is off hahaha. I told them I can not manage 4 flights of stairs so they agreed to cancel the booking but their terminal could not give me a credit so someone had to get cash from somewhere which took about an hour. I booked another hotel in the CBD that ran their generator automatically whenever there was no power as they should. This hotel only accepted Visa so make sure you have both Visa and Mastercard when travelling in Africa. The CBD is not the best area to stay in, too many people loitering, touts and beggars, crowded and there is nothing to see. Book a hotel close to one of the big Malls like Manda Hill Mall which is in a nice area and has everything and Yango is so cheap it will only cost you US$2 to go anywhere. Unexpectedly the people here speak English very well better than any of the previous African countries.

A word of caution, about US$200 in small bills was stolen from my backpack in my hotel room. First time this has happened in 16 years of travelling and 133 countries. It was cleverly done just before I left so I only noticed it after I landed in another country and was unpacking. Apparently this is not unusual in Africa.

Dar es Salaam Terminal 3

Dar es Salaam Airport

Legroom

Extra Large

The more the merrier

Dar es Salaam

Zambia

Lusaka

Lusaka Airport

Mig 21’s

Disembark

Lusaka Airport

Food

Ice-cream

Zambia National Museum

Father of the Nation

Freedom Statue

A Temple and a Mosque

Street Food

Market

Kafue Roundabout

Protein

The only local beer

Souvenir Stop

Anglican Cathedral

African Union Monument

Child Jesus Cathedral

Nandos, Manda Hill Mall

Soft Serve, Levy Junction Mall

Steak and Onion Pie

Donut

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Tanzania, Dar es Salaam, 08 – 14 May 2024

Posted on Tuesday, 14-May-2024 by Chris Desmond

Bujumburra to Dar es Salaam – Before you enter the airport you get wanded by Security, walk a bit further and a Passport check, enter the airport and luggage goes through a scanner had to take everything off, next Departure form check which I knew nothing about so the guy who could speak English got my phone and passport and filled in the form online and downloaded it, next the most primitive check-in ever, everything falling to bits but the girl was very helpful and let me look at her screen and choose my seat. No queues anywhere, next immigration, two guys ahead of me, took ages, photo, both thumb prints, and both hands fingerprints, and I am leaving the country did not have to do this when entering hahaha. Another Bombardier Dash 8 – Q400 with frayed seatbelts but plenty of legroom. We made a short stop at Kingoma to drop off and pickup some passengers. Walk down the stairs and a bus to the terminal. Slow processing at Immigration, staff are in no hurry to process passengers, one advantage to this is that your luggage is waiting for you when you get to the belt. Next to an ATM where I paid a US$6 fee and then to the Vodacom shop and bought a SIM 30 days 9 GB Data, TZS 25,000 or US$10. Uber is available in Tanzania but the drivers ask for cash and try to bargain with you, I just hang up and call another car. Cost from the airport to the CBD was US$8 and the regular taxi’s want US$25.