Day 7 - Maputo

The capital city of Mozambique has a very cool vibe to it. It's got hectic cars, buses, markets and street vendors, but goes about it's business with a very chilled and relaxed attitude. An interesting mix!

We started our only full day here with a delicious breakfast at the hotel. Lots of fresh fruit and pastries and juices. Really tasty. We were then picked up by our lovely guide Cariço at 10, and we headed off for a whistle stop, yet surprisingly chilled tour of the city.

We started by driving along the coast and looking at the enormous suspension bridge, which connects two parts of Maputo. Then it was on to the 19th century fort built by the Portuguese, which had a small museum with the remains of Ngungunhane the final ruler of the kingdom of Gaza. His wooden coffin was beautifully carved and was originally just to commemorate him, but his remains were later moved inside.

Next, we drove to the fabulous train station. It is dark green and has Avery colonial feel to it's architecture. It was designed my Mr Eiffel of Eiffel tower fame. It was used in the filming of Blood Diamond, as the hotel where Leonardo di Caprio stays. It had some old steam engines on display and photos of the top 10 most beautiful train stations in the world. This  was number 3. Gare due nord in Paris  was number 1 and st Pancreas was 2!

We had a quick look at the outside of city Hall and the catholic cathedral, but couldn't go in. Its having work done on it for the Pope's visit on September.

We went into the municipal market for a look at the fruit and veg and hair extensions on display, then went on to the art and craft market, where we bought a big batik 'painting' of a lion in multicolour. It's gorgeous!

We drove past lots of embassy's in very grand buildings in the expensive part of the city, and lots of Portuguese style buildings too. There was even a slave trading building, long since abandoned due to the ghosts that inhabit it. It was crumbling, but still had beautiful Portuguese style tiles around the doors and windows.

We then went to the local fish market, where you buy fresh fish, then take it to the restaurant next door and they cook it for you! We got huge barracuda steaks for us and our guide and ate them grilled with rice, salad and chilli! It was so delicious! We were sat right on the beach too. The weather was lovely today. Hot, but not sweaty. Perfect!

We even saw the prime ministers car and escorts on the drive back to the hotel!

We had a rest and read for a couple of hours, before heading out to the same restaurant as yesterday, Sagres, this time for passion fruit sangria, chicken and chips for Matt, a chicken salad for me, ice cream and a Kahlua whisky milkshake type of thing that was delicious! We move onto our proper beach destination tomorrow, but are so far impressed with how friendly Mozambique is!

Day 6 - Rhino Walk

Hlane day 3

Today, we stood 10 feet from a white rhinos, with nothing between us but the red dirt and some tracks left by impala! It was a very curious rhino too, not sure about us at all. It pretended to charge us a couple of times just to see what we were made of. Lucky was our guide again and he had a stick to make noise and swoosh bushes every time the female got curious enough to come closer.

It actually didn't take long to find two rhino on our rhino trek this morning. It was us and two German's, who had very keen eyes. They were the ones who spotted the rhino in the first place. Then we parked up and had to walk single file towards the pair. We spread out into a curve to take pictures, then as she cane wandering closer to us, ears swiveling like crazy, we had to crouch on the ground

We also saw impala males in camp, water bucks, bushel starlings, hammer kop, bushel couchrl, crested barbry,

What an exciting morning! Our driver Jubbly, picked us up at 10am and we left the wonderful Swaziland behind for a 3 hour drive over the border to Mozambique. We drove for ages once we were over the border, just through bushland. We saw a person every now and then, but there were no dwellings in sight, so where they came from, or were heading, I have no idea! We eventually got to the outskirts of Maputo, the capital city. Buildings started with brick huts and moved up to tower blocks, then very big houses in the style of 1950s architecture. We are staying in the Radisson Blu, right on the beach, with a beautiful view over the water.

We checked in, then wandered down the road to a seafront restaurant called Sagres, for fresh tuna rolls and piri piri sauce. Mozambique has a big Portuguese influence, so I'm really looking forward to the food! We headed back to the hotel for a nap/various sport watching. I was forced to watch the cricket and tennis simultaneously, and also the f1, but I didn't mind that nearly as much.

We finally went for dinner at the same place we had lunch. We had garlic bread (which turned out to be a whole baguette) and olives, followed by tuna, prawn, squid and veg kebabs all washed down with a nice red sangria. Delicious!

Day 5 - Hlane Safari

Hlane day 2

We are now very well acquainted with those 4 lions, since we saw them again on our sunrise safari today. They could barely keep their eyes open, they were so sleepy. I guess a nights hard hunting will do that to you. We got some more yawning photos which were great. Lions are just magnificent!

This morning, we shared our safari with 6 others from Germany and the Netherlands. They were very friendly. We had a good long chat about Brexit with two on our tea and flapjack break at 8am. Our driver was Maxwell and he knew lots about the plant life.

It was very cold on the safari. I had my thermal jumper on and was still cold. I'll bring my hat tomorrow!

We saw a giraffe too, which was wonderful. It was a male on his own. They are so enormous and beautiful. We also saw the national bird of Swaziland, as well as helmeted guinea fowl, hammerkop, tchakra, cape claw starling, yellow trotted long claw, black shouldered kite, yellow fronted canary, African hoophow and papal crested turaco. I'm sure some of those are written down wrong, but you get the idea. Birds are tricky to photograph on my new monster zoom because they move so fast!

We got back at 8.45 and went in for a nice hot breakfast, then a wander around the camp and a nice hot shower, followed by books on the veranda in the sun. Delightful.

At 3.20 we headed to the meeting place ready for our sunset safari. Our driver from yesterday, Lucky, had requested us (probably because we gave him a good tip). We had a full car this time, but that was fine. We managed to see white rhinos! White is actually a mistranslation. It should be wide rhinos, due to their wide jaws. Black rhinos have pointy jaws and hopefully we will get to see one tomorrow, though they have only been in the park 3 days, so may be hard to spot.

This evening we saw impala, got very close to some huge elephants, our small pride of lions again, ...

We got back at 6 and it was much colder today. I think because it's been cloudy all day. We went for the buffet dinner, which was various stews, including delicious impala stew. Custard and apple pie for pudding. Very camping holiday food! Everyone else is camping though. We're in one of 5 huts!I'm glad we're not in a tent. Too cold! Oh, and there was an owl nesting in the rafters of the restaurant!

We went back to our hut after dinner to read and for an early night.

Day 4 - Hlane National Park

Hlane day 1

Today we saw a male lion yawn. My new zoom lens got me so close I could see his tonsils (do lions have tonsils???) Let me start from the beginning.

We woke up to a lazy morning checking out of our beautiful lodge, after omelette and fruit for breakfast. Then our lovely driver Tom, the same one as before picked us up to take us onto our next stop, Hlane National Park. We went via the supermarket to stock up for our stay since we will be in the middle of nowhere.

We also made a stop at the Swazi candle making market, which had lots of stalls selling handicrafts. We bought a few bits including candles and some 'black mamba' spicy sauce (delicious) and then headed off for a 2 hour journey to Hlane.

We arrived at exactly check in time, 2pm and got booked onto 2 safaris tomorrow. There was no room on the sunset tour today. We were shown to our lovely little hut. It has a reed roof and a lovely BBQ area out the front. There is no electricity here, so there are a few gas lamps dotted around for later.

We went for lunch (toasted cheese sandwiches) and a beer, then we went to the shop to find out about wood for our BBQ, and ended up (at 3.28) booking onto the 3.30 sunset safari! They only have 4 safari cars for the whole park, so worried that we were holding people up, we ran to our hut to grab jumpers and then discovered that we had a while car to ourselves, with our driver, appropriately named Lucky.

There are different areas of the park and we opted for trying to see the lions, because Matt didn't get to see a male lion on his last trip here. It took us a little while, but in the beautiful glowing sunset we found 4 lions, 2 male and 2 female, just waking up from their snooze, hence the amazing yawning photos! They were just magnificent. Honestly, that safari was the best £20 I've ever spent!

We also saw huge elephants, with huge ears, as well as, wildebeest, impala, warthog and these birds; crested guinea fowl, crowned hornbill, forked tail drongo, southern black fly catcher, emerald spotted wood dove, green winged pitilia, blue wax bill, hooded vulture, black shouldered kite, grey hornbill and nightjar.

It was already dark when we got back, but someone had cone to light our gas lamps. We found fire wood and managed to get a fire going. Then some elephants appeared less than 50 feet from our hut! And we could hear lions calling to each other.

We BBQ'd the sausages and burgers that we got from the supermarket earlier and had them with the black mamba hot sauce. Delicious! Oh, and a cold radler too. It actually doesn't seem as cold here, though I did still have my thermal jumper on.

We heard some drums and went over to the restaurant area to investigate. The guides and staff were all in traditional clothing, singing and dancing to traditional songs around a fire. It was wonderful to see and hear!

Day 2 - Lobamba and Nsangwini Rock Paintings

Where to start with what we've done today! We've done so much, really making the most of our day. We started with a lovely breakfast of omelette, fruit, vanilla muffin and orange juice on our balcony, with a stunning view over the waterfall. The lovely receptionist from the Netherlands then drove us to the village of Lobamba, about 20 minutes from our gorgeous lodge. Here, we met Scoo our guide who was born and raised in Lobamba. He was very chatty and knew a lot about the village. We started in the National Museum, along with a while school of smiling students eager to say hi to us. The museum was full of traditional clothing, instruments, household pottery and dioramas depicting the different terrains of Swaziland. There are mountains, lowlands, plateaus and flatlands. Its actually amazing how green and beautiful the land is. The mountains are a stunning backdrop everywhere you go.

Next we headed across the road to the Memorial Park for King Sobhozs  ii. His son is currently king. The park was still and peaceful and had a nice statue of the former king with his famous quote, I have no enemies. He was the one who helped gain Swaziland's independence from England. He had 70 wives and over 200 children! There were lots of photos depicting his life and three cars, a Cadillac and 2 Buicks - his passion, which his son seems to have inherited!

We then wandered to the village of Lobamba itself, where the former King's residence is. Its just a few small buildings on the edge of the village, but is huge compared to the other very modest dwellings. It is in complete disrepair and is crumbling out of respect to the former king. In past years, it would have been round houses made of mud and sticks and so would have crumbled easily, but now the remains will be there for many years.

The red, dusty soil gets everywhere in the village and there are dogs, cats, goats, chickens, chicks and cows wandering about all over the place. Our guide seemed to know everyone. He showed us his house and we met his sister in law. We also met some friendly locals for a taste of the local home brew, alcohol content unknown! It was very smokey and not nice at all, but we had to sip some out of politeness! One of the men there had the title Prince. He is a member of the royal family. Another man wanted Matt to offer him a sister or cousin to marry, so that Matt would always have family in the village!

We went to the place were the royal guards or warriors train and said hello to them. Everyone is so friendly and welcoming. Then we went to the butchers to buy some meat which our guide then bbq'd (braai) outside the shop! We had chicken, beef, delicious sausage that Scoo wouldn't tell me what meat it was! And some sort of maize, rice thing. It was all delicious. We ate with our hands. While we waited for Scoo to cook our lunch we were bothered by a drunk local, trying to get money out of us and complaining about the king, and saying how he wanted to move to England. Scoo told him off though.

After lunch we met Mpho, who is one of the owners of Silverstone lodge. He is a local of the village too, and is very friendly, charming and chatty. He drove us to our next spot, through the beautiful mountains, via a great craft shop selling glass.  Our final stop of the day was truely remarkable and really one to tick off the archaeological bucket list.

We drove along red dusty roads, past an incredible dam and hiked up and down a mountain until we reached an open alcove of rock. Here there were cave paintings made by the hunter gatherer San people roughly 4000 years ago. These are the Nsangwini rock paintings and they depict elephants, various large animals and people hunting. They are in red or black 'paint' probably from the soil and have stood up to the elements remarkably well. They are simply amazing. We were the only people there to see them. It's just incredible that people stood on that spot 4000 years ago to record parts of their lives that they considered important enough to write down. And there we were on that same spot 4000 years later. Amazing!

We were treated to a beautiful sunset over the mountains on our drive back, before having a light dinner of pizza/toasted cheese sandwich. Its now 8.30 pm and I'm ready for bed! We're off to Hlane national park tomorrow for 2 nights, where we will be internet and electricity free, so I'll catch you up on our safaris in a few days. 

Day 1 - Arriving in SA and Swaziland

We finally made it to Africa! Yay! It feels like this trip has been needed for ages, what with everything that's been going on medical-wise.

We had the whole of Tuesday to sit around and wait for our flight, and ended up heading across London on the tube at rush hour. Not so much fun. Especially with two enormous suitcases.

We were a tiny bit stressed, since they had given us seats on different floors of the plane and it literally didn't get sorted until I was sat next to Matt on the plane, asking the chap whose seat I was in if he minded moving! He moved, so all sorted.

The business class lounge at Heathrow was fun. Lots of food and drink, so we had a glass of bubbly and a bowl of curry. It was lovely in there, I could have spent more time there to be honest!

I got Matt some whisky for Matt for our anniversary and then we were on the plane in business class. We were in middle seats next to each other, with one person either side of us, facing us. We were travelling backwards which made take off and landing a bit odd.  The seats were so spacious! We could fully stretch out! We had a glass of bubbly before I settled down to watch Bohemian Rhapsody, which is amazing and Matt watched Oceans 11. Dinner was delicious, bread rolls, salad, chicken terrine, tomato soup and then a pander korma curry. So tasty.

Then we both managed to settle down to sleep for a good 6 hours of the 10. We were woken up to fresh fruit, decaf tea, a croissant and granola and chipotle omelette. Then we were in South Africa!

Our lovely driver Tom met us and we were off on our 4 hour drive to Swaziland. I was asleep immediately and didn't wake up until our half way point, which was a Nandos restaurant in the middle of nowhere, agricultural land and distant mountains. The Nandos is in a rhino conservation area, and overlooks a watering hole where there were 5 rhino, an ostrich and plenty of impala, buffalo, zebra and birds. Very cool for our first taste of South Africa! We were pretty pleased about the Nandos too!

At the border we got a passport stamp out of SA and into Swaziland. I love nothing more than a stamp in my passport, so 3 in one day has really pleased me!

Swaziland is very green! Our hotel is called the Silverstone lodge and is in the middle of the bush, yet only a 10 minute drive from Mbabane, the capital city of Swaziland. Its so peaceful here. Our room terrace overlooks a beautiful waterfall, which we climbed up to. The room is gorgeous and the owners are so friendly.

They do a set dinner here in the evening at 7, so we had delicious veg soup, followed by stuffed chicken and roast potato's then brownie and ice cream. Yum. We went for a gaze at the stars after dinner. Its very dark by 7pm and very cold too. Its winter currently, so the sun is hot in the day and the nights dip to freezing. I've had both shorts and my wooly hat on today. Bizarre! The moon is so bright it cast a shadow from us and the sky is littered with stars. I'm pretty sure we saw both Jupiter and Saturn, amongst a hundred other pinpricks of light. I love it here already!

Summer Holidays

Here are a selection of photos to sum up the last week since we returned from Ireland. 

I had my appointment with the MS specialist, who seems interested in what's going on with me, so is making a plan of action.  So far, a specialist has looked at my MRI brain scans, and decided that I need another one that is slightly better quality than my Chinese one.

I photographed the beautiful wedding of two friends that I work with in China; Lucy and David.  I took so many photos, and am still working my way through, so you'll see some in the near future once i'm finished editing.

Matt bought me a gigantic zoom lens for our safari in South Africa, which we leave for in less than an hour! So excited!!!  I practiced taking some photos while in the New Forest, but the photos are too big to put on the blog at the moment, and I seem to be running out of photo space.  I'll work on it when we get back from holiday.

Mum and Dad picked me up at Nanny's after I stayed at Jackie's the night of the wedding.  I was absolutely exhausted from 12 hours of photographing everyone having fun in the 30 degree sunshine!  It was so hot.  It was great to see Nanny and have a good catch up in her lovely flowery garden.  

  I spent 5 lovely days in Hampshire with Mum and Dad.  Matt came for a few days with his Mum too, which was lovely.  We had relaxing sunny days in the garden, wandering around Christchurch and crafting to the smell of a BBQ.  We walked along the beach and had lots of coffee and cake in the sunshine.

I came back to London on Saturday morning for Louise's Hen Party at the very nice Hilton Syon Park for afternoon tea.  It was lovely to see her and Charlee and all of Lou's friends from University, who I have known on and off for 10 years!

I then headed on to Matt's parents for his family BBQ.  Our friends from Newcastle (who came out to Shanghai recently) also came down for the weekend to see us which was fabulous.  It was great to catch up with all of the Harris family.

Sunday was spent with our dear friends Sean and Markus, who we know from our time working in Germany.  We went for lunch at a fabulous London pub that does delicious Thai food, and then spent the afternoon in Regents park at a free concert, eating ice cream and sunbathing in sun loungers.  The music was great. It was a big orchestra playing Disney songs and classic rock and pop. Perfect.

Monday was another trip to the MS specialist, and then afternoon tea at the Cat Emporium, which is a cat cafe in London.  It was so much fun playing with the cats, but made me miss our fluffies so much! Can't wait to see them in a couple of weeks.

So, that's the low down of the last week.  Busy!  And now we're off to Heathrow for our Business Class flight to South Africa, and the safari holiday of a life time.  I'm so excited!!!