record timing.


In record timing,... I've finally come back to wrap up this blog...  it's been over a year since I landed stateside and while I've been meaning to come back and close this out- time in America moves at the speed of light. Coming home has honestly been the biggest mind f@#% of all time.

But, before we get into all that- let me start where I left off... my last few weeks in Mozambique were a blur. Between wrapping up projects, packing, enjoying the last bit of adventures in MOZ with the central crew and just emotionally prepping to leave, I had no time and my blog pretty much just fell off. After COS (close of service) in Maputo, I actually stuck around the city for two weeks... I had opted into an overland trip from Tanzania to Zimbabwe that didn't start until August 13th, so I had time to chill. My last few days in Maputo were filled with lots of food adventures, fish market trips, and making the most of those Indian Ocean sunsets with fancy cocktails from chique (fancy) restaurants/bars and hotels.

camarão grelhado /grilled shrimp

MOZ18  <3

CENTRALers @ Teacher's bar 

happy hour at Cardoso
"the three best friends that ever could be!"
sunset drinks @ Dhow Cafe



Departing on a solo COS trip, next stop- Dar es Salaam 
Leaving Maputo felt pretty unreal. I was setting off on a two week trip and was going to hit five countries so it didn't really feel like I was leaving just yet. I left Maputo with a heavy heart, but it wasn't the departure that I had expected. 

I flew from Maputo to Dar Es Salam, Tanzania and managed to get myself to the hostel where I would be meeting the travel company whose tour I had just joined. From Dar es Salaam, we went to Zanzibar, which was the most incredible place (maybe only rivaled by Vic Falls) that we hit on our journey. Before leaving Maputo, I had joined the tour thinking 'I may never come back to this side of the world ever again so I gotta see these sights (Zanzibar, Vic Falls, safaris, etc). However, after I set sight on Kendwa beach I thought 'I HAVE to come back here.' I only had a little over an hour to explore Stonetown and so I decided that this trip was my first, but would definitely not be my last time in Tanzania. 


 Tanzania
Kipepeo Beach, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Streets of Stonetown, Zanzibar 

Kendwa beach, Zanzibar 

Sunset Cruisin'


Kilimanjaro, a local craft trader

Setting back through Tanzania and onto Malawi

camp
 Over the course of the next two weeks we made our way over land to the west side of Tanzania, entered into Zambia, Malawi, Botswana, and finally finished our trip at Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe.


 Malawi
Malawi landscapes

Lake Malawi
 Zambia
Sunrise over South Luangwa National Park




family of elephants!

Botswana 

Heading into Chobe National Park/ miss my green pants!!! :'(


Chobe has the largest elephant population in the world!
Zimbabwe








White water rafting in the Zambezi:

pictures taken byWild Horizons

these pictures don't do justice to the terror



surviving, hoooray!
 On the tour I met some cool travelers from Australia, the UK, Germany, Portugal and other parts of Africa. It was an exhausting but awesome two weeks of sight seeing, adventure, and travel. Compared to Peace Corps, it was a pretty posh set up. We stayed at camps with hot showers, stocked bars and we even had our own cook on board that made us three tasty meals every day. The latrines and other general African novelties we ran across were nothing new to me, but it was a little amusing to see some of the other travelers navigate their way around African cities, talk about using latrines, complain that the hot water in the showers didn't last very long, and handle street hagglers.

Equally amusing was listening to 'voluntourist' talk about the two weeks they had spent "volunteering" at an orphanage (paying thousands of dollars to volunteer) in Kenya and hearing them chime in with authority about African culture and mannerisms. Like, calm the fuck down. Your privileged voluntourist experience doesn't make you an authority on all things African. You haven't even been anywhere long enough to know the real prices of shit, much less the language... typical Muzungos!

(...to be continued)


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