Africa in All Good Things

I got really ill in Africa, deep in the remoteness of the Serengeti in Tanzania. Finally made it home on Sunday after several days of 13-hour drives on ghastly roads in baking heat and thick clouds of dust and endless border crossings and nearly getting killed on my way to the airport in Nairobi. I'm starting to feel better - wow, what a difference actually having a BED when you're ill makes, and four walls around you, and a toilet close by whenever you need to throw up! For now, here are several of the Facebook status updates I managed to upload on the rare occasions we got internet in Africa to give you an idea of what my trip was like:

Starting in Zimbabwe: Matopos Hills - galloping through the bush in the midday sun tracking elusive rhinos and getting within a few feet of them when we finally found them; magnificent balancing rock formations; cheering children waving wildly through the villages; cave paintings and lucky bean bracelets and locally brewed beer; a gorgeous sunset at the spectacular World's View at Rhodes's grave, one of the most glorious places on earth; driving home through the moonlight beneath the stars....

Zimbabwe Ruins - misty, monkeys, droning guide who said "wow" after each of his own statements. Harare - ghastly, grotty, rundown, no restaurants. Two days driving through Zambia - steamy green mountains and bridges we can't photograph. Two blissful days of relaxation in the sun and sparkling water of Lake Malawi - and now high in the mountains of northern Malawi heading to Tanzania via a final afternoon at the lake...

4am starts, 13-hour driving days across central Tanzania. Steep fields of a variety of crops unlike further south, where it's only maize or cassava. Bananas from a lady carrying them in her head along the road = delicious dessert for us that evening. Misty mountain gorges, rushing chocolate rivers, ring a ring o' roses around a giant trunk in Baobab Valley, buffalo and zebra and giraffe grazing beside the main road east, endless flat plains, suddenly palm trees and dust and the glistening Indian Ocean at the edge of the continent, and a sunrise ferry across the water to the mystical isle of Zanzibar!

Two days of utter bliss on the white beaches of Zanzibar, cooling off in the turquoise ocean...after a fascinating tour of spice trees (love the vanilla and cinnamon) and a day exploring the ancient port of Stone Town.

Safely in Nairobi after getting very ill out in the wilds of the Serengeti - flying home to civilisation tonight!! Did get to see the big 5 all in a single day, plus loads of others, though. Loved it.

I am so deeply, deeply happy to be home. The whole time I was there I just wanted to be home - other than the hours I spent in Lake Malawi (I'll write more about that later when I feel stronger). And can I just say that I really, really don't like Tanzania. Which was a horrible disappointment.