Africa Travel Journals

A visit to Brazzaville.

January 24th, 2010 by michael

I went to Brazzaville for work and because there is so little tourist infrastructure we were accommodated in the old North Vietnamese embassy. The basic breakfast we were served was great. We had no food problems because we followed the advise not to eat meat that you couldn’t trust. There seem to be people you can organise to show you around, there were markets to go to, some nice places to sit and picnic along the Congo river overlooking Kinshasa (5 miles away across the river) as well as some interesting government buildings. I think that if you plan it a trip to Brazzaville can be interesting.

Victoria Falls is great.

January 24th, 2010 by michael

I haven’t been to Vic Falls for about a year so I speak under correction, but visiting Victoria Falls has no similarity to visiting Zimbabwe, it is like a town separated from the rest of the country. There are lots of activities to keep you busy, like bunjy jumping, river rafting, microlights, helicopters, elephants, hikes, the falls and others. There are back packers, basic and fancy hotels, a whole tourist infrastructure to make sure you have a great trip and don’t get too affected by the problems in Zimbabwe. It is one of the nicest countries I have ever visited so I hope it can become a stunning tourist destination again soon.

South Africa can be quite safe.

January 24th, 2010 by michael

A traveler can be quite safe walking around the cities of South Africa as long as you don’t look like a tourist and show that you have items worth stealing. Don’t have an expensive camera around your neck, keep a smaller camera in your pocket. If you have a backpack keep an eye on it when you put it down, bag snatchers are very quick. Try to keep all your travelling money and documents in a body wallet/bag that fits under your clothes (or leave in a safe at your hotel) so that if you do get robbed they will only get the small amount of money in your pocket. I have had no incidents with all my walking around because I expect to be mugged so I don’t look ignorant and I don’t have anything someone might want to take. Just some advise to help all the soccer fans havea pleasant time in South Africa.

Moving To South Africa – Blog Information

December 14th, 2009 by Hakon Kavli

The Africa Travel Blog has been a little quiet lately, and there is a reason for that. Over the past couple of weeks I have been very busy preparing for a big move. A move all the way from San Diego, California, via Oslo, Norway, to Cape Town in South Africa. And the first step will be taken the day after tomorrow, when the whole transition begins with a flight to Oslo. Two weeks later I will be accompanied with my lovely fiance, Eleyce, and together we will fly to South Africa.

Now, during this transition time of about 4 weeks, the blog may be more or less slow and not very regularly updated. Though, I hope you will forgive me, because after this temporary slump, The Africa Travel Blog will revive and I will bring you first hand travel information from the amazing African continent (at least the southern tip of it!).

Follow My Africa Journal – Experiences, pictures and stories

If you’re a personal friend, family or just nosy (curious), you should follow my personal journal where I will share my experiences, pictures and stories. You will find my journal, naturally, in the JOURNALS category. And if you’re really curious about how our life will be like down there, well then I suggest that you sign up to the email alerts for the journal. That means that you will receive an email every day I have posted a little blurb about what I am doing down there! Click here to subscribe!

Follow The Africa Travel Blog – Information, tips, destinations and news

If you’re not very interested in my personal life, but rather want to follow the travel tips, news, and information that usually appear on the blog’s front page; Then you can sign up to the Admin RSS which sends you an email alert every day there is a new post (but it ignores my personal journal blurbs). Click here to subscribe to The Africa Travel Blog email alerts.

Thank you for reading, please return soon!

-Hakon

3 Questions about Cape Town!

December 2nd, 2009 by Perry Krafts

I will be in Cape Town over christmas, alone, and need to know what I can do to pass time.

I am staying in the downtown area, close to long street. What are good places to go eat / drink and meet other travelers?

What are the best tourist attractions? Sightseeing?

Can I hike up the Table Mountain alone?

Do I need a car to travel outside of Cape Town? Or do they have public transportation?

I guess that’s 4 questions. Thanks for helping out!

Perry

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I need help planning my Africa Expedition

November 18th, 2009 by Edwardp

I will pick up my niece in Togo and will travel with her to Benin, South Africa (capeTown), Botswana, Tanzenia, Zanzibar & Egypt in December 2010, next year. I need guidance with flights, things to see, how much time to spend at each location, where to stay. I have a decent budget but not 1st class over the top. Can anyone give some guidance? Thanks Edwardp

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Need Your Tips: Self Drive Safari in Okavango & Chobe

November 4th, 2009 by Hakon Kavli

Okavango Delta The past few days I have been thinking about what would be the perfect one week itinerary for a self drive in the Okavango, Chobe and Vic Falls region. The reason I have been thinking about this is, naturally, that I intend to do it. In March next year, my family will come down to South Africa, and I want to take them out on a little African adventure. The problem is that we only have one week to see everything! – A common problem in the travel world..

So this is where you come in! Do you have any tips for us??

Any places we must see in Chobe or Okavango? Safari camps, routes, etc?

Any good rental companies where we can find a reliable 4×4? (It should be based in Livingstone or Maun).

I will keep updating this post with all good tips that come in (either from twitter, email or comments on this post). And if you have a website or twitter, please let me know and I will credit your tips with your links.

Thank you very much!!

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Photo Diary: Seeing Victoria Falls in Zambia and Zimbabwe

October 16th, 2009 by Hakon Kavli

Here comes the Photo Diary from Victoria Falls, a follow up the more informative post Travel to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe and Zambia. All these photos are from the trip I had with my fiance, Eleyce, through Southern Africa where we spent approximately a week around the Victoria Falls in both Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Since the photos are more interesting than the actual story, I chose not to write more here but rather write a little description with some of the pictures.

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Where the Hell is Matt? -An Epic 5 Minute Travel Video!

October 15th, 2009 by Hakon Kavli

This is the story about Matt Harding, who’s 5 minute travel video has been viewed by twenty five million people on YouTube, and is impossible not to love. As an Africa Travel Blog I should also mention that during these 5 rich minutes he manage to feature eight African travel destinations which include Zanzibar, Mali, Madagascar (x2), Zambia, Morocco and South Africa (x2). It took him 14 months to create the video, and he visited 42 countries all over the world in it’s making.

It’s not much more to say other than: “Please watch this video”. It gave me the goosebumps and made my fiance cry (!). And I wish to say “thank you” to the two South African guys who walked into the store where I work yesterday and showed this video to me. I have watched it countless times since then.

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