After over 35 years of working at Sea Containers and GESeaCo, I am going into semi-retirement and doing what I`ve wanted to do for a long time - TRAVEL THE WORLD.
The outline plan for the first trip is:-
Sat November 6th - London to Dar es Salaam
There I join a party of 10 people for a journey to Johannesburg via Zanzibar, Mikumi National Park in Tanzania, Lake Malawi, Luwawa Forest Reserve, South Luangwa National Park in Zambia, Livingstone and Victoria Falls, Chobe National Park and Okovango Delta in Botswana, Kalahari Desert and finally Jo`burg.
Mon Dec 1st - Johannesburg to Perth
Sun Dec 7th - Perth to Ayers Rock, then 4 weeks to plan in Oz.
Sat Jan 3rd 2009 - Brisbane to Auckland, then 5 weeks to plan in NZ
Mon Feb 9th - Auckland to Fiji
Fri Feb 13th - Fiji to Hawaii crossing the intrenational dateline backwards on Friday 13th, so I get it twice!!
Tue Feb 17th - Hawaii to San Francisco
Tue Feb 24th - San Francisco back to London (arriving 25th)
I`ll be posting diary notes, photos and maps on this site, so please have a look if you want to know how things are going.......... Barry
I had a super send off with 40 at the Dulwich Runners curry and 75 at the SeaCo/GESeaCo party at the Mad Hatter which was a real Sea Containers reunion.
Thanks to Reg & Neville for lots of help in the last few days. Had rear window seat next to empty seat on the plane - good flight
Sun Nov 9
Landed at Dar at 6:40 am. Long Visa queue ($50). Met Exodus Group - Mike (TourLeader), Rachel, Laura, Ingrid, Alison & Michael and `The Vehicle` a large purpose built truck. The SeaCat trip to Zanzibar was 2.5 hours across a mill pond sea in air-conditioned room - slept for an hour.
At Shangani Hotel in Stone Town, we met Tim and Kath on the start of a 4 month honeymoon! Had a good backstreet walk with Ingrid seeing local craft shops, then around the waterfront. At 5 we all walked to Africa House, a colonial building & bar overlooking the sea - good sunset over calm sea.
Mon Nov 10
We went on a tour of Stone Town and local district including a good Spice Tour - Ali T was our guide - a very funny guy with a comical command of English. Spices and scenery were very similar to Sri Lanka.
We then moved 30 miles to the top of Zanzibar Island to Smiles Beach Hotel in Nungwi on a very good road recently completed. I had a nice room 100yds from beach with a 6` x 8` bed.
In the evening the sunset was absolutely stunning with dhows going past and fishing net groups in the sea - about 20 people wade out to sea with a fishing net then gradually close into a circle to cath the fish. After a meal on the beach 4 of us booked a snorkelling trip ($20 each) at East Africa Divers, but were a bit suspicious !
Tue Nov 11
Breakfast overlooking beach - papaya, pineapple, water melon, scrambled eggs - just like Sri Lanka !
The lads we`d booked snorkelling with met us near EA Divers, but took us down the beach and around the corner to North Beach Snorkelling. We`d been poached, as the lads were just hanging around EA Divers to pick up trade - but they were otherwise quite genuine, and more local than the semi Western EA Divers. We boarded a dhow with 2 Germans and 2 Swedes for the 100 minute sail to Tumbatu Island in across a warm tranquil sea - it was a lovely day with no threat of rain - the previous 2 days had a few short sharp showers. We snorkelling for about an hour off the north point of Timbatu and saw lots of coral and small colourful fish and 1 small ray hiding in the rocks.
Wed Nov 12
Quick visit to local school Internet room after breakfast, then coach took us back to Stone Town for the ferry back to Dar es Salaam.
Zanzibar is a wonderful green island about 50 miles long and 15 miles or so wide with lots of coral islands around it. It`s tranquil and idylic with friendly people and will be the most comfortable and touristy place we`ll see for weeks.
Back in Dar es Salaam, we stocked up, mainly with beer, at the local supermarket, and went to Silver Sands camp site 10 miles north of Dar - on the beach. First night in tents, so camp talk about the rules - hygeine and timing. I had a quick swim before the meal in a warm sea and a jog up the beach. When everyone went to bed around 9:30, I had a walk along the beach in the moonlight - a lovely evening for a stroll to collect my thoughts. Nobody around and I was perfectly safe with a torch to shine into faces. However, on the way back I sat on a rock nr the camp and a guard approached armed with a rifle!!! I explained that I was at the site with Exodus - he was actually OUR guard and hadn`t seen me leave.
Tried to upload some photos to this site, but found that it takes a very long time, so need to find somewhere to edit and reduce them first - so, sorry no photos yet.
Thu Nov 13
Shower, breakfast and on the road by 7:10, where the 5 miles to the Dar ring road was a slow crawl. We were soon on the A7 heading out of town in our purpose built truck - 8 travellers in a vehicle for 16, so lots of room + Mike (leader and driver), Manou (driver) are both Zimbabwean and Pete (cook) is Kenyan. There were good views sitting at the back, but it got increasingly windy and bumpy the further we went and the traffic thinned.
The scenery changed from lush green with bananas and papaya for 30 miles, then more open grassland with single trees, then fields of giant pineapples.Denser again in Mikumi National park, where we were really lucky to see lots of animals quite near the road - Springbok, Zebra, Buffalo, Dwarf Elephant, Giraffe, Warthog, Baboon, so the 300 zoom was working overtime. We then had a lunch stop at Gemini camp in Mikumi (town). Later the scenery got more rocky as we climbed higher, with boabab trees. By now the traffic was light, but a big proportion of all traffic were container lorries, so I collected Container Prefixes for amusement (anorak !!) and got over 30 in the day.
We camped at Kisolanza Farm about half an hour past Iringa, which was delightful. Owned by a white Sth African at 6800 ft, with a round thatched hut for a bar and hot showers from a wood burning stove. It was a peachy orange full moon too.
Fri Nov 14
Hot shower at 5:15, then sausage and beans - Pete is a good cook. It was a cool morning, so we were all wrapped up for a while. There were more hills now with purposeful mud-brick houses mostly with thatched roofs in the scattered villages. We turned left at Uyole on the B road to Malawi and went up to 7200 ft. Vegetation changed to very green and full of hut and houses, with maze in the fields. It was more like the foothills of the Alps or Himalayas.
We stopped at a tea plantation for lunch, and Rachel, Laura and Ingrid did the guided tour while the rest of us prepared lunch, read and wrote diaries. We set up camp in the back garden of the Landmark Hotel in Tukuyu (at 5000ft). Castle beers were cheap at 1500 TzSh.
Sat Nov 15
Tim had suggested starting early so we were on the raod by 7, which is actually 6 in Malawi ! We were too early for the local petrol station, but filled up later. At the Malawi border, Mike looked after the Tanzania exit in bulk and changed all the money we need into Malawi Kwacha at 162 to USD, compared to the official 147.
Sat Nov 15
Mike changed all of our money at 162 Mw Kwacha to USD, instead of the official 147, then we had to find Yellow Fever Certs which took me 10 mins. Very little trafic on Malawi roads and now 1 hour earlier (GMT +2). Arrived at Chitimba camp (alt 1700 ft) on the lakeside at 10:20 - baking hot, but nice site with clear blue sky. Checked that swimming was okay, as Bilharzia is a risk in stagnant & ready areas, then went for a swim before early lunch - accompanied by local boys. 3hrs on Internet in 35C. Super homely campsite, good evening of drinks and games inc beach volleyball in the dark. Malawi is peaceful, friendly, scenic and green.
Sun Nov 16
15 minute run on beach before breakfast, then we were soon climbing out of the rift valley to 3600 ft, very undulating and lovely scenery. Needed a 15 min stop to change a filter on the truck, then shopping stop in Mzuzu - beers for us and 3 days supplies to Pete to buy. Quiet good road continued onwards and upwards (to 5600 ft), then we turned onto a dirt road for about 10 miles to Luwawa Forest Lodge, a lovely spot with a lake/reservoir and lots of walks in forest run by George from Hull. We were to spend 2 nights here with a rest or rathet `activity` day.
Mon Nov 17
Up before 6:30 for 5.5 mile run on trails before breakfast - undulating with great views. After breakfast (pancakes), 5 of us (T,C,L,I and me) wnet kayaking and canoeing with Rachel and Alison watching/supporting. I did well in a long kayak, but Ingrid and Laura both capsized in short kayaks - good fun. Next we tried archery - quite difficult at start, but I adjusted well and won (B 1050, T 710, L 620, C 400, I 360). Great fun except for lost arrows and stunning bruises on the arm for Laura and Ingrid. Some of us had a nice 2 hour walk in late afternoon before dinner of Pepper Steak - Pete is a super cook, then drinks in the lodge until closing time (10:30).
Tue Nov 18
We crossed the border into Zambia nr Chipatta, after 45 mins on a bumpy track to get back to the main road, then an uneventful morning. At the border, viasa had dropped from 75 GBP to 50 USD, so I got a double entry visa for 80 USD, so I could take the option to go into Zimbabwe at Vic Falls. Road across to South Luangwa National Park is dirt and rough and bumpy for part of it, but local villages looked delightful. Arrived at Flatdogs camp at 5pm on banks of Luangwa river. Could see hippos in the water and were warned about crocs. We were to eat at the truck, parked in camp, but stay in very comfortable chalets with mosquito net windows and over bed + kitchen, fridge which I shared with Alison and Michael. After dark, all movement in camp is with guard escort as elephants and hippos often roam through the site. Local monkeyd and baboons are a hassle around the truck too. Early night after a few drinks. Overnight my chalet companions were - Lizard in shower (fine), big spider, scorpion & millipede. I also came out in a heat rash overnight, which I thougt may be flees.
Wed Nov 19
Up early for Game Drive fro 6 to 10 am - Gilbert, an elephant who lost his tail to lions when young was roaming the camp, and a hippo was on the riverbank.
Game Drive 1 - we saw Hippos, Elephants, Thornicroft Giraffe, Crawshaii Zebra, Impala, Puku, Waterbuck, African Hunting Dogs **, Guines Fowl, White headed vulture, Fish eagle, Long tailed starling (irridescent blue), Carmine bee-eater, broad beaked roller, grey heron, sacred ibis, warthog, buffalo, crocodile, monitor lizard, Egyptian goose, African Golden Oriole, Oxpeckers, Plovers, Maribou Stork, wagtails, Crowned Crane and numerous small birds.
We`d already seen lots of animals in 3 hours and were approaching a T junction on a dirt park road whan a pack of African Hunting Dogs appeared at the junction. The Alpha Male was angry at us growling and snarling at the truck while the bitches and puppies stayed a little behind, then found a route back into the bush. Duncan, our guide, had not seen dogs for 4 months, so we were very lucky.
Game Drive 2 (4 to 8 pm)- in addition to many from morning, we saw cattle egrets, ring-tailed mongoose, lilac-breated roller, blackbuck, then after dark civet, genet, hyena, scrub hare, white tailed mongoose.
We`d just pulled up to see 2 juvenile hippos in a green weedy pond and a fish eagle had just landed in a nearby tree, when a herd of elephants came around the corner on our track and continued coming towards us. `Is this okay?` I said to Duncan with some concern as they got closer. He quickly started the engine and reversed into a clearing and turned the engine off to give them priority. We then sat there fairly motionless as the elephants walked past a few feet away with a brief sniff in our direction. They have poor eyesight, so will treat a truck of motionless tourists like a building. Nevertheless, it was a bit scary and quite an experience.
Thu Nov 20
Breakfast at 5:45 and on the road at 6:30 - dirt road back to Chipatta, bumpier than on the way in because of rain, then very long drive to Lusaka, but made good time, so Pete cooked (instead of planned pizzas). Lots of flying ants in camp and zebra raoming the site! Late night in the bar with Tim playing locals at pool.
Fri Nov 21
Long drive from Lusaka to Livingstone, including a very potholed section for about 30 miles nth of Livingstone. Note that there are only 4 main tarmac roads in Zambia - this is the T1. Arrived in camp around 5, on the banks of the Zambesi about 2 miles upstream fro the falls. Busy but organised site - were shown all of the activity options - I chose 15 min microlight flight over the falls ($115) and Lion encounter in Zimbabwe ($100). Have used all my US Dollars, so need to change old TCs into dollars at camp.
Sat Nov 22
Still cloudy & cooler, Laura and I were picked up at 8am for the short trip to the little airstrip. A microlight is like a 3 wheeledmotorbike with wings! Laura took off 5 minutes before me and was so excited, especially when she spotted Tim in the camp that they could here her shgouts and screams. Her poor pilot must have been deafened. We had microphones, ear cans, helmet and visor on and sit behind the pilot with legs astride him. The take off on a dirt strip in a 3-wheeler is scary but quick (50 yards), then it is really exhilirating as we bank and climb, spot elephants in the bush and hippo in the water. Victoria Falls is over 1 mile wide and drops into a gorge, although most of the water and main falls is on the Zimbabwe side. At this time of year the water is fairly low, but this means you canm see the bottom of the falls instaed of just a huge mist. They are still spectacular, with the gorges cut below the current falls the result of previous positions of the falls over past millenia. Pascal was my pilot as we swept along the falls circled over Victoria Falss village in Zimbabwe, then back along the falls. He pointed out various landmarks, a pool above the falls where swimming was okay if the watrewas low, hippos and a crocodile. The wind was picking up and the cloud was getting close, sp they would probably have to stop flying. The landing was fairly smooth considering the circumstances. Laura took photos of my landing, and we were both exhilirated by the whole thing.
In the afternoon the truck took us all down to see the falls - ioncluded in our package. We strolled around and took pics, but the Zambian side was a bit disappointing. Tim decided to do a Bunji jump from the middle of the bridge (one of his wedding presents). Catherine and Laura went with him, but I`d wandered to the upstream part of the falls. Back at camp, it rained, so we stayed in the bar and watched rugby.
I was up at 5:30 to find that there was no water to shower, but it was still raining and parts of the camp were awash. I was dropped at Zambian customs where they`d had a baboon raid, so it was a bit of a mess. The SAF PAR van was just through the gates so I didn`t have to walk the mile to Zim customs. I`d changed $100 TCs to USD at camp, so had the $55 for the Zim visa, so I was in Ziombabwe in minutes.
The ALERT Lion Encounter was about 4 miles out of Vic Falls Town, down a muddy track, and a German couple were in the van too, as they were doing the Elephant ride at the same place. It was still raining so wet feer was unavoidable. There were about 18 tourists and we were spilt into 2 groups - most of the other group were French - and given big rain jackets. Afetr a 5 minute splodgy walk, more local guides and two 13 month old lions joined us for the walk in the bush. As it was cool and wet the lions were very active running around and playing with each other. We had a stick each and were warned not to get too close while they were lively, but within about 15 minutes the rain had stopped, so we took our heavy rain gear off (which frightens the lions) and it was okay to get closer to them (but behind) and even touch them. Lions have por stamina, so soonthey had slowed and were having rests and it was okay to have photos with them, approaching from behind and stroking their backs. Most photos were with tyhe less adventurous male, as the femaile was more inclined to deviate off the path. These were 2nd generation lions in the process of taking orphaned or captive lions throuigh a process to get them stronger through cross breeding and back into the wild, which would happen to their offspring. around 2010. Lion populations have dropped to 15% in a century and inbred groups have short lives. This was yet another wonderful experienced, which finished with a good breakfast.
A ride to the falls (Zim side) went via the lavish Victoria Falls Hotel where the Germans were to have lunch. The econimic situation in Zimbabwe is very bad however. Tranport systems have disintegrated, so there are lots of people at the side of the roads trying to get lifts and many schools have closed through lack of funds. In August they devalued the Zim dolar by 10 zeroes, but a loaf of bread now costs 2 million, which is 2 weeks wages for many. The ATM limit is ZD 500,000 so it takes 4 trips to get a loaf of bread!
The falls on the Zim side were very good, as I spent 2 hours in the park taking pics and chatting to an Irish couple. I walked back over the bridge to Zambia which attracted locals wishing to sell or trade anything. I got a taxi back to camp, then it started to rain again.
Laura was back from rafting early having lost a contact lens and Rachel & Alison had had a good trip to a local village. Tim was badly sunburnt from rafting but was happy otherwise.
Another early start so we could get to Chobe for a morning game drive. Interesting ferry over the Zambesi into Botswana which could only take 1 large lorry and trailer & our truck. Game drive was very good for birds and okay for animals :- Impala, Kudu, both with red-billed oxpeckers as companions, Puku, Water Monitor, Warthog, Egyptian Goose, Banded Mongoose, Dung Beetle, Fish Eagle, Cattle Egret, Black Cuckoo then numerous birds we saw in more detail in the evening.
After lunch we went into Kasane for money and beer, then on to a River Cruise on the Chobe River, with Caprivi Strip in Namibia on the opposite bank. 14 tourists on a little craft - lucky it had a roof as it poured down for 15 minutes and we all got wet to some extent. Excellent for birds, hippos and crocs. A hippo chased the boat at one point ! We saw :- African Darter, African Skimmer,Crocs lying on the bank, lots of Hippo, Reed cormorant, Gt White Egret, Goliath Heron, Blacksmith Lapwing, Sacred Ibis, Red Lechwe (deer), Open-billed heron, African Jakarna (Lily Trotter), Spoonbill, Water Thicknee and many smaller birds.
Tue Nov 25
Another early start - on the road by 6 - for the long drive (650km) from Kasane to Nata to Maun. Saw ostrich and elephant in the morning, then a big elephant walking in the road near our lunch stop. We shopped in Maun, biggest town we`d seen for weeks, and more South African than 3rd world, then drove 8 miles south to camp, which included a crocodile farm! Good site with a bar and pool, but no internet.
Wed Nov 26
Had a 20 minute run down to the croc farm, the swim, breakfast and 7am pickup for Okovango Delta. It was a 90 minute drive on the back of a truck, with another group to a vilage on the delta bank. The next 2 hours was a delightful trip (but hot) in a makoro - a dug-out canoe, usually wooden but sime were fibreglass which takes 2 tourists and their gear and is powered by a poler - like a punt on the Thames or Cam. I was with Ingrid and our poler was oral. He told us about the current low water in the delta, the birds and animals in it as he poled us through the reeds and channels and eventually to an island where we were to spent the day and night.
The Okovango delta is fed from rivers flowing slowly down from Angola and is usually highest, and easiest for the polers in winter (Jun-Sep) several months after the rains fall in Angola. It is a mass of reeds containing painted reed frogs, water lilies, channels (with hippos) and islands. We had 6 mokoros - 4 for Exodus group, 1 for Pete, food and cooking gear and 1 for our tents and chairs. We got the tents up, dug a toilet hole 50 yds away and had an early lunch (11:30). It was very hot and Saulo, the local leader led us to a safe channel 600 yds away for a swim. The water was very clear with tiny fish, surrounded by reeds and water lilies - just waht we needed.
At 4, we went for an afternoon excursion - a 30 min mokoro ride to a big island via a hippo pool with hippo only about 870 yds away ! We split into 2 groups for the walk - I was in the slower group with Michael, Alison and Ingrid and we were all dressed in neutral greens and browns. We saw several animals including lion prints and lots of birds and were back in the mokoro at sunset, but no sign of the other group. We intended to wait for them at the hippo pool, but the hippo were looking threatening, so we continued on. T,C,L & R had a closer encounter with the hippos, 15 minutes behind us, nearly dark and got stuck in the reeds with grunting hippo close by. The polers put on a show of singing and dancing after dinner as the flies got more anoyinmg. We saw :- Red Lechwe, 1 elephant, 5 hippo, white breasted cormorant, reed cormorant, pied kingfisher, yellow-billed kjite, red-billed buffalo weaver, long-tailed shrike, gt white egret, maribou stork, grey go-away bird, blacksmith lapwing, bleating warbler (in camp) and various starlings.
Thu Nov 27
Early tame walk on the island - I`d rather have had a run. We stopped for a refreshing swim 5 minutes into the mokoro ride back to the mainland. On the truck an Oz girl from the Mikumi group asked if we were taking flights over the delta, and if we had spare room. Planes have to be hired as a whole and take 5 or 7 people, so we had booked 2 5-seaters for 8 of us @ $94 each, so technically had 2 places, but we`d already talked about taking Pete and Mike. I told her we may have space. When we got back to camp in Maun, the girl and a big load-mouth man came over with their tour guide to ask if they could take the 2 places, but we said "No, We`d like to just keep to our own group and pay the extra". This caused some friction, but we soon asked Pete and Emeus to come with us. In the end pete decided that getting our meals prepared for the next 2 days was more important.
The 45 min flight gave a superb view of the Okovango Delta with swampy reed beds and islands, but it was hot and not really possible to use the big zoom lens - lack of space and all too quick. We did see many elephant, hippo, & lechwe and some giraffe, zebra and buffalo. We had a trainee pilot in our extra seat and at the far end the pilot took control and flew very low (10ft) over a stretch of water then climbed and banked steeply out of it for the adrenaline junky (Laura !). I felt a bit queasy by the end of the flight.
Cath laughed as she was woken at exactly the right time (4:30), but the audible side-effects of malerone (malaria pills) emanating from Barry`s tent a few feet away ! We were on the road by 5:50 for the 900 km drive across the Kalahari via Ghanzi. We had to go through 4 Foot and Mouth checks at District Boundaries. This involves :- 1. Pete hides the meat - no raw meat allows to cross boundaries even though it was bought in Botswana supermarket and is plastic wrapped. 2. We colllect all of the shoes in the truck, get out and stand them and us on the DDT soggy mat. 3. Truck is either wheel sprayed or driven through a DDT ditch.
We had lunch in a sandy spot just off the road in the Kalahari Desert - there are scrubby trees, it is not all sand. It was extremely hot and a Secretary Bird flew overhead. However, getting back on the road was a problemas the truck got stuck in the sand.. Mike took metal tracks off the truck and laid them under the wheels, but still no good, so we all had to get out and push. From Kanye, we started to look for a bush camp spot, and after a few rejections, decided to go through a gate marked `Private Property` and set up camp 300 yds down the track, It was getting dark and we would be up early, so not much chance of being detected. It was actually a nice site with a big star-filled sky and few flies.
Sat Nov 29
We were back on the road by 6:30 and soon into Lobatse, where we filled up with diesel. Customs formalities into South Africa were easy, then we stopped at Zeerust at 8:30 to get money (ZAR500 = 33GBP). The roads in SA were busier but good and we were at the Rivonia Road Lodge at noon, and had our last Pete lunch in the car park - again very hot - about 33C. There was no internet at the lodge, so I checked out the local shops, but no luck - either closed or broken. I got more money, but one ATM would give 100 Rand ! We had our final group meal outside at a Ukrainian restaurant (big prawns with chips), and gave trip tips to Mike, Pete and Emeus. I needed yet more Rand to cover the Soweto tour next day, but when I went to the ATM it rejected my card, so I now had the problem of phoning Barclays UK to get it unlocked. I was also keen to track down a phone number for Betty`s son Chris in Joburg, but it was on gmail, so I was getting annoyed with `backward` South Africa !
Sun Nov 30
The Soweto Township Tour was a 5 hour drive initially to pick up at 2 other hotels, so we saw the smart northern suburbs around Wanderers before driving through the dodgy downtown HillBrow district. Our guide, Khosi was very enthusiastic and hardly stopped for breath. We saw Nelson Mandea`s current and previous house, Winnie Mandela`s house and Desmond Tutu`s house - most of them in the same street in Soweto. There was a good Soweto riots museum which were all about the schools revolting over being taught in Afrikaans rather than English in 1976 during the worst of the apartheid era. Soweto (short for South Wets Township) is now mostly little brick houses, there being little left of the shanties of tin from earlier days.
Back in Rivonia, We bought luch in the local supermarket, then all except Ingrid, went to the airport in the truck. Alison, Michael and Rachel were flying back to the UK while Tim, Cath and Laura went to find a nicer hotel near the airport. I stayed with the truck as the crew were going to Afica Centre Airport Hotel in benoni, where I took a nice room.
Mon Dec 1
I ran 5 miles before breakfast, then had a stroll to the local shops. S Africa is cheap - Sandwich, Cream Doughnut, 1 ltr coke, Mar bar and banana for 2 GBP. At airport check-in I had to go to the Sales desk as my RTW reference had changed. I forgot about the liquid laws and had to give away most of my cokde and throw bottles of water & sunscreen. I met up with T & C airside and had a drink with last rands. I had a window seat over the wing for the 9 hour overnight flight to Perth next to a Melbourne lady. There was a very good celestial view of Moon, Venus and Jupiter all close together.
The little quaranteen sniffer dog caught me importing a banana and an apple into Australia - could have been a A$200 fine, but I was let off ! I`d already dumped crisps and nuts before I got to customs - No food can be brought into Australia at all. I caught the airport shuttle bus into Perth YHA, so had a good tour of the city getting there. The YHA was full, so they suggested a small hotel round the corner (also full), but their sister `all suite` hotel had a room/suite, so I took it for 1 night @ A$184. It includes fridge, cooker and microwave, so I went shopping and ate in my room with a bottle of wine - a bit jet-lagged. I booked 2 nights at Bunbury YHA and then 2 in Perth YHA, so I now had nights sorted for a week.
Next morning, I ran/jogged 7.5 miles along the Swan River and back through Kings Park, including through the `free` Botanical Gardens. There were no cars for hire at Thrifty, so I went to Avis, and then there was nothing until noon. Perth is a really lovely green city built around the beautiful Swan River. The waterfront and Kings Park are particularly good. However, Perth is the most remote city in the world as it is 2700 miles (3 hours flight) to get to another city (Adelaide) and not much further to Singapore.
I had a gentle drive in a Toyota Camry automatic down through Fremantle to South Beach where I had a Fish & chip lunch - It was a cooler day - 22C. I took detours off the cost road to see Yalgorup NP, the delightful Harvey (inland) Estuary and Preston Beach - padddle in the Indian Ocean.. It was all very pretty and different with lots of eucalyptus trees and different sqawking birds, but no kangaroos. Coming back in 5 years and doing all of Australia in a campervan (accompanied) was already looking like a good idea !
I checked into the Bunbury YHA - a bit tatty but only A$40 per night for a room on my own. Most of the other people there were young and oriental. I walked around the area, past Bunbury Runners, down to the harbour area (beer stop), then found that the shops were all closed and most of the eateries wre BYO (bring your own alcohol), so I found a bar and had salad and a beer.
Thu Dec 4
This was a good day of driving around the South West Corner of Australia, and it was cooler with a few showers. In Busselton, I bought a danish for breakfast, an area map and posted cards and a small parcel at the Post Office. Dunsborough and Eagle Bay had empty beaches, good wading birds, peace and tranquility except for the flies. The Margaret River area has lots of wineries (vineyards). In the town, I had lunch in a cafe, then found a good intranet cafe where I reduced and uploaded my best photos. In Augusta, I bought beer (for later BYO use), petrol - very cheap at just over A$1 per litre (46p) and had a look at the south coast - my furthest point south. I took a quiet inland route (Sues Rd) back, where there was no traffic (about 6 cars an hour), but was slowed down a few times by kangaroo and emu in the road.
Fri Dec 5
The day strated with a nice 5 mile run around the lake and headland at Bunbury, then an hour at the Dolphin Centre, but there were no dolphins around. It was a clear blue day but with a cool breeze from the ocean. I took various detours to see the scenery and the wildlife on the drive back north. There were egrets, pelicans and black swans in the lake at Australind. At Brunswich Junction, where there is one train a day each way, when they are not repairing the line, I bought a sandwich. Above Harvey Dam, the flies descended upon me in seconds, so I ate the sandwich in the car. The last detour was along the shores of the Harvey Estuary south of Mandurah, then I took the quickest way back to Perth in order to book a trip for the next day. I had a twin en-suite at the YHA to myself and took beers to a Chinese BYO in town.
The tour to the Pinnacles NP, several hours north, left Perth at 8am. The first stop was Caversham Wildlife Park, in the outer suburbs of the city, where we fed kangaroos (including white ones bred from albinos) and saw wombat, koala and tasmanian devil. It was then a long ride in a comfortable `fur-lined` coach up to Cervantes with Steven, originally from Bath, then a tour guide in Africa for 4 years, giving ua a good informative commentary of the area and the road trains - lorries may have 3 trailers on these roads and can have up to 4 in the remoter areas of WA and NT.
We had a buffet luch at the wildflower shop, then a 15 minute drive to `The Pinnacles`, an area, only about 1 sq mile where limestone columns (pinnacles) had been eroded by vegetation, then exposed by the wind so were standing in the sand about a mile from the coast.. Most of the 35 people on the coach were Japanese, Chinese, Malays, but I chatted to David, an Irish oil and gasproduct manager, based in Longford (Ireland), who covered the Southern hemisphere. The orientals were clicking away takings lots of pictures of each other ! It was then a 90 minute drive back south again to Lancelin, a fishing village, where we had a brief stop at the beach, then headed for the sanddunes for sandboarding - like sledging down a big sanddune (i had 4 goes) - then a drive in a small 4WD coach over the dunes. It was then another 90 minute drive back to Perth, where I ate in the YHA bar.
Next morning I had a good (8 min miling) 4 mile run around Perth - Barrack St, then paths along the Swan River and back to the station and YHA. I couldn`t book the airport shuttle bus, so got a taxi, which was quick and only $5 more.
Sun Dec 7
There were only 35 passengers on the 110 seater flight to Ayers Rock (Uluru), so I had a good window seat to see the change in landscape from green in Perth to brown and empty within 10 minutes, then a view of the rock as we came into land. I checked into the Outlook Pioneer Lodge at Yulara (Ayers Rock Tourist Resort), and had a 4 berth room to myself. I tried to book on the Kata Tjuta and Uluru sunset, but it had just left, so booked the Eco Tours Uluru sunset trip. This turned out to be really good as there were just 5 of us and Jackie the guide/driver, while there were big coach loads on AATKings and other operators. We stopped at the standard coach sunset park for 15 minutes, then drove on to a closer spot where there were few people. Uluru is a huge red rock 1150 ft high and 6 miles around. Uluru sunset with Eco Tours cost A$45, then it costs $25 to enter the park - 3 day pass. It was a bit cloudy so the Uluru colours were good but not spectacular as we drank 2 bottles of Aus bubbly between us. Back at the lodge, I had a `cook your own` Outback BBQ of kangaroo kebabs, croc kebabs, emu sausages, beef sausages and salad, then a beer, the the entertainer got people singing.
Mon Dec 8
I`d set my alarm for 4:30, but woke several times in the night, then dozed after the alarm. I awoke suddenly at 5 am, when I should have been getting in the van, and was out of my bunk, dressed in yesterdays clothes, bottle of coke and bluberry muffins stuffed in my daypack and running through the site to the pick-up area in about 2 minutes. The Uluru Express 12 seater had started from the lodge without me, but came back after pickups at other hotels in the Yulara Tourist village - phew !!! There were only 7 of us and the driver. It`s a 40 mile drive to Kata Tjuta (the Olgas) with a viewpoint at 30 miles, where we arrived 15 minutes before sunrise, but just as the clouds in the east started to go through spectacular shades of red. It really was the most amazing sunrise I`ve ever seen, and with Uluru a distant shadow included.
Kata Tjuta is an area of some 36 mysterious dome shapes, the tallest being 1800 ft high. The largest of the Olgas are to the west, which is where the 2 walking options start, the road having done a big loop round to the south. The Valley of the Winds Walk is a really lovely stroll through and around the NW Olgas with good views of the others. As there were only about 10 of us on the walk at this time of day, it was easy to be alone with this natural wonder of rock, valeys, trees, streams and birds, although it did get hotter as the sky cleared and the sun got higher. We spotted a camel on the way there, and the driver stopped to pick up and show us a little `thorny devil` - a lizard like thing about inches long, but with big spines all over its back. I took it easy for the rest of the day, swimming, shopping, cooking. In the afternoon 2 Norwegian guys and an Aussie girl moved into the dorm. Rebecca had come from Brisbane via Sydney, but her luggage got left in Sydney !
Tue Dec 9
The Uluru Express left at 4:45 and I was there in running kit, small camera in bumbag and camelback water bottle strapped to me. I met Dave and Rob on the way - English and both had done London Marathon. The clouds were in the wrong place for a good sunrise, so no magical colours on Uluru. We saw the sunrise from the viewpoint, then drove to Mala carpark. I jogged the around Uluru Base, taking numerous photos of caves, rock features and dry waterfall courses, and had enough time to do the detour to Katju Gorge - total 7.5 miles - before catching the 8am minibus back. I had a flight to catch.
Tue Dec 9
Arrived in Sydney 20 minutes early. Dianne had arranged for her friend Annie to pick me up and take me direct to the University where Dianne was involved in organising a `Human Rights` presentation. I had to help navigate! When I arrived, I was immediately co-opted as reserve photographer for the event, so took numerous shots of Robert McClelland - a senior minister. This was followed by a very nice meal with numerous ex-labour politicians and more photos. I sat next to Ginette McHugh who was delightful - one of the first female ministers and now 74. When we got home I walked the dog, then had Ellies room.
Wed Dec 10
Dianne was up very early to collect David from the airport. It was a domestic dull damp day - I drove D & D into city for a lunchtime function and they returned later with Ellie. In the evening David went off to meet up with his sons, while we picked up Tom Uren from Balmain and drove to Bruce`s house in Edgecliff in the eastern suburbs for a book launch about Doc Evatt - a post-war labour prime minister who got the Declaration of Human Rights through the UN 60 years ago. I was photographer for the evening function, so another free meal (buffet). More labour politicians!. Tom had been an MP in 1954 under Doc Evatt. I drove us all home. During the day the spot on my left elbow, which I`d had for months swelled up!
Thu Dec 11
I drove David into the city for a company AGM, then took Soot (the dog) for a 6 mile run around the bay (Iron Cove) in fine drizzile - excellent for running. After a slow start, he was okay at 9 minute miling. Dianne had organised a doctors appointment for me, so I had 20 mins to recover and get up to the doctors - `Olecranon Bursitis` - try not to knock it and get a blood test when you get home in Feb - may be gout related! Eventaully had breakfast at noon. In the evning we had free tickets to IMAX to see U2 in a 3D `coexist` Buenos Aires concert, which was very good (more human rights !), then back home for a meal.
Fri Dec 12
Drove David into city for Board Meeting - he is now a director. Dianne, Ellie, Soot and I drove to the eastern suburbs, as they had to get their Thai visas, then we continued onto Bondi in the rain. It was a foul day, so a quick photo of D&E at Bondi Beach was followed by strudel cafe. We dropped Ellie in town for cimena, and while Dianne went for 20 min shop, I took the dog for a stroll. We couldn`t find the exit to the street, so went through the shops and down the escalator - poor dog was quaking. It was pouring down outside, so we returned via the car entrance. In the evening Dianne & Ellie had a kids carol concert near Australia Square, so David and I drove around the city trying to park then gave up and found a pub in Wooloomooloo and got soaked just getting from car to pub.
Sat Dec 13
The wind had swung around to the west, so it was a nice warm day. A 5 mile run with Soot, mainly off the lead was slow and sweaty. David dropped Ellie and I and the Central YHA, where I booked a 5 day backpackers tour of Tasmania for Dec 20-25 and nooked the Melbourne-Hobart flights. We then went to the Central Railway Station to book the train to Melbourne for Dec 18, then cought a train to Circular Quay. Ellie was my 12 year old tour guide for a few hours. We got the ferry to Manly, a great way to see the best of Sydney, with fine view of the city, harbour bridge, opera house, ocean liners, sailing boats, headlands, little beaches etc. Sydney really has the most stunning scenery of any city in the world. In Manly, we strolled along the concourse which links the inland harbour with the big surfing beach. Ellie chose some new red sunglasses, and we had ice creams, sitting on the steps to the beach. I was amazed that Sydney had all of the excellent scenes in the harbour, then Manly Beach too. With a ferry and a bus, we were back before 4:30, as Ellie had a party to go to. Tony, her father arrived to take her, so Dianne had to have a photo of her and the 3 men in her life over 3 decades - her 30s, 40s, 50s, which amused us all. Doona and Phil (English friends of Miriams now working in Sydney) arrived and we drove to Cremorne Point for a lovely but windy sunset picnic with super view of Sydney across the water.
I borrows Dianne`s mid-sized backpack for the 2 night trip to the Blue Mountains, and was dropped at Central Station for the 10:18 (hourly service) to Katoomba - a 2 hr journey for just $12. It was a nice peaceful journey through suburbs with familiar names - Stanmore, Patersham, Lewisham, Croydon - then Parramatta, Penrith and into the mountains. Near Katoomba Station, I found an adventure company doing abseiling & canyoning a day for $150, so went back and booked it after lunch and checking into the best YHA I`ve been to. Around 3:30, I set off for a local walk along the cliffs around Katoomba. The Blue Mountains is a magical area for walking, climbing abseiling etc. The towns, roads and railways run along the top of the plateau and ridges and are surrounded by cliffs and canyons which drop over 1000ft into the forest below. There are good walks in the woods just below the rim with numerous lookouts. Leura cascades nd falls are good, then I turned back, saw numerous big parrots, lyre birds and smaller birds and eventually sawthe `Three Sisters`, 3 columns of rock off a headland and the No 1 attraction in the area. I continued on the Katoomba Falls (a trickle), but it was getting late, so strolled back the the YHA, and shopped for beer and food supplies - Supermarket open until midnight on a Sunday. I cooked a pizza and had a beer, and was expecting to have a relaxing read in the lounge, but young French and Germans came and sat near me and got chatting, joking and eventually playing guitar and singing. Clement was 24, from Paris and was intending to spend a year in Australia - he had a work visa, but his English needed improving, but he was funny. Young Europeans are flooding into Australia on one year work visas to do farmwork, fruit picking etc. The Katoomba YHA is a smart 1930`s building with a big eating and lounge area, each bed also has a locker and facilities and staff and really very good.
Mon Dec 15
Ian was our leader for a day of adventure - a Scot, born in Australia with an English accent ! Brian and his 12 year old daugher May were just doing the morning abseiling, while Frederick, a Swedish Salesman (tobacco industry) was doing the whole day with me. We were kitted out with harnesses, wetsuits, helmets, two 40 metre ropes and a coolbox (eski) of food for lunch, then we drove out to the Narrow Neck Plateau for the morning abseiling. I was the only complete novice, but the other had not done much. We started with a 5 metre (16 ft) sloping rock in order to get used to the harnesses, caribiners, figure of 8, ropes etc and get confident leaning back on the rope. 2 quick descents, then onto a 15 metre (50 ft) cliff, with the last 3 metres overhanging. We were descending in pairs for these hsort ones, and I had no trouble with the height - the 15 metre drop onto a 2 metre ledge then dropped a long way into the forest below. I was enjoying this and wondering why I hadn`t done it before. We then moved onto a 30 metre (100 ft) drop with the top 5 metres of uneven rock then an overhang down the the ledge below. We now had to go solo (not enough rope), so I wnet first and was amazed at the views of the rocks and crevices, then the forst way below and the big view and I twisted round on the rope. It was then a scramble back up the the top. On my second go, I slipped and got my foot caught under the rope and was hanging upside down with my weight squashing my foot, but then managed to get free and continue down. We took photos of each other while abseiling.
We dropped Brian and May back in Katoomba, then went to Wentworth Falls, where we had lunch first, then packed our gear into backpacks for the stroll down into the forest, gorges, canyons, rivers and waterfalls below. We reached a spot to enter the water, and put wet suits, helmets and harnesses on. The water in the canyon stream was not high, generally a foot or so and between 4 and 10 ft wide as it tumbed over rocks and the canyon walls got higher and darker. We were walking down the deepest part, then you can`t slide off into any deeper water and were sometimes up to our waists. Then we came to the first `jump` - the waater level dropped about 8 ft into a circular pol with smooth sided walls many feet high. Ian said the water was only about 5 ft deep, so the safest thing to do was stand on the rock by our knees with back to the water and jump `backwards and outwards` to land in the water on our back !! I went forst - wow, what fun, though I forgot to close my eyes as I hit the water, but the contact lenses were okay. A few forward jumps in deeper water followed, the waterproof packs on our backs acting as buoyancy aids. Within 20 to 30 minutes, we were at the final challenging point - a 30 metre abseil down Empress Falls - a bit scary after my slip in the morning. I made a bit of a mess of it by losing my footing on the slimy rock early on and sliding down the rock face with the waterfall pouring on top of me, then getting my legstangled in the ropes in the pool at the bottom - great fun though. Ian then showed how to do it by bouncing down the falls in about 15 seconds. An eastern Water Dragon came to investigate us as we stripped off our wetsuits at the bottom. In the evening, I had take-away fish & chips in the YHA, then chatted to Clement, Guillaume abd Caroline. Clement had booked abseiling and canyonning for the next day.
Tue Dec 16
I had a long days walk in the rain forest below Katoomba. Passing the abseiling area - Narrow Neck, butterflies and annoying flies - I descended via Golden Stairs, which were steep and could be difficult if wet. The path through the forest to the `Ruined Castle` was shady and delightful. At one more open area of silvery trees, there were lots of `chime bell` noises above - couldn`t see any birds, so maybe they are tree frogs ?? The Runied Castle is a rocky ridge, the remains of the join from Narrow Neck to Mt Solitary, and I climbed to the top for the view and photos. After a lunch stop, I returned along the path, then continued on passed `Landslide`, Scenic Railway and 3 Sisters to the Giant Stairway - a 900 step ascent back up to the plateau. I had to rush back to the YHA and the station to catch the 17:23. In the evening, Dianne and I went to visit 2 of her local pubs.
Wed Dec 17
I took Soot for an early morning 5 mile run over Anzac Bridge, past the Fish Market and then around Rozelle Bay - a good run but my right foot was sore from the abseil incident. In the afternoon, I caught a bus to Circular Quay to do some sightseeing, wandered around the harbour, up to Observatory Hill, then up the SE Tower of Sydney Harbour Bridge. The view from the tower is very good and photogenic ($9.50) and very good value compared to the Bridge Climb at $150, where no cameras are permitted. A big ocean liner was just backing out of Darling Harbour while I was there, and when I crossed the bridge 20 minutes later, it sailed right beneath me, heading out to sea passed the Opera House full of people on deck cheering. I eventually met up with Dianne at the Diving School on Military Rd - Ellie had been doing her 4th Open water PADI dive and final exams (100% !). We then went to a Japanese Restaurant with Alison and Edward for an amazing meal involving about 8 courses cooked in front of us with the entertainment of some bowls and food being `thrown` at us. Dianne got raw egg all down her front !
Thu Dec 18
I caught the 07:45 train to Melbourne via Strathfield, Campbelltown, Moss Vale, Goulburn, Yass Jct, Harden, Cootamundra, Junee, Wagga Wagga, The Rock, Henty, Culcairn, Albury (NSW-Vic border), Wangaratta and Benalla. The engine developed a fault which resulted in the breaks coming on automatically, so it became a stop/start journey for a while, and took 13 hours instaed of 11.5. Nice comfortable journey with rolling scenery, but saw nothing interesting. Got tram to YHA, but only had $20 note, so didn`t pay. Checked in then found a local pub which had a quiz in progress. When the barrel needed changing, a rather small trap door with steep stairs was opened behind the bar and the 2 small blond barmaids descended. When it seemed to be taking a while, it led to the obvious comment - Is it the blond leading the blond ?
Had no food for breakfast, so went to local supermarket with Que, a 22yo Korean guy - we had almost identical camera equipment. It was a day of strolling around Melbourne, which felt too English to me especially the Yarra River (similar to the Thames), with boat houses along the bank, then the Botanical Gardens - free and not as good or extensive as Kew, but most of the birds have oppposite colours to home. However, Melbourne does have a good Tram system, a very good cheap Queen Victoria Market - cherries at $4 per kilo (though $5 or $6 for best quality), a Eureka Sky Tower - only $14 with YHA discount from which you get a very good view of the city and the area. I then continues on through Albert Park, which has a big lake with lots of Black Swans (opposite colour again) and down to St Kilda - the local beach and trendy place to be. The kite surfers there were very impressive. I got a tram back to the YHA in Nth Melbourne, ate at the YHA, and had a couple of drinks in the local pubs. There is still lots to do in Melbourne on future visits.
Next morning, I caught the free shuttle bus around the corner from the YHA, then the airport bus to catch the flight to Hobart. It was full of families.
Tasmania is a heart shaped island of widerness hanging below the Australian State of Victoria. At 26,410 sq miles, 226 miles from north to south and 190 miles from east to west, it is similar in size to Scotland, yet there are only 500,000 people there and over half of them live in Hobart and the other towns on the Derwent Estuary. 37% of the island is officially National Park Wilderness, especially the much wetter west. Most of the towns and villages have English names - Launceston, pronounced as spelt, is the 2nd city with 100,000 people and is on the River Tamar !, while Devonport (22,000) is the main ferry port to Melbourne. Southport, Ulverstone, Sheffield, Dover, Swansea, St. Helens, Kingston, Richmond and Cambridge are other small towns. The roads are mostly undulating (hilly) and twisty and the 4 railway lines now only run freight. Fishing, Yachting Baot Building and Farming (Fruit, Sheep and Cattle) are the main industries, though mining especially in the west was big business a century ago. Hobart was the 2nd penal colony after Sydney, so there is a lot of 19th century history and many of the towns have hardly moved on. Tasmania is largely an unspoilt land of forests, mountains (up to 5000 ft), lakes, rivers and waterfalls with wallabies, wombats, possums, echidna and lots of birds to be seen and sometimes tasmanian devils, platypus and poisonous tiger snakes. It is a paradise for walking, climbing and canoeing.
When I arrived arrived in Hobart, I was so impressed by Mt Wellington hovering over the city, though it had been shrouded in cloud for many days before my arrival. At 3:30 pm, I walked out of town towards the mountain to get a good view of the city, harbour and estuary etc, but turned around after 5 miles probably less than half way to the summit. At the YHA, I met Rainer who had just completed the Cradle Mountain to Lake St Claire Overland Walk in 7 days - I`d love to do it, but only 50 people a day are permitted to start, so it is booked up for months ahead. We went out for fish and chips down near the harbour then a beer, though the city streets were very quiet.
Sun Dec 21st
I was picked up at 7:30 for the `Under Down Under famous 5 Day Tour of Tasmania`. there were 18 of the bus, and 10 on a 2nd bus. Rob, our driver appeared grumpy at first but was very informative with a dry sense of humour. My fellow travellers were Alana, a nurse from Aberdeen, Reika (Ned), 3 overweight Irish girls, Mark a noisy opinionated Dutchman, Martin, also Dutch but living over the border in Germany, Kevin and Janet, a young Canadian couple, Stefan & Natalie - Californian Jews, Lynn from Taiwan, Cheris (known as Mama Malaysia) and her daughter Pei, Po from Hong Kong and masami and Haru from Japan. Except for Stefan, Natalie and Cheris who were all 50 and myself, they were all between 20 and 30 and mostly on one year Australian work visas. After a stop in the `preserved 19th century town` of Ross, we drove to the beautiful Freycinet Peninsula. We had 3.5 hours to explore the area, which included a pass between mountains to see the picturesque Wineglass bay, then descend down to it`s beach. I (and 4 other hardy walkers) then continued onto the Isthmus path to Promise Bay, a lovely long sheltered beach, where I waded in the water to my thighs, but resisted a swim. The walk back around the headland was a nice forest track, but we were rushed to get back in time. No worries as Mama malaysia was struggling back from the pass with dodgy knees. At Bicheno, we stopped for food and 6 of us agreed to shop and eat together, which resulted in the cost being $2.50 each! I took on the job of finding the bottle shop and getting the beers. later in the evening 9 of us went on a trip ($15) to see Fairy Penguins comong ashore and waddling up the tracks and over the rocks to their burrows. They are only about 1 ft high and come ashore at the same place each evening. They cannot close their eyelids, so flash photography is banned.
Mon Dec 22
We had 3 stops close to Bicheno - a rocky promontary where the biggest waves spouted through a blow hole, a local hill/headland where there were old whaler lookouts, and a wildlife park, where we strolled for 90 minutes including feeding time and saw, cockatoos, tasmanian devils, wombat, kangaroo, deer, koala, tiger snakes and numerous varieties of parrots and other birds. After a brief shop stop at St helens, we arrived at the Bay of Fires (rolls for lunch), where we clambered on the rocks taking photos of each other, the rocks and the crashing waves. Afternoon stops included the `pub in the paddock` - a pub which was also a farm in the middle of nowhere where you could buy `big beer` (slops), and feed it to the pigs, then we visited St Columba Falls and Ralph Falls. In Launceston, the food sharing increased to 8 as the Malaysians joined in, and the 3 Irish girls and Reika finished their part of the tour. The bus incorporates people on 3,5,6 and 7 day tours, starting and finishing in Hobart or Launceston.
Tue Dec 23
We changed to a different bus and a new driver, Tony, and picked up 7 new people - Marieka (20, German), Marco (24, Dutch Primary school teacher), Isaac (HK), Heidi and Emilie (Belgian), then Jenny (19, Tunbridge Wells) as Deloraine. Tony dropped us at a chocolate factory and went to pick up Kelly (Dutch) from Devonport. The strong walkers (including me) were keen to get to Cradle Mountain National Park in order to have a really good walk, as it was a really lovely blue sky day, but it had taken a long time to sort out the change of bus, shop at Deloraine (now 12 for dinner), and do the pickups, so it was 2pm by the time we got there. Tony was jovial and chatty, but was rather pedantic taking us to campsite/cabins and the information centre and explaining everything.
The walk started from the car park at 2:30, with 5 of us keen to get to the top, and most of the others going at least to marions Lookout. I set a good pace, then Jenny took over when we stopped for photos, and we were at the lookout in less than an hour. Group photos followed, the Mark, Martyn, Marco, Mareika and I decided to go for the summit, but turn back at 5:15, the last bus being 8:20. Stefan was with us for a while, then took a different route back. It was great to be out walking in such super mountains on a perfect day, with lakes, forests and mountains varying from jagged ridges to flat-topped conical lumps. at this point we were on the famous Overland Track to Lake St Clair, which takes at least 5 days. Unfortunately the authorities only allow 50 people a day to start the Trek, so it is fully booked months ahead, size of campsites being a restricting factor.Marco and I pushed ahead as the terrain got steeper, continuing straight up onto the scree where the official path deviated right. It was good to be doing some rock climbing, but when we got to the top at 4:55, there was no easy way to progress along the ridge to the real top, so we descended back down the bounders and scree, which I realy enjoyed, but Marco`s lack of experience showed. The other 3 had followed the official path, and we soon found Martyn who had wimped out when it got steeper. As the unofficial group leader, I was concerned that Mark and Mareika had gone on to the top when it was getting rather late for turning around, so Marco and I continued up to find them. It was 6 pm by the time they got back to our high waiting point, so we had to get moving to get the last bus. We took the Face Path, running below the Cradle Mountain spiky ridge, then a steep path down to a small lake. Suddenly Marco, leading, stopped and turned. He had accidentally stood on the head of a juvenile tiger snake which was now writhing around on the ground in its death throws. Had his foot landed inches either side he could have been bitten by the 4th most poisonous snake in the world ! I took its photo and Mark found a stick to flick it into the bushes, the we continued on, but with rather more care. We reached the shore of Dove Lake at 7:30, and I decided to jog back to make sure that at least I got the bus (Tony could come to the rescue if required), but they made it with 10 minutes to spare. We saw ombats near the car park, the a wallaby with baby and a possum at the cabins. The cabin accommodation was excellent with facilities almost to ourselves.
Wed Dec 24
Western Tasmani is wild and remote with a scattering of old bleak mining towns and associated railways. The roads are particularly twisty and Tony was enjoying throwing the bus around like a rally car. We had short stops at Lake Mackintosh Dam and Rosebery, then a walk along an old tram/rail line to Montezuma Falls and a steel wire foot bridge which some of the timid one negotiated carefully - a good spot for photos. After anotehr stop at Zeehan, voted the ugliest town in Tas, we progressed to the coast and Henty Dunes - Huge sand dunes about 50 metres high, several miles along the cost and a mile or so wide where we climbed/staggered, strolled along the top then ran back down. In strahan, we booked at the Fish Cafe for the evening meal, then went to the Backpackers Hostel - a collection of dorms and facilities. We did have our own lounge/kitchen. Strahan (pronounced Strawn) is a small fishing and nautical town in the corner of Macquarie Harbour, one of the largest natural harbours in the world, and the Gordon River Estuary. It is the only town on the west coast of tasmania, so was the port and acces route for the mining towns inland. After a nice Christmas Eve meal in the Fish Cafe - I shared an excellent Seafood Platter with Janet, we found that the only pub in town, across the road, had already called time at 10:15 - still rather Victorian around here ! We discovered that there was another bar/bottle shop a mile or so around the bay, so dashed there before it closed to stock up with Xmas Party drinks. Back at the hostel, most of us gathered in our lounge, and drank, chatted and sang a bit into the small hours.
Thu Dec 25
A long days driving across the wilds of West Tasmania to Hobart with numerous small breaks. Queend town, an ugly but partly restored mining town surrounded by bar yellow hills and mining slag heaps stripped of all vegetation by the serious chemical polution from the mines. This area was a startling eyesore in the middle of a beautiful green wilderness. Tony drove around all the main streets to see if anything was open on Christmas morning ! Soon we were up the hills, over Lake Burbery and into the wilderness National parks. The A10 Lyell Highway is the only road cutting through the these National Parks which stretch from the South Coast up to the `C` road north of Cradle Mountain - 180 miles in total. Nelson Falls - a 10 minute stroll through the forest to a Wedding Cake of a falls. then Franklin River Nature Trail, a 15 minute loop along a bubbling river trying to find Platypus, was followed by a quick photo stop of 3 pyramid shaped mountains - Mt King William I, II and III. A short drive from Derwent Bridge is the Visitors Centre at Lake St Clair, the end of the Overland Track from Cradle Mountain where we stopped for lunch (included in the package every day), and a stroll along the waters edge. It was a lovely, but quite busy spot with day trippers and finishing overlanders - Kevin and Janet were luck enough to find an echidna on their stroll.
Tony took a short cut on a dirt road - flatter and quieter, but even more into rally modde. A brief stop in Ouse, then across to Mt Field National Park for a walk in the forest, with some giant trees, 2 waterfalls then cherries and Xmas Cake for tea. I manages to phone Neil on the outskirts of Hobart while he was having breakfast. In Hobart, we needed to find food and while dropping off around town found that the Vietnamese in Salamanca Place was the only real option. At the YHA I met Bob, who looked like an old soak, with beer in hand, but it was Xmas Day. He was from Milwaukee, had been retired 13 years and was doing 3 months around Oz.
Fri Dec 26
I dozed on the flight back to Melbourne. The airport coach incorporates a free shuttel to any accommodation in Melbourne, so I was at the YHA by 11 am, and booked into an 8 dorm room. I was also lucky to book a 2 day Great Ocean Road and Grampians tour finishing in Adelaide to start next day. Later I took a tram to the MCG as the Boxing day Test was on between Australia and South Africa, but decided that $36 for the last session was a lot, so sat outside watching the big screen with commentary for an hour. On the way back I walked around docklands area - much is still under development, like London Docklands a few years ago.
Sat Dec 27
Wildlife Tours is run by Bill who picked up 4 of us from the YHA. I took a good seat by the door and became the main assistant, Bill being amused that I was older than him. The 23 on the trip (8 men and 15 girls) included 5 Italians, several Spaniards, Dutch & German. Carmen (Peru) in the front, worked in Sydney, Jenny from Middlesborough but working for RBS in Hong Kong and Doris (Singapore) were not on 1 year Aussie working visas like most of the others. One girl needed toilet stops often - Triimu from Estonia, but was okay on Day 2. We had numerous short stops at which it became my job to get them back in the bus on time and check we were all there. The Great Ocean Road was built from 1918 to 1932 (same time as Sydney Harbour Bridge) with basic explosives and basic tools and is quite a feat of engineering, as well as being very scenic. Bells Beach was good for surfing, Lorne had a memorial arch and statue of the workers and at Kennet River we saw koalas in the trees. At Apollo Bay, we stopped for lunch - Fish & Chips - the order having been phoned ahead., then I walked on the beach with Carmen and Jenny. The road and beaches were busy with holidaymakers, but it was good scenery. At Mait`s Rest in the Otway Rainforest. we had a guided walk through the ancient trees, some giant and some with amazing root systems. The Twelve Apostles are giant limestone stacks (now only 8) on the beach below high cliffs, but it was like the Great Wall of China on the viewing areas with hordes of people mostly orientals taking photos of each other! The Loch Ard Gorge & beach were very good with a small sandy bay surrounded by cliffs and caves with a narrow gorge out to sea, and a tragic shipwreck story to fit the scene. Next came London Bridge - a promontory which had two arches but one collapsed in the 1990s leaving an eloped couple stranded !
Bill was a superb guide with an in-depth knowledge and interest in the area (where he grew up) and in Australian History. He spoke at lenght about the Great Ocean Road. the ecology and the history with lots of discussion on the aborigines. Late in the day, we turned inland and into the Grampians, a range of rugged mountains rising to 3500 ft, where we drove up through to Halls Gap. We stayed in an old house (Ned`s Other Beds), watched kangaroos on the cricket pitch and played a Black Stories game.
Sun Dec 28
A morning touring aroung 3 sights in the Grampians - Boroka and Reid`s lookout, then McKenzie Fals. Rachel, Serena (Swiss sisters) and I then transferred to a luxury coach for the rather boring journey to Adelaide.
John met me from the coach, and after a brief tour around the city, drove to his mothers house in Tusmore. It was a large 1920s house with 6 bedrooms and 3 toilets and could have accommodated 30 if it were a hostel. I was given a room upstairs. John`s mother Kath is an extremely active fit woman of nearly 80 who plays golf several times a week and is happy to talk about anything.
Mon Dec 29
John and I had a 5 mile run in the morning, then a lte breakfast watching the cricket. We got the bus down to Norwood to find a medical centre so that I could get my elbow swelling checked out - it does not hurt, so it is not gout, take anti-inflammatories and don`t knock it and it should go down in 2 weeks. We then went into Adelaide where we had a walk around the city, some museums and shops and bought wine. We were invited to John`s brother Paul`s for dinner, in a large house in the hills with a big view of the Adelaide area. Paul runs a building company and they have 5 children. Patrick (17) and Tim (16) are vert sporty and we set up a possible race with them for Wednesday. Tim was very interested in my travels in Africa.
Tue Dec 30
It was quite a fun day of touring around the Adelaide Hills, wine tasting in McLaren Valley and seeing the braches and coast south of Adelaide with John and his brother Peter. Peter is a civil engineer managing road building projects, split up with his wife a year ago, and is good fun to be with. In the evening, we had a nice meal at home with Kath, with several bottles of wine, and talked until 2 am.
Wed Dec 31
Tim and Patrick had other commitments, so the little race was off. John and I had a tough 8 mile run up to Waterfall Gully (below Mt Lofty) and I ran hard up the long hill. Later in the afternoon, we walked down to Peters cottage (1.5 miles), used his PC, then had a drink in the local. John and i had no plans for new year, unlike others, so after cooking steak and sharing a bottle of wine, we tried to get a bus into the city. The only baus we saw in Norwood was full and would not stop, so we went back to Peters local. It was a nice real pub, but we were rather older than most. After 3 (short) pints and midnight, we strolled back through Norwood, got ice creams at a garage, then back to Tusmore, the roads now suddenly being busy.
I`d booked a flight from Adelaide for 1330 to Brisbane changing in Sydney as it was the cheapest during the middle of the day, but the QF plane failed an inspection so was very late, so I was switched to the direct flight at 1530. I caught the train from the airport to Roma Street, Brisbane and walked up the hill to the YHA, which I`d booked while in Adelaide - just as well as it was full. I had no food, so went out for a walk to the city, over the Brisbane River to the Southbank, then back across into the city centre. It was very quiet until I reached the city centre, then there were plenty of cafes on the mall. I had a chicken and mango salald and a beer, but couldn`t find a Queensland beer on draught. I realised that I`d had a local beer in every Australian State except Queensland - Redback (and probably others) in WA, NT in NT, Touhy`s in NSW, Carlton and VB in Vic, Boags and Cascade in Tas, Coopers in SA. There was no XXXX on draught ! On the way back I found a cycle track along the river - Australia is very well provided for with respect to sports and fitness.
Fri Jan 2
While I was staying with John, he`d contacted Bruce, who had run for Dulwich a few times on a UK visit in 2005, and Bruce and his (new) wife Liz agreed to put me up for Jan 2. After a 5 mile run along the river - cycle track to Bot Gdns, then footbridge over to Southbank etc, I phoned Bruce and he picked me up near Roma St Sta. Bruce and Liz live in a bungalow in Oxley about 30 mins drive South West of the city. They both run and Bruce, now 40, was a good steeplechaser (9:05), but is now more involved with coaching and assiting a blind paralympian, Gerrard, and officiating. We went to Mt Coot-tha, the highest local hill to get a good view of the city amd have some luch, then drove north to Redclif, a seaside town north of the airport. We strolled on the pier and beach and had ice creams. In the evening Liz drove with us into the Southbank where she often trains and we found a pub/restaurant. The Southbank is a lively place to go in the evening, with the river, restaurants & bars, trees and gardens, arty stalls, pool, Nepalese pagoda a,d further downstream cliffs and youths having picnics and little parties. Paul Flynn joined us for drinks and a walk and it all felt calm and leisurely.
I was up at 5 as Bruce was doing a time-trial session with Gerrard at the University on the way to dropping me off at the airport. There was a lot of activity and the University grounds at 6:30 am. Liz was running a 15k training session with a big group, there were several groups of rowers just getting boats out and there were lots of cyclists gathering. Gerrard is quite amazing. The time-trial was over 600 metres, but he has run marathons and ultras including one of 13 days ! His paralympic event is 1500m, but he is planning to step up to marathon for London 2012. I helped with the timing - 1:37 for 600m. Bruce dropped me at 7:30 for the 9am flight to Auckland. I`d had no breakfast, so got Singapore Fried Noodles - the shortest queue - then didn`t need much of the in-flight meal.
The 3 hour flight to Auckland incurred a 3 hour time difference and getting into NZ involved lengthy queues at Customs and at Quarantine, so it was 5pm by the time I was on the bus to the city. The Auckland International THA is one of the best with extra basement lounge, TV room, pool room in addition to big kitchen/diner area and good laundry. I was in a 4 berth with Brad, who had just arrived from Seattle, but his luggage was still in LA! Round the corner from the YHA is a whole row of Oriental shops for food,groceries, drinks & internet, so I got a pizza and bottle of wine, and ploughed through books and guides of NZ to plan the next 5 weeks as I consumed both. Brad and a gentle old Japanese lady helped a bit.
Sun Jan 4
A 7 mile run before breakfast was a good way to see some of Auckland, which is a bit like a small version of Sydney, with a harbour bridge, ferry terminal and high rise downtown, but the container port is close by and extensive, the harbour and its finders and bays are even wider and downtown slopes uphil quite quickly and steeply. I sorted out laundry and emails, then walked down to the city and caught a ferry to Devonport, an affluent suburb on the north bank of the harbour with a couple of grey warships on the banks. The views of Auckland from the ferry were good. It`s a long way over the harbour bridge and around the bays and inlets to get to Devonport by road, but less than 15 minutes across by Seacat - like Torpoint and Plymouth. The local hill is called Mount Victoria and commands a 360 degree panorama of the area of islands, bays, headlands, ferries, yachts and towns. It was a beautiful warm summy day to relax for a while with great scenery.
At the downtown Info Centre, a loady told me about a really good Magic Bus deal (just for this week), so I checked it at the YHA and booked the Northern Adventure and got the Southern Discovery for $1, total $570 (about 230 GBP) for both islands, so I`m leaving for the Bay of Islands in the morning. In the evening, I dressed in my best (only) shirt as Nick Bell and his girlfriend Jenny were picking me up for an evening meal (paid for by my very good friend and Nick`s Dad Bob). We went to a nice Italian in Parnell and caught up on events in recent years - I`ve known Nick since he was 7, but hardly seen him since he went off to Uni.
The Magic Bus is a flexible tour bus system, which goes to all main tourist places in NZ. You book a route or routes around 1 or both islands, arrange pick up the day before or earlier, usually at the daily starting points, but it can be en route. The drivers can arrange accommodation and book you for activities too, and the buses detour to the best places. It is an excellent way of seeing NZ for singles, but does not have the complete flexibility of a campervan. Tony was the driver on the journey from Auckland to Bay of Islands (in the north) with 23 on board, as we went over Auckland Harbour Bridge and up the Northern Highway, passed scenic bays and up big hills formed by the many old volcanoes to Warkworth - breakfast stop. Just out of town, we stopped again to stock up with peaches, strawberries and local oranges (Tangelos) at a layby. At Whangerei, we dropped 2 people and picked up 2 others. The Paihia YHA was full, so Tony booked 4 of us into the Bay Hostel next door, which had a pool and was 100 yards from the beach. We arrived in Paihia at 1:30, so I had an afternoon to see as much as possible. The Magic Drivers give a commentary on the journey, including all the activities which you can do at the destination (or at planned stops on the way). I decided that a couple of hours kayaking would be good in this beautiful area of islands and boats, so followed Tony`s advice and asked for Dan at the kayak store. He had a day off, so another Tony and his wife gave me a good deal - $30 for 2 hours in her own really nice stable kayak which had a rudder too. I put my small camera, wallet etc in a dry bag in a covered compartment, then was off for my first ever sea kayaking, though I had done lots on rivers and lakes. There were 3 fairly close islands, which became 4 at high tide, and I circumnavigated these with a few beach stops - really delightful but a bit of a breeze and waves coming from the east. I may buy a kayak sometime ! Back at the hostel, I had a swim, then went for a walk through the woods to a local viewpoint as the sun was starting to set. I had Snapper and chips and a couple of beers to complete a good day.
Tue Jan 6
Most people stay 2 nights in the Bay of Islands and do the trip up to Cape Reinga - the northernmost point of NZ - or do a sailing/dolphin trip, but I had 2 other contacts in NZ to sort out and was keen to do my extra days in the far south. The trip back to Auckland was much slower and more contorted as it went over to the west coast. We had a mid-morning stop in Rawene on the Hokianga Harbour, a very large estuary where there is a ferry to the north. At Ompere near the mouth of the estuary, we saw a 1950`s video of Opo the dolphin who loved to play with children, then stopped to see the biggest kauri tree - 2000 years old. The road was very windy and undulating until we got to Dargaville. Back in Auckland, I made text contact with Robyn and emailed the Dawsons in Rotorua. I met up with Brad in the street ; he`d been to an International Tennis Tournament in the city, and we decided to eat out - Korean, which comes with various extras not shown on the menu. We then bought 6 mixed bottles of beer for $10 and retired to the pool room, but there were only 7 balls! Brad is actually loking at emigrating from Seattleto NZ, but will need to convince his wife.
Back on the Magic Bus, this time to Rotorua, via Waitomo Caves. Our driver, Young Joe Young (about my age) was an anthusiastic Aussie who like to talk, though sometimes reapeated himself. We had a big bus with 27 on this time, and started by going up Mt Eden for a p[aroramic view of Auckland from an old volcano. After the usual breakfast stop, we took directions to Waitomo Caves, near the west coast, an area where there are 28 miles of underground limestone caves. a6 of us went `Black Water Rafting`, whicl some of the others did gentler options. We were allocated wet suits, wet socks, jackets, white wellies and hard hat which included lamps by Winnie, a huge Maori guy who was difficult to understand for the English and impossible for the French, German and Spanish. Two minivans took us a few kilometres up a track, then we walked up a grassy field of cows to a cave entrance. We were then given rubber types and descended into the cave and sat down for introductions and instructions. There were lots of nationalities and too many names to remember. Certain areas would be `lights out` in order to see the glow worms on the ceoling and not to disturb certain nocturnal insects (giant grasshoppers), as we travelled through the caves and tunnels for about 80 minutes, and we would need our tyres ! Lamps out initially to acclimatise to the dark, then back on to descend gradually along the narrow tunnels, being careful not to touch the lovely stalactites, sometimes ducking below 4ft - don`t know how Winnie got through ! The water increased from nothing to a foot, then we stopped in a larger cave for lamps out and oooh aaah, as we saw hundreds of glow worms on the ceiling. They are actually the pupae of littel flies - 9 months in pupa stage and only 3 days flying stage as they have no mouth to feed when they fly. They are less than an inch long with a glowing tail to attract food - small insects - and hang lots of small silken threads from the ceiling to catch their prey. Continuing through the caves to another lamps out section with the water level increasing to 4 feet, so we had one hand on the wall and one hand on the shoulder in front in the dark with glow worms above. Then a big scream from Carol, a diminutive curvy French girl at the front and the first to take the `waterfall jump` - falling backwards holding a tyre around her bottom for a drop of about 8 ft, which we all then had to do. Then the NZ invention of Black-Water Rafting. Split into 2 teams of 8, each team led by a guide, you have your type around you and legs on the tyre in front held by the hands of the person in front. I was at the end of the first team. Then lamps out as we float along a narrow twisty channel - very peaceful with a glow worm ceiling. Next is a water slide about 12 ft long then quite a lengthy swim with tyres to the end and steps up to daylight.
Back at the bus, the cafe had stopped serving food, so no lunch for the adventurers, though we did get some later. We arrived in Rotorua with only 20 minutes to check-in before transport to a Maori banquet evening at Tamaki village, which most of us decided to do, so I had no time to contact Christine Dawson`s parents. There were 5 buses going to Tamaki and the ritual included choosing a leader on each bus who would be included in the Maori show - fortunately not me. We had to learn a few chanyts on the bus, `Kia Ora` being the main one. At Tamaki, there was a re-enactment of local Maori`s meeting those from further north (in 1805) who had muskets from conflicts with the British, with ritual dancing and singing. The food for the banquet had been cooked underground in big pits and was very tender and delicious. I shared a bottle of wine with Christian (German) and Fabian (Swiss) and had local beer, and we tried to sing on the way back. Back at the YHA, I knocked the spot off my swollen elbow and drained a thin red liquid into the sink.
Thu Jan 8
I woke at 7:30, put kit on and was off for a run. I had $1 coin, but there were no coin phone boxes, so I ran down to the lake, around the golf course headland, along the smelly bubbly river which flowed into the lake, and along the road out to the Dawson`s house. I chatted to Paul and Viv for an hour over a cup of coffee, then ran back via the lovely Redwood forest. As I was 13 hours ahead, it was the same time as the regular Dulwich Wednesday night club session, where it would be freezing cold ! It was after 10 when I got back, so a good 9 miles. Brunch in a local cafe, then down to the lake to decide on todays activities. I chose a Jet Boat which was rather an expensive but exhiliating way of getting to the remote island of Mokoia in the middle of Rorotua Lake. The Jet Boat (5 on board) bounced over the waves and swerved about and included 4 spins, just for fun. By the time I reached the island I felt a bit green. Momoia is an unspoilt volcanic island, so except for a strip of grass near the landing stage is full of trees and has been cleared of non-indiginous virmin. It contains 5 rare `North Island` birds which cannot leave the island, as they are either flightless or poor flyers. I had intended to climb to the top of the island, but couldn`t find the right track and was too hot, so just had an easy stroll in the forest listening and looking and the unusual birds. I didn`t see a kiwi (they are nocturnal), but saw a North Island robin and some of the poor flyers. The jet boat back was more stable as it was a bigger craft and full of local families. Back at the YHA at 16:40. I managed to get on the bus up the Hells Gate, along with Michelle, Shane and Tracey (all Irish) who were having mud and sulphur baths too. Hells Gate is a 15 minute drive out of town and is a major geothermal area, so lots of fumeroles, bubbling mud, hot pools and geysers etc - a nice but smelly stroll around. I dipped my arthritic tow and dodgy elbow into the medicine pool. Brad had arrived at the YHA, so after I`d been for a curry and a couple of drinks (1 free) in the Pig and Whistle, we talked with Rishi, a local 17 year old, until 1 am.
Late start (9am pickup), but had no food, so went to a cafe in town after finding that `Bakery` in NZ does not mean they sell bread an rolls - unless they are filled. Iam was our driver for the short day to Taupo with numerous detours. We had to get to Wai-O-Tapu before 10:15 in order to see Lady Knox Geyser, which erupts daily at that time, with some help from packet of soap powder which is dropped into it. A few minutes further on is another geothermal park area, but those of us that went to Hells Gate didn`t go in. There is a series of rapids/waterfall about 3 miles morth of Taupo - Huka Falls - which would be a serious rafting challenge ! We were at the YHA early afternoon, so I found a cafe in town for lunch, then went for a pleasant 2 hour walk along the lake shore. It was hot and lots of people were on the lake shore and/or swimming in the lake. I had a swim on the way back, and decided to have a run when I got back as it was cooling down. I had a good 5 mile run along the lake shore (opposite direction), and towards Huka Falls, then had a Fish Pie and several beers I`d bought in town. Kayleigh (from Kingston), who always sits in the front of the bus gave me a CD of the Black Water Rafting which I copied to memory stick, then I helped her with copying photoes. Christian and Peter (Dutch, shared in Rotorua) joined me for a beer, but had an early start as they were doing the Tongariro Alpine Crossing next day.
Sat Jan 10
It was a long drive from Taupo to Wellington, with uninteresting stops, mediocre music which was often too loud, a prat of a driver and low gery clouds all day with some rain.
In Wellington. we did go up to the Mt Victoria viewpoint for a good view of thye city and surrounding area, which was surprisingly good and interesting. Wellington is in a sheltered bay with several headlands and bays around with a mountainous backdrop, and South Island was not visible on this grey day. I met up with Robyn and Jim in Cuba Street, and we had a few beers, then a nice Malaysian meal with wine, then more beers. They had been touring around the northern part of South Island in a car loaned by relatives in Nelson and would be flying out to Hamilton next day. Jim used to work with Robyn at BarCap.
Sun Jan 11
I had a good 7 mile run along the coast almost to the airport and back, much faster on the way back with the wind. I met Robyn and Jim in Expressoholics for brunch and coffee, then had a domestic day of laundry, booking Magic busses and YHAs, Kepler Track and Doubtful Sound and shopping at the big supermarket near the YHA (open until midnight on a Sunday). In bewteen I did have a short trip to Te Papa - The Museum of New Zealand - where I found R & J again. In the YHA I bumped into Ian Turner, a Dulwich Runner from 15 years ago who has been in NZ for 7 years and now runs a tour company, I actually cooked a stir-fry with freshy food for a change and got talking to some youngsters, one of whom was James Walters who was an Uni and OTC with Chris Morgan !
The 8:35 Inter-Island Ferry was large and busy, with a passenger queue for luggage check-in going outside the building. It was an old slow ferry with at least 2 previous owners. There had been a SeaCat on the service which took 1.5 houirs to get to Picton, but new Australian owners had taken them off and reverted to the old ferry which took 3 hours, probably to maximise on-board sales. However it is a very scenic trip, leaving Lambton Harbour with a good view of the city, around a headland with bays and smart suburbs, down a narrow channel, then 110 degree right turn over Cook Strait. Picton is an hours sailing from the narrow entrance into Tory Channel and down Queen Charlotte Sound. The Marlborough Sounds are a series of sunken valleys, much like fjords with numerous bays, inlets, coves and isthmus containing some super walking tracks. The land is covered with trees and bush with the ocassional house or small settlement, accessible only by boat, and there are boats and yachts on the waters. Picton looked like a nice little town, dominated by the ferry, and is a good centre for walking, kayaking, boating etc. The Magic Bus ride to Nelson included a nice stop at Pelous Bridge and was very green undulating and scenic, though I dozed through most of it. Nelson is a nice town and the major starting point for excursions to Abel Tasman NP - very good for walks & kayaking, but I only had 1 night there and didn`t find a local map until about 6pm, when I was asking for a supermarket. A walk to `The Centre of NZ` - a small hill in a local park, or up the Grampian ridge behind the town cathedral would have been interesting.
Tue Jan 13
The sun shone all day despite driving to the `wet` west coast. The scenery continued to be green undulating and twisty, and we were often by the side of a rushing river. We stopped for luch in Berlin, originally a gold rush town, but now just a pub/cafe. At Cape Foulwind, the closest NZ point to Australia, most of us got out to do the 3-4 km coat path walk, while the bus drove around. Carline, a teacher from Kingsbury school, but emigrating to Australia missed out because she`d bruised her foot at the bottom of the Waitomo Caves water shute. There were sandy beaches and rocky headlands below the clifftop walk. I was lucky to see a Weka and baby (flightless birds) cross the path in front of me, the there were lots of seals on the rocks below and in the water. Later we stopped at Unakaki for a short walk to Pancake Rocks. Greymouth was once a gold town, then coal mining which it still is. It is the end of the railway from Christchurch over Arthur Pass, and used to be a main railway hub for the west coast. There is not a lot to do in Greymouth, as it is much smaller than it used to be and it rains often, but it was a sunny day and a nice place to relax. At the YHA, I was sharing with Neil, a Scot of 45, whi introduced himself by giving me a beer. In the evening, there was a barbeque in town, which for $6 was okay - several of us from the Magic Bus were there. I`d bought beers earlier, so took them around to Noah`s Ark, just around the corner from the YHA to drink wiith Carloine, Clare and Kayleigh. Paul who had been painting there joined us. He was going gold panning after this job and explained about the gold seam from Ross to Reefton and how you could still make money from it. He also knew a lot about tropical diseases
Wed Jan 14
A dull day with some rain, so more typical of the west coast. Our first stop Hokitika is the only significant town on the west coat, and has wide streets, lots of art and craft shops, a supermarket and ATMs. We`d been warned there wasn`t much between here and Queenstown, so I bought food to cook and fruit for a few days. At Ross, we were given a demonstartion of gold panning, then paid $6 to have a go with a bowl of our own local gravel. I had a nice piece of greenstone (jade) and only 2 flecks of gold - I think I had 4 or 5, but lost some in my panning. We arrived at Franz Josef, a tourist village, at 12:30 and were dropped at the Glacier centre, in order to clarify and pay for our activities. there are lots of options - flghts in small planes over the glaciers and Mt Cook, Helihike trips onto the glacier, sky dives, half and full day glacier hikes (guided). Kayaking with a good view of the mountains is also possible, but the cloud was low and they were only doing kayak tours from 5pm to 9pm. I had a 5 mile run in the wood behind the village up towards the glacier, but it was a hilly rocky track and I didn`t feel strong, so finished feeling flat with a dodgy knee. I asked about booking Stewart Island YHA, as I`d booked the magic Bus extention to Te Anau and Stewart Island, but they only had one place left at $140 !! On the way down the road to the cheaper Internet cafe, I met up with caroline. Other Stewart Island options were even more expensive, so back at the YHA I asked them to bok the $140 place for me, but there was no answer. I was sharing a room with Wolfgang - an apple technician, German, but working in Sydney and on the Magic Bus. I cooked - mussels stir fry and joined Wolfgang and Antoine in the Blue Ice Bar for a few drinks - it was Aneke`s birthday.
Thu Jan 15
It was an 8:15 check-in for the Full day Glacier Hike. We were allocated wtaerproof trousers, bots, socks, crampons, jacket, hat and gloves, then got into a bus which was overfull for the 10 minute drive up to the glacier car park, We then had a wlak of about a mile on an alternative path to the riverbed in view of the glacier where we got initial instructions and split into 3 groups of 22,22 and 11. 40 minutes further on we were at the bottom of the glacier, and split into 5 groups and put on our crampons. I was still in shorts as it was warm despite being close to the ice, but now put overtrousers on. There were workers on the glacier cutting the track and steps for us tourists, and our guides cleared and cut steps whenever we stopped. The Franz Josef Glacier is a steep fast moving glacier, so it is mostly clean and white (or even blue) ice compared to the slow moving high dirty glaciers I`d spent a week on in the Karakoram. The lower part of the terminus moves about 2 metres a day, and the steep section about a mile further up move about 3 times faster. The Franz Josef is one of the few glaciers in the world which is currently increasing - ie: terminus is moving down towards the sea, though it has receded about 2 miles in the last 100 years. There were lots of smal crevasses, though they were really gaps between steep sided slabs of ice, so finding a good path was not easy, so there were quite a few stops while steps were cut. I was in group 3 and took the back `sweeper` position to make sure the less experienced were okay. We had Ned, the only Kiwi guide and I was probably the only one over 30, In fact the whole party of 55 were all under 35 except for one lady of about 50 and myself. I`d avoided being in the same group as the Magic Korean group (about 6 of them), one of whom was particularly hyper and noisy. We progressed up the glacier and onto the lateral morain - dirty banks of rock on the side. We stopped for lunch while a nearby ice cave was being cleared and prepared. They had just pushed it through, so it was now a tunnel. The steps onto the cave/tunnel were very steep and the cave was only about 4 ft high, so negotiating a way through it involved knees, sliding and ice-axes, which we`d picked up from abox lower down. The ice cave was the high point in excitement and altitude, and we made our way back down, cutting new steps where old ones had worn away. back in the village, I got fish and chips. There was a noisy family of teenagers and friends in the dining room, so I finished my wine in teh TV room.
Fri Jan 16
Despite the cloud on the mountain, it was worth the 12 minute walk to the very reflective viewpoint across Matheson lake. On a good day, the view would include Fox Glacier. I walked with Kim, who is from Vancouver island, so gets lots of scenery like this at home.
I read about Wanaka on the bus and decided to change my plans despite having booked 3 nights at Queenstown. I was more attracted to the more peaceful pursuits in Wanaka, so told Mike, our driver, that I would get out there and find a bed for one night. At the last tea stop an hour or so up the lake from Wanaka, the information man told me Wanaka would be busy as `Challenge Wanaka` was on. Some roads were coned off, but when we got to the YHA, I was lucky and got the last bed. Short Triathlons were underway - there were 4 during the afternoon and evening - 500m swim, 20k bike, 5k run with the pro and club athletes in the evening. The little town was buzzing with the festival atmosphere created by the triathlon competitors and supporters with many of the locals involved in marshalling. I gto food from the supermarket and cooked at the YHA - a roast chickem microwave meal, but a 4 legged furry friend came over to try to help me eat it ! back down at the lake, Miss Samuals was lapping the field on the bike (10 laps around town), but the weather was looking threatening as dark clouds rolled down the lake from the north, so I jogged back to the YHA before the rain came. it rained so hard that we all stayed in - no trip to the pub nearly a mile away. Wolfgang, Robert (Pol), Winne (Ger) a mad blue-haired biker, Alex (It) and 4 German girls played monopoly while I wrote and read.
Sat Jan 17
The Ironman Individual event - Challenge Wanaka - started at 7 am and we could hear the commentary, so I was inspired to get up and run. The leaders were just out of the water (54 mins) for the 3.8km swim when I got to the lake, so I went left along the lake, as the first part of the 180km bike section started that way. It was a nice bright morning after the rain and really nice to be running on a lakeside track - an easy run as the left knee is creeky. At 9am when I was just finishing my run with some stops for photos, support and talking to the locals, the Team Ironman started - teams of 3 with each person doing 1 discipline (the oldest team totalled 230 years !!). After breakfast, I strolled along the lake watching the various stages (and transition) of the triathlon. One poor woman in the teams only just got to the bank in the 2:15 cut-off time. Later the leading men and one very fast woman went through transition into the marathon - 2 laps mostly on a lakeside track east of town. The Magic Bus was 30 minutes late, so I supported the bikers as they whizzed passed the end of the street.
The bus stopped at the famous Kawarau Bridge, where A J Hackett developed the Bungy Jump. A few of the Magic passengers decided to do the modest 43 metre jump including Buket, a Turkish girl who sat near me. I took several shots of her performance with zoom lens. and will email her the pics if she emails me. Queenstown Lakefront YHA is one of the best with a lovely location overlooking Lake Wakatipu, and nice kitchen and lounge facilities, though the PCs were a bit slow and photo editing didn`t work. I was sharing a room with Nick (6 berth) a geology graduate from Putney, and Alex was also at the YHA, so we strolled into Queens town, a 10 minute walk along the lake shore, and went into a japanese restaurant. After that we had a beer in the Pig & Whistle and escaped before the karaoke and hen party got going.
Sun Jan 18
I had no milk, so went into town early with Nick, who had a big bungy jump appointment. I checked my pick-up time for next day at Kiwi Discovery (Magic`s Agent in Q`town), met Buket there and agreed to meet at 6:30 at Base to transfer pics. I`d considered doing Hang Gliding, but it was a nice day for a walk up Ben Lomond, the 1746 metre mountain behind Queenstown. I left the YHA at 10:15, turned right out of town and took a steep track through the woods which got steeper and ended up in somebody`s back garden, so I walked through it ! The main track up to the Skyline complex (top of the gondola) and to Ben Lomond was a wide gravel winding track up through the woods, with some steep downhill mountain bike tracks cutting through it. I had a brief stop at Skyline manily to dry -off from the steep climb and to look at the good views of Queenstown below, then continued on the Ben Lomond track, through more woods then out into the open hillside with good views of the summit. There was some cloud above the summit, but it looked like a good clear day and felt really good to be walking alone on the hills with fantastic views of the lakes and mountains around Queenstown. I saw a Yellowhammer in the bushes, but not many otehr birds. I continued on up to the saddle, where the steeper section up to the Ben started. there were a few other trampers around. At the top of Ben Lomond the view was really superb with Queenstown and Lake Wakatipu on one side and a jumble of mountains and valleys on the other, some of them with snow. An Israeli man (Asaf) and a Singapore girl were at the top and I stopped there for lunch. On the way down, I jogged the top section, but Asaf came past me to show he was fit too. I met Nick on his way up after his bungy jump and stopped for a chat. Asaf, Singapore girl and I stopped for refreshments at teh Skyline cafe - apple & boysenberry crumble with cream, then I had a go on the luge, then walked fast down the zig-zag track back to the YHA. I needed to get stocked up for the Kepler Track and there was a big supermarket on the far side of town - about a mile away, so I walked there. With a trolly full of fruit, cereal bars, soup, tuna, bread rolls, noodles, rice, sweets, chocolate etc, it suddenly got noisy with the sound of torrential rain on the tin roof. I was in T-shirt and shorts ! I sloshed back into town with two big bags and only a battered sunhat for protection. At an outdoor shop I bought a billy, bowl, cup and cutlery set and also some cheap overtrousers. I stopped at Base (6:30) for 15 minutes, but no sign of Buket. The rain continued for most of the evening. We had a new rather gorgeous Irish girl in our dorm (above Nick), who`d suggested going into town for food and drink, but I had Kepler preparations to do and Nick was exhausted, so we declined anc cooked, ate and drank in the YHA.
Mon Jan 19
The Milford Sound Excursion was popular, so there were 2 Kiwi Discovery coaches and ours was very smart with reclining seats, good leg room, but the PA was broken. We only picked up on the edge of town, so were less than half full with no town centre backpackers. Nick sat near me, and I was the only one not coming back to Q`town. The drive along the lake with the Remarkables opposite was spectacular, then we descended gradually into more open area then around to Te Anau - mid-morning snack. The road from Te Anau was initially along the lake with Mountains and Lake arms on the far side, then over a small pass into Eglinton Valley, then into Fiordland National Park - virgin forest, lakes etc - no farms, domestic animals, industry, logging. We gradually climbed up to The Divide, the end of the Routeburn Track which starts at the far end of Lake Wakatipu (Queenstowns Lake), then into the Hollyford Valley. It is all very scenic with twists and turns, mountains and forests and lakes. We then climb again up to the Homer Tunnel which was built between 1935 and 1953 in order to give access to Milford Sound, There were Kea up there - mountain parrots which are not at all shy and will tear into packs, shoes or wiper blades given the chance. The Homer Tunnel is single lane and nearly a mile long, so a traffic light system with sensors operates, and it slopes down towards Milford, so that it drains. There are then spectacular mountains and hairpin bends on the Milford side. W had a bried stop at `The Chasm` where the Cleddau River plunges through a narrow chasm, then down to Milford Sound. here we boarded a boat for a peaceful cruise out to the Tasman Sea and back. There were towering mountains, the inevitable waterfalls, seals basking on rocks, then dolphins swimming with the boat for a few minutes when we were in the Tasman Sea. I was dropped at Te Anau YHA on the way back and did some more pack sorting. Vinne was there - he is actually a designer, so he has blue hair, red trousers, blue jacket, yellow boots on his motorbike. I got a few supplies form the supermarket, then went to the Redcliff Cafe nearby for a nice meal - homemade pate with berries, snapper sitting on various veg and a beer. I stayed up until 12:30 catching up with log, blog, photos and bank and didn`t get a full nights sleep because of snorers.
I was in no rush to get up as day 1 of the Kepler Track was only 16km. After breakfast I strolled into Te Anau to but lunch - big BLT roll and a strudel, then put my day pack and another bag into storage. My food bag took up most of the top section of my big 65 litre pack, but fitted in nicely. However the pack must have weighed at least 16 kilos - quite a lot for a long walk, but I did have a lot of food, including beers! The walk to the Fiordland National park Visitors Centre was along the lake and my main concern was already the weight of my pack. I checked in and got my hut tickets, rubbish bag and booklet and of course I bought a kepler Track map. The first section to the Control Gates - they control the water flow from Lake Te Anau that goes on down into Lake Manipouri - was about 45 minutes. The weather was perfect for walking - dull, grey, calm, so no need for hat, suntan lotion or even fly repellant. From the Control gates to Brod bay is a lovely flat walk near the lake through the forest with moss covered banks and trees, mountain and red beech, with lots of kamahi - a type of fern. There were a few groups of women or couples on the track. The climb starts from Brod Bay, up to limestone bluffs rising from 200m to 750 m zig-zagging up through the forest. The path is well maintained and would have been excellent to run on - there is in fact a Kepler Track race. Continuing up, the vegetation thins and the gradient is less steep reaching open hillside at 960m with good views of Te Anau, Lake Te Anau & Sounth Fiord, Murchison Mountains to the north and Hidden lakes in the forest down near the lake. Lake Manipouri is visible to the south with Mount Luxmore ahead to the west. I stopped to take in the view for a while. The Luxmore Hut was quite busy when I arrived, but I managed to find & claim a lower bunk. The system is that you remove boots, go and find an available bunk in the bunkhouse, then record it on a sheet in the kitchen. There were caves aout 10 minutes walk away, but it was getting cooler and windy now, so the anorak came out. I descended about 50 yards into the cave and found a few limestone features to photograph. I found out later from the hut warden that you can get through the narrow section I reached and into bigger caves with lots of stalactites etc. The huts do have gas and light, but nothing else. All rubbish must be taken out. There were lots of Israelis in the hut (probably about 10) includingInbar who I`d seenseveral times on the track. She asked me "Are you over 40?", "Yes, a lot over 50 in fact I`m 58". "Wow, I`m 21. You`re older than my dad, and you are much faster then us". It was nice to be reminded that I was doing something adventurous and active that few people my age would try.
Wed Jan 21
I didn`t wake until 8:30, with people around me nearly ready to set-off. What was the rush. It was only 16km. I had some breakfast - tangarine, soup, bread & vegemite, cereal bar and tea. It was cool, windy and looking threatening. I set off at 10 with only a few behind me. I`s got used to the pack, now about 1 kilo lighter. The first section was a gradual climb from 1085m to 1400m along the side of Mt Luxmore with good views. The wind was getting stronger blowing up the hill (northerly). The was an option to go up Mt Luxmore, only about 10 minute soff the track, but it was getting very windy and exposed, and we`d been warned about leaving packs at the bottom - an invitation to Kea`s - so I decided not to go up. The wind increased and the rain started, though it was only light - thin rain top on, with most of the track on the north slope and some on exposed ridge. At Forest Burn Shelter, I got aout the anorak and gloves and had a banana - getting more challenging now. It was about a 1 hour walk to the Hanging Valley Shelter, much of it along a ridge with strong winds and moderate rain. I was now struggling on the uphills, feeling my age with the heavy pack and testing conditions. At the shelter, I found Inbar and Vered and a few others. The girls had left at 9, so were nearly an hour slower. I had lunch in the shelter, which got quite crowded, and felt much stronger when I left. The track now went south and down hill with a strong wing along the ridge for about a mile. The wind was strong but I was enjoying it now, going downhill and in control (now with overtrousers too). At the end of the ridge, the 91 zig-zags downwards started, and after a afew turns I was stripping off overtrousers and fleece. I arried at Iris Burn Hut at 3:15, just before the rain really started, and found a lower bunk. I chatted to a family from Christchurch, then later to John from St Louis. John suggested going to see a waterfall 20 minutes up the valley, and as it was already 8:30, and now only a fine drizzle, we went immediately. I jog/walked it in 12 minutes.
Thu Jan 22
The walm down from Iris Burn Hut to Moturau was an easy stroll from 8:30 until 1 pm, taking it slowly in the last hour to take in the birds, vegetation and views. It would have been no problem to continue on down all the way to Te Anau. Lots of people were going to Rainbow Reach, an hour and a half away for cars or shuttle bus to Te Anau, but I`d booked and paid for Moturau and decided that a look around the peaceful forest and lake would be good. The most notable feature of the walk down was the `Big Slip`, where a big avalanche in 1984 had wiped out a big chunk of forest. The day started with light drizzle and improved to sunshine in late afternoon. I couldn`t understand why some of the Israelis were in full wet gear. It was fairly warm, so shorts were the best thing, with thin long sleeved top to keep the snd flies at bay. The first 2 huts had been busy but not full with over 40 there, but now we were down to 16. The Christchurch family, 3 Israelis, 1 German and 6 English including Paul and Georg(ina) - teachers who had lived and worked in Lewisham before they started their travels. It was a lovely peaceful sight, especially sitting by the lake as the sun went down - except for the pesky sand flies.
Fri Jan 23
It was a 4 hour walk through more rain forest to get back to the Control Gates and complete the circuit. I took it easy for the first hour looking for birds and doing a detour to a lake in a wetland area, then got into my normal faster walking. There was one delightful moment when I was walking along listening to Mehler 3 Largo - the most serene slow movement ever written - when a little black headed bird, a Tomtit, appeared on a branch near me. I stopped and slowly took my camera from its pouch, already with zoom lens on, to take its picture. The little bird then proceded to flit from branch to branch to tree trunk to bank all around me, so I got several good photos. Past the Control Gates with a mile to go to reach Te Anau, I started to get a blister, but really my feet and trainers had done very well. I checked out at the Visitors Centre, as required, then went to Real Journeys office nearby to arrange my pickup the next morning. At the YHA, I met up with David again - We`d shared a room on Monday. He told me about his excellent kayaking trip to Doubtful Sound, though they got soaked and they needed to be resued by the Real Journeys launch because the wind was too strong to get back into the last channel. After 3 nights of hut cooking, I wanted Fish & Chips, so found a chippy, bought beers and took them back to the YHA.
It was a lovely morning, so I couldn`t resist an easy 4 mile run along the lakeside, but that was enough for the left knee. I`d repacked since Kepler, so mow had just a day pack, leaving the rest in store again. I picked up the bus for Doubtful Sound at the Real Journeys office nearby, for the transfer to Manapouri, where I found Paul and Georgie waiting too. Two little SeaCats were there to take us across Lake Manapouri. It must be the most beautiful lake in the world with 4 arms off the main lake (North, West, South and Hope) and 34 islands of varying sizes all covered in unspoilt vegetation with no habitation at all except for the village and harbour at Manapouri and a few remote walking huts, with high mountains all around except for the eastern shore. It is the 5th largest lake in NZ and is very deep. Paul, Georgie and I stood on the upper deck marvelling at the scenery as the SeaCat covered the 20 miles or so to West Arm in about an hour. There is an underground power station at West Arm driven by the water from Lake Manapouri dropping through a long pipe to Doubtful Sound, so there are electric pylons visible for a short distance at the end of the lake. Here we transferred to 2 coaches for the trip over Wilmot Pass (~ 13 miles), on the most expensive road ever built in NZ. It was built to take heavy traffic from Doubtful Sound to build the power station and just links to the harbour at each end and was hacked out of virgin rain forest over a high pass. Our driver/nature guide was Rex, who gave us a very amusing pythonesque commentary in a slow purposeful droll - "Today, we have some unwelcome guests on the bus. Sand Flies. Please do not squash them against the bus window as they are protected !!.. Well, actually, because I have to clean the bus".
At Deep Cove, we boarded the Fiordland Navigator, a ship designed for Doubtful Sound cruises with room to sleep 70, so there must have been about 60 of us on board, with viewing decks. dining room & bar, observation lounge, kayaks etc. It also had 3 masts and sails. I was in a 4 berth cabin with a couple with nobody above me. Doubtful Sound is in fact a fiord, 42 km (26 miles) long from the Tasman Sea down to the end of Hall Arm, there being several arms and numerous islands surrounded by steep sided mountains, green with vegetation in most places. The soil is so thin however and the tree roots so shallow that tree avalanches are quite common. We crused down the main channel, then turned left into Crooked Arm, where many of us donned life jackets and went kayaking (as a group). Paul managed to capsize and pulled in the leader too. Back on the boat, we had soup and progressed out towards the Tasman Sea, withthe wind increasing hugely as we aimed for the gap between Secretary Island and Bauza Island. Secretary Island is large, has been erradicated of `introduced` mammals like rats and stoats, so that native birds can be reintroduced. In 2005 there was an earthquake centred on the island (7.8 Richter), which raised its level by 18 inches, so the avalanches of rocks and trees are still visible. On the rocks at the entrance to Doubtful Sound, there are lots of Sea Lions, then beyond that the open Tasman Sea and nothing westwards until Argentina. The ship went out into the open ocean for about 30 minutes, so that we could feel the force of the Roaring Forties, which was great fun, though as the wind was mainly from the north, it was probably less than it could have been. Dinner was a lavish buffet, and I talked and drank with Paul and Georgie as we cruised back down the main channel then up Bradshaw Arm and moored in Precipice Cove. Doubtful Sound was indeed a stunning place to be on a sailing ship in amazing surroundings mile from any habitation. The stars were wonderful too.
Sun Jan 25
I got up just after 5 am to find that around the moored ship, fish were jumping out of the water catching flies attracted by the lights of the ship. They were baracuda and it was now drizzling. I went back to bed. The engines of the Fiordland Navigator started at 6:30 which was the sign to get up for breakfast. Paul and Georgie had slept in the observation lounge because of a load Swiss snorer, though Richard in the same cabin, who I met again a few days later, had very good earplugs. Breakfast was a very good full buffet, as we cruised back down Bradshaw Arm with therain increasing. There were now impromptu waterfalls cascading down the steep fiord walls, some thousands of feet high, which were an amazing sight, even though they appeared out of the mist above. The waterfalls became even more spectacular as the rain increased and we detaoured down Hall Arm, the steepesr sided of the fiord arms.There was natural rain forest vegatation wherever it could grow with small island showing a full range of plants from mosses and ferns to bushes and trees. The Doubtful Sound trip included a sizable party of Americans, which had been a rarity elsewhere in New Zealand. The rain was just a fine drizzle bacjk in Manapouri and it was warm and sunny in Te Anau.
A 7am pickup for the trip to Invercargil. A plain white 10 seater arrived for me, then picked up a German guy who was doing the Dusky Track, a remote 8 to 10 day walk starting with a pickup in Clifden to Lake Hauroko and a boat ride down the lake. The trek finishes at West Arm of lake Manapouri. We therefore did a more remote road than expected via Tuatapere, with hills and lakes on the right and lots of sheep farms or stations as they are called here, with some cows too. Clifden was a tiny village, but included a Clifden Suspension Bridge (foot only) over a river and Clifden Hall, but we missed the Dusky pickup point initially and had to go back. The minibus was also picking up all of the post, in bags left at certain points, and at Clifden we loaded up with 4 big boxes of flowers. At Invercargil I had 15 minutes to spare, enough to see Henry, the tuatara, a live pre-historic reptile about 18 inches long and about 120 years old. The Stewart island Experience bus went down to Bluff passed several deer farms rather than sheep, to the ferry terminal. Bluff is a typical small end of the line ferry port - not pretty.
The crossing to Stewart Island was remarkably calm, considering the Foveaux Strait is notoriously rough with strong winds usually. Oban is the only town on Stewart Island, though it does spread out along the bays and coves from Golden Bay to Horseshoe Bay with the centre and ferry port at Halfmoon Bay. I was met at the dock by Sandra, the YHA warden, who took me to Anglem House where I had the whole upper part of the hostel, a suite comprising of lounge/kitchen, bathroom, toilet, double bedroom & twin bedroom, so it would sleep a family of 4 but there was just me. It should have been at least $120, but I`d got it for just $50, and I don`t know why. I`d booked to go on the Paterson Inlet cruise almost straight away, so Sandra dropped me back down at the port. The cruise went from Halfmoon Bay aroung Fisherman and Ackers Points with commentary mostly about the history of Stewart Island. there used to be more people on the island with sealers and logging, but now the permanent population is only 370 with only 14 children in the primary school. Tourism and Fishing are now the mainstay of the island. We then saw blue penguins swimming in the sea and bobbing up. A series of very scenic bays and headlands follows with the narrow Ringaringa Passage between Native Island and the main island. There is even a 6 hole golf course along this stretch.We went around to Golden Bay, saw Oyster Catchers standing on an old drum, then shags on a rock, passed the islands of Faith, Hope and Charity and into Kaipipi Bay, then Prices Inlet. We`d had a view of Ulva Island to the south for much of the time, and now we turned towards it and landed at the jetty at Post Office Bay. On Ulva we had a guided tour around the closer paths, including up to the flagpole which was hoisted whenever the post arrived - the Postmaster and his family being the only inhabitants in the 1850`s acting as a central point for all on Stewart island. We saw Weka, Saddlebacks, then Robins (which a just black and white here) who are sold bold and inquisitive that they come very close. There were also Tui - blackbird size but with some irridescent colouring and two white voice box sacks - who are good at imitating, Bellbirds who could be heard but not seen, Fantails, who flitted around too quickly to photograph, Brown Creepers, Parakeets and Riflemen (similar to wrens). Sydnet Cover is a nice beach with some families playing cricket. The vegetation is also fascinating with lots of old trees with epiphites growing on them.
I bought food at the only shop and cooked a scallops stir-fry, then went for a long evening walk on a possible kiwi hunt. There were lovely empty sandy bays with a few houses overlooking them, separated by hills over each haedland. Horseshoe bay is especially nice. The road - there is only about 20 km of road altogether - ends at Lee bay, where the National Park starts. From here it`s an 8 to 10 day walk around the north part of the island to get back to Oban. I walked about 1 km to Littel River, then returned via a path through the forest uphill to Garden Mount - a local hill. As it was nearly 9 pm, I was hoping to see kiwi, but no luck. Back in Halfmoon Bay (ie: centre of village) at 10:10 everything appeared to be closed - pubs here close when there are no or very few customers left. Then I found the Warfeside Cafe where there was a band playing and drink was flowing, so I stayed for a few drinks and spoke to a few Dutch girls. There seem to be groups of Dutch girls all over the South Island ! Are they trying to reclaim Van Deemans Land ?
Tue Jan 27
I had a late start, as I had to check out of the YHA and move to the Stewart Island Backpackers. Sandra arrived at 10 am and give me a lift there just as I was getting ready to walk. As I was just moving into room 46, Richard, from the Doubtful Sound trip, came in the door to share the room. We decided to get a water taxi over the Ulva for a few hours, so walked to Golden Bay where the lady at the refreshment van phoned the Eco Water Taxi man who arrived in 10 minutes. Richard`s crossing from Bluff had been quite rough, but crossing to Ulva was quick and easy. As we stood on the wooden jetty a little blue penguin was swimming around only 10 yards away and bobbing up to the surface, which was a lovely moment. We had about 4 hours on the island, and the water taxi was coming back for us at 3:30, so we walked around every path on the island, stopping frequently for the birds, beaches and vegetation. On Sydney Beach, Richard laughed when Oyster Catchers flew at me, aiming their beeks at my head, so I must have been too close to their nest.On Boukder Beach, we had to take photos of each otheras it was the furthest point south we would get. At each stop, a Robin would usually appear and come right up to us and even stand on my smelly trainers and peck at them. Several times I stopped to watch and try to photgraph Fantails, Kakapo, Saddleback, Riflemen. The paths only cover the North-West point, so most of it is left to the native birds and the forest, the `introduced mammals` having been eliminated. After Ulva, I decided to do a walk going west along Fuschia and Rarea Walks then along the coast towards Ryans Creek. It was a nice walk, but it was now cooler, windier and showery. Back at the YHA, Rob had arrived in our room, an American with long flowing red hair and beard who had just walked the North West Circuit Track in 8 days. He reported that it was tough, muddy in parts, but very good. The west coast beaches were superb, especially with a strong westerly to blow away the sand flies. The huts are basic, so thay had to make fires. The 3 of us went to the South Sea Hotel for a few drinks, so my planned evening walk to Ackers Point was cancelled. Reflecting on Stewart Island, I`d love to go back and walk more of it. It is remote and wild, unspoilt and old-fashioned.
Next morning I had another smooth ferry crossing back to Bluff, though not quite the millpond of Monday
At Invercargil, named after Mr Cargil, governor of the area in the 1850`s, I transferred to a Catlins Coaster minibus driven by Steven, with Karl, an Ozzie and his Thai wife the only other passengers. I hadn`t appreciated that what I`d bought into was a guided tour along the spectacular Catlins coastline. At Waipapa Point, 2 sealions were basking on the beach and there were some amazing gypsy vehicles - lorries and coaches made into houses with window boxes. Our lunch stop was at Curio Bay, where the waves were crashing in and the beach is a petrified forest - trees from millions of years ago transformed into rock. Over the headland, dolphins were swimming in the shallows in sheltered Porpoise Bay. Steven had been brought up at a farm in the area, so knew all of the bays, beaches, rock features, blowholes etc. At Cannibal Bay, a young sealion was asleep by the roadside, just off the beach, but when I put my hands together and made a low growl, it leaped into action in my direction, but slumped again after a few feet. At Nugget Point we were hoping to see Yellow Eyed Penguins coming up the beach at high tide, but workmen were building a new hide, and at 5pm would have been putting the penguins off landing and risking the life of the pups. From up on the headland, we did see some sealions and a colony of spoonbills, then as we were driving away 2 penguins ascended the rocks.
The Dunedin YHA was a big old house and a bit of a maze. I was in a 4 berth sharing with 3 girls, and it was after 7 pm, so I went off to see the city, built around an octogon (an eight sided square), and had a curry. The Railway Station is a fine historic building and was lit up. There is no longer a passenger service to Christchurch or Invercargil, due to privatisation, but there is the quaint Taieri Gorge train going up the hills to Middlemarch on the line that used to go to Queenstown. Back at the YHA, there was a group of Dutch girls making a noise, which seems to be quite a common features down here in the south.
Next morning on the way out of Dunedin, the Magic Bus, driven by Mike again, stopped at Baldwin Street - the steepest street in the world, and I took up the challenge and ran to the top, but didn`t time it. On the bus, I sat near Alison who I`d met at breakfast. Her husband had died a few months ago after 32 years of marriage, so she was finding life quite tough, but travelling was helping. Her husband had worked for BA, so she could get cheap travel but only on standby. We stopped at Moeraki Boulders Scenic Reserve where there are large spherical boulders on the beach, and numerous theories and legends about them. At Oamaru, we had a longer stop, so went supermarket shopping.
The route turned inland up the Waitaki Valley where there are a series of lakes and dams from Lake Takepo, our destination, downwards with hydro-electric power stationsbetween each one producing about a quarter of New Zealands power. Lunch was a Omerama, then at the Lake Pukaki stp, I couldn`t find my camera and thought i`d left it at Omerama. Mike phoned to check if it had been found (No), then I found that it had fallen off the seat and rolled under the one in front. - phew !! At Lake Pukaki, the water is a beautiful light turquoise colour from rock dust brought down by the glaciers around Mt Cook, and on a clear there would be a super view of Mt Cook etc at the far end of the lake. At Lake Takepo, we did a detour to the Church of the Good Shephard on the bank of the lake, and the bronze statue of a sheepdog nearby. At the YHA, I was in a 4 berth sharing with Alison and 2 Oriental girls. We went for a walk along the lake to the left with the idea of getting up the hill to the Mt John Observatory, but it was raining and getting cooler, so we turned back. It had been a cloudy day, but in the evening there were a few patches of blue sky. I`d booked to do the My John Observatory tour, which is only on if the sky is clear, so around 9:30, I strolled to the Earth & Sky office and put my booking back a day, as the conditions were mediocre at best. Alison had gone for a quiet walk to the Church of the Good Shepherd just as the wind had dropped and got fantastic reflective photos across the lake. She then discovered that she had lost the keys to her suitcase, which was locked, but a subsequent key hunt failed.
Fri Jan 30
I had an early start to catch the Mount Cook Connection minibus, which went back down the road to Lake Pukaki, but via a road along the canal between the two lakes. There were hen harriers along the road waiting for road kill, which is mostly rabbits and ocassionally possum or even stoat. We picked up a local guide who was taking a couple up a ridge and drove up the west side of the Lake Pukaki to Mt Cook Village - permamnet population of 130. It is a centre for walkers, climbers and skiers, has a good Info Centre, a smart hotel (The Hermitage) and the Sir Edmund Hillaary Centre. I had 6 hours to spend before Allan came back, so set off for Sealy Tarns labelled as a 4 hour walk, which climbed up opposite the Mueller Glacier and Mt Sefton. The cloud was too low to see the mountain tops and there was some drizzle, with ocassional sun. I reached the tarn in 1 hour 20 minutes of fairly steep climbing, but much of it with wooden bars for steps, chatted to a guy from Derby and a girl from Seattle and had a snack. The views of the glacier, terminal morain and lake and the Mt Cook valley were good, but limited by the low cload. I continued on up towards the Mueller hut for another 40 minutes to some big rocks and stopped for lunch. Later at the Ed Hillary Centre, there was a short film about Mt Cook, then a fascinating archive film of the 1953 Everest Expedition, which was appropriate as my intended next trip to start planning is the Kathmandu to Everest Base Camp route which they walked in 1953. In the evening the sky began to clear, so the Earth & Sky expedition to the observatory was on, but discounted to $50, as there was still some sloud. A little bus took us up the hill to the Mt John Observatory at about 10:20 pm, driving on side lights for the last few hundred yards. We were met by our guides and stumbled around in the dark getting to the observatory workroom where we were given big warm parkas, though it wasn`t really cold. Outside, Chris & Chris, the English speaking guides explained the main stars of the southern sky - Crux, the Southern Cross and its pointers and where the South Celestial Pole was. We then looked at various stars, clusters & nebulae through the small outdoor telescope, starting with Alpha Centauri, our closest star at 4.3 light years (compared with 8 light minutes for our sun), which wth Beta Centauri (over 100 light years away) are the pointers to the Southern Cross. Through the telescope, Alpha Centauri is seen as a binary star - two stars orbitting each other. The Clouds of Magellan were also fascinating, as they look like fuzzy patches in the south and are in fact other galaxies. The Milky Way, an edgewise view of our own galaxy of a billion stars, was very clear too. We then moved into the big telescope building with a dome and saw morestrage astronomical sights. Saturn was rising, but was near cloud, so we waited until it was fairly clear then set the etelscope on it to see a fuzzy ball (planets do not twinkle) with discernable but not very clear rings. It was all very interesting to see the practical side of a subject I`s studied nearly 40 years ago.
It was a fairly boring journey from Lake Takepo to Christchurch with a stop in the nice little town of Geraldine, with Dusty, the `sweet as` driver. I booked to go to the International Antarctic Centre on the bus, so I was dropped there (near the airport) at 12:30, and Dusty dropped my pack at the YHA. I am enthustiastic about anything `Antarctic`, so spent 4 hours there. Simulating conditions in the Antarctic was followed by feeding the blue penguins, all orphaned or injured`, then a storm room, vehicles and sledges, small wildlife films, history of exploration and a bigger screen showing the antarctic from above. I bought a T-shirt as a momento. There was then a ride in an all purpose Norwegian designed vehicle up and over steep humps and through water. The International Antarctic Centre is the main base for servicing the McMurdo Sound Base in Antarctica and there are frequent flights.
Christchurch is a nice `very English` city (pop 380,000) with a cathedral in the centre, and a little River Avon winding through it. Many of the streets are named after English cities (ie: those with cathedrals - the real English definition). Gloucester, Hereford, Worcester, Lichfield and Peterborough run across with Manchester and Durham + Colombo and Montreal going down. Oxford and Cambridge Terraces border the little winding river, so are not part of the grid. There are also quaint old trams whichdo a fixed circuit around the centre of the city. After checking in at the YHA, I strolled around town, and eventually found an English pub for fish and chips and a couple of pints of Monteiths Original (the closest thing to real ale in NZ). I noticed Internet cafes at $3 per hour for later use.
Sun Feb 1
I had a whole day in Christchurch with no commitments, so started with a 1 hour run (in Dulwich kit). The YHA in Manchester Street was only 100 yds from the River Avon, so I ran along the banks of the little river, which included a big loop enclosing the Botanical Gardens, then all around the edge of the Hagley Parks. It was a nice run, but the left knee took a while to warm up and was very creeky later. I ran out of Glucosamine and Condroitin knee pills a few weeks ago, so found a chemist to restock. Some of the ssteps up the Cathedral Tower has brass plaques on them, no doubt the departed wishing to be closer to heaven! The view from the top was quite good, but obscured by high building in some directions. A crowd below were watching a circus girl doing somersaults from a bendy plank. Nearby the Southern Encounter Aquarium and Kiwi House contained numerous blue cod and some rays, lots of smaller fish, gechos etc. There was one kiwi awake and sorting through leaf litter with his long beak, so I watched a real kiwi for the 5 minutes we were allowed in. it was relaxing to wander in the Botanical Gardens, taking photos of the herbaceous borders and inside the houses (begonia, palm, cacti, orchid, fern). It was busy with families in some areas, but the far end was peaceful with trees and lily ponds. Bob, the old guy from Milwaukee who I`d met on Christmas Day in Hobart was in my room now, so we caught up on where we`d been. Shopping, cooking, emails, a phone call and the Australian tennis final took up the evening.
Mon Feb 2
Christchurch Railway Station is on the south west edge of the city beyond Hagley Park, so shuttle bus services pick up people all aroung the centre for the 2 daily train services - up the coast to Picton leaving at 7:30, and over Arthur`s Pass to Greymouth leaving at 8:15. The Tranz Scenic train is a tourist train with one open viewing carriage in the middle and a small viewing platform at the end, near where I was seated. The first hour of the journey is over the flat Canterburyplains to Springfield, where the foothills begin. The interesting and scenic part of the journey then starts as the train ascends up the Waimakariri valley, which becomes a gorge, with numerous viaducts and tunnels to negotiate. Higher up the valley opens out again to become a braided river - a wide riverbed with a river snaking and splitting through it. At cass (population now of only 1) there are more ups and downs and lots of sheep, then there are more ups to Arthur`s Pass village and station at 740 metres. The village was created for the men working on the tunnel through the highest part of the alps and has become a little tourist village several miles below the road pass. I walked Bridal Veil Track, which was rather undulating (knee still dodgy), stopping to watch rifleman birds at one point. There are numerous walks off the Arthur`s Pass road, but they are not connected, so walking on the road was necessary. Near Arthur`s Pass road summit, Dobson Nature Walk (named after Arthur Dobson, the pioneer who found the route through the alps, with Maori help) contains lots of alpine plants and bushes. I didn`t have time to try the good wlaks up the side valleys or to the tops. Back at Arthur`s Pass village, I couldn`t resist grandma`s fruit cake, as the clouds cleared away. On the return journey, the views and scenery were much clearer as we jostled for position on the viewing platform. At 2 places, the train stopped as the driver had to change the points. Back down on the plains, the weather was grey and cool again. At the YHA, I was annoyed that my beers had been stollen, though I realise that I`d left them, marked with my name, on a `free food` shelf.
Next morning, my alarm went at 04:20, and all my things were packed ready. I had time for a quick breakfast and at 5 went out to get transport to the airport. The Pacific Blue flight to Wellington left at 0645, and I dozed through most of it, so missed seeing the view coming in to land. I shared a shuttle bus with 3 Irish girls and a guy into the city, getting dropped at the YHA just after 8 am.
My bus out of Wellington didn`t leave until 12. After bacon and eggs at Expressohilics, I had a haircut by Danny from Poplar, spent about an hout in Te Papa (NZ Museum) including seeing the giant squid, then had half an hour seeing the Terracota Warriors at St James Theatre. The Inter-City bus left from the railway station and is a basic bus service with minimal commentary picking and dropping off at various towns on the way. With a half hour break at Flat Hills, we arrived in Taupo at 6:15. I did a supermarket shop in Pack n`Save where it is easy to get lost. Sandra had got on the bus at Taurangi, having done the Tongariro Crossing the day before. She was only 19, from Zurich and quite a big girl, but had managed the crossing okay including the side extension to Tongariro Summit.
Wed Feb 4
The other 3 in my room were all gone by 8, so I had a lie in and a leisurely breakfast, The Magic Bus from Napier arrived at 10:30, and Alison got off, while Joe and Sam stayed on. We agreed to team up for the Tongariro Crossing, a big one day walk through volcanic craters, but transport can only be booked after 2:30 when weather predictions are clear. We therefore went for a walk along the river to Huka Falls, passed the local bungy jumping platform off a cliff into the Waikato River. There is then a hot stream flowing into the main river, which is why we saw bikini clad girls walking towards us. There were boys jumping into the water and elderly ladies wallowing. The littel waterfall was too hot to stand under. We had no swimming gear, so just waded in to our knees. I`d seen the Huka Falls for 10 minutes a few weeks before, but it was nice to gentle walk along the ruver in the warm sunshine seeing the rapids and colours of the water. At the kiosk in the car park, I asked for a coffee and was given a can - hot - an NZ invention. Alison was most intrigued as her son is a catering manager. Back at the YHA, we booked the Tongariro Crossing transport, then went to the supermarket for supplies. We had a sweet corn starter and I cooked a chicken stir-fry, then we chatted to Margaret, a retired lady from Layland, who told us her amusing travel stories. On the Abel Tasman walk on the top of the South Island, she hadn`t realised what the issue was about the tides - there are river crossings which are affected by the tides. She was determined to get across a river on the wlak when the tide was fairly high even though other were waiting for it to go down. She stripped down to her underwear and waded in with holding her pack. As it got deeper, she had to hold her pack over her head and as the tide was quite strong she also had to hang on to her knickers. She made it across and was given a big clap by the onlookers.
Thu Feb 5
All 4 of us in my room, Rob, Andy, a German girl and myself were all doing the Tongariro Crossing, so there was no need to be quiet getting up at 5:20, to be ready for the 6:20 coach pickup. It was raining then but stopped and the sky cleared by the time 16 of us from the YHA boarded the coach. It is a 90 minute drive back to the south, alonh Lake Taupo and through Turangi to the Tongariro National Park and the start of the walk on the west side at Mangatepopo. Alison went ahead while I went to the toilet, then coming out I met Richard (Szklaruk) going in, so we did a quick exchange of `where are you staying?` as I explained that I had a lady to catch up, expecting to see him later. I`d already decided that I wanted to do the extra side trip to Tongariro Summit, while Alison was not sure. I would have loved to have done the big strenuous side trip up My Ngauruhoe (Mt Doom from Lord of the Rings) and run down the ash from the top, but I`m not sure that my knees would like it, and I`d be pushed for time to get the last bus. It took me 25 minutes to catch Alison on the gradual rise up the Mangatepopo Stream to Soda Springs, which took nearly an hour (Info sheet said 1 to 1.5 hours). The steep climb then started up Devil`s staircase to South Crater, a 45 minute haul up a clear track with lots of steps and an improving view. At the top, looking back to the west, Mount Egmont/Taranaki could be seen on the horizon about 80 miles away. It really had become a lovely clear bright day. There were only a few brave hikers half way up Mt Ngauruhoe, but the views of it were spectacular all day long. Next we walked across the South Crater, a flat area with crater walls on 3 sides showing clearly that Ngauruhoe was just an off-shoot of Tongariro before it lost its top. Then there was a climb up to the ridge and the signpost. This was the point where the side trip to Tongariro Summit started, which was a gently undulating ridge walk to the highest point on the ridge, estimated to take 90 minutes return. We were going okay for time and the weather was excellent, so Alison decided to do it too. A minute after setting off, I saw Richard just getting up to the signpost, so gave him a wave expecting him to follow us. Waves of cloud then came up the ridge from the north, so we thought the weather was changing, but it cleared again, It was an interesting detour with different views and statue-like rocks on another ridge nearby, but Alison struggled on the steeper sections where there wasn`t much grip, especially downhill where I was encouraging her to dig her heals in. We took the 90 minutes to get back on track and decided that we would stop for lunch at Emerald Lakes, a short distance away. However, there was a bit more of a climb to the top of Red Crater and a spectacular sight of what looked like new bright maroon rock/lava and a big grey horizontal vent. This was followed by a steep ash descent to the beautiful Emerald Lakes. I could have jogged down the ash digging my heels in but Alison was struggling, but gradually learning the technique. Many others were shuffling and falling and didn`t have a clue how to go down. It was 12:30 when we got to the Emerald Lakes, and with some guides suggesting we had 4 hours to go, the lunch stop was reduced to 5 minutes, then eat as we walked. The scenery continued to be amazing as we walked across Central Crater, and up to Blue Lake. From there the long descent started and the volcanic scenery changed to more standard mountain, forest and lake scenery. Soon were were surrounded by alpine plants, flowers, mosses and birds, with a big view of a lake below and Lake Taupo beyond. As we descended to the Ketetehi Hut it got warm from the sun and from the thermal rocks we were walking on. We had a brief break at the hut, now with time in hand and continued om passed an area of smelly vents and steam down lots of steps some of them rather large, then into the forest. We reached the car park at 3:58, with the 4pm bus ready to go.
The Tongariro Crossing had been fantastic and the weather had been perfect. It was the best one day walk - as advertised.
Back in Taupo, I got cleaned up, then went to Rainbow Lodge to find Richard in room 11. His Dutch friends had not been keen on doing the Tongariro Summit, so they finished the crossing at 2:30. We agreed to meet in town at 8, so I returned to the YHA to get Alison and the 3 of us had a nice meal down by the lake in Taupo.
I was rather slow to get going, so perhaps the walk had taken it out of me, but was packed and ready to go by 9:40, so walked quickly down to town to find a book on Fiji, before the Magic Bus arrived at 10:30. We stopped again at the Huka Falls, but nowhere else on the way to Rotorua, where Alison got out and we had an hour for lunch. The bus then continued north on a fairly twisty road to Tauranga and Mount Maunganui. There were big traffic jams in Tauranga as the area is expanding with new settlers, so roads and bridges are being extended and it was also a bank holiday. Tauranga and Mount Maunganui are twin cities built around the 2nd largest harbour in New Zealand. An extinct volcano (The Mount) sits at the end with Mount Maunganui town on a narrow sand bar with harbour on one side and a long white sandy beach on the Pacific Ocean side, while Tauranga is on the landward side of the big port and harbour. There is an extensive container and timber port and lots of railway lines. New Zealand seems to have quite an extensive railway system for freight, but very little for passengers. I was at Pacific Beach Backpackers - the only YHA in the area in Tauranga was full. In fact most accommodation in New Zealand was full as it was a big bank holiday weekend - Waitangi Day, celebrating the signing of the treaty between Britain and the Maori chiefs. It was hot, so I went for a walk to the big beach where big Pacific rollers were crashing in. It is New Zealands only good surfing beach, so I went in the sea and got completely wet, but didn`t really swim. After a microwave meal and a beer, I set off to climb "The Mount", though it was after 8pm - it had been too hot earlier. It took about 25 minutes to get to the foot of it, the after a bit of scrambling up a grassy slope, annoying the sheep, I dropped down to the track I could have walked on, which then climbed around the back on the Mount and up to the top. The sun set during this time, but not dramatically, so the last part was done in bright moonlight. The view at the top was superb, with the moon over the sea, and the lights of the cities and harbour below, yet it was very peaceful to be up there at 9:30 pm. On the way back, I found a fairly quiet bar with Sky showing the cicket from Melbourne. It was a good 1 day match with NZ beating Oz, so I had to have a 2nd pint to see the end.
Sat Feb 7
At breakfast, I spoke to Estelle, who was in Fiji a few weeks ago and had to be evacuated from the floods. She recommended going to Aquarius Pacific Hotel near the airport, at least on the first night, as they were good at helping with plans and had been excellent to her in the disaster. I should also get some good deet Mosquito repellent.
The Magic Bus went via Waihi, an old gold mining town, then up the Karangahaka Gorge where the Goldfields railway used to run, so the ruins of the gold mines and railways, bridges, viaducts and tunnels were all around. At Thames, a lot of passengers got off to transfer to the Coromandel/Whitianga bus (driven by Tony - re Bay of Islands), but the Magic Bus schedule is being cut especially for side routes, so there would be there for 1 night only or 4 nights unless they changed transport. We had half an hour in Thames, which Captain Cook originally named the river, but it was changed to the town in gold mine days, so I bought ham for sandwiches and Barbara phoned me to say she`d not heard from her Auckland friends. In Auckland, Eric drove the remaining 7 of us over the harbour bridge and back for the view.. After a fruitless search in Auckland for a watch strap, I went to Albert Park where there was a Chinese Lantern Festival. Lots of people were milling about around the dragon dancing, large blow up figures, chinese music and performers and stalls.. The top road outside was closed to traffic and full of oriental stalls, mostly food, so I had Singapore Fried Noodles in a box and a coke. Next, I cut across town to the Sky Tower. The full price to the top is $28 each, as paid by the elderly Aerican couple in front of me (no Seniors discount), but is only $18 with a YHA Card. The fast lift zooms you up to the observation deck at about 200 metres, where there is a super 360 degree view of Auckland, Information boards and a fewTV screens and some telescopes. I watched the Wellington 7`s semi-final for a few minutes, took photos on the lovely clear evening, then got the next lift up to the Sky Deck, another 20 metres or so up, for even higher views. The Sky Tower is 328 metres (1076 ft) in total, so is the tallest building in the southern hemisphere. I stopped for a bun and a drink in the revolving restaurant, one floor below the observation deck on the way down. Later, I booked a room at Aquarius, Fiji over the web and emailed them for advise.
Sun Feb 8
A free day in Auckland, so I strolled down to the harbour and cought the ferry to Rangitoto, the newest volcano which was created 600 years ago. It is a clearly visible cone of green from Auckland and about 40 minutes away by ferry. There is no permanent population, there there are remains of military buildings from WWII in various places. The island is one big lava field, but native trees and shrubs cover most of the island now, and there are several dirt raods and small paths. On arrival I took the path along the beach, then inland to the left to see the lush vegetation and get away from the crowds, then went along Fern Glen, which joins the main track up to the top. The vegetation really is fascinating with ferns. mosses, shrubs and flowers growing out of the volcanic lava. I was wearing sandals and the track over the volcanic lava was rougher than most in New Zealand, so I had to be careful. It was also very hot (typical man dogs and Englishmen scenarion again!) About 15 minutes from the top, there is a shady clearing and a choice of tracks. I took the detour to the lava caves, which were intersting when I found that I could walk right through, carefully without a torch. At teh summit, there was a boardwalk to the top edga of the crater with big views of Auckland and islands of the Hauraki Gulf. I found a sheltered spot on the cratre rim walk and had picnic lunch and decided to abondon any ideas of going back a different way, as they were all well over 2 hours lon, so I`d be pushed to get the ferry. It was also too hot to go route-marching through the bush. The channel to Rangitoto was busy with sailing boats and other pleasure craft, so there was a speed limit in force for part of it. Around 10:30 pm, the firework display started in Albert Park to mark the end of the Chinese New Year period - which seems to coincide with the full moon 2 weeks into the new year. A crowd of us stood outside the YHA watching.
Mon Feb 9
It was a hot sticky night in the YHA, si I jammed the door of the door open with a shoe to get some air into the room. There was also a snorer, though not excessively load, who seemed to sleep more peacefully for much of the day too. I packed and checked, but kept a pass to the YHA for general use - emails, phone, kitchen etc. later, down by the dock considering what to do for a few hours, I got a call from Alison, who was nearby in Queen St, though staying with friends in Birkenhead on the north bank. We met up and had a walk around Viaduct Harbour and Waitemata Harbour and out to the Harbour Bridge, where Alison had booked to do the Bridge Walk (via magic). I thought I could do it too, but didn`t have enough time, so got a lift back into town with the AJ hackett driver who was going into town for pickups. The 4:15 airport bus never arrived, so the 4:30 was very busy. On the flight to Fiji, I sat next to a girl and her father doing a longcontorted trip from Nelson (Sth Island) to Conneticut via Auckland, Fiji and LA at least. When she started doing Chemistry homework, I tried to help !
At Nadi (pronounced nandi), the Aquarius courtesy minibus picked up a german couple and me. They`d been in a campervan around NZ for 5 weeks at $90 per day, and they would be on the same flight as me to Honolulu. It was 10pm when we got to Aquarius, on the beach, near the airport, and I`d booked a double room to myself ($85), after weeks of sleeping in dorms. We were now only 12 hours ahead of the UK - like NZ, but without daylight saving, and were on 177.5 degrees East, so opposite Bristol (on 2.5 degrees west), though much nearer the equator at 17.8 degrees south. It was definitely tropical now.
Tue Feb 10
With only 4 nights in Fiji, I decied that going to an island and doing my PADI Open Water dives would be a good idea. Donna, at Aquarius, had worked out the best options in the time, so after some discussion, I had a quick breakfast and was on the littel 10:30 boat to mana, but only after a trip to the local ATM (in McDonalds). In Fiji, the roads are rather pot holed and the vehicles are all old. There are lots of palm trees and tropical vegetation, and many buildings look a bit weather beaten. They had storms and floods 3 weeks ago, so there were still piles of washed up wood around. The boat to mana took about 45 minutes - a fast outboard - with Brendan and his lady and Vanessa, a statuesque woman from Clapham, and myself as the passengers.. I`d like to have gone to the Yasawa`s (eg Waya Island), but there was only 1 big boat a day doing a big loopof the island group and it left early. Mana was a small, but not miniscule island. Ratu Kini Boko`s was a backp[acker resort with dorms and some private rooms and good diving facilities. I had a double room in the far corner of the resort plot. The resort was a series of single storey buildings and shacks with lots of trees and some ruined buildings, possibly from storm damage. Most of the clientele were young and English. I couldn`t dive on the first dayas you need 24 hours after or before flying, so after lunch, I went fro a walk around the island. It was hot but fairly cloudy. On the walk along the beach, I was accompanied by one of the camp dogs. Round a rocky headland was sunset beach, small and empty except for a black heron, which the dog chased, as well as any crabs which were scampering into the sea. There were a few locals fishing and 3 dogs around the next headland, then at the end of the next beach resort, on which there were a few lounging tourists, the rocky headland was not so easy to get ard.The companion had found other interets, as I climbed up the rocks a little. At the top, I was suddenly confronted by a snake a few feet away from me. It was far small, finger thick and maybe 3 ft long with black, white and turquoise bands - was a coral banded sea snake. I edged my way around it on the confined little rocky spot, as it also moved over the rocks, then got my camera out - Wow, that was fun ! At the next rocky headland, girls from Ratu Kini`s wre fishing, said `Hi Barry`, then warned me that the tide was getting too high to get around the end of the island, so I slogged up a slope through thick grass and undergrowth to a cross at the top of the hill. There was a good view of the whole island from here, and an easy path back the resort. I`d been out in the heat for about 2 and a half hours in a running vest, so got a bit sunburnt othe shoulders. In the evening, I drank and talked with youngsters, mostly Kinsley (from Abercynon) and Kate, and there was a Fiji Dancing performance from the staff.
Wed Feb 11
I had an upset stomach in the morning, probably from too much sun, so cancelled the planned early morning dive with divemaster Andrew. Bananas, tea and a rest revived me, so by 11 am I was getting ready for my first Open Water Dive. Andrew was taking me and Ben, who was doing the full PADI course and had already done 1 open water dive. There were several other divers and snorkellers in the boat, which went out to a site off sunset beach. Getting used to the scuba gear, rules (BWRAF), hand signals etc after 4 months was a test for me, then when we got down the bottom, getting my buoyancy under control was a problem for 10 minutes or so, until I realised that it was all a matter of breathing control. There were lots of different corals, teaming with very colourful small fish, though I saw nothing larger than a dinner plate, as we went down to 12 metres alonga the edge of a shelf. Ben did the exercises for Open Water 2 and by then I was controlled enough to kneel on the bottom and watch. Before the dive, I had been a bit apprehensive about it, but by the end I was more confident, so afetr a quick lunch, I was ready for dive 2. This time we went to Seven Sisters, an area further out on the other sode of the island, where there are 7 lumps of reef. This time it was just me and Andrew, Robert (Spanish) with Maya (Bolivian) and Nat with Yohana (Swedish). This time I really enjoyed it and was very h in control of where I was going. Again, there were no big fish, but lots of brain and staghorn coral and too many different coloured fish to list - and I did the exercises well.
After dinner, there was a crab race. Ten pathetic little crabs, less than an inch long, had numbers painted on their backs. These were auctioned off to the residents (now around 30 of us). By crab 6, bidding was weakening, so I uncharacteristically joined in and bought crab 6 for only $6, the cheapest of the night. There were prizes for the winner of race 1, winner of race 2 and the last in race 3. My crab was doing well in race 1, but faded to 2nd.
Thu Feb 12
I was leaving on the 12 o`clock boat, so checked out first, then went snorkelling for about 40 minutes. There is a good reef and ledge about 80 yds from the shore where I saw a shoal of green fish with black stripes and lots of other colourful fish. Venessa and her friends were on the boat back to the mainland, and they sat on the front of the boat and got sprayed with salty water for 45 minutes. Back at Aquarius, I booked a flight from Honolulu to Kaua`i. In the evening, I sat with Mark for dinner. he is Polish, but is a lwayer working in Vienna and had been to over 100 countries including many good places I`d been to. Afghanistan, Antigua, Barbados, Malawi, Zambia and Botswana were the exceptions I`d done. He was now bagging some Pacific Islands. He made lots of recommendations, especially in South and Central America and Burma !!
Fri Feb 13 -1
Before going to Mana, I`d told Donna I`d like to do a day trip on the mainland - to Suva and maybe the Sleeping Giant ( a gardens fairly nearby). My only instructions from the Aquarius staff was to be ready at 7am. I had an early breakfast, put my pack in store and gave them a big laundry bag to get done while I was out. A taxi took me to Donna`s house a mile or so away. The plan was that Donna`s husband Junior (real name Muhammed Yousef) would be my driver for the day and Donna would come along too. He`d gone to get a hired car for rather less than a normal rental car. They were starting up their own guest house, so Donna was finishing at Aquarius soon. They had 3 children and were a rare mixed marriage in a country which was close to 50% Fijian, 50% Indian, though Junior said lots of Indians had left for Australia and New Zealand in recent years, so it wasn`t 50/50 anymore. Hw was a muslim, which was also rare among Fijian Indians and was under 70kg Fijian Bodybuilding Champion, but had been off the training for a couple of years. The drive to Nadi was slow as the raods are in a bad state from the floods 3 weeks ago. Some parts of the town had been 20 ft under water, roads had been washed away and some businesses were still closed including 2 banks. They were rebuilding and resurfacing quite quickly, but about 80% of the Nadi population were still homeless, so it will take time and money to get them back to normal. Once we were clear of Nadi, the roads were very good, but it`s a long way to Suva, about 150 miles of fairly twisty roads mostly near the sea. Donna didn`t see much dozing in the back. Near Sigatoka, there is a little railway from the sugarcane industry, but the service now is restricted due to damage to bridges. It was quite a scenic drive with sea, beaches and Beqa (pronounced Benga) Island on the right and hills and some forested peaks on the left. We arrived in Suva at 11:15 and agreed to meet in an hour. I looked around the fruit market, then had a look around town. It was now very hot with the sun directly overhead, so I was walking on my shadow. Next, I was dropped at the National Museum where there are large old canoes used by the original settlers to Fiji from otehr islands, but Fiji`s documented history is only about 200 years. On the way back we had several stops - Navua for a quick look at the view, Pacific Harbour for souvenirs, Sigatoka for a quick look and a drink and Natadola Beach, a new development which is not yet open and we had to get to on a dirt road. I shared a taxi to the airport with 2 Swiss guys after rushing a very nice prawn stir-fry. On the flight, I had a window seat by the emergency door, so had extra room.
We landed about 5:40 am in Honolulu on a new day, but it was still Friday 13th, now 10 hours behind the UK. Getting into the USA was very quick, so by 6:25, I was at Mokulele check-in asking if I could go on an earlier flight than the 10:15 I`d booked. No problem - lots of space on the 7:15 - only 15 of us on a 70 seater (but for a $25 admin fee). So by 8am I was in Lihue Airport on the small `garden` island of Kaua`i. In order to see all the really good bits of the island, I needed a car, but at the car rentals desks most companies had sold out, but Alamo did have expensive Jeeps and Convertables. Far from picking a quiet time in a credit crunch period, it was Valentines weekend on one of the most romantic places in the world and it was a US holiday on Monday, I had to accept the situation and gat a jeep at $109 per day plus insurance. I`ll try to find somewhere cheap to stay to compensate. Before booking the car, I went to the Mokulele desk and changed my flights to include Hawaii (the big island), so I`d have 3 days on Kaua`i and a day and a half on Hawaii. I picked a dark green jeep, which was actually blue on the description ! Getting my big pack in the back was a struggle - they are not designed for luggage. I drove north, past exotic golf courses and sandy beaches with coconut palms all around and mountains in the distance. In Kapaa, I noticed an International Hostel and parked up there and had some breakfast as check-in was not until 11. The hostel was full, but there was another up the road, which took me some time to find. The Kauai Beach House was also very busy, but Richie said he could reserve me a couch for $20, which may get upgraded to a bed - Great, cheap accommodation. By now it was 12:30 and I was rather jaded from the flight, but I drove on north, stopping often to see the lovely views of beaches, big waves, surf, hills. Beyond Princeville, the road was narrower with single lane bridges over littel rivers. The north coast is really lovely, but the flight and 3 months of travel dimmed my appreciation. The speed limit on the island is 50 mph, with frequent reductions to 35 or less for junctions, towns or just narrow twisty roads. The orad ends at Ke`e Beach and the hiking train along the spectacular Na Pali Coast starts. It was 3pm bu now, so I wouldn`t get far, but was determined to have a walk on this exotic remote inaccessible coastal path. It is a fairly difficult 11 mile hike to Kalalau Beach, and it is the only way to this `Lost Valley`. It would be fantastic to do, but would need an early start and/or an arrangement with a boat to get back, and the weather is often wet. The 2 miles of undulations over rocks and mud to th river crossing at Hanakapi`ai Beach took just over an hour with several stops for photos. Crossing the stream would have meant wet feet, so I stayed there for 15 minutes then returned at a good pace overtaking at least a dozen people, but I slipped on a muddy rock and cut my hand and leg, but not badly. The weather was a mix of low sun streaming along the coast or showers. On the drive back, I stopped for 10 minutes at teh horseshoe shaped Hanalei Bay as the sun set. Back at the hostel, I told Richie I would take the couch out the back, which overlooks the sea and palm trees. Next I went to Scotty`s (next door) for a very good Fish and chips and a beer, then settled down like a guard dog to teh hostel with a strong breeze coming off the sea. A kid was out there playing with a skateboard for a while, but I slept very well.
Sat Feb 14
I was in the jeep by 7:30, as there was a lot to see. Driving south, I detoured up the 580 Kuamo`o Road to see Opaaka`a Falls, then continued to the end of the drivable road, where there were trails into the mountains. I stopped for provisions (late breakfast) in Lawa`i. then there was a good view at the Hanapepe Valley Lookout, until a group of Japanese arrived to take pictures of each other. At Waimea, now in the south-west of the island, I turned inland and the start of the Waimea Valley and Canyon. The Waimea Canyon is really spectacular and although it is only 13 miles long, it is over 2500 ft deep, so is like a mini-Grand Canyon with bands of rock of varying colours, waterfalls and a river snaking along the bottom. The only road goes along the west ridge and I stopped often to take photos. The Waimea Canyon Lookout gave the best views, but it wasn`t the end of the road, as it continues up into Kokee State Park, above the canyon, where these are lots of trails in the forest. At the far end of the park, there are views down to sea of the Na Pali valleys, including the Valley of the Lost Tribe, though it was now getting cloudy and damp. Despite the deteriorating weather, I decided to have a go at the trails, as it was only about 12 noon, and I`d never be here again. From the end of the road, I started on the Pihea Trail which was a bit muddy and slippery with ocassional views on both sides. This went to the Pihea Vista, but there was no vista, only cloud. The showers and I continued. At a cross roads, I took a left to Kilohana Lookout, along the Alaka`i Swamp Trail, though I didn`t know it at the time as good info was not available. There were lots of boardwalks over the swamp, some in poor condition. At one broken section, I stood on what I thought was a safe plank and sank up to my thigh in smelly mud, so laughed and carried on. Of course there was no view at Kilohana Lookout either, the area being one of the wettest places on earth with 430 inches of rain per year. I turned around and jogged and fast walked the 4 miles back to the car, wet, muddy, smelly and happy ! On the drive back, I tried to get to Barking Sands on the west coast, but the last section was closed and off road, so I had a paddle in the sea at Kekaha to was off some mud, then saw my westernmost sunset. At the hostel, Richie had a bed for me - double, bottom bunk with the wind blowing through the missing window slat.
Sun Feb 15
It was dull with showers, so I couldn`t get enthusiastic about a big walk, so I tried and failed to find an internet cafe, then drove north to Kilauea Lighthouse - the most northerly point in the Hawaiian Islands. There were lots of Red-Footed Boobys nesting and flying around the bay nearby and on Crater Hill. There were also Laysan Albatross on the cliffs further west, but I only saw 1 at a distance. Nene (Hawaiian Geese) were in the grounds and humpback whales were a mile or so out to sea, but not easy to spot. The Na`Aina Kai Botanical Gardens were closed (weekend), which was a pity as the flora of the Hawaiian Islands and Kaua`i in particular is spectacular and quite unique, as they are the most isolated islands in the world, being 2400 miles from the nearest continental landmass. However, the Kaua`i Orchid Centre nearby was open, though they were rather short of flowers as most had been sold for Valentines Day. I had a good chat to the owners and took a few photos. They advised me to go over to the east side of Hawaii, where the best of the scenery and volcanoes where, rather than the more developed west side, where I`d be landing. Most things are closed on Sunday afternoon, so I sorted out my packing, got fuel for the jeep, had a look at the beaches at Lydgate County Park and around Kauai Sands Hotel, which I`d listed to stay at if I was stuck - glad I found a cheap hostel instead.
I was up at 6, which gave me lots of time to get to the airport for the8:15 Mokulele flight. It`s only a 20 minute flight to Honolulu, then I had a connecting flight to Kona on the big island, but had 2 hours to wait. Fortunatey the Internet facilities there. There were super views of Lanai and Kaholawe with Maui and Molokai in view on the flight. Kona Airport has an open air concourse area and is small. The runway is a flattened out area surreounded by jagged black lava. Getting a car was again a problem as it was a US holiday, but Dollar had one - normal car with manual locking and manual windows, but it was fine and much easier for my luggage. It was expensive, butit was the only way I`d see lots of Hawaii in 24 hours - I may never come back. I went north-west along the Hawaiian Belt Road which runs a few miles up the hill from the coast. I needed food but there was nothing but lava for miles, so I stayed on the road to Waimea, where I gotfruit and water and had burger and chips. The saddle Road runs across the top of Hawaii between the two big volcanoes of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa. Most of it is good fast road climbing to about 5000 ft with black lava on both sides. Muana Loa on the right is a single smooth dome, with some snow on the top, while Mauna Kea is more complex, so the snowy peak is only visible between gaps in the foothills. At the hoghest point of Saddle Road, a turning to the left goes up Mauna Kea> it is a steep road rising to the Information Centre at 9200 ft, where there are warning about AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness) and lots of astronomical paraphenalia. The Onizuka Center for International Astronomy is ther, named after the only Hawaiian astronaut who died in a Challenger explosion. I wanted to get to the 13,800 ft summitwhere there are lots of observatories, but the road becomes 4 wheel drive only. I had a short walk and came back down.
I`d looked up an eco-hostel near Pahoa, so wnet to find it. In the town nobody had heard of it, but with the address and a map in the local telephone book, I located it and eventually found the ramshackle buildingsknown as the Hedonisia Hawaii Eco-Hostel. It was rather `alternative`, but there was a tent I could sleep in, already erected with all bedding inside, so I paid Mojo (from Streatham !) $20, then drove back to Pahoa for food and beers. Amusingly I had to show my ID in the 7-11 to get the beers. Bcak a the hostel I chatted with Danny, a Vancouver fireman and his lady about travel and green issues.
Tue Feb 17
I left the hostel quietly before sunrise and drove down to the coast and along to Kalapana. Lots of fairly recent black lava runs right down to the sea, but with palm trees and mangroves between. The road ends because Kalapana and the road were buried by a laval flow about 10 years ago. The road from Pahoa to Kea`au was busy with rush hour traffic, but back on the 11 to Volcano it was a good quiet straight road climbing gradually to over 4000 ft. I had to get the car back to Kona Airport for 12:30, so had to decide what I had time to see. The Rim road around the Kilauea Caldera was closed on the far side due to excessive activity and sulphur fumes, so I did the bit that I could. It is a huge volvanic caldera 11 miles around, with a smaller active caldera belching out clouds of steam and gas within it. There was also a Kilauea Iki Crater on the side with good walks and views along it, but I had no times for walks, or for the Chain of Craters Road, which runs down to the sea, and would once have continued to Kalapana. I had over 100 miles to drive in 2 and a half hours on a big loop around the south of Hawaii and up he west coast - all part of the Hawaii Belt Road. The forst part going south and down hill was quiet and easy, but the road got progressively twisty and busy and the west coast was a crawl. I drove into the Car Renta Return Bay at 12:20 and asked where the local gas station was. "4 miles back down the road !" What a crazy place - hundreds of hire cars returning to the airport and no gas station.I drove the 4 miles back, got help from a guy who owned an English Mini Cooper. At Honolulu Airport, I went looking for an ATM, so missed a
At Honolulu Airport, I went looking for an ATM so missed a shuttle bus and had to wait a long time. There were lots of young girls from the Shuttle Bus company but no buses, so it was quite busy when we did leave. Waikiki is an interesting part of Honolulu city with large hotels, eateries, shops, small hotels, beaches, palm trees and an ABC shop on nearly every corner. It was 7pm by the time I was dropped at the International YHA and it was a slow job droping off at the big hotels. I was allocated room 5 and found Daniel, one of the Swiss guys I`d shared a taxi with to Nadi Airport in the room too. I had a stroll around the streets - quite a nice `American` city - then along Waikiki Beach which was rather busy with people strolling. The palm trees make it exotic, otherwise it just has a nice sandy beach with big waves suitable for surfing.
Wed Feb 18
The sunrise on Waikiki Beach wasn`t special as the sun was rising behind mountains beyond Diamond Head Crater. Men were taking out Hawaiian canoes, which have a main single canoe with a secondary small stabiliser canoe (usually on the left) about 5 ft away linked by 2 arching arms. They use single ended paddles. The beach area was quite busy with joggers and walkers at 7am. I`d loved to have joined them, but was sneezy, had a dodgy left knee and had pulled a calf muscle in Kaua`i - I`m falling apart. I thought it would be a stroll to go to the Diamond Head Crater, but there was no way of getting near it for big private houses backing onto it. A check of the map later shows that there is an entrance round to the north with a tunnel into the centre. It was a pleasant stoll along the promenade except for a sudden shower. I was back in the YHA for 9am for breakfast, shower and packing,then was picked up by the airport shuttle. There are nice relaxing Japanese, Chinese and Hawaiian gardens in an open triangle between the gates at the airport. On the American Airways flight, we had to pay for dinner - a good sandwich for $10 !
It was 10pm when I went to find transport into the city. The only time I`d been here before in 1997, I`d walked straight past a board with my name on to get a taxi and missed having my own stretched limo ! This time I went to the Samtrans bus stop and found that a 292 was due in 10 minutes. It cost me just $1.95 to get to downtown, and during the 40 minutes I managed to track where we were, so got off at the nearest stop to Union Square. The Adelaide Hostel was in a tiny backstreet a couple of blocks from Union Square, but I had t go to a shop with a map to find the street. I checked into a 4 bed dorm with one other occupant (Antoine - French), and went out to find an ATM and food - a slice of pizza the size of a whole pizza in England ! Breakfast and Internet are FREE at the Adelaide and it is full of travellers - no Americans.
Thur Feb 19
It was a lovely sunny day, but I spent the morning making use of the free facilities. San Francisco is a great city to just walk around with skyscrapers, hills, trams, shops, lots of people strolling around and different ethnis areas and colours. There is always a new interesting view. TransAmerica PyramidTower is no longer accessible for high level views, but Bank of America has a restaurant and cocktail bar at the top, so with a bit of guile it is possible to walk into the cocktail bar, take half a dozen photos and walk out again. I was having a gentle `man flu` day, so caught the ferry to Sausalito on the north side of Golden Gate Bridge, for views of the city and the bridges from the water, Sausalito is an expensive yacht harbour town and very nice to walk around for an hour. My friend Reg was there in 1968 and came back with interesting stories. On the way back I met Goerge, whi I`d been talking to at breakfast. He was Danish, retired with 5 grown-up children and hadbeen travelling around for a few years, though mostly in Russia and Mexico where he was keen to master the languages. In the evening, I ate in the hostel as Jenn cooks a meal for $5 each for those who order an hour before. Hannah and herdaughter Miriam (German) and George and I chatted for much of the evening. Hannah was in her sixties and had been a real hippie in the 1960`s, while George had done a wreckless trip around Germany at 19 and been jailed in their home town (Heidelberg) as a homeless, penniless traveller ! I had justdone the hippie trail to Kathnadu in 1972. Two new guys had moved into ourroom - Leon (Amsterdam) who ran a `coffee` shop and Marlon (Idaho and Amsterdam) who was rather morejet-lagged.
Fri Feb 20
It was a nice warm day with light cloud - a good day for a long walk. First stop was Alamo Square, which is a hill 2 miles west of the hotel. where there are nicely kept Victorian houses on a slope with good views of the city and bay behind. I continued west into the Panhandle - a strip of green which links to Golden Gate Park, where there were several joggers and Haight Ashbury, the origin of Flower Power, on the left. Golden Gate Park is 3.5 miles long (west to east) and half a mile wide and contains a huge variety of sites and scenes. The Conservatory of Flowers is a copy of the Kew Gardens Palm House and contains tropical and aquatic plants and some orchids and was good but not briliant. At the De Young Museum I stopped for a cake and a coke in a cafe and could see the long queues at the California Academy of Science (their Science Museum). I then found myself at the Botanic Gardens (Strybing Arboretum), so went into it trying to adjust my course to go west. Fortunately it wasn`t too big, as I discovered that the entrance was also the only exit. Stow Lake was pleasant with several pedallos on it, then Overlook Drive was a lovely quiet elevated path, passed a polo field. Continuing on the Pacific Ocean suddenly appeared with lots of cars and people. The beach was large and the Pacific Rollers were big and dangerous, and there were lots of dog walkers. A Canadian couple stopped me for a chat - Willie from Edmontaon gave me his business card. At Cliff House, overlooking the ocean, emergency services were busy as surfers had got into trouble. I stopped in a nearby cafe for lunch. There was a nice clifftop walk through trees at Lands End and the first views of Golden Gate Bridge. There was then a section of road around China Beach passed very expensive cliff top houses. Baker Beach is a sndy beach with big waves crashing onto it, but at the rocks I had toi climb back up to the road. By road and tracks, I reached Golden Gate Bridge and more crowds with cameras and traffic. I walked to the first tower, taking photos of the bridge and the San Francisco skyline. I`d run over the bridge and back in 1997. It was then a long walk along the shore of San Francisco Bay passed Crissy Field and several yacht harbours to Fishermans Wharf with a nice sunset behind me. Fishermans Wharf is a busy bustling place with large numbers of tourists, lots of eateries from expensive restaurants to roadside stalls with lots of souvenir shops on the landward side of the road. There are also lots of crab stalls. I went into a busy little cafe and had red snapper, which came with clam chowder, and a glass of wine. The final leg of the days walk, which was at least 20 miles in total, was over the top of Nob Hill back to the hostel. The streets up to Nob Hill are very steep and by now I was foot weary. I bought some beer and sat chatting to George and then others in the kitchen, too weary to join in the organised pub crawl.
Sat Feb 21
The previous days exertions had brought back the man flu, so I had a lie-in, then a gentle day walking around parts of San Francisco I`d missed. These included the wiggliest street where Lombard Street goes up Russian Hill - it is one way downhill for drivers, Waterfront Park area which is busy with street entertainers and tourists, then Coit Hill which has good views over most of downtown San Francisco and the bay. I then successfully replaced my broken watch strap in Chinatown, checked transport to the airport for the morning and decided against buying new trainers - too expensive here. My one pair of trainers are pretty warn out after 3 months of frequent use.
The first BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) from downtown San Franscisco to the SFO Airport on a Sunday is 8:40, and I`d booked a rental car from 9am. The ticket machine was baffling, so somebody helped - you look up the ticket price for your journey ($5.35), put a note in the machine, adjust the price to match the ticket price, press a button and out pops a ticket and change IN COINS - so I got nearly $5 in quarters! At the airport, there is an `air train` monorail which runs to the rental car area a mile or so away, but it took me some time to discover it. This time I had a Toyota Yaris for 2 days 8 hours, which was less than half of the Hawaii car for 24 hours. It was a grey wet morning, so there wasn`t much of a view over San Bruno Mountain to the Pacific Coast, but the roads were quiet. It was busier on the approaches to Golden Gate Bridge, the I turned off to stay on Route 1 - the Pacific Coast Road, which is also part of the Pan-American Highway from Tierra del Fuego to Alaska. I stopped in a Subway for brunch - a `foot long BLT`, big bag of crisps (they only come in large in the US) and a coke. The coast road north of the bridge is very twisty and undulating and probably very scenic, but visibility was limited with some murky views of a rocky coastline. I had a bried stop at Stinson Beach, then at the Point Reyes Information Centre, where there were good models of the local wildlife. The weather was getting worse, but I was determined to get to Point Reyes Lighthouse, which Chris had recommended. About half an hour later I was struggling into a strong wet wind in low visibility on the 700 yds walk from the car park to the lighthouse Info hut. The girl there said I may be able to see the lighthouse from just around the corner, but I should definitely see elephant seals if I drove to a sheltered beach nearby. She was correct - lighthouse hardly visible in the mist, but a large group of elephant seals on Drakes Beach really made my day. Proceding north up the coast, the visibility improved a lot with good views of the rocky coastline and periodic twisty drops to a sandy bay. It is really scenic and there are only a few very small towns with populations in hundreds along the Sonoma County Coast. I stopped in Mendocino, another Chris Laskaris suggestion, but finding somewhere `reasonably priced` to stay looked difficult. I asked the barman in `Pattersons`, which was an amazing pub with about 40 draft beers with taps lined up along the back, where I had halibut, chips and a pint of Magners. "Mendocino is expensive - probably nothing less than $170 !, but Fort Bragg, 15 minutes along the coast has plenty of cheap motels". I found the Pine Beach Inn in 10 minutes near Caspar and then drove down to Fort Braggfor provisions.
Mon Feb 23
After a quick check of the local private beach, I did a tour of Mendocino, which is a very pretty town land, rocks, beach and nicely painted wooden houses and a few small shops. Route 128 leaves the coast and goes through Navarro River Redwoods State Park, a lovely drive through a Redwood Forest with a rushing river to the right. The 128 is a scenic windy road until it merges with Freeway 101 for a few miles, then continues in similar vein into the Napa Valley, though the first remote vineyards start in the hills of Sonoma County. The Napa Valley becomes a wide valley thick with vineyards, which in February are just rows of black sticks with little branches. The traffic was now almost continuous and getting busier. I detoured onto Route 4, a quiet road over surprisingly big bare hills, in order to have a quick look at Concord, where Chris lives. I`d been hoping to meet up with him, but he was away visiting his very ill sister, and also had a funeral to attend. The San Mateo Bridge costs $4 to cross and is 6 miles long, flat just above the south part of San Francisco Bay for the first 4 miles, then rising high up. I decided to drive along Skyline Blvd, which runs south along the ridge to Santa Cruz. There should be a good view of the south bay on the left and the Pacific Ocean on the right, but I was soon driving in the mist. There is a plethora of towns in this area named after Spanish Saints, both male and female, so it can be rather confusing to work out which is which - In the Bay Area, there is San Francisco, San Raphael, San Bruno, San Mateo, San Carlos, San Leando, San Jose, San Quentin, San Anselmo, San Geronimo, San Pablo, San Ramon, San Martin, San Juan Bautista and Santa Clara, Santa Rosa, Santa Helena, Santa Venetia, Santa Teresa and Santa Cruz ! I turned onto Route 1 towards Monterey, but iw was now getting dark, so finding a motel was the main concern, There were lots at Marina, so I checked into one, then drove down to the town and found an empty Chinese restaurant.
Tue Feb 24
The last day of my Round the World Trip, so check my packing for the last flght. Around the Monterey coast there are several good places for surfing, though it looked a bit grey and chilly for it. Pebble Beach is a large private headland, which cost $9.50 to drive into and is a golfers paradise with 4 links courses and another in the woods. There are lots of big houses, but most of the seashore is clear, with 17 Mile Drive running close to it. There are cormorants and pelicans on Bird Rock and little ground squirrels near the car park. Seals breed on some of the beaches, but at this time of year are just bobbing about in the waves. Back on Route 1, now going north, I spotted a traffic cop standing at the bottom of a hill with a `hairdryer`, as I stayed on the freeway through to Natural Bridge Park in Santa Cruz, where it had now become a nice warm day and locals were jogging or having a lunch break overlooking the sea. At Moss Landing there were more surfers and a large group of brown pelicans on the rocks nearby. There are quite stunning cliffs along the coast to Half Moon Bay, then I stopped for a final decent meal (Shrimp & Crab Salad) with a nice view out to the ocean before taking the car back to the airport. As usual, there was the hassle of finding a gas station, having to detour off to a nearby town, but I had lots of time. San Francisco Airport was quiet and gleaming, but the duty free shopping was rather limited and the most overpriced I have ever seen. The BA flight to London was a 747 jumbo jet, with only about 60 passengers, so we all had 3 seats each are could get some sleep.
Sat July 16 LONDON – LONGYEARBYEN
I’d checked in on-line for the flights to Oslo and Longyearbyen (the main town on Spitsbergen), so had secured window seats near the rear on the preferred side – ie: not into the sun. The scenery into Oslo was excellent with fjords and dark green forest with a few stripes of lighter green where power lines ran. I’d bought US Dollars and Norwegian Krone at Heathrow – a big mistake as the rate is the poorest possible. Oslo Airport was much better at 8.7 instead of 8.0 for NOK. USD would have been better at a local bank.
We had quite a wait in Oslo and had to go out, pick up our luggage and check-in again and go through customs again, despite our boarding passes and baggage all being labelled for Longyearbyen. Most of the people on the Oslo flight were on the Exodus trip to Spitsbergen, as it was effectively an Exodus Charter flight.
The flight to Longyearbyen stopped at Tromsø, a pretty town with fjords all around at 70° North, so already above the Arctic Circle, but only half way to Spitsbergen. Again we had to get off the plane and take our hand luggage through another customs check, though this was because there were no checks at all when we reached Longyearbyen. It was cloudy for most of the flight to Svalbard, but we dropped below the cloud along the west coast of Spitsbergen (near Bellsund) for good views of a desolate land of mountains, lakes, tundra and snow. We swung around and up Isfjorden and down to the little airfield on the edge of Adventfjord, the small fjord with the community of Longyearbyen a couple of miles further on. Most of us on the flight (80 or so) were on the Exodus Vavilov trip, and after collecting our bags, which went into a truck suitably labelled with cabin number, we had a short bus journey to the ship.
Svalbard is a group of islands half way between the top of Norway and the North Pole, with Spitsbergen being the largest and most westerly of the islands. The Gulf stream which keeps the UK warm runs up the west coast of Spitsbergen, making it the only area of land and sea at this latitude (77 to 81°N) which is not ice bound all year round. The eastern side of Svalbard is colder with currents from Siberia, but can be clear enough in summer for ships to get around Spitsbergen.
The Akademik Sergey Vavilov is a Kaliningrad (Russia) registered Science Research Ship, built in Scandinavia, which can carry 104 clients in addition to Exodus/Quark staff and a Russian crew. It has a strengthened hull, so can slice through ice, but is not an ice breaker. The Quark Expeditions crew of about 12 is led by (Dave) Woody Wood, with Paul Goldstein as the effervescent photographic expert.
Soon, we were on board and sailing, having arrived about 8:30 pm. I was in cabin 447 with Simon, an Ozzie who had been in England for 25 years. Dinner was ready immediately – a really nice buffet with lots of choice. I chose a bottle of Argentinian Malbec @ $20 to accompany the meal (which lasted 3 nights).
We all wore name-tags to make introductions easy. Most of the passengers were English, with a few Australians, US, Italians, Danes. Later in the evening the bar area and stern deck were busy and we sailed into Isfjorden heading out to sea with the sun quite low from the north cutting through below a layer of thin cloud lighting up the cliffs to the east and west of Adventfjorden. Simon and I investigated the beer and after trying some Norwegian cans (@ $6), settled on the $4 bottles of Warsteiner. We got chatting to George and Lesley, who are from Plymouth. George had recently retired from Babcocks and knew Helen !!
Travel Details :-
LHR-OSL SK Depart 10:20 Arr 13:20 (inc 1 hr+)
OSL-Tromsø SK Depart 16:20 Arr 18:05
Tromsø-LYR SK Depart 18:40 Arr 20:15
Sun July 17 - Vavilov cruising from Isfjord to Raudfjord (NW Spitsbergen) .
Up here at 78°N, the sun will not set until August 21st, or even later as we go north, so there is no night, only a time to sleep while the sun is a bit lower. By breakfast time at 7:30 we were off the north west coast of Prins Karls Forland, a 60 mile long island we’d been sailing past for hours. There was low cloud and it was fairly overcast, but it was quite warm (about 5°C). Breakfast was typical hotel buffet style of almost anything, so it was easy to eat too much.
During the morning we sailed north, then turned east above Amsterdamøya. There were lectures and presentations to attend. Woody told us about the rules and format of the holiday – zodiacs etc, then later Paul gave us an intro to photography. Paul is good and enthusiastic but very opinionated. Presentations were arranged in pairs with passengers split into deck 4 or deck 3 & 5, then swap around for the 2nd presentation. I arrived late for the 2nd presentation, so got a personal introduction to all of deck 4.
The ship turned down into the Smeerenburg fjord, an area with a history of Dutch whaling. We had our first zodiac trip at the south end of the fjord. We’d selected our gum boots in the morning, but parkas are no longer supplied (but I didn’t get an email about it). I had thick waterproof trousers over my trekking trousers and 4 layers on top, 2 pairs of socks etc. We were going to be sitting in a zodiac for about 2 hours. Our zodiac pilot was Phil, an expert on Polar Bear habitat, behaviour etc, especially when a young bear was spotted lying on a rock half way up a scree slope. We saw lots of birds, a submerged whale skeleton and purple sandpipers flew off as we approached an old whaling station.
Later we sailed down and back up Raudfjord with the cloud still low.
Mon July 18 - Vavilov cruising from Raudfjord via Liefdefjord to Moffen (80°N)
It was a brighter day, mostly spent in Woodfjorden and Liefdefjorden with 2 zodiac trips. Cruise 1 with John was around the islands of Andoyane where we saw Grey Phalarope, Eider Ducks, Arctic Tern, then a Polar Bear with 2 cubs, who were initially lying down but eventually got up and walked around then along the coast, giving us a really special show. Unfortunately, I’d taken most photos on high aperture priority after Paul’s presentation when a high speed shutter is essential if taking photos from a bobbing zodiac.
Further down Liefdefjorden, the weather cleared for super landscape shots with reflections and another distant polar bear walked along the shore.
The Monaco Glacier zodiac cruise in the afternoon included visits to other glaciers to the west first, with Wolfgang the geologist. Wolfy is fanatical about glaciers, rocks, ice etc, but is a very poor zodiac driver and is not into birds and not good at anything but geology. The kittiwake frenzy at Monaco Glacier was amazing and I took good photos of Ivory Gull, Arctic Skua, Kittiwakes and Glaucous Gull and very shapely ice too.
The excellent meals on the Vavilov continued with wine and beer at reasonable prices. We crossed 80°N at about 10pm with glasses of bubbly and stayed up late socialising in the bar.
Tue July 19 - Vavlilov cruising from Moffen down Linlopen Strait
By breakfast we were in the narrow part of the Hinlopen Strait heading south and hoping to find ice and polar bears. There were no zodiac trips at all today as we found ice south of Wahlbergoya. A bear was sighted, so we pushed into the sea ice, creating a lead, but this means slowing to about 1 knot, and with the bear moving away from us and the ice getting thicker we gave up. The ice floes and birds around were quite spectacular, but then the fog was moving in, so we backed out, tried to go west in case there was a way through to Barentsoya, but then turned north. I took one good ‘creative’ shot into a late evening foggy sun, which Paul thought was good. During the afternoon, I did venture to the gym and tried out the cross-trainer and rowing machine.
Wed July 20 - Vavilov cruising via Alkefjellet to Vibebukta (Nordaustlandet)
An amazing day in Svalbard. While we were asleep, the Vavilov had cruised slowly north up the Hinlopen Strait to the bird cliffs of Alkefjellet, so we had a zodiac trip soon after breakfast –so no coffee at breakfast for grumpy George or me. Annie was our excellent and considerate zodiac pilot for this trip. Up to 10 zodiacs usually containing 10 clients (but they can take 16) go out on each trip and it is just luck which driver you get. This was a rougher trip than usual – quite cold with a choppy sea and Tom (Danish guy) was looking a bit green, so Annie swapped him from front to back with young James. After a short look at the glacier and rock formations around the glacier, we went along the impressive cliffs and rock stacks populated by thousands of birds – kittiwakes at the top of the cliffs and often out of sight with Brunichs Guillemots sitting on pointy shaped eggs lower down on thin ledges too small for big Glaucous Gulls. The cliffs, sky and sea were a cocophany of squawking birds and it was hard work on knees and joints, twisting around in the zodiac, in addition to helping Jocelyn – a high maintenance South African lady. As we pulled away, there were guillemots fighting in the water, which gave a good ‘spume’ shot.
During lunch we headed south to the ice a bit further east than before. Three reindeer (bears with antlers!) were sighted as dots on Nordaustlandet. Next a group of walrus were seen on an ice floe, so the ship cut through the ice floes towards them, and we all got super shots of them. Then a Polar Bear with cub were sighted on the ice – quite close but moving away, so it was out with big zoom lenses and the pair swam and jumped from floe to floe and off into the distance for wide-angle landscapes containing bear or two with super cirrus clouds and blue sky above.
At about 11pm, a big bear appeared and was so curious about us that it took an amazing journey from floe to floe until it was just below the bow of the ship – After the previous bear sightings, I had not brought the wide-angle lens on deck, but it was now needed for a super shot of the big bear at the front of a super landscape, so I rushed back into the cabin to get it. I was too late for the best shot as the bear had already jumped into the sea having realised than no meal was to be had from a ship load of tourists. Paul and the crew were just stunned by the performance of ‘Jack Nicklaus’ the golden bear as Paul called him.
With the elation of a super day with the ice, wildlife and still spectacular skies, the drinking and socialising continued until well after 1am.
Thu July 21 - Vavilov off coast of Nordaustlandet
It was another post breakfast (no coffee) zodiac trip, this time to the ice cliffs which formed the edge of the huge ice cap covering over 60% of Nordaustlandet. Val, a Canadian now resident in New Zealand who is usually kayak mistress, was the pilot of the zodiac today. We had to choose animals to match our names, so I was Barry the Bear, and amazingly, after looking around some photogenic ice bergs, a bear was spotted on a big chunk of ice near the ice cliffs. The bear strolled up to the top of the ice island and laid down for a sleep while I helped Val to paddle the zodiac closer – engines off. We looked at cliffs and waterfalls on the way back to the Vavilov, then the ship cruised down to the bear’s ice island. Just at lunchtime, after a long doze, the bear came down from the top of the island and jumped into the sea – but I missed it!
There was an interesting Wolfy geology lecture just after lunch, but many of us dozed off! I had another gym session as we’d had lots of good meals, but not much exercise for 5 days, then there was other brief bear sighting. A pair walruses appeared on an ice floe and then slipped into the water as we arrived for a nice photo – with spume.
Fri July 22 Torellnesfjellet
Our promised walk on land was cancelled due to the combination of fog and polar bear threat, so it was another zodiac cruise to the Nordaustlandet coast – with Phil. I was the only other man on the zodiac with 9 ladies!
Initially we circled a photogenic ice floe, then saw purple sandpipers on the shoreline. There was a large group of walruses on land with pink-footed geese too, but we then noticed that there were walruses swimming in the water around the ice, so went closer to investigate. Phil is an expert of such wildlife (marine biologist), so knew the dangers and risks which could be taken with walruses and their huge tusks. At one point he ran the zodiac onto an ice floe for fun. The 5 walruses were now swimming around the 8 zodiacs (2 including Wolfy were further back) and coming close up to them. Suddenly a walrus swam towards the bow of our zodiac and surfaced a few feet away. Nori, next to me at the front, froze in horror, which is rare as she is usually quite noisy and talkative with a big laugh. There was a danger that the walrus could pierce the zodiac, so I slapped the side of the boat (a noise there are not keen on), the looked around to see Phil standing at the back, quite calmly. I shouted ‘Phil, there is a walrus at the front’ and he walked down to the front of the boat to poke it with a paddle and talk to it – a small piece of wood against a half ton walrus! I carried on shooting with the camera, now twisting to wide-angle (55mm) as it was too close. It came my way and surfaced again with tusks above the water a few feet away, then moved away. I got a super sequence of shots. I had cold hands in the zodiac as it was -4°C and even with 2 pairs of gloves I didn’t have enough body layers on to keep them warm. However, the walrus encounter had been so exhiliarating that the adrenaline warmed my hands up for the next 10 minutes. When we got back towards the ship, Nori was still quaking and talking about needing a brandy. Wow, it was an amazing experience.
The afternoon was calmer as we turned back north up the Hinlopen Strait – no chance of getting through the ice further south. I was excited about the photos, so went into photo checking and editing mode. Paul had been on a zodiac close to us when the walrus came up, so has a good photo of us with Paul poking the walrus with a ‘toothpick’ paddle.
I missed another Wolfy lecture on sea ice and went to the gym and shop. Mariano gave an interesting talk on Svalbard history which was good, though I dozed off through some of it. At the end he asked 3 questions and |I put my hand up and answered the first correctly and was awarded with a small prize of chocs. Judith next to me was amazed. ‘I thought you were asleep’ she said!
Sat July 23 - Krossfjorden and Kongsfjorden
From lunchtime on Friday to breakfast on Saturday, we sailed up Hinlopen and around the top of Spitsbergen and into Krossfjorden. We could see a polar bear near the shore line when we queued up for the zodiacs which pleased Paul (Goldstein) as it would mean much less time looking at puffins, which he discounted as joke birds not worthy of a photo. The bear walked along the shore staring at us (in the zodiacs) then plunged into the water and swam, so we left it alone. The zodiacs zoomed down to the July 14th Glacier and a chunk of glacier calved off into the sea as we approached – too far away and too quickly to catch, but somebody did photograph it.
There were lovely ice floes with Arctic terns near the glacier and quite a lot of other birds, but nothing like the kittiwake frenzy at Monaco Glacier where there is a significant influx of nutrient rich water coming off the glacier. Next, it was back along the cliffs looking for glaucous gulls with rock-bound chicks and guillemots and puffins sitting on ledges between fishing forays. Another bear, or was it the same one, was sighted in the next valley north, then another five or more zodiac zoom minutes away, but we were too late to get more than a brief glimpse. We’d been in the zodiac for two and a half hours, so anyone who had not abstained from coffee at breakfast was now sitting cross-legged.
The afternoon foray was a zodiac ferry to dry land – our first since getting on the Vavilov 7 days before - at Ny London in Kongsfjord, which is opposite Ny Ålesund where there was a huge cruise ship of people visiting the most northerly post office in the world. Eight of us ‘chargers’ led by Phil (with gun) marched up to a tarn where there were Barnacle Geese and Long-Tailed Duck and views of the Ny London mining remains and more zodiacs bringing less adventurous groups ashore. The tiny arctic flowers among lichen and moss were a carpet across the landscape and Phil knew all of them – He’d studied Biology at Imperial (long after I was there) but was now an expert on polar marine biology. Our group progressed upwards determined to get to the highest local point around 380 metres.
We passed Purple Sandpipers including young ones, which I got a good shot of despite the camouflage. Further up there were good ‘hexagons’ – rows of stones deposited by the glacier that was no more. At the top we had super views of a big glacier to the north and the ‘3 Crowns’ mountains (Tre Kroner), from which the Dutch had named ‘Spitsbergen’. We created a joke photo for the trip photo competition with Phil on top of a big boulder on the summit with 3 of the group trying to push it over the edge.
Our route down was further east, but we hit the top of a ridge, so detoured further and saw reindeer. It had been a super walk stripped down to long-sleeved running top, despite being 79°N. Photo sorting became the priority in readiness for the photo competition, so I even abstained from beers at the bar in the evening. The ship sailed south while we slept.
Sun July 24th Thwarted by Sea Ice
By breakfast, we were surrounded by sea ice off Bellsund, which was an amazing spectacle and worthy of a few video clips. The ice from the east side of Spitsbergen and Edgeøya had been blown south east around the south of Spitsbergen and then caught the current (Gulf Stream) and was heading north up the west side of the usually clear coast of the country. This was a hazard to shipping, though less so for the ice-cutting Vavilov. The plan to get into Bellsund was abandoned, and we turned north and away from the thick ice near the coast though there were stunning views of the ice including a full rainbow. With no possibilities of zodiac trips a film based on Svalbard (The Red Tent) was shown, but I chose photo editing and the gym.
We tried to get into Forlandsundet – a narrow channel between the mainland and the long thin island of Prins Karls Forland, but the ice was too bad, and a yacht need our help to get to open water to the west, so we created a channel through the ice and it followed. We then had to go back through the thick sea ice to get into Isfjorden – one day earlier than the normal plan, but it could become impossible or at least very slow.
The evening function was a barbeque on the stern deck, which was a chilly affair. The usual evening format had been a really nice evening meal in the dining room, with a choice of 3 mains and waitress service, and I mixed with anyone, while there were several cliques. Half a bottle of nice wine at reasonable price was followed by several beers in the bar, with Paul’s very witty, florid and eloquent ‘Nautical Views’ summarising the day. Simon drank far more than me, but we usually had a tab for ‘447’. There were many more single women than men, so socialising, discussing photography and trying out photo techniques from the rear deck continued way past the midnight sun.
Mon July 25th - Isfjorden
The sea ice had drifted well into Isfjorden especially along the south side, so this morning’s trip was a zodiac ferry and a trek near Flytangen. The ‘chargers’ had now expanded to 16, including Joceyn. After a while with Jocelyn often getting behind, I took on the sweeper role at the back of the group to make it easier for Phil – I’ve often done this before on treks. We clambered over boulders and hillocks towards a snowy icy hillside – a small glacier, and walked up it to some boulders. It was quite a strenuous walk but the views were superb on a lovely clear day. A flock of kittiwakes sitting on the ice took off as we approached. There was a swarm of birds on the cliffs – kittiwakes, fulmars, puffins and gulls – making a constant noise as they swooped around high above us. On the way back we toboganned down the steepest snow slope – I found a pastic bag to sit on for a faster ride – great fun. We saw numerous reindeer from close up and some snow bunting, but missed the Arctic Foxes which Paul G and Simon’s group had seen and photographed.
The afternoon included a cruise up Ekmanfjord up to Cora Island, which was formed when the Sefströmbreen glacier receeded over a mile in 100 years leaving it’s terminal moraine behind. In the evening Woody gave a voyage overview, then Paul compered the Photo Competition. There had been several hundred entries from the 104 clients on board and the judges, Paul, Annie and Phil, had narrowed it down to about 40 to show, a few in the joke category, then the best 15 and finally the top 4. I’d put in our joke entry of Phil on the boulder, which got a laugh and 2nd in category. I’d entered 4 others mainly to just take part. My ‘walrus’ with tusks only a few feet away was shown in the top 15 and got a round of applause. Some of the other photos were amazing and clever, with the winner showing the July 14th Glacier calving.
After ‘Captains Dinner’, at which Nori’s excellent and witty response to Paul’s Nautical Views was delivered by Woody, there was another presentation. This time Paul showed his own best photos of the trip, then we saw a very funny time-lapse video which Phil had put together during the trip, and which will go onto YouTube. Later I tried out some F22 and slow pan shots and drinks, photos etc continued. The ship had docked at Longyearbyen late in the afternoon with ice moving into Adventfjorden.
Tue July 26 - Longyearbyen to London
We had about 4 hours to wait in Longyearbyen between disembarkation from the Vavilov and the coach pick-up to the airstrip. The sea ice had come right up to the harbour, which was very unusual especially in summer. The little town of about 2000 people had numerous shops for tourists and locals – Svalbard is duty-free. The town had nice clapperboard houses in rows and there was fluffy cotton grass and numerous snow buntings. As it was a seriously remote location, I bought several postcards to send to relatives and friends and found the post office.
This has been an excellent trip which was superbly run by Woody and Paul. It was amazing how much wildlife we actually saw and how every detour due to ice or weather led to a new and exciting opportunity.
We had a super break for Christmas in Belize. It is excellent for birds and wildlife and for Mayan temples and cities surrounded by miles of jungle. 10 to 20 miles off shore there is a coral reef of cayes (small coral islands), which are a super base for snorkeling and diving. We were in a friendly group of 15 led by Chris, low a local, but originally from Birmingham.
Belize is the size of Wales, but with only 380,000 people, mostly in Belize City, Belmopan (the capital) or San Ignacio, where we were for Xmas. There are only a few roads and only 2 border crossings into Mexico and into Guatamala where we went to see the impressive Mayan site of Tikal.
The photography was really good especially for birds in the early morning.
Monday Jan 23 2012 London to Addis Ababa
We landed at 06:25 but were at 7460 feet above sea level, so less of a decent than usual. I met Richard and Sue in the passport queue, but had been asleep when the registration cards came round, so had to go back and fill one in. The flight had not been full, so I had my chosen window seat near the back with an empty seat next to me, so I did get some sleep.
Our Leader Hellen, met 7 of us outside and we had a 10-15 minute drive to the Ghion Hotel, the smartest hotel in Addis Ababa with large grounds and gardens, next to the Imperial Palace. One lady was to join us later. Our group consisted of 8 men and 2 women with at least 5 of us men over 60, so I was less concerned about my relative lack of fitness and minor knee niggles. I shared with Richard, at 51 the youngster, who was a (artic) lorry driver from Bristol. Our room was good and the shower was hot and strong, but the door didn’t close properly (unless locked) as the lock had been put on the wrong way round.
Richard and I went for a stroll around the street accompanied by a local. The National Football Stadium was close by and the traffic was busy but patient with no horns. There were street vendors and invalids in the dusty streets and lots of people and children walking.
At 1 pm we had a briefing in the bar with Hellen, and Winnie had arrived from Hong Kong after a long flight via Dubai. We then had a minibus tour around some of the city including Holy Trinity Cathedral where an enthusiastic (lay) preacher tried to hold our attention. The city is large and green with a mix of modern and older buildings. Some of the cross-roads seem to be free for alls, though this is partly due to non-working traffic lights. Next stop uphill was the University with the Haile Selassie Museum, which I didn’t find exciting. We continued uphill passed colourful market stalls to Entota which commanded hazy views of Addis Ababa. There were (photogenic) ladies carrying long bundles of sticks down the hill for heating and cooking.
I had an hours rest to get acclimatised then we had a meal in the hotel restaurant, which consisted of Injeera, Meat (Lamb & Beef), Tripe, Beans etc. Injeera looks like carpet underlay, and is an acidic slightly rubbery pancake like layer about 2 feet across used like chapattis. Local Dashen beer was 80p per bottle. I sorted items that I did not need in the highlands and put them in a spare daypack and in storage at the hotel to pick up on Feb 5. It rained for an hour or so in the evening.
Tuesday Jan 24 2012 Addis Ababa to Gonder (Gondar)
We had an early flight so were up at 4am and at the airport for 5. The computer systems were down, so check-in was all manually written out and was a slow process. Passport checks etc were quite quick however, so we were soon in the lounge eating our packed breakfast – boiled egg, banana, chips, bread. The airport is large, new and set up to be the hub for North Africa but was actually not busy.
A prop plane with about 100 seats took us over the rugged hills and Lake Tana to Gonder. I dozed so missed some of the spectacular scenery through mucky windows. Gonder (Gondar) is a large town 20 to 30 minutes drive north from the Emperor Thewodros Airport.
The Goha Hotel, one of the best in Gondar of course, is on top of a hill on the north side with a superb view over the town. We had time to get sorted and showered before a little drive down to 4 Sisters Restaurant – a lovely place which opened recently. Fish Goulash (tilapia from local lakes) and Dashen beer (brewed in Gondar). After lunch we walked to the walled grounds of 6 castles in extensive grounds and took photos of black kites flying above – of course there was good commentary from a local guide. We then had a quick stop in town for water (5 x 1.8 litres @ 10 birr each - £1 ~ 26 birr), biscuits etc. Next stop was Debre Berhan Selassie Church with famous paintings and frescoes of walls and ceiling. I took a few shots from the door, but decided to study the vultures in the trees outside. The ancient baths we visited last were quite photogenic too. We had a nice meal in the hotel including local red wine, which was okay but a bit weak.
There was free wifi in the hotel so wrote a Belize log and uploaded it and the best photos to my blog
Wednesday Jan 25 2012 Gondar to Sankaber via Debark
Hellen, our leader, helped to book the Tana hotel at Bahar Dar for Feb 4 and the Ghion in Addis on Feb 5 for me via her contacts.
The road north from Gondar started as a dirt road but there were road works all along the road, so eventually there was a stretch of tarmac. The road climbed onto a ridge with good views and there several villages.
At Debark, Hellen went into the Simien National Park office to get our entry tickets, while I helped Clive to cover a rip in his shorts with duck tape. At Simien Mountains Hotel the bus parked inside the gates and we left our day packs locked inside. A group of us went for a 25 minute walk along the street to the picturesque market. I bought some boiled sweets from a local shop on the way back with a bit of haggling – 38 for 20 birr. We than had a big lunch and a beer at the hotel.
The bus continued north and east up onto a ridge for an hour or so to Michibiny from where we started our walk.
Within minutes of starting the walk a large troup of Gelada Baboons came over the horizon down to the path we were about to take. Gelada Baboons are vegetarians and are no hassle to humans, unlike most other baboons, so we stopped and watched them for 20-30 minutes. The big males look a bit like lions with their mains and the youngsters were very active jumping around and play fighting. The views were superb as we were now on the Simien Plateau, which tilts upwards to the east with steep cliffs and gorges all around and pillars and spikes off the main plateau. The walk to Sankaber Camp was about 7 miles, which was a nice site with trees and bushes around. On the way we saw interesting plants – Heather Trees !, St. Johns Wort Trees !, Jasmin, Dog Roses. The camp food was very good and the stars were spectacular including the Milky Way. At about midnight I was in a hurry for a long walk to the toilet block a few hundred yards away, so had a precautionary salt replacement sachet in the morning.
Thursday Jan 26 2012 Sankaber to Gich Camp
I was up early before the sunrise at 7:20. The days walk was a lovely undulating stroll mostly along the edge of the escarpment with big views below. As there were now mules carrying our big bags, we had to carry the extra water we’d bought and I also had the laptop, so my daypack, though a very comfortable fit around the hips was heavy and I did have sore shoulders by the end of the walk.
We saw some good birds including Ethiopian Boubou, Griffin Vulture, Tarkanian Sunbird, Lammergeier, Ogre Buzzard, Black Kite. Thick-Billed Ravens were common and pesky.
We went out onto a promontory to see a waterfall with a 500m drop, though the volume of water was quite low. It would be spectacular in August. Simon the ambulance mule joined us along the way, and Sue had a bad patch, so her pack was put on Simon.
Next there was a bit of a climb, then a drop to a river and our lunch spot. Salami & cheese roll was a bit dry as a thick-billed raven watched and squawked close by. Several of us soaked our feet in the river before the afternoon climb up to Gich village, passing giant lobelia on the way. In Gich, Hellen & Shegaw organised for us to see a coffee ceremony in one of the village houses. Houses usually have walls of small tree trunks – 4 to 6 inches thick, with the gaps filled in with mud/dung. The roofs are finished off with straw, but may have branches etc beneath. In Gich, the houses are mostly round. We sat inside a darkish, rather smoky hut/house with the lady of the house performing the ceremony (watched by her family too). A large saucer shaped pan was used to heat the coffee beans, which were then mixed with some water and ground. Eventually we were handed small cups of medium strength coffee, which was actually good. Round 2 of the coffee was weaker and the traditional very weak round 3 we missed in order to get up to Gich camp.
Gich Camp is at 2597 metres on an exposed hill with big views all around. After a very big dinner, with the temperature dropping quickly, Hellen produced a pulsoxometer for us to try out our pulse and oxygen saturation. Richard and I were both 88/88, meaning we had a heart rate of 88 – at altitude and not exactly at rest, and an oxygen saturation level of 88% - normally about 98% at sea level. Shegaw, our local guide had a reading of 59/93 !!
It was also interesting to talk to Dave as he had done the hippie trail (like me) in 1972 (with his wife), so we had much in common, though Dave is now 67 and hoped to lose a couple of stone on the trip!
We learnt the word for ‘Thankyou’ in Amharic – Amasaganaloo, which seems appropriate as spinach and potatoes were standard in nearly every meal (Sag Aloo)!
Friday Jan 27th 2012 Gich Camp – Acclimatisation Day via Imet Gogo
This was a much easier day in trainers and with a much lighter pack. From Imet Gogo, there are spectacular views of the escarpment, with sheer drops of up to 1500 metres, and rock spires and mesas rising from the lower levels. We then walked west along the escarpment to Saha – a lovely lunch spot overlooking a deep gorge, where the camp boys served us spaghetti etc.
Hellen had only done this trip once before, but has been with Explore about 15 years, mostly in Africa and had led trips up Kilimanjaro at least 25 times. She was a very attractive fit blond of about 40 from ‘Up North’.
Further west, we watched a troup of gelada baboons for a while with their little fights and family groups, before we approached the headland of Kedadit, where a big tawny eagle sat on a rock until we got too close. More good views (and a video) before Richard and I ran much of the way back to Gich Camp.
At altitude, it is necessary to drink more (water) – 3 litres a day – as the body tries to adjust for the reduction in oxygen in the blood by losing water. Getting up in the night becomes more necessary (at least for me), the atmosphere is dry and the temperature drops quickly when the sun goes down. Of course, the stars are brilliant though.
Saturday Jan 28th 2012 Gich Camp to Chennek via Inatye
There was yet more spectacular scenery, especially the sheer drop opposite Item Gogo as we went into a valley before starting a long climb for the rest of the morning to Shayno Sefer – still on the escarpment edge. At the high point of Inatye (4070m), we had lunch and I managed to send a text as there was a weak signal. As we’d been inside the National Park, there were no villages and few locals and children except for a few mule and donkey trains carrying supplies.
Chennek camp (2700m) was visible lower down from the escarpment edge for much of the route. There was a French film crew at the camp with a generator and 4WD vehicles. There were actually showers – a concrete block with 2 cubicles but open above and on the entry side with the water in large plastic barrels with a tap. Richard and I had showers (with clothes across the open side) watched by some local girls who were keen to sell us baskets! It was warmer down at Chennek. We had beers, a good meal and didn’t need the thermals overnight.
After the first 2 days of the trek on bottled water, we were now on camp water collected from local rivers, which we individually treated – in my case with micropur. The Camelbak in the back of my day pack could take up to 3 litres (enough for a long day) and I also had 800ml and 500ml bottle.
Sunday Jan 29th 2012 Chennek to Ambiko (3200), via Bwahit Pass and Chiro Laba
We were climbing all morning close to the escarpment edge, and saw Walia Ibex on the slope below and Mountain Ibis on the plateau. Bwahit Pass (4200m) has big views to west and north showing the amazing escarpment cliffs and pinnacles etc with views of villages and more mountains to the east. We stopped there for photos and snacks before the long long rocky dusty descent to Chiro Laba village. We stopped at the school where we sat on benches outside and had pizza served for lunch. Shegaw had learnt his English at the school and we collected 100 birr each as a donation to the school for equipment.
We continued on down the valley to the river (at 2700m), but Colin went over on his ankle, sprai8ning his foot, so he rode on Simon (Shamoon), the hospital mule for the rest of the day. On the way up the hill to Ambiko, Colin saw a large bounder rolled down the hill towards us and the Park Security guys (Lol and Abram) were jumping about and waving their guns thinking it could be bandits – but it was just a rock. The camp at Ambiko is in village, so we were a curiosity for the locals, especially the children who would sit in a row watching us for ages. There had been many more children coming up to us, shouting ‘salaam’ and shaking or smacking hands. A few asked for pens – I wish I’d bought a big box to help them.
The mushroom soup in the evening was so good that I had 3 bowls then it was rice and beans with veg etc. It was warm in the evening as Ambiko if very sheltered, but dogs barked all night, so ear-plugs were required. Unfortunately, with all of the animals around – cows, horses, mules, donkeys, sheep, goats, chickens and dogs, several of us got flee bights overnight. I had a few, while Sue’s back was covered in them.
Monday Jan 30th 2012 Ambiko – Ras Dejen (4543m) – Ambiko
As it was a long challenging day, we were up at 4:30 with breakfast of bread and scrambled at @ 5. We set off for the highest peak in Ethiopia at 5:40. However, Colin had decided not to risk his sore foot and Wolfgang had been sick overnight, so was not strong enough to get up. Sue had also had a bad night (stomach) and started with us, but turned back after half an hour, escorted by Abram.
Torches were soon turned off as we walked in the pre-dawn light up onto the road, past a couple of villages and sloping ploughed fields. We were walking east, so were in the shadow of mountains until after 9am, as we took some steep short-cuts between stretches of dusty road. The road and paths are all very dusty especially at this time of year, but it would be lovely and green after the wet season in October/November.
It was a tough uphill slog, similar to a marathon, but I had no energy gels (bad planning!), so was struggling by 10am or so. A stop with biscuits provided by Shegaw and Hellen helped me get going enough to plod across the plateau (still uphill, but less steep) to the base of the mountain. The last 100 feet to the top of Ras Dejen was an interesting and fun rock climb and soon we were on the top of Ethiopia’s highest peak at 12:05. There were good panorama views and we took several photos (and a video) with some help from local herdmen.
Back at the base of the rock climb we had a good lunch of spaghetti, sauce, veg etc and an orange brought up by 2 of the camp crew. It was a long walk back mostly on the dusty road. Clive, a diabetic, was concerned about his blood sugar level, and getting enough food, so we found sweets and biscuits for him and he rode on Simon for much of the way.
Arriving back at camp, a group of men (our camp crew and muleteers and some locals) were dancing and singing ‘Ras Dejen’ to welcome us back to the camp ground. I had a beer, then a ‘warm’ shower which had been erected for us – a barrel with a tap on a wooden tripod structure with plastic sheeting around it. After 3 nights of lamb and one of rice and beans, today was chicken – local and fresh – We usually had 2 bowls of soup (especially at the cold sites) followed by a several of cabbage, carrots, beetroot,chips, aubergines in batter, potatoes, onions, beans, rice, pasta. The finish it would be blanchmange, fruit salad, banana fritters or pineapple. Kudas, our cook was brilliant. Beer (Dashen or St George), Coke and Fanta were usually available to, usually at 25 birr each.
The long walk today had been 26 km (16 miles) in addition to a 1300 metre climb at altitude.
Tuesday Jan 31st 2012 Ambiko to Sona Camp (3100m)
This was a 3rd long day, this time more undulating than steep, but still a long way. It was also the most rural day as we passed through numerous villages all with small round churches and many sloping fields either of stubble or newly ploughed. We had our sandwiches – Tuna and veg were the best – by a river below our high point of the day, and were joined by women and children (who kept a discreet distance sitting in rows), and by cows, mules, donkeys etc. A local drinks seller, who Hellen knew, joined us for much of the trail to supply us at lunchtime, and later at Sona Camp. He carried a lot of bottles in a sack.
At one point outside a village, we had a group of children with us who started to sing. We taught them ‘Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes’ with all of the actions. The village of Arkwasiye had lots of identical square houses, unlike the traditional self-built round ones, as it was a newly created village.
The track became even dustier along the ridge to Sona with big views now of the escarpment and Imet Gogo from 1000 metres below. The old camp had been at Sona village, where there was still a concrete toilet, but the new camp was 2 or even 3 miles further along and down the ridge. The new camp is remote on the edge of a hill with small streams on either side and with fabulous views of the escarpment, rock pinnacles and mesas. It had no facilities at all and no people. It was a super camp. A toilet pit was dug behind a rose bush on a hill above with a 3 sided plastic screen.
Sue’s towel had been lost or stolen some days ago, so I gave her my washed (but not spotless) old blue towel – I still had large and small travel towels. Her fleece had also disappeared from the bag, probably at Ambiko !! Abram, who was riding Simon as he had a sore knee carried my day pack for the last 2 miles as my shoulder and ribs were aching from carrying a fairly heavy pack – problem starting several days before.
Wednesday Feb 1st 2012 Sona Camp to Mekarebye (1888m)
The sun rose over the mountains in the east casting big shafts of light down the canyon between us and the escarpment. It was a lovely morning, starting with a long (3 hours) fairly steep winding descent on the north side of the hillside we’d camped on. In addition to great views, there were now lots of interesting flowers and bushes, so I had a botanical morning with the camera. I was wearing trainers as it should be an easy day and stayed at the back, but jogged down between photo stops. I was really enjoying it and having fun with Abram and Jojo (Simon’s handler) at the back.
Down at the river in the canyon, we had a 2 hour lunch break under a big tree near a little waterfall. There was a group of local ladies and children trying to sell baskets and trinkets, with some washing clothes, and some of the children playing in the river, but they did not hassle us. The stroll to Mekarebye was pleasant but hot – soaking T-shirt and hat in the river before leaving the lunch spot was a good idea. We were now in lower level farmland near the river but still with cliffs and mesas to the sides.
Mekarebye is a nice neat village – most of the houses are square, with stone base and tidy straw and mud walls. There were plenty of animals and good farming. Straw was often stored in trees to dry off and to keep away from the animals. It was a very nice campsite with local children sitting by a wall watching us, but the local animals resulted in more flee bites overnight.
In the evening after dinner, we had a fairly intellectual quiz (in University Challenge format) prepared by Colin, split into 2 teams. Colin is rather eccentric, always coming up with mathematical and scientific puzzles to ask me at various times on the trek.
Thursday Feb 2nd 2012 Mekarebye to Mulit (1955m)
A steep and rocky descent behind a herd of cows started the day. A few miles along a boulder riverbed, with sightings of several birds including Red-billed Hornbill, Red-wing starling and a Vervet monkey took us to a riverside lunch spot. Dave had not been well with stomach problems for a day or so and now Richard was feeling delicate, so they just dozed and had no lunch. Some of us sat by the stream soaking our feet and watching a yellow wagtail, dragonflies and a hammercop(f), before a lunch of pasta with coke.
I felt a big delicate after lunch, but struggled up a steep climb (about an hour) to a café, but was then sick. Shegaw took my pack and I plodded on at the back for the last 2 miles feeling awful. Dave was riding Simon, so I had to walk. The camp was in the village chicken pen, with little chicks trying to get in the tent. I had more liquid and deorolite and did what was essential to crash in the tent. I missed dinner and dozed while the crew were noisily celebrating the last night in camp.
I got up at 11 pm to be sick again, but then a coke, which I made flat, sitting with Abram.
Friday Feb 3rd 2012 Mulit to Gondar via Adi Arkay and Debark
I felt okay after a good nights sleep, but just had tea, toast and a bit of fried egg for breakfast. However I had lots more flee bites from the animals. I gave my walking boots with 2 pairs of socks to Abram – his were split across the bottom. I asked Hellen and Shegaw who most needed a coat. The selected Tekaba (of the camp crew), so a few shouts brought him to me to receive a quilt inner from a ski-jacket, which I didn’t need anymore.
It was an easy 2 hour stroll along the ridge and down to Adi Arkay where we had Fanta’s in a café for 10 birr each (compared to 25 in camp). At about 11 am, we started a long bumpy dusty twisting drive over big pass to Debark arriving around 2pm for spag bol lunch. It was certainly a testing drive for Tsegaye, our driver on the Italian built dirt mountain road. A further long dusty drive of nearly 3 hours followed to Gondar and the Goha hotel.
We were all filthy from 10 days of trekking through dust, so a shower and clean clothes were priority. We went to the Four Sisters Restaurant for our final meal and some local dancing together, and I found out that Tsegaye was driving onto Bahar Dar after dropping the group at Gondar airport in the morning, so he agreed to take me for a reasonable fee.
I had kind donations from Richard – 2 bags of trail mix and some packet soup, Sue – strip of Piriton tablets for allergies (flee bites) and Wolfgang – 2 strips of Micropur (water purifying tablets) to help me through the next 6 weeks.
Saturday Feb 4th 2012 Gondar to Bahar Dar and Blue Nile Falls
Dave, Wolfgang & Clive were leaving early for an extra week in Ethiopia – to Axum (a drive back up to Adi Arkay and beyond !), then flights to Lalibela and to Bahar Dar - so we got up to see them off.
My stomach still wasn’t right, so I took Imodium and just had tea and toast for breakfast. Winnie borrowed my laptop to go through her emails as there was free wifi – the only known hotel in Ethiopia.
Tsegaye took Hellen, Richard, Sue, Colin and Winnie to Gondar Airport and I continued on with him to Bahar Dar, where he dropped me at the Tana Hotel. It was a nice undulating ‘tarmac’ road and passed on old castle and ‘The finger of God’ – a tall rock pinnacle near Adis Zemen. We had agreed 200 birr for the lift, but I gave him 300 (about £11).
Tomas (Temesden) was at the Tana Hotel waiting to be my guide. He is an Explore guide and had been set up by Andelam (Hellen’s contact). I had intended to miss the Tisi Falls as they are no longer good and I would have time to recover, but Andelam and Tomas had planned for me to go in the afternoon. The overall plan was Tississat (Blue Nile) Falls in a private car/van in the afternoon (ie: within an hour) + a boat trip on Lake Tana to a monastery next morning + a night in the Tana Hotel + airport transfer for $161. I agreed as the falls had been an objective originally and I will never be back in the area.
Bahar Dar has a smart modern centre with good wide roads lined with palm trees with lovely Lake Tana on one side. Once out of the centre, 35km of bumpy dirt road took us to Tisi and the Blue Nile Falls. It was quite crowded with little shops, people, children, cows etc, but not many tourists. After paying the entrance fee (by Tomas) and getting a local guide, we drove further down before starting a walk. A hydro-electric plant now takes most of the water and it’s gushing outfall is visible downstream from the Portuguese Bridge, but there was very little water flowing under the bridge. It was a pleasant stroll over to the main viewpoint, which would have been very impressive over 10 years ago, before the hydro plant, but was now just a nice waterfall over a small section on a cliff. We continued to walk around, over a swing bridge (similar to Nepal), then Tomas got some sugarcane for us to chew, as we walked on to get a boat back across the Blue Nile.
Back at the hotel, I did some hand washing – the laundry was broken – then had tilapia, chips, carrots and spinach with coke and a beer for about £3.
Sunday Feb 5th 2012 Bahar Dar to Addis Ababa
I had a 3 mile run along the lake shore before breakfast as the Muslim calls to player were echoing across the town, then met Tomas just before 9, but had to check out of my room with some washing still damp. It was a very peaceful cruise for Tomas, myself and the boatman (with room for about 12) across Lake Tana passed a couple of islands with monasteries to Ura Kidane Mihret on the Zege Peninsula. There was a flock of pelicans and a fisherman in a reed boat on the way across.
It was about a 10 minute walk up a rocky path passed souvenir stalls of scarves and religious icons to the monastery and church. The main religion in Ethiopia is Orthodox Christian, but there are also plenty of Muslims. The church had very impressive murals, one wall from C16 and the remainder from 1830’s. Tomas explained many of them to me. We had a quick look at the museum which contained the crowns of numerous emperors, including Thewodros who I’d read about, and I bought a nice Gondar cross on the way back down to the boat.
On the way back we went via the start of the Nile (outlet from the lake) and finished at the main waterfront where a hotel taxi (same driver) took into town for more money from an ATM (2000 birr). There was a cycle race on in town, so there were crowds and cheering, and we had to do back street detours. Tomas and driver then left me for an hour at the Desset Restaurant – a very smart restaurant and a lovely spot on the banks of Lake Tana. I had salad (hope I don’t regret it) and Fish Goulash. With the cycling over, we stopped at Ethiopian Airlines office to re-confirm my flights from BJR and ADD.
Tmas and driver took me to the airport. Tourism in Ethiopia is quite low this year (Euro problems) and the low season is just starting, so I hope things pick up for Tomas. Bahar Dar airport building is being built and there is only a small section is in use, so it is just a shed with no facilities. The flight was about 90 minutes late, probably because of demand. It does a circuit of Lalibela, Axum, Gondar, Bahar Dar, but probably missed us out to come back and refill. I shared a taxi from ADD to the hotel for 250 birr, but the hotel cost $79 B&B&Transfer, which used up my last $11 and most of my birr – just enough left for soup and tea. I collected a bag I’d left in storage.
Monday Feb 6th 2012 Addis Ababa to Accra
I was up at 5:10 to finish sorting and have breakfast, then a taxi to the airport. I got chatting to a confused missionary lady who hadn’t flown much, so helped through the customs procedures and to her gate to Lagos. The flight to Addis Ababa was a big 737 with 170 seats but there were only 45 on board and I had a window seat next to the emergency exit with lots of leg room – Booking 5 flights with Ethiopian Airlines, I seem to get preferential treatment! We flew over Southern Sudan, Tchad, Northern Nigeria, Benin and Togo – mostly brown with scattered fields, but with more rivers and towns later.
Monday Feb 6th 2012 Accra
Entry into Ghana was quick and easy, but there was nobody to meet me, so I got a taxi (fixed price on his chart of 25 cedi to Osu). I got local money from the ATM at the airport – 400 cedi (@ 2.7 to £1) all in 10 cedi notes. Accra looked green and quite prosperous, but it was hot and steamy. Cars, roads and houses looked more like southern Europe, or maybe good parts of India.
The Niagara Plus is a nice small hotel in Osu and had ‘free wifi’. After settling in, I had a stroll down the road, was hassled by some friendly locals and found a chinese restaurant for a light meal and a Star beer (645ml for 4 cedi – about £1.50).
Around 6:30, the hotel got a call to let them know that the rest of the Dragoman team were in their sister hotel in Adabraka, and they were sending a cab for me, so I had to pack up quickly, and forgot my washing line. The Dragoman Group consisted of the 2 leaders/drivers and 15 clients who had just done the 5 weeks from Doula, Cameroon. 5 of them were finishing, 8 continuing to Dakar and 2 continuing for a few days – Chrissie (Danish) to Kumasi and Naomi (NZ based in Melbourne) to Bamako. Mary and I were new joiners and 2 more were expected. I just had a Tuna Salad and a beer and gave up by 10 pm – I’d been up for 20 hours, with the 3 hour time difference from Ethiopia.
There was still free wifi, so I got Skype installed on my netbook and had a chat to Helen (very cold in the UK), then edited Ethiopia pictures.
Tuesday Feb 7th 2012 Accra
The official start of the Dragoman Overland Tour from Accra to Dakar was at 10 am, by which time my Ethiopia blog diary was up to date, the best photos were ready to upload and most of us had had breakfast.
There was an intro by Mike and Ant, especially for the four joiners, then :-
1. Passports and 145 cedis to Ant for Birkina Faso Visa, which Ant would do in bulk.
2. Kitty money of €646 to Lisa, but I only had €610, so I owe some in local currency when required later – the kitty was rather more than expected.
3. Show details of Travel Insurance to Mike, especially emergency number.
4. Ant went off to the Birkina Faso Embassy
It was a free day in Accra, so I joined a group to go and see some interesting coffin workshops in Nungua. Barb, the self-appointed leader and some young antipodian girls haggled the taxi drivers down ti 12 cedis per taxi to take us there. Much of the journey along the coast on a smoggy day (or was it the Harmattan wind from the Sahara) was quick until we hit jams later.
Coffins can be made in any shape you like, so the displays included fish, cars, coke bottles, eagles, elephants etc and many in the process of construction (to order). We also went to a second store which seemed to be just a showroom, then I bought a coke for 80 cents. There are little shops and stalls on most streets and coca cola is the most common item on sale.
Back at the hotel, I had a Lebanese sandwich – speciality of the hotel restaurant, the Christain, with whom I was now sharing, Nicole (both German and new joiners) and I took a long stroll down Kojo Thomson Street to the main very colourful market. It was very busy and generally friendly and colourful, though a few women shouted at my camera (kept low, but open). We met Sarah there to, but lost her later. A few streets beyond the market, we reached the coast road, then passed the Parliament Building and headed back. My feet were getting sore from wearing sandals for the first time for weeks on dusty acidic streets, so I left Christian and Nicole near the market and walked back alone, buying a pineapple (1 cedi), bananas and biscuits on the way. The city was not as hot and sticky as when I’d arrived but the pollution and Harmattan wind made it thick and acidic on throat and eyes.
Ant had got a special bulk price for the Birkina visas, so we got 68 cedis back, but he still had to get the passports back next day. In the evening, 10 of us went to a Chinese restaurant a block away from the hotel – led by Peter, who is an Intrepid Tour Guide in Europe and Dutch. Under the circumstances, they coped with our sudden arrival very well, In 3rd world countries, restaurant service is often very slow especially if a big group arrives, so although there were a couple of mistakes, the service here was quick and friendly and the food was very good. I did have too much however, with soup then fried rice with prawns + beer.
At the hotel, I had another quick Skype as it may be some weeks before we see wifi again, then uploaded photos to blog.
Wednesday Feb 8th 2012 Accra to Elmina via Cape Coast Castle
Breakast was at 7, but I was feeling a bit delicate after too much Chinese (though I blame the Lebanese lunch!). Us 4 newcomers – myself, Mary, (Canadian, well travelled, 68), Christian (German, 34, Turn-around consultant) and Nicole (German,37, biologist in animal behaviour, so vegetarian) had an intro to the truck from Mike at 7:45, then we left at 8, leaving Ant to collect the passports and catch us up in Elmina.
We were soon heading out of Accra on a tarmac road with occasional humps and bumps – visibility was still poor, so it was only fairly hot. We stopped at a service station (toilet stop) after an hour where I bought ice cream. It comes in a sealed plastic sachet, so you bite the corners off. We had another layby stop later before turning off to Cape Coast Castle.
It was first converted into a castle/fort in 6137 by the Dutch, then expanded by the Swedes in 1652. It then changed hands 5 times by competing European Powers until the British established it as their administrative capital in 1664. The many forts and castles along the Gold Coast started as trading posts for gold, spices, but by the 17th century, the main trade was in slaves. Up to 1000 men and 400 women were held in cramped filthy dungeons (2 separate areas) for up to 2 months before being taken, chained and shackled via the ‘Gate of No Return’ to boats bound for the Caribbean and Americas. In contrast the Governor had spacious quarters and a nice view out to sea. Slavery was abolished in 1833. There were long rows and cannons pointing out to sea and lots of cannon balls to defend the fort against European attack from the sea. The locals on the land side were no problem as they were intermediaries in the slave trade. We visited the condemned cell – for those who tried to escape – and the trading hall and museum. On a hill half a mile away is Fort William, a lookout post.
We continued on to Elmina Fort, about 10 miles further west. Built by the Portuguese in 1482, taken over by the Dutch in 1637 it became the Head Quarters of the Dutch West Indies Company, before being ceded to Britain in 1872. The slave cells and governors quarters were similar to Cape Coast Castle. Elmina is a pretty fishing port with lots of boats lining the estuary and up river, Fort St Jago stands on a hill above the village with very good views, despite the Harmattan.
A couple of miles further west, we camped at a quiet resort next to the beach. Most of us had our own tent as there were plenty of them, though they are big enough for 3. It was good practice for us novices. The evening meal was provided by the campsite.
It had been a day of learning the ropes with the truck and the tents. The 14 ton truck is 26 years old, with the main habitation conversion done only 4 years ago. Fuel consumption is about 3.5 km per litre. It has an enormous pair of 250 litre fuel tanks and a 250 litre water tank for our drinking water. There are also 9 jerry cans for washing and cooking water. Tents go on the roof, with tarpaulin over and on the sides there is plenty of storage space for tables, chairs, pans and food. Big bags are stored in the back locker. Inside, there are comfortable seats for 23 passengers, but the back row (of 5) contains cool boxes, book store and room for day packs. Windows can be closed, fully open or open 1 inch.
Thursday Feb 9th 2012 Elmina
I had a 3 mile run on the beach in bare feet at 7am, which was good and quiet, though some of the sand was sharp, then had a nice shower at the campsite where the water tank is warmed by the sun. After breakfast, we drove a couple of miles back down the track to Brenu Akyinim to spend a few hours on a Sabre Trust school project supported by Dragoman. We were split into two groups, one to help teach and one to paint an empty classroom, swapping later. I was on painting.
Barb, an artist from North Wales, took charge of the back wall design of waves, clouds, shark and boats etc and a side wall for an alphabet. Naomi and I started on the other side wall with numbers 1 to 10. Initially there were only 4 colours of paint, but this expanded later. We had plastic stencils, so I started to add 5 little boats to the big ‘5’ just as the kids started a break and came swarming in to ‘help’. I got them holding the stencils while I painted, so there were usually several set of hands helping with kids all around me – a bit chaotic but they were involved. Naomi and I continued with the stencils as kids came and went while the others did the other three walls. At swap time I was still painting 7 planes and when I went to a classroom 10 minutes later, the kids were just starting a proper lesson, so I was not needed and returned to help with the painting. We’d turned bare classroom walls into a pleasant fun educational background in 2 hours.
Lunch (make your own sandwich) was at the truck, then Mike moved the truck around to be closer to a tap, so we could fill up the water tank. I helped at the tap end, then took over filling the 250 ltr tank, which took about 20 minutes, then 9 jerry cans, so had taken on the job of Water and Jerry Manager.
Some of the group took a cab into Elmina to see more of the fort and town. Naomi, Chrissie, Christian, Nicole and I had a walk along the beach towards Elmina and back (about an hour), passing a golf course and fishing boats and pigs on the beach. The waves and current were strong, so although we went in the water, it was a battle with the waves rather than a swim, but it was warm and exhilarating.
Evening Meal was at the truck as Ant had cooked a good chilli, with help from Sarah. Beers were 3.5 cedis in the bar where Christian (with his trustworthy name) had got his written down to pay at the end, while I pay 10.5 initially, with 7 to get back when he had change. When I returned the bottle, he did actually call me over to give me the change.
It would be 4 weeks until we’d see the sea again, and this had been an easy relaxing start to the trip.
Friday Feb 10th 2012 Elmina to Kumasi
We had an early start, so my tent was packed by 6:30 with breakfast in the campsite ‘food hall’ at 7. I helped Mary to pack up her tent, so ended up last at breakfast.
Jobs for the truck (called ‘Madge’) were allocated:-
Tents - Mike and Ant
Pub Manager (the safe) - Angelito (Aus/Philipino, 28)
Tables - Peter with Mike or Ant
Back Locker - Christian and Jess (Aus, about 23, drama queen)
Stools - Garry (Aus, 67, survivor or throat cancer, has a stick)
Jerries - Barry
Water set up (at meals) - Angelito and Naomi (NZ/Melbourne, 25, lawyer to be)
Truck Clean - Mary, Nicole and everyone
Slops - Naomi
Recycling & Trash - Mike and Ant
Security In - Sarah (HK, 57)
Security Out - Anne Marie (Cork, Ire, Teacher, about 33)
Fire - Mike and Ant
Fridge Manager - Lisa (Leeds, Biology Teacher, 36)
Kitty Assistant - Barb (Nth Wales, Artist 50’s)
Bar Manager - Peter & helpers
Truck jobs to be reviewed in Bamako.
Cook Groups were also allocated:-
Group 1 - Barb, Christian, Naomi
Group 2 - Angelito, Mary, Lisa
Group 3 - Sarah, Barry, Jess
Group 4 - Anne-Marie, Nicole, Peter
We drove back to Cape Coast then turned north to Kakum National Park where we stopped for a couple of hours. Most of us did the canopy walkway – there being 7 swinging ropeways between towers. You get a good view of the forest from above, but any animals protected by the National Park will be far away. Tourists and especially school parties are very noisy. Nicole, Mary and I took our time on the way back to take photos of plants, butterflies etc.
Lunch was taken early at the truck before the long busy drive to Kumasi.
The main roads in Ghana are usually tarmac, but there are often lumps, bumps and roadworks. Out of townsd there is not much traffic and it is mostly slow moving goods vehicles and some buses. There are few private cars but plenty of taxis in towns and villages. From Kakum, we had about 20 miles of bumpy dirt road to negotiate to get onto the main Kumasi road, and later in the day we had a big detour via Obuasi, so didn’t get to Kumasi, a big city of 1.5 million and capital of the Ashanti region until 7. We stayed at the Presbyterian Guesthouse but they only had 5 rooms, so Angelito was on a campbed (sharing with Peter and Gary) and Sarah was on the floor (sharing with Mary and Nicole). Tents were put up for Ant & Lisa and Mike & Chrissie. I shared a room with Christian. Except for Gary who doesn’t eat in the evening, we all went to Vic Baboo’s about 200 yards away. It’s an ex-pat favourite with good curries, but also Chinese, pizzas etc.
Saturday Feb 11th 2012 Kumasi
A free day in Kumasi, so no rush to get up. There was a little restaurant in the guesthouse for breakfast, then Christian, Gary and I strolled down to Kejetia Market, the largest market in West Africa. The railway station and tracks at Kumasi are quite extensive, but no trains run anymore, so much of it has become an overflow area for the market, which is itself about a square kilometre. Christian and I took a road up the side of the main market to the Catholic cathedral. A service (or funeral) had just finished with lots of smartly dressed ladies (in black) coming out. We had a look inside where it was cooler. Kumasi was hotter and clearer than Accra and Elmina.
From the cathedral, we took the top entrance to the market, where there were stalls and stalls of shoes, mostly women’s. We were on a level above the main market and found steps down. We were then in the fish area, where most stalls had neat piles of fish, some black and dry, some looking nice and fresh (tilapia) and some like whitebait. As we moved on through the alleys of the market the subjects changed to chickens, pots and pans, soap etc, plastic tubs, clothes, groceries and eventually fruit and veg. There was a lot of people traffic in the narrow alleys, mostly ladies and girld carrying supplies on their heads.
After an hour or so of battling through the market, Christian and I split and I started back towards the hostel. I stopped for a cold drink and found my way back to Vic Baboo’s. Mike was there and Gary, Ant and Peter came in later. I had a burger and Mike and Ant went off to take the truck for some maintenance – oil filters etc. Gary struggled with a pizza (too dry), then had several ice creams.
I spent the afternoon catching up with diary and photos intending to get to the Internet café nearby, but it closed early.
Most of us went to Vic Baboo’s for evening meal – another curry and beers.
Sunday Feb 12th 2012 Kumasi to Fuller Falls (nr Kintampo)
We had an early start with breakfast at the truck and said goodbye to Chrissie who was getting a VIP bus back to Accra Airport and a flight to Copenhagen (via Bamako and Brussels). We made good progress and were in Kintampo at 12, where Cook Group 2 went to the market for the next days food. A left turn at Kintampo took us the 8 miles to Fuller Falls. There was an open grassy area with trees along the top of the bank where we parked the truck and pitches our tents while Cook Group 1 made lunch.
The falls are a series of smallish but quite photogenic waterfalls with a good area to swim below the lowest falls. After luch, I went to the swimming area where Mike was just getting in. There were a few locals there. The water was refreshing and cool but not cold and soon we were joined by Christian, Nicole, Mary and Sarah and later by Gary and Lisa. It was a lovely spot for camping and swimming well away from ant towns, though the numbers of locals increased in the afternoon to about 15, mostly arriving on little motorbikes. The other negative factor was the biting flies. Most of us got bites, especially around the ankles.
The evening meal was bangers and mash and we now had a bar going on the truck with beers and soft drinks in 2 cool boxes on the back seat.
Monday Feb 13th 2012 Fuller Falls to Mole National Park
Another early start, so we were back in Kintampo by 8 am, dropping Gary for a few hours, then heading south for 10 miles or so, then east for about 20 miles of dirt road to Baobeng-Fiema Monkey Sanctuary. The sanctuary is in a triangle of forest between villages and the monkeys – Black and White Colobus and Mona monkeys – are sacred to the villagers.
A guide took us into the forest for a 90 minute stroll. The Colobus monkeys are quite shy, so move back into the trees nearby as they are approached, except for old males who may be a bit threatening. The Mona monkeys come over and take food from hand, especially from Nicole, an animal behaviour expert. I took photos of colourful butterflies too.
In one of the villages, we were shown into a wood carvers workshop where there were very good figures, some in ebony, and some good masks. I bought an Ashanti mask, borrowing cedis from Nicole – I already owed C50 to Angelito, but we need to use then up, as a group, before the border.
Back in Kintampo, Cook Group 3 – Sarah, Jess and myself went to the market for next days food. I looked after the money – Mike had given me C140 from the kitty, but we only spent C58 on onions, green chillies, strong red chillies, ginger, curry powder, garlic, cabbage, tomatoes, tins of mackerel, ocra, carrots, cheese, butter spread, pineapple, apples and bananas. The market contains 60 to 80 stalls on a lumpy dirt area behind the little shops on the road.
Having picked up Gary, the next stop was Kintampo Falls just outside of town. Although it was much more spectacular than Fuller Falls, it wasn’t deep enough to swim and the area was untidy and not well maintained. We had lunch in the car park with some hassle from the attendant.
It was 2 pm when we continued north, an hour later than planned and a long hot drive to Mole (Mo-lay) National Park. We crossed the Black Volta river and an area with more waterholes, then turned west onto a dirt road. It was dark before we reached Damongo and we had to stop to fix a problem with the lights. Just passed Larabanga we entered Mole National Park and the camp ground. A 4 wheel drive Merc campervan with a couple from Gloucester arrived with a hot-air balloon.
Tuesday Feb 14th 2012 Mole National Park
I was up early to help get breakfast 1 ready before the safari walk. We were at the park info centre for 7am where about 20 people were given an introduction to the walking safari in the bush. The Dragoman group split into 2 teams of 6 for the 2 hour stroll. We were led by Christopher and saw Bushbuck, Crocodile, Green Monkey, Kob (antelope) and eventually one elephant. There were quite a few birds including Western Grey Plantain Eater, Malakite Kingfisher, Grey Headed Kingfisher (which was mainly blue), Herdada Ibis, Egrets, White Necked Stork, Hooded Vulture, Grey Hornbill, Batelor (Eagle), Abysinian Roller, Senegal Cucal (?) and Jakarna.
Breakfast 2 followed at 10am with good scrambled egg with mushrooms cooked by Jess, fruit (banana, apple, orange), bread etc . Eight of us then did the guided tour of Larabanga, the local Muslim village containing one of the oldest mosques in West Africa. Except for being baked in the back of the car for the 10 minute journey, it was a very good tour, led by Ibrahim, a local teacher. We were only his 3rd group, as they had a new plan of guided tours from Mole NP because hassle from local boys had given the town a bad reputation for visitors, and numbers had dropped dramatically. We went to the waterhole, passed cotton trees and nimi trees (cure for malaria), then to the village and the mosque. Everyone was friendly, except for one imam. Ibrahim took us to his 2 grandmothers, one who weaves from the cotton grown on the trees. There are also butternut trees. The nuts are skinned, then pounded in a pestle, then cooked, with the resultant ghee being spooned off to set as a butter which they use for skin treatment. Naomi bought a tub. There were lots of children – polygamy is common, and the school is fairly new and growing with help from foreign volunteers – we contributed.
At 2pm it was very hot and nobody wanted cooked food, so we just did egg and salad sandwiches. There were two local boys offering to do jobs, so Mike got them to clean all of the grey boxes of pots, pans, cutlery food etc., then they were free to do laundry, so I gave them mine. There was a standpipe nearby, so I filled all of the jerry cans. Mike had filled the big water tank in the morning from a different tap which fitted the hose.
The camp was on a plateau with big views over the safari area and waterholes and many of the group were at a nearby viewing platform in the shade. I eventually got there and helped Christian back up his photos on a 2nd SD card. We then went to the pool for a swim, just as others were leaving, then did some wildlife watching with Nicole before getting back to prepare the evening meal.
There was a lot of chopping to do for the egg curry. I did the onions, chillies, ginger, garlic etc while Jess did the carrots, ocra, cabbage, tomatoes and Sarah did the rice. It all worked out quite well. It was Ant’s 33rd birthday so we all sang, signed a card and he had a few presents.
Wednesday Feb 15th 2012 Mole NP to Burkina Faso (Bush camp)
An early start to get some distance in before the heat. Once we got to Tuna, the road was good, so we made good time via Ga to Wa (several 2 letter towns in this area!) Jill Kennedy from Dulwich Runners did a VSO stint in Wa 20 years ago. It is a big town where we stopped to shop and get our own lunch. Jess and I helped Peter to get canned soft drinks and canned beer for the bar. Beer took some finding, but I eventually found a shop/warehouse with 10% Faxe beer in large cans (24 for C50), cheaper than the smaller cans of Heineken when we bought the whole stock from the garage. I had rice and bits of chicken in a local stall for 2 cedis and used up my (borrowed) cedis in the garage.
On the way from Wa to the Burkina border town of Hamale, it got very hot – up to 45°C (113°F), 38°C (100°F) in the shade, if you could find any.
At the border we all had to get out for individual passport processing, then Ant took all of the Yellow Fever certificates for checking, and we were in Burkina Faso – another new country. There were a couple of checks on the other side which Mike and Ant dealt with.
About 10 km west of the border, Ant turned off down a track to find a good bush camp spot a few hundred yards from the road in bushes. Later in the evening, I had two of the strong Faxe beers and staggered to my tent to wake up a couple of hours later still fully clothed!
Thursday Feb 16th 2012 Bush Camp nr Ouessa to Sindou
At breakfast, I realised that I’d lost my glasses, but diagnosed that they’d probably fallen out of my pocket and successfully found them at my ‘shovel site’. We took the road west to Bobo, as it was newly laid and fast then stopped in Bobo to get money at the ATM. CFA100,000 (about £120) in CFA10,000 notes, so we will have a problem getting change. The road from Bobo to Banfora was also tarmac and fairly good – it is the main road from Abidjan, the biggest port in West Africa through to Bobo and Wagga (Ouagadougou, capital of Burkina Faso), and there is also a working railway line close by.
At Banfora, we turned right onto a bumpy dirt road. At a little bridge, we all got out as there was a hole in the road on the bridge patched up with logs. The metal tracks came out to cover the hole for the truck to drive over. It is 42 km of pleasant green scenery with pretty villages of small round thatched mud houses from Banfora to Sindou where the Aiguilles de Sindou (Sindou Peaks) suddenly appear on the horizon. The peaks are a spectacular jungle of striated rock spires and domes, similar to King’s Canyon in Central Australia, where I have not been, but others had.
The camp ground was inside a village compound and we had the option of staying in the little round huts instead of camping, so I did. However, they were hot and dark with a bed and mosquito net, a small window and no power, but outside between the huts a really good shower. There was also good local beer (Brakina) at the site. I recorded all of the local drinks we had, so we could pay as one lump sum in the morning, and sort it out between us.
Several of us walked to the Sindou Peaks in the cool (less hot) of late afternoon. I got separated and eventually found the main entrance with steps in the rocks up into a large central section surrounded by amazing peaks. I met Nicole and Sarah strolling around. There was some bird life, but most of it was audible rather than visible.. It was getting dark as we left.
Food for the evening meal had been ordered at the camp with Sarah and Ant conversing with the lady about what was available and the quantities required (in French). We had 4 small chickens, bowls of veggy sauce and tomato sauce, rice and also some couscous which the vegetarians would get first option. There was lots of it and it was very good. There was also a charging point with about 5 sockets which was well used.
Friday Feb 17th 2012 Sindou to Karfiguela
Nicole, Mary and I were on the road back to the Sindou Peaks before 6am, in order to catch the weak sunrise and to see the peaks (and birds) while it was nice and cool. This time we went to the right, towards the sunrise after climbing the entrance steps. It was very scenic and peaceful as we gradually climbed higher for better views. Barb appeared later having gone in the back entrance.
Meanwhile Jess had a 30 minute run before breakfast.
The bar bill reconciled and Peter absorbed it into the bar stats, so we effectively owed the bar kitty. On the way back to Banfora, we turned off to the village of Tangrelá, where there is a lake with hippos.We got into 3 perogues – flat bottomed boats, though ours had to be bailed out first. We were then paddled across the lake where there were waterlilies and jakarnas to the far side which was deeper and there were hippos. The little boats kept near the edge of the lake for safety, then the hippos appeared. We saw at least 6 though there were reported to be about 20 in the lake. On the way back, the wind was getting strong and our progress was slow, and found a spare paddle and helped while Mike did some bailing as we were taking on water too.
We stopped in Banfora for Cook Group 3 (me etc) to buy food for next day breakfast and to get our lunch. We decided on French toast (Fried eggy bread) and finding good French bread was easy, but it took a while to track down eggs. We also got fruit – papaya, apples, orange. There was very little street food – a stall that did baguettes was the best option – and there were no toilets anywhere. I was not impressed with Banfora, but Berkina Faso so far had been very good, interesting and scenic.
We left Banfora on another bumpy track for Karfiguera, but via the Fabedougou Domes – apparently similar to Bunglebungles in Oz. We had to go off road for a section to get passed a broken bridge. Fabedougou is a series of dome-shaped striated rocks. Jess, the group monkey, was soon on top of one of them, but it was now very hot and we were not far from our overnight camp.
Karfiguera campsite and waterfalls were about 2 miles away and contained a small compound where we pitched our tents and a few little gifty stalls. The waterfalls were a few hundred yards away from camp – a series of tumbling little drops with sink holes up to 5ft deep, then a big drop to the bottom. The little falls and sink holes were fun to be in.
Nicole and I then walked along the top of the ridge in the late afternoon back to Fabedougou Domes. It was a lovely walk with birds singing and flitting about, and was only about a mile.. In the domes, I had a bit of a climb to get views, as a herd of cows wandered through. Locals had set fire to a patch of scrub just outside the domes – a common method of controlling potentially big fires.
Dinner was beef selected by Lisa and was very good washed down by more 10% beers!
Saturday Feb 18th 2012 Karfiguela to Bobo Dioulasso
A late start, as it was only a short driving day, so despite a bad cold I went for a gentle run to the falls and along the ridge to the domes and back at 7am, then cooled down in a sink hole at the falls. I cracked the eggs for breakfast, but was banned from cutting fruit (bad cold) with Mary taking over, so I packed up her tent.
We left at 10 so were in Bobo for lunch. L’Entente Hotel is a mid-range tourist hotel of 2 stories with rooms surrounding a courtyard of tables. We all opted to pay extra for single rooms as they all had a double bed in each only, with mosquito net, table TV and en suite bathroom with dubious plumbing. After a coke in the hotel, I found Angelito, Naomi and Peter across the road at a fish stall. 3 pieces of mackerel like fish with some chips for CFA400 (about 50p) was very tasty.
The hotel had wifi (though it was slow), so I took it easy and caught up with emails etc in the hot afternoon – but there was still no Orange phone service. I had a walk in the local streets, got a bit of hassle, then found a good biggish supermarket, so bought a few luxuries including 2 bottles of red wine at CFA1650 (just over £2 each).
At 7pm, we met at the courtyard tables to eat – pizza for me. Service was slow as expected. It was after (pm when most of the group went off to bars, discos and clubs to celebrate Angelito’s 29th birthday, but my cough and cold were not good so I didn’t join them. It was hot in the rooms and many complained they couldn’t sleep, but with the fan on, I slept okay.
Sunday Feb 19th 2012 Bobo Dioulasso
A morning tour was organised for us with a local guide to the Grande Mosque and the old city (Kibidwé), but the talk at breakfast and on the walk there was about the previous night’s revelling in bars and night clubs. Most came back at 1 or 2 am, but Christian, with his good French was out until after 4:30am!
We had a good tour of the mosque, built in 1896 in Sahel style mud architecture with conical towers and wooden struts. It was CFA1000 to enter and any photos inside could not include people. The old city opposite was quite fascinating with little buildings and alleys made of mud, rooms for various rituals including animist and voodoo worship and an elders meeting room. A few of the locals had seen Christian the night before, probably staggering back to the hotel, so he’d become a celebrity overnight.
It was another hot afternoon of taking it easy, photo editing and visiting the ATM. At 4pm, the local guide returned to take 12 of us on a stroll to the market. Though being Sunday and late afternoon, many stalls were closed with all of their wares locked up in little containers. The local ladies dress very colourfully, but taking their photo is not done. After the market, we continued north passing a cathedral which looked like a railway station (big metal arched shed) and to the railway station which looked like a mosque. There is only one passenger train per day to either Abidjan or Ouagadougou, which means there is only one passenger train on the line.
At 7pm we met up again, firstly for Angelito’s birthday card, cake and singing, then 14 of us walked to a restaurant a few streets away. Service was very slow with several menu items being off, but it was very good when it came. Nicole, Anne-Marie and Naomi all used my laptop to check emails, backup photos etc and mosquitos were very persistent in the evening.
Monday Feb 20 2012 Bobo to Ouagadoudou (Wagga)
It was a straightforward 6 hour drive on a good road to Ouagadougou, with a few off road sections where they were working on the road. However, it was quite narrow and a passing bus hit and broke our wing mirror. We stopped in the half-way town of Boromo for lunch – street food of chicken in soup with baguette, then yoghurt.
Wagga is a big city of 1.5 million people and the N1 becomes an impressive dual carriageway with lights flyover etc. We turned onto the Boulevard Circulaire and found the OK Inn at the back of a big lorry park just passed the airport runway on the south side of the city. Mike organised rooms ensuring that we had twin rooms not doubles. Christian and I had room 5 with a good working en-suite bathroom, a little walled garden area and there was free wifi. There was a smart restaurant and a good pool, but after this there would be no hotel until the end in Dakar, so we were being spoilt a bit. Of course, the food and drink were comparatively expensive.
I had a good swim, used the wifi to find that Wendy was having a tumour removed on Wednesday and may have cancer. After a beer at the pool, most of us ate in the restaurant, but some went out for cheaper street food.
Tuesday Feb 21 2012 Wagga
A free day to explore Ouagadougou and it was cloudy, so hot seriously hot. I had a good breakfast of ham omelette, bread & butter, café grande (total CFA4600). Most of the group took cabs into town, but I decided that I walk.
It was a good 3 mile walk into town, along Bld Circulaire passing the end of the runway, then right for a while up the side of the airport and up Ave Kwame Nkruma – the main street. I really enjoyed walking along watching the people and the traffic which was mostly mopeds, bicycles and truck, but with some cars and donkey carts. Mopeds (Motorcyclets) are a main feature of Wagga.There are thousands of them in the street, riden by people in all sorts of dress, and often with passengers too, and almost no crash helmets. There are also plenty of people walking or with shops and stalls along the road. It was a hive of activity and fun to witness, rather than just driving past in a cab. I bought a coke on the way and saw a GESeaCo container. Ave Kwame Nkruma has a lot of offices (including Med Shipping), banks, hotels, bowling alley, shops etc and I walked to the roundabout at the end where there is a globe in the middle and lots of mopeds whizzing around it – the notional centre of town.
It was a short walk then to the market, which was properly constructed and laid out on 3 floors, so easy to look around. Much of it was cloth and clothes, but with some hassle from locals, I found stalls of wooden figures and bought a tall thin female figure, probably in ebony. In the supermarket nearby I found Christian, and treated myself to biscuits, a mars bar and a magnum ice cream!
We were near the Grande Mosque, so walked around it looking for possible devious photo opportunities and for some street food. We found a very popular little stall with excellent fish, chips – Christian had chicken.
On the walk back, I bought strawberries and oranges from a very impressive roadside stall, but my feet were getting sore from 4.5 hours of walking in sandals by the end. I was refreshed by a good shower then a swim with Peter. The Jerry cans were a bit low for the next stage, so I filled 2 of them. I just had a salad then chocolate mousse for dinner, then Christian settled the room bill with a credit card and I paid him cash. Later I helped Nicole use the laptop to send photos of her short diary to friends, and helped clean the truck.
That night, I felt a lot of bites, either from mosquitoes and horse flies during the day or from flees or bedbugs in the bed. At 4am I was not comfortable, so went to reception to read for half an hour.
Wednesday Feb 22nd 2012 Wagga to Bush Camp nr Djibasso
It was to be a long day on the road so we left at 7:30. We took the N1 back towards Bobo for an hour then turned North West onto the N14 via Koudougou where it became a good dirt road. From Dedougou, the road was under construction, so we were on temporary dirt roads nearby which were bumpy and slow.
We stopped for lunch and it was now very hot with little shade, so we put chairs against the shady side of the truck. A couple of local lads watched us and a Touareg in blue with a turban (!) stopped to chat. The Touareg are a very hard race of desert nomads with a different way of life and standards to most other people are are often considered dangerous.
The dirt road continued on through more villages, then at Nouna Mike turned left. I’d been following the route on my fairly detailed Burkina Faso map, and realised this was wrong, so went to the front to discuss the route with Mike and Ant. It took a while to get back onto the N14, which was now bumpoy and slow through small villages.
It was 5:30 when Mike turned off to a bush camp behind rocks. It was our turn (Cook Group 3) to cook, but Ant had shopped for us in Wagga, so it was sausages and mash – an Ant favourite. However with 3 vegetarians to cater for too, we had to do a veg stir fry and boiled rice. Lisa helped with the mash and Barb with the onion gravy, as there was a mountain of potatoes and sausages to deal with – it was all very god in the end.
In bush camps, we usually sat around chatting and drinking in limited light from truck and torches. Nicole would always be writing her extensive diary/travel log with a little torch on and Naomiwould usually be the biggest talker. A very pleasant 25 year old New Zealand Jewess, Naomi was the voice of the Dragoman Group, much as Jackie West was the voice of Dulwich Runners 10 years ago. A load sharp voice which cut through the air like a rusty saw usually gabbling about nothing of significance (ie: herself), as Naomi did have verbal diahorea, but she’d be leaving in Bamako, so peace will descend !!
Thursday Feb 23rd 2012 Bush Camp nr Djibasso to Segou
Djibasso was a few miles down the road and there were lots of donkey carts with locals and their produce heading into town. It was a small lively town, where Mike and Ant failed to see and stop at the local police station, and a police motorcycle caught us up and we had to go back for papers to be checked. It was still about 10 miles to the border on a slow bumpy road with more donkey carts, this time coming towards us – there were lots of little farms around and dusty ploughed fields between patches of small scrubby trees.
At the Burkina border post (still a few miles from the actual border) Mike took all of the passports into the office for exit stamps, but at the Mali border post we all had to get out and be individually checked by the official.
Entering Mali, the quality on the road improved immediately – now a smooth dirt road – and it was now midday and hot. Soon we were turning left onto a good tarmac road to San and Segou. The trip used to go to Timbuktu, Mopti and Djenné – very historic and impressive cities – but it is now too dangerous due to a spate of kidnappings, which usually involve Toureg and sometimes Al-Kaida.
San had numerous big new building (government or finance), then a sharp left took us west to Bla, then north over the wide River Bani to Segou. This all took several hours with Naomi rabbitting in the back and Angelito’s music on the truck player. To me, this was noise pollution when we were trying to experience the country and the scenery, though a small amount is fine.
In Segou, a fairly big town, the truck drove into the Motel Savenne, and we pitched our tents there, then I had a shower. We met Grand-Père, who has been a rep and fixer in Mali for Dragoman for twenty years. The plan had been for us to get to Segou early enough for a boat trip on the River Niger, but it would now be delayed until the morning.
Nicole and I got chatting to 2 locals in the hotel grounds. Mohammed came from Timbuktu, was part Touareg and was studying medicine. The he produced a bag of things to sell – crosses, necklasses etc. I didn’t have many CFA’s to spend, so did not really want to get involved, but a toureg bracelet looked interesting. Mohemmed explained their bartering system – offer 1 from him, offer 1 from me, then offers 2 and 3, then either agree a price or split. His opening of CFA27000 (~£32) was just silly, so I responded with CFA5000. When I only went up to 6000 and 6500, I was surprised thathe was happy to settle at 7000.
It was a calm balmy stary evening for a nice open-air meal at the little hotel. Christian and Sarah went for a walk to town to investigate, so were gone for an hour or so. Naomi went to have tea with a Toureg and was almost sold for 150 camels. Ant got seriously annoyed with Gary’s abusive behaviour. Several of us chatted until late
Friday Feb 24th 2012 Segou to Bamako
The plan was to have breakfast at the river, so we were packed up ready by 7:30 for the little drive to the banks of the Niger River. It was a lovely scene in the early morning with women washing clothes by the boat we would be travelling in, and the truck with our breakfast setup on the bank. As usual Sarah was busy talking to and photographing the local women and children.
Our long boat (pirogue) has comfortable seats for about 14, covered by a roof which could also take 5. We chugged gently across the River Niger then near the fishing village opposite turned upstream, taking the channel near the north bank. There was quite a bit of birdlife with egrets, lapwings, plovers, a roller or two, a bee-eater, very small flocking birds, jakarnas, a great blue heron, kites etc.
We continued upstream for an hour to a little pottery making village – Kalabougou (the house of loaning). We toured the village being told the pottery making story, taking photos and being charmed by the children, who were just fun, very sweet and no hassle. Several of us bought small pots for small sums. Nicole and I swung one little girl all the way from the village back to the boat.
Back in Segou, we walked a few hundred metres to a restaurant for cokes and baguettes prepared by Ant while we were away on the boat. I found an ATM close by and got CFA150,000 in 5000 notes – easier to change than the 10,000 we usually get – then we climbed onto Madge, pushing through the gift sellers and were back on the road.
It was a steady 6 hour drive to Bamako, with only toilet stops. It was now very hot again – about 38°C. I had my own MP3 player as a change from the youngster’s music. Bamako is a large spread out city formed by the expansion of several villages. The main centre is on the north bank, but the Bamako Plage is on the south bank, next to the football training ground of Mali’s best team – Djoliba.
After putting up the tents and having a swim, Ant was keen to take us to the Vietnamese Spring Roll Take-Away about 800 metres away. 4 spring rolls for CFA1000 was excellent, but not vegetarian, so Naomi, Mary and Nicole on to check out more places, though the street-food nearer the hotel was the best option. Beers and laptop catch up followed, then at 10 we got into a minibus for the 30 minute drive across the city to the best music bar in Bamako – Le Diplomat.
Here, the rich and famous of Mali gather to see and take part in the entertainment. Musicilans were warming up with drums (African & Western) and guitars and other African stringed instruments. It was gentle rhythmic music with more musicians casually turning up and joining in. By 11:30, there were singers and dancers joining in, just gradually. We had a long table in a prominent position, while Ant, Lisa and Christian stayed at the bar. The dancers increased from one or two very flexible local dancers to more including one paraplegic, and by midnight a few tourists were joining in. A group of us – Mary, Sarah, Nicole and I decided we’d leave about 12:15, rather than stay until around 3am, so GP (Grande-Père) helped organise a cab for us (CFA2000 for about 25 minutes). Outside, one of the stars of Mali and African music met us via GP – Tomany Japati (??), plays a 24 stringed instrument (cora) and he joined in with Le Diplomat musicians later.
Back at the camp, I had a battle with mosquitoes in the tent, though in fact my ankles had been attacked under the table in Le Diplomat.
Saturday Feb 25th 2012 Bamako
A free day in Bamako and Naomi’s last day. I didn’t hear anyone come back last night, so I must have slept okay. Breakfast was planned for 9, so I had a swim then helped Mike set it up, while others slept in. Mike had missed Le Diplomat with a dodgy stomach. After some washing, I shared a cab with Sarah and Nicole to the Musée National. The driver must have misheard and went the wrong way, so after 10 minutes I asked Sarah to check where he was going – the wrong way! We turned around and headed into town. Trips with Sarah are always interesting!
Others from the group were at the Museum entrance when we eventually got there, but due to a power cut they could not issue tickets, though this was resolved in 5 minutes. We got tickets to include an English speaking guide but there was not one available. The Musée included good sections on textiles – developments from hundreds of years ago, masks from various tribes and regions – eg: Dogons.., Geology and Early Human history. Seven of the group were in the café which looked good, but Sarah, Nicole and I were interested in getting to the market and street food. Mohammed (re: Segou) found us in the garden and offered to give us some guidance to the museum, so we went back in for a quick explanation of the masks, mosques and early history, then got a taxi to the Grande Mosque.
We started with a quick look at the fetish market (skins, skeletons and skulls of animals), then found a small shop for drinks and yoghurt. Returning to the fetish market, Nicole, a biologist with a professional interest was really keen to investigate more, while Sarah was put off by the smell and moved onto the main market after I’d written down Djoliba for her – the cab drivers know the football ground, but not the Bamako Plage which has recently changed it’s name. I noticed a hornbill head, which Nicole fell in love with and decided to buy. Bidding started at CFA15000, bit Nicole got it for 2000, the took good photos of the stall and gave them CFA25 as a fee. There were animals of all kinds, though mostly small, and Nicole was tempted by a good monkey skull, but decided that it could be a serious customs problem. There must have been about 20 fetish stalls, mixed with other stalls. We moved onto the main market and got interested in wooden chairs – two pieces of carved and decorated wood which slot together. In the end, bidding for 2 (1 each) was good for bargaining. Nicole got a black chair with mother and baby carving for 9000. Mine was various colours with elephants etc for 20000.
Back at Bamako Plage, I had a swim and various people in the group used my laptop for emails, backups etc. We ate at the hotel, outside on the terrace overlooking the Niger River (pizza). I updated my blog, but the wifi was very slow.
It was Naomi’s last night and she’d booked a room to sort out her junk – she’d be leaving at 7am for Melbourne via Monrovia, Accra, Dubai. I went over to say goodbye, then joined Nicole for a while to write diaries.
Sunday Feb 26th 2012 Bamako to Konkani (Mande Villages)
I was awake at 6, trying to kill mosquitoes and by 7 I was sorted and packed, so went for a 3 mile run in white singlet and yellow fluorescent shorts ! – mostly around the football ground where there was a match starting, but some in the local streets.
When I returned, Mike was at the truck sorting out a flat battery and the jerry cans needed filling ready for our 3 day trek to the Mande villages, so I did that. At 9, I had a swim before breakfast which included a piece of Lisa’s 37th birthday cake.
The truck left just after 10, without Gary (staying behind) and Naomi (gone back to Oz) and Ant would be bringing the truck back after dropping us off near Sibi. GP and Dra were with us and we picked up Nafi – our cook for 3 days. Sibi is about 30 miles south west of Bamako in Mande (Mandinga) country, with cliffs fairly close by. It was 39°C (102°F) when we stopped for lunch in Sibi – a pleasant little open-air but walled in restaurant. We were there for a couple of hours in the heat of the day. I bought antihistamine pills in a nearby pharmacy. Ant then drove us in the truck a further 10 km, now on small tracks to a muddy waterhole where about 30 people were fishing with nets. We took photos of the children then moved on a couple of miles to the start of our trek.
The walk for the day was a gentle flat stroll of less than 3 miles to the village of Konkani, where we pitched tents on the edge of the village. Tents, sleeping bags, cooking gear and food had been transferred to a 4 wheel drive pick-up truck, and space was short so we were sharing. Many of the children who were quite shy and innocent had elaborately braided hair and ladies were suggesting that some of us could have it done. Jess was a quick volunteer, so her short red hair was braided with lots of observers. Nicole has long dark hair, and when she decided to get braided, it took about an hour with up to 5 ladies working on it, but Nicole was transformed from an overworked stressed project manager to a traveller really enjoying Africa. Mike said she could now pull an African man and she got into holding local babies!! Anne-Marie had a great time playing games and songs with the local children who followed her everywhere.
We’d ordered drinks at lunchtime which were in an eski and Nafi cooked a good meal. There was no power in the village except for the odd vehicle battery, and Christian’s torch had died, but we stayed up around the camp fire until late.
Monday Feb 27th 2012 Konkani to Djilofonda (Mande villages)
After breakfast we had a tour of the village, visiting the head man and seeing women doing various jobs. It was a friendly village with sweet unspoilt kids and no problem taking photos. We then walked about 5km on dry dusty tracks through small bushes to another village for our lunch stop. It was still early for lunch, so we took a walk to an ancient village site in thicker vegetation near cliffs where locals used to hide from invading Muslims. There were old walls and higher in the rocks there were hiding places.
After lunch we took a siesta as it was about 39°C, with 5 girls on a carpet under a tree, while I read and Christian entertained children. It was a 6 km stroll to the next village, Djilofondo, a larger more organised village with a new mosque being built. We camped in an open square with a well which was also the school playground. The children were more street-wise, spoke reasonable French and some even a little English.
We ordered drinks for the evening and a motorbike with the eski box went to Sibi for them, but took over an hour. More beef, sauce and pasta was served, and better than the tough beef at lunchtime, and the children were ordered to leave our area while we ate around the camp fire. A bench was brought out and added to our camp circle, and GP and guys with drums came over and warmed up. Children and locals returned to form a full circle and soon drumming and dancing were in full swing. I had a go with a drum before the impromptu dancing really took off mostly by children so keen to have a go and even some ladies with babies on their backs.
It was a good evening and I slept solidly for a 2nd night, sharing with Christian.
Tuesday Feb 28th 2012 Djilofondo to Arche de Kamadjan
There was not much planned until late afternoon, though some went to see the school and help a bit, while Mary, Nicole and I had a look around the veg plot which was very tidy with 3 wells. We had a wander around the village meeting children and families, had lunch and took it easy in the shade until 3:30.
The 4WD driver had been sacked by GP and replaced by a donkey cart, including driver, his son and a young donkey with its mother. A gentle 3 mile stroll took us to a super rocky outcrop and the Arche de Kamadjan, where we camped on a plateau below the arch with big views across the plain to Sibi. Before it got dark, I had a walk further on and up onto rocks under the arch. Mary was also rambling around and was sitting by the arch when I walked back.
It was a lovely setting and a lovely balmy evening. After another good meal prepared by Nafi, and drinks delivered by motorbike, a guy with an 8 string camelogani (?) arrived, organised by GP. He played and sang for an hour or so around the camp fire, interesting for 15 minutes, soporific for the next 15, then just boring. The stars were good and I stayed up listening to my own music until late in the warm breeze.
Wednesday Feb 29th 2012 Arche de Kamadjan to Bamako
There was no sunrise as a Harmattan breeze had returned, but there was a joke leap day proposal from Anne-Marie to Angelito. After breakfast GP led us to caves where the Mali Empire was born in the 13th century, then we continued up to the arche.Some of us were keen to go to the top of the arch but GP was sceptical about time and Mike concerned about his responsibilities. However, Jess and others were already climbing up, so I joined them for a fairly easy scramble/rock climb right onto the top of the Arche de Kamedjan. All others made it too except Nicole who slept on a rock while we were gone (with cold, flu, not slept). It was good to be on top with good views around and to have done something a bit more active.
The downhill stroll to Sibi took about an hour and it was getting hot. Ant met us with the truck and loads had been transferred from the donkey cart. After drinks in the café, we drove back to Bamako dropping Nafi, who would be going home to Mopti, on the way.
Cook Group 1 & 2 – I was now in 2 – were dropped off near the hotel to shop in the local supermarket, so I also treated myself to a rare ice cream and mars bar. I’d upgraded to a room, and after 3 nights in bush camps, it was domestic time – shower, wash clothes, lunch of tuna salad, swim, charge batteries, check emails, update blog and photos.
Later, Christian did a backup with my laptop and we walked to the supermarket the short way, then I walked around to a good street food stall with Nicole, but brought it back to eat by the pool. I did more domestic tasks, wifi and photo editing until after midnight.
Thursday Mar 1st 2012 Bamako to Bush Camp nr Sandré
Breakfast was at 6:30 as we had a long drive day across Mali ahead of us, but at least I had no tent to pack up. Most of the 485 km was good road once we’d got through Bamako, but there were lots of lorries on the road. Lunch was under a tree at the side of the road, and getting quite hot. We had a stop in Diéma for coffee, jam etc, where the road to Mauritania runs north. The road got worse near Sandré, and we turned off to bush camp about 10 km further. There were nice pink flowers and Boabab trees there. The scenery during the day had become drier as we were nearer the Sahara and Mauritania, but otherwise was not much different to previous days.
Friday Mar 2nd 2012 Bush Camp nr Sandré (Mali) to Bush Camp nr Bellé (Senegal)
The morning drive to Kayes was on poor potholed tarmac road, but the scenery was better with hills, rocks and undulating views. We crossed the Senegal River in Kayes, then drove south to the French fort, where the French held out against Muslim invasion to retain their colonial empire. We had a guided tour of the fort, which overlooks the Senegal River, then visited the old railway station, which is now closed. It was a spur from the main Dakar –Kayes – Bamako which is now freight only. We had lunch from the truck at Kayes Fort, then had a brief stop in Kayes for more provisions. At the Senegal border there were lots of trucks as it often takes several days to get manifests checked with customs, so it was very congested, but Mike and Ant got the paperwork and passports done without us. On the Senegal side, Rick joined us just over the border then we found the Police and Customs posts were in remote parts of Kifira/Nayé. Rick had been on the Douala to Accra part of the trip and Jess was delighted to have him back, It was now late afternoon, so we drove about 10 km out of town and found a bush camp. I was on cook group and we did a good vegetarian sweet & sour.
Saturday Mar 3rd 2012 Bush Camp nr Bellé to Simenti (Niokolo NP)
Around 4am Sarah got up for the toilet without glasses on and wandered off and could not find the tents in the dark, the three-quarter moon having set. We didn’t realise that Sarah was missing until breakfast was ready, she hadn’t been seen and her tent was empty. We had breakfast quickly and started the engine and beeped the horn, but still no sign of Sarah. Mike’s plan was then that we fan out keeping in pairs and walk out on one side for 500-600 metres shouting and whistling. I walked into the rising sun with Mary and Angelito on my right and Nicole on my left, and agreed with Angelito when we would turn around. However, Mary and Angelito got lost getting back to the truck, so now we had 3 lost overlanders!! After more searching and shouting, Mike suggested that I run/jog along the bike/cow track for about 2 km and back, so I did that shouting and whistling often, but no response. The obvious thing to do if lost was go to the road – lorries could be heard a few hundred metres away – and while I was jogging the 2km & back, Ant and Rick went to the road and got a report from a lorry driver that Sarah was on the road further west, but Mary and Angel were still lost. I had another run to a big tree Mike had last seen them near, but no luck. They turned up at the truck via road and Rick an hour or so after getting lost, so it was 9 rather than 7 when we eventually got the truck moving and picked up Sarah and Ant. Getting lost in the bush is easy – use road, rail, track, sun to keep your bearings.
We stopped at Tambacounda for several groups to shop, but street food was difficult to find so I had a hamburger and a chocolate bread twist. Sarah was not well and had a temperature, so she had a hospital check up, but no malaria. We turned south east to Niokolo National Park and picked up a guide at Dar Salam. From there it was a slow bumpy track through the forest to Simenti – a hotel and camp group on the banks on the Gambia River. There had been a big clonk on a bumpy section earlier, so Mike and Ant were going to check it.
Sunday Mar 4th 2012 Simenti (Niokolo National Park)
Half the Dragoman group had a pirogue trip going upstream on the Gambia River, which started slowly with respect to wildlife and birds, but improved. We saw several crocodiles, bushbuck, warthogs, hippo, white headed lapwings, African Fish Eagle, Guinea Fowl, a parrot, Hedada Ibis, various herons and egrets, 4 varieties of kingfisher (pied, giant, blue crested, pygmy), common bulbul, glossy starlings (long tailed & purple), jakarna, common sandpiper, doves.
It was a very hot day in the camp, over 40°C, with Mike and Ant working on the truck all day. A big suspension arm at the rear had broken which had to be replaced by jacking up the rear offside, removing wheel and various large bits of suspension and putting in a new arm – a heavy manual job.
We found shade and cool to relax with the odd swim in the pool, and lunch was carried over to the shade of a hut. There were baboons and monkeys around, so chasing off baboons was also a necessary task, especially with food about. There was an amusing incident when I gave Nicole a banana while she was resting in the shade, which we put by her head. 5 minutes later a baboon game along and stole it, sat a few inches away from her and ate it. I ran across the camp to chase it off, but as I had 2 bananas in my hand it was trying to attack me to get my bananas, so after a bit of sparring, I dropped the bananas, much to the amusement of Ant and Mike.
I spent much of the afternoon in the shady bar area and pool, then at 5, Peter, Nicole and I had a guided walk via a good hide over the local lake, then other paths to the river. We returned to the hide for a peaceful sunset. Electricity in the camp only worked when the generator was on, which was a few hours in morning and evening, so recharging of camera batteries, computer etc had to be carefully managed. Gary, Sarah, Mary, Rick & Jess had rooms and we had a communal room for showers for the rest of us, and each room had a single plug.
The diagnosis on the broken truck at the end of the day was that we would not be leaving in the morning as planned, but would get an update in late morning.
Monday Mar 5th 2012 Simenti, Senegal
We had a late breakfast (9am) and further updates from Mike on progress on the truck repair at 11am and 1pm. It was a big job and by lunch, the main problem had been solved, but parts and wheels still had to be put back in place and secured, so we’d be staying another night and leaving early next morning and the itinerary would have to be reviewed.
I spent much of the day in the bird hide by the lake, including early morning, as it was a nice calm cool place to read, write and update the laptop when it was again over 40C in the camp area. With the heat and the delay we had now drunk our own bar of 2 eski boxes dry and had little food left on the truck. We therefore had evening meal in the Simenti Hotel bar, which was really good duck, and proceeded to drink their bar dry – I bought the last bottle (of Rosé) which 4 of us shared.
Tuesday Mar 6th 2012 Simenti to Bush Camp nr Basse Sante Su
Despite the lack of resources, Lisa created piklets from pancake mix etc for breakfast before we drove back to Tambacounda for supplies and lunch. 3 cook groups raided the local supermarket for general bulk supplies and meals for the next 2 days, also taking all of their small choc ice supply. Some of us had lunch in a burger café, where many of the orders required somebody to go out and get the ingredients, cokes etc. In general many places have a small stock and get what is needed when it is needed. This also explains why there is never any change and much of the money taken is used to buy the next items.
From Tambacounda, we drove south west to and over the Gambia River, but at the next town towards Velingara, the clutch cable on the truck broke, and took half an hour to fix, and we witnessed an angry woman verbally and physically beating her man. Velingara was a bit of a maze of dirt roads and we took a wrong turn on the way to the Gambia border.
Passports in Gambia took a while as Sarah (HK) needed a visa which sh would have to get in Basse in the morning. We bush camped on the way to Basse Santa Su and it was getting dark. Our group cooked beefburgers, mash with herbs, ratatouille and Rick put my tent up.
Wednesday Mar 7th 2012 Basse Santa Su to Tendaba (Gambia)
This was a fairly long day of driving on dirt roads with lots of security checkpoints through Gambia to get to our resort on the banks of the Gambia River at Tendaba. We had a stop for less than an hour in Basse for Sarah to get her Gambia visa, and to get a few fresh provisions. Gambia is a dictatorship, so there is strong military presence to defend and implement the laws of the president and suppress any potential threat from outside or inside the country. The soldiers at the check points are really trying to find anything they can fault with us in order to extract a bribe, but Mike and Ant are too wise to let anything happen. At one checkpoint, a police office, dressed in white T shirt tried to board the truck while Mike and Ant were inside their office with truck paperwork, and we blocked his way and insisted that he wait for them to come back. He insisted on seeing passports which are kept locked up in the pub, and we insisted that he get off the truck and we would get them (via Mike and Ant). Southern Senegal is very close and is an area we could not go through according to FCO advice. Gambia does have elections as frequent large posters on the side of the road show – eg: All Women love and vote for the wonderful president – a one party state!
Tendaba is a lovely site on the banks of the river and we all had nice single huts, as they are the same price as camping. They have mosquito nets over the beds and good bathrooms, but there is only power when the generators are on, which was a few hours at a time when they needed them, or they are specially asked for, so we had to manage when to charge camera batteries, laptop etc. There were plenty of birds in and around the river, and dinner was cooked from the truck, but we sat on the wall, rather than getting chairs out. They had a tab system at the site, so beers, meals and extras where recorded to be paid at the end - A very good idea considering the usual problem with change.
Thursday Mar 8th 2012 Tendaba – BIRDS
Early in the morning I had a 3 mile run starting in the pre-dawn light. We had an early breakfast organised for the 4 of us who were going on a bird spotting pirogue trip at 8 am – the best time, before it gets too hot, when the birds are out and when the tides are right. The pirogue trip went over the river to little tributaries through the mangroves and was excellent. Nicole had her bird guide and the boat man was quite knowledgeable, while I listed all that we saw. We all took good photos too. Sarah is particularly fanatical with the camera. Angelito was keen to see the mangroves and his interest in birds grew during the 3 hour trip.
We saw 29 different birds, with kingfishers, herons, darters being very numerous. Full List:- Kingfishers (Pied, Blue Crested, Malakite), Herons (Grey, Western Reef, Blue Crowned Night), Egrets (Great White, Little), Eagles (Marshall, Montagu’s), African Darter (Snake bird), Great White Pelican, African Spoonbill, African Grey Hornbill, Black Kite, Hammerkop, Caspian Tern, Cormorant, Spur-winged Lapwing, Whimbrel, Greenshank, Common Redshank, Common Sandpiper, Turnstone, Thick-knees, European Bee-Eater, Rose ringed Parakeet, Red eyed Dove and smaller birds we didn’t identify.
Others in the group had been to the local school. I coordinated a late afternoon bird trip with a very good young local guide (Burama Keita) on which 6 of us went. This was a walk through the local area to ‘The Garden’, where there was a big variety of trees, then to the airfield. I continued the list, with help from Nicole and we saw a further 30 species, in addition to many we saw in the morning. If we include the Bell Spotted Owlette, who replied to bird calls from Burama, we’d identified 60 bird species in a single day, which is amazing. In addition to the birds, we also saw Red Colobus Monkey, a smaller monkey, Tree and Ground Squirrels and bats. Anne-Marie and Barb were amused but not converted by us birders (Nicole, Sarah & I) and Christian took some interest.
Full List of additional afternoon birds:- Grey Woodpecker, Long Tailed Glossy Starling, Purple Glossy Starling, Red Billed Hornbill, Senegal Parrot, Senegal Coucal, Bearded Barbet, White Crowned Robin Chat (unique to the area), Firefinch, Grey-backed Cameroptera, Common Bulbul, Paradise Flycatcher, Beautiful Sunbird, Shikra, Bruce’s Green Pigeon, Plantain Eater, Red Warbler, Brown Babbler, Yellow-billed Strike, Abysinian Roller, Wattled Plover, Lizard Buzzard, Squacco Heron, Yellow Wagtail, Zitin Gisticola, Red-chested swallow, Lavender Waxbill, Hooded Vulture, Venacious Dove, Little Swift.
Any Birders out there considering a trip to Gambia and Senegal, I recommend Burama Keita at Tendaba as a very good young guide/bird spotter. In case you hadn’t noticed, I seem to have become a bit if a birding anorak!!!
In the evening, we had a nice buffet meal from the bar – and drinks.
Friday Mar 9th 2012 Tendaba to Saint Louis
The schedule had been amended to miss out Palmarin, a sandy beach a few hours bumpy drive off the our route, where there would also be good bird trips into the mangroves too, but this change would cut out about 6 hours of sitting on the truck and give us an extra day up at St Louis instead. This was the best solution to the lost day fixing the truck in Simenti.
As it was a very long drive day, we had breakfast and settling bills at 6:30 and left at 7:30. By 9, we were at the ferry crossing over the Gambia, but there were a lot of lorries there, and Mike and Ant had to do a lot of persuading to categorise us as a bus to get further up the queue.We were there for a couple of hours, with little stalls and women with good material for sale. Several of the group bought colourful African material cheap – Nicole is a brilliant haggler. I bought some cotton shorts (CFA2000), which were much more comfortable on the truck than safari shorts. There are 2 small ferries and we were lucky not to get on the larger one as it then broke down with a bus and a very large lorry on it.
There were lots of slow moving heavy lorries on the road, so Mike’s last Dragoman drive was a rather long slow affair. We stopped in Kaolack to find our own lunch and get a few provisions. As usual the market had lots to sell, but no street food, so it took a while to discover that we’d gone in the wrong direction for eateries, but got stocked up on fruit for expected long afternoon on the truck.
It was 10pm when we reached the Zebrabar, turning off the main road towards the sea a few miles before St Louis. Barb and Anne-Marie did an excellent quick meal as we pitched tents.
Saturday Mar 10th 2012 Zebrabar & St Louis.
I went for a run in the morning, completing my objective of a run in each country, picking up baguettes from the village on the way, then continuing down the sandy banks of the Senegal estuary, passing Nicole studying a large crab.
After breakfast, most of us took a pirogue for the 2 hour ride into Saint Louis, with terns and gulls diving for fish. Most of Saint Louis is on an island a few miles north up the Senegal estuary from Zebrabar with a line of sandy islands forming a barrier between the Atlantic Ocean and the river. It is only 8km (5 miles) from Mauritania (not FCO approved). We had a few hours to wander around St Louis, a pretty town with more organised shops than we’d seen for weeks. I bought trousers in an elephant design and other souvenirs and found an internet café for a quick email check, and the truck picked us up at 4pm.
The Zebrabar is a super campsite inside the National Park de Barbarie run by a Swiss couple. There are chalets which 5 of the group took and lots of room for camping in the sandy ground amongst small trees quite close to the estuary beach. There is a bird tower above the house/restaurant for a big view of the area and lots of small birds flying around – hornbills, crested lark, bulbul, small finches. I had a swim in the late afternoon which was very refreshing then our last meal from the truck was an excellent pasta with mushroom sauce, using up much of what was left from the truck supplies. Several of us had bottles of red wine, which had been very cheap in a garage on the journey. Sarah, Mary and I had often shared a bottle on the trip, and now Anne-Marie and Barb had joined in. New colourful African trousers were also on display by many of us.
Sunday Mar 11th 2012 Zebrabar nr St Louis
It was the last full day on the Dragoman Overland trip and as we’d changed the plans due to the truck repair several days earlier, it was a free day in and around Zebrabar, which was delightful. I did the bread run first thing – 10 baguettes for breakfast and lunch from the village about 1km away, then the 4 of us birders did a pirogue trip downstream towards the sea.
The Isle de Oisseaux was a little sandy island in the estuary with thousands of birds on it or flying above it – Pelicans, Caspian Terns, Sandwich Terns, Grey Headed Gulls, Cormorants, Grey Herons, Egrets then we also saw Lesser Black-backed Gulls, Reef Heron and smaller waders on the river bank. The boatman asked if we’ve like to go to ‘La Mer’ – Yes, we would, and he turned the pirogue around and headed back up the river. Opposite Zebrabar, we went ashore on the island, which was a narrow sand bar about 200 metres wide with a small strip of trees and bushes down the middle and walked through to the sea. There was a huge empty sandy beach as bar as could be seen with big Atlantic waves crashing on the beach. We had about 20 minutes strolling around on the beach with a little wade into the sea. A strong wind blew my hat off into the waves and it disappeared. We took a few photos of each other. It was a fitting end to the overland trip as we’d now reached the sea on the west coast of Africa 30 days after leaving it on the south coast of West Africa at Elmina.
During the hot afternoon, there was more swimming in the river, then a stroll around the National Park and village, spotting more birds – mostly waders including stilts. In the evening, we had a group meal at the bar.
Monday Mar 12th 2012 Zebrabar (St Louis) to Dakar
I did the early bread run again, so we had a big breakfast to try to use up all of the fruit and jars. It was our final day on the road in Madge and we saw camels on the dirt section back to the main road. The road to the outskirts of Dakar was smooth and quick with very little traffic, and we had a collection for Mike and Ant on the way. Mike and Barb (Kitty Assistant) had checked through the finances so we got 81 Euros back from the kitty at breakfast, and Peter had reconciled the Truck bar and I’d received a small refund. Mike and Ant have been excellent overland leaders, especially Mike who has been so calm in any situation. Mike was finishing as an overland leader in order to restart his career in photography.
From the outskirts of Dakar, the traffic was heavy and slow, so it took over an hour to crawl to the centre, arriving at the Al Baraka Hotel at about 1:30. We said our goodbyes to Gary who had decided to stay at a more up-market hotel. I was sharing with Christian again and it was the smartest room and the best bathroom we’d had all trip. 6 of us found a recommended restaurant nearby and although I only wanted a snack, the Plat du Jour of fish and veg looked too good to miss. Dakar is very busy with congested streets, proper shops as well as pavement stalls, lots of taxis and quite a lot of hassle. The Place de la Republique is the main centre, with Ave Pompidou the main street off it (to the west), Presidential Palace and Government buildings nearby on the south side and resort hotels with pools along the sea front behind the palace. I found an ATM and bought a new hat to replace the one lost in the sea.
In the evening most of the group went back to the same excellent restaurant for our last group meal and I had a very good salad with king prawns, then we had several beers in the hotel bar.
Tuesday Mar 13th 2012 Dakar
The official end of the Dragoman Overland trip was 10 am, 5 weeks exactly from the start in Accra, though a group of us were already on the ferry over to the Isle de Gorée. Nicole and I had walked to the port in 8 minutes, while Barb, Anne-Marie and Angelito had got a taxi which took twice as long. Christian, Sarah, Rick and Jess took later ferries to Gorée. The ferry takes 20 minutes, cost CFA5000 each for the return and runs hourly but with gaps.
Gorée is a delightful little island with a Mediterranean atmosphere and no vehicles. It is rather touristy and quite a lot of hassle, but very peaceful none the less. There is a citadel on a high plateau at one end and pretty little lanes of houses with flowers, old street lamps and typical French street signs. Paintings of local African design on cloth which can be rolled up are everywhere. Nicole fell in love with a large painting in a gallery, especially when the initial price seemed quite low, and we returned later to hassle for it. I bought a medium size painting on the slopes of the citadel and a sand painting.
Angelito had to get back to Dakar to catch an early evening flight, but most of us stayed on the island until the 6pm ferry, and Sarah decided to stay there for a couple of nights.
Back in Dakar, several of the group were leaving on late night flights.
Wednesday Mar 14th 2012 Dakar
I’d booked an extra couple of days in Dakar as I knew that the area was good for birds, so hoped to find a good excursion. Isle de la Madelaine is a rocky outcrop on the west (Atlantic) side of Dakar, where I’d hoped to spend some of the day. The guidebook says that pirogues go from a little port, and the minimum number is 4, but the office was closed and there were no trips.
After a gentle day back on Gorée with Nicole and Sarah and a few more souvenirs, I had my wallet stolen from my bum-bag (which was at the front) by pick pockets in the street about 1 block away from the hotel. 2 guys were being rather more pushy and physical than normal hawkers and a within 30 seconds of pushing them away I realised that the bag was open and wallet gone.Fortunately, the wallet only contained a small amount of money, debit card, driving licence (for ID) AND my 100 billion dollar (Zim) note. Back at the hotel, I phoned Barclays to get the card blocked within 5 minutes, and Nicole lent me some euros and dollars to get me home, before she left for her flight.
Ant was still around waiting for instructions from Dragoman about taking the truck to Bamako, Accra or Douala, and expected to leave next day at least to Bamako. The next trip he was hoping to run from Douala to Livingstone across DRC (Congo) and Angola was starting to look doubtful because of visa difficulties with DRC and Angola.
Thursday Mar 15th 2012 Dakar to Addis Ababa and London
I got a taxi to the airport at 5 am, and the taxi driver wasn’t too happy that I only had CFA5000 for him, but when I told him I’d had my wallet stolen and gave him a packet of biscuits, he smiled and was okay.
I’d chosen to fly Ethiopian Airways because it was saving me £500 to have one ticket with them for 5 flights over individual tickets with others via the shortest route, so now I had the long trip to London via Addis Ababa. On the first leg, I had a window seat near the back, as requested, with a spare seat next to me, then a big young Senegal man in big purple cloak who was on his first ever flight, and going to China. The plane stopped at Lomé in Togo where some passengers got off and new ones joined, but we didn’t get off for the 90 minutes it sat on the tarmac.
At Addis Ababa airport, arriving about 8:30 pm local time (5:30 in UK), I had 5 hours to wait until the London flight, so needed to get a meal and spent my last dollars on 30 minutes internet. The final flight was busy and seat 13A is just in front of the door behind a wall with no window and the guy next to me had long legs, so it was the least comfortable I’d had, but I did get some sleep.
Overview
This Dragoman trip was very good for getting back into travelling which I love, and into birding too. However, it was a rather ‘inactive’ form of holiday with lots of sitting on the truck and rather leisurely excursions like pirogue trips (which were excellent) and tame walks. It was good to experience a non-touristy part of Africa, even if the sub-Sahara scenery is all a bit similar. The people are generally friendly and especially charming and innocent in remote areas. There is more hassle in big cities like Dakar and Accra, but it is the same across the world. I have much more appreciation for the Muslim way of life with their neat villages and peaceful ordered life. But there are thousands of children everywhere, so I hope that the Chinese influence in developing countries in Africa extends to the implementation of the one-child policy!!
Trekking in mountains is certainly more my thing, but I’ll certainly consider another Dragoman trip, probably to South America.
Overview of trip to Bhutan & Dolpo
For my next travels, I have selected a fairly tough trek in Bhutan, which starts with 2 days at the colourful Thimphu Festival. Bhutan is an isolated mountain kingdom bordering North East India and Tibet with Himalayan ridges and peaks along its northern edge. It is quite unspoilt by modern development - they did not allow TV until 1999 - and they keep the tourist numbers down by charging a high tourist tax of over $60 per day, which is included in tour packages. In addition, all tour groups must have a Bhutanese guide and have a pre-arranged itinerary.The country is slightly smaller than Switzerland, with only about 650,000 people, mostly farming the hillsides and it is mainly Budhist. I am following the Bhutan trek with a tougher trek - up to 5500 metres in the remote Dolpo region of Western Nepal, so the Bhutan trip is effectively 'acclimatisation' for Dolpo, as well as being a super place to go in its own right.
Sunday Sept 23rd 2012 - London - Abu Dhabi - Delhi
The Etihad Airways plane flew over Holland, Germany (Bremen, Berlin), Poland (Katowice, Krakow), Ukraine (Lvov, Odessa), Black Sea, East Turkey (Samsun, Erzurum), Iraq (Mosul, Kirkuk, Abadan) and Persian Gulf to Abu Dhabi. I chose to fly Etihad as a change from Jet Air (Indian). It would be different and avoid going via Delhi again on the way home. Checking-in was quick and easy and I had a good window seat (over the wing, of course) and the food, entertainment and info systems on the flights were all good. We landed in Abu Dhabi 30 minutes early, with over 3 hours to kill before the Delhi flight, which was a bit boring though there were lots of free internet terminals there.
On the 3 hour flight to Delhi, I got chatting to the young Nigerian guy next to me who had set up his own printing business, then dozed before we landed at 3:30 am. A young agent met me, but we had to wait for Robert to arrive on the BA flight at 6:10 before taking a taxi to the Florence Inn, so I dozed on a seat.
Monday Sept 24th 2012 - Delhi
The Florence Inn is a smallist mid-range hotel in the Karol Bagh area of Delhi which is used a lot by tour groups. We briefly met some of a KE group who would be 1 day ahead of us on a shorter Chomolari trek, who we may meet at the Thimphu Festival, The only noteworthy event in Delhi, apart from meeting up with my trek companions Robert and Andrew, was meeting an amazing very fit 82 year old South African wrestler. Achilles Kallas (his real name from his card) won gold medals in the Empire Games in Vancouver (1954?) and Cardiff (1958?) in wrestling (60+kg) before South Africa were thrown out. He had a string of stories to tell about wrestling and travelling and was now slim and fit compared to the muscular model he used to be in the 1950's - the guy was such an inspiration. He'd just finished a trek up in the Zanskar region and struggled with the horse riding.
Tuesday Sept 25th 2012 - Delhi to Thimphu
More chat and banter with Achilles at breakfast, then off to the airport through the busy streets of Delhi for the 2.5 hour flight to Paro. We had seats on the right hand side of the A319 plane, which was not good for views of the Himalayan peaks, but all three of us had been to Nepal before. Landing at Paro is a fairly tricky manoeuvre as there is a final right and left kink just before landing to avoid the local hills. The airport building is the most beautiful I’ve ever seen, with colourful decorative columns – there are only half a dozen flights a day, so it does not have to deal with crowds. Jingme, our guide for the next 3 weeks was there to meet us, with a driver and comfortable 6 seater car. We had another half hour time change so were now on GMT + 6 (5 hours ahead of the UK), and it would get dark during the 90 minute twisty drive to Thimphu. We had an early stop at a metal chain footbridge over the swift flowing river, and so had to cross it for fun and to get closer to a photogenic temple on the other side. We’d been told by KE that we would be in a ‘tent hotel’, but Jingme told us that they had found a proper hotel for us.
The Jambayang Resort is a nice but higgledy piggledy hotel on the eastern hillside above Thimphu. I was given a nice double room with large bathroom and a balcony with a lovely view over the city. There was also free (wired) internet in my room – great as I had brought my netbook. We had tea and a chat with Karma, the CEO of Yangphel, the KE agent in Bhutan. Dinner was a buffet in the hotel restaurant – a Chinese chicken & veg, fish curry (rather boney), rice, mushroom & cheese and other veg dishes. Robert & I had a 650ml bottle of the local Druk 11000 beer (8% on the bottle !!). Robert is vegetarian and Andrew doesn’t drink alcohol. Robert is an IT man with Fujitsu (originally ICL) and lives in Tooting. Andrew is in Telecoms (Offcom) and works in London, but lives in Winchester.
Wednesday Sept 26th 2102
I slept okay, but had a bad sore throat in the morning, so I’m probably getting a bad cold picked up from the flights. The view of the city from my room and balcony was good, with forested slopes and a huge buddha sitting on a hillside to the south. After breakfast of cornflakes, mushroom omelette and tea, Jigme arrived – he’d been home to his wife and 2 year old daughter – to take us to the Thimphu Festival. We had our smartest clothes on as they do not let in people with T-shirts, shorts, muddy boots etc. I'd forgotten a hat and water and it was hot, though fortunately, we were on the shady side mostly. The festival is now held in an extended open area attached to the Tashichoe Dzong Palace rather than inside it and it is very busy and was full of Bhutanese people dressed in their very best clothes. The women especially were extremely smart and colourful. There were several long drawn out dances, usually moving quite slowly accompanied from a balcony in various ways - often just a slow chink of cymbals, but sometimes drums, stringed instruments and sometimes singing relayed over speakers. The costumes of the dancers were always elaborate and colourful, and an ideal occasion to use my new little video camera - unfortunately the format (although on SD card) is not directly transferable to this blog without software I need to install at home.
We left around 12 to go to town for a meal. We walked the 1.5 miles as our driver never caught up with us. After a buffet meal we decided to go and see the local Memorial chorten, then the giant buddha on the hill, as some of the festival dancing was little more than amateur line dancing and there was still 1 more day to go. The Chorten was good, but not spectacular, then we had a twisty drive up the the ridge south of the city where a huge buddha has been built, but they are still working on finishing the base and other building around it, and it will be gold rather than bronze when finished. It is about 140 ft high. Next stop was a mini zoo containing a small herd of just one type of animal - the taxin has the head of a large goat and the body of a cow, though it is in a category of it's own.
Evening meal in the hotel was another buffet, this time with some rather fatty pork rather than fish, but otherwise a similar format. Robert and I indulged in Druk 11000 again.
Thursday Sept 27th 2012 - Thimphu
I slept fairly well, and now the sore throat had become a streaming cold, but despite it being a half a box of tissues day, I felt stronger. Our hotel on the hillside was at 2385 metres (7825 ft), so very good for gentle acclimatisation, and this morning, we had a local trek up the hillside above the Tashichoe Dzong being driven part way up the hill and continuing fairly steeply to 2930m (9612 ft). Unfortunately near the top, I felt the recurrence of a small calf muscle pull, so I will now be going gently on steep hills (cos it is sore). The views of Thimphu from up on the ridge were very good, and we saw Yellow-billed Blue Magpies on the way down.
We had lunch at a restaurant off the High Street - Rice, Thick Noodles, Chickem & Mushroom, Veg including cauliflower. I bought a box of tissues (95 Nu) and a Coke (25 Nu). The Bhutanese Ngultram (Nu) is fixed to the Indian Rupee, which is also valid in Bhutan - current rate is around 83 Nu per Pound.
We went back to the festival in the afternoon, driving right up to the entrance. The dancing and the music was more varied and interesting than the prvious day. It was the last day and there were huge queues for being blessed, and almost a crowd control issue. Jigme's wife, daughter and sisters etc were there, and it was nice to meet them and take their photo. 3 young ladies asked if they could be photographed with me, so I duly obliged, with Robert joining in. The dances and costumes seem to have more purpose and I took several videos with new toy. At 3:15, we decided to leave - the whole festival drags on slowly until 5 pm. We walked most of the way into town before our drive found us (he must be moonlighting !!), and had tea in the Swiss Bakery (run by Bhutanese).
We then walked down to the Archery field, where there were matches in progress. Archery is the national sport of Bhutan where they usually shoot over 145 metres rather than the 70 metres in the Olympics. They also use traditional bows as well as compound bows and the target is a small portable piece of wood with a much smaller target. Poimts are - Bullseye 3, anywhere on the wooden board above a line about 1 ft from the grond - 2, on the bottom of the board - 1. Many arrows miss. There are 11 men in each team with 2 shots each for a round. Matches can last all day. They are also developing Olympic standard archery (including women) and do take part in the Olympics.
In the evening, we went to a top Bhutanese restaurant, though the food was not significantly different. A tour group of 16 came in - they proved to be on a cultural tour. Back at the hotel, we organised our packs ready for an early start to the trek. I had decided to leave my netbookin the agent's officerather than carry it around the trek.
Fri Sept 28th Thimphu - Paro - Drugyel Dzong - Shana
We had an early start for the drive from Thimphu via Paro to Drukyel Dzong, which is the roadhead and start of our trek into the mountains of North West Bhutan. At Drukyel Dzong, we met the Cook crew of 3 and 2 horsemen who had 16 horses for just 3 of us !! The trek started at 2430 metres (7972 ft above sea level) along a dirt track with occasional vehicles in a wide valley gradually rising. Andrew was soon striding out in front, which would prove to be the norm. We stopped in the shade of a hut (at 2640 m, 8661 ft) and waited for the lunch horse to arrive. The lunch service was rather better than anything I’d seen on a trek before – comfy camp chairs with arms and drinks holders, a table where the top unrolled and the legs were screwed in, 3 or 4 cannisters of cooked hot food – Rice, Roast chicken bits, seasonal vegetables. Very good, though I always eat too much, then plod slowly for an hour after lunch.
At Shana (2810 m, 9220 ft), we found that only 2 tents had been packed for us, but Andrew and Robert had both paid extra for single tents. I explained this to Jigme and he said he would give up his tent (to me) and sleep with the crew, so there would be 3 in the mess tent and 3 in the cook tent. We had walked most of the day by a fast flowing river, in lovely green scenery with a few small villages early on and had seen white wagtails and hoopoe. After dinner, Robert produced a pack of cards, so the 3 of us played whist.
Sat Sept 29th 2012 - Shana to Thangthanka
It was a fairly tough day walking over 22 km on a rough track of big stones and mud mostly through forest alongside rushing rivers, with an increase in height of over 800 metres – start 2810m, lunch at 3280m (10760 ft), camp at 3632m (11915 ft). We were therefore starting to feel the effects of altitude in terms of breathing and energy, though with no headaches. Just after Shingkarap, a clearing where we had a brief stop, the trail (and rivers) split, with the left fork going to Tibet, which was only about 20km (12 miles) away. This used to be a major trade route between Bhutan and Tibet, but now with the border into China closed, and lots of guards up there, this was now only a trickle of smugglers.
Thangthanka is a big open clearing well above the river level. There was a Swiss group of 5 men there who are doing the Snowman Trek – the ultimate Bhutan trek which follows our route but then carries on for another 2-3 weeks. The Utah group of 5 we’d met the day before were also there. During the evening I lost weight rather quicker than planned, including 5 pees in 2 hours which is an altitude effect, but the need for Imodium is not. A 3rd tent arrived, so now Jigme had his own tent back. Jigme was pleased that all 3 of us had no problems with this tough day. We saw Plumbous Water Redstarts today.
Sunday Sept 30th 2012 - Thangthanka to Jangothang (Chomolhari Base Camp)
It was a lovely gentle day with beautiful alpine scenery, fairly short so we were finished by lunchtime and had the afternoon free to catch up, wash etc.During the walk we saw a Common Buzzard in a tree on the far side of the river, Tickell’s Leaf Warbler (a tiny yellow bird), Yellow-billed Choughs which were now flying the skies in pairs, White-capped Water Redstart, Blue Sheep and we also heard marmots (disturbed by dogs). The other KE group we had seen in Delhi were there too. They are doing a shorter trek and there are 16 of them (11 women !!). We have 1 toilet tent, while they have 3 and they have 34 horses.
It rained in the evening and I got wet while playing whist. It was cloudy, but quite light at night with the full moon, but there were no moon mountains as far as I know.
Monday Oct 1st 2012 – Jangothang – Acclimatisation Day
At 7am, Chomolhari was clearly visible in the bright early morning light shining above the clouds with a nice window through the clouds for us to see it. Otherwise, there was lowish cloud gradually clearing. We’d decided that if the weather looked okay, our acclimatisation excursion would be up the ridge towards Chomolhari and Jitchu Drake.
I did some washing before breakfast and we set off about 8:45. Breakfast was Choice of eggs (omelette), cornflakes (with warm milk) and pancakes with honey. My left calf was still a bit sore, so I tried to take the less steep option by zig-zagging up the ridge above the Jangothang camp. It was still quite cloudy with some sum, but Cholomhari remained in cloud apart from glimpses. Some of the other KE group caught us up including an HNS couple from Bamford, close to where I’d stayed recently in the Peak District. He was a fell runner, so much faster than us. Another couple were 60 (as she thought I was younger than her) and 65 tomorrow and still fit.
On the steeper sections higher up, I did struggle, partly from gradient and partly altitude but 3.5 hours after starting Robert & I reached the top, about 15 mins behind Andy and Jigme. There were good views except for Chomolhari & Jitchu Drake and we did see Kestrel, Golden Eagle (and other raptors), Blue Sheep (much closer than yesterday) and Snow Pigeons. We took photos then started to descend. Andy and I jogged down quite quickly, but Rob was obviously going to plod. It only took me an hour to get back to camp. I decided it would be a good idea to ease the achy legs by sitting in the cold stream to much amusement. Rob eventually plodded in 45 minutes behind us. We had a good lunch of pasta with veg, beef with hot chillies and cheese, then a shower tent was put up for us, much to the dismay of the other KE group who were with a different Bhutanese agent.
Tuesday Oct 2nd 2012 – Jangothang – Nyele La – Lingshi
This was a long day (of about 22km) which started bright with cloud and mist lifting, but with no good mountain views. We saw some marmots and more blue sheep in mid morning, then an Australian couple appeared which scared off the marmots. Getting up to the top of the pass at 4880m (16010ft) was quite tough, but all 3 of us are acclimatising well, despite our completely different speeds. Andy (43) is always in front, while Robert (49) is usually way behind taking his time. From the top of the pass to the lunch spot (4440m) was quite a steep and fairly long drop, which Andy and I jogged down, catching the lunch horse, so we were already comfortably seated when Rob arrived. It was a lovely lunch of tuna tortillas with salad sitting in the sun with nice mountain scenery.
The afternoon scenery strolling along half way up a deep valley was delightful, but it was cool, dull and a bit damp at the camp (4015m, 13172ft) in the meadow below Lingshi Dzong.
Wednesday Oct 3rd 2012 - Lingshi – Lingshi Dzong – Gang Yul – Chebisa
I was cosy and slept well with thermals on and with a thermal liner inside my sleeping bag, trying to get rid of my cold (from the flight) and cough, so flet good and ready in the morning. There were beans and warm cheesy bread to add to my usual breakfast omelette.
We were walking just after 8 up the steep slpe to Linshe Dzong. The Dzong was badly damaged by an earthquake last year, so the monks and treasures have been moved out to Lingshi village in the valley. It is still a spectacular site, especially when there are eagles, of which at least one was a Golden Eagle, circling overhead. The weather was the best we’d had with clouds lifting off the local hills and from the glacier below Jitchu Drake. I suggested that we stay at the Dzong in the sun for a little longer to see if the clouds lifted off the mountain and 10 minutes turned into an hour as different parts of Jitchu Drke appeared and disappeared, which was fascinating. It is Jigme’s favourite mountain, so we were all quite happy to stay for a while. We’d had the best 2 hours of the trek so far, even if there is more cloud than there should be – the monsoon usually finishes by the end of September and the sky clears.
It was a shorter days trek today, and though there was no named pass it was certainly not flat. We should have got to Chebisa for lunch, but would be late, so Jigme called the cook crew to bring lunch to the unnamed pass for us. Jorge (cook lad, 19) and little Jigme (horse boy, 12) were at the top (4150m) where it was rather cool and windy, but may have been sunny when they arrived. It was a long fairly steep downhill to the pretty village of Gang Yul, then an undulating walk along the other side of the valley to Chebisa (at 3820m), which was another pretty village – with dogs. There are stray dogs in all Bhutanese villages, which is often a nuisance at night as they bark, though not usually for extended periods.
Robert had a stroll up to a waterfall in the distance, where there is a path to Tibet used by bandits to raid the local ‘Chinese caterpillar plant’ (when in season), which sells for high prices. The people of Chebisa are therefore fairly well off from selling this plant which used to be banned. In the evening, we played whist again and Jigme joined in.
Thursday Oct 4th 2012 - Chebisa – Gobu La – Upper Somothang
After a good breakfast, we started out at 7:45 for a fairly tough pull up to the Gobu La pass (at 4450m, 14600ft) arriving at 9:25 – a steady plod with few stops was the best way. Rob arrived 20 minutes later. Our horses had escaped overnight, so when we left, the horsemen had gone off to find them. Jigme was a bit worried and phoned them from the pass to check all was well. It was the coldest morning we’d had, so I wore woolly hat and gloves, but lost a glove on the way – the one I’d carefully sewn up holes in the seams the evening before!
The track down from Gobu La was very busy with a big yak migration and several horse trains going the other way, so it was a slow and muddy process. This resulted in Andy and I waiting 40 minutes at the bottom as Robert is especially timid with yaks, horses and downhills. In fact they were held up by a yak fight. It was then quite a long walk along a wooded hillside and down to a river for lunch (at 4000m). At one point Andy stopped when a lovely white and grey (bunting ??) bird was singing from the top of a bush close by. I took photos on the wrong setting and wished I’d been ready with the video camera.
After lunch, we knew we had quite a climb, gradually along a hillside, round to the left and up a valley towards the next pass. The Utah camp was down in the valley, but ours was way up towards the pass in a lovely spot, but rather cold and windy. It was our highest camp (at 4410m, 14470ft), so a good test for Andy and I, who move on to a higher Dolpo trek next. The Oz couple were camped just below us too. Jigme handed me my missing glove when he arrived in camp – Someone from another group had found it and spoke to him – quite miraculous. After another good evening meal – pasta, tuna, broccoli, cauli etc, I took an extra blanket as it would be cold at night. We played 9 card brag (which my father taught me when I was a boy) in the relative warmth of the mess tent, and the stars were superb when we went to our tents.
Friday Oct 5th 2012 – Over the Jhari La to Robluthang
It was a lovely clear cold morning with ice on the tents, but the sun was soon up and warming us up. It took rather longer that Jigme’s predicted 45 minutes to get to the top of tha Jhari La (4750m, 15584ft) because of the super views of Jitchu Drake and even a bit of Chomolhari, and Robert took his time. From the top of the pass, we had a great view of a new set of mountains including Kang Che Da (Great Tiger Mountain), though it was now getting more cloudy. We spent some time taking photos of the mountains, prayer flags and us before the steep descent into the next valley. The terrain changed from rock and dust to small bushes with a small stream and little birds to trees and forest and tumbling river as we descended. With the sun shining, I’d now stripped down to a T-shirt. Crossing one river by a bridge, it was now a gentle stroll down to a big river coming down from the Tibet border, where lunch was set up on the other side (at 3980m). There was no way across but to take boots and socks off and wade over to the other bank. It was cold and stony and I needed a leki stick and the arm of Dorje to get across. Yet again, it was now cold and windy at lunchtime, as we waited half an hour for Robert to arrive, with the added amusement of watching him cross the river.
There was a final uphill climb to our camp above the valley (at 4160m), where we did some washing in the stream and Rob had a chat to the Utah team.
In the evening, Jigme told us about some of the customs and laws of Bhutan. Pedestrian Tuesday – No driving is allowed in towns on Tuesdays except for half the taxi drivers, which is determined by odd and even number plates in alternate weeks, so everyone walks to work and school. Smoking – No smoking is allowed in public building or OUTSIDE. The only permitted smoking places are in bars and snooker halls. Jun 6th – National Tree Planting Day, when everyone is encouraged to plant a tree.
Saturday Oct 6th 2012 - Robluthang – Shinge La – Limithang
Another clear cold morning, and Robert set off early to meet up on top of the first hill. It was then a long stony walk, gradually rising to the foot of the steep section to the pass, walking alone in this very remote region with a few birds chirping in the small bushes and little flowers. Jigme caught me up before the steep section, then our horses and crew came passed as I plodded up the steep zig-zags struggling to find the energy. The cairns at the top of the steep section were a false summit at 4900m (over 3 miles high). The top of Shinge La and the prayer flags were another few hundred metres, but the view from the top (at 5015m, 16450ft) was spectacular as a whole horizon of snowy Himalayan peaks appeared. Andrew and the Oz couple were there taking lots of photos. Jigme waited for Rob half way up the steep section and eventually they arrived. It was a lovely sunny spot at the pass, but suddenly the wind got up and it was cold, so we started down.
Lunch had been set up only 5 minutes below the pass by Dorje and little Jigme, in an idyllic sunny spot sheltered from the worst of the wind with a northern horizon of snowy peaks. This time we had very tasty beef spare ribs, rice and veg. It was then a fairly steep drop down to bushes, then trees and a new river from the north. My knees were a bit niggly (from kneeling in the tent!). so I went down steadily instead of jogging. From a big glacier, there was a good glacial morain and lake. Jigme insisted on taking us up the steep terminal morain to see the glacial lake, but I’d have preferred not to go (with the dodgy knee) if I could have explained, but Jigme was already half way up. From the camp at Limithang (at 4120m, 13517ft), we could see some of Great Tiger Mountain in the cloud. It as a nice spot, but as usual it had become cloudy and cool in the afternoon. It had been quite a long day with much more sun, and the views from the top of Shinge La were the highlight of the trek so far.
Sunday Oct 7th 2012 – Laya
It was a very cold clear night with good stars and Tiger Mountain shining in the moonlight. I was up early to get pictures of Tiger Mt with the camp still frozen in shadow, but soon the sun was up warming up everything. It was a super day partly because the sun shone all day with only a few little clouds. We strolled to Laya taking over 4 hours mostly in undulating woodland (mainly down). There were plenty of small birds chirping and views initially of Gt Tiger Mt, then later of Musagung, north of Laya.
The village of Laya on first sight is just amazing with beautiful square houses set out across a hanging valley with snowy Himalayan mountains behind. It is the Shangri La of Bhutan – the place we’d been trekking to see for 10 days and I felt quite emotional! I took my time coming down into the village, then unfortunately tripped on a stone and pulled my calf muscle recovering from the fall. We were camped in a field in the centre of the village near the Oz couple (Jeff and Jill) and they offered me Voltaren gel when they saw me limping. Our horse team of 3 (inc little Jigme) were taking the horses back to Jangothang, so we gave our gratuities and said goodbye and thanks. We would have a new set of horses for the last part of the trek.
In the afternoon, Jigme took us to a large private house. The 73 year old owner showed us around the 300 year old house (with newer bits added). Upstairs, presumably animals occupy the ground floor in winter, there was a large living room. Around the walls were stacked lots of blankets, pots, crockery, rice etc. Food stores had to last through the hard winter with much of it imported from lower down in exchange for yak products. The kitchen was also quite large with an old earthen stove and a more modern smaller stove imported from China. We were then shown up steep stairs to the roof area where herbs, corn etc is dried, then info a special room. The Prayer Room was festooned with colourful hangings from the ceiling and on walls. An alter area contained metal statues of deities, special cups, jugs etc and there was also a very old thanka hanging at the side. Yellow was the main colour of the hanging decorations. I limped back to camp to rest while the others went to look at the old temple.
The only thing to spoil Laya was the excess of dogs, who roamed around sometimes growling then barked quite a lot at night.
Monday Oct 8th 2012 - Laya – Mo Chu river – Chamsa
Laya is so magical and so much of a ‘destination’ that we should have had 2 nights there, and most other groups do. It was sad to leave as we plodded on the gentle downhill path passed a couple of shop-cum-bars. It was a lovely clear bright morning and the path was easy down towards the river through forest. After a quick check-out from the National Park at the Army Camp with a good view of Musagung, we continued quite fast along the left side of the river. We had a break where the track splits with the ‘Snowman Trek’ which stays left and higher. We continued on along the rushing river not South-South-East to a bridge over the Mo Chu and while we had a break Jigme went back to find the horses – now only 13 of them, as there was less food to carry. They appeared about 20 minutes later.
We then had quite a climb to get over a spur, which including a horse jam – trains going in opposite directions on a narrow path – to get to a lunch spot on the river. A lovely spot and a good lunch (at about 3100m). Jigme had intended that the lunch spot be further on, but the new horses were rather slow! The main track from Laya to Gasa was then a steady rise through forest, often muddy and stony but nowhere very steep. Andrew and I caught up with our horses, so we were stuck behind them. This group of horses and horsemen are not as good or as fast as our previous set. It was a long climb to our ‘bush camp’ known as Chamsa, where we arrived about 4:30 pm (about 3700m) and the end of a long day of 27km. Andrew and I helped put the tents up on a rather soft boggy green patch. The cook tent and mess tent were erected on the track. The prime spot 60 yds further up was occupied by a big tent for the men working on putting an electricity supply through to Laya, and it was now too late for any other horse trains to come through.
While the cook rew were busy putting up tents and getting food together, the horsemen were collecting dead wood and lighting a camp fire which we then sat around until mid-evening (including eating around) rather than using the mess tent.
Tuesday Oct 9th 2012 - Chamsa to Gasa and hot springs
The sun was shining on the tent while I was still in it sorting and packing, which was a nice change. The breakfast table was set up next to our tents – omelette, toast, fried potatoes, jam, coffee.
Today was to be a fairly short downhill trek to Gasa, after a gentle rise for the first mile to Bale La. The forest was lush and chirping with birds with still the occasional views of Himalayan peaks (which I put on video). All 3 batteries on my main camera were now nearly dead, so I used the small camera and new video camera. Lower down with Gasa town almost in sight, there was a lovely spot with lots of small birds flitting about in the bushes close to me. I stayed there quietly for some time watching then got good video shots of a yellow-bellied fantail and some warblers.
We had lunch (at 2820m) near a very sloping Gasa football pitch at a round sheltered wooden seat. Next we visited a local shop-cum-bar to but beer for later – 1 each for Rob, Jigme and I and 3 for the crew. It was then a very long way down from Gasa town on the hillside, including the Dzong which we didn’t see to the hot springs and our campsite down by the river Mo Chu at 2300m.
The hot springs were excellent. After 11 days of trekking, it was a great way to get and feel clean. There are 5 pools of which we tried 2 – the first a nice bath water temperature, and the next hotter and okay for 5 minutes. Andrew tried an even hotter tub and said it was bearable for 1 minute only and was much smellier. It started raining gently while we were in the hot springs and it continued for 16 hours.
Rob didn’t feel good after the hot springs, so had a small dinner and retired early while Andrew and I played 13 card brag in the mess tent. Jigme warned us about leeches, and as I got into my tent, I felt something by my ear. Brushing it off, a leech dropped onto the tent floor – a horrible brown wriggling thing about an inch long. I bashed it with a book in horror, but it had no effect except to transfer it to the book, so I scraped the book on the grass in the tent entrance. It took me a while to get to sleep with the rain pattering down and thoughts of leeches. It was a warm night compared to the higher clear nights on trek.
Wednesday Oct 10th 2012 - Gasa – Punakha – Thimphu
At 6:30, I went down to the hot springs pools and found Andrew there. A nice start to the day and it was quite busy, but it was still raining gently. We’d opted for a later start, so set off for the walk to the road at 8:30. With all the rain, it was wet underfoot and the little rivers were now bigger and tricky to cross. At one point getting over a flash flood was quite a challenge involving climbing through undergrowth to cross using a fallen tree. This resulted in us picking up leeches on trousers and around ankles. I got bitten by two and removed about 8 more between the fallen tree and the road and we were all paranoid about leeches when we got to the road at about 9:30. Leeches start as thin brown/red worm like creatures about an inch long which attached themselves to anything from either end looping along on their ends. When they find an animal or human (they have a good sense of smell) they attach themselves to the skin and suck blood. As they inject an anaesthetic, you don’t feel the bite, then they inject an anticoagulant so the blood doesn’t clot. Not nice but actually harmless.
Our driver was notat our point on the road to pick us up – Jigme’s mobile battery was now dead, so he had to walk back up the road towards Gasa to find him and the Yangphell vehicle which would take the rest of the gear and crew. It was 10:30 when they arrived, so the late start and this delay put us back for the rest of the day. The rain had made the road/track muddy and slippery with numerous small landslips where extreme care was required. It was a long difficult drive to Punakha and our driver took it steady.
It was about 2:30 when we reached Punakha Dzong and we’d agreed to go around it before lunch! Punakha Dzong is the largest monastery building in Bhutan, having been restored/rebuilt after an earthquake in the last 10 years. Half of it is used as admin offices fro Punakha district while half is religious buildings and the winter HQ of the bishop. Jigme gave us detailed info on many Buddhist statues and paintings in and around the main prayer hall. Lunch was a 10 minute drive further (@3:30pm) in a nice restaurant with good views over rice fields and a Fertility Temple, which we strolled to after lunch. Inside the temple, Jigme’s explanations were interrupted by the monks (about 30 of them) starting a prayer session.
The drive from Punakha back to Thimphu doesn’t look far on the map and much of the road is tarmac, though often muddy and narrow. However, it is very twisty as it contours the hills up to Dochula (3140m – over 10000ft) and then down to Thimphu. It was quite busy with cars, lorries and buses too, so quite slow going and it was nearly 7pm when we reached the Hotel Riverview in Thimphu.
Thursday Oct 11th 2012 - Thimphu – Taktsang - Paro
An early start for the drive to Taktsang (Tiger’s Nest) Monastery via Paro. Taktsang is the most amazing photographic and tourist site in Bhutan. A Monastery near the top of a 800 metre (2500ft) cliff, in white and gold with lots of prayer flags, outbuildings and a huge waterfall all make it a site to be seen and photographed. There is a café half way up where we would have lunch and where the unfit decide is far enough, but after 2 weeks of trekking up to 5000 metres, we found it quite easy and bounded passed numerous groups. Of course, there are lots of tourists, as almost every tourist to Bhutan will go to see Taktsang, but it was not too crowded. There were numerous small prayer rooms, where shoes had to be taken off. We went in the main one only. Robert went in several – He is interested in Buddhism.
After lunch at the café, and the rest of the descent, we went back to Paro for souvenirs. While looking at a dragon made of resin, I dropped it on the floor and some bits broke off. They wanted me to buy it (at discount), so I’ll have a superglue job to do when I get home. Our hotel in Paro was up a bumpy road, then up a hill, with super views over rice fields north of Paro. I’d arranged to have a massage (Jigme phoned ahead), which I’d hoped would help my dodgy calves, knees etc, so for an hour I lay on a couch with a young lady (named Dorje) massaging my body. I then wanted to get out for a run before the sun went down, as I usually try to run once in each country. I managed about 17 minutes of steady running for the record. At dinner, we met an Explore group on a cultural tour which had started in Bangladesh. Apart from one young man, they all looked older than me!!
Friday Oct 12th 2012 – Paro to Delhi
Breakfast at 5:15 included some very strange milk with the cornflakes, which we all left. On the 8am flight back to Delhi, the were no window seats on the right (again) and the views of the Himalayas were good as our flight path was over Darjeeling and through central Nepal.
Delhi is much cleaner than only 7 years ago, with a new metro system opened only 4 years ago, and new rules on fuel for vehicles, so there is much less pollution. We used the metro to go to the Lotus Temple – a new Bahia temple of which there are only 7 in the world. 9 is the magic number in Bahian religion, so there are 9 arches, supports, pools etc in the design of the building. The Delhi metro includes airline type security checks on entry, and it is air conditioned, and mobile phones work underground. It is crowded of course, as are most things in India. On the way back from the Bahia Temple, we stopped off at Connaught Circus, which I remember well from 1972. It now has quite smart western shops, and we found a restaurant for late lunch.
Andrew and I had expected to be up at 4:30am for the Air India flight to Kathmandu, but then in late afternoon, we were called to reception to be told of a change of plan, and given our tickets. The Air India flight was fully booked, so we’d be going on Indigo 3 hours later, so it would be breakfast at 7am. Robert was leaving early to go back to London.
I had a very good seat – 1A – on the flight to Kathmandu, so good views, but the flight path was further south than the Bhutan to Delhi flight, so they were only distant views of Himalayan peaks and it was fairly cloudy. Also Indigo is a cheap airline with no food unless you pay for it, but I’d bought cheap chocolate, crisps and coke at Delhi airport to use up my Indian Rupees.
Kathmandu doesn’t improve much, with dirty streets and noisy traffic of all kinds, but it is still a magical place, especially wandering around Thamel and the other main sites. The Malla Hotel is very smart, with good wifi, but power cuts twice a day do affect the service, despite the hotel having a generator. This was my 4th trip to Kathmandu, so I was selective about what I wanted to see again.
On Sunday, Andrew and I went to Patan, a town/suburb to the south of Kathmandu. Darbar Square (Patan) is bigger and has more temples than Kathmandu, and I hadn’t seen in for 40 years. On Monday, we went to the monkey temple (Swayambunath), which is a lovely peaceful spot on top of a hill filled with stupas, temples and monkeys. There are lots of shops and stalls there now which there was not in 1972. Kathmandu city was difficult to see below because of the pollution.
Strolling around the Thamel district is what all tourists do in Kathmandu. The constant flow of motorbikes and their horns is really annoying, but otherwise the streets and alleys full of little shops selling outdoor clothes, jewellery, thankas, maps, books, pashminas etc are fun. There are lots of good restaurants too and ‘Hot Breads’ – a cake shop with free wifi.
On Tuesday, we moved to the Shanker Hotel, a splendid old hotel a little further out with a big garden and swimming pool in the front. I was in a room with Trevor who arrived mid-afternoon. He is an IT (SAP) consultant from Shropshire and has done several treks and mountain bike tours in the Himalayas and Central Asia. Dave and Elaine were there when we arrived as was Beverly – all from Colorado. I was pleased to see that our UK guide was to be Steve Razzetti. I met Steve briefly in 1997 or 8 and have his book ‘Top Treks of the World’. He is a renowned trek expert and leader. I had a swim then we met up with Steve and the rest of the group at 6, where we chatted until lunch at 7:30.
Wednesday Oct 17 2012 - Kathmandu – Nepalgunj
The morning was free, so I did some shopping, went to ATM and Hot Breads for coffe and to check emails and update blog. We had lunch in the hotel – fish and chips, which I wouldn’t get again for weeks, then we were off to the airport for a Yeti Air flight – 30 seater – to Nepalgunj.
When we arrived, Steve suggested that a rickshaw ride would be a good alternative to the car – there were only 2 cars for the luggage and some of us. I shared a rickshaw with Maeve, a GP from San Francisco, but originally British/Irish. 8 of us went by rickshaw through Nepalgunj – a long strung out town. The hotel was at least 5 miles from the airport so it was a long ride through busy traffic. The hotel was fairly basic, which didn’t matter as we’d be up at 4:30 am, though the dinner was good.
Thursday Oct 18th 2012 - Nepalgunj – Juphal – Rupgad
After a quick breakfast, we were in the cars and off back to the airport. The roads were fairly busy even at this hour. The flight to Juphal was in a little Tara Air 17 seater prop plane, like those that fly to Lukla. The sun came up soon after take-off to show super views of the wooded hillsides and the distant mountains. We were climbing for most of the 40 minute flight including going over several ridges with not much clearance. Then we were over the last ridge, swinging right into a valley where we could see a little dirt landing strip half way up from river to mountaintop with a drop at the end of it. We seem to be coming into the little airstrip rather fast, but we were soon slowing as it was up a steep hill. Once we were out, our plane soon filled up again and was off again down the steep hill and into the air.
We met Chet, our Sirdar, and him our trekking permits – 2 - required for Upper and Lower Dolpo. Our passports were left behind in Kathmandu with Sushan, the local KE agent. The village of Juphal (at 2495 metres) was on a hillside below the air strip, so we strolled down to the little hotel garden for 2nd breakfast. Here, all the gear – tents, bags food etc would be sorted out for the horses (16) and porters (3). The porters carried the tables and chairs. We had 3 sherpas/guides as well as the sirdar and a cook crew of 5, who carried the kitchen equipment and some of the food. It was a fairly steep walk down to the river, then a flatish stroll to our camp for the night at Rupgad. Steve decided that there was no point in going down to Dunai, a dusty village with dogs, when we’d have to come back up next morning. Twelve tents were put up – we all had single tents except Dave and Elaine. I was the slowest to claim one, so had to walk to the far end, which was marked up as tent No 1. I spotted a bird flitting along the riverbank which looked dipper-like, but was a plumbous water redstart and soon we had a birding party led by Elaine. 4 of us played Scrabble between tea and dinner (Trevor won).
Friday Oct 19th - Rupgad – Chepka
The morning schedule was Bed Tea @ 5:30, Washing water at 6, Breakfast @ 6:30, start walking at 7:30 – We had smaller intervals in Bhutan – and we were already walking by 7:20, along the Thuli Bheri river to a little bridge near a stupa and chorten at Sulighat. It was then fairly easy day’s walkingnear the Suli Gad river up to Chepka, though often through fields of marujana. We’d been given chocolate bars after breakfast (porridge, corn flakes, omelette, bread/toast etc) for the trek and stopped for lunch early at about 11:30 – a 2 hour break. We had the roar of the river most of the time with rocky cliffs around.
At Chepka (2660 metres, 8730ft), there were dahlias in the garden and a tree nearby being loaded up with hay and husks. Dinner was pizza, pasta, potato cake, veg. Andrew C won the Scrabble. Overnight, it got cold so there was frost on the tents by morning.
Saturday Oct 20th - Chepka – Sanduwa
A similar day and format to Friday – An easy uphill stroll on dusty tracks by a tumbling river with steep forested hillsides and heavily striated cliffs of varying colours. We saw a few birds and heard many more in the bushes. At Rechi (Regi), where we crossed the river and went up a steep slope, I pushed too hard and pulled by left calf muscle again. I borrowed a trek pole from Jean-Pierre to reduce the load on the leg. Our lunch spot down by the river with a white wagtail was delightful. We camped at Sanduwa (3090m, 10140ft), a mile or so past the confluence of the river to Kagmara, where a French group had set up camp. The snowy peak of Kanchauni Lek (6444m) was visible up the valley. The campsite was dusty. I went to the river with Maeve to dunk my left leg (3 x 20 secs), then we had time for 2 games of Scrabble, and I won both. It was cold again overnight, but no worse than at Chepka.
Sunday Oct 21st 2012 - Chepka – Ringmo – Phoksumdo Lake
Near the start of the trek, we visited a boarding school of 160 children. Most of the children go back to their homes which may be a few hours walk away at weekends. We took photos and donated to the school. An hour later we reached our first real climb of the trek – about 600 metres (2000ft) including a false pass and a gazebo with a great view of Nepal’s highest waterfall. Rita showed that she really was slow going uphill and Beverly was struggling with a very bad sore throat. I had to take it gently with the sore calf, but was fine. From the top (3760m, 12330ft) we had our first view of the spectacular Phoksumdo Lake.
We crossed 2 other groups going down (French and Dutch) during this section and we were now moving into yak territory. We passed through Ringmo, the largest village we’d seen and would see for many days – it had a little shop, where I bought a coke. Our super camp (at 3640m, 11940ft), which we reached for lunch, was down by the beautiful coloured Phoksumdo Lake with our next piece of track dramatically visible along the steep sided mountains on the left of the lake. I did some laundry, then Trevor and I won the Scrabble. Overnight, the temperature got down to -2.6C, but I was warm enough with thermals and fleece sleeping bag liner in my sleeping bag
Monday Oct 22nd 2012 – Rest Day at Phoksumdo Lake
As it was a rest day, there was no bed tea, so I went up to the mess tent at 7. After breakfast, most of us strolled over to the local Bon Monastery. It was great for photography with lovely colours from the lake and reflections together with super red berberis bushes mixed in with the green. I discovered a good setting for photos inside monasteries – Indoor Party set in ASA 800.
After lunch of spam, curried veg and samosas (on this trek, the veg was good, but the meal and fish was mostly out of tins), I had a walk down the other side of the river down to the big waterfall. This did involve some scrambling and scratches to get to a point right above the big waterfall, but was fun. There were yaks, goats, fields, stupas, pikas (rabbit like creatures) and various birds on the walk. On the way back I crossed the bridge at Ringmo, a busy and quite prosperous looking village. It was quite cold again at night, but I was cosy in my sleeping bag, especially with hot water in my bottles, thermal top and bottoms and fleece liner. About 5am when it was down to -2.6C, I put a fleece top on too.
Tuesday Oct 23rd 2012 - Phoksumdo Lake to Chenumba
We were walking along the path cut into the cliffs around Phoksumdo Lake by 7:45, cold and still in shade, but the sun was soon warming us. The first section was too narrow for horses to take loads, so porters and cook crew were taking everything for the first half mile or so (to the beach!). After crossing a stream and its wider riverbed, the track went quite steeply up, and I tripped on a root and pulled my left calf again – worse this time. It was then a slow struggle to get up the steep slope with the help of one stick, also using a hand to push my left knee. A bit further up, Steve was in sight and I shouted for him to lend me one of his spare trek poles.
The views of the lake, mountains, colours, reflections were stunning and I stopped 3 times to take videos of the whole scene. It really was fantastic, and just a pity that it was a struggle with the leg. I was still ahead of Rita who is slow uphill. Bev recovering from 2 days of being quite ill and Elaine who kept her company. New parts of the lake and new mountains appeared when we reached the top – a corner of a spur and a lammergeyer appeared briefly above us. The long downhill through trees above the lake to its end, with tits and bullfinches was delightful. Rita and I stopped for our Snickers Bars at 11. It was blue, cloudless and warm. Lunch was at the north-west end of the lake. I walked along the shore with Maeve to take pictures of some of the group and of some good jagged snowy mountains to the west, then found a fairly new right flip-flop. We’d been warned about wading across the river, so I kept it and later Steve found another, so I had a pair.
After lunch, we walked for 1.5 hours along the river valley to camp, but just before we got there, we had to wade across the river, so my acquired flip-flops came in useful. There was an avalanche high in the mountains to the west , and I heard several more during the night.
Wednesday Oct 24th 2012 - Chenumba to Snowfields Camp
It was cloudy in the morning, so warmer, but had been -5.6C at 2am. I was up about every 2 hours – altitude, cold & weak bladder! We were walking by 7:45 and an hour later it started to snow as we turned right up a tributary. We crossed the little river about 10 times in total, with the crew doing well to create stepping stones, so there was no wading. It was very stony, so I had to be careful not to trip or stumble (re: left calf). The snow got heavier and it got colder. I put my big down jacket on to walk in for the first time and kept it on until I was hot. Later, I put a thin poncho on, but it wasn’t a great success.
It was snowing heavily when we took lunch early just after 11 (at 4260m, 13975ft) and my feet and hands were frozen. A shelter was rigged up at the side of a big rock with tek poles and the yellow tarp we usually sit on and most of us huddles under it. Hot drink, then hot cabbage soup and cheese sandwiches were produced by the crew, which warmed us up.
After lunch, it warmed up a bit and the uphill was never steep, so it was quite nice as the snow almost stopped as we reached ‘Snowfields Camp’ (named in ‘The Snow Leopard’) at about 1:30pm, much earlier than expected. However, I stumbled on the way and broke my KE trekking pole in half as it bent over a rock with my weight – it was the only one in the group, and even Steve was jealous that I had one. The crew did really well to get the mess and cook tents up before we arrived, and there was hot drink and biscuits. It was cold up there at over 4700 metres (15450ft) with snow on the ground and some still coming down, so there was lots of foot stamping as we sat in the mess tent. The sky was clearing by dusk, so it would now be a very cold night.
Thursday Oct 25th 2012 -Snowfields Camp – Kang La – Shey Gompa
This was a wonderful day of extremes (coldest night, highest point, most extensive views, dodgiest descent). Overnight the temperature was down to -13C, so I was wearing all my walking clothes in the sleeping bag and liner including red windproof by 4am, and just about kept warm. The stream which ran through the camp froze overnight creating a tricky crossing to the toilet tent! Despite the cold the snowy mountain scenery was excellent.
It was a steep start up the side of a waterfall to a ridge and the sun, but then an easier traverse section was in the shade again. My calf was still a bit sore, so I had to be careful and do small steps uphill. The group stopped at the foot of the main steep section (at 4980m, 16340ft) in the sun to take photos of the increasingly stunning mountain scenery and to wait for Rita and Maria.
To get to the Kang La pass we had to trek up a steep slope, which I zig-zagged as it was too steep for the left calf, but I kept up with Andrew W and Maeve. The views just got better and better until at the top we had a fantastic 360° view of Himalayan mountains including Dhaulagiri on the South East horizon, and the mountains of Inner/Upper Dolpo to the north. 5348 metres (17545ft) was our highest point on the trek. We took lots of photos of the view and each other, but it was too cold to wait for the slowest. We then had the steepest descent and in snow, which was a bit hairy, then we waited for the slower members of the group where it was easier. Maria needed a lot of help from a Sherpa to get down the steep slope, while Rita (from Switzerland) was fine.
Lunch was another hours stroll downhill near a frozen lake, so was very late by normal standards – 2:15 pm, but was very good as usual, sitting in the sun. We still had another 400 metres of easy descent after lunch to Shey Gompa, where we were camped on a nice flat spot near the monastery and stupas with Crystal Mountain visible across the river.
Friday Oct 26th 2012 - Shey Gompa Rest Day
It was another really cold night at -12°C, but the sun was shining on the tents by breakfast at 8am. In the morning, we had a leisurely stroll over to the nearby stupas and monastery and I took some good photos inside on ‘Indoor Party’ setting! Apart from the gompa, there were only a few houses in the area, mostly on top of the hill, but it was a nice open sunny spot at 4535m (14880ft).
After lunch, I had a shave, then most of us walked (about 1hr 20) to the Kagyupa Monastery of Tsakang, which is perched high up on a cliff face – quite amazing – with the river cutting deep gorges through the jagged mountains. I jogged back to camp in 35 minutes and had a good wash, including hair, before the sun went down. It was another clear cold night down to -12°C again. How long can we stand these freezing nights – In the sleeping bag, I wear most of my day clothes and thermals in a fleece liner and we have hot water bottles!
Saturday Oct 27th 2012 – Shey Gompa – Shey La – Namgung
The Sephu Khola river comes from the east into Shey Gompa, so we had the sun in our faces as we traversed gradually upwards then north towards the Shey (or Sela) La. We had lunch just below the pass at 4900m (16075ft) with great views of mountains to the south. Beverly, who had been struggling with a bad throat for days got a ride on a horse from local girls keen to improve their English.
After lunch, I was feeling strong, so was near the front for the fairly steep climb to Shey La @ 5135m (16850ft). The views were spectacular with Kanjirowa in the south and the dry rugged hills and mountains of northern Dolpo and Tibet to the north. Namgung (@ 4450m, 14600ft) is in a deep valley and has a gompa, stupas and a small village, so the afternoon was a nice downhill stroll and jog with good views of the mountains and deep valley.
There are frequently rectangular piles of mani stones containing Buddhist, Bon and Tibetan inscriptions. The quantity of these stones which are carefully inscribed by hours and days of work chipping away at the rock is just incredible. Lammergeyers, Choughs, Crows, Finches, Pigeons, Kestrels, Eagles, Rosefinches and many other birds were seen in these trek days in Inner Dolpo.
I reached camp about 15 minutes before the sun went behind the hills and helped put the tents up. We played Scrabble again between tea and dinner and I won again. It was not quite as cold at night, only dropping to -9C.
Sunday Oct 28th 2012 - Namgung to Saldang
I had the usual breakfast of porridge (when it is cold) with muesli and sugar added, followed by omelette, flatbread and tea, but this time the sun was shining on the mess tent at 7am. I was last to leave by ten minutes – contact lenses, removing track suit bottoms etc – but soon caught Elaine and Maria who had seen a rosefinch. The path was half way up the steep valley with a good view of the village below where women were thrashing barley. We then saw a small herd of blue sheep in the side valley below. At our high point (4600m) where there were many mani stones, a local 13 year old girl was playing jacks, then a pika (like a small rabbit) ran across the path. Next a herd of migrating yak came along the path from Saldang, and I videoed them. On the horizon (East North East) a pair of sharp mountains we called ‘The Camel’ had been visible since yesterday, but when we reached the top of an incline, the lovely village of Saldang appeared below together with a whole new set of mountains to the north on the Tibetan border. This together with the dry barren hills and valleys of Northern Dolpo made a stunning scene.
I jogged down the steep slope to the camp and was joined by the 13 year old girl, so we had a little race. She was very fleet footed and I had a day pack to carry and a dodgy left calf, so she was easily faster than me, but it was fun. Our camp (@4090m, 13420ft) was on a terrace overlooking Saldand, which is actually a collection of 5 small pretty villages with monasteries and stupas. It was our furthest point north, as we’d be turning south next. After a nice lunch in the sun, I had a good wash and changed all my clothes. We then went down to the big Gompa via the doctors house, where the 13 year old girl lived with her little brothers. There was a day long puja in progress at the monastery with 11 monks praying, reading from a stack of long cards. The monastery and the Saldang villages and surroundings are so photogenic.
The few clouds that there had been cleared, so we were in for another cold night. -9°C again.
Monday Oct 29th 2012 - Saldang to Sibu
The sun came up over the hills as we started breakfast outside, the mess tent having already been packed up. As we walked out of Saldang (East and then South East) down to the river and along the valley, the light was great for experimenting with photos into the sun, with monasteries, houses, children and good views. After a couple of hours of easy stroll down the valley, with the path mostly high above the right bank of the river, we reached the village of Ponra which had 2 monasteries including one where music was being played on the other bank of the river. We had lunch at Chagaon with a group of children watching us, and I had a bit of backache (left shoulder blade), so rested flat in the Alexander position.
In the afternoon, I walked fast with Andrew C, way ahead of the sherpas and the rest of the group, until we came to a river crossing at Rakyo, where we needed to build a stepping stone bridge. A dog (bitch) had latched onto us as we left Saldang, and was becoming part of the group, but it wasn’t keen to cross the river. We camped on the left bank on a flat area above the river, where a tributary with cleaner water joined, only about 100 metres above our starting point in Saldang. The daily freezing and thawing of the main Nagaon Khola river was making it a bit muddy. Beverly was now much stronger, but was still taking her evening meals in her tent, due to a migraine reaction to the gas light – she was known by the crew as ‘6 number’. Tonight we had momos, with a choice of veg or yak, as we were told, but later learned they were goat. Jean Pierre, who is vegan (for medical rather than ethical reasons) had ‘yak’ momos, so got some stick as the vegan who ate yak!
Although the temperature was down to -12°C by 5am again, I slept well with less clothes. Either I was getting used to the cold, or I was getting better as snuggling into the sleeping bag.
Tuesday Oct 30th 2012 - Sibu to Pass Camp (to Jyanta La)
Within 5 minutes of leaving camp, we had to create a bridge of stepping stones over a part frozen river as we continued on an easy track for the first hour or so. It was a good clear sunny day, but we were in shadow for most of the first hour. We then turned left up the fairly broad Dachun Khola river valley, stopping for a break at a yak field (at 4560 metres). Steve thought we would not have much further to go, but we crossed the river and climbed up and up to our highest camp at 4840 metres (15880ft), which was nice and flat with good views, but we expected it to be cold.
It was Andrew W’s 50th birthday, and I’d given him a small bag of my trail mix for the day. A very good chocolate birthday cake was cooked for the occasion – the cooking method is to immerse the cake tin (with cake mix) inside a much bigger tin of water and boil for some hours.
Despite extra preparations for a cold night, it did not go below -12°C, and I did not put my fleece top on until 6am.
Wednesday Oct 31st 2012 - Pass Camp – Jyanta La – Tokyu
I don’t really like porridge, but when it is cold on trek, it is the best option, though I add muesli and sugar to it. The initial trek up to the Jyanta La (our last pass) only took about 50 minutes, rather than the predicted 2 hours, as we’d done most of the hard work the afternoon before getting to the Pass Camp. From the top at 5120 metres (16800ft) we had great views of the Dhaulagiri massif to the south east, very good local cliffs and our final views of the bare mountains of Upper Dolpo and Tibet behind us. There was a patch of snow 50 metres away containing animal tracks including a snow leopard, so they really were in the area. Group shots were taken at the top, where the weather was clear and warm with no wind – a lovely spot and it was only 9am, with lots of downhill to look forward to.
The easy descent of 900 metres to Tokyu contained stunning rock formations, cliffs and steep scree (on the other side of the river), with a very picturesque lunch spot. We lots of yaks and several large birds (lammergeyers, eagles, griffons). We camped near stupas just before and above the extensive village of Tokyu on good flat ground. The group dog had been with us for most of the day, but kept a low profile now we were near a village.
Despite being much lower now at 4235m (13890ft), the temperature by 5am had reached a record low of -14°C.
Thursday Nov 1st 2012 - Tokyu to Dho Tarap
We had to decide where to take our last rest day, with the schedule suggesting Dho Tarap, but the general consensus was to go further down where it may be warmer and there were more excursion options. We didn’t really need another rest day as the trek and flights etc had gone very smoothly, but 3 years before the group were stuck in Nepalgunj for 4 days (no flights out – probably fog – poor sods), so had to zoom around the trek with no rest days or short days, so the schedule had to accommodate such possibilities.
Tokyu is a very extensive spread out village, with quite a few new buildings, and is a junction with a main track coming over from Sanduwa and the school we visited below Phoksumdo Lake. Just below camp, we had a look at the local gompa which had 8 stupas in front of it of which only 3 were in good condition. The other 5 were in ruins, but it wasn’t clear why. Had they been damaged by earthquake or my the Mouse (as Chet called them meaning Maoists !). A wedding was being prepared and lots of local people would be attending. During the easy walk out of the village, we saw numerous group racing to the wedding in their finery on horseback, coming up from Dho Tarap.
After an hour of strolling it was getting hot, so I stopped to take off my fleece, and received a tap on the bottom and a giggle from a local middle-aged lady. We visited Crystal Mountain School between Tokyu and Dho Tarap where children were doing tests outside in the playground and on the grass outside the gates. A significant effort is being made to educate children in the area, as the tendency is for families to migrate to Kathmandu and other cities. We met Richard and Sue, friends of Steve’s who were on an independent 50 day trek incorporating parts of the Annapurna area, Mustang, Dolpo and finishing in Beni with one guide and one porter.
Dho Tarap village (at 4080m, 13380ft), which we reached by 11:30 am, was better than expected, with a nice flat camp area by the river, stone walls and buildings and numerous children. We had lunch then decided to stay rather than find the next camp down river which would have been in the shady gorge. The was a good monastery on top of the hill, which was opened for us by the warden. Inside was a huge Buddha and numerous other figures – our best Gompa yet. They were selling books on Dolpo to raise funds.
Back in camp, Maeve, Andrew W, a cook boy and I played whist. Another night at -12°C.
Friday Nov 2nd 2012 - Dho Tarap to Meadow Camp
We were in sunshine for breakfast at 7am, but soon we were walking in a gorge, so in shadow for the first hour of the trek. The gorge became more spectacular as we progressed with conglomerate cliffs, rock falls, steep tributaries and blue sheep. About 2 hours into the trek, we reached the camp (above the track) where we could have stopped instead of Dho Tarap – a wide ledge near a tributary, so would have been fine. At this point an old man tried to catch our dog with a lasso, but the dog was too smart. We had lunch in a sunny spot by a tributary, where I washed my feet and laid out to ease my back. The gorge went into an inaccessible section and the path crossed over and up a steep slope to a stupa. There were sections where the path had been blasted out of the cliff and there were several new bridges too – all improvements since Steve last came this way. Our camp for the night was very close to the river (at 3650m, 11975ft), and would have been in flood for part of the year. There was no sun because of the high cliffs, but it was warmer – only down to a balmy -2°C overnight.
Saturday Nov 3rd 2012 - Meadow Camp to Khanigaon
It was our last long day of trekking in the mountains as we would finish 1000 metres lower in trees. However, there was about 300 metres of climbing along the undulating track, mostly high above the river on the right. As we were still in a very scenic gorge with amazing rock formations, but now with fir trees low down by the water, we did not see much sun for the first couple of hours. We had a mid-morning stop in a sunny spot by a stream high above the main river with a lammergeyer making a brief appearance. Every day we were given a choc bar or fruity energy bar for the trek. We continued high, with Andrew and I well in front of the crocodile (behind the lead Sherpa), then just before lunch dropped 300 metres down steep zigzags to a lovely lunch spot by the river with several waterfalls nearby. The group was well strung out, with the slowest arriving 50 minutes after us, so I washed my hair in the river while waiting.
After lunch, the valley opened out, but the water level dropped faster and we still had some climbs over spurs and land slips. We could then see our destination way down in the valley in the trees, with the small village of Khanigaon just over a river coming down from the east. The scenery was now more like Switzerland with some snowy mountains in the distance and hills with lots of trees, then rock above. It was also getting hot – T-shirt and shorts. The campsite (at 2630m, 8625ft) was lovely and wooded and not visible from the village, though the sun was behind the hill before 4pm.
It was noticeably warmer in the evening, though still quite cool. We still hadn’t decided where to have the rest day, but after dinner, when Chet’s advice would have been useful, he and the crew were keeping a low profile drinking raksi – the local spirit. It had been a good day, and I had a good night’s sleep the temperature only dropping to +0.5°C .
Sunday Nov 4th 2012 - Khanigaon Rest Day
As it would be a rest day or a short day, the usual morning schedule was put back an hour, so breakfast was at 8. Steve then proposed that we go to the local Gompa/Monastery in the morning, then take it easy in the afternoon, then have the usual early start next day for the short walk to Tarakot. This camp was nice and better than we could expect in Tarakot. The only down side was that the camp did not get sun until nearly 10am.
A little bridge nearby took us over to the Gompa and lots of stupas on a large hilly site, which looked a bit like an old cemetery (in English terms). Maybe it was a pilgrimage site. There was a fairly big stupa with prayer flags rights at the top. Trevor decided to have a walk up the hill above it for even better views and Elaine and Maeve went off to look for birds. The Gompa was less impressive than others we’d seen and I was getting a bit gompa’d out. The afternoon was free for domestic tasks (like washing), then we played scrabble sitting outside in the hot sun, until it went behind a mountain around 4pm.
Monday Nov 5th 2012 -Khanigaon to Tarakot
After a relatively balmy night (down to +1.5°C), and breakfast, we crossed a big suspension bridge, and turned south-west passed the National Park checkpoint, with the dog still with us sprinting over the bridge. This time the traverse was on the left side of the river and quite high up. After a while of hanging back and looking at the view with Maeve, I got passed the crocodile behind Dorje and stayed ahead to Tarakot, where we arrived at 10:30am. The camp was by a stream with the village way above on a ridge, though Tarakot was only one of 6 or 7 hillside villages in the area.
In the afternoon, we had an excursion to the village of Gumba Tara on top of a hill involving 400 metres of ascent, and saw a praying mantis near the path on the way. It is a ‘protected’ village, and really was a lovely place on a little plateau with a very good monastery (Steve and Boyd spent ages in there), school, about 20 good large houses, many with straw on the roof, and a village green with a few big trees and numerous cows and horses. It was the best excursion of the trip. Millet is grown there and thrashed. I had a tour of the village and picked up a following of 6 children. At the end, I jogged back down the hill for tea at 4:30.
Tuesday Nov 6th 2012 -Tarakot to Dunai
Frost again last night, but only just. It was a gentle scenic undulating walk mostly on the right side of the river, with a brief stop in Byasgad village where we were hassled by kids. We’d decided to make it a long morning and have lunch at camp in Dunai, and it was now quite a busy little path with numerous small houses and huts along the river with veg plots and small fields. At one point, I saw 5 languors leap from a rock ledge into a tree, and also saw Winter wrens and Himalayan Griffons, while Jean Pierre saw a Wallcreeper.
Just before Dunai, there was a small hydroelectric plant as we caught up a slow moving horse train, then we were over the river on a bridge and stopped to gather at a shop – the first we’d seen for 3 weeks. Beverly bought a coke. Dunai, the capital of the Dolpo region, is a long spread out town stretching about a mile along the riverbank, with Gompas on the other side of the river. There are lots of little shops, and all sell St Miguel (except the mobile phone shop), no matter what their main line is. There are no roads for vehicles in the whole of the Dolpo region, or in any of the 6 regions bordering Dolpo, but I did see a couple of motorbikes (parked) in the town. We camped in the garden of the Blue Sheep Hotel, and In put my own tent up. Later we played scrabble and I won again.
Wednesday Nov 7th 2012 – Dunai to Jupha
We had a late start, as it would be a short day up to Julpha. Unfortunately flights from Julpha only operate early morning as the wind conditions usually change to make it unsuitable for the little planes to land later in the day, so a night in Julpha is necessary. It was a pleasant stroll through the Dunai streets, then along the river to the stupa and bridge we had crossed on Oct 19th. I saw a dipper, but it was too brief to study.
It was then a fairly steep 450 metre climb back up to Julpha, though the fields and lower town, where I arrived at 11:40, nearly an hour ahead of the last 3. Maeve bought beers, our first for 3 weeks, and we sat in the gazebo in the little hotel garden at the end of the trek. We had a good lunch of chapatti, potatoes, tuna and cauliflower . We had agreed to give the crew tips of 8000 rupees each (£65) in total, with Steve apportioning this to the 17 crew. After lunch, the 3 horsemen and 3 porters were given their gratuities (5000 NR each) and released, as they would not be required to get to the airstrip nearby. I gave a pair of well used trekking trousers to the tall young horseman too.
Dinner in the evening was excellent, with huge chunks of chicken and mustang coffee (containing raksi), then the rest of the crew were given their tips, and I had gloves and socks to donate. The dog which Beverly had named ‘Sonam’ had made it all the way to Julpha, and was crashed out in the garden.
Thursday Nov 8th 2012 -Julpha – Nepalgunj – Kathmandu
Bed tea with a touch of frost again, was early at 5:45, as we had to be up at the airport by 7. The plane was coming from Pokhara, where it was believed it was held up by early morning fog, so it did not arrive until 9:15, then left with us at 9:30. It really is an amazing runway – just a dirt strip on about a 1 in 4 slope, and take off is downhill and bumpy, and soon the ground drops away rather than the plane lifting!! We had hoped to get to Nepalgunj early in order to see if we could catch the 10am flight to Kathmandu, but it was already loading when we arrived, so we would have to wait for the 4:45pm.
Steve had arranged for the hotel (5 miles away) to take us for the day, so after storing our large bags at the airport, we got cabs to the hotel, where we had a very good lunch, and sat in the garden talking. Our flight in the evening was late, so the good Himalayan views were in fading light, but we had a very smooth and quick exit from the airport and back to the Shanker Hotel.
Friday Nov 9th 2012 – Kathmandu
This was our last day together as a group, so some went on a morning tour of sites (Bodnath and Pashupatinath), but most of us went shopping. After lunch in Kilroy’s, Steve had organised for 8 of us to go to a pashmina factory on the south west edge of town. The factory was a house with 3 or 4 people in each room, including the garage, and the whole process from pashmina goat wool to finished article was done manually. They only sell to expensive shops in London, New York and Las Vegas to order, but had a small supply of items to sell. Most of us bought scarves, which were rather cheaper than the expensive pashminas.
We had a very good last meal at a Thai Restaurant, exchanging contact details and saying a very big ‘Thank You’ to Steve.
General Notes on the Dolpo Trek
Most days started at 6am with bed tea (Black Tea, Sherpa Tea etc) delivered by Sherpas to each tent, followed about 15 minutes later by a small bowl of washing water. Breakfast would then be at 7 – Porridge, Muesli, Cornflakes (with hot milk) – I had porridge with muesli on cold mornings. This was followed by egg (omelette, fried or scrambled) and some form of bread (flat bread, cinnamon roll, chapati..), then tea, coffee etc. By breakfast, we needed to be packed, so that tents could be taken down and big bags prepared for the horses, who would be having their nose-bags while we had breakfast. Rita and Maria were always late for breakfast and Andrew W was always packed first. We were given a choc bar or fruit muesli bar at the end of breakfast for the trek. We started trekking about 7:45, though I was usually last to leave putting in contact lenses, sorting out clothes or boots, but I soon caught up. Steve was always at least 10 minutes behind as he had to take down his own tent.
On trek – A Sherpa (Dorje, Wan Chu or sometimes Manoj) would lead the way. They often went quite slow, so a crocodile of trekkers formed, which I avoided. I like to look around a see the scenery, birds etc, take photos and stop when I want. If you are right behind somebody else, you cannot do this. Manoj would usually be in the middle of the group carrying the first-aid kit. Chet would always be at the back with the slowest – Rita if there was a lot of uphill, Elaine if there were birds about. Sometimes, if I was feeling good and enjoying going quickly, especially downhill, I would overtake the crocodile and lead Sherpa and leave them in my wake. Andrew C would often do this too. The track was always dusty, especially if we passed a yak train.
Lunch – was always on the yellow tarp, usually around 12, but sometimes as early as 11:30 or as late as 1:30, depending on the available locations. Cook crew and porters would get to the lunch site before us. We would usually have rice or pasta with veg and some form of bread. There was not always meat or fish, and it was usually tinned – spam, sausages, pilchards, so a bit of a token to the carnivores.
Afternoon tea, biscuits and popcorn were available in the mess tent at 4 or 4:30 if we’d arrived at camp earlier.
Dinner was always at 6:30, so that we were finished by 8 for the crew to take over the mess tent where they slept.
Tents – we all had single tents except Dave and Elaine, so had room to sort out our gear. Zips, particularly for the inner door got jammed and broke quite often, so for the last week, mine was erected to use the smaller back door.
Permits for Lower and Upper Dolpo were required, but were organised, then kept by Chet and Steve until the last day.
People on the Dolpo Trek
Steve Razzetti – Leader (54)
An absolute authority on trekking, especially in the Himalayas and Karakoram, Steve investigated and set up many of the KE treks in the 1980’s and 1990’s and has written several books (eg: Top Treks of the World). He is also a renowned photographer. Originally from London, he now lives in the Lake District with wife and 3 young children.
Dave (70) – Tent No 7
An amazingly fit academic, a physicist at International Standards organisation, Dave was one of four clients from Boulder, Colorado. When I told him I’d studied Physics at Imperial, he asked if I could quote Maxwell’s equation! No chance. Dave was good fun, and an inspiration for what was possible at 70.
Elaine (68) – Tent No 7
Married to Dave and a very keen birder, as well as a plant expert, Elaine was usually near the back with binoculars in hand, but she could go fast, with sticks, when required.
Rich (66) – Tent No 5
Rich, from Flagstaff, Arizona was like a laid-back hippie who had never grown up, though he had never been one. He was usually strolling along at his own pace and in his own space, but Rich did get fed up with eggs and chapatis.
Jeanne-Pierre (66) – Tent No 8
Also, from the Boulder area, Jeanne-Pierre still had quite a strong French accent, despite having lived in the US since leaving school. Always cheerful, talkative and fun, Jean-Pierre is the only grand-parent in the group and used to be a trail runner until four heart stents and a metal hips changed his ways and his diet. Now a vegan, though he did have yak momos, which were actually goat!
Boyd (65) – Tent No 4
Always charming and cheerful, Boyd is a statistical nut (ie:stato) who provided temperature and altitude info on request. He is from Lancashire with a voice like Fred Dibnah. Boyd is also a keen photographer and experienced trekker.
Barry (62) – Tent No 1
Beverly (61) – Tent No 6
The fourth of the Colorado mafia, an ex lawyer, and the voice of the group with her loud fairly persistent southern (Atlanta) drawl. However, Beverly was very unlucky in 3 ways – 1. Her new camera had an electrical fault so was left in Kathmandu. 2. She got a bad cold, sore throat and cough for the first half of the trek, but struggled through it. 3. She reacted badly to the gas light in the mess tent, so had her dinner delivered to her tent (6 number). However, Beverly has been lucky to have travelled extensively since early retirement, so was a good source of information.
Rita (61) – Tent No 11
A sweet petite blond Swiss lady who looked 20 years younger, Rita was always happy. She was slow on the uphills, but otherwise a good trekker. She was usually last to meals, but often took on the role of ‘mother’ dishing up the food.
Maeve (58) – Tent No 9
Maeve is a GP from San Francisco, but was originally from Lechlade (UK), and spent 20 years in South Africa, and had not lost her English accent. She was the strongest and fastest of the ladies, so was good to walk with.
Trevor (53) – Tent No 12
My roommate in Kathmandu and a successful Systems consultant (SAP) from Shropshire, Trevor has travelled extensively on treks and mountain bike tours to quite remote area, so was good to talk to about travel. The tallest and strongest of the group, so could easily handle tougher treks.
Andrew W (50) – Tent No 2
A qualified librarian from Northampton, Andrew was fairly quiet and enjoyed being away from the limelight for his 50th birthday. On trek, he was usually at the front and in the crocodile behind the lead Sherpa.
Andrew C (43) – Tent No 10
Very fit and well organised, Andrew, from Winchester, was always ready for action and was often way out in front, as he was in Bhutan. He was fairly quiet, but has great technical knowledge and is good at games and cards.
Maria (43) – Tent No 2
A real estate manager from Sao Paulo (Brazil), Maria has a great work arrangement, as she can take up to 3 months off a year, as long as she calls into the office daily with a Sat phone. However, this did mean that she missed excursions and was usually last to meals because of work commitments. Despite lots of trekking experience, Maria was not as sure footed on difficult terrain, but was always determined to succeed.
Wednesday Nov 28th 2012 - London – Miami
Smooth check-in at Terminal 5, where I was told that my bag would be transferred directly to the La Paz flight, which is a change from last year. I’d chosen a window seat near the back, so had some good views of Labrador, then around Chesapeake Bay as the sun was getting low. Miami customs was fairly smooth, but finding the American Airlines desk to get my boarding pass took a while, but I was soon through to the departure area with about 3 hours to wait. I had a cheap Chinese and a beer in a food mall, then bought a little trianslation gadget for 5 euro languages to help me with my Spanish. The plane to La Paz was full, so anyone with big hand luggage had to hand it in to go in the hold. There was no entertainment for this night flight and only one meal early on, then sleep!
Thursday Nov 29th 2012 – La Paz
We landed an hour earlier than I expected as there was a time change – now on GMT – 4. La Paz Airport is on the Altiplano above the city at about 12000ft, so landing in this rare atmosphere with less air resistance takes a bit more runway. I got a cab to the city, asking the price to Hotel Estrella Andina as I got in. ‘Setanta’ – 70 Bolivars (about $10), so I gave him $12 and he was very happy – The Dragoman office had told me it would be about $16.
Matt and Zoë, who were the Dragoman leaders were at hotel reception, so I met them and chatted. They are so busy that there are 2 trucks to Santiago, both full, then 3 from Santiago. I shared a room with Neil who had landed at 1am, and later we were asked if we wanted to do the ‘Gravity’ mountain biking next day. As the details emerged, that it was cycling ‘Death Road’ from 4700m to 1200m a drop of nearly 12000 feet, we agreed to go.
Friday Nov 30th 2012 – La Paz – Death Road cycling
There were two Dragoman groups for the Gravity Mountain Biking – 10 from the other truck (called Cameron) and 13 from our truck (Carmen). Their bike leader arrived first, so they had a head start on us. It was about an hours drive in 2 vans to our start point out of the busy streets of La Paz to the east at the head of a 4700m pass. It was good sunny weather when we arrived, but a big bank of cloud was coming up the hill from the east and engulfed us while we were getting bikes, clothes and gear together followed by a briefing from Rylan, our leader. The vans would be accompanying us, so anything could be left in them. The mountain bikes had great suspension and very good breaks, which we would need, as it was almost all downhill. The first 20km was on the road, and the warm sunny weather turned to cold rain just as we were ready to leave. I found the first section a big scary, as I’d never been on a mountain bike before and it was rather steep. When we stopped at 2km, I got my fleece out of the van and put it on. We had been supplied with jackets (with blue logo on the back) and trousers which were said to be waterproof, but after another couple of sections, with the rain now lashing down, I switched to my own waterproof trousers, though I was at least getting into it and getting confident despite the rain. Of the group, the men tended to be at the front, with the girls taking it slower with Frances at the back. After 20km on the road (at Unduavi), including overtaking very slow moving lorries in torrential rain, we reached a tunnel, which we had to go around, then a checkpoint where we had to pay 25 Bolivianos (£2.50) to go on the old dirt road, for which we got nice souvenir tickets. We all opted to take the vans for the next section which was partly uphill (in the rain) to the start of the old road. It was fascinating to be on the old Death Road, which was the only road until a few years ago, with a big drop into the valley on the left and lots of bends and in these conditions waterfalls dropping onto the road. The Top Gear Team went down here on one of their excursions (but in cars). As we descended in sections, the rain got lighter and it was warmer, so cold soaked trainers became squelchy little footbaths. Then we got to a section where there were 3 landslides, and our leader (Rylan) took a lot of time checking if we could go on and what to do with the vans, which had to turn around and go back up then down the new road. The last sections were fun as I was really getting in to it. There were 2 small rivers to cross and some flat and slightly uphill sections, where I pedalled hard and overtook others.
At the end (Yolosa), we transferred to a wildlife sanctuary where there were showers, macaws and food. We didn’t see the Cameron group at all, as they had beaten us by hours. It was about a 3 hour drive back, with the weather now clear, but snow all around until we got near to La Paz.
Saturday Dec 1st 2012 - La Paz to Potosí
A very long day of driving, not helped by taking about 3 hours to get clear of La Paz. The streets of La Paz are very congested, especially on Saturday morning, so it took over an hour to negotiate the altiplano. La Paz is in a big bowl and seems to have only one main dual carriageway up onto the plateau. We then had to join a long queue for diesel, which is in short supply in Bolivia, and Zoë and Matt had to haggle and argue to get enough fuel at a sensible price.
The drive to Potosí was about 550km and our truck (Carmen) is not good on hills, of which there were lots. The traffic for the next 2 hours was also quite busy and slow with heavy lorries on a section where they are ‘building’ a new road. Lunch was a 10 minute stop in the van, with a local version of pasties – not good. I sat with Gemma (a young project manager and runner from London), Bob (ex Norfolk, now Lake District) and Kate, but read and dozed most of the day.
We arrived at the hotel in Potosí just before 9pm, over 2 hours behind Cameron. Jobs for the next 3 weeks had been allocated on the way – I am on back locker with Neil and Tony, so we got the bags out and into the hotel quickly, and were soon strolling up the street – not too fast at 4000 metres –to find food. 5 of us selected a little café which did chicken and chips, which turned out to be excellent (cooked on the stop), though the look and smell of the place was dubious. It was also extremely cheap (16 Bobs - £1.60 inc drink).
Sunday Dec 2nd 2012 – Potosí
The city of Potosí is one of the highest cities in the world at 4090m (13,420ft) with a population of 164,000. It was founded in 1545 as a mining town following the discovery of silver ore in the local Cerro Potosí (Cerro Rico) mountain. The name is an adaptation of ‘Potokcki’ (in Aymara/Inca) relating to a thunderous sound made when fire was lit on the mountain around 1462.
Silver mining here produced fabulous wealth for the Spanish between 1556 and 1783, with 20% going to the Spanish Monarchy exporting coins and ingots via Antofagasta and Panama with mules – railways being developed later. The mining, refining and coin production processes were extremely unhealthy and thousands of local and black slave and mules lost their lives in the process. At the mint, we saw the ‘patio process’ where silver ore crushed into powder was mixed with toxic mercury before the mercury was driven off by heating. The silver ingots were then rolled using 3 huge machines of 12 rollings driven by mules, but they only lasted a few weeks, so were replaced by African slaves. Coins stamped in the early days were random shapes and became circular later. Original coins were 90% silver and 10% nicol, but gradually this reduced to 50% and eventually 10%. The mint was closed in 1951. The art gallery at the Mint included the ‘Virgin of Cerro Rico’ depicting the Virgin Mary in the mountain with religious figures above, local Indian beliefs (sun, moon, earth) in the middle and political and catholic leaders at the bottom.
In the afternoon, I had a look at the market, and Neil went to the local derby football match, then in the evening, we had a group meal in a good restaurant – the llama steak was good!
Monday Dec 3rd - Potosí to Uyuni
The drive to Uyuni was fairly short and quite scenic so we were in the dusty flat railway junction town by 12:30. The streets of Uyuni are wide and in a square grid, and the little hotel had a good reputation for food. About half of the group had lunch in an upstairs restaurant near the clock tower, but amazingly they were out of sandwiches, so we had soup and bread.
In the afternoon most of us (at various times) walked the 3km down the railway tracks in the heat to the railway graveyard. All along tracks little bushes were covered in plastic bags which had blown from the town – typical 3rd world pollution ! The railway graveyard contained carriages, tankers and eventually engines which had been taken there when the Potosi mines were drastically reduced, with silver ore almost exhausted leaving tin as the main metal to mine. There were about 20 engines there covered in graffiti, some with parts converted into swings. There was a big thunderstorm in the distant mountains we’d come through, but it didn’t reach Uyuni.
In the evening we had a good but expensive pizza in the hotel – a bit disappointing really.
Tuesday Dec 4th – Uyuni and Salar de Uyuni
Neil, Wayne and I found a good friendly place for breakfast for 30 BOB (Bolivian Bolivars – about 10 per £), before we all set off in 4 wheel drive vehicles for the Salar de Uyuni. These are the largest salt flats in the world (12000 sq km), mostly Sodium (Na) – ie: Salt, but also Potassium (K), Magnesium (Mg) and Lithium (Li) (from the water). Lithium is now a very important export, due to the demand for batteries.
We stopped in Colchani, where the salt miners live, operate and process the salt, and were given an overview of the operation and the souvenirs available. Driving onto the salt flats, we saw salt being dredged/scraped up into piles a mile or so from the village and gradually getting further as they mine. We then had a 5 minute drive to a salt hotel, which is now a museum, all completely made of salt, before a long drive into the middle of the salt flats where we stopped at the volcanic island of Incahuasi. It is a fascinating island of volcanic rocks and flowering cacti surrounded by the vast plain of the bright white salt flats with mountains in the distance on most sides. After lunch, we walked on a pathway to the highest point to get good views and photographs. On the way back we stopped in a clear area where the hexagonal shapes in the salt were good and took numerous trick photographs. As it is very flat and very white, creating optical illusions like me standing on a water bottle is fun and fairly successful. Paul A, Jo, Kanchan, Neil and I formed a good 5 pointed star on the salt hexagons, but got a bit damp and salty.
In the evening Paul R, Roxanne, Neil, Linda and I found a good pizza restaurant nearby – Uyuni does not go much beyond pizza or chicken and chips – helped down with red wine. As we came out the rain started, and quite heavy, so Neil and I ran back. The thunderstorm became torrential for about an hour.
Wednesday Dec 5th 2012 - Uyuni to Villa Mar
I had to get a fairly early start, although the truck wasn’t leaving until 10am. Having ordered breakfast, I jogged around into the main street to get $300 from an ATM which also gave dollars, as it was probably than we would not be able to get US dollars from any ATM from now on. Cook Group 2, which included me, then had to shop for lunch and dinner for later in the day. Derek and I bought rolls, ham, cheese and fruit for lunch leaving Elke, Frances and Stuart to but dinner. Finally, I was on back locker with Tony and Neil, so had to be packed and ready before others.
It was a scenic drive on dirt roads all day with quite a lot of uphill, so not fast, and we had a Bolivian guide with us to direct us along these unlabelled tracks. We stopped at the new town of San Cristóbal, which has been created to replace the old village a few miles away on the hill where huge deposits of silver and zinc have been found. A big US corporation which bought the mine, but subsequently sold it to Sumitomo (Japan), due to political issues, build the new town in order to develop the mine which is now one of the largest producers of silver in the world. The mining is open cast so quick to expand.
We stopped for lunch by a wide river where there were a few llama, lots of flamingos and several ducks – quite a delightful spot, but there were dark clouds approaching. Later there was a long line of rocks, probably formed by earthquake, which had been eroded into interesting shapes, which we stopped to look around with rain now imminent while a viscacha ran over the rocks. It then poured down for several hours during which time we arrived at a hostel in the little village of Villa Mar (from Aymara, nothing to do with Sea), unloaded the truck, and prepared the evening meal. We (Cook Group 2) made pasta with sauce and lots of veg. I chopped up two balls of garlic for sauce, chicken and garlic bread, then fried the garlic bread. It all went down well – with red wine of course.
Thursday Dec 6th 2012 - Villa Mar to San Pedro de Atacama (Chile)
It was a long day on rough dirt roads with no villages or shops to use up our Bolivars. However, Southern Bolivia is very scenic with hills, mountains, volcanoes, lakes of salt, borax and arsenic, llamas, vicuña, . We had several stops on the way –1. There were 3 types of flamingos, Andean, James and Chilean on a big lake, which were very photogenic with their reflections in the water . 2. At the top of a 5020 pass, where there was a borax processing plant and Andean terns. 3. A stop to have half an hour in a hot pool. 4. another to see geysers for 5 minutes. 5. A white lake and a green lake (arsenic) with 2 large volcanoes behind them.
Leaving Bolivia was quick and easy, but there was then a long long hill down (which is slow in Carmen, our heavy old imperfect truck) on a good road dropping 2000 metres to the Chilean town and border post of San Pedro de Atacama. A fruit, veg and meat cannot be imported into Chile, the entry procedures with a truck load of tourists is quite slow, with truck being checked over and bags needing to be off-loaded and passed through a scanner.
We eventually arrived at our hostel about 9pm, several hours later than expected. A few people decided to camp, but I did not want to erect an unknown tent in the dark, so shared a little house with Paul R, Roxanne, Kanchan and Linda which had good bathroom and kitchen facilities. 8 of the others were squashed into an 8 birth room in the main building. Then I found a Bolivian orange in my backpack, so I am a criminal!! We all went into town to find an ATM for Chilean money and to get a meal. Wifi at the hostel was extremely good, so we could catch up with the outside world.
Friday Dec 7th 2012 - San Pedro de Atacama
Kanchan and I went down to the little town for breakfast, and she was buzzing after the best coffee we’d had for weeks. San Pedro is a nice little touristy town with dirt roads, but lots of eateries and other shops. We changed the last of our Bolivianos to Chilean Pesos and had a look around the pretty little main square and very old adobe church. Kanchan, Itsuki and I bought rolls etc in a local shop to make lunch – Itsuki is a Japanese student, so he is on a low budget.
We had a late afternoon trip to Moon Valley, about 20 minutes drive out of town, where there were good striated rocks and huge sand dunes. I dropped my video camera while climbing up a rock, and it survived the fall and roll down a dusty slope. We went to three viewpoints in the area, finishing around 8pm with a good sunset and views of the mountains on the Bolivian border. A trip to an observatory for star gazing had been arranged, but it was cancelled due to cloud.
Saturday Dec 8th 2012 - San Pedro de Atacama to Purmamarca (Argentina)
In the morning there was no breakfast available, so we finished whatever we had including the illegal Bolivian orange. The WiFi was also down, so I couldn’t check the progress of the India v England Test Match. At customs on the outskirts of San Pedro, there was quite a long queue with several lorries and a coach ahead of us and only one customs officer.
It is about 150km (100 miles) to the Argentina border and customs post – a very large ‘no man’s land’ – back up the hill past the turning to Bolivia then across a flatter section of altiplano, and there really is nothing but the odd (llama) shepherds hut. Argentine customs was fairly smooth, though they took away out of date antibiotics from the medical kit in the truck, and told us not to stop for lunch near the customs area. We therefore drove on for half an hour through very boring flat scree type scenery with no trees or even large boulders and stopped at the side of the road for lunch in the heat with no shade.
In the afternoon, it was more undulating, then downhill and twisty through rocky scenery and trees – but still no habitation. After a flatter lower section, we climbed again over a ridge, eastern foothills of the Andes, then hit low cloud (fog) and a series of hairpin bends and several very large lorries moving very slowly downhill which were difficult to pass.
Purmamarca is a nice little town, but Matt and Zoë had problems finding the campsite and hostel they had booked up at short notice, so we all went to the ATM to get new currency while they searched on foot. The hostel and site were not good, so their search continued to find us some accommodation, while 10 of us went in a local restaurant and had a really good meal with wine. Kanchen had rather more wine than she is used to and was very friendly with Wayne when she found out he was gay! There were rooms at the restaurant which eventually proved to be the best solution – 2 couples in the rooms over the restaurant and the rest of us in 2 dorms about half a mile away on the edge of town. 8 of us were in the oldies room and 10 youngsters next door.
Sunday Dec 9th 2012 - Purmamarca to Salta
The truck took us to breakfast back at the restaurant in town. They had done well to suddenly feed and accommodate 24 people. There was a local hill nearby which we walked up in order to see and photograph the mountains around. Purmamarca is famous for the ‘Hills of 7 colours’ to the west of the town.
It was an easy drive on good roads to Salta, where we found the hotel quickly. Neil and shared a good room with balcony upstairs. I went for a stroll around town, but most shops were shut as it was Sunday, so I had lunch (burger and chips) in a local café. Options for the next day included a visit to a private Cloud Forest and Bird Reserve about 5 miles to the west of Salta. Tom and Frances had the information and booked it, but I knew than others were interested too, but had gone off around town, so I phoned Mario (the guide) and checked if he could take more. No problem, 2,4,6,8 more people would be no problem. I therefore did a note to leave at the desk and asked others in the group as I saw them.
We had a group meal in the evening at a nice restaurant about 15 minutes walk away. Strolling through the streets of Salta in the early evening was a nice way to see the town. It is so hot in the afternoon, that most people stay in and have a siesta and the shops close, the open again in the evening, so 7 to 8 in the evening is busy with people and traffic, then the restaurants get busy between 8 and midnight. I shared a tenderloin steak with Kanchan that was for 2 to 3 people but could easily feed 5. It was extremely good but enormous, so we passed half of it onto Stuart and Itsuki – the gannets of the group. On the stroll back, some detoured for money and a few of us sat in the city square where the cathedral was lit up and there were lots of people sitting around on a balmy evening with a Christmas tree and decorations. Salta is a nice city and Argentina is very European after Bolivia has a much higher proportion of native Indians and is much poorer.
Monday Dec 10th 2012 - Salta
I’d left my binoculars in the truck which was parked 6 blocks away, so Zoë agreed to meet up at 6:30 am to go to the truck for them. Zoë is a very good violinist and had played in classical concerts, so it was nice to have a chat about music. Breakfast at 7 was mediocre – juice, not very fresh rolls and coffee, then 9 of us took taxis to get to the Reserva del Huaica near San Lorenzo. Sue had arranged with Mario for the tour to be modified to 8am to 11:30pm. The reserve has 15km of tracks in a forested hillside. Mario was an excellent guide who does lots of guiding with NatureTrek in South America, especially in the Pantanel, which I would be interested in going to sometime. There was a bit variety of trees, flowers and butterflies in the reserve and we could hear birds, but they were difficult to spot. There were also good views over the San Lorenzo area to the east for some clear areas.
Back in Salta, Tony, Neil and I went to the local ‘Subway’ for roll, coke and ice cream, then a stroll around the covered market. The temperature was over 32°C in the afternoon, so I stayed in for a while – laptop admin and skype. In the evening, many of the group had arranged to go to the cinema to see the new Bond film which I’d already seen, so I had a stroll round then found Linda just finishing a meal, so joined her for a glass of wine. Later, I had fish, chips and wine in a nearby restaurant alone.
Tuesday Dec 11th 2012 - Salta to Cafayate
It was an easy drive to Cafayate where we arrived at the campsite before noon. The tents were the same as we’d had in West Africa and there were enough for me to have one of my own (F2), though it was a bit musty from lack of use.
Cafayate is a major wine growing region – Torrentes grapes are only grown in Argentine and Malbec which is of French origin. We had lunch in a couple nice restaurants in the very pleasant town square before strolling to a nearby winery which had been booked up for us to visit. The Nanni winery cost 10ARP for a talk about the process, then a tasting of 4 different organic wines, but we weren’t that impressed by the wines. Zoë soon found us a 2nd winery with free tastings nearby, where the Torrentes (white) had a very nice bouquet and the Cab Sauv was also good – Linda and Tom bought some. We then took the truck to a 3rd winery on the edge of town, free again, where I bought a Malbec similar to the one we had in the Salta restaurant for 30ARP. It was now after 5pm, but we found a very good winery near the campsite. For 10ARP (returned if we bought wine) we tasted 2 white Torrentes which had a different age, and I preferred the young one, then 2 Cabernet Sauvignon grown at different altitudes. The high altitude wine was smooth and excellent. We also tried a Malbec, which is a bit heavier with a taste of darker fruit (blackberries, plums etc). I bought a bottle of the fairly expensive by excellent Cab Sauv and a cheaper one for 100ARP total. Wines grown here in the hot sun at altitude are generally about 14% alcohol and we’d tasted about 15 of them, so lightweight Kanchan was banned from using sharp implements by the rest of her cook group when they cooked bangers and mash. A camp dog that played football with a stone was an amusement of the evening.
Wednesday Dec 12th 2012 - Cafayate to San Martin (bushcamp)
We had a very early start as it was a long 2 day drive to the estancia near Cordoba. Tony is the expert backlocker stacker with Neil and I sorting and throwing the bags up. I’d be happy to stack, but I don’t want to knock my bruised elbow. Being on backlocker at a campsite means getting breakfast last and being in a constant rush.
Quilmes Ruins was an hour down the road, where there are preserved ancient ‘Pre-Columbian’ ruins of a town with lots of big cacti, llama and birds which were interesting, noisy but elusive. We then took the most direct road south-east through a hilly area, which was slow and twisty, but on reaching some shops near a small town of Tan del Valla, we were told that the road further on had been blown up for repair and road works, so we would have to go back and take a detour to the west. As well as wasting nearly 4 hours, the alternative route looked longer and possibly rougher, but we just had to accept that there was no choice in this vast country with few roads.
We had lunch in a clearing in Santa Maria, then pushed on with occasional garage stops for extra provisions – it was very hot - 37°C, 99°F. The road (via Belén) was actually good, not busy and fairly flat so we made good time. By 7pm we reached the edge of the Andean foothills and started a long bendy descent through an area of scrubby bushes, eventually reaching the town of Chumbicha and a drive around the little town trying to find somewhere for food. It was about 9pm when we arranged for sandwiches to be made at a little shop then we continued on east and found a garage on the edge of San Martin where we camped on ground at the back. I had an ice cream at midnight, as we’d seen none on a very long day in the truck – sitting at the back dozing and looking at photos with Kanchan. A noisy generator came on about 2am, so sleep was a bit patchy.
Thursday Dec 13th 2012 - San Martin to Estancia Los Portreros
I was up at 5:15 to get packed and the tent down before back locker at 6. I dozed like most others for the first 2 hours to a town where we stopped for provisions to take us through several days. Our cook group needed to get food for Friday breakfast and lunch in this pleasant little provincial town (but I never found out its name!) and we soon found supermarket, grocers and bakers. I also stocked up on fruit and had an ice cream.
We had a lunch stop in Jesus Maria, where it was very hot, so we unrolled the awning from the top of the tent to shade the preparation area. There was also a Jesuit Museum nearby, which some went to.
We reached the estancia (ranch) before 4pm about 2 miles up a track in lovely rolling countryside. The other Dragoman group were there on their last day. Los Portreros is owned by Kevin, who was born there, but went to school in Somerset then Southampton University then worked in the UK for 14 years before returning to take over the estancia. It is a big ranch of several square miles with 700 cows and 130 horses. There are 6 young horses loose in the camping area and several dogs so we had to be careful to put things away.
Marcel, Neil, Gemma and I went for a 30 minute run then Bob and Derek followed us. There are a lot of runners in the group who have been stuck in the truck and at altitude for weeks just ready for a run in the lovely countryside. We have no smokers, but there are quite a few in the other truck who are more party animals. In the evening a barbeque was laid on with lots of good (free) wine, and later I had a stroll to see the super stars.
Friday Dec 14th 2012 - Estancia Los Portreros
I had an early morning run of about 40 minutes in a haze from the night before, returning just before the other truck (Cameron) left.
We were split into 2 for the horse riding with most of the morning group being beginners, except for Sam who rode when she was young so was given the most troublesome horse – who bit other horses if too close. The weight limit to ride these fairly small horses was 15 stone, so Stuart was excluded and just walked. We learnt to get on, go, stop and steer and would just be walking the horses. I was on a stallion called Ajalla (an Argentinian footballer), who was very obedient, except for trotting uphill out of water. We walked south along the main track then turned into a field, eventually reaching the highest point of the ranch. After 2 hours we reached the cattle station, where group 2 had walked to. I had been apprehensive about riding a horse but so far it had gone well, though 2 hours of just walking was hardly exciting. When I got off my knees were really sore and I could hardly walk, but this effect cleared up within 10 minutes. We had lunch which we’d made ourselves after breakfast. We saw Turkey Vultures , Southern Lapwings and numerous other birds.
I had intended to walk back and bird watch with Kanchan but it was too hot, so we took a lift, then took it easy for the afternoon. Chilli for dinner was taken up to the games room, where local entertainment arrived – 2 guys with guitar, banjo, little drums etc. The estancia staff (our horse guides) joined in with singing and dancing and there were several demijohns of wine provided. I was not saddle sore after the horse riding but a bit stiff in the hamstrings.
Saturday Dec 15th 2012 - Estancia Los Portreros
There was some rain in the early morning, so the bird watching walk didn’t start until 7, but we saw lots of birds including Southern Lapwing, White-browed Blackbird, Monk Parakeet, (Swallowtail) Hummingbird, Chalk-browed Mockingbird, Shiny Cowbird, Green-barred Woodpecker.
After breakfast in the kitchen, we walked about 3 miles north to Kevin’s parents house on top of a hill on the other side of the main road. The horse groups had been swapped around, so we’d be riding in the afternoon. Lemonade and empanadas (their version of pasties) were provided for lunch, then we went down to a corral where we had a go at lassoing calves. Initially we practiced putting the rope into one long loop and three short loops winding around our heads and aiming at an old tree with two stumps like horns, then the calves were herded around the edge of the corral and we tried to lasso them. We went into the corral in threes, so it took quite a while to get through 23 of us (Linda opted out). There were 6 or 7 successful lassoings with Frances getting two calves together.
We returned to the horses saddled and walked them back to the Estancia, but this time we tried a little canter (via a trot) for about a minute, which was a bit scary, though I was disappointed not to have a second go at it.
Kevin invited us into his house for some wine tasting and to give out prizes – Frances for lasso, Kanchan for best beginner – her horse was trying to eat grass and leaves all the time, and Stuart for walking all 4 legs. After dinner, I packed and showered ready for an early start.
Sunday Dec 16th 2012 - Estancia to Mendoza
I set my alarm for 4:15 as we had a 6am start and we had to break camp, load up the back locker, have breakfast and make a packed lunch. It was a long drive but the roads were good so we made good time and arrived in Mendoza around 5pm. We were staying in dorms in a young hostel and I was in the oldies room with Paul R (71), Marcel (69) and Tom (61).
The other truck was also in Mendoza (staying nearby) but it had broken down with a prop shaft problem. Most of us went to a nearby restaurant and had a mixed barbeque of loads of meat with beer. Zoë brought out a doggy bag of meat!
Monday Dec 17th 2012 - Mendoza
Mendoza is the major wine region of Argentina, and I’d booked up for an all day wine tour with about 10 others. However, I felt a bit delicate in the morning, so ducked out of it and decided to have an easy day catching up with email and blog.
The market opposite was interesting for a stroll and for fruit and there was a Carrefour supermarket on the corner for other supplies. Around 4pm I had a good walk up to a big park with a lake then into town with several smart squares then I bought a hat. There were numerous runners in the park, which inspired me to get out for a run which I did around 7pm. I got lost on the way back, so was out for 57 minutes.
The streets and squares were really nice to stroll around in the warm evening while finding somewhere to eat.
Tuesday Dec 18th 2012 - Mendoza to Santiago
It was quite a long twisty drive over the Andes and into Chile. It was grey and rainy and Aconcagua was not visible. The border crossing was busy and took 2.5 hours, but this was good because we were early. We heard later that a Toucan truck several hours behind us took 8 hours to get through!
I sat with Kanchan and went through bird photos from the estancia (when she was awake). The roads in Chile are very good, with a big series of hairpin bends from the top initially then motorway standard roads around Santiago. We found the Hotel España easily but parking and unloading was tricky in the busy street. Laundry was then first priority a couple of streets away.
Nicole (from the West Africa trip) was joining here but I didn’t see her until later in the evening. We had a group meal in a nearby restaurant which was a complete shambles. There was no fish and only small expensive beers and it too a total of 4 hours from arriving to getting out to have mixed kebab, chips and a small beer.
Wednesday Dec 19th 2012 – Santiago
It had been 27°C the day we arrived, but it was now cool and starting to rain. It got progressively worse throughout the day, so that by early evening it was torrential with the streets becoming lakes and rivers and clogged up traffic. There were several walking tours, so 12 of us went on the ‘spicy’ tour with a bubbly young guide called Fernanda. It was a good 4 hour tour including ‘café with legs’, Cathedral, Plaza de Armas, Place d’Italie, several parks and interesting buildings, but the weather got worse, so I walked back and picked up laundry. Neil, who had been my roommate for part of the trip was leaving, as were Paul and Jo who lived about 2 miles from my son Neil in Herefordshire.
Thursday Dec 20th 2012 – Santiago to Salto de Laja
An excellent road straight of the city took us south through showers, arriving at the dramatic waterfall of Salto de Laja by mid-afternoon. It was Kanchan’s birthday, though she had tried to keep it a secret. We were the first of 3 Dragoman trucks to arrive at the campsite, a third truck having been formed in Santiago which included several Germans and Americans. The waterfalls, campsite and the evening meal were all excellent, but the truck leaks and keeping bags of the wet floor when the truck is already crowded is difficult.
Friday Dec 21st 2012 Salto de Lago – Pucoń
Monday Dec 24th 2012 - Pucoń – Bariloche
Nicole moved to truck 3 to be with other Santiago starters and several Germans so we were now down to 19. We crossed back into Argentina then along 7 lakes road and into Bariloche. Weather was damp and dull with some good views of mountains, lakes, forest etc. . Our campsite was in Gutierrez (Los Coihues) near the end of Lago Guitierrez and although Wayne, Stuart and Itsuki camped most of us stayed in the hostel as it was still cool and damp. I shared a room with Paul, Roxanne, Marcel and Kanchan above the main dining room, so it was quite noisy until everyone went to bed.
Tuesday Dec 25th 2012 - Bariloche
Christmas Day, and not feeling Christmassy, but did get a good message from Mandy wishing me a ‘humbug Christmas’. I had a good early morning run of 7 miles along the lake and back – rather cool in singlet and shorts with lots of dogs coming out to see me, so I probably woke their owners! At latitude 41°S in mid summer (ie: like mid summer in Spain) you’d think it would be warm, but the cold Humboldt current coming up the Chilean coast from Antarctica and the westerly winds coming over the Andes it was cool.
I missed 9 am breakfast provided by the hostel, but we had an excellent Xmas brunch at 11am. WiFi at the hostel was very good, but gmail and other main websites were very slow or crashed due to heavy use worldwide. In the afternoon, I put up my tent which was soaked from Pucoń as it would be quieter at night with the expected Christmas festivities, and tried patching up my thermarest which had a slow puncture. I skyped Helen in Cornwall and she could see and hear me clearly, but reception for me was poor – must be my netbook.
Christmas dinner was Beef Bourginon with lots of veg and 2 sweets – triffle and rocky road. I opened my expensive bottle of red wine from Cafayate and shared it with Kanchan and Wayne, then we opened presents from secret Santa. It was all a bit noisy as we were sharing the place with the other (much noisier) Dragoman group but with separate timings for meals etc.
During the day Marcel and I got good advice from Fred, who managed the hostel, about a good trek to do the next day and bought maps. Stuart then decided to join us.
Wednesday Dec 26th 2012 - Bariloche – big walk
Marcel, Stuart and I set off at 7am for a big walk to Catedral Ski Resort tghen up to Condor Rock and along the top passed Lynch and Punta Princess ski lifts. After a cool start it was a lovely sunny day with fantastic views in all directions especially Lago Nahuel Huapi, Victoria Island, Bariloche and Lago Guitierrez with a skyline of snowy Andean foothills and a few views of high Andean peaks and glaciers. Marcel went straight up a steep slope from Catedral and I pulled a calf muscle following him, so had a problem with the steep uphills, but found a couple of sticks to help. After that we were on bigger tracks, but Marcel was way ahead so I walked with Stuart.
The views from Condor Rock were very good and we had lunch at Lynch. After Punta Princessa, Stuart and I took a tricky route along ‘The Edge’ recommended by Fred, which was spectacular, but Stu was slow on the rocky bits. From the pass we slid down the slope on plastic bags to a Laguna, but then took a poor decision to scramble down a rocky slope so lost another half hour. The scenery around Refugio Frey was super with a lake and Catedral Sur above, but the paths had turned to rivers.. We then had a long descent through woods to get back. Stuart suggested that I go on and leave him, but I waited for him until the last junction in the path which was now gently down towards the lake. I texted to say we’d be late then walked fast back to the hostel. I got just after 9, but was slated by several of the group for leaving Stu in the dark – he had a head torch but I didn’t and it was full moon, so he was fine, but very slow. The truck with most of the group had gone into Bariloche to shop for the next few days food so were not there when I arrived. It had been a super day of trekking.
Dec 27th to Dec 29th 2012 - Bariloche to Bush camp on Tierra del Fuego
We had three long drive days to get down towards Ushuaia as fast as we could saving one day on the schedule, so that we would have an extra day in Ushuaia. On Day 1 we drove 900 km, with few toilet stops and found a bush camp in a hollow with some shelter from the wind not far from Cueva de los Manos (Cave of Hands). The full moon and lenticular clouds were amazing.
On Day 2, we went to Cueva de los Manos to see hand prints of the rocks from 9000 years ago. They were mostly left hands painted around with the right (so negatives), but there were also some positive prints and right hands in several colours – red, white, yellow, green. The later prints includes animals and stick men. After another long day of about 650km went to a campsite in El Calafate which had good facilities.
On Day 3 (Dec29) we eventually arrived at the Straits of Magellan. The roads to get there were mostly good – some dirt along the side of new roads being build, but the scenery was generally flat with hills in the distance, scrubby bushes and few trees, and very few towns or villages. When we went back into Chile, the customs officer had a second look at my passport and name – ‘Dabrowski’ - -‘yes’ – ‘Mariano Dabrowski, famous Chilean footballer!’. Crossing to Tierra del Fuego felt like a historic event and a major achievement – a 20 minute crossing on a ferry with 4 lanes of about 20 vehicles to the land at the end of the earth in a strong westerly wind. We continued on for a hour or so looking for a recommended bush camp and eventually found the quarry which was fairly sheltered.
Sunday Dec 30th 2012 - Bush Camp to Ushuaia
It was the fourth day of the slog in the truck so we were all complaining of cabin fever, with no chance to stretch our legs, though it was a much shorter day. We crossed the border back into Argentine at San Sebastian (part in Chile, part in Argentina but about 10 miles apart!). Tierra del Fuego is split between Chile and Argentina after a UN agreement in 1984. We bye-passed Rio Grande but drove along the Atlantic coast, then stopped for lunch in Tolhuin, where we found a good baker/chocolateria and arrive in Ushuaia – the most southerly city in the world- around 4pm. It was cool and damp and had an ‘end of the earth’ feeling with streets in a grid on a hillside and a port area dominated by stacked containers.
I had a top bunk in a mixed dorm of 6 in a hostel which had good WiFi with limited access (bandwidth). Kanchan, Wayne and I went up to the YHA 6 blocks uphill in the rain to select from the available activities for the next day. A boat trip (which may be sail) out to islands in the Beagle Channel to see lots of birds and sealions look good, so we booked it, then Stuart and Linda arrived and joined us.
In the evening we had a lovely meal with mussels and prawns then steak with local beer.
Monday Dec 31st 2012 - Ushuaia
The wind was good and the weather fine, so we had an excellent sail boat trip out to islands in the Beagle Channel, still in Argentine waters. The Chilean border runs down the middle of the Channel so we could see snowy mountains in Chile on the other side. In less than an hour we anchored off the main island and switched to a zodiac (inflatable rubber road with an outboard motor) with the 5 of us and 2 new crew, to zoom across to an island to see sealions, King Cormorants, Turkey Vultures etc. At a second island we saw Rock Cormorants, Steamer-ducks – all close enough to get good photos. Back at the main island we went ashore for an extensive walk being bombed by gulls and skuas. The Upland Geese were especially good. While we were on the walk a barbeque was set up, so we had a super lunch with lots of meat and wine. The full list of birds seen, as well as the sealions is – King Cormorant, Rock Cormorant, Blackish Oystercatcher, Magellanic Oystercatcher, Antarctic Skua, Kelp Goose, Upland Goose, Flightless Steamer-duck, Flying Steamer-duck, Kelp Gull, Dolphin Gull, Crested Duck, Turkey Vulture, Rufous-collared Sparrow and Black-crowned Night-Heron.
We then sailed back to Ushuaia and had ice cream on the walk back to the hostel. I had missed the laundry the day before as it was expensive, but now there was nothing open so I had a shower and washed clothes in the shower hanging then out in the room. In the evening, there were few places to buy food, but Kanchan and I found a deli just closing so got ham, cheese, nuts and wine for a new Year in the hostel.
Tuesday Jan 1st 2013 - Ushuaia
Ushuaia is a nice town in a grid with one long main shopping street with everything especially outdoor shops and eateries, but most things were closed on New Years Day.
In the afternoon, we had an excursion to Tierra del Fuego National Park to the west of town. It would be a great place to spend several day trekking and camping in the forest with lakes and mountains all around. We passed the rugby club on the edge of town and stopped at a little railway which used to run supplies to the prison several miles west. The area was once a penal colony, after most of the indigenous people had been wiped out by the European invaders. We had a couple of short walks in the park and went to the visitors centre which was good for info about the origin Yaghan inhabitants. We also went to the very end of Ruta 3 – The Pan-American Highway.
In the evening Zoë cooked a beef and beans chilli for the group which I washed down with a bottle of local Beagle beer.
Wednesday Jan 2nd 2013 - Ushuaia to Puerto Delgado Bush Camp
We had a fairly long drive day back through Tierra del Fuego with a group shop in Rio Grande. We couldn’t find any good bread in the supermarket for breakfast so got orange cake! After another border crossing back into Chile and the ferry back over the Magellan Straits, we turned left and set up a bush camp near the banks of the Magellan Straits by some derelict houses. There was a shell of an old ship on the banks nearby. I pulled my calf muscle again jumping off the truck.
Thursday Jan 3rd 2013 - Puerto Natales
We were in Puerto Natales for lunch and checked into the Hostal Natales – certainly the best and loveliest hostal we’d seen. It is a very nice tourist town acting as a base for walking in the Torres del Paine National Park. There was a presentation and discussion on the ‘W’ walk at another hostal which was useful, though geared to independent travellers.
During the 4 days of the ‘W’ trek, cook groups had been abandoned, so we had to plan our own meals, though I’d booked full board at the Park Refugios for 3 nights. We also needed extras for the walk, so Kanchan and I went shopping – I’d agreed to walk the ‘W’ trek with her, as she was inexperienced and a bit slow and I had a calf muscle injury, so going at her pace would stop me getting more injured.
In the evening, we had a very nice fish meal near the hostal with Paul and Roxanne.
Friday Jan 4th 2013 – Into Torres del Paine National Park
It took about 4 hours to drive to the park entrance with stops for photos, then down through the park to the campsite on the side of Lago Pehoe. It was a lovely warm sunny day, so we took turns to sit on the roof of the truck – There are 4 seats at the front and 4 at the back on the roof when hatches are opened. Lunch was a veg and pasta soup, which was a good change from sandwiches.
In the afternoon most of us walked down to a waterfall and a lower lake, then while some walked to local hills to get better views of the mountains, K and I sorted out packing for the 4 day walk. We had a super kebab barbeque in the evening.
It was a busy campsite for overland trucks. One Dragoman truck we’d not seen before was already there and Dan and Nadia’s (Cameron) arrived later in the afternoon. The third truck on our route (Elle) would arrive while we were on the ‘W’ walk and there were also Oasis and Toucan trucks around too.
Saturday Jan 5th 2013 – Day 1 of ‘W’ walk
The ‘W’ walk is Torres del Paine National Park is so called because it is in the shape of a ‘W’. Seven from our truck (Wayne, Bob, Tony, Gemma, Marcel, Kanchan and I) and 5 (John, Lara, Dave, Anthea and Dierdra) from Cameron had booked to stay at Refugios or campsites doing the walk from west to east. In addition, the rest of our truck and some from Cameron were doing day walks for some of it. We drove to the Catamaran with lots of time to catch the 9:30 ferry across and around the lake to Paine Grande (at the bottom left of the ‘W’) – 12ARP single, 19ARP return. Those of us with bookings at the Refugio (or campsite) checked-in and left bags in storage for the day. 5 more (Stuart, Tom, Frances, Kate and Sam) managed to hire tents on the day, so they could do days 1 and 2 without going back.
The walk up and alongside Lago Grey was very windy (into the wind), so quite hard work, then it started to rain a bit too. Visibility was not great either so we (slower ones) were unlikely to get to the mirador alongside the glacier. I’d set a time of 3pm for when we should turn around. We had a lunch break in the woods and arrived at Refugio Grey at 2:50, where we had a cup of tea, super plum cake we’d bought in P. Natales and had a chat to Dierdra. There was a mirador with good views of Grey Glacier about 15 minutes walk away, so we broke the 3pm rule to make the walk worthwhile, crossing Tom and Frances just coming back. On the way back it rained quite persistently, so we marched at a good pace with no need to stop for photos arriving back at 7:20pm.
Refugio Lodge Paine Grande is the biggest and the best refugio in the park and the meals were very good. There is plenty of room to hang wet clothes over balconies etc to dry. I’d worn a big quilted coat which did stay dry on the inside, but forgot to pack by waterproof trousers and of course my walking shoes were wet too. I was in a room of 6 which included Dierdra, but also two Americans who snored badly, so about 2am, I moved out to sleep on a settee in the open area.
Sunday Jan 6th 2013 - Day 2 of ‘W’ walk
Breakfast was good and the lunch box contained tuna sandwich, juice, choc and cereal bar, orange and the weather looked dry until we stepped out and the rain started – waterproofs on! It was dull and damp all the way to Camp Italiano (which was closed) though the walk was fairly easy through woods with some views of lakes and mountains. We left one back of gear by the hut at Camp Italiano and I carried the other with our lunch etc. We started up Valle del Frances (the middle of the ‘W’), but soon met Tom and Frances coming down. They’d been up to a mirador an hour or so up and seen enough in the poor weather and were going back to Paine Grande to get the ferry. Their hired tent had collapsed from weight of water in the night so they were not happy. Valle del Frances was rather more challenging for Kanchan with boulders and rocky bits to climb over but she was learning fast. There were good glacier views and the weather was improving a bit, but the peaks to the right were never clear of cloud. We reached a good waterfall and had some small stream crossings, then reached a mirador (at 662m) about half way up to the ultimate mirador. We then met Marcel on his way down – he is a very fit, fast 69 year-old who lives in the Swiss mountains. He had been up to the top and said it was not worth going further as the visibility was too poor. Ten minutes later we found a good spot for lunch near the waterfall.
Back at Italiano, we met Wayne who had camped up at Grey after going further up the Grey Glacier on day 1 and had planned to camp at Italiano after going up Valle del Frances, but it was closed, so he would have to continue on down to Cuernos where we were staying. It stopped raining, so was quite a nice easy walk close to Lago Nordenskjöld. Wayne caught us up near the end complaining how slow we walked, but stayed with us.
We arrived at Refugio Cuernos at 5:05 (8:05 UK time), 10 years since I’d sat by Susie as she died, so I went to the lake for a quiet 20 minutes of thought. I was in a room of 5 with Chilean and Swiss/Bulgarian couples and it was so crowded at the refugio that dinner was being served in shifts. Kanchan, Dierdra and I shared a bottle of wine.
Monday Jan 7th 2013 - Day 3 of ‘W’ walk
Cuernos to Chileno is a nice easy day walk and the weather was much improved being just a bit damp to start with, but the cloud was only clearing slowly from the high mountains behind the refugio and from the main towers of Torres del Paine which gradually came into view later in the day. The wild flowers along the trail were really lovely and plentiful, so we had a botanical morning taking macro shots of the wild flowers then bigger views of the carpets of flowers with lakes and hills in the distance. There were also birds, waterfalls to the left and several streams to cross. There were quite a few trekkers going the opposite way which included a lot of Germans, so finding a good lunch spot at the start of the Chileano short-cut wasn’t easy as they’d bagged all the best spots!
The short-cut was a bit steeper, now more steadily up but still quite delightful, with gradually improving views of the still cloudy towers. K got stuck in the middle of a stream crossing (bad choice of crossing point) which was quite funny.
Refugio El Chileno is by the Rio Ascensio, so deep in the valley with wooded hills and mountains either side. Kanchan and Wayne had tents there and Kate and Sam had also booked tents at short notice at Cuernos and Chileno, so they were now on the full W walk making 9 from the truck. I was in an 8 bed dorm, but at the top about 9 feet up in the air! Clouds were clearing off the mountain, so it was looking good for next morning. Wayne, Kanchan and I decided to set off at 6, while the others were going for the top (viewpoint) at sunrise by leaving at 3:30am!
Tuesday Jan 8th 2013 - Day 4 of ‘W’walk – Torres del Paine
Kanchan and I were last of the group to leave the refugio at 6:10 and I was a bit annoyed as the sunrise was excellent, so getting started before 4am would have been the right thing to do. The bits of breakfast that had been left out for us was poor and we would not get back until proper breakfast was finished, so we had effectively missed breakfast and the best shots (of the whole holiday) by choosing a bad starting time. Good photography is all about being in the right spot at the right time.
My calf muscle was now less of a problem, so I could move quite fast, but kept waiting for Kanchan, who was struggling on this quite steep early morning walk – this was all new to her.
We reached the mirador with just a bit of scrambling just after 8:30 and had a few minutes of fairly clear towers before the clouds started to get in the way. It was a truly spectacular view and location with a glacier, cliff face and lake below the three impressive towers which couldn’t be seen until the last minute. We’d crossed the others on their way down and they’d had blue sky! It was windy and cool, but we hung around up there with a few others for nearly an hour.
On the way down we passed several day walkers from the truck who had walked all the way up from the bottom refugio (Torres) and I was pleased to see that Matt and Zoë were getting a day out and moving fast. We had a break at Chileno, picked up our packs and lunch boxes, then strolled on down to the truck, with the sun now out on the lower slopes, in shorts and T-shirts. Up at the top it was cloudier, however. We got a lift back to camp in Cameron, as our truck (Carmen) would have to wait for Matt, Zoë and day walkers. In the evening, we ducked out of eating from the tins we’d bought and went to the nice restaurant at the camp – this would help use up Chilean currency, as well as being a nice celebration of completing the ‘W’ trek, Kanchan’s first ever trek.
Wednesday Jan 9th 2013 - Calafate
We had an early start and a border crossing back into Argentina during the morning and used up Kanchan’s excessive Chilean currency at the border. I’d run out of Chilean several days before and helped her use hers up, so now owed her 700 Argentinian pesos, which I had locked up in the truck. The Canadian and US members of the group now had to pay for Argentinian visas – a rule change which came into effect on Jan 7th, and it had to be done online, so the internet machine in the shop at the Chilean border was busy.
Five more hours of driving over fairly featureless Patagonia followed in order to get to Calafate where we had dorms of 4 in a YHA. Calafate is a nice touristy town as it is the gateway to the Perito Moreno Glacier, and we spent about an hour strolling around in the evening before selected a place for quite a nice meal. Later I stayed up very late to catch up on my notes.
Thursday Jan 10th 2013 – Calafate – Perito Moreno Glacier
The Perito Moreno Glacier in clear sunny warm weather is breath-taking and certainly the highlight of South America so far. Trucks are not allowed in the National Park so we had an organised coach tour to take us the 50 miles there. There was a brief stop at an estancia, then a one hour walk along the lake with the glacier in sight. The coach then took us up to the top of the hill opposite the amazing glacier and we had 2 hours to walk along ‘the balconies’ – a series of board walks set up on the slopes opposite the stunning head of the glacier, which is 3 miles long and an average of 200ft high. It was quite busy with everyone hoping to see some calving – chunks of glacier falling and crashing into the water. We saw several small bits, and one fairly large piece – always too slow to catch on camera. The glacier was very photogenic especially with some really interesting cloud formations. Many of us in the group did the boat trip too – an hour mostly on the roof up quite close to the glacier.
After such a spectacular day, five of us were happy to just have pizza in a bar.
Friday Jan 11th 2013 - El Calafate to El Chalten
After Cook Group shopping in a big supermarket on the edge of Calafate, we had just a 3 hour drive to the north part of Los Glaciares National Park, with the weather now good and settled. El Chalten calls itself the trekking capital of Argentina (or even South America) and first views of the Monte Fitzroy group of mountains approaching town were impressive.
Wayne and Kanchan decided that they wanted to trek for 2.5 (short) days staying in campsites in the park, so I helped her hire a tent from a local shop. They set off carrying quite heavy loads with tents, sleeping bags, thermarests and food, but no cooking gear. I decided that I’d rather do two long day walks – fast and light.
The camp in El Chalten was very busy with no view of the mountains, but I took a walk down the fairly expensive one main street tourist town, found a turn off which went over a bridge to the other side of the river where there were good views of the mountain tops. I then walked back along the river bank to camp. At night it was noisy with locals playing guitars and singing until 4am.
Saturday Jan 12th 2013 - El Chalten – Glaciares National Park Big Walk
I woke just after 5 and was dressed and out of the tent in minutes to walk along the river and over the bridge to a little mound from which Monte Fitzroy was visible and a lovely shade of pink at sunrise. Later I discovered that Marcel was on the clifftop above me!
After some breakfast and packed lunch making, I set off at 7:40, but it took some time to find the start of the path to Lago Torre and Camp Agostini. The going was fairly easy uphill and I was moving quickly so soon got warm. By Mirador Torre it was clear and sunny with god views of Cerro Torre and Rio Fitzroy. It was a beautiful walk through woods and bushes with clear mountain views. I met Wayne and Kanchan 15 minutes from Camp Agostini – they were fine and K had done everything herself on her first ever overnight trek and they’d been to Mir. Maestri early.
Just outside the camp I turned off to Mir. Maestri meeting Stuart. From Bounds Green (N London) travelling independently (with girlfriend still in tent) and we walked together up and along the glacial moraine rubble to the viewpoint. Lago Torre is a grey lake fed from Glacier Grande, which is not large compared to Perito Moreno but is still picturesque. I reached the mirador in 3 hours rather than the 4 hours on the map, so was going well.
After a short-cut via ‘Thor Wood’ camp I turned north onto a harder uphill path which led to Lago Hija and Lago Madre meeting Marcel going the opposite way. I stopped for lunch by Lago Madre with Mt Fitzroy and accompanying spires shining down into the lake – a beautiful spot and super warm sunny weather. After a visit to Camp Poincenot, I took the direct route back to El Chalten via Lago Capri, a pretty lake with mountain views. I started sneezing – a cold coming! I completed the 12 hour walk in 9 hours and bought ice cream and a large beer on the way to camp.
Sunday Jan 13th 2013 - El Chalten & walk 2
I now had a streaming cold but decided I must do the planned shorter walk to see the best of Monte Fitzroy. Robert Fitzroy, who the mountain is named after was Captain of the Beagle and a close friend of Charles Darwin. Their voyage around South America through the Beagle Channel (Ushuaia) and up to the Galapagos and Darwin’s study of the variations in the birds and animals led to Darwin’s famous book ‘The Origin of the Species’. Fitzroy was a prominent meteorologist and made huge improvements in weather forecasting which led to the Shipping Forecast in the UK. He was also Governor of New Zealand from 1843 to 1845.
I got a 50 peso bus with Stuart to El Pillar, a hostel to the north east of Camp Poincenot. We then had a nice walk through woods along the Rio Blanco, with views of glaciers across the river. From Camp Poincenot the path crosses the river, then it is steep uphill for an hour to get to the high point above Lago Tres. We saw Wayne near the bottom and Kanchan 15 minutes later. The views from the top are wonderful with Monte Fitzroy and associated spires, Lago Tres and glaciers joining the two. The walk continues down to the lake and left to waterfalls flowing out of the lake and views of a deep green lake some way below. I walked around up there for an hour including having lunch. Except for the bad cold it was a lovely day, so I was slower with less energy. I plodded back to La Chalten at a steady pace.
I got Wayne to take on my cook group chores as I shouldn’t be preparing food for the group with a streaming cold.
Monday Jan 14th 2013 - El Chalten to Rada Tilly
We had a 5am start as it was a very long drive day, stopping around 8:30 for breakfast, then at Puerto San Julian in mid-morning to shop for lunch and for the next 2 days.
All three trucks went to the camp site at Rada Tilly, a few miles short of Comodoro Rivadavia. While dinner was being prepared there was a huge thunderstorm which turned the soft clay into a muddy sludge. Some tents were waterlogged (Bob, Kate, Sam) so they slept in the truck. Locals were playing guitars and singing all night AGAIN. In Patagonia, there are thousands of miles of nothing, yet we have to camp at one of the few places that are noisy!!!
Tuesday Jan 15th 2013 - Rada Tilly to Camerones (Bush Camp)
This was a much shorter drive day with an excursion to a Magallanic Penguin colony on the cape near Camerones (NP Cabo Dos Barbias). They were quite amusing and there were quite a lot of fairly big chicks. The bush camp, which we set up about 4pm was in the park above a beach of kelp and rocks and had nice views of the coastline. I had a stroll among the rocks and saw several birds – kelp gulls, oyster catchers, grebes, Antarctic tern, steamer-ducks. In the evening the mist rolled in, so there were no late strolls along the beach.
Wednesday Jan 16th 2013 - Camerones to Puerto Madryn
More driving up the RN3 to Trelew – now in the Welsh towns – where we stopped for a big cook group shop to get us through to Buenos Aires. Bob and Sam decided on a chicken curry for our group (on Friday), so I got the cereal and bread for Saturday morning. We’d made our sandwich lunch at breakfast time, so ate this near Trelew too. Next we took a side detour to what was described as a typical Welsh town (Gaiman) where we could get cream tea. It didn’t look like much as a town (which may be typical for Wales) and the cream tea option seemed to be rather expensive, a tourist rip-off, so several of us ducked out of it and went to find ATM and ice cream. The Puerto Madryn campsite was near the beach and busy, especially as all 3 trucks were there.
Thursday Jan 17th 2013 - Puerto Madryn – Valdes Peninsula excursion
With the exception of Gemma (diving), Sam and Elke, we had an excursion in the truck with an informative guide to the Valdes Peninsula to see sealions, elephant seals, magallanic penguins and one armadillo. We were out from 9am to 5pm driving about 400km so it was a lot of driving to see not very much.
The elephant seals were all females as the males do not come ashore until February and they were just dozing. The big sealion colony on the beach with giant petrels flying overhead was quite active and noisy. There were lots of newborn sealions and the females are ready to mate again in 5 days (they have 2 uteri). At the last stop we saw a sealion giving birth and young ones struggling to get up steep rocks and often falling back in the water.
Back at camp, I had a good 5 mile run along the beach.
Friday Jan 18th 2013 - Puerto Madryn to Oriente (Bush Camp)
We had a 5:30 start (on the road) as the objective was to do a long drive day up the RN3 and find a bush camp, so it was a day to read on the truck. In late afternoon, some time after going through Bahia Blanca, we turned off right aiming for the beach near Oriente. The town by the beach was called Baineario Oriente, but it now has a new name. However, the beach was busy and windy, so Mat and Zoë to seek an alternative. A few miles inland we made camp in a nice spot on the banks of a river. Our cook group (Bob, Sam and I) made a chicken curry with lots of veg and the spices available in the truck. My main job was to strip and chop up the chickens – 5 breasts, which were not boned, after I’d chopped some of the veg. Bob looked after the cooking, and it was good.
Saturday Jan 19th 2013 - Buenos Aires
With another 5:30 start, we managed to get into Buenos Aires around 3pm. The outskirts of BA were a bit slow, but the centre was amazingly quiet – siesta time. Buenos Aires has wide main streets and surprisingly light traffic. The main centre is fairly small with the port and parks further out. We stayed in a very central hotel, which was a bit tatty but cheap. I shared a room with Marcel and Stuart. The Wifi was poor, so it was better to go to a café around the corner to get email, and the Carrefour supermarket opposite was very useful.
In the evening, 6 of us found an excellent Asturian restaurant a few blocks away, where 5 of us shared a very good paella.
Sunday Jan 20th 2013 - Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is a very European city with wide main streets and a newly redeveloped port area. Puerto Madero on the other side of the port has new high rise flats and offices, with a nature/bird reserve beyond that out to the La Plata estuary. In the northern suburbs around Palermo, there is a line of parks.
Argentina as a whole is 98% European with very few indigenous Indians who tend to live in the Andes in Bolivia and Peru or the jungles of Brazil. There are actually more people in Argentina of Italian descent than Spanish, with British, German and French and other Europeans in big numbers too and the country is ENORMOUS.
In Buenos Aires, all of the main sites are within easy walking distance – Casa Rosada (Presidential Palace), Cathedral, Plaza de Mayo (City Square), Ave de Mayo, Obelisk, Palacio del Congreso, so I walked around them in a few hours. The tube system (Subte) is good and cheap, but fairly old and the most authentic ‘A’ line was closed until March 8 for works.
I went to a café nearby with good wifi to check emails and skype, then found Stuart, Tom and Frances in a pizza place. My pizza was too much to eat, so I took a doggy bag and gave to a guy sleeping on the street.
During the day, Paul had his wallet stolen in a typical tourist attack – one throws powder on your back, then others come to help you clean it off, but rob you in the process. Nilo has a similar experience, but just carried on walking.
Monday Jan 21st 2013 - Buenos Aires
Stuart and I walked to the Nature Reserve beyond Puerto Madero, but it was closed on Monday – my book said sunrise to sunset daily. On the way back walking through San Telmo, I got some smelly mayonnaise dropped on me from an upstairs window (tourist salad). Stu heard a guy shout ‘hey’ – no doubt an accomplice ready to ‘help’ clean me up and try to rob me, but we just kept walking. I cleaned up back at the hotel, then we took the ‘D’ line metro (only 2.5 pesos or 35p per journey) out to Plaza Italia and had a stroll around the Botanical Gardens, and sat on a bench and had lunch. From there we strolled more (it was hot and Stu only plods anyway) through several pleasant small parks to Ricoleta Cemetery – a catholic cemetery containing large family vaults and mausoleums – where we found an Eva Perron plaque. Stu has become addicted to Freddo ice cream, so we had to have a large one each on the walk back. In the evening, there was a drum show, which I skipped, then a group meal near the Obelisk which only half the group turned up to, as the newbies just joining the group failed to find it and others didn’t make it. Group dynamics on the truck in the last few weeks has deteriorated, so this was hardly a surprise. Bob left during the day without a goodbye to many of us.
Tuesday Jan 22nd 2013 - Buenos Aires – Excursion to Uruguay
Eight of us plus Nilo from truck 1 took a day trip to Uruguay. Kanchan and Wayne had done the investigating and booking on Sunday, so at 6am we walked from the hotel to the south end of the port. However, we had some difficulty in locating the Colonia Express check-in office which was on a busy duel carriageway. The seacat took over an hour to cross the wide Rio de la Plata to Colonia, which was originally a Portuguese settlement in the 17th century, which the Spanish took over.
It was a lovely peaceful place with old houses, lighthouse, church and square with good views out to sea/estuary and a beach of rocks, bushes and flowers. I spent a while taking photos of butterflies and birds on the shrubbery and rocks. The restaurants and cafes were quite expensive, but later I saw Kanchan and Wayne and we found an okay place.
On the way back I decide to split from the group and truck, which would now be extremely crowded with 21 on board up to Iguazu and on to Rio and take the luxury coach on my own excursion to Iguazu. With Matt’s help (for Dragoman discount) I booked 3 nights single for my last days in BA next week – it wasn’t a great hotel, but was central and cheap. I then went to Retiro (the main station in BA) to book at the lovely new smart coach station. There are so many coach companies doing journeys all over Argentina, but I’d done some research, so had a short list. I found the Expreso Singer desk and booked to go the next evening and got a 20% discount – not sure why, either for booking direct (no agent) or because I am old!
I had a final little goodbye meal with Kanchan, though I’d be seeing the group in Iguazu anyway.
Wednesday Jan 23rd – Buenos Aires and coach out
I saw the truck off at 7:30 then repacked. I could now travel light as I wouldn’t need camping gear and sleeping back, so could leave my big bag at the hotel. By 11 I’d booked 3 nights in a hostel in Iguazu – single room, I’d spent so many nights in the last 4 months in tents or sharing rooms. I felt relieved to be independent again.
I took an afternoon walk in the steaming heat to the parks up near Retiro – a big British Big Ben type monument fairly close to a new memorial to the fallen in the Malvinas (Falklands) war, then I continued to the north port area.
The very smart coach to Iguazu left at 7pm. I’d booked a ‘cama’ seat which lay back a long way and they are big leather seats with room for small bags beneath the seat. Very comfortable and we were served an airline type meal at 8:30. On the way out of town there are lots of container yards and I saw several from GESeaco to give me a smile.
Thursday Jan 24th 2013 - Puerto Iguazu
During the morning, various people got off the coach, so there were only a few of us left when it reached Puerto Iguazu after 19 hours. It was steaming hot and must have been over 35°C. My hostel was only 2 blocks from the bus station, but Camp Americana, where the truck would be was about 2 miles back up the road.
I had an afternoon stroll, but after getting ¼ kilo of ice cream for 19 pesos and walking about a mile west, towards a view of Paraguay, I gave up because of the steaming heat and walked back to the hostel and had a dip in the pool. Puerto Iguazu is quite an extensive (tourist) town and is 15km (10 miles) from the falls. It has lots of hostels, hotels and eateries, lots of buses and coaches and is quite undulating. In the evening, I found a barbeque place and had the fish, which was large and good with salad and a litre of beer. At the hostel, my own room has a double bed, 2 singles and en-suite bathroom – a nice change from camping and dorms for most of the last 2 months.
Friday Jan 25th 2013 - Iguazu Falls (Argentine side)
It rained hard around 8am, so I was in no rush to get out. Breakfast was fairly basic – bread, jam, coffee. There are frequent buses to Iguazu Park, so I was there by 10am, then found that it cost 130 pesos to get in, but I only had 129, so I paid is US dollars instead. It is quite an extensive park with some shops and eateries initially and a little train which runs to the far end. I walked the Green Trail through a section of jungle towards the falls. This area of Argentina is certainly mostly jungle after the vast plains of the Pampas in mid-Argentina and the windswept wastes of Patagonia in the south.
At the falls, I took the Upper Trail first, which is a series of boards just above the extensive line of waterfalls. To the right, the river is a mix of little jungly islands and shallow rivers speeding up as they approach the great falls. On the left, the tops of waterfalls roar and there are great views to the river way below, or along the line of waterfalls for a mile or so – and that is just the main Argentine part of the falls. It is amazing for its shear width – wider than Niagara or Victoria, but not as high. The Upper Trail was fairly busy, but the congestion on the little paths was much worse on the Lower Trail, where children and slow moving unfit locals clogged the paths. At the viewpoints on the Lower Trail, the falls were more photogenic, but the spray kept body and camera cooler and damp. I took the boat across to Isla San Martin, which is included in the price of the park entry. It was much quieter there probably due to the warning of the steep long steps, but it was a great opportunity to get up closer to the biggest part of the (Argentine) falls, then have a quieter walk through the jungle and stop for lunch at an empty bench. As I got my sandwiches out, a 2 foot iguana came out onto the path and wandered towards me, hoping to share my lunch.
After Isla San Martin, I decided to do the speedboat adventure and met Marcel, Tom, Frances and Stuart in the queue. We were going to get wet, so everyone is given a large dry bag. It wasn’t large enough to take the frame of my daypack, so I transferred everything out and into the dry bag, except small camera (which I’d use), and also took my top off as I put a lifebelt on. At first we zoomed up the Brazilian side of Isla San Martin until we were fairly close to one of the bigger falls – to take photos. Next the boat went back downstream and around to the most powerful of the falls next to the Argentine side of Isla San Martin - again for photos. The crew then put on their wetsuits and told us to put cameras away. The speedboat was then taken right up to the falls and we all got wet, which was actually great fun. We returned to the first set of falls and got wet again.
Next, I strolled up to the Central Station in soaked trousers, but when it is about 37C they soon dry.
The train went to Gargantua station and I found Kanchan, Wayne and Itsuki nearby waiting to start a raft ride (environmental adventure). There is a long walkway (probably over half a mile) across the river, which is very wide at this point. On the walkway, there are views of the sluggish river a mile or so above the falls, butterflies, crocodiles, big fish, flowers, plants and birds. The walkway goes up to the ‘Devils Throat’ or Gangantua Falls through which the Argentina-Brazil border runs, with the final viewpoint hovering over the most powerful part of the Iguazu Falls. This part is half a mile or so upstream from the long line of the Argentine falls I’d seen first, as it is cutting into the rock more strongly. Just before the dramatic ‘Devils Throat’, I’d seen a cormorant catching and eating a catfish and managed to video most of the action.
I then took the Environmental raft ride downstream, which was very peaceful. We saw a Ringed Kingfisher, Plumbeous Kite, Toucan and numerous Anis.
Back in Puerto Iguazu, I booked a trip to Brazil and Paraguay for the next day for 220 pesos, then after a quick meal near the hostel, I took a bus out to Camping Americana. Eventually I found the truck and many of the group sitting around one of the new guys who sang and played guitar. I had a final drink with my colleagues and settled money with Matt, who owed me some dollars, then walked back to the hostel, which was farther than I’d thought. It had been a good day.
Saturday Jan 26th 2013 - Iguazu, Brazil and Paraguay
I had breakfast at the bakery near the bus station, as it was an early start. I met Simon there – all other passengers were getting picked up at their hotels. Simon is a German PhD biology student and keen birder who is on his way to Antarctica for a 6 week study, mainly on Storm Petrels. I had the best field guide on Argentine birds, so we teamed up. Most of the other passengers were Spanish speakers. The minibus of 17 filled up, then we handed the driver/leader our passports. These were required for exit from Argentina, but were not required for Brazil or Paraguay, where the drivers list was good enough – so no stamps in the passport!
At the Brazilian Iguassu Falls Park, there were huge queues to get in – some problem with shuttle buses. Our Brazilian guide was called Isaia and we all wore a badge with his name on. Eventually we got through and took a shuttle bus to the main area of the falls. The views of the extensive Argentinian falls were better from a big view perspective than the day before. At a café, the coatis were all over the place climbing into bins etc. The Brazilian part of the Iguassu falls close to the bank are much more powerful than the extensive Argentine falls, and a walkway below them was busy with people trying to take photos as they got soaked by the spray. We met up again with our guide at the top of a tower next to the falls where views were very good without the spray.
We left the park and stopped at a huge restaurant on the way to the Paraguay border. It was an ‘all you can eat’ buffet and was very extensive, and all included in the price of the trip. Next it was over the Parana river to Paraguay where we were dropped off by an electrical shop and told we’d meet again in an hour, so have a look around the shops. Paraguay, or Ciudad de L’Este was a bit of a dump, with shops and stalls all over the place and lots of electrical and camera shots. Simon and I walked around unenthusiastically for an hour – I bought a bottle of Fanta and paid in Argentinian pesos. However, it wasn’t the end of Paraguay. We next went to the headquarters of Itaipu, a big hydroelectric power plant of which Paraguay are very proud. First we saw a film – in Spanish, then got on a bus and drove to the plant which is to the north of Ciudad de L’Este. Again, the guide only spoke Spanish, but it was a very impressive scheme with a big dam across the Parana river and a big line of hydro-electric turbines on the Brazilian side of the river, with overflow shutes on the Paraguay side. The project was a joint Paraguay-Brazil scheme and we drove all around it, so were actually in Paraguay for over 4 hours.
Simon and I agreed to meet up next morning for a bird watching walk in the local jungle.
Sunday Jan 27th 2013 - Puerto Iguazu
I met Simon at 7am and we walked a mile or so to ‘600 Hectares’, a jungle area just outside town. He had a large backpack containing only his camera and binoculars - a large Cannon camera and a huge 500mm zoom lens, but he did get super results. I was struggling with a damaged 300mm zoom taking most shots with manual focus. We did see numerous birds, the best of which was a Blond-crested Woodpecker and a Toucan. I had to get back for a late breakfast and to check-out.
Later, I took a bus to Güira Oga, an animal and bird rescue centre which was just beyond Camping Americana. It was guided trips only and I missed an English one by 20 minutes, so joined a Spanish guided tour. The birds and animals were in cages, so it was a good opportunity to see some of them at close quarters. Toucans, parrots, birds of prey, monkeys, capybaras, tortoises etc
The Jardin de los Picaflores was only a few hundred yards from the hostel, but it took me a while to find it. It was a super little garden (opens from 3:30 only) with lots of hummingbirds flying around the feeders and in the trees. There were also Bananaquits and Saffron Yellow-finches. We sat there for over an hour watching, photographing and videoing the activity, but I then had to leave to get my bus back to Buenos Aires. The hummingbirds were just fantastic.
Jan 28th to Jan 31st - Buenos Aires
The coach back to Buenos Aires took nearly 20 hours, and although it is very comfortable it is still quite tiring, so by the evening I could only be bothered to walk around the corner to a pizza place which was not that good.
On Tuesday morning I walked out to the Nature Reserve beyond Puerto Modero and was surprised that it only opened at 8am, rather than ‘sunrise’ which my book said. It was 8:05 however and already getting quite hot. There were numerous runners in the park, which was not surprising. A mile from the start, I found a seat facing out to sea and stopped for a break. A few minutes later a hummingbird zoomed passed to nearby flowers, but soon disappeared again then an iguana crawled out of the undergrowth. There were other birds flitting about too, so I got the camera out and focussed it ready for the return of the hummingbird. It was a lovely spot with ferries and container ships leaving harbour a mile away, and the hummingbird did eventually return, though I could only get a quick shot. Later, outside the park, I checked through the bird book – I’d seen numerous Red-crested Cardinals. After putting washing in the laundry, I went to a Chinese Restaurant which I’d seen earlier. It was good and a nice change from the limited Argentinian options.
On Wednesday morning I had a 6 mile run down to and around the Nature Reserve, but with the temperature getting up to 37°C didn’t go far during the day. For my final evening meal in Argentina, I went back to the Asturian Restaurant and chose a salad, which included lots of big prawns.
When I checked out of the hotel on Thursday, the choice was debit card at 320 pesos a night or cash at 280, so I nipped out to the ATM to save £16. I did have a walk around, but it was a public holiday, so most places were closed. The last few days had been a bit quiet, but I’d had time to myself.
Thursday June 13th 2013 – Honiton to Edale
I drove the car up to Richmond and parked the car in the garage. I had booked trains from Richmond to Edale which was only £23 with a Senior Railcard. I’d also booked all my accommodation from Edale through to Kirk Yetholm for the 17 day walk and had booked and paid (£198!) for my large bag to be transferred from one place to the next while I was walking. My back, knees and legs are no longer strong enough to carry all I would need for the trip and it would not be enjoyable walking if I tried it. 4 years ago, I tried to carry everything on the West Highland Way, but succumbed to using a baggage transfer company after 3 days.
The train from St Pancras to Sheffield was smooth and fast with stops only at Leicester, Derby and Chesterfield – 2 hours 5 minutes in total. Within 10 minutes of arriving, the little stopping train to Manchester via the Hope Valley was on its way. There had been some heavy showers on the way up north, but now it was just grey, cool and breezy as the train chugged into the Peak District. Only 3 of us got off at Edale – a bare little station of 2 platforms with a couple of buildings visible through the bushes and significant hills to north and south, but no sign of Edale village. With a 17kg bag and a daypack I was glad that I’d booked the Rambler Inn – the closest building to the station rather than the YHA, about 2 miles away, or Ollerton Barn about a mile to the north east.
I took a stroll up to the pretty little village, and walked through the Nags Head to check out the food etc. I was busier than the Rambler and looked more interesting, but I returned to my room where there was free wifi, and had drinks and food at the Rambler.
Friday June 14th 2013 – Edale to Crowden (17 miles)
After a brief stop in the village café for a roll (for lunch), I was onto the real Pennine Way, gently uphill across fields initially. Jacobs Ladder after about 2 miles is a fairly steep climb rising out of the green of the fields around Edale to the rocks, crags and heather of the Kinder Scout Moor. With a height of only 636 metres and a flattish boggy plateau, it can’t be called a mountain, but it is quite rugged and exposed. I did a short detour to the Trig point on Kinder Low, but it was on top of a rock, so I couldn’t give it a hug! It was now raining gently after a dry start, and became a long steady shower for well over an hour, along the escarpment edge, with views down to Kinder reservoir, then across about 2 miles of bog where flagstones have been laid to reach the road at Snake Pass. Flagstones, airlifted onto the boggy parts of the Pennine Way during the 1990’s originate from disused mills in the surrounding valleys. On this section I was moving fast over the flagstones and passed 2 ladies (Val and Pauline) that I met several times in the next few days. At one point a Red Grouse chick crossed the path in front of me, then rushed off to find the rest of its family and there were Curlews flying around and squawking with the long curved beaks.
At Snake Pass, the rain stopped and I had lunch. Val and Pauline caught me up at the next high point, Bleaklow Head as I stopped to watch and photograph Meadow Pipits, which were to become a very common site on this trip. We walked together for a mile or so, but I was going 2 miles further, so pushed on, then the rain started again. By the time I’d got down to Torside and the reservoir, I realised that my coat was about as waterproof as an old sock, as it was soaked on the inside, as was my shirt, my OS map and me, but the rain persisted all the way to Crowden.
The Youth Hostel at Crowden is a new Outdoor Training Centre a few hundred yards back from the road where the original YHA had been. At 5pm, I was their first customer of the day and was allocated a good 4 berth room all to myself. An Australian couple move in next door, then later about 25 teenagers on Duke of Edinburgh scheme arrived from South London.
Saturday June 15th 2013 – Crowden to Standedge (13 miles)
It was a dry day with some sunshine, initially uphill to Blackchew Head with good view back to Crowden and reservoirs. Some sections, especially up and over Black Hill, had flagstones over the boggy areas, while other parts were along river banks. After crossing the A635 which comes up from Holmfirth (Last of the Summer Wine Country), there is a section on a wide track along reservoirs, with some of the Duke of Edinburgh kids heading south after being dropped off near Standedge. I stopped for late lunch in a lovely spot where the Pennine Way dropped into a valley to cross a little river. It was only a few more miles to Standedge where I booked into The Carriage House – a good pub just along the A62 with a campsite containing several campervans.
Sunday June 16th 2013 – Standedge to Jack Bridge (nr Hebden Bridge) (18 miles)
It rained overnight, but amazingly it did not rain all day. This is a narrow section of the Pennines between industrial towns in Yorkshire and Lancashire, so there are several road crossings including the M62 and there were more weekend walkers around too. It was also further than previous days, so I walked fast, averaging 5km per hour through to my lunch stop at Stoodley Pike. This did include a nice scenic section along Blackstone edge then a very flat smooth track past several reservoirs after crossing the A58 (Rochdale to Halifax). There is a great view from The Stoodley Pike monument, with the Calder Valley containing Todmorden and the Rochdale canal below, Hebden Bridge to the east and the continuation of the Pennine Way up to Heptonstall Moor to the north. Mankinholes YHA is just below. When I reached the canal and the road, I found that there was a bus into Hebden Bridge in 10 minutes. The town was busy with people enjoying a sunny Sunday afternoon and a brass band display, so I found an ATM (but only took out £50), a café for tea and an outdoor shop to buy a new waterproof coat, leaving my old one in the shop. I rejoined the Pennine Way by strolling back along the canal, meeting Val and Pauline coming into town. It was a fairly steep climb up through Mytholm then across fields to find my B&B near Jack Bridge. It was 8pm by the time I strolled across to the New Delight Inn to find food. ‘Are you still doing food?’. ‘No, not after 6 on a Sunday’ was Waynes (the landlord) reply. ‘I’ve been walking all day and I have not eaten!’ Wayne thought of a few options, then suggested that I order a pizza from Hebden Bridge which they would delivery to the pub, which I duly did.
Monday June 17th 2013 – Jack Bridge to Cowling (14 miles)
On the way back to rejoining the Pennine Way, down a little lane with a warning to drivers that this was not the way to Hebden Bridge and to ignore their satnav, I realised that I’d left my stick at Riverdene (B&B), but decided to continue then loop back from Colden after the little river crossing. The Brigantes man was already there collecting my luggage when I arrived and my new Suunto GPS watch had gone mad and said I’d already done 36km at 100km/hr, so I turned it off and restarted it. I then detoured via May’s shop (half a mile away) to buy a sandwich for lunch as there would be nowhere else on the way. A few miles into the walk, I caught up with Val and Pauline who had started out early, though they were stopping at Ponden. It was a day of reservoirs and moors and a very good day for birds. Meadow Pipits and Curlews were now very common, and Lapwings and Oyster Catchers would now become regular walking companions with their ‘peewit’ and loud ‘kleep kleep’ calls. A Willow Warbler hopping around near me was a treat and later in the day on the moors a duckling scurrying through the undergrowth came up close and cheeped at me. Hope it was okay – it needed its mother. Also saw Mistle Thrush, Chaffinch, Wren, Swallows, Common Sandpiper, Yellow and Pied Wagtails. Top Withins is a brick monument on the Withins Heights above Haworth which inspired ‘Wuthering Heights’. After quite a long slog across Ickornshaw Moor, I missed the track and took the longer road route into Cowling. Arriving at Winterhouse Barn, I was immediately warned that Monday was not a good day to arrive in Cowling as the chippy and curry house were both closed, but a lift was on offer to take 2 other guests and myself down to a pub with good food a couple of miles away. Jonathan and Jill were Brits who had emmigrated to New Zealand and were back for 6 weeks to do the Pennine Way from North to South and visit their 3 daughters. After a good meal in the Dog and Gun, we got a taxi back up the hill.
Tuesday June 18th 2013 – Cowling to Malham (19 miles)
Breakfast at 7 as we had long walks ahead today, with lovely warm sunshine for most of the day. After a couple of little climbs early on, I was soon dropping down into Thornton-in-Craven then over another hill to the Leeds Liverpool Canal, where I stopped for tea and Lemon Meringue Pie in East Marton. It was then an easy stroll to Gargrave for a longish lunch stop including getting money, food and other provisions. ATMs are a rare sight on the Pennine Way and B&Bs and some shops only take cash, so I withdrew more than usual. It was another super day for birds, especially along the river in the last 3 miles to Malham, where I stopped to watch a Redstart family then 10 minutes later a Dipper in the river. Also saw Garden Warbler, Blackbird, Crow, Sklylarks, Blue Tit, House Sparrow, Goldfinch, Starling, Mallard, Swift, Black-Headed Gull, Great Tit, Pheasant to add to Mondays list. I had a brief chat with Derek as I passed him and also passed Edward and Sophie with their dog – I’d see them a lot in the next few days. Malham is a lovely little place and Beck Hall a nice little hotel by the river. I’d tried to book at the YHA, but there were lots of noisy kids there.
Wednesday June 19th 2013 – Malham to Horton-in-Ribblesdale (16 miles)
After a good big breakfast, I plodded up to Malham Cove slowly. There was no need to get to the top of Malham Cove early as the Peregrine watch area was not open until 10:30, and as usual it was a case of a big full English breakfast followed by steep uphills. Malham Cove is a fascinating place with curved limestone cliffs and a limestone pavement on top, from where I could hear and see a young Peregrine Falcon squawking loudly and parent feeding it. I sat and watched for a while before continuing up a narrow valley known as Watlowes, where there were Wheatear – a striking finch size bird, dark on top, light below with a white head with a strong black eye stripe. A stretch of open ground leads to Malham Tarn – a lake one km square. An unusual site here was a small dog on a lead being chased and hassled by a sheep. A long meandering uphill section over Fountains Fell leads to a pass with a view of Pen-y-ghent. 2 Dutchmen, who I’d see a lot more later, were at the pass having lunch. I continued for half an hour, then sat at the roadside in Silverdale to have my lunch. It was a lovely clear day for the walk up and over Pen-y-ghent, 34 years since I was last there. The Pen-y-ghent café is a must for any Pennine Way walker – a large mug of tea, cake, maps for the next sections and sign the Pennine Way book. I’d booked in the Golden Lion Hotel, half a mile out of town, which was not a good choice. It is large, but largely empty, though they will do okay from walkers who camp in the sites nearby. The room was fine with sun blazing in the window, and the radiator worked, so I got some washing done in the shower, before going into the centre of Horton and The Crown, where all other walkers were, including some doing the Three Peaks. It was a lively evening with Derek (63), the Dutch guys, Gerd and Hans (both 69) and a family who came in having completed the 3 Peaks.
Thursday June 20th 2013 – Horton-in-Ribblesdale to Hardraw (15 miles)
There were 76 places for breakfast in the Golden Lion, but I was alone – the only guest – and it was mediocre, so not to be recommended. Most of the walk to Hawes is on drovers tracks, some claimed to be roman roads, used to transport goods by horse and cart, so simple navigation, though I missed a turn off coming down into Hawes and cut across to rejoin the PW. I’d walked some of the route with Derek and some with Hans and Gerd and there were good views of Wernside, Ingleborough and the Ribblehead Viaduct, while Golden Plovers were an addition to the lovely scenery. Hawes is a busy and popular town with numerous pubs and shops, but no USB to mini-USB cable was available to charge my video camera, so I continued on. I’d booked the Green Dragon in Hardraw, a couple of miles further on and had a lovely room at the end of their block of rooms (outside). I had a stroll up to Hardraw Force – a high but quite small waterfall in the grounds of the pub. It was quite a busy pub with good food and good beer.
Friday June 21st 2013 – Hardraw to Tan Hill (15 miles)
It is a 5 mile uphill plod on open moorland to the top of Great Shunner Fell. Lowish cloud was gradually lifting and Golden Plovers chirped and kept 50 yards away from me. The descent leads into the little village of Thwaite and a nice tea house attached to a hotel. Edward and Sophie were there having camped near Hawes and then started earlier. Although I’d had a good breakfast, the menu was very tempting, so I ordered tea and a cheese and bacon ciabatta. 10 minutes later Hans, Gerd and Derek appeared outside and soon came in to avoid a little shower. Ed and Sophie departed, so we had 4 old men in a café in Yorkshire having a laugh and joke in ‘Last of the Summer Wine’ fashion. The route from Thwaite to Keld goes around the side of Kisdon Hill, with lovely views back to Thwaite and the beautiful fields full of wild flowers, before a rougher section over stones and scree. Gerd and Hans had booked to stay in Keld, where they had been before when doing the Coast to Coast, so it was a short day for them. Crossing the bridge near Keld, there was another Dipper on a rock. The rain held off and the sky cleared as Derek and I continued on up to Tan Hill. The Tan Hill Inn is an amazing place – a popular and busy pub on top of a hill in the middle of remote moorland. I got chatting to Peter and Suzanne outside in the sun, though there was a cool breeze. Peter had been in the forces and done some impressive climbs, but got pulmonary oedema at Camp 2 on Everest, and was lucky to survive, blind in one eye. Ed and Sophie were camping outside the pub, Derek’s wife had driven over from Hartlepool so they had a room and I was in a bunkhouse room over the pub. I expected to be the only one in the 6 bed bunkroom. There was a 40th birthday party group there with various musical instruments, so it was quite jolly. Later one of the birthday group moved into the bunkroom too. It was a lovely clear evening too with almost no clouds for mid-summer evening.
Saturday June 22nd 2013 – Tan Hill to Langdon Beck (28 miles)
Breakfast was not supposed to start until 8:30, but I was there just after 8 and left with Ed and Sophie just after 9 as it was going to be a long day and it was already starting to rain. A downhill start across lovely soft bouncy moor was a treat, so I was moving fast – 1st km in about 8:30 and averaging 5km per hour for most of the day. The rain became persistent, so there was no point in stopping for views or photographs. After a tunnel under the A66 (Penrith to Scotch Corner), there was more soft open undulating moorland, which would have been lovely on a clear day. I made a couple of navigational errors by not checking the book, but soon corrected. There were several reservoirs to go around which gave some focus and I pushed on with nothing but water until about 2:30 when I had some chocolate (1 square at a time slowly). Eventually Middleton-in-Teesdale came into view below and soon I found a nice café for tea and cake for a half hour break. I was nearly a 1 mile out of Middleton when I realised that I’d left my stick in the café, so turned around and went back catching Ed and Sophie as I got to the café. The tea and cake had refreshed me so I marched along the path by the side of the River Tees, quite happy that I still had about 7 miles to go though it was about 4pm. Low Force is a series of small falls and rapids on the Tees, with a car park on the other bank and a bridge, so there were a few groups of other walkers here. A couple of miles on High Force is one high drop and a few rapids and less impressive. From here, I thought that Langdon Beck would be a mile or so, but the path dragged on along and then away from the river over a hill. Going down the other side towards a bridge over the river, I slid on the slippery grass and bent my knee right back. I reached the Youth Hostel just after 7pm feeling wet and weary with sore feet. Lunch was just being served, so I ordered before getting cleaned up and putting lots of things in the super drying room. There were about 15 people in the hostel including a family of 2 boys, parents and grandparents, so I chatted to them after my curry, apple pie and beer. It was a nice environmental isolated hostel.
Sunday June 23rd 2013 – Langdon Beck to Dufton (13 miles)
I put ibobrufen gel on my achy feet and had a late start, and as I got back to the Pennine Way track, I could see Ed and Sophie ahead, though they’d already done 7 miles. Soon there was a difficult section of boulders and scree right next to the water which was made harder by a shower. After this on a steep climb up the side of a waterfall to Cow Green Reservoir, a lady appeared above and called my name. It was Derek’s wife Barbara walking east to meet Derek, so I stopped for a short chat. Her parting words were ‘Thankfully, the rain has held off’ but within 10 minutes it was raining steadily and continued for most of the day. I caught Ed and Sophie a couple of miles later on Rasp Hill where there was a choice of paths and took the lead down to the river. At High Cup Nick, there is suddenly a big view with the Lake District in the distance and the wonderful deep U shaped valley of High Cup Gill. The route crosses the stream at the top and heads along the north side of the valley. I saw a Rock Pipit along here before the track descended steadily along a ridge into Dufton. The YHA was open but empty – I was early, so sat and listened to cricket on the radio for a while. There was a good drying room, so I washed a few things in the shower to join my wet boots there. Dufton is a small Cumbria village and a bit run down with no shop at the moment, one pub and a quiet YHA. I joined Ed, Sophie and Derek in the pub, where the only choice was fish and chips. Ed’s parents were there too, with the dog. The poor dog had started with them in Edale, but was completely exhausted by Pen-y-ghent, so had to be rescued from Horton.
Monday June 24th 2013 – Dufton to Alston (21miles)
I was the only one at breakfast in the hostel, though there was also a lady staying there somewhere. Today would involve going over 4 quite tough hills which were originally volcanoes before a long track down into Garrigill and a riverside stroll to Alston. I caught Ed and Sophie, then Derek within the first 2 miles and pushed on up the first hill (Knock Fell). I was having a good day and feeling fit and part of this route was on slabs, which I could almost run on. The weather was clearing, so it was a nice day with views of the Lake District to the west. Great Dun Fell has a radar station and masts on top, then there are slabs most of the way to Little Dun Fell. Cross Fell at 893m (2930ft) is the highest point on the Pennine Way, so I stopped to take some photos and wait for the others, but another young fit couple (Dave and Laura) appeared instead. I jogged much of the way to Greg’s Hut as it was a lovely soft downhill slope. Greg’s Hut is an old miners hut restored by the Mountain Bothies Association and dedicated to John Gregory (a local climber who died in the Alps in 1968). In bad weather it is a good place to shelter and even stay the night. The track down to Garrigill known as Corpse Road is about 7 miles long, so seems never-ending, but it is quite a good track. Down in Garrigill, I found the Post Office and shop which also does tea - a tray with pot of tea, mug etc, which is taken outside to the benches on the green – very pleasant. Dave and Laura soon joined me, and I discovered that they live in Old Street, London and Laura is a fit triathlete with a half-ironman in a few weeks. Derek arrived and went to his B&B nearby, which was actually the home of the Brigantes driver who had transferred our bags. It was a pleasant riverside stroll down to Alston, and I saw and snapped baby Great-Tits on the way. I had a rough idea what part of the town my B&B was in by checking on the web before the trip and now realised that ‘High Field’ was at the top of the town as it was built on a hill. I had to phone them for final directions as it was a private house on a new estate. Cath showed me into a spare room with en suite and explained that it was her mother’s house, but she was only just leaving hospital in Carlisle having had a bout of pneumonia, but would be home later. Alston is a lovely little town, the highest market town in England, with the main cobbled street on a fairly steep hill and lovely old buildings containing shops, pubs, banks etc. Ed and Sophie who usually camped were in the Victoria Inn, which does good Bangladeshi food but not on a Monday. The Angel Inn was the best place to go for food and I met the 2 young couples in there for a pleasant evening.
Tuesday June 25th 2013 - Alston to Greenhead (19 miles)
Breakfast was excellent, with a choice of bread or crumpets to toast when required, and Celia was a fascinating lady of 77 who had travelled quite extensively. I strolled down through Alston in order to see it in daylight and take some photos, as well as getting a pasty in the Moody Baker and an MP3 charger in the PC shop. It was a nice day, but the walk was not that exciting with no major hills, several farms and tracks around houses to walk on and some poor signposting. I caught up with Ed and Sophie after about 5 miles and decided to join them in a short detour to a nice pub a mile beyond Slaggyford. Derek was there having done 4 miles more than us by starting early from Garrigill. The four of us walked most of the way to Greenhead together, the least interesting section of the Pennine Way, though Blenkinsopp Common was certainly different with wild open moorland and some boggy patches. Just after the A69 (Carlisle to Newcastle road), Derek and I took the old road into Greenhead, while Ed and Sophie continued to a camping spot to the north of the village. I’d booked into Greenhead Hostel, which had been the YHA, but was now kept going by the Greenhead Hotel. The hostel was like a YHA ghost with everything still in place apart from the green YHA bedding. The place was open but empty, with one other guest who I didn’t see until the morning. I had a six berth room to myself. Derek and I had booked a table for 4 in the hotel to include Ed and Sophie who may arrive close to last order for food (8:15), though they were there by 8. Dave and Laura were there too (staying in the hotel). The 2 young couples were going for the long walk to Bellingham (pronounced Bellinjam) in the morning, while Derek and I were having a short day along Hadrian’s Wall. Nice place, good food but nobody to play pool with in the hostel.
Wednesday June 26th 2013 – Greenhead to Twice Brewed (8 miles)
I had breakfast in the hotel with Derek – another full English – and the Brigantes baggage man was there before Derek had got his bags packed, saying he had a big day, which must be Hadrian’s Wall walkers rather than Pennine Way. It was a lovely warm day and I walked with Derek for the first few miles before striding off up a hill. I’d done this section of Hadrian’s Wall, which the Pennine Way joins, a few years before, so it was not new, but is the best and most preserved section of the wall. It is also very undulating, so the walking is quite tough, the views and very good and there were lots of others walkers about. This section is popular and accessible. Once Brewed YHA was full of kids on school trips, so I’d booked the Twice Brewed Inn nearby and was there in mid-afternoon, before my bag. There are no TVs in rooms or the bar, so probably no reception, but my DAB radio was fine to hear progress at Wimbledon. The pub was very busy in the evening and Derek walked 1.5 miles from his farm B&B in the evening for a drink.
Thursday June 27th 2013 – Twice Brewed to Bellingham (16 miles)
After 13 Full English breakfasts, I decided on a change, so had Scrambled Eggs on toast and I’d also ordered a packed lunch as there was nowhere at all on the way to Bellingham. About 2 miles of Hadrian’s Wall remained before the Pennine Way turned north, but it was very up and down with crags and a lough (lake), and the weather was now grey and breezy. Wheatear were common again keeping 20 yards ahead of me and I caught and passed Derek before the turn north. There was some rough undulating farmland before entering a forested area, boggy in places, then Haughton Common, with light rain now starting. More forest and common continued as the weather gradually worsened, but I resisted getting the coat out until 1pm. This was an interesting and varied day in terms of the terrain and scenery, but by mid-afternoon, it was getting quite unpleasant with the rain and a fairly busy road section. Bellingham is a good sized village with 2 banks, at least 3 pubs, co-op shop, bakers, chemist, garage etc. My B&B (Lynn View) was a large private house at the top of the main street run by (fairly elderly) Helen and Graham and was kept in very good order with a lovely garden. My wet boots and coat were taken from me immediately and I was shown to a nice bedroom and (being the only guest) had a lounge with large TV to myself. Later, I found Derek in a pub for fish and chips and beers.
Friday June 28th 2013 – Bellingham to Byrness (15 miles)
After a nice breakfast, then a stop at the bakery and the bank, this was a lonely slog in the wet across farmland, moorland which was often boggy and forests. I saw nobody at all between leaving Bellingham and arriving in Byrness at 3:15. It was raining all day and there were some rough stony sections, but my MP3 music kept me company. It wasn’t actually a hard section, and for the 2 young couples who’d walked it from Greenhead the day before, it would have been a nice stroll (in the sun!) after a tough morning along Hadrian’s Wall. At Forest View Inn, it said reception from 4pm, but Colin saw me and let me in, and took my boots and other wet gear off to the drying room, then made the tea. Forest View Inn is the middle three houses of a group of 5 terraced houses, 2 of which used to be the Youth Hostel, with Colin and Joyce’s house on the right. They bought the YHA when it was closed down and have converted it into a lovely cosy inn, while retaining all the main features required by walkers, with 2 singles, 2 doubles and 2 four-berth dorms all with their own bathrooms. Downstairs, there is a cosy lounge/bar with 3 real ale pumps, a dining room for 12 and a conservatory for relaxing. There is no Orange mobile signal in (lower) Byrness except inside the telephone box! I had a stroll up to the Byrness Inn half as mile back and found Derek who was staying there. After a chat and a quick drink, I returned to Forest View for a super meal of Indian snacks, then a chicken curry – Joyce is a wonderful cook. Later I sat in the bar reading and had the last 2 pints of Curlew.
Saturday June 29th 2013 – Byrness to Windy Gyle
The final leg of the Pennine Way from Byrness to Kirk Yetholm is a huge 27 miles, so most walkers do it over 2 days being picked up by Joyce at half way and returned there next morning. Derek was being dropped at half way with a lad on his 2nd day, so I expected to cross him during the day. The weather was good, fairly warm with a mix of cloud and blue sky and after the first climb on a narrow track up to Byrness Hill, the terrain was nice and spongy with some flagstones over boggier parts and there were good views – hills, forests, valleys. It was delightful and I was moving well. I passed several other walkers some doing the 27 miles from Kirk Yetholm, while others were weekenders. After a detour into Scotland, there is a Roman camp and archaeological site at Chew Green, though I didn’t stop to study it. I’d arranged to be picked up at Trows Farm (below Windy Gyle) at 3:30, so I pushed on. The views and terrain along the border fence between England and Scotland were so good that I thought it would be ideal for an off-road marathon and even jogged down some of the slopes. Passed the Mountain Rescue Hut and up Lamb Hill and still no sign of Derek! I didn’t stop of my sandwich until 2, with only the climb up to Windy Gyle and the walk down to the pick up point to go. There was a group of 13 inner city kids with leaders up on Windy Gyle experiencing the wilds. I was at Trows Farm 10 minutes early and Joyce was on time for the 16 mile drive on little roads back to Byrness. Later, I found Derek at Byrness Inn. He’d taken a wrong turn on the way up to Windy Gyle, so did a modified walk back to Byrness. He asked about food at Forest View – excellent – so he decided to come back with me and eat there, where it was busy with 6 staying and another 6 visiting and a few locals and the Curlew had been replaced with North Sheep.
Sunday June 30th 2013 – Windy Gyle to Kirk Yetholm
I’d agreed with Derek that we would aim to set off at 9, but I was in no rush for the last day’s walk and was happy to have to catch him up. Breakfast included three Australians who had arrived late, so there was some banter, so it was just after 10 when Joyce dropped me at Trows Farm. On the walk up to Windy Gyle, I was with a mountain biker, in front when it was steep, then he’d overtake on the easier parts. Back on top of the ridge, the path was mostly flagstones and flat, so easy to go at 5km/hr or faster and I had Derek to chase. We’d crossed his lift on the way up, so I knew he had a 30 minute start on me. It was low dark cloud but dry and windy, mostly from behind or left. I caught Derek just as we got to the optional turn for Cheviot, which he’d done before, so wasn’t doing. I left my pack at the junction and jogged up to the top of Cheviot (mostly flagstones) and back, though it was very windy. There was a steep downhill section next (more jogging) and I got the map out for the first time to double check that the path then stayed on the ridge. Apart from the Cheviot detour, the path had been along the border with Scotland all the way. The last main hill is The Schil (605m) and I caught Derek again on the way down it just before the next split. He took the Low road down to Kirk Yetholm, while I took the official route higher and half a mile longer along the border on the Scottish side and yet more hills, but nice soft grassy ground. We walked the last mile on the road into the village together and could see Barbara (his wife) arriving at the pub as we approached at about 3:15pm. The Border Inn is the official end of the Pennine Way, but also advertises the Scottish National Trail to Cape Wrath (only another 470 miles!). We celebrated with a free half, then a pint and chatted for a while before Derek and Barbara drove back to Hartlepool. I was chatting to another guy who was doing local walks when Joyce’s van drew up outside, so I went out to see her. My bag had not been picked up by the Brigantes agent and Joyce knew that I would finish around 3, so she had brought it over to Kirk Yetholm for me. They were due to have a rare evening off, including a business meeting, so I hoped it hadn’t been an inconvenience. I checked into the Kirk Yetholm Friends of Nature House, which had been a SYHA, recently taken over by Simon. He was evaluating the work to do on the place, which was clean and tidy, but short of electrical sockets, cupboards etc, with showers in strange places. I then left a message with Brigantes to complain about their service failure asking them to reimburse Joyce. In the evening I ate in the Border Inn, the only place in the village and had a couple of celebration glasses of wine, and also booked to have breakfast there as the KYFNH did not do breakfast and there was nowhere to buy my own.
The journey back to London next day was smooth, with quick bus change in Kelso and 4 hours to looked around the walked town of Berwick-on-Tweed. The highlight was a swallows nest in the bus shelter in Kirk Yetholm with 4 little faces peering out and squawking loudly when a parent came swooping in with food. After 17 days of walking I now felt quite fit, but with so many full English breakfasts and beers, I’d probably not slimmed down much.
Mr Clumsy crosses Corsica.
Sunday Aug 11 2013 – London to Bastia and Zonza
There were super views of the mountain ridges of Northern Corsica as the Easyjet flight circled over the sea to land at Bastia Airport. It had been a 6:10 am flight from Gatwick, so I’d arrived at the airport at 12:30am by train and had a few hours sleep on the floor thanks to bringing my thermarest. At Bastia, the KE Rep couldn’t be found, but 5 of us (Keith, John, Anand, Pete and I) found each other, then Jacopa, an Italian lady from Barcelona found us followed by our driver who only spoke Italian! The rest of the party arrived on a flight from Manchester (Anna, Sherry, Colin) then Pauline (from Toronto) who had already been in Corsica for a week joined us too. The minibus took us south along the coast, then up over the Col de Bavella to Zonza. Here, we met Sarah, our leader for the GR20 trek across Corsica. After a snack in a local café in Zonza, we walked down a track for half a mile to a field to out yurt – a Mongolian style tent, which had bunk beds for 10. The showers were hot, the food was good and the stars were amazing too. Pete, Colin and John made a pact to drink no alcohol until the end of the trek. We had a good group of fit experienced trekkers and no snorers!
Monday Aug 12 2013 – Zonza & Col de Bavella to Refuge d’Asinau
Quote from the KE trip summary – “The Corsica GR20 is a trekking route for walkers who are in good shape, have good stamina and the ability to move confidently and safely over rocky rugged mountainous terrain”. We wouldn’t see our main bags again for 3 days, with two nights of camping in the mountains, so I had my best 35L daypack, with a sleeping bag tied underneath, some spare clothes, lunch and at least 2 litres of water. There would be springs to get more water and the refuges do evening meals, breakfast and packed lunch. Cars took us up to the Col de Bavella where we joined the GR20 long distance path which runs along the chain of the granite mountains that form the backbone of Corsica. The first day had some steep sections including a chain, but in a steep downhill section, I (Mr Clumsy) tripped on a rock and had a fairly bad fall down about 6 feet, causing quite a deep cut below my left knee, some grazing and a bent back finger. Colin plastered 2 of my fingers together and I was patched up, and I handed over the back-marker job to Pete, and plodded on a bit shocked for a while. The scenery was quite spectacular especially from the Col de Pargulu (1662m) with views of the mountains and down to the south east coast. After about 5 hours (a short day), we arrived at Asinau Refuge, where we had tents on rough ground above the main building. I shared with Anand – at 28, the youngest in the group, though he had done Kilimanjaro. The evening meal was a lentil stew with sausage, bread etc – not wildly interesting, but filling. In the Mountain Refuges, there are bunks inside the buildings, but we would be staying in tents as there is a known risk of bedbugs in the bunks! Jacopa had read a lot about them and was well armed. The tents belong to the refuge and are usually already in place and include matresses, so thermarests are not required.
Tuesday Aug 13 2013 – Refuge d’Asinau to Refuge d’Usciolu
We had breakfast (bread, jam, coffee) at 6:30 and started walking just after 7 as it was going to be a long tough day. The terrain was very rocky for most of the day, starting with a climb up to the summit of Monte Alcudina – At 2134 metres it would be out highest point of the first week. The views from the top are very good and include the coastline around the southern half of Corsica and the north coast of Sardinia, though it was a bit hazy. A slightly easier downhill section was followed by an undulating couple of miles referred to as a ‘plateau’ but was hardly a flat plateau that our 3 East Anglian trekkers – Pete, John & Keith - could relate to. On this easier plateau section Mr Clumsy caught his foot on a tree root and crashed to the ground with ribs landing on a rock – ouch! – with left hip taking much of the fall. Sherry asked if I could still laugh – okay, ribs not broken, but very sore. I wouldn’t be sleeping on my left side for some time. After a lunch stop, we had a strenuous uphill section up onto a rocky ridge, with good views on both sides. The path along slalomed from side to side with some tricky scrambling sections. It was tough but enjoyable. We could see the remote refuge in a sloping dell a mile before we reached it, with tents stretching 100 metres down the slope. Although the campsite was busy and there was only 1 shower and toilet near the top and one near the bottom, I had no problem getting a cold shower. The main meal of the evening was mostly boring macaroni with some lumps of lamb. It is fortunate that we have plenty of snacks – biscuits, apricots, chocolate etc during the walking day. Apart from the evening meal (and a fall), it had been a good long tough day, with good weather and super views.
Wednesday Aug 14th 2013 – Refuge d’Usciolu to Col de Verde
We had an early start for another long and strenuous day, though slightly easier than yesterday. Ascending back up to the ridge and along it for much of the morning, there are very good views of the east coast and the spectacular ridge. We pass close to Punta della Cappella (2041m), then gradually descend over rocky terrain to the Prati Refuge, where we had a break and bought drinks and ice creams. It looked like a nice place to stay, but we continued onwards and downwards through forest to the Col de Verde where we had private cabins. Here we picked up an addition to the group – Larry, a New York lawyer, who will be retiring at the end of the year. We were reunited with our bags and had a good meal with 4 of us sharing a carafe of wine – Larry, who was a red wine drinking vegan, Sherry and Keith. The showers were hot if you were lucky, which I was not, and some washing was done. The cabins (one each for men and women) were some way down a slope in the forest, and I was quick to take a bottom bunk, with my knee injuries. By now, we’d discovered that over half the group had been or were runners to some extent.
Pete (63) from Norfolk had taught maths and sports, done quite a bit of climbing, did a VSO stint in Ghana and had run quite a bit (~ 1:20 half marathon). John (58) , Head of Music at a Suffolk school runs and races regularly (a bit slower) and has climbed all of the Munro’s of Scotland, England and Wales (> 3000ft) and most of the Corbets (>2500ft). Keith (45) from Bishops Stortford has run a 2:39 marathon, and now does triathlons. Jacopa (43) from Barcelona has run a sub 36 minute 10k and ran just under 3:30 in the 2000 London marathon in which I was the 3:30 pacer! She could be really good if she took it seriously. Sarah, our leader is talking about running a marathon and runs a lot in Corsica. Colin (57) used to run, but got injured.
Thursday Aug 15th 2013 – Col de Verde to Vizzavona
The restaurant didn’t open until 7, but we had to be packed and ready to go immediately after a good breakfast as it was a long but fairly easy walk of 28km. It was a delightful undulating walk through forests for most of the day with a late morning stop at Capanelle, a refuge and small ski station, where we had drinks and ice creams. In the afternoon we stopped at a pass with good views to the north before s long descent through the forest, splitting from the main GR20 path in order to get to our gite in Vizzavona. In the gite, we had 3 rooms with 4 beds each, so Sarah shared with Pete, Anand and I. The shower in the room was okay, but I was directed to one down the corridor which was cold and dirty. Chicken and Mash was the main meal of the evening, which is rather better than the fare at refuges. We had 4 vegetarians and Larry (vegan), and they tended to have good interesting meals in the gites and hotels, but did much worse in the refuges.
An overview of meals:- Breakfast was always Bread and Jam with Coffee or Tea and not usually anything else. After breakfast we picked up salad boxes or pasta, rice or couscous with a few bits of salad in, and supplies of bread, biscuits, sausage, cheese and packets of apricots, prunes, figs, chocolate etc were allocated to us to carry and split up later, especially at lunchtime. So far, evening meals have been good and 3 courses when not at a refuge, but quite poor in the refuges, with an excess of pasta. Also, Sarah has usually helped a lot in the refuges in the kitchen or serving to make sure we get fed.
Friday Aug 16th 2013 – Vizzavona to Refuge de l’Onda
In this Central section of the GR20, we now had 4 days of trekking before we saw a road and our bags again, which equates to 3 nights in tents and food at refuges. It is however a very spectacular section of the GR20 with high passes, some tricky scrambling and super mountain and lake scenery. We were climbing steadily all morning, with a stop at a lovely reflective pool (near Cascades des Anglais), then we voted to have lunch early just before the final steep section up to the pass – open bare rock which was easy enough in the dry! Jacopa was struggling with bad blisters, so her bandaged feet were on display at lunch as we sat looking over the huge view down from where we had come. At the top of the pass the little girls (Pauline and Jacopa) were sent to the front, as Pauline especially struggles with steep (technical) downhills, so needs to be guided by Sarah. For the competent rock climbers (Pete, Sherry, John, Colin & I), this was a fun section, but very slow behind the ‘little girls’. The rocky track became a steep path, but still very slow and the cloud was descending faster than we were. I am used to jogging down such slopes, so was getting rather bored and going slow downhill is also tougher on the knees. The refuge is visible from afar, as it is an enclosure in a hanging valley off to the right of the ridge we were descending. The tents are inside the enclosure and animals are kept out. It was a lovely site, and the local speciality of Spinach Ricotta Lasagne was excellent
Saturday Aug 17th 2013 – Refuge de l’Onda to Petra Piana
We climbed back up to the ridge from the refuge, then Pete realised he’d left his sticks behind, so went back to camp, returning with stick that were not his! Jacopa had taken Pete’s by mistake and he’d brought hers up. We continued to the left climbing up to the Pinzi Corbini ridge (2021m), with good views though the cloud was fairly low. Again, there were some tricky (slow) climbing down sections and we could see the refuge on the flanks of Monte Ronoso hours before we reached it. A pattern was emerging with respect to the order of trekkers with most of the ladies (and often Pete) near the front and most of the men near the back away from the ‘white noise’ being created up front. The tents at Petra Piana were scattered across the hillside of rocks with green patches, and Anand and I were furthest from the refuge close to a big drop into the valley in a tent with a dodgy zip, but surrounded by a rocky enclosure. It rained just after we arrived, but became a lovely clear night with a waxing moon above the mountains lit by the setting sun. Pete and Colin had a swim in the little river near their tent, while I had a cold shower. Later in the evening, I sometimes listen to music on my Walkman as Anand is usually asleep in a few minutes. However, Mr Clumsy’s music machine now had a fault as it would only go forwards – select options not working!
Sunday Aug 18th 2013 – Petra Piana via Capitellu Breche to Manganu
This was a beautiful day with superb mountain scenery with lakes and some tricky climbs. It was certainly the best and most spectacular section of the GR20. As the refuge was quite high, the climb up to the top of the Col de Haute Route was no problem, and the new view at the top was stunning.We then traversed left over tricky terrain keeping the view Monte Rotondo and Rinoso and Melo lakes , then worked our way to the high breche of Capitellu, where there were chains to help those who needed them. These mountains are granite, so there are lots of handholds and footholds to make simple rock climbing easy. At the top of the breche, we had another new view and a big drop down to the refuge (2 to 3 hrs) at Manganu. The descent was painfully slow on mind and knees as we took an hour longer than the normal plan to get to the refuge. The tents here were very comfortable, as they were raised on pallets and had thick wall to wall mattresses. I sat in the stream near the camp for a while to ease my aching knees and calves. Food, I’ve forgotten, but this may have been where we had a huge pan of beans and sausage which kept me going (!) for several days. The rise of the almost full moon over the mountain ridge was most photogenic.
Monday Aug 19th 2013 – Manganu to Castel di Vergio
We had another early start with breakfast before sunrise, and had to be quiet as the breakfast room is next to the dorms. After washing up, I (Mr Forgetful) forgot to pick up my lunch box but didn’t realise until several hours later. The walk today was mostly gently undulating and then downhill after lunch. We passed the Vaccaja goat farm where they made cheese early on, and I walked at the front with Sarah along the Lac de Nino and found that she had lived in Pangbourne (my home village) when she was a girl. On an easy ridge section, Mr Clumsy then tripped and fell again, causing a small cut to my right knee to match the left one! That’s 3 falls now, so should I be sent home? We reached the ski hotel at Castel di Vergio at 1:30, so had a leisurely afternoon washing clothes, showering and reading. We were in dorms of 6, so as there were 7 men, Pete shared with the girls. The evening meal was really lovely with a bottle of red wine shared between Larry, Sherry and myself - a real luxury after 3 nights of mediocre refuge meals.
Others in the group:- Pauline, (39) a Taiwanese Canadian was a very tough young lady who had trekked across Iceland in 31 days with 5 big men carrying a big pack. We was very slow on the tricky downhills, but was strong (and quite loud) otherwise. Sherry (63), had been at LSE when I was at Imperial and had done lots of rock climbing in your youth, so was very sure footed. Anna (49) was a bubbly Dublin primary school teacher and ‘white noise’ contributor. Anand (28) was the quiet youngster of the group, but has already done Kilimanjaro and has an obvious desire to travel and trek. Larry (59) was a New York lawyer and the only married member of the group. He didn’t have proper boots so slipped and fell several times. He often had to look after his own food requirements, as his vegan diet was not easily handled by the refuges.
Tuesday Aug 20th 2013 – Castel di Vergio via Ciottolu to Vallone
After a nice breakfast in the ski hotel, the first hour was a plod up a road to the Col de Vergio and a big Jesus statue. From here, I tried out my new activity watch, as we progressed through beech forest, then up a rockier section to a pool where Pete, Jacopa and Colin had a swim. Soon after this we had a stiff climb up onto a ridge and Sarah set us free to race to the top – I just managed to beat Jacopa. From here we could see the scenic west coast at Piana as we continued up to Ciottolu di i Mori – at 2000 m, the highest refuge on the GR20 – and our lunch stop after we’d had a detour (without bags) up the a high pass (Col des Maures) between the mountains, where we took group photos. In the afternoon, there was another slow descent, but we stopped for a swim in a pool and I joined in. After a long section through woods we arrived at a nice refuge with pop-up tents which we had to put up. The wooden hut outside containing shower and WC was amazing. Later, I bashed my already damaged knee on a table leg (ouch again) and my head torch became intermittent.
Wednesday Aug 21st 2013 – Vallone via Cirque de Solitude to Asco Ski Hotel
After a meagre breakfast before dawn, and some fun collapsing the tents, we set off in the cool cloudy weather, but just out of camp, Mr Clumsy had a flood in his pack. The rubber seal in my platypus had kinked and I could feel water running down my back, so emptied the pack quickly and did a temporary fix with the help of an elastic band, and drank a few mouthfuls to reduce the water level. It was a long fairly steep climb to the Bocca Minuta Col (2218m) to enter the Cirque to Solitude and I was wearing 2 knee supports in case they needed protection. The views were poor this morning and gloves would have been good too. It was a steep slow descent inside the cirque with chains in a few places, which I hardly used. This was the most technical section of the GR20, and Sarah put us in a specific order. I was asked to go 3rd after Pauline and Jacopa, maybe to give them support if required, and maybe to stop any deviating (which I like to do if I see a better route for my creaky old knees). In the cirque the GR20 actually goes down only about 200m, then swings right and goes out over Col Perdu (no, we were not lost!), though the drop down into the gorge and river is huge. The scramble up to the col was a lot of fun with much improved views and we stopped for photos with a chough, then had a lunch break shortly after on the downhill. Asco is an old ski resort, where the lifts don’t work anymore, but people still come up to the hotel and to the apartments to take part in mountain activities. We had good double room with hot showers, so I washed clothes and fixed my platypus, but the head torch was now dead and there were none to be bought. We had a super evening meal including a good red wine, though Larry had triple lettuce, some rice and half a bottle of wine – a vegan diet! Throughout the GR20 the standard waymark is a square of red below white – a Polish flag, so Poles will feel at home, though occasionally it was an Indonesian flag (upside down).
Thursday Aug 22nd 2013 – Asco to Refuge Carrozzu
A slow boring morning, with the ladies creating lots of white noise, so by the time we’d climbed slowly up 600 metres then down about 200 m to stop for elevenses, it felt like we’d strolled along the beach with the members of a care home. Breakfast however was a treat with juice, cereal (the first we’d seen), croissants, bread, jam coffee. The rest of the downhill on this short day was actually rather rocky, slow and not easy on the knees. We stopped by a little river and suspension bridge with a pool where some swam and I stood up to my thighs to cool my knees. The refuge was in the woods not far away, with a balcony looking out over a deep valley and a good sunset. The food was rather limited here because it is a long slog to get provisions to. Our tent was on stony ground, a bit sloping and had a broken outer zip. I had a few bites around my shoulders and fingers which came out much more overnight, so I found piriton pills and slept okay. I don’t know where the bites (up to 100) came from, but they were only on areas which would have been exposed when I slept.
Friday Aug 23rd 2013 – To Refuge Ortu di u Piobbu
We had a good steep climb up onto the ridge, seeing a mouflon on the way. It was a lovely clear day with excellent views of the mountains we’d walked through and we stopped for group photos on the ridge. However, my bites were now rather extensive but they looked worse than they felt. I did take some piriton during the day, so found the walk tiringly undulating over the rocky ground after lunch. There were some interesting slabby sections, one where we stopped for lunch, then another through lots of goats. At the refuge, tents were spread over a big area, but 8 of us were in 4 tents inside a walled enclosure.
Saturday Aug 24th 2013 – To Calenzana and Bastia
The last day, so we were up at 5:30 for a 6am breakfast as we had a 1pm rendezvous with our transport in Calenzana. I was especially glad of the full moon, with no working head torch. The path was mostly fairly easy downhill, but with a few tricky steep sections. Soon we were down to bushes and trees with lots of birds singing, as it warmed up significantly. We had excellent views of the north west coast, where Calvi looked to have a super setting. In Calenzana, Colin and Pete had their first beers since we’d started the GR20, then we had a 3 hour bus ride to our hotel in Bastia. It was the first time that Sarah had got a full group through the GR20 with no dropouts and no snails, so she was very pleased. Our final meal was at a seafood restaurant on the seafront where John (who doesn’t eat fish) had particularly bad service with undercooked steak, but otherwise we ate and drank well. John made specific presentations to 1. The self-harmer (Mr Clumsy), 2. The Communicator (Pauline) and 3. The Director (Colin), then Colin duly spoke and presented to our super leader Sarah.
Saturday Oct 12th – New Delhi
I arrived in Delhi from Jet Airways flight 9W121 on the first leg on an extensive trip to the Himalayas and South East Asia which would take over 3 months. I chose this particular trip to the Nanda Devi area because I’d not been to the Indian Himalayas, had read about Nanda Devi many years ago and it fitted my requirement for an acclimatisation trip before a seriously big trek to Kanchenjunga. As I’d been to the Florence Inn before and knew the new Delhi metro system, I decided to take the Airport Express train into New Delhi, then take the metro a few stops to Karol Bagh. The express costs only 150 Rupees (at 98 INR = £1) and was almost empty, but when I reached the metro carrying my 20kg trek bag on my shoulders as well as a 9Kg backpack, I found the usual crowds, but the Indians are so helpful and considerate that it was no problem to get a metro token and make my way onto the tube. I had to change at Rajiv Chowk (a busy interchange below Connaught Circus) after 1 stop, and was surprised to see the neat queues of people waiting in lines at the edge of where the doors will be with space for people to get off first. At Karol Bagh, I’d had enough of lugging my big bag around and got a rickshaw the last 150 yards through the crowds to the Florence Inn. It had been fun to use public transport rather than getting a taxi which would have cost far more and taken much longer. In the afternoon, I took a stroll down the local market street and found the cake shop. In the evening, I ate in the hotel and met Julie, who was also on the Nanda Devi trip – a bassoonist from East Dulwich who has 2 student daughters.
Sunday Oct 13th – Delhi
At breakfast I met Sally (also on Nanda Devi trip), an experienced trekker and climber from Auckland, New Zealand who had been up to 6,600 metres on K2 last year. Julie, Sally and I took the metro to Rajiv Chowk to have coffee and a morning stroll around the markets at Connaught Circus, though it was quiet when we arrived as it was the last day of Navaratri, a National holiday, so many people had a late Saturday night. I did also buy a new trail/sun hat, with helpful directions to the only small shop that had them. The official start of the KE trip was lunch in the hotel, where we met our leader Tashi (from Zanskar) and the rest of the group – Sue, a friend of Julie’s and also a musician (horn) and Andy and Jenny, a couple from Hertford on their first trek. After lunch, I decided that I’d like to see the Red Fort as it would be closed on Monday, so took the metro to Chandni Chowk (and Old Delhi Railway Station). As it was a holiday, the whole area was crowded, but it was fun to stroll and watch, although a short sharp shower got many of us scampering for some shelter. There was a fun fare near the entrance to the Red Fort, so even more crowds, and the entrance fee for foreigners (ie: me) was 250R, but only 10R for Indians. The Red Fort took 10 years to build from 1638, as a new capital of the Moghul Empire replacing Agra. The area enclosed by the walls is impressively large – probably larger than Kensington Gardens, but smaller than Hyde Park and contains numerous palaces, arches and pools, mostly very ornately decorated in marble and sandstone. It was peaceful to stroll around the Red Fort before venturing back onto the crowded holiday streets where the traffic was moving slower than walking and there were lots of people with goats! I turned into the tiny but very busy backstreets of Old Delhi with the objective of finding the next metro station down the line, and eventually made it after getting lost, and got back to the hotel just in time for dinner. On the metro on the way back, I was made to feel old and decrepit when someone offered me a seat labelled “Seat for the Alternatively Abled!” which I declined.
Monday Oct 14th – Delhi and night train north
We had a morning site-seeing tour with Rajiv, a very informative guide from Kashmir. A minibus took us to the Jama Masjid, the largest mosque in Delhi (and India?) which dates from the 1650. I’d seen the mosque from the outside before, but never been into the vast open courtyard with 3 entrance gates and a big main inner building with 2 big towers which we didn’t have time to go up. It was all marble and sandstone. Next we took rickshaws through the busy narrow backstreets of Old Delhi with our driver shouting and motorbike horns blaring and people walking, some pushing carts with provisions to shops. We arrived at the Spice Market after 15 minutes or so and bought nuts etc. for trail mix from a wholesale shop then returned to the bus at the Jama Masjid. Our rickshaw driver was a weedy little guy who struggled, especially when we got a puncture. The tour continued by minibus to South Delhi – India Gate and Government Buildings which we did not stop for – until we reached Qutb Minar, a 13th Century group of fairly well preserved buildings with a big tower in marble and sandstone. In the evening, our minibus took us to Old Delhi Railway Station – slowly through jams. We were booked on the Ranikhet Express in a sleeper carriage to Kathgodam, and the most stressful part was following our porters through the crowds on the station to the end of platform 11, the train being about 20 carriages long. We had clean sheets, but quite hard benches to sleep on, but after the slow first hour through the Delhi suburbs, the train picked up and I slept fairly well.
Tuesday Oct 15th - Kathgodam to Kausani
Kathgodam is the end of the line and the start of the Himalayan foothills and Ranikhet is several hours drive further but we weren’t going there. It was 5:30 am when we got off the train and transferred our bags to waiting cars over the fence. About 6:15 we stopped for tea, now with a view of hills and valley at sunrise and soon stopped again for breakfast beyond the lakeside town of Bhimtal. The road was mostly good but very twisty with lots of advisory hooting of horns to warn pedestrians, cyclists, motorbikes and other vehicles, especially if we wanted to pass. It was all done very considerately and calmly and it worked effectively, though such use of the horn in the UK would be aggressive. There were often women walking on the road carrying large bails of grass on their heads. The men seemed to stand around in groups doing nothing unless they were driving something, though some ploughed fields and others worked in shops. Motorbikes usually have at least 2 people on them and sometimes 4 or 5 (ie: a family), with no helmets, though they are usually going quite slow. At Kosi, beyond Almora (a Darjeeling-like hill town), we stopped for tea again and bought good local maps for 70 Rupees (70p). There was less traffic as we went north, then climbing out of Kausani, there is suddenly a big view of snowy mountains – the Trisuls and probably Nanda Devi on a clear day. A mile along the ridge we stopped at our lovely Eco hotel at 1960m (above sea level). In the afternoon we had a gentle stroll along the track to the west then 4 of us walked into Kausani where I found an ATM. Andy had a bird book and we saw several interesting birds nearby – Green Treepie, Green-backed tit, Black-backed forktail, Grey-capped pygmy woodpecker, White-throated fantail (which is otherwise black!).
Wednesday Oct 16th – Kausani to Supi (camp)
Breakfast was at 7 for an 8am start (initially by car) with the Trisul range hovering in the sky above a thin haze. It was downhill all the way to Bageshwar (975m) and a tea stop, steeply at first down to Baijnath, then along a river. We then turned north up the Saryu valley with the road now more prone to holes and bumps and the hillsides becoming more terraced. Nearer Kapkot and beyond, there were numerous sections were the road had been destroyed by rockfall and mudslides in the monsoon but all were now passable through the mud with care. We reached a point north of Song where we met 2 of our crew who would sort out lunch and drive our big luggage up to Supi. The camp table and chairs we’d be using for the next 9 days were set up at the front of an empty building and we had a nice lunch before starting the trek. Today was just a 2 hour walk uphill, initially on a road, but soon quite steeply on paths passed a village where children cheered and ran past us then to the lovely village of Supi with extensive terracing and spaced out housing for the 1500 population. The camp group was a flat terrace near the path with good views of the area.We had roomy 2 person tents with brand new outers and although there were dogs barking in the distance I slept okay.
Thursday Oct 17th – Supi to Forest Clearing
Today was a fairly easy 4 hour walk through a few villages up the river valley and over it, then an extensive climb east up through the woods to a nice peaceful clearing at 2300m which was miles from any habitation. It was a lovely little dell until just after 5pm when it started to rain and by 5:40 we had a thunderstorm with torrential rain. With the groundwater building up, the crew were soon digging channels around the tents to divert the water. Despite the weather dinner was excellent and tasty – pasta, sauce, veg, roast potatoes. The rain eased but continued well into the night, so it became an evening in the tent. Overnight, the mules with their noisy bells munched their way around the dell. The bad weather is probably the aftermath of a typhoon which hit the east coast of India a week before, with the resultant cloud swirling across to the Himalayas.
Friday Oct 18th – Forest Clearing to Raj Kharka
It was a nice clear but cool morning and the path climbed up through a lovely ancient forest for half an hour until the sun began to warm us. We continued going upwards for the rest of the morning through woods and open meadows (kharkas) but cloud increased so there were no mountain views. We reached the 3300m pass in the woods just before our 12 mules came past. There were only 6 of us clients, but as well as our trek bags, there were tents, mattresses, sleeping bags for some of the clients, mess tent, kitchen tent, table, chairs, toilet tent, cooking equipment and food to carry. We had lunch in a clearing just after the pass, with a grey langur in a nearby tree eating fruit and a few eagles circling overhead, and now we had a new view to the east. The afternoon descent was fairly steep and Jen with the shortest legs and a knee with limited flexibility took her time. Raj Kharka (2520m) is a lovely location – a meadow with a small stream on a hill with big views east and north. It was very open but peaceful, so we had a pleasant afternoon relaxing, washing, strolling. After dinner the crew made a fire which we gathered around for a while in the full moon.
Saturday Oct 19th – Raj Kharka to Namik
The first couple of hours was a delightful downhill stroll through sparse woodland over several streams and through a lovely farmstead with a deep valley on our left. After a break with big views down to and beyong the Ram Ganga river far below, we descended steeply through the pretty village of Gogina where there were quite grand houses for a Himalayan village and lots of vegetables and cereals (including turmeric, lemons, chillies) in the terraced fields, and buffalo to work them. We sat on a wall at a house for a trailmix break sharing some with the locals. Below the village we turned north up the Ram Ganga valley with our destination (village) clearly visible high up on the slopes on the other side. After crossing the river on a big metal bridge, we stopped for lunch on the banks of shiny rocks and sand in the sunshine. Then it was a tough climb up to and through Namik to the camping field above. Namik itself is a spread out village on a terraced hillside, with the camp/football field well above it, so there were no dogs and only a few children around.
Sunday Oct 20th – Namik to Mountain Hut Camp
What No Jam!! Breakfast was nearly always porridge (which I am not keen on), then eggs (omelette, fried) with chapatti, pikelet or other form of bread and there was marmalade, peanut butter and honey and tea, coffee or chocolate. Sometimes there were corn flakes or muesli too and usually there was jam, which I add to the porridge to improve it, but this morning there was no jam and my request to find some came to nothing. It was another Up, Up, Up day mostly through woods until we came to a fork below a mountain ridge and took the left fork on a trail below the ridge and eventually up a steep section to a pass and Mountain Hut Camp (at 3400m). On the way, we saw and spoke to an Indian group of 3 from Delhi, who also camped where we did. We also saw Lammergeiers (Bearded Vulture), Large-billed Crows, Yellow Billed Choughs, Snow Pigeons and flocks of Pipits (I think!). We had lunch by a big rock sheltering from a hail storm. Visibility up at the camp was limited with some views of the mountains towards Nanda Devi.
Monday Oct 21st – Ridge walk to 3900m
We were staying at this high camp for 2 nights, so no need to pack. I got up at 2:30 am to take photos of the mountains in the moonlight – 8 secs with gorillapod – which I was pleased with, though the mountains were only partly clear. At 5:30, the view was only fairly good with high cloud masking some of the tops. The valleys way below us were a sea of cloud with the hills looking like islands. It took an hour of fairly steep walking to get to the start of the local ridge where we had a glimpse of mountains further east (Hansaling and the Panchchulis) between the clouds. We continued further north along the ridge to the highest point, but the cloud was increasing so there was little to see. This was supposed to be the highlight of the trip!! The Indian group came passed going further north to investigate glaciers, and by noon, when we had lunch, it was starting to hail and get cold. On the descent, I went ahead alone as the hail increased and most of the afternoon we just sheltered in our tents (or Mess Tent). It did clear up in the evening and looked promising. Dinner was excellent – Dahl Baht, rice, potato, veg – and we clapped when plates were collected.
Tuesday Oct 22nd – Mountain Hut View to Shepherds Pasture
Nanda Devi is the highest mountain entirely in India at 7820m. The area around Nanda Devi is known as the Nanda Devi Sanctuary which has been closed to trekkers and climbers for several years, except for a couple of official parties. Eric Shipton and H W Tilman were the main adventurers who found ways into the sanctuary and the tops in the 1930s.
It was a clear cold night, so again I ventured out to take a moonlit shot of the mountains. At 5am I was packing and getting ready to go back up to the ridge for sunrise views. Starting just before 6 without a pack, I made it up to the ridge in 38 mins. The views of the Nanda Devi group were very good as the sun caught the tops and the Panchchuli group to the east were clear but nearly into the sun. I was back before breakfast. As it was a lovely clear morning with a shortish day ahead, Tashi suggested that some of us might like to go back up to the ridge for views and photos, as it had been poor the day before. The novices (Andy & Jen) declined, but the Posh girls and old lags (Sally & I) agreed. Julie raced up to the ridge in 37 mins (though a nearer spot than I’d been up to) with us following. The views were excellent and I took some black & white shots as well as colour and a video naming the mountains as Tashi dictated next to me. This really was the highlight of the trip. We retraced our steps back to the now empty camp and continued down meeting Andy and Jen an hour later at the fork in the path. After the nearby pass @ 3150m, it was downhill mostly through woods and often fairly steep for about 3 hours with a break for lunch. We crossed 2 small rivers at 2590m then climbed 10 minutes to a good campsite where there were lots of sheep and goats and new born lambs and kids. Twin lambs were born on the hill in the afternoon. After another good meal (Pizza, Chow mein, veg, chapatti) the cook group made a fire which we gathered around as we watched a sky full of stars.
Wednesday Oct 23rd – Shepherds Pasture to Panchchuli View
We had a 3 hour climb up to a 3450m pass in the morning in fairly cloudy weather, which was quite tough. On the way we saw several Monal flying off – a very colourful pheasant and the national bird. We also passed a group of Indians from Kerala on their way down. At the pass we took a new route south along the ridge rather than the usual descent. The horsemen didn’t like this decision as they had to clear some of the bushes to make way for the mules as it was a less used rough track. It was quite rocky and hard work for us too and mostly in a very atmospheric mist. We stopped for lunch near a brackish looking waterhole and the clouds parted a bit to show part of the Panch Chuli mountains. The slog along the ridge continued until about 3pm, though I had several stops to try to photograph small birds in the trees. We then arrived at a super campsite at about 3100m, on a flat area with a drop to the north-east and a bowl of hills behind us. I’ve called the campsite Panchchuli View because there are fantastic views of the group of mountains across the valley when the clouds clear. After dinner the sky cleared for excellent views of the stars, but the tents were already cold and damp with a heavy dew, but were okay inside.
Thursday Oct 24th – Panchchuli View to Munsyari
I awoke at 4am so looked out of the tent to see a wonderful view. The snowy mountains were all clear in the bright moonlight and the Plough (Great Bear, Ursa Major) was just above them like a giant question mark. I took several photos on 8 seconds (with gorillapod) until I got it right, despite the freezing temperatures. The views at breakfast time were good too, and we had an open-air breakfast and sorted out money for tips. I went up the hill to get a better view and on the way down met the group already walking out of camp. The walk down to Munsyari was a long descent, but mostly fairly easy steps with great views of Panch Chulis and Hansalling and with eagles circling overhead. Much of the walk down was through ancient woodland. We reached a road at about 11:30, had a short break then took the road. When we turned onto a path further down, I realised I’d left my leki stick behind, so had a 1 km walk back up to retrieve it. Down in steamy Munsyari but still at 2300m there was a part-eaten dead cow on the road, which by next morning was being finished off by dogs. The campsite was on a hill above the town with good views of the mountains. The rest of the group had a stroll down to town while I took it easy – I didn’t miss much. This was our last campsite, so the mules and muletiers had finished their job, so we had a goodbye and tips session. Our last evening meal in the Mess tent was a banquet – Indian Chow Mein (crispy noodles, veg, fried eggs), spring rolls, veg, a nice chicken & sauce dish, rice.. I ate far too much. This was followed by a huge chocolate cake! Several ladies had come up to the camp to join the crew so there were plenty of mouths to finish the banquet, and a third of the cake was wrapped up for us for the next day. Tashi and the crew went off to town later and there was some sort of event on which could be heard until quite late.
Friday Oct 25th – Munsyari to Kasar Devi (nr Almora)
After our last camp breakfast which included Mango Jam, we had a goodbye and tips ceremony for the crew. Tashi, our leader from Zanskar was coming to Delhi with us, Kuber, head cook, would be going via Delhi to his village near Kathmandu, Nandan, the main guide who was always with us would take a bus, then walk back to Supi and Danh Singh (Dancing) our guide and local fixer would also be going back to the Supi area after getting tents and equipment delivered back to a base in Rishikesh. We had a long drive of over 6 hours on spectacular windy mountain roads with frequent damage from monsoon rains via Thal and Sheragat where there are big rivers to cross. We had a standard Indian Veg Thali lunch at Udiyari Bend. After another stop on top of another high pass at Bare Chhina we took a dirt road through peaceful forests to get to the road to Kasar Devi, a ridge top village with temples, monasteries and a big view. We checked into a nice lodge built on a steep hillside with our rooms at the bottom and restaurant at the top. A peaceful place with showers and beds.
Saturday Oct 26th – Kasar Devi to Delhi
Apart from a stroll along the ridge and a visit to the local Ashram, the morning was spent getting ready for the rest of the journey to Delhi. Almora, half an hour away, is a big town built on top of a hill where we had a two hour stroll around the narrow sloping market streets, some buying souvenirs. The cars continued on through the foothills to reach Kathgodam about 6:30, where we stopped at a hotel restaurant for a meal. Our overnight train back to Delhi left at 8:40 (on time) and this time we had a block of 6 sleeper benches for our group and arrived at Old Delhi Station at 3:50 am (also on time). The station was less crowded that 12 days before with people sleeping on platforms, but outside it was almost as hectic as mid-morning. A minibus took us off to a hotel near the airport on quiet roads much of it through the green diplomatic district. There we shared 2 rooms between 6 to relax, shower and get sorted before our last breakfast.
Oct 27th to Oct 29th – Kathmandu
I flew to Kathmandu, one of my favourite cities, even though it is rather squalid and polluted, then spent a couple of days catching up with admin and organising an independent trek from Lukla to Jiri. Most people fly from Kathmandu to Lukla, the world’s most dangerous airport, in order to trek to Everest and surrounding mountains, so few now see the foothills and villages that climbers used to pass through 50 years ago. As flights are weather dependant, it was better for me to fly first and walk back to Jiri (the road head), as I had to be back in Kathmandu on Nov 5th for the start of my main trek. I contacted Himalayan Expeditions (the KE agent in Nepal) with help to get a flight and porter/guide and agreed a deal of $495. The flight to Lukla is a staggering $164 for a 23 minute flight, but it is amazing, and I had to pay for the porter to get home too. I did also look at the option of flying to Phaplu and walking to Jiri with detours, but there were no flights as all planes were getting trekkers to Lukla. While in Kathmandu, I also bought a non-GPS watch with altitude and temperature.
Wednesday Oct 30th – Kathmandu to Lukla and Kharikhola
I was up at 4:30am, ready to leave at 5, but found that someone had taken my packed breakfast – a party of 13 left before me and took all 14 of them – so I had an orange and trail mix at the airport. Samir picked me up at 5 for an easy drive through the unusually empty streets. He ran the Everest Marathon from Gorak Shep to Namche Bazar last year, which would be a very tough, rough trail even if it is downhill overall. My 6:15 flight was delayed because of poor visibility, but took off okay at 8am with 8 Germans and their guide and me. Once we cleared the local clouds, the mountains were clear and the stunning descent and landing at Lukla was fine. I was met by Shyam, the local fixer and sorted out packs with my guide/porter, Prem (33). I’d cut my load down to about 14kg for the 6 day trek and if I’d been younger and stronger could have carried it all myself. The initial path down the side of the runway was quite small and steep as the main Jiri to Namche path avoids Lukla. On the main path, there was quite a lot of traffic mostly going up, some horses and mules, but mostly men and boys carrying heavy loads to supply the shops and trekking groups between Lukla and Everest Base Camp. There was some sun, but it was getting cloudier, and the drone of flights coming in was patchy, so I was glad I’d been on an early flight. We stopped at a lodge for early lunch in Surke, a pretty village and river crossing, having dropped over 600 metres. The pattern of the trek was emerging – a series of passes to climb up to then a drop down to the next river. There were scattered small villages and odd houses and it was never more than an hour or so to a tea house. The path varied from rocks, stones and steps to mud and was rarely flat. Except in villages, it was mostly wooded and birds were frequent. We stopped for tea at the top of the next pass and were joined by a young Israeli – carrying more and going slower. There seemed to be quite a lot of young Israeli’s on the trail, as they often go off travelling after military service. We reached Kharikola after the next main river crossing and stopped for the night (as planned) at the Kharikola Guest House. Altitudes for the day:- Lukla 2840m, Surke 2200, Chukot La 2945, Paiya 2730, Pass 2900, River 2030, Kharikola 2120.
Thursday Oct 30th – Kharokola to Salung
Kella, a young Swede, Dai Chi (Jap) and 3 others stayed at the lodge too, so they were good to chat to. Rooms were good – usual thin ply-wood walls and very steep stairs – and cost only 50NPR (about 50p !). Teas, Dinner, Breakfast and room all came to less than £6. We left at 7:15 and took an hour for the 600m drop to the bridge over the Dudh Kosi, the main river valley up to Everest Base Camp. I had 1 leki stick for support on downhills as my creaky knees can no longer bounce down like a fell runner, but we were moving quickly. The rest of the morning was a long climb up through pretty villages, terracing and woodland with good bird spotting and increasing cloud with a tea stop on the way to reach Taksundo for lunch. We were now in the cloud and it was cold, so sat around a fire in a tea house while dahl bhat (rice with a lentil sauce and some veg and optional chilli) was made. The plan had been to walk to Jiri in 6 days, then get an express bus to Kathmandu in order to join the next trip on the evening of Nov 5th, and Taksundo was planned as end of Day 2, but we were walking faster than the plan, so pushed on. After the drop down to Ringmo on steps and over the Dudh Kund Khola (which goes down to Phaplu), the path is smaller but fairly flat as it contours around the hills. This was a delightful easy walking section in warm sunshine with more good bird watching and good views. In the village of Salung, Prem asked at the lodge, but it did not seem to be open, so we asked as the next house and the young lady invited us in. Many houses have extra rooms and supplies for passing trade, so are effectively small tea houses with accommodation. There was a good fire and pans of hot water, so I washed in a bowl of hot water. We had dalh bhat again! I shared a room with Prem and slept okay despite his snoring. Altitudes:- Kharikola 2120, Dudh Kosi 1540, Nunthala (tea stop) 2265, Taksundo 3000, Dudh Kund Khola 2535, Salung 2890.
Friday Nov 1st – Salung to Sete
Pancake for breakfast, and I had to buy a Fanta to make the total cost for both of us up to 950R – I only had 1000R notes (£6) from the ATM, which are very hard to change out in the sticks. After 10 minutes I realised that we’d take the wrong path as it was too small and going down, so we had a steep climb up on open ground to prayer flags on the main path. More easy walking followed mostly on open ground with big views in warm sunshine almost all the way to Jumbesi, passing Phurteng where there were several lodges if we’d walked 45 minutes more yesterday. Jumbesi (planned end of Day 3) is a nice village with lodges and the Hilary School, so we stopped for tea and chapatti with omelette before the long climb up to the highest point of the trek. I was stronger and faster than Prem on the uphills, and although he was carrying a few kg more than me, was not particularly fit for a Nepalese porter – he smoked too much. However, I stopped for photos and bird watching often and he helped a lot with spotting them. The long climb to the Lamjura La was quite steep, misty and cold at the top, and we stopped for tea and biscuits. We’d been following orange markers (backwards) which were there for the Jiri to Namche stage race, but now we took a path below the main ridge and lost them, which meant we didn’t go to the highest point (Kande) marked on the map, which is actually wrong and confusing. However, we were on the main trekking route, though some of it was quite rough. In Sete, we stopped at a small lodge, but I then took a walk further down and found the Sunrise Lodge which Prem had mentioned, so we moved there. A couple from Seattle were there, and told us about the horrifying local bus from Kathmandu to Jiri (often called the bus ride from hell) – 7.5 bumpy hours on an overcrowded old bus. They were doing an extensive hike in the Everest region through to mid-December. A nice place but lights only worked in the dining room – electrics in these places are very basic! Altitudes:- Salung 2890, Jumbesi 2600, Lamjura La 3600, Sete 2580
Saturday Nov 2nd – Sete to Deurali
It was a lovely sunny morning with views down to Kinja and mountains visible to the north after an hour or so of the quick 2 hour downhill walk/jog (with bird stops). Kinja is a small town with numerous shops and a TIM (Trekking Permit) checkpoint, but no roads. The track then follows the Likhu Khola river on a easy strolling path with flowers, butterflies and fields, with large loads of grass/hay being carried by ladies, girls and boys from the fields. We’d already gained a day on the original schedule, so could take it easier. Prem has a sister a few hours to the west of Kathmandu, so would be going to see her a day early, so was on the phone updating her. At Dhapra, we rejoined the orange race markers and stopped for tea. A new dirt road is being put through to here from Jiri, so there was a tractor there. The path up to Bandar criss-crossed the new dirt road and was quite steep, then we arrived in a big hanging valley (a tilted fairly flat area about 3 miles wide with a ring of mountains behind it) with the very spread town of Bandar visible through the trees. Finding the centre took some time as we missed a turn, but at the small centre of lodges and stupas there was a finish flag for the Jiri to Namche stage race. We walked uphill a further 150 yards to a small lodge for a big rice and curry meal with a nice family. A few runners came through, and I realised that day 1 of the race was in progress, but by now many will have finished. There were less than 50 taking part with several options and most seem to be French. There is an amusing blog from a guy who ran from Lukla to Jiri in 2 days on www.runbum.com/?p=245 who says it is the toughest 50 mile run he has ever done with 50,000 ft of climbing! That is what I am doing now in less than 5 days walking. As we’d taken it quite easy, had numerous bird stops and a longish lunch it was now getting near 4pm and we had to get to the top of the next pass before dark, so I pushed it up the hill to gain the 450m in 40 minutes with poor Prem struggling behind. The Lama Guest House at Deurali at the top of the pass is very good with a super bathroom and hot shower (for Nepal). There are lots of prayer flags and chortens there, but the new dirt road has brought 2 lorries in with unwelcome noise but welcome supplies. Altitudes:- Sete 2580, Kinja 1650, Dhapra 1520, Upper Bandar (lunch) 2260, Deurali 2705.
Sunday Nov 3rd Deurali to Kathmandu !!
It was another beautiful sunny morning in the Himalayan foothills and a big drop down to Shivalaya for two and a half hours. It was the 3rd day of Diwali and ladies and girls were sitting out making marigold garlands which were festooned around doorways and on dogs etc. Shivalaya is a busy town served by the dirt road with lots of lodges and shops, so I bought bananas and oranges and we stopped for tea. The start of the last climb started easily up a river valley with lots of waterfalls, but later climbed steeply up the side. I was feeling good and fit and enjoying the walk and not sure I wanted to Jiri, but we didn’t stop for food and pushed on until we reached the end at 2:30. Jiri is a very busy messy town with lots of buses, trucks and cars and people. I was dreading a local bus ride from hell, although the plan was to stay the night and find the express minibus back to Kathmandu. Then, just outside the Everest Lodge/Hotel which we thought looked okay for the night, a local fixer asked if we’d like a jeep back to Kathmandu NOW. “How much? We’ve been walking for 6 hours and had no food” I said. "No problem, we wait half an hour and you have food first". So we had a quick dahl bhat and chicken curry in the Everest Lodge and he came back with a price of 3000NPR for us both. Wow, Yes, we will certainly take that. That is $30 for both of us when a jeep from Jiri to Kathmandu usually costs $180 each! INCREDIBLE LUCK. The driver had just brought 2 trekkers up to Jiri and was going back to Kathmandu, with NO PASSENGERS !! It was a long 6.5 hour fairly bumpy ride, but so comfortable compared to what it could have been. We had a few stops including one where we joined the much better road from China for the driver to eat. There, groups of children were singing outside each shop as part of the Diwali Festival. Now it was dark it was amazing to see that many buildings had fairy lights of blue or yellow having down from their roofs and this increased as we went through bigger suburb towns nearer Kathmandu. It was 9:40 pm when we reached the Tamil area of Kathmandu, first checking the Hotel Holy Himalaya, which the driver knew, but it was full, so I found the Fuji Hotel nearby which had a deluxe room for $55, which was fine – The basic price at the Malla is $150 per night and the Shanker will be more. It was too late to find food, so we finished the bananas, oranges and trail mix and crashed. Altitudes:- Deurali 2705, Shivalaya 1800, Pass 2400, Jiri 1950.
Birds seen/photographed on the trek
Indian Blue Robin, Red-winged Blackbird (?), Yellow-billed Blue Magpie, Red Crossbill (m & f), Large-billed Crow, Black-throated Tit, Blue Whistling Thrush, House Sparrow, Green-backed Tit, White-bellied Yuhina, Himalayan Bulbul, Plumbeous Water-Redstart, Kashmir Nuthatch, Scarlet Finch, Black-crested Bulbul and more unidentified.
Monday Nov 4th – Kathmandu
In the morning, Prem left after breakfast to get a bus towards Pokhara. He’d done the job I needed by carrying some of my stuff – sleeping bag and spare clothes, spoke to the locals, and knew most of the trail and had adapted okay when I changed the rules. He was unsure about the jeep ride and staying in a fairly big hotel in Kathmandu. In practice, the trip could have been done without a sleeping bag as there are blankets at lodges, but my back was already twingy, so even carrying about 10kg, which I could have reduced to would not have been comfortable. I booked the Fuji for a 2nd night ($44) , recovered my big bag from the Malla and took washing to Deepak & Chemeli, who run a shop near the Malla and have become friends, so I had tea and a chat. Day 4 of the Diwali Festival in Kathmandu meant that many streets were fairly quiet, some shops were closed, then other streets were packed with motorbikes, floats and people dancing and crashing cymbals. In the evening, I went to the Rum Doodle where there were big groups and sat and ate by the bar and chatted to Howard and Helen (UK).
Tuesday Nov 5th – Kathmandu
This evening I would meet my next group for the Kanchenjunga trek, so I went to Bhaktapur by local bus to see the sights I hadn’t seen since 1972, checking out of the Fuji Hotel in central Tamel but leaving my bags there for later. The bus trip was interesting and quite slow as the conductor is constantly trying to get more people to join the bus even when it is jam-packed full, but it only cost 50R (about 35p) and took about 40 minutes. Darbar Square and the Nyatapola Temple in the next square are so much more open and impressive than in Kathmandu, and there is now a Nyatapola Café in a little old tower building the square with great views of the temple. Being concerned about how cold it might get at 5000m on the trek, I bought a matching set of fleece lined hat, glove/mits and booties in rainbow colours for 800R (£4), then caught the bus back to Kathmandu. I had a window seat and a young girl sat next to me, but it was crowded. I talked to her when we got off the bus – she looked about 11, but was 15 and had very good English. It was the last day of Diwali, so the streets were surprisingly quiet as I transferred to the Shanker and met the rest of the group. Pavel and Gosia (Malgorzetta) – 37 & 38 - were Polish but had been in the UK for 8 years and would be travelling in India and Sri Lanka until the end of February after the trek. Tim and Val – 62 & 60 – were ex runners from near Hindhead, Julie (44 and under 5’) from Newcastle was an experienced trekker and Munro bagger and was a friend of David’s (50) who I shared a room with. Louise (43, 6’ and married) from Sussex was the only one going back to work after the trek as the rest of us were retired or redundant. Ben (35) was our leader.
Wednesday Nov 6th – Kathmandu
Another day in Kathmandu, so some could see the sights. I bough a few things from Andy at Shonas, then we all met for lunch at Mike’s Breakfast, where the burgers are huge. In the afternoon, I was surprised to meet Rita, from last years’ Dolpo trek in the hotel lobby, who was about to start a trek to Daulagiri. In the evening we had a good dinner at K-too.
Thursday Nov 7th – Kathmandu to Phidim
At 7:45, I was in the internet café near the Shanker, as wifi is expensive in the hotel, in oder to send some last minute emails, then went back for breakfast. The reception desk called me over as Rita had left me a little package containing a little letter and some Swiss chocolates– her group had already left for the airport. We left at 9:30 with no weight limit problems as we’d be on an 80 seater plane to Bhadrapur in the South East corner of Nepal. On little 17-seater planes to the small airfields, there was now a strict limit of 10kg in the hold and 5kg in hand. We had excellent views of the mountains. We met our Sirdar Mindu and two 4WD vehicles took us into and through the East Himalayan foothills on a good by very windy road. We had a lunch stop in a tea plantation at 1700m and were then back down to 600m to cross a river, then over a ridge at 2000m where there were distant views of the Kanchenjunga range in the fading light. After 6 hours on the road we reached the Tamor Valley Lodge in Phidim (1400m), were we had quite good rooms for rural Nepal with en-suite toilet and cold shower. David and I were in room 101 again, and we had standard dahl baht for dinner.
Friday Nov 8th – Phidim to Lali Kharka
We were up at 5:20 for a 5:45 breakfast of chapatti and omelette and left in the cars about 6:15. More down and up twisty byt good roads to Teplegunj, then it was a bit rougher for the last few 5 miles to Suketar where the airport is closed due to earthquake damage and improvements, hence our change of plan from the original schedule. It was only a 3 hour drive, so we sat in the sun until lunch at about 11:40 after Ben had a boot and shoe raffle for the crew. The teat to my platypus had disappeared in transit, but Julie rescued me as she had a spare. In the afternoon, we had a fairly easy 3 hour walk on a wide track to a nice site overlooking a big valley at Lali Kharka. There was a small French group there, so our 7 tents were set up on the top terrace, then we had a super ‘pink’ view of Kanchenjunga at sunset. I got some laughs for wearing my rainbow hat and gloves at dinner and my chair broke, so I ended up on the floor. Overnight the temperature was down to 8°C, but my watch had 10°C – uncalibrated, so I left it 2° high. Altitudes:- Phidim 1400m, river 600, Suketar 2410, Lali Kharka 2285.
Saturday Nov 9th – Lali Kharka to Sinchewa Banjyang
It was a lovely bright day with good views of terraces and villages (Tambawa and Pakora). We were on 6-7-8 = 6am bed tea, 6:15 washing water, 7am breakfast, 8am start walking and were at the lunch stop by a river at 10:15, so I had a quick dunk in the cool Phawa Khola river and briefly saw an otter or stoat and its paw prints on the far bank, while Val had a swim – she will be doing a cross-channel relay in the summer! We saw a Changeable Hawk Eagle, but few other birds. The afternoon trek was only 2 hours to a good camp on a ridge (at 2240m), so it had been a gentle start. I gave my Nepali phrase book to linguist Val who had several children in attendance. During the walk we had time to get to know our Sirdar and guides – Mindu is 30, has 2 children and comes from a village near Lukla. Nabin is 26 with a 2 year old and Bikash is only 19.
Sunday Nov 10th – To Phonphe Dhara
It was another bright sunny clear day and quite hot in the sun as we took an undulating route often through woodland with several waterfalls seeing several birds and butterflies. We got our first view of the impressive south face of Jannu (7710m) and again reached the lunch stop before 11am. The sun had already left the north facing terrace of the campsite when we arrived at 3pm, but we had good views of the valley below. It was a cooler evening, down to 9°C overnight (which is probably 6 as my watch is high), though we had dropped even further to 1890m. Overall, it had been another fairly easy short day.
Monday Nov 11th – To Yamphudin
It was another clear blue sky day as we descended to the Khesewa Khola river through wooded slopes with lots of birds singing, then climbed up to the village of Mamankhe where it was fun taking a photo of a mother and two teenage daughters and giving them some Swiss chocolates (from Rita) and them pleading for more and laughing. A Himalayan Bulbul was still for long enough to snap and there were good butterflies too. Tim with his heathland work is a butterfly expert, but didn’t have a book of those in Nepal. He used to run a lot, but mostly off road – mountain marathons, and is a keen Munro bagger (peaks over 3000ft in Scotland). His wife Val was a very good runner with a 3:06 marathon and is now into distance swimming with a cross-channel relay next summer. They were usually in front, sometimes with me, though I’d be at the back if there were birds and views to photograph. Ben had a nice laid-back style, so we could go at our own pace, though there would be a guide near the front (Nabin or Bikash) and Mindu was always at the back. My knees seem to be stronger from the earlier treks and I like to go fast downhill if I can. Again we were at the lunch stop by 10:30, walking again after a good lunch by 12 and at the Yamphudin camp just above the river by 2:30, now at only 1680m, so it had been another easy day. The tents were a bit squashed up in a little village square, but cooking eating, and WC were in buildings in this last proper village for many days. We played cards in the little ‘Village Hall’ and I won twice.
Tuesday Nov 12th – To Omje Khola camp site
The temperature was down to 6°C by 6am, which is probably about 3, so getting colder, and there was no Muesli at breakfast, so I complained. It seems that the muesli had been sent on to Ghunsa for later in the trek, so I was forced to have porridge with some cornflakes and jam, then had 4 pancakes! I saw a Blue-fronted Redstart as we crossed a river then started a stiff climb mostly in woods, but with good views back to Yamphudin. I was with Tim and Val, but the Poles (Pawel and Gosia) didn’t stop until the top. Pawel is a (redundant) computer security expert and Gosia does accounts for legal companies. It was a tougher but shorter walk with lunch at the campsite (at 2355m), so I did some washing. It was a nice site near the river, but the sun was gone by 2:30 and there were no views. We played Uno from Tea at 4pm until after 8pm, with dinner at 6:30. It was cold overnight, down to 5°C in my tent (Ben had 1°C) with frost outside.
Wednesday Nov 13th – To Toronton
It was another lovely clear hot day, but we were at last getting into some real altitude gain, going straight up for the first 3 hours (to packed lunch stop), where we met a few trekkers on their way down. A Slovenian lady who tried to do it all (north basecamp first) in 21 days staying in huts was not happy as it had been hard and cold. We saw 2 Italians whose porter had left them when he got altitude sickness, so their packs looked quite heavy and there was a Japanese couple of 72 and 69 who had reached both base camps. Continuing up, we came to an amazing huge landslip, which meant a high detour above it then a steep down section which continued on down to a small, then a large river. We then met a very big yak on the path which we detoured around. I then took my pack off and put it on a rock while we waited for the rest of the group. The pack rolled off down the hill into the forest, though still in sight. Mindu rescued it when he arrived, though I later found that my toothpaste and a Mars Bar had fallen out of a pocket!! Toronton camp was on the other side of the river, reached by crossing a scenic bridge over a tumbling river, then up steep steps. It was now 4pm and the sun had just gone, but there was a good teahouse, so we played cards again. Dinner included Cheese pasty, potato, beans and coleslaw and we were now at 2840m having been as high as 3465 to get around the landslip. The cheese pasty reminded Ben of a previous Himalayan trip where he’d had a rather unfortunate cheese related problem. Towards the end of a trek they had reached a village where there was good chunky Himalayan cheese and Ben had feasted on it for 3 days. One of the group then remarked that the cheese was good for stomach problems, and Ben realised that this meant it was a good blocking agent, and he was noticing this effect. After 5 days, Ben was getting a bit desperate and started drinking local water. After 6 days, he found a place with dodgy looking fly covered samosas, so tried them – still no effect. By Day 8, he had a job to get up from a lying position as he felt so bloated, but they then reached a chemist and found a remedy called ‘Movealot’ which solve the problem!
Thursday Nov 14th – To Tseram
Overnight, the temperature was down to 1°C in the tent, so definitely frosty outside. Today was another lovely day walking up the west bank of the Simbud Khola through pine and rhododendron forests which gradually thinned as we climbed 1000 metres and started to see the mountains ahead, particularly Kabru and Rathong on the south east of the Kanchenjunga group. Now we were up to 3870m (12696 ft), it was noticeably colder as soon as the sun went down and I was concerned that my sleeping bag was old and that keeping warm in bed might be a challenge in the next week – wish I’d bought a new one or hired one. However, I was warm enough so far with hot water bottle, 2 pairs of socks, thermal underwear, track suit bottoms, T-shirt and 2 sleeping bag liners (fleece and silk) and had more options when it got colder, like my rainbow set of hat, gloves and booties. At altitude, it is necessary to drink lots to acclimatise, so with the nice momos we had for dinner, I had 3 bowls of soup and then 2 cups of drinking chocolate, with the usual result of waking up to pee every 2 hours or less during the night – but no headaches.
Friday Nov 15th – Day trek to Kanchenjunga South Base
This was a fantastic day of walking in the mountains mostly on fairly easy paths with one landslip to cross. There were super views of Kabru and Rathong and icy rivers and pools for good reflective photos. Spot-winged Rosefinches were around too. Ramse (4580m, 15026ft) where we had our packed lunch is the original South base camp used by Joe Brown on the 1st ascent of Kanchgenjunga in 1955, though a higher base camp is now used. Louise, Pawel and Gosia decided to go back, while the rest of us continued up around a corner to see Kanchenjunga South Face, which was excellent, though I did find I was suddenly short of energy (hit the wall), so had my chocolate bar. On the way back to Ramse, I took a detour up the side of the glacial moraine to see the deep Yalung Glacier, which was quite a scramble but worth it. Nabin and I then race walked downhill for an hour to catch up the group, and we were all back at the Tseram camp by 3:30 for noodle soup – a special treat on the harder days. We had walked 18km, which was the furthest and hardest day so far. At tea, a change of plan was explained to us, so we would have a long day next.
Saturday Nov 16th - Over 3 passes to Selele
The modified plan made by KE because the closure of the airport at Suketar did not take into account the day and a half drive back to Bhadrapur to catch the flight to Kathmandu, so we had to gain a day by doing a long tough but spectacular day to Selele. Starting early (7:20) from camp, we went straight up a hill for 600 metres to a lovely spot with a lake and good views (Chhuchung Pokhari), then after a rest continued on up steeply to the Sinelapcha La (4640 m, 15223ft) where the views were great and there was some snow underfoot – walking in the softer virgin snow was safer than on the more icy path. The trail then undulates to a second pass – Mirgin La (4590m), then again to the third pass – Sinion La (4590m) where the views to the north west opened out, so that we could clearly see Makalu, with Everest behind it. Jannu and its amazing south face were now clear and quite close to the north. Again, I struggled up to the last pass then ate my Mars Bar, when I should have had it earlier. There were lots of Yellow-billed Choughs around and lots of little flocking birds (pipits). From the Sinion La, the snow was quite deep on a steep slope, but crunching through the virgin snow was fine. However, our eggman porter (Danbahdour) was finding it quite tough with his little trainers and a heavy load, so I joked with Mindu when we did get off the snow that we’d be getting scrambled eggs in the morning. Below the snow it was still a long way down to Selele over rather tiring boulders, but I made a few stops to study the swooping pipits. The sun left the campsite just before we reached it and the little river looked as though it would freeze overnight!
Sunday Nov 17th – Down to Ghunsa
There was some cloud overnight, so only down to -5°C in my tent and this was to be an easy day of less than 4 hours downhill, so we had a lie in (7am bed tea). On the way down there were two small passes with a super ledge with great views north to the head of the Jannu Glacier at Tamo La. Ben pointed out the cracks under the ledge and the huge drop after I’d been up there! We then descended for over a hour through rhododendron forests to the nice clean village of Ghunsa (at 3475m). The campsite was nice and flat and there was a shop where I bought the most expensive postcards ever – 250R each including stamps, but my address book was in Kathmandu, so I could only send 2 – I wonder how many months they will take to get to the UK! There were a few clouds, our first for many days, but it cleared up again in the evening. Some of the group had luke warm showers, but I just had a bowl of hot water for hair wash and shave. We had a short walk to the local gompa, but inside it was abandoned (or under reconstruction) while the outside looked newly painted. We also had a nice warm mess room at the site, so played cards again in the evening.
Monday Nov 18th – To Khambachen
After a cold night with quite a hard frost, it was good to have breakfast inside, but as we were then in a deep valley walking north we were in shade for the first 2 hours walking through pine and rhododendron forests, then in shady woods. Crossing a bridge to the west bank we were soon at the lunch spot, an hour early as usual. After a fairly mundane morning, the afternoon was spectacular. First there was a landslip area where we went across spread out in case of rock fall. We were getting up to a big glacial moraine area, so the scenery was interesting. Next there was a big landslip area and while crossing this the huge north face of Jannu appeared to our right. It wasn’t until 2004 that Jannu was climbed via the north face. We’d climbed from 3475m at Ghunsa to 4115m at Khambachen (called Camp Bastion by Tim) camp site and we had great views of Jannu - I took a good moonlight shot around 4 am. Dinner was excellent as it was Pawel’s birthday, so there was cake! We’d also picked up an extra group member – Spot the dog (female) who latched onto us in Selele.
Tuesday Nov 19th – To Lhonak
It was Nepalese election day, so local people from the head of the valley had been walking down to Ghunsa to vote, which caused Mindu to negotiate with a lady to go back up to Lhonak and open up, so that our crew had cooking area and shelter. We had a fairly cold bouldery walk up the valley with no sun until 9:30, but then there was a stunning sunrise over the mountains. Waterfalls were amazing with a mixture of water and huge icicles. Lunch was in a lovely sunny spot, sheltered from the cold wind opposite Merra with several super hanging glaciers. In the afternoon we were walking along the side of the huge Kanchenjunga Glacier with the aptly named Wedge Peak appearing on the right. Tent Peak, Nepal Peak and the Twins were now also visible straight up the valley. Just before we reached camp, Ben saw blue sheep on a nearby hill and ran off (at nearly 4800m!) to investigate, David and I and later Pawel followed and tracked and photographed a flock of sheep. From the hill there was also a great view of a herd of yak crossing a meandering river. This was to be our coldest night (at 4760m, 15616ft) but I was quite snug with liners and extra clothes.
Wednesday Nov 20th – Day Trip to Pang Pema - Kanchenjunga Nth Base Camp
The original plan had been to walk to Pang Pema at 5150m (16896ft) and stay the night in order to see the sunset and sunrise, but the Nepali elections meant that the tea house there was closed, so no facilities for our crew. We therefore decided to do a day trip there, returning to Lhonak. Louise decided to stay in camp – she is the slowest uphill – and Val turned back after about an hour, so there were 6 of us + Ben, Mindu and Bikash trudging up the now barren landscape among the mountain peaks. There was a dodgy landslip to cross and a steep loose section down to the river as we progressed towards the bend in the glacier which would slowly reveal Kanchenjunga from the north. A group of French climbers were at the Pang Pema basecamp as part of an expedition. We stayed for about an hour eating our packed lunch and taking photos, and it really was a wonderful place to be, but eventually we had to return to Lhonak. I felt rather worn out in the last hour, but was still near the front. Spot stayed up at Pang Pema for some French cuisine!
Thursday Nov 21st – Lhonak to Khambachen and the Jannu Glacier
After another cold, but not excessively cold night (-8 in my tent), we returned to Khambachen in the morning and had lunch there. The weather was still clear and blue and the partly frozen waterfalls were so photogenic as was the White-capped Water Redstart standing on a rock. We’d also seen and heard lots of Tibetan Snowcock as well as Yellow-billed Choughs. After lunch and a rest in the sun, David and myself with Ben and Mindu decided to go up to the Jannu Glacier to get a closer look at this superb mountain. It was getting cloudy for the first time on the trek as we crossed the cold rushing river on 3 planks and headed up through small bushes to the Jannu moraine. We’d given ourselves 3 hours to get back for tea. We met the ‘Naked German’, so called because he was seen skinny-dipping back at Torontan, who said we’d see nothing as it had clouded over, but we continued on up in hope. We sat on a ridge overlooking the deep Jannu Glacier for 20 minutes in the cloud, and when we decided to go, I caught my boot getting up and fell face first in a patch of snow – away from the glacier! 5 minutes later, the clouds cleared and we had superb views of Jannu and the surrounding ridges, so we were rewarded for our efforts. Back in Khambachen, Louise reported that Spot had come running back into camp after her French experience.
Friday Nov 22nd – To Phale
It was only -5°C in my tent in the morning, so the worst of the cold was over, then after breakfast a WWF helicopter landed for a quick visit by a big wig then was off again up the valley. We did meet some WWF people who were trying to monitor and find snow leopards. One guy had been doing this for 13 years and only seen 2 of them and said their estimate was that there were no more than 9 snow leopard in the Kanchenjunga area. Going down to Ghunsa, we were in warm sunshine again with waterfalls, mountains, glaciers, forests, birds and of course a fairly big landslip. I was at the back when we got there, so had to wait a while as Louise crawled across it with tiny steps, before I strolled over in a couple of minutes. I joked with her that she looked as though she had a zimmer frame, and she said she was fine and safe and hadn’t done a face plant (as I had at the Jannu Glacier). Tim and I pushed on through the trees and boulder fields past Gosia and Pawel to reach colourful mani stones, walls and chortens in Ghunsa for lunch. David spotted some interesting birds near the campsite, so I went to investigate – Black-faced Laughing Thrush. The afternoon walk was quite undulating down to Phale on the west bank of the river, and the cloud was now building up. We were now on the long walk out with another 3 days of walking down the deep Ghunsa Khola valley. The camp ground at Phale, a small but spread village high above the river had Tibetan rugs for sale and was a bit sloping. We’d left the Ghunsa site after lunch by a side exit and Spot had not noticed, so she was left behind. The evening was now oivercast, but warmer, so we played cards in the Mess Tent until 8. In the middle of the night the sky cleared, so I had to put some more clothes on in bed.
Saturday Nov 23rd – To Amjilasa
We dropped steeply from the camp at 3255m to river level, then the path undulated through woods with Tim and I well ahead of the others [Arthur Charles, known as Tim, 62 retired at 54 and now does conservation work on heathland near Devil’s Punchbowl]. After a morning in the shade of a deep valley we had a good lunch at Gyabla in the sun high above the river. An old Oz couple going up the valley stopped for a chat – we’d missed 10 days of strikes in the main part of Nepal before the elections on the 18th and counting was still in progress. Gyabla to Amjilasa was a tough tricky section – very undulating and mostly in bamboo forest on the west slopes of the river. Many of the porters stopped at Thyangyam for a break, but there had been landslides there, so we went straight past. The campsite at Amjilasa (at 2420m) was on a grass ledge with big drops down to the river and big views of tree covered hills and gorges. It was an amazing location.. It was warm and cloudy overnight.
Sunday Nov 24th – To Sokathom (Sucky Thumb)
It was good not to have cold feet at breakfast, though I still had porridge (which I only eat on trek), with muesli and cherry jam (Gosia and I had almost a jar between us!) all mixed up then omelette and crumpets. The walk to Sakethum was steeply down to the river then over and back twice with some undulations. It was less than 4 hours and more gentle, but scenic and interesting next to9 the river. We were now in thicker vegetation and birds were singing everywhere so I was mostly at the back looking for them. The sky cleared before we got to the lovely sunny campsite (now at 1650m) for lunch with a distant view of the top of Jannu. We had a domestic afternoon of washing and relaxing. In the evening while we were playing cards, there was a big fight outside involving the large owners family (5 teenage daughters and 5 sons) and some drunks from just outside the village.
Monday Nov 25th – To Chirwa
After a steep drop to the river and over a British Ghurka built bridge, we had an easy 4 hour stroll on a good stone path to a camp in a field a few hundred yards before the village of Chirwa at our lowest point of the trek – 1340m. It would have been nice to run this section! There were several river crossing and the vegetation was now lush with lots of Cardomum plants and lots of singing birds. Another relaxing afternoon was followed by more cards after dinner. Our meals were mostly carbo-loading and variety was a bit limited with low stocks and not much fresh food available. – potatoes/chips, bread/chapatti, pumpkin, some small portions of spam/pilchard/fried egg.
Tuesday Nov 26th – To Phurumbu
It was cloudy and humid in the morning, especially for the steep initial climb out of the valley to a dirt road where a tractor and trailer transported goods and people to and from the road head at Suketar – a long slow bumpy track. The continued up sometimes on the track, which Mindu called a ‘Motorway’ and often on steeper short-cut paths. There were now lots more villages, houses and terraces spread out over the slopes. We stopped at Lingkhim for lunch very near a school. Pawel went in to to investigate the school, with the result that a dancing and drum presentation was put on in the road with the whole school watching and some of our group being pulled into it. During the walk, there were 4 main river crossings mostly on big Ghurka funded bridges. At Phurumbu we arrived at the school just before the children left and camp was made on the football field, including putting the toilet pit and tent just by the corner flag! School facilities were very basic with about 10 classrooms with bare walls, no lights, several big wooden desks (for 5 or more) and a blackboard, though the children all went home with armfuls of books. Generally families in rural Nepal are large and there are lots of children around and few old people. Rubber pipes from local rivers and streams run to various general washing areas for schools and groups of houses.
Wednesday Nov 27th – To Suketar
We had a fairly easy 3 hour walk though climbing over 500 metres to reach our final camp. The porters were joyful as they marched along the track looking forward to being paid off and going home. We met a group of 3 from Bristol going to Chirwa who’d set up some local schools. At Suketar we found a nice grassy terrace to pitch the tents which was better for my knees which had been struggling with crawling around in the tent on some of the hard stony pitches. After lunch of fried egg and chips, we gathered all of the 11 porters together for a farewell. They were mostly young lads with limited experience, but had done well. Mingma had carried mine and Val’s trek bags all the way and was always one of the first to arrive, so I gave him my boots which were getting a bit worn. Later we went to see the Suketar shops. There were about a dozen, but there was very little choice of goods. All had San Miguel beer, but otherwise only biscuits and other cheap and essential items. Most of us had a San Miguel – 5% and 650ml, which being the first for 3 weeks was enough and Mingma strolled past us proudly wearing my boots which were obviously a bit big for him. Our final camp dinner in the partly built main building was excellent and large – a big tray of chicken chopped and fried, rice , cauliflower curry, dahl, veg and then cake. For the final presentation (& tips) to the cook crew and guides, we gathered various items which we were giving away into 9 piles – there were 9 of them and 9 of us – to be raffled, which first getting the choice etc. Two amazing tiny men – Chandra (45) and Danbahdour (Dumbledoor) 35 both about 4’9” had carried kitchen equipment and eggs. 3 young guys carried tables and chairs and helped in the kitchen. Chawang, our cook, had always produced good tasty food apologised for the lack of vegetable variety, especially in the last week. Sirdar Mindu and guides Nabin and Bikash had been with us all the way and done all of the serving.
Thursday Nov 28th – By car to Ilam
We left Suketar in 4WD jeeps around 8 am for the winding up and down drive on a good road to Phidim where we had a Dahl Baht lunch. On the way we had excellent clear views of the Kanchenjunga and Jannu range of mountains hovering majestically in the sky above green terracing and schools. Ben was not feeling well after the previous nights large meal and beer. In the afternoon, we continued on to Ilam, which is a lovely tea hill town, so was quite a rich and smart town for rural Nepal. I had however swapped seats from the front to the middle row where my knees were squashed and uncomfortable. We had rooms in the lodge, where Louise and Julie had the master room with en-suite bathroom while David and I had the children’s room and there were good views from the roof just above us. We had a pleasant stroll around the tea garden between tea and dinner at the hotel nearby.
Friday Nov 29th – Ilam to Kathmandu
We had an early start and this time I went in the back of the jeep with Julie where there was more room for legs, and after a big down and up to a ridge early on and a stop for Mindu (in the other jeep) to be sick, were soon down in the flat Terai villages, reaching Bhadrapur airport in less than 3 hours. We had plenty of time to play Uno, which I won, and have some lunch. The flight to Kathmandu took off on time and views of the Himalayas were excellent, but all my Nikon batteries were now dead. In the evening we went to K-too for steaks – good but small after Argentina.
Saturday Nov 30th – Kathmandu
I only had one day to do lots – shopping, get washing, emails, write some blog, try to skype but signal was too weak and eat with the group, many of whom walked to Swayambu Nath (Monkey Temple) in the afternoon (I’ve been 3 times before). We had dinner at a Nepalese banquet with sme singing and dancing on stage, then I had one drink in Sam’s Bar before saying goodbye to tye group as I had to be up at 5:30 and finish packing before bed.
Sunday Dec 1st 2013 – Kathmandu to Bangkok
This was a long day of travelling, being up at 5:30 in order to get to the airport for the 8:35 flight to Delhi, with Tim and Val. We had a packed breakfast which we ate at Kathmandu Airport and I spent by last Nepalese Rupees of coffee and chocolate. At Delhi, the security checks in transit were slow and there was no Jet Airways desk to change the lst leg of my ticket, but I had lots of time. The 4 hour flight to Bangkok had good views of the distant Himalayas and very good views of the rugged Burmese coast and islands. At Bangkok airport, I found a Jet Airways departure desk and they gave me a phone number in the city to ring. I caught the Sky Train to Phaya Thai station, then a taxi to the Nouvo Hotel (used by Exodus) and got a bit ripped off – 600B (£12), though it was busy and there were roads closed because of demonstrations. I got a very nice room for 2300B (B&B), so decided to stay for 4 nights to get sorted, catch up, see some of Bangkok and plan my next journey. I had Red Snapper, salad and chips at a nearby eatery at 10pm.
Monday Dec 2nd to Wednesday Dec 4th – Bangkok
After 3 weeks in the mountains, I needed 3 days in Bangkok to catch up with admin, blog, photos, emails, washing and book the next stage – overnight bus to Pakse in Southern Laos. I also did some sightseeing to nearby Kaosan Road, which is full of western backpackers and eateries, to the Royal Palace which is full of gold and colourful buildings and statues and to a few local wats, which are Buddhist buildings and monuments. I did buy some new sandals, and a soft case (with wheels) as the backpack I bought in Kathmandu is too narrow for easy access, but will be good for future treks. I took an expensive and rather disappointing ride on a tailboat around the Thonburi canals and found that the best and cheapest way to get around was to take a ferry down river to Central Pier and get a metro there to Siam Square (or anywhere else). The Siam Square area has lots of shopping malls where I bought trainers and looked at zoom lenses, but they were no cheaper than UK. I walked back hoping to see a cycle shop, but there were few bicycles on the road, no little hope of finding a shop. I tried phoning Jet Airways to update my ticket, but only got an answering machine so I left a message. Next day I asked the travel desk at the hotel to contact them for me, which they did, but do not yet have email of new ticket as they were then closed, probably for the King’s Birthday. On the way back to the hotel one evening, I took a wrong turn and found myself at Democracy Square where the opposition were having a big but peaceful rally, the barriers having been taken down a few hours before. The local eateries near the hotel were good for local food and Kaosan Road good for a western change. On Wednesday evening I had a swim in the hotel pool on the roof.
Thursday Dec 5th – Bangkok and bus to Pakse
Just as I was setting out to the nearest bike shop on the web over a mile away, I found one in the next street, so I’ll be able to but a helmet the day before I start the cycle trip. It was the King’s Birthday, so lots of people were wearing yellow tops and most people were off work. At 6:30 pm, I left my big kit bag at the hotel and took a taxi to the Northern Bus Terminal for the 9pm to Pakse. However, the traffic was so bad with a rare televised appearance by the king, that I had to exit the taxi because of permanent red lights, walk a few hundred yards and find a three-wheeled tuk-tuk which zoomed me several miles north, which was great fun. I found the Pakse bus in bay 99 and sat next to a lovely young Thai girl. The bus was quite slow through the suburbs to Ayuthaya, but then picked up on the quiet roads, stopping at a services at 11:30 – an open market where I bought wafer biscuits and 1kg or little oranges. The next stop was 6am and then at the Laos border.
Friday Dec 6th - Pakse
I didn’t have enough US Dollars for the Laos visa, so paid 1500 Baht + overtime payment because it was early morning. Laos was noticeably poorer with wooden shacks on stilts in dusty surroundings, but the road was good and not busy. The Pakse bus station was about 5km south of the town centre, so I shared a tuk-tuk, which was more basic than in Bangkok, with an English couple.. I found a room in the Phi Dao Hotel for $20 – a nice room with 2 beds, hot shower, balcony and free wifi and the food there was good. Paul and Juliette had a cheaper place nearby but ate at the Phi Dao. I booked a bus for Don Khong for the next day and had a stroll around town. The streets just behind the hotel were okay, but otherwise Pakse was a bit grim.
Saturday Dec 7th – To Don Khone
Paul and Juliette went off to do zip-wires in the jungle for a few days, while I caught the bus south. The bus was full including lots of Brits, Australians, German and French and a Swiss only going to Champasak who complained and got off the bus (temporarily) because they were being dropped at the ferry near Champasak and not getting taken into town. The driver didn’t stop at the Don KhonG turning, and when I told him I wanted to go there 5 minutes later, he said he’d drop me on the way back. I decided to stay down at Don KhonE for one night, then do Don KhonG – the big quiet island – next day. I showed my bus ticket at the ferry (with G crossed out) and got a free ride to Don Khone, stopping at the Don Det on the way. Places to stay seem to be limited, so I took the last little room with en-suite on stilts at the Sunset Paradise Guest House – no river view and 100,000 kip (£7.70), but the bar hung over the river. After a stroll around, I hired a bike (10,000k) and cycled to the Li Phi Falls to the west of Don Khone. There was a good spread of rugged falls, but they were not high. At the very south of the island, where the old French railway used to go, I could see into Cambodia and where the Irrawaddy dolphins can be seen in the morning. Having cycled the whole island, I went over the French Bridge to see some of Don Det – not as nice as Don Khone. Later I chatted to 2 young French girls in the bar, using a bit of French, but they wanted to practise their English. Don Khone is fairly touristy with mostly young backpackers and some Oz school groups, but is just fields and then jungle away from the northern riverfront, so is quite peaceful. The afternoon tour to the more impressive Khon Phapheng Falls was full and there was a sunset cruise and a morning dolphin trip, but I was getting short of Laos money and there were no ATMs on the island.
Sunday Dec 8th – To Don Knong
On the little ferry back to the mainland, I chatted to Jan from Kendal who was touring all around S E Asia and going up to Savannakhet. I then joined a minibus of Oz schoolchildren for the short drive to the Don Khong ferry. There were only 2 of us (a Japanese guy and me) on the boat over to Don Khong, then an Oz couple with a motorbike arrived needing a bigger (2 hull) boat to get across. There are half a dozen guest houses and hotels near the boat landing and 3 bigger hotels further south down the coast, on the ‘big’ island – 5 miles across and 20 miles long. Pons Guest House (No 1 in the book) had no river facing rooms and Pons Hotel was expensive ($55), so I booked into the Souksabay Guest House – a smart new building behind the restaurant for 80,000 kip (£6) and had a lovely room and free wifi. There were no kayaks to be hired, maybe because it was a sleepy Sunday afternoon, so I hired a motorbike (50k), which was an interesting challenge as I hadn’t riden one since I was 19, but here everyone has a little 100cc bike from the age of about 12.After a few hundred yards, I stalled and couldn’t get it started, so a kid came out to help. In fact, the gears were quite sticky, the auto-starter was broken, the kick start took some effort and the horn didn’y work, then I ran out of fuel. Fortunately I was near the edge of the village (Mueng Khong) and found a fuel shop and put 2 litres in, then went off to explore the southern part of the island of fields, paddy fields, forests, monasteries and dusty little villages of wooden shacks with some more solid building. It was charming, quiet and rural. Wat Phu Khao Kaew seemed to be a monastery in the forest or was so remote I couldn’t find it. Near the south end of the island a big bridge was under construction toi the mainland, so Don Khong will lose some of its quiet charm soon. Pons Restaurant was fairly busy with a big western group, but was the best place for grilled red snapper overlooking the Mekong River.
Monday Dec 9th – Back to Pakse
I started with a 20 minute run, my first for months and felt quite sluggish. On the way back to the mainland, I shared a boat with a French couple and a minibus picked us up at 12:10. I sat in the front next to a Swiss guy – a big squashed, but smoother and quicker than the bus. In Pakse, the Phi Dao was full, so I went to the Ryal Pakse Hotel next door and had a very basic room (en suite) for 80,000. Apart from the Mekong riverfront, Pakse was a bit of a dive. I could book a trip to waterfalls or Champasak, but these were fairly expensive unless I could find someone to share with, so I decided to go north to see Savannakhet next day. After a haircut, I had red snapper overlooking the river (again), this time with a big plate of mixed salad leaves.
Tuesday Dec 10th to Thursday Dec 12th – Savannakhet
At 4am, my stomach rebelled – probably the plate of salad leaves washed in the Mekong? – so by the time I got the bus I was feeling weak and delicate, but I had 2 seats. The local bus to Savannakhet was very slow, beeping at every possible pick-up point and stopping several times for services. Sometimes, this was groups of local women and children getting on the bus to sell barbeque chicken etc on sticks – not now thanks! The bus took 4 hours to get halfway, but then went fast so was only 90 minutes late. I got a tuk-tuk to Leena’s (recommended), got a nice big room, and met up with Jan for a stroll around town – quite French colonial. Next day, we hired a motorbike to see the local countryside, following a one day tour leaflet. Bungva Lake is pretty with water lilies and waterside cafes with gazebos. That Ing Hang is a sacred stupa where an annual festival was building up, so was busy with market stalls and the fish was good. We also had a walk in the nearby Dong Natad Protected Area, where butterflies were plentiful. The motorbike was good (compared to Don Khong), but the pot holes on some of the roads were a challenge. On the way back, we went via the bus station to plan next stages and go to the big market nearby, which was interesting. Thursday was an admin day with a nice meal in Lin’s Café in the evening.
Friday Dec 13th – To Ubon Ratchathani and overnight train
Getting back to Bangkok was a choice of overnight train from Ubon or overnight bus from Mukdahan, so I chose the train and a new experience and Ubon looked more interesting to spend a few hours in than Mukdahan (known as Muk). The local international bus to Muk went over the 2nd Friendship Bridge built in 2007, so I was quickly back into Thailand. I only had to wait 10 minutes for a VIP bus (120B) which zoomed to Ubon in 2.5 hours (advertised as 4 hours), then found a minibus (20B) just leaving which took about half an hour taking a tour of the city to reach the railway station a few miles south. It was only 2pm but the 7:30pm train (last one to Bangkok) was fully booked, so I had to book a lower bunk 2nd class sleeper seat on the 6:30pm (761B), with the help of a young Thai lady who was there to help foreigners. I succumbed to some barbeque chicken and sticky rice at the station, then the young Thai lady said she give me a lift to a nice local café. The coffee shop had cakes, ice cream, coffee and wifi and was a nice place to spend a couple of hours. On the train, 3 Thai cyclists sat near me. They had just completed 9 days of cycling in Laos and Thailand. Ubon is the end of the line and the train to Bangkok actually takes longer than the bus, with several station stops, numerous unscheduled stops (level crossings!) and goes quite slow, but is comfortable and interesting, despite the carriages looking old and battered. It was fairly full as I made my way through to the airy restaurant car (roof but windows without glass) and had fried rice with chicken and a beer while an attendant was converting the seats to beds, then I read until 10 with my head-torch.
Saturday Dec 14th Bangkok
The train arrived in Bangkok over an hour late, which was fine by me as I had plenty of time. After some breakfast at the station, I took a tuk-tuk to the Nouvo Hotel where I checked in even though it was only 9am.The man on the travel desk printed my amended flight schedule from Jet Airways which confirmed a luggage limit of 30kg – excellent. I’d need it as my trek bag of things I didn’t need for the next few weeks was 17kg. In the afternoon, I took the ferry (15 baht) from pier 13 down to Wat Pho and looked around the gold and brightly coloured stupas and temples including a giant gold lying Buddha, then I walked through Chinatown markets in narrow alleys.
Sunday Dec 15th – To Khoa Yai National Park
10 of the Exodus group were in the hotel lobby at 9 for the 3 hour drive to Khao Yai National Park, where the cycling would begin. Others would be going there directly from the airport. It was a hot day, so good that there was a pool for a swim when we arrived. I spoke to Bjorn from Berlin on the journey then moved into a room with Arron (38, Newcastle). The rest of the group arrived after lunch making a large group of 18. Our leaders where Chai (Thai) and Dyka (Cambodian) with cycling support from Tawa and Note and 3 drivers – 2 minibuses for us, water, snacks and our small bags when not cycling and a lorry for big bags and cycles driven by Mr Black who also took photos and videos of us along the way. We were introduced to the group and to our bikes and had an easy 20km ride around the local area. I had a good new bike, but with a hard saddle. Most people had ‘padded’ cycle shorts and/or jelly seats which go over the hard seat. I had neither – poor trip preparation! In the evening, we went to thye local shops and ATM, then to a restaurant. There was a short sharp shower while we were in eating.
Dec 16th toi Dec 18th – Across Eastern Thailand
We had 3 quite long days cycling across Eastern Thailand covering over 250km. On Monday I put a travel towel down my cycle shorts but still finished with sore bruised sit bones. In hot clear weather we cycled on quiet back roads with some off-road on gravel and muddy tracks and there were only a few undulations. Chris (32, Dutch) was easily the fastest and strongest when he wanted to be, but often kept with the Oz girlfriend Krystal, while Bjorn was always near the front pushing the pace.. We did 78km to Kabinburi stopping about every 16km for refreshments and lunch, with the last 10km on the busy road into town in the vans. At a big Tesco near the hotel, I bought socks and Suzie bought a pack of adult nappies. I had a short jog and dinner was a good buffet in a restaurant next to the hotel. On Tuesday, Suzie (34) who had just been made redundant after 5 years in Dubai and had previously lived in East Sheen, had a nappy around her seat which fell off later in the afternoon. Suzie, Norm (California) and Kate (38) from Vancouver and very fit but 4 months pregnant, skipped a leg of cycling and rode in the van. It was a cool breezy day, so nice for cycling the 90km to Sakaew where I had a swim in the little pool with Sabooi (43), Principal of Sutton College. After dinner, I was invited to join 4 of the girls for tequilas, while Arron had an early night. Wednesday was a nice clear warm day, not as sticky as Monday, with much more rural scenery for the 85km to the border town of Aranyaprathet. Suzie, Biba and I now had nappies strapped to our seats with duck-tape and my taller front stem had been swapped with Kate’s to give her more tummy room. We stopped at a reservoir for a swim and the water was a perfect temperature. Chai said that he would refer to toilets as ‘happy rooms’ and ‘happy bushes’ when we stopped, and Suzie showed that she was not used to this sort of holiday by asking Chai, when we were at the reservoir, which was the happy bush, when there were lots of bushes to choose from! About 10km further on we took a rough track to a wildlife sanctuary where there were lots of hornbills as well as various pheasants, snakes, a bear, monkeys and other birds and animals. We had lunch there. The hotel in Aran was big and busy with 4 coach loads who had just arrived. In the evening some of us took tuk-tuks into town where we had street food, the found a bar with a good live band on the walk back. During the cycling we’d seen numerous egrets, black drongos and 1 little egret.
Thu Dec 19th to Sat Dec 21st – Siem Reap and Angkor Wat
We cycled 6 km to the border then had a look around the market while waiting for Chai to get our passports with Visas back – now I only have 2 whole pages left in my passport! It took about 30 minutes to get through the border & customs formalities followed by a short cycle, now on the right hand side of the road to our Cambodian bus which took us to Siem Reap – several hours drive – while our bikes went in a separate truck. The Angkor Holiday Hotel was fine except for poor wifi. In the afternoon we had a gentle single file cycle ride on the busy roads towards Angkor Wat a few miles north to get used to the traffic and to have photos taken for our Angkor passes. Siem Reap has developed quickly over the last 10 years into a westernised tourist town. In the evening, most of us went to Temples Bar in ‘Pub Street’ for a Cambodian Dance show and good food and drink. The main currency in Cambodia is US Dollars with Cambodian money only being used for small change of less than $1, so ATMs issue USD, sometimes in $100 notes which are a pain to change.
Friday 20th was our main Angkor site-seeing day by bike. It is a huge area so seeing much of it in a day by bike is a good option. There is lots of traffic, especially tuk-tuks. The Angkor Empire dates from about 850 through to 1320 when severe drought led to the evacuation of the area – very similar to Maya in Guatamala, Belize and Mexico. The Angkor area was covered in jungle and work only began in 1916 to slowly clear and restore the numerous amazing temples with gaps for wars. The details of the carvings is amazing, but the overall large-scale impression is a bit jumbled with some bits recreated amongst original restored discoloured stones and there are lots of loose stones around too. However, considering the turbulent history of Cambodia in the last 100 years and the sheer size and number of the temples, it is very impressive. We went to Ta Prohm first (used in ‘Tomb Raiders’) where the volume of tourists made it difficult to see and photograph a partly restored complex temple intermingled with the twisting roots of Formagier trees. Next we visited the large complex of Angkor Thom including the Terrace of the leper kings, followed by the huge Bayon Temple with its 37 towers, many with the 4 faces of the king. We did all of this before lunch! Angkor Wat itself is a large Hindu Temple with a long walkway to the walled temple, while most of the other temples are Buddhist. The central top floor area, which involves climbing very steep steps (and looking after ‘not good at heights’ Suzie) is cool and peaceful even with a flow of tourists. Overall we cycled about 35km in the day with lots of site-seeing stops.
Saturday involved a good cycle ride through rural Cambodia to Banteay Srei, 35km north east of Siem Reap. This is one of the oldest (950AD) and smallest temples and is quite delicate. Going into temples involves covering shoulders and knees, so I bought a pair of brightly coloured trousers on the way instead of using trekking trousers. I had spicy seafood soup for lunch but decided to go western and had a pizza in the evening, when some of the group were starting to feel delicate. During the day, Suzie explained that she was leaving the group to get back to the UK earlier, as she was homesick and a bit stressed from her recent redundancy in Dubai, so I arranged to take over her single room.
Sunday Dec 22nd – To Phnom Penh
The plan was to get up at 4:30 to get tuk-tuks to Angkor Wat for the sunrise, but I had several toilet visits from 3am and didn’t feel good. Others were much worst – Biba had been taken to the local hospital and diagnosed with amoebic dysentery and given antibiotics so was back on the mend by morning. Kate was losing lots of liquid and was weak, but couldn’t take strong drugs because of the baby and Chris was sick and had a bad headache. It must have been the water at Banteay Srei. The sunrise at Angkor Wat was a non-event as it was cloudy and we all made it to the bus okay which then did a detour to the hospital for the worst cases to have a check-up. It was a 7 hour bumpy ride to Phnom Penh with a lunch stop at a lovely lakeside restaurant, though I just had 2 little bananas. The Cambodian countryside was almost entirely flat with rice paddies for miles. Phnom Penh looked like a nice city at the confluence of 4 rivers, but we wouldn’t see much of it and the hotel was very smart with the usual Cambodian problem of poor wifi – It only worked sometimes. Several of us had laundry to do and found a little place in the next street for $1 per kilo.
Monday Dec 23rd – Phnom Pehn
We had a tour of Phnom Penh sites covering The Killing Fields, S21 interrogation centre and the Royal Palace, so no cycling. The Killing Fields of Choeung Ek was just one of the many sites used by the Pol Pot regime between 1975 and 1979 to exterminate people in their quest to eliminate anyone who they thought was against their objectives or an enemy of Cambodia in any way including the educated and skilled. Over 50 mass graves were excavated here and over 9000 skulls were on display in a specially built tower to the victims. From the population of 7 million Cambodians in 1975 over 1 million Cambodians died, many from malnutrition and disease after they were forced to leave the main cities very quickly, in addition to those killed. Tuol Sleng High School in Phnom Penh was turned into security prison 21 where people were tortured before being transported to the Killing Fields. All forms of Education and Religion were banned by the regime, as everyone was to become farm labourers. S21 is now a museum containing photos of victims and other evidence of its use. After lunch, we visited the grounds of the Royal Palace (which was not destroyed), with numerous large buildings with elaborate roofs and very nice gardens. The Silver Pagoda with 5329 silver tiles on the floor (73 x 73) contained so many gold buddhas that it was like a Buddhist version of a Catholic Cathedral in Spain (ugh).
Tuesday Dec 24th – To Chau Doc, Vietnam
After over 2 hours on a bus getting out of Phnom Penh, it was great to get back on the bikes for the 40km to the Vietnam border. Kate had spent the day before in hospital having lost 7lb, but found that she was expecting a boy and was now okay, so took doctor’s orders and stayed in the bus, while husband Gary cycled. The amazing Bob, 77 from California, was still going strong, as were honeymooners Steve (46) and Kerry from Preston. The scenery to the border was still flat with paddy fields and fairly rough roads, but there were hills in the distance. Dyka left us at the border where formalities took a while with the walk across no-mans-land in the heat, then we met our new Vietnam team and new bikes – ‘G’ (or Chi) being our main Vietnam guide with Li, Long and Loi in support. The change in scenery was remarkable with lots of waterways, boats, bridges, bicycles and motorbikes and then leaving the main border town, a hill, where a lorry with foul exhaust fumes pulled out in front of me. We flew down the hill the other side, then turned right onto a quiet road with the canal/river (and Cambodian border) on our left. We all agreed that this was the best cycling section of the trip, and we were moving fast. I caught and passed Martin (51, Crowthorne) who was strong but smoked, and found that only Bjoern was ahead when we stopped. There in the water a group of men were cutting up a dead dog – they eat them in Vietnam! Carol (45, Dublin) was some way behind as she’d got a puncture. Though often near the back, this ex-rower never gives up and was getting fit. The final section to Chau Doc was on busy roads, so we were stayed in single file. I usually stayed at the back (often because I was never ready at the start) behind Jill (36) a slim blond marathon runner from Edinburgh. The Chau Pho Hotel was smart, but the communist style basic restaurant for our group Christmas Eve meal was poor, though the bus driver’s home-made whisky was okay. Afterwards, most of us went to the local entertainments centre, a big building opposite the hotel, where we had a few drinks and a dance on the roof – I think we gate-crashed a private party!!
Wednesday Dec 25th – To a homestay in the Mekong Delta
A few of the group had Santa hats and tinsel around their necks as we took the bus to a ferry at Long Xuyen via an ATM where I withdrew 5 million dong (about £165). After the public ferry we cycled through busy villages on nice scenic backroads. Lunch was at a private house in an idyllic spot on a little island a hundred yards down an alley and over a little bridge. We had a lovely spread of Vietnamese food including Red Snapper, chicken, spring rolls, rice, veg etc. then fruit. In the afternoon we had another 23km on bikes including a ferry crossing, then took the bus on the busy roads to Vinh Long, then a 10 minute boat ride to our homestay in the Mekong Delta. The coordination of bus, bike and several ferries had been done so well. The homestay was on about an acre of flat fertile land with lots of plants and flowers. Several rooms had been tastefully build into it in the last year, so we had triple rooms (+ en-suite) with mosquito nets. I shared with Arron and Bjoern. Most of us helped with food preparation as a sort of Vietnamese cooking lesson, particularly making the spring rolls with cassava, rice paper and spices. Christmas dinner was excellent. In addition to the fried spring rolls we’d made earlier, we made fresh spring rolls with rice paper, veggy bits and red snapper (a bit like Peking duck) as we wished. There were chicken pieces with ginger, noodles, vegetables, rice and lovely giant prawns. Kate and Gary had a call from Vancouver (12 hours behind) during dinner, so they were quite excited. After dinner and a secret Santa drawer, I chatted to Chai and Bob, the most amazing and active 77 year old I’ve ever met.
Thursday Dec 26th – To Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)
The Cai Be Floating market was about an hour from the homestay by boat including crossing the main Mekong river – about a mile wide. Here large boats usually with only one product shown hanging high on a bamboo pole sell produce to smaller boats. Further on along the scenic waterfronts with the odd Catholic church, we stopped at a local cottage industry making pop rice and other homemade products. The bus then took us to Cai Lay where we started our last 38km of cycling mostly on fairly quiet back roads except when a school party decided to cross the road in front of Martin and I. Being the last day, some of us had to race and of course Bjoern (German) had to win, except for one leg where Chris, an ex-semi-pro cyclist and Dutch schools speed skater came racing past. From My Tho, it was a short bus ride to lunch at a big smart services, where I tried the Snake Head Fish, but it was very bony. Another 2 hours on the bus took us to our smart hotel in Saigon (HCMC) – Huge City of Motorcycles! Of the 9 million people in HCMC, 6 million of them must own a motorbike, while the rest are under 10, so they are sandwiched on the bikes between their parents. It is a very vibrant new city with some bits of old French Colonial Architecture and there were impressive Christmas lights and displays everywhere. Crossing the road is fun – You just start walking looking at the traffic and don’t stop, while they weave around you. Everything moves slowly anyway and it works. We had a group walk to the main tourist/backpacker area via the Opera House and other big buildings. Service at the busy restaurant was very slow, but my pineapple rice with chicken and cashew nuts looked good presented in a pineapple.
Friday Dec 27th & Sat Dec28th – Saigon (HCMC)
13 of us did the tour to the Cu-Chi Tunnels about 90 minutes drive away to the north west of the city. It was like an open air museum of the Vietnam/American War in a forested area with bomb craters, tunnel entrances and termite mounds which were actually air shafts for the tunnels. There were displays of the various traps used and camouflaged building in the forest. There was a gun range and I shared 10 bullets with Californian Norm with an M16 – first time I’ve ever touched a gun. I did about 20 metres of the ‘tourist tunnel’, but going further would have meant crawling on my dodgy knees. The real tunnels were smaller as are most Vietnamese. In the afternoon, I strolled to the backpackers area to look at hotels, eateries, travel agents etc to plan my next phase. There was a row of camera shops and I got a quote of 4 million dong for a Nikon 55-300 lense to replace the one I damaged in Argentina. The food at our final evening meal in a restaurant hidden around the back was excellent with Jill making the main speech.
On Saturday, I had a sore throat and was getting a cold. I gave my cycle helmet to ‘G’ for his club. One benefit of a smart hotel is a nice breakfast on the roof in the sun with views of the city. Most of the group met at 12 for a final coffee then I took a taxi to the Backpacker area and found a cheap hotel (400k dong) for 1 night near the knowledgeable travel agent I’d spoken to before. Pizza and beer for lunch – local competition had driven the price of Saigon Green Beer down to 12k (35p), and I bought a baguette for tea later – the French Bread is Vietnam is so good after weeks in India, Nepal, Thailand and Cambodia. The wifi didn’t work at the hotel, but the shower was good. I saw the travel agent in the evening as I wanted his view on Bach Ma National Park and how to get there, so bought an Open Bus ticket to Dalat, Nha Trang and Hoi An only. It is local bus to the park. Except for the cold, it was good to be independent again and making my own decisions. The cycling group had been fun and a good way of seeing Angkor Wat, Mekong Delta and the Thai countryside, and the crew had been excellent. I may get a new bike when I get home and certainly review my bike gear.
Sunday Dec 29th – HCMC To Dalat
After breakfast in a nearby café, I was given a motorbike lift to the Futa Bus office a few streets away, so was there at 9:30, but the 10:00 bus from didn’t arrive until 10:15. I had a back seat in this sleeper bus which was very laid back with not enough head room to sit up, but I was the only one at the back, so had lots of room for my stuff. We had only 2 service stops during the 9 hours, with slow traffic – lorries and motorbikes – on narrow roads, until late afternoon when we had climbed into the Southern Highlands. Dalat bus station is a few miles out of town – they always are. An Easy Rider motorbike rider asked me if I’d like a ride into town, which I accepted after I’d been to the toilet. I asked Chilli to take me to Dreams Guest House – the top choice in Lonely Planet – and had a good tour through Dalat with crowds of people enjoying the atmosphere of the flower festival, and he only charged me $1, but gave me his card and notes about trips he does. I moved into a fine single room then went to the Art Café nearby for beef steak and chips followed by apple crumble – a bit of a change after 11 weeks in Asia.
Monday Dec 30th – Dalat
I was feeling weak from a cold and the travel, so planned to have an easy day, but found Dalat to be absolutely delightful. The breakfast spread at Dreams is just superb including scrambled egg, bacon, lovely bread, marmite etc. On a stroll around town I browsed at shops and walked through the market. There are floral gardens in the strip leading down to the lake and more around the lake, which I walked around slowly (7km) taking in the views and watching interesting birds – Chinese Pond Herons, Great Egret, Blue-eared Kingfisher, Common Sandpiper, wagtails, pipits, sparrows – with the constant buzz of motorbikes on the road nearby. Dreams Hotel is 100 yards from the guest house, same owners, and has an excellent restaurant with very tasteful paintings/photos on the wall. I had 3 exquisite courses with orange juice and a beer for £7:10, the best meal I’d had for months.
Tuesday Dec 31st – Dalat countryside
I had a gentle 4.7 mile jog around the lake before breakfast and decided to take an Easy Rider tour of the countryside including waterfalls, so gave Chilli a text, and he was waiting outside within 10 minutes. As Chilli is only about 5’5” and the back seat is higher than the front, I had a good clear view over his head as we went out into the countryside, first stopping at the Linh An Pagoda (Happy Buddha) which had been reconstructed in the last 20 years after war damage. Away from the town, most of the land is covered with farms growing vegetables (notably onions, potatoes, cauliflower, carrots), fruit (bananas, mangos, papaya, strawberries, apples), flowers and coffee, which is a big change from perpetual paddy fields in the lowlands. Soon, I was dropped at the bottom of a hill and told to walk up it for the view, then take the left path down to meet in 20 minutes. We stopped at a flower farm to see the dahlias and at a coffee farm where they also kept weasels. Some of the coffee beans are fed to the weasels whose enzymes reduce the acidity of the coffee to make weasel coffee – I bought a small pack! In another room, there was a rice-wine making process made from local sticky rice. Until it is blended it is about 80% alcohol. Next we went to a minority tribe village, where I was left to walk a few hundred yards past houses with coffee spread out drying in front of them. I found Chilli at a house with a tame monkey up a tree and met the village elder. Chilli explained about 3 tribes in the area and their very different houses. This village was K’HO with single storey houses on the ground and coffee spread out in the front garden, often into the road. Ê-DÊ houses are on stilts with several storeys getting narrower upwards with animals living below the house. MÓ-NONG houses are also on stilts with animals below but are one long storey. Next came a rough section, partly on dirt roads as they were in the process of building the road. This was through a forested area, where all the trees were young (30 years or so) as the area had been flattened by American Napalm bombs in the war. The highlight of the day was the Elephant Falls – named after an elephant which fell over the falls. The area was jungle during the American war and has only been developed recently. Getting to the bottom of the falls down slippery steps cut into the rock was tricky and although it was possible to get behind the falls, I got wet enough getting near them. We had lunch nearby. On the way back the Dalat we went to a Silk processing factory, which was very interesting – each silk worm produces a thread of silk which is 1500 metres long. We then stopped at a mushroom farm, where curly Chinese type mushrooms grew on hanging bails of feed under cover and then dried outside in the sun. On the outskirts of town is a park with a roller coaster ride which goes down to a waterfall, but women with children were going down very slowly, so not much fun. I walked back up. It had been a very good Easy Rider tour with Chilli for $20, which I would recommend. In the evening, I ate at Dreams Hotel again, which was fine but not such a good choice. I had to be up early in the morning, so just had a beer in my room in front of the TV for New Year.
Wednesday Jan 1st 2014 – Buses and Nha Trang
I’d booked an Open Sleeper Bus ticket through to Hoi An, but as there were only a few of us for the 8am bus down to Nha Trang so it was a local minibus, which picked up locals on the way, but generally went much faster than a big bus and arrived half an hour early. Much of the journey was twisting through jungle covered hills before we descended to the coast, and the lady next to me was making use of green plastic bags!! I took a taxi to the Travel Agent on the ticket to book the next stage, then had 8 hours to have a look around Nha Trang, the beach capital of Vietnam. It was cloudy and grey but there were plenty of beached whales on the sand – mostly Russians with numerous Australians too. Beyond the north end of the long beach is a river with more interesting local scenery – boats and shacks on stilts at the water’s edge. The sleeper bus to Hoi An started from Asia Smiles office in the tourist area of Nha Trang with the tourists being allocated spaces at the top and the back with most of the luggage inside too. At the bus station, lots of locals got on and more were picked up in the first few miles, so the bus was now crowded with half a dozen locals sitting on the floor and luggage sitting in the aisles. In addition, boxes were loaded into the luggage compartments underneath, which explained why our bags were not down there. Most of the tourists were young backpackers. This bus actually had a toilet in the back corner, so there were no service stops, but trying to get to it over the luggage and then trying to use it on the bumpy road with the bus frequently pulling out to overtake lorries was a serious challenge.
Thu Jan 2nd to Sat Jan 4th – Hoi An
The bus stopped at the Green Field Hotel and as it looked nice and was only $18 + $4 breakfast, I took a room and had a shower and breakfast. Hoi An is a pretty, touristy town on a river with the beach about 3 miles north-east. French Colonial Architecture abounds, mostly in yellow and there are lots of little boats. It’s very photogenic with buildings in yellow, water, reflections, bridges, boats, and ladies in conical hats. There are still lots of motorbikes in the streets and tourists on shopper bikes. After a day wandering around town I booked a 3 day bird watching trip (on the web) to Bach Mâ National Park with a personal guide – quite expensive especially as I was alone, so I need to get money as credit cards are hardly used at all in Vietnam. On Friday I took a trip to Cham Islands (named after the Cham Empire - 15th century) on a speed boat – about 15km out to sea – there is one large and about 6 small hilly forested islands with one main village which we walked around including over paddy fields to local little temple. Most of us went snorkelling in a rocky bay a short boat ride from the village – some coral, very few fish, a bit murky. I jogged on the beach, then sat in the sun until lunch. The group consisted of about 14 tourists and 4 locals – German, Dutch, Australian, Canadian. Back in Hoi An I went to the ATM and took out 9 million dong (about £270) but reached my daily limit. I spoke to Laura on the travel desk about Halong Bay options and Hanoi hotels and booked the train from Hué to Hanoi, so I would now need even more money. On Saturday, I visited the local bank and took out 12 million Dong (with a 3% fee) then hired a bike. The fishing village area to the east was delightful but I got a bit lost so accepted a boat ride across the water from a lady then found a little place that had baguettes for a quick lunch by the water. There were a few kingfishers and egrets around the paddy fields as I made my way out to the beach area, where there were some ghastly resort hotels surrounded by very little. It was a nice bike ride except the chain was loose and fell off several times.
Sun Jan 5th to Tue Jan 7th am – Bach Mâ National Park
Minh (driver) and Nhan (pronounced Nyung) were waiting in the hotel lobby at 6:30 to take me to Bach Mâ – a slow 3 hour drive in a smart 4 wheel drive car. Just near the park entrance, we took a left turn down a lane in order to see birds at the bottom of the park. After a slow start standing in an open area near lakes and trees, we spotted a total of 20 different birds, with the help of Minh and the spotter scope. The upper part of the National Park has only recently re-opened after about 15 years and parts of the retaining roadside walls are still being repaired after flood damage. The road climbs to 1300 metres in 12 km where there is a main base for Upper Bach Mâ – an ex-French Colonial Hill Station. There are several buildings around but they are all in a state of disrepair after 15 years of neglect, though they are gradually being restored. The room I was given was fairly basic, and the bathroom was wet because the plumbing leaked badly, but it was okay – no TV or wifi of course. Bach Mâ National Park is 220 sq km (about 9 x 9 miles) of hilly forest with one road and a few trails in it, and there were only a few visitors. January is a fairly quiet month for birds and thick forest is not the easiest place to see birds, but by Tuesday at 11 am, the list had increased to 58 seen and quite a lot more heard but not seen. Nhan was very good at identifying birds from their calls and spotting them, quite often using bird call apps on his mobile to try to stir them, which was sometimes annoying. However, his grasp of their English names was very funny as stringing consonants together is alien to Vietnamese which has short words with various intonations – eg: Puff-crested Drongo came out as Buff-ratted drongo. Most of the birding has to be done from the road as there are few tracks and they are noisy to walk on. Sunday was dull and cool with mist coming in by evening, but watching some of the small birds – warbler, fantail, yuhina, barbet, flycatcher – was very good. Monday was a lovely clear day, but there was now no water in my bathroom, so I moved to a different block which looked nicer, but proved to be worse with a mattress on the floor (no bed) and only cold water, so later in the day I moved back and there was now a trickle of hot water (wash but no shower). After watching a group of Black-throated Laughingthrush near base, we walked slowly up to the top of the hill where there is a derelict lookout building at over 1450m and saw several birds clearly on the way and a Giant Squirrel, but it was fairly quiet. On the way down the steep path, a leech attached itself to my ankle. In the afternoon, we took a track to an impressive waterfall with a drop of 300m, but apart from a pair of Slaty-backed Forktail saw little. The food had been a bit ordinary, though quite well cooked, but Monday evening qualified as good – maybe the cook had decided what I liked by then, as there was no choice, just whatever he cooked. Tuesday was another lovely day. Minh dropped us a few km down the road and by 10:30 when he picked us up, we’d added another 7 birds to the list to make a total of 58. Overall, it was an expensive trip with rather basic facilities, but it is a big forested area well away from the bustle and heat of the lowlands, so was good. Going in March/April (and in a group) when there are more birds and hopefully an improvement in facilities should be very good.
Birds seen (in order):- Lower: Black Drongo, Black-necked Oriole, Long-tailed Shrike, White-throated Kingfisher, Common Kingfisher, Black-collared Starling, White-crested Laughingthrush, Striped-throated Bulbul, (Eurasian) Blackbird, Spotted Dove, Sooty-headed Bulbul, Great Egret, Little Egret, Chinese Pond Heron, Great Racket-tailed Drongo, Grey Wagtail, Silver-backed Needletail, Green-billed Malkoha, Masked Laughingthrush, Asian Brown Flycatcher. Upper: Black Eagle, Orange-headed Thrush, Blue Rock Thrush, Orange-bellied Leafbird, Blue-winged Leafbird, Puff-throated Bulbul, Red Junglefowl, Red-headed Trogon, Orange-flanked Bush Robin, Mountain Fulvetta, Indochinese Green Magpie, Grey-headed Canary Flycatcher, Golden Babbler, Sultan Tit, White-throated Fantail, Golden-throated Barbet, Grey-cheeked Warbler, Striated Yuhina, Monday: Scarlet Thrush, Black-throated Laughingthrush, Silver Pheasant, Yellow-browed Warbler, Black-throated Tit, White-browed Shrike Babbler, Grey-chinned Minivet, White-browed Scimitar Babbler, Streaked Wren Babbler, Crimson Sunbird, White-gorgeted Flycatcher, Olive-backed Pipit, Slaty-backed Forktail, Short-tailed Scimitar Babbler. Tuesday: Striated Babbler, Black-browed Fulvetta, White-bellied Yuhina, Dark-necked Tailorbird, Ratchet-tailed Treepie, White-winged Magpie.
Tues Jan 7th pm to Thur Jan 9th – Hué
Minh and Nhan took me to a ‘famous’ Vietnamese eating house in Hué which was crowded with locals, but was not in my guide book. The standard meal was a Veg and Meat noodle soup eaten with chopsticks and a doughy filled roll. The hotel I’d chosen from the Lonely Planet was full, so we found one nearby – Hotel Holiday Diamond, so I paid Nahn 12m D for the 3 days and he was gone. My room had 2 large beds, a good bathroom and good wifi for $24 inc breakfast. After a stroll along the south bank of the Perfume River and back from busy streets in cloudy gloomy weather, I had a good curry in the evening. On the north or left bank of the Perfume River is the old Imperial city of Hué, which is enclosed by a canal and city walls and within there is the Forbidden City enclosed by another moat and wall. The Forbidden City was built for the kings of the Nguyen Dynasty from 1805 to 1945. In addition there are numerous pagodas around the outskirts of the city (north and south) and half a dozen mausoleums, all upstream which are like walled country estates, build by individual emperors which became everlasting memorials. Hué is a World Heritage site, and gradually some parts are being restored after years of neglect in years of war and communism. On Wednesday I had a long walk around the Imperial city which is now just normal, but mostly domestic, streets with a few weedy lakes between them, and the Forbidden City of faded grandeur – neglected palaces and gardens. You can still see how wonderful they must have been as painted facades and arches are still quite clear – just faded with some peeling. On Thursday, after getting my laundry back and checking out, I hired a bike for a day to ride out to some of the mausoleums. The bike was a bit decrepit and my plan to get to Minh Mang and then back along the other side of the river was too optimistic, but it was good to get out and see the countryside. Tu Hieu Pagoda was the first place I managed to find – a few faded buildings and tombs over 100 years old with some nice lily ponds just inside the walls. Tu Duc Mausoleum was a sizeable walled estate built 1864-67, containing several elaborate buildings and a lake. It was occupied by Emperor Tu Duc and his concubine, then became an everlasting memorial. On the way back I had a quick tour around Lang Thiéu Tri, a rather smaller mausoleums, though still with a similar courtyard with 5 figures, a horse and an elephant down 2 sides. The hotel staff suggested I might like a shower after my day of cycling, so I gratefully accepted, then got a taxi to the railway station where I chatted to some Australians and 2 English girls on the platform. I was in Coach 6, Sleeping seat 9 and shared a compartment with a young couple – a Norwegian scientist and a French girl.
Friday Jan 10th – Hanoi
I slept quite well on the train, which arrived in Hanoi just after 10am, a few minutes late. I accepted a taxi offer at the station to Hanoi Sports Hotel, and suspect that the meter had been doctored, but it was direct, quite quick and not excessive, so I didn’t complain. The little hotel was in Ma May in the Old Quarter, a small busy street of eateries, travel/tour agents, little hotels and a few other shops. I had a stroll around the area then around Hoan Kiem Lake on a dull grey day, extending a few streets further to look at camera shops, none of which had my Nikon lens. A group of 5 smart young ladies in red were being photographed, so I jokingly joined in taking their photo and was invited and escorted in and around a photo exhibition which was just opening. Back along the lake I went into Ngoc Son Temple where a giant 200kg turtle from the lake which died in 1969 is preserved leaving one still alive somewhere in the lake. I found ‘shoe’ street and my quest to find new trainers. In the Old Quarter, as in many markets in South East Asia, groups of shops and even whole streets sell the same type of products, so if you are looking for something specific you have to go to the right street or area. My problem with buying new trainers is that my ‘average European’ size 45 feet are very large in Vietnam where the largest size in most shoes is 44! However, one shop did have a reasonable selection in my size, so I bought a pair of ‘fake’ Nike trainers (made in Vietnam) in bright blue with yellow laces. I also found a book swap shop where I bought a Bill Bryson I hadn’t seen before, all wrapped up in cellophane – because inside it was a fake photocopy of an original.
Saturday Jan 11th – Halong Bay – Day 1
I was picked up last by the full little coach, so had the front seat usually reserved for the guide for the slow 4 hour drive to Halong City. There were lots of slow lorries and motorbikes and several set of roadworks and bits under construction, all quite normal in Vietnam. There were 22 in the group with only 5 of us doing 2 nights/3 days – 1 night only for the rest, with 13 Australians and except for Robin and Doris, who were my age all were between 20 and 34. Our ship, the ‘Du Gong’ – ‘the ugliest creature in the sea’ said Robin, had 12 cabins which were small for 2, but fine for me in a single with very nice wood panelling. It was a dull grey day and there were lots of other tour boats doing the same – at night at least 30 were anchored up in sight of us in a bay surrounded by tall forested kirsch rocky scenery and islands, which would look great on a clear day without the tourist boats. After quite a good lunch while sailing out, we transferred to our launch to get to a (floating) fishing village and a big cave of stalagmites and stalactites discovered by the French in 1901. Lucus, a Sydney music teacher and I shares a kayak for 30 minutes paddling around a couple of islands before dinner back on the Du Gong. The evening was a bit noisy with karaoke and drinking.
Sunday Jan 12th – Halong Bay – Day 2
Robin, Doris and I had an early breakfast before a transfer to the fishing village to be picked up by a smaller boat for the day. Meanwhile, two lads from Adelaide had chosen the Cat Ba Island option, so would be taken there and stay in a hotel overnight, so could trek on Cat Ba and/or kayak and swim in the bay. This may have been a better option than we took, but such tour options are very poorly explained by the operators. There were cracks in the overcast sky as we headed south away from the tour boats and by 9am we were in a remote bay of Cat Ba surrounded by rocks and islands, with one other boat we’d been tied to (to save fuel), called the ‘Phuc Long’. We had an hour for kayaking – I had a double to myself – through a tunnel in a rock to a secluded bay then through an even smaller tunnel with an Oriental Magpie Robin hopping arouns the entrance to another lake, the tunnel being the only entrance. There were a few monkeys in the trees and the weather was starting to look good. The boat continued for another hour now with small fishing boats and big ships in view in stunning scenery to a more open bay. I had a quick swim before a really delightful lunch which included a sculpted ship and birds, so we shared a bottle of Dalat Red. A free hour of kayaking in the sun around some of the karst islands passing and photographing local fishing boats with the islands was a pure delight. By 4:30 we were back at the dirty Dugong after a detour to a floating pearl factory, awaiting the return (from kayaking) of a new group. There were NO Australians in the new group of 16 (+ us 3) and few in their 20’s, so the music was more gentle and conversation was good. 2 South African girls were doing the Cat Ba 2nd night option, but the other 14 were 1 nighters. Later in the evening our young leader staggered into the room having been plied with rice wine by the crew and comically hugged some of the girls to much laughter.
Monday Jan 13th – Halong Bay – Day 3
It was quite a social morning as the Du Gong sailed off to groups of interesting karst islands to the east of our direct route back, but along with numerous other tour boats. At one time going through a small gap between rocks, we were cut up by another boat and there was contact with some damage to their boat. Our table – Robin and Doris (Aus 60’s), Maryann and Monika (NZ 50’s) and Cynthia (US, Minnesota) chatted about travels etc in English with Doris (originally Colombian), Monika (originally Chilean) and Robin (linguist) often swapping into Spanish. The weather was fairly clear but windy and gradually getting grey. We stopped for a while near ‘The Finger’ while our leader gave a cooking course making spring rolls which we helped with and then ate. During a good lunch we passed ‘The Fighting Cocks’ on the way back to Halong City and then the 4 hour drive back to Hanoi. Feeling weary after 3 days afloat, I just had pizza and a beer in the evening.
Tuesday Jan 14th – Hanoi & train to Sapa
I checked out at 12 after a domestic morning, and had a walk around the Opera House area of Hanoi where there are several museums. Unlike the Old Quarter of busy narrow streets, the architecture is French and the roads are wide. Eventually I found a stall that had baguettes, and one was duly filled with pate and omelette cooked in front of me. After strolling some more streets, I went into a lakeside ice cream café where I spent an hour and a half editing photos while eating a large elaborate chocolate ice cream. The train to Sapa was not until 21:10, so I booked my flight to Bangkok at the hotel for Sunday - $85, and was picked up at 8:20 by a minibus. Inside were Cassie and a Spanish couple, and we then picked up ‘Mr Grumpy’ who was complaining about the cost of tours and being ripped off. At the station Cassie and I strolled off to the train on platform 7. I was in coach 6 sleeper seat 1 and shared with an Italian couple.
Wednesday Jan 15th – Sapa
I slept okay and the train arrived in Lao Cai, 2 miles from the Chinese border at 6:50 am, well over an hour late, which is fine at such an hour. A group of us found the man with the Sapa Summit Hotel board and the coach including Cassie, but not Mr Grumpy. It was a windy 38 miles up to Sapa at 1500 metres where it was noticeably cold. Apart from the temperature, my room was fine and the wifi was good, though the wet room was definitely wet. Sapa is a pretty town with a lake and a concrete oval sunken playing area in the middle of town and there are hills around and terraced slopes below the town to the east and south. After breakfast and showers, we were split into groups depending on what tour we had booked. Cassie, 31, from Chicago and Kristen, 33, originally from Seattle but recently working in London were in my group with the Spaniards and 3 ladies from Indonesia and we were led by a small young lady of 20 with a baby on her back. There are about 5 different hill tribes in the area and the ladies all wear clothes significant to their tribe. We were mainly with H’Mong who wear black cylindrical hats or check scarves on their heads. Our morning walk of about 3 hours went down to Cat Cat where we saw the people of the Black H’mong tribe weaving and embroidering and had views of terraced paddy fields. It was cold and a bit misty and we were accompanied by a small gang of local women and children hoping to sell their bags and trinkets to us. Cassie is a photographer (art & design), so I was being creative with my choice of shots. After lunch in the hotel, we were free to roam for the afternoon, so Cassie, Kristen and I joined by French Canadians Simon and Marice, had a look around town, particularly at the market. The Vietnamese eat everything – ie: any animal, though some tribes do not eat dog. Most of us retired early after dinner as it was cold and the beds had electric blankets.
Thursday Jan 16th – Sapa
We had a different guide – no baby – to take us down into the Muong Hoa Valley of tracks and trails, some of which were muddy and through the terraced rice fields, so it was very scenic, especially as the weather was clearer, but still not sunny. It was about 10km to our lunch stop of usual Vietnamese fare, with numerous groups doing the same thing all with an entourage of locals. There were plenty of little shops to look at especially in Lao Chai village. In the Sapa region, the women learn English and are the main contact for tourists and sell local goods, while the men do the heavy jobs and look after transport. Some people were going back to the hotel, while some of us were going to a homestay in Ta Van village, so during the afternoon, Cassie, Kristen and I were passed onto a different guide (Xee) and we joined up with James (Indonesian) and his Singapore wife who we’d met before, and Nikki (Dutch), Andi and Marianne (Quebec). Ta Van is a Dzay minority village and our homestay was a big property up a hill from the main track. We arrived in mid-afternoon and selected mattresses with colourful blankets in the open-plan upstairs area. Cassie, my temporarily adopted daughter, Kristen and I had a drink at a nearby Dutch/Vietnamese run café, then decided to walk back to Lao Chai for Cassie to purchase a hemp jacket that she liked. The evening meal at the homestay was a lovely Vietnamese banquet followed by local rice wine, which was actually local vodka. In the evening we played a silly card game devised by Nikki, the mad Dutch woman, which involved drinking, and was fun.
Friday Jan 17th – Sapa
I was first up at about 8:30 with the others still buried under their blankets in the cold. Breakfast was a mound of lovely pancakes, bananas, honey and coffee. Our walk continued down the valley mostly on little tracks then through a bamboo forest and via Giang Ta Chai village (Red Dzao minority) to a waterfall where we stopped for a while with a big view of the river below and terraced fields. Cassie slipped and fell in the water, but just laughed it off. We stopped in a H’mong village on the road for lunch and then transport back to Sapa. It had been a much brighter morning, so the views and the artistic shapes of the rice paddy terraces were clearer. Back in Sapa, we had a final look at the shops, then had dinner at 4pm before boarding our bus down the hill to Lao Cai and the train station. Simon and Marice had returned from their trek to Fansipan, the highest mountain in Indo-China. They had stayed the night in a tin shack with mice around them. The door didn’t closed properly and it was windy and noisy, then they had climbed to the top of Fansipan in the morning and returned to Sapa. It would be a good little trek to do in warmer weather. Nikki, Andi and Marianne were going back to Hanoi by bus and Kristen had an earlier train than us on SP2. On the train, I shared with 2 Australians and a Korean who all crashed out early, while I read.
Saturday Jan 18th – Hanoi
The Sapa train arrived in Hanoi at 4:20am, so I had to get off and stroll around the quiet city for a while, sit on a bench reading by the lake, while some locals were waving their arms around doing exercises, then eventually go to the Sports Hotel around 6:30 where they let me in to leave a bag – I did wake them up! I found the Tamarind Café nearby as an excellent place to have a coffee then stayed for a super omelette and more coffee. The hotel had a room for me not long after I returned, so I could get clean, sorted and have a rest. Kristen and I met for a nice lunch in the Old Quarter – she was taking the night train to Hué. To the west of the Old Quarter is a walled off restricted military area, and beyond that a large area devoted to Hi Chi Minh, Government Offices and a giant communist style parade ground. This included HCM Mausoleum and garden, HCM Museum and the Parliament Building. I took a northerly route to reach this area via Tran Quoc pagoda, a tall pagoda with several other buildings on the side of the road between Truc Bach Lake and the huge West Lake. In the evening I went down to the restaurant overlooking Hoan Kiem Lake with lights around the lake and building and a rising full moon making a lovely spot to eat. However, by then I was feeling a bit weary from the early morning start, so didn’t stay long.
Sunday Jan 19th to Tue Jan 21st – Bangkok
It was just a short 90 minute flight from Hanoi to Bangkok, but it took nearly all day. After breakfast and a shop for last minute travel snacks a taxi picked me up at 9am ($15). The airport is about 20 miles north of the city and there is a good road (for Vietnam) but still nothing goes faster than 35mph. Vietjet is the Eazyjet of Vietnam, so my flight was only $85 and of course it was late by about an hour, but was less than half full so I found a window seat near the back. From plane to passpoer control in Bangkok was a long walk (about 1km) so I walked fast and overlook a lot of people then joined slow moving queue. It took about an hour to get through passport control. I’d decided to find a hotel near Phaya Thai, the end of the airport skytrain, so it was easy to get to the airport and found the Florida – a bit 1960’s with basic service too, but okay for 1100 Baht, then another 100B a day for wifi. I walked to the Nouvo, had a meal near there then collected my bif trek bag for a vast storage fee of 1050 Baht (£1 ~ 52 Baht) and returned in a tuk-tuk. On Monday, I went to the train station to find that all night trains to Surat Thani for Khao Sok National Park (and also Phuket, Krabi, Kho Samui and other islands0 were full so I booked a seat for Tuesday night. I’d emailed Thailand-kayak about their trips in Khao Sok but had no reply. The hotel pool was good and empty and visible from the Skytrain station, so I did 20 lengths before going out. At the MBK big 5 storey mall near Siam Square, I checked out a row of camera shops for a Nikon 55-300 lens and found a best price of 6600b (~£127), a good price compared with 11,700B in the big shops. I also looked at Nikon bridge cameras, a P520 is what I need to replace my P90 which is wearing out and bird spotter scopes and I bought new small binoculars (£35). I would come back after checking out things on the web. The International Food Court on the 5th floor was very good with a dozen or so stalls from different countries – Singapore Fried Noodles and a beer for me. The Siam Square area and some other main areas of Bangkok were closed to traffic as the streets had been taken over by demonstrations and street markets – ‘Shutdown Bangkok, Restart Thailand’ T-shirts were everywhere. Tuesday morning was for packing, editing photos and watching rugby on Eurosport, before I checked out at 12 leaving 2 bags in storage. I went back to MBK and bought the lens at 6600B and had some lunch. At the railway station, I bought snacks for the journey and booked to come back on Sunday daytime, so I could see some Thai countryside. Upper berths on Thai railways are fine as they have good metal ladders and easy access storage racks. Vietnamese are not so good and difficult to get up and down. The train crawled out of the station at walking pace and stopped at several suburban stations in north and west Bangkok, so it was nearly 2 hours before we were actually travelling in the right direction – ie: south.
Wednesday Jan 22nd – Khao Sok Natonal Park
Arriving at Surat Thani station at 7am, I found a row on little shops outside where I could get breakfast and book a minibus to Khao Sok. Of course most people were going off in large coaches to Ko Samui or other islands off the east coast via boats from Surat Thani harbour about 10 miles away or to Phuket or Krabi to the south west. Checking my emails via the cafe wifi, I found that Thailand-kayak had no tours until Jan 30th, so I’d just go to the National Park and see what was there. I joined 4 French guys and several locals in a Khao Sok minibus, which took about an hour and a half to reach the park, stopping to drop off and pick up locals several times, so it was full most of the time. A local van picked up the French, so I climbed in too, and was dropped at Bamboo House, where I asked for a ‘good’ room – a lovely room with hot shower and wifi with beds for 3 on stilts for 800B. Accommodation for the National Park is all in little roads in the jungle just outside the park gates. I had a stroll up to the Information Centre, hoping to find a reasonable map, but apart from one on the wall, there was nothing but a little leaflet with info and sketch-maps of the local walks and of Cheow Lan Lake where there were tours. A couple of shops had wall maps of Surat Thani district which were good, but I found none to buy anywhere. At Jungle Mania, run by Kui, near the park gates, I had lunch and booked a 2 day lake tour (2500B) – the info at his shop was so much better than elsewhere. In the afternoon, I set off to walk up to Sip-et-Chan Waterfall, but the track through the jungle was small and quite difficult in sandals, so I turned back after about 45 minutes, but did enjoy the isolation. Further down the lane from the Bamboo House, I found Art’s Riverside Lodge – a series of wooden houses in the jungle looking out over a little river and cliffs – wow, this is super. I asked if they had any rooms for Friday, and was told to come back and ask then. Evening Meal at the Bamboo was very good.
Thursday Jan 23rd – Cheow Lan Lake – Day 1
Had super big breakfast of Muesli, Fruit and Yoghurt followed by omelette and toast at Bamboo House as it would be a while until lunch or perhaps I’m just a pig! There were 4 of us – Antoni (Swiss-Fr), Anika and Elise (Neth) and I as the opentop van set off from Jungle Mania, but we then picked up 2 couples – Michael (Ire) and Leone (Ger), and Jergen & Susan (Austria) then 3 Russians who lived in Ukraine (Sasha, Natalia, Gyena), so it was rather snug for the 90 minute, 65km drive to Rajjaphapa Dam, with a stop at a 7-11 for snacks. Note that there are thousands of 7-11 shops in Thailand, one on nearly every corner in Bangkok! Rajjaphapa Dam was built in 1982 for the generation of hydro-electric power and the Cheow Lan Lake was created. The lake covers 165 sq km (64 sq mles) and has lots of islands. Many of the banks are steep limestone cliffs with forests on top and on lesser slopes. The appearance is similar to the limestone karst islands of Halong Bay except that these cliffs are the sides of sunken river valleys in a rocky mountain range. From the dam, we took a long-tail boat on the lake through this amazing scenery for an hour – at speed. There was a bit of a cross-wind especially early on and most of us got soaked. Tone Teuy is a group of small raft houses in a sheltered bay about 20km from where we started, but over high mountains. We’d seen nothing but jungle, cliffs and water and a few monkeys and birds since the dam, so we were quite isolated. Our group was the last to arrive of the 4 or 5 groups though only one other group of 12 were staying the night with us – the others were day-trippers, not recommended. After moving into our little raft houses – I had a small one for just me, there was time for a swim and balancing on logs in the lovely warm water before a nice lunch. As with Halong Bay and in fact the KE Himalayan treks, the tour price includes everything except drink. The long-tail boat took us up river for a few minutes then we started the jungle trek. Our guide, a happy man with a ponytail, said that my sandals were fine for the afternoon trek, as we would be crossing rivers many times but I found that I was sliding around in them. We had head-torches and dry-bags because after 90 minutes were reached a cave and we would walk, wade and almost swim through the cave to the other side of the mountain. It was awesome. There were bats on the ceiling and spiders on the walls and narrow little waterfalls to climb down into water about 4ft deep. At one point I fell off a ledge into deeper water then climbed out to bash my head on the ceiling – all part of the fun. Later there was time for more swimming and kayaking. After dinner, we were back in the boat for an evening cruise at slow speed with search lights to find wildlife. It had been quite an action-packed day.
Friday Jan 24th Cheow Lan Lake – Day 2
I was up and paddling around in a kayak by 6:30 enjoying the scenery in the early morning mist then just after 7 we started a sunrise boat cruise to the south of Tone Tuey. We saw a Great Hornbill and several monkey and gibbons and were down in a shallow flooded valley with lots of skeletal trees (drowned 30 years ago) standing in the water with great reflections when the sun started to rise over the mountains through the mist. We were now less than 10 miles from the park entrance (as the crow flies) through dense jungle and over rugged mountains. We were back for breakfast before 9 in bright sunshine and blue sky. Michael and Leone were staying on another night, so were out in kayaks when we left just after 10, heading back down the lake at a steady (no splashes) pace to a site on the north bank. Our guide then took the 9 of us on a trek through the jungle up to another cave. We passed some interesting wildlife – cicada chrysalis, geckos, spiders, flowers, lianas, bamboo and elephant prints then in the cave there were a huge number of bats in an area of poisonous air ( from their droppings) and lots of large spiders. Elephants only exists in this remote area of jungle on the north side of the lake, and the area is checked out for their absence before tourists trek there. Our versatile guide gave us lunch cutting pineapples and water melon into attractive shapes before a final 20 minutes on the boat to get us back to the dam and our van. The Russians were dropped off at the main road to get a bus to Surat Thani and Antoni, Anike and Elise transferred to a minibus to Krabi at the park. I walked around to Art’s Riverside Lodge where I booked into a lovely big wooden apartment in the jungle overlooking the river – 950 baht (< £19) is expensive for the area, but it was my last night. The evening meal there was lovely too.
Saturday Jan 25th – Khao Sok NP – Day 3
After a lovely breakfast – a large bowl of banana, pineapple, water melon, muesli, cornflakes, yoghurt, cashew nuts and raisins - at Art’s, I left my bigger back with Kui at Jungle Mania and did the jungle trek up to a waterfall about 5 miles away. The broad track for the first mile or so soon turned into a small track through jungle with some steep sections, so was quite challenging. I set myself a turn-around time as I needed to be back at Kui’s for a late lunch before leaving the park, but was well ahead of this, so had time for a swim in the river on the way back. However, I then discovered that my debit card had fallen out of a pocket in my camera bag sometime during the day and decided that checking at Art’s, a mile beyond Kui’s was the only reasonable chance of finding it. No luck, but not a serious disaster as I had enough bahts for the rest of the trip and some sterling too. On the minibus to Surat Thani, I chatted to a monk in his orange robes. He was 40 years old and originally from Cambodia and I drew a map of UK and Western Europe to explain England, Great Britain etc and also discovered that the tourist price for the journey was 3 times the local price. Surat Thani Railway Station is about 15 miles from the town and I needed a hotel, so the driver took me into town, which looked like a backwater. I soon found a hotel for 550 baht with wifi only in reception. I strolled the streets looking for a reasonable place to eat and found a fruit market down by the dock where boats go out to Kho Samui and other islands. Further along there was street food which looked fine so I had noodles with pork and a beer and chatted to a young German couple who had been travelling for a year, much of it in Australia.
Sunday Jan 26th – Back to Bangkok
The breakfast menu at the hotel was not to my taste, so I packed and caught a local bus to the train station for 20 baht and had breakfast in a café there. I’d booked the day train to Bangkok so I could see the countryside. It left at 10:40 and was much faster than the overnighters and was a 2 carriage diesel with fairly comfortable seats. For the first few hours where much of the scenery was coconut plantations, it stopped at nearly every little station but later on was express to Bangkok. Pulling into the Bangkok suburb and junction of Bang Sue at 7pm I decided that getting the MRT (underground) from here and changing after 2 stops to the BTS (overground metro) to Phaya Thai would be quicker and easier than crawling along to the main station and having a similar journey, so got out there. 10 minutes walk from the hotel I found a cheap burger place full of teenagers for a quick meal then went back to finalise my packing.
Sunday Jan 27th Back to London
When I got up at 5:50 am in Bangkok, they were ringing last orders in the Bell and Crown in Chiswick and 24 hours later Reg, Tom and I had only just left the pub, so it was a very long day. I did manage to have a quick breakfast of fried egg on toast with coffee before carrying all my luggage – day pack including camera and computer, trek bag of about 19 kilos and 2nd bag mainly of clothes to the Skytrain station nearby for the slick cheap (45 baht) ride to the airport. My checked-in luggage was 28.8 kilos, so I am very glad that I had a 30k limit. Jet Airways are India’s 2nd airline and they are not too generous with meals. On the 4 hour flight to Delhi we had a small breakfast then after a quick transfer to the London flight involving walking about a mile we had a standard airline lunch and a couple of hours before landing a chicken wrap on a 9 hour flight! I am glad I took a few extra snacks. In order to stretch my ready cash, I took tube and bus to join Reg and Tom in the Bell and Crown.
Saturday May 24th 2014 - London to Lima
On-line check-in would not work for my flights to Madrid and Lima, so I had to join a slow queue for assistance at Heathrow Terminal 5 to find that the Madrid flight was overbooked - it was the start of a Bank holiday weekend - and after getting my bag tagged I had to take it to desk A13 where a lady at 'Flight Management' masterminded a last minute panic for the last few seats. It was all a bit stressful, but Customs and Security was quick and the gate was quite close with no little train to take, but no time to stop. The flight was operated by Iberia with mostly young Spaniards on board. At Madrid, connecting passengers were directed down to a bus near the plane which took us to the departure gates area. The Lima flight was operated by LAN so I walked to the gate and obtained a boarding pass there, then went to find coffee and a bun. Again the flight was full - I had an aisle seat near the back next to a couple with a little girl of about 15 months. It was a very long night flight taking off at 0035 in Madrid (2335 BST) and landing in Lima at 0555 (1155 BST). I took a rather expensive 'safe' taxi from the airport as recommended to the Hotel Faraona in Miraflores - a modern smart district of Lima. Juan, our local fixer got me into a top floor room by 9am, so I rested and sorted for a while. Later, I took a stroll around the area, got local money at 2.78 to USD, a nice pizza, cake, coffee, then headed for the coast. It was a usual dull Lima day where it almost never rains, but also rarely sees the sun due to the cool Humboldt current sweeping up the coast from the south. Surfers were out in the Pacific waves, so I found a smooth patch among the pebbles where the waves would wash over my feet, as I'd realised that I may not have such a chance again on this trip. The rest of the group were arrived from the KLM flight around 8pm and we went to a local restaurant for a nice meal. There are 10 of us in the group, all around my age, including 2 ladies.
Sunday May 25th 2014 - Lima to Huaraz
The population of Lima is 11 million, so it took some time for our smart new bus to cross the city from the classy Miraflores district in the south to the dingy suburbs along the Pan-American Highway. The bus took the coastal route to Barranca, with the road often high up on sandy slopes above the sea. We had lunch in Barranca - Corvina and Papas fritas. In the afternoon, we went inland climbing up to 4000 metres where we stopped for the view. It was now hot and sunny away from the grey of the coast. An hour or so further north, we were in Huaraz, a busy town of 110,000 in a valley at 3000 metres. Most of it has been rebuilt after a big earthquake in 1970 which killed 25,000 and flattened most buildings. At the Hotel Columba, we were met by our leader, Val. I had a nice garden room to myself, next to Julia who was at altitude for the first time. We all ate at a good restaurant 10 minutes walk into town, where I sat with Gordon (62, Nottingham), Geoff (68, Chichester) and Duncan (61, Dublin/Saudi/London) who had met on a KE Kanchenjunga trek. I drank lots of water overnight to fend off altitude headache.
Monday May 26th to 27th - Huaraz Acclimatisation days
At breakfast, I met the Suffolk group of David (72) and Paul (56) who had known each other for 30 years and Julia (60's) from Southwold. Today was an acclimatisation day walking through the town then up to 3300 metres with a fine view of Huaraz and Huascaran, the highest mountain in Peru. In the afternoon I went to the market and bought a hat to protect my neck as I'd left my wide brimmed hat at home. We went to a good restaurant over the Post Office, and a procession of children with a band came passed celebrating a school anniversary. On Tuesday, after breakfast with Edward and Gwen from Burnley, transport took us east towards the mountains to 3600m and we then had a lovely walk up a valley towards Ranraopalca and Vallunaraju - snow covered mountains. There were lots of interesting flowers and birds including Andean Flickers of the woodpecker family and a dark purple hummingbird. On the way back down, Gwen slipped on a steep downhill section trapping her leg and ankle behind her, but hobbled on to the main track. As she was struggling, Val told Edward and Gwen to stay there and jogged and walked down to the van. John (60, Liverpool), Duncan stayed and chatted at a point near the road as markers, then when the van appeared on the track, I walked down. Gwen was taken to the local hospital where an X-Ray showed a broken ankle!
Wed May 28th - Huaraz to Marhuay
I was up at 5 testing my platypus, and decided to leave it behind, as the small leak at bottom pipe and at top seal would be a hassle. The bus left at 7am, now without Edward and Gwen. We went north back to the pass through villages and nice scenery which I'd slept through on the way to Huaraz. We had 2 photo stops, for the Cordillera Blanco and for a lake full of birds just after turning east. Our first excellent view of Huayhuash Mountains was from the top of the hill above Chiquian and after a long winding descent, we stopped in town and had a walk while a mid-morning snack of soup and potato - there are hundreds of varieties locally. From Chiquian the road to Quero was rough, hilly and twisty. The crew with donkeys were there, though Melke's (local guide) horse had broken a leg and had to be put down hours before. We had a lovely walk of about 3 hours from 2700m to Marhuay at 3700m, though an avalanche of soil and dust held us up while a track was cleared. The sky was clear and flowers, birds and trees were interesting. David had stomach problems, but is tough - an engineer who designed & built a Suffolk paper factory and now at 72 dives a lot. The campsite was lovely and flat 600m below the village, and the sky at night was excellent. Birds seen - Andean Coot, Pochard, Teal, Andean Black-headed gull, Gavilon, Puna Hawk, Pacapaca (Tyrant).
Thu May 29th - Marhuay to camp in Valley of Condors
It was a cool night down to 6C in the tent. It took only 90 minutes of uphill walking to reach our new camp at 4170m in a lovely meadow of rivers with big grey slab rocks at each side. Taking just water, camera, lunch, we then had a tough climb up the valley side for acclimatisation. Douglas struggled and turned around with Johnson (guide) first and others stopped around 4500m including Julia who had not been to altitude before. Paul and I continued with Val to the pass at 4640 including a scree scramble to see brilliant views of the whole Huayhuash group, passing lovely Alpine flowers on the way. Afternoon on leisure around the camp.
Fri May 30th - Trek to camp above Quartlehuin
At about 4am, I crawled out to the edge of the tent to take a great photo of the night sky with gorillapod, max ISO, 8 secs. It was an early start as it was quite a long trek over 3 passes, so we were walking by 7:30. Our route was developed by Val and Malke, so is remote and to the north of the main mountains, so we get super views of them with sun behind us. Most of the donkeys went a very long way through a big mining area - gold, silver and other minerals are mined in these mountains by big international companies who have little regard for the environment or the local people. It was quite a push up to the 1st pass at 4740m and I kept with Val while others paced themselves more sensibly. We stopped for snacks and photos of the glorious view. A short descent, traverse and climb took us to 2nd pass (Punta Sacsa) at the same height, where we stopped for lunch. Paul had been sick, so his pack was on the hospital horse, and Julia was getting a headache, but we were all together. The 3rd pass was just a ridge on the long twisty descent down to the valley. We reached camp (4220m) near a road to mines at 3:30 all a bit exhausted.
Sat May 31st - Trek to Janca
In the morning, we had quite a long climb up to the Cacanampunta pass which is at the northern end of the Huayhuash range and is on the continental divide, so for the next few days rivers would flow to the Amazon. Doug was not well and feeling weak, so he rode on the horse except for a few difficult bits or gentle sections. At the pass, most of us took the optional climb up the ridge for a better view, and just as I was taking a photo of wild flowers, a shout from below came 'Condor above your head', so I quickly switched to action shot on the camera. Below the pass was a memorial cross to a young Pole who had died there tracking tributaries of the Amazon, and half an hour later we reached 'hot springs' which was a luke-warm little river which Julia bathed in. Another hour took us to camp at Janca at 4200m with lakes and impressive mountains, Jirishanca being the closest. After lunch, we had a stroll passed Glossy Ibis, Lapwing and Andean Geese to a glacial lake below Jirishanca and a close encounter with a Brown Caracara. The crew had caught trout in the river, so we had a delicious evening meal.
Sun Jun 1st - Janca to Laguna Carhuacocha
From camp we went east and south-east fairly gently up to Carhuac pass at 4650m with improving views of Siula Grande, made famous by Joe Simpson in his epic book 'Touching the void'. Except for Doug (still on horse), we climbed up a local hill (4800m) to get excellent views of Suila Grande, Yerapaja and Jirishanca. Next we stopped to see some good fossils, then continued gently down to a marvellous campsite at 4250m above Laguna Carhuacocha with super mountain views. During the day we had fascinating cloud formations over the mountains after days of blue sky. After a late lunch we had time to wash and watch avalanches.
Mon Jun 2nd - Rest Day near Laguna Carhuacocha
As Doug was still weak and there was lots to do in the area, Val decided that we should have a rest day, which actually meant a 4 hour walk to Lago Gangrajanca and back to watch avalanches. It was a nice day with some fascinating clouds as we got closer to the mountain faces of Siula Grande, Yerupaya and Jirishanca and watched avalanches crash down from their steep glaciers. On the walk there we passed a lady in her 80's, who Val knew well, who lived in a little house at the end of the lake and had sheep, 3 horses, dogs (and guinea pigs). There was a stream crossing in bare feet, then a climb up onto a moraine wall to see a lake which last year had been full on glacial ice, but now only had a small amount from recent avalanches - global warming! On the way back, we met up with some of the crew who had been fishing in the streams. They told Val that they'd caught nothing but then produced 6 lovely trout. Unfortunately, just before a lovely trout dinner, my stomach rebelled and I suddenly felt weak, so I only had a small taste of trout with Sipro pills, provided by Val.
Tue Jun 3rd - Laguna Carhuacocha to Huayhuash Village
A bad day for me, centred around the moment my KE trekking pole broke in half at a critical moment. I'd recovered quite well overnight, and made sure I was warm by putting my down jacket over my sleeping bag. However, I was still not bouncing around, so decided to join Doug, David and Paul on the donkey route to Huayhuash village, rather that the tougher walk devised by Val close to the mountains. We left an hour after the others as the donkeys were loaded first then the horse took Doug and Dave's packs and we strolled down the valley passed another camp down by the lake. An hour into the walk, there was a river to cross with big boulders, which looked difficult. David and Paul managed to get across with sticks and Doug turned back and rode the horse over. Feeling less than my normal bold self, I carefully set off with 2 poles, but 3/4 of the way over was a rounded wet rock (where Doug had turned back). With 2 poles in the fast flowing water, I stepped onto the the rock supported by the poles and was just about okay when the KE pole in my right hand snapped and crash I went down into the river. I tried to get to the bank quickly, so that my pack and camera would not get wet. From the fall onto the stoney river bed, I'd bashed my right little finger, which swelled up quickly, and landed hard on my right knee, though fortunately not the knee-cap. I was now soaking wet too. I said I was fine and would get dry on the walk, and set off up the hill. It took about 2 hours to get to the Carnicero pass on a fairly easy donkey track, and I was going quite well, but not feeling so good after the soaking. Trousers dried quickly and I put a dry fleece on and took off wet shirt, but my feet stayed wet all day. I handed my pack over to the horse at the top, as my left shoulder was sore, so now only Paul was carrying a pack. It was a nice day with scenery more reminiscent of Scotland with occasional snowy peaks in the background. Huayhuash village (3 houses) was in a lovely spot with a little babbling river, sheep and cows on slopes and Trapecio Mountain behind. Evening meal was chicken and chips - we had started with 8 live chickens, and would now be down to 3. They get put in boxes which the donkeys carry.
Wed Jun 4th - Trek to camp below Trapecio
A good night's sleep, so I was back to normal for a great days walking. We had breakfast outside with waves of Glossy Ibis passing overhead. The direct route to the next camp was only about 2 hours, so Val took Doug and Dave who were both struggling on the straight route, while the rest of us did a lovely contorted route with Melke. We climbed up to the Portachuelo de Huayhuash on the standard route passing flocks of Ibis while a Mountain Caracara soared overhead and I pushed it hard up the last slope to the pass. There we had good view of Cordillera Raura and the Tres Caballeros. After a snack we turned sharp right, so we were now taking a high route to the camp below Trapecio Peak. The weather and scenery were excellent especially the wild flowers and we reached camp for a late lunch. In the afternoon most of us took a stroll up the valley to see Grouse, Teal, Snipe, Vicuña (like a small wild llama) and Viscacha, a rabbit sized rodent with short front legs and a long tail. Paul and I climbed higher (4800m) to get better views. In the morning a sheep had been tied up near the camp. Our crew pulled it up the hill to the new camp at 4500m where it was slaughtered in correct local fashion, so we had lamb for dinner.
Thu Jun 5th - Cross the Punta Trapecio to top of Huanacpatay valley
Another late start with bed tea at 7am, but it was a lovely clear morning. From camp we went west uphill for about 2 hours to the pass at the side of Trapecio @ 5000m and I was feeling good, so pushed it near the top. David was on the horse as he had a bad night and was feeling weak. We left our daypacks at the pass and climbed a further 170m to get a super view of Siula Grande and Sarapao and the icy south face of Trapecio - our best and highest viewpoint so far. It was then a long descent to camp at 4500m, where our trail joined the main route. We had lunch on the way in a sheltered spot overlooking lakes. Most of this area was glacier 10 years ago, but now it is just boulders - global warming again. Camp was at the top of a valley with green meadows crossed by streams, so I tried having a run. 10 minutes was enough for my highest ever run/jog at 15000ft. Lamb steak for lunch and a cloudier evening. A group of 4 Austrians were camped nearby, the only time we've shared a site, and the toilets were permanent and flushed, but were an awkward climb to get to.
Fri Jun 6th - Trek to Cototambo
The sky must have cleared about 3am, as it got colder, and the sun was shining on the tents before tea arrived at 7am. Today's trek was a Val and Melke special, and proved to be absolutely wonderful. As usual, I was still sorting out my footware when the group set off, so was a few minutes behind with Melke and Johnson, but we soon caught up on the fairly stiff climb. I was now feeling fit and enjoying walking quite fast uphill on the little used faint path. It was a good 3 hour walk to the top of the pass at about 5050m, and the most breathtaking view opened out only at the top. This really was what the trek was all about, and only the KE trek comes this way. With glacial lakes Laguna Sarapo and Laguna Jurau below and snowy peaks (from left) Tsacra Chico (5548m), Rasac (6017), Yerupaja (6617), Sarapo (6127), Siula Grande (6344), Carnicero (5960) and Jurau (5674) above, the view was magical. I was there a few minutes before the others to take in the scene alone. It was cool and windy at the top, so we started down the scree slope towards Laguna Jurau within 10 minutes. Half way down, we spotted Vicuña on a nearby slope. We had lunch down at the lake on the rocks with lovely wild flowers between them. Camp at the head of the valley was about 30 mins walk with doves, yellow breasted greenfinch, Andean swifts and a few giant hummingbirds for company.
Sat Jun 7th - Long trek via Huayllapa to Huatiaq
It was a beautiful blue sky morning for the long walk down the Calinca valley to the cowboy town of Huayllapa with the sun behind us most of the way. I walked at the back for much of the time enjoying the scenery, especially the birds and flowers. The colour and variety of the wild flowers was just stunning, from the blue lupin forest to yellows, pinks etc lower down - a botanical heaven. It was a good 4 hours down to the town, with a good waterfall on the way, then a hold-up at the entrance gate to the town, where Val had to pay 50 Soles each for us to pass. There were 2 groups of about a dozen young Israeli's there too, some of them had been travelling in South America for 6 months. Gordon, John and I together with Val and Melke decided to go down into town, while the rest turned up the hill towards camp. We went into a shop/bar and Gordon bought a round of drinks - large bottles of beer. Val showed us the local custom - the first bottle and glass is used first for a small drink for each one of us in the group in turn, and we each tip the last part outside as an offering to 'Mother Earth'. We then continue with our own drinks. One drink was certainly enough after days in the mountains at altitude. We left with Val, but Melke stayed on. It was about a 700m climb up to camp and Val and I moved quickly up the hill taking it in turns to lead. Val has been mountaineering and developing and leading treks for 30 years in South America and Nepal. She has climbed 2 8000m peaks and run a 3:02 marathon. We stopped several times on the way up for John and Gordon and also had lunch, though Val's lunch was with Melke, so I shared a Clif Bar with her. The camp at Huatiaq was in a nice valley with little rivers either side with the Israeli camp 400m further on. Melke had not returned by sunset, so was in for some strong words from Val.
Sun Jun 8th - To Gashpampa valley via Cerro Jyamy ridge
We continued up the valley to the Tapush Pass. Melke had joined us just as we were setting off, but was keeping a low profile. From the pass, we climbed up a ridge on the left to Cerro Jyamy where we had very good views of the Huayhuash Range, particularly Yerupaya. My shoulder was a bit achy, so I left my pack with Melke for this excursion. After a break at the top, we continued along the rocky ridge line, with some tricky sections, and eventually descended down into the Gashpampa Valley and camp for a late lunch. It was a bit cloudy and cool in the afternoon, and in the evening, the last 3 chickens were barbecued.
Mon Jun 9th - Trek to Quebrada Whacrish
It was a cold morning with the sun just reaching camp before we set off about 8:20. After a short distance down the valley (north), we turned east on the main track up to the pass of Llaucha Punta (4850m). I was feeling fit, hanging back to look at the views etc, then getting into a good rhythm and passing the group. At the pass were a young couple from Bristol. She had a sore back, so I gave her some brufen tablets to help. From the pass, we took a detour to the left up a ridge for good views of Yerapaja and Siula Grande - I left my pack with Melke to save my dodgy back. The views were very good, and we could now clearly see the route taken up steep flutings to the ridge of Siula Grande by Joe Simpson and Simon Yates (Touching the void). It was quite a steep scramble down to Melke, then we took a route to the base of the Tsacra valley and our camp. Condors flew overhead when we arrived. After lunch, I took a walk up a side valley, suggested by Val to Lake Tsaquicocha, a morain lake below the peaks of Huacrish and Tsacra Grande. It was quite a tough walk, especially the final climb up the morain, but I saw viscacha on the way, and the view with a deep green lake was worth it. Val had noticed me go, so had come part way up the route. On the way back, we came across a recently dead calf, which explained the activities of the condors. It was a cool spot for camp at about 4600m, but quite spectacular with Yerapaja and the ridge of Rasac up the valley.
Tue Jun 10th - Over Rasac Pass to Laguna Jahuacocha
A cold morning, down to about -6C and no sun at camp before we set off up the valley towards Rasac. It was quite a long tough climb up to Rasac Pass, but no problem for me. There was a lovely photogenic lake just below the final climb, which I stopped at for reflective shots, while the others plodded on up. More very good views at the pass, and a small detour to the top of the local ridge. From the top it was a long descent to Rasac Lake, but the top part was a runable scree slope which was great fun for some of us. Julia was less certain on the steep downhills, but still good compared to many trekkers. Lower down near the lake, we were back in lupins and other wild flowers. We had lunch in the sun at the lake. We continued downhill with an awkward river crossing, then quite steeply down into the valley of Laguna Jahuacocha, which was in a beautiful setting. Melke and Val tried looking for fish in the little river entering the lake. There were coots, geese and teal with bright blue beaks on the lake, and we heard frogs too. The camp was the busiest we'd been to, but the view straight out of my tent of the lake and mountains was excellent. Overnight there were distant crashes of avalanches.
Wed Jun 11/12 Back to Huaraz and Lima
It was a warmer night as we were lower down (4100m) and there was some cloud, but also a full moon. Our last camp breakfast - porridge for the last time (until the next trek), super strawberry jam containing huge strawberries, coca tea, two eggs and warm bread. We also made sandwiches for lunch, then set off down the valley then up the north slope towards the Llamac pass - only 4300m, so not much of a climb. The descent to Llamac was long - over 1000m - and sometimes stoney, so I got my Leki stick out to save my knees. Val and Geoff both found it tough on their dodgy knees. In general I didn't use sticks at all on the trek, as my foot placement is very good and stick are just a hassle. We made good time arriving in Llamac before 12, after an early start of 7:20. Transport was there for us, but while Val found medicine fora sick lady in the village, we watched 2 Giant Hummingbirds in a nearby tree. The dirt road back to Chiquian was long and twisty and we had a delay getting passed a road crew, but made good progress after that back to Huaraz. In the evening, we had a final meal with Val, who had a meeting in Huaraz next day after recent death of climbers in the Cordillera Blanca, and with Geoff, who was getting a night bus back to Lima, then flight back to UK for a wedding. At 68, Geoff is an inspiration. Although he struggled on the final downhill with his knees, Geoff is very fit, nearly 6' and less than 11 stone, and when he was in shorts, we called him chicken-legs.
Next day we left the hotel at 8:30 for the long uneventful 8 hour drive back to Lima, including a lunch stop in Barranca. Once we were down to 1000m, it was the usual dull grey sky and surrounding of the Peruvian Coast. Johnson was now our guide - he's been studying English for 5 years, and is very good on reading and writing, but still needs to improve his speaking. He was usually at the back on the trek, sometimes with the horse, which he didn't enjoy. Our final meal was in the usual restaurant 3 streets away, where there was a big group of 14 ladies who had been horse riding near Cusco.
Fri Jun 13th - Lima to Caracas
I was up at 5:30, and tried not to wake Gordon. The taxi left at 6:25 and I was checked in at the airport by 7:05 for my 10:25 flight!! The Avianca flight took off an hour late and though seat 14A sounded good, the plane was small with only 96 seats, so I was just in front of the emergency exit over the wing, so no seat recline and a view of the engine. The Flight Info was not on, the entertainment was very limited as was the food, so not much better than PIA !! Customs in Caracas was quick with no visa required. I looked in the Money Exchange booth near baggage claim and saw that the rate was 6.2 to USD, but didn't change money. In the exit area a porter asked if I needed a taxi - yes, and to change money, as the black market was good and I could get 40 to USD. Okay $100. A 2nd porter put my bag on a trolley and led me to a lift where he counted out 4000 Bfs (Bolivars) and passed the wad of notes over surreptitiously. I did the same with 5 x $20 bills, and we came out of the lift and walked to the taxi rank where they showed me the rate to Hotel Royal was 600 Bfs. I gave the fixers 100 Bfs each and got into a taxi, which was driven by an old lady and not marked. All seemed a bit strange and suspicious so on the long busy journey to Caracas, I wondered if I'd end up somewhere strange or even kidnapped! I checked the address and noted that we turned off correctly for Sabana Grande and into very heavy rush hour traffic and eventually made it to the hotel very close to a pedestrian shopping street. At the hotel, I presented my G-Adventures voucher at the desk. The man spoke only Spanish and was a bit confused, but told me to sit and he'd sort it out. No problem - I'd arrived safely. 15 mins later, he gave me a key to room 33 - basic, but okay. Later, I found that wifi only worked in the basement, but it was empty, so no problem. The bar just next to reception was quite busy, so I went in for a beer. The manager there spoke good English, so I asked him where I could go out to eat. "Don't go outside, it is too dangerous in the evening. We will get food in for you". Gangs, muggings, shootings and kidnappings are a problem in parts of Caracas. I stayed in the bar and agreed to a plate of chicken and beef with chips, which was large, and I had a few glasses of red wine. He came over to tell me the food would be $8 or 500 Bfs. I was now confused about exchange rates, but paid in Bfs - mistake, should have used USD at that rate.
Sat Jun 14th - Caracas
Gran Cafe was in site of the hotel, so I went there for breakfast - Desayuno Espanol. I walked the shopping street for an hour to see what there was, buying small shampoo and soap - Strawberry Yoghurt flavour was all I could find - but there was no bottled water anywhere - lots of coke, juice etc, so I bought pear juice. When I got back to the hotel, Gibson, a young trainee guide with G-Adventures was there looking for me. Our leader Angel (Ang-hel) arrived a few minutes later with Mads (Sri Lankan Australian stock broker, 28) my new room mate. They had moved to a new hotel in Altimira, a safer part of town, 4 metro stops away. I packed my things in 10 minutes and we took the metro to Hotel Forestal. We had a nice suite of 2 bedrooms and share bathroom. Mads, Gibson and I went for lunch at a nearby smart Italian restaurant, while Angel went to meet others. Our group for the Roraima trip was 5. Erica, an Australian trainee doctor (28), had been travelling for 6 months, and 2 Brits, Steve (65) and Richard (27) arrived later. Angel explained more about the exchange rates. The official rate is 6.2, but Bolivars are weak, with inflation at 56%, and everyone wanted US$, so there is a strong illegal black market with rates of up to 60 or more Bolivars per dollar. My rate of 40 at the airport was good and better than anyone else got. At the official rate, Venezuela is a very expensive country, but at 40, it is quite cheap. I changed another $60 via Angel contacts at 32, but was now left with only $70.
Sun Jun 15th - Caracas to St Elena de Uairen
We had a good breakfast of eggs, bacon, ham and coffee in a nearby cafe, then had a private minibus for the trip to Ciudad Bolivar, leaving around 8:30. Angel bought some small bananas and oranges on the way, otherwise, we ate very little on the long drive of nearly 10 hours. The road looked nice and smooth, but was actually quite bumpy, so it was a rough ride. Near Barcelona there were tall chimneys burning oil and there was an oil pipeline near the road most of the time. Just over a big suspension bridge over the Orinoco, it was raining in Ciudad Bolivar and our night bus was about an hour late leaving at 7:30pm. We were in the downstairs section with air-conditioning which was freezing, so we wrapped up in whatever we had. The seats were comfortable with good reclining, so sleeping was quite good. We'd had nothing but fruit and snacks since breakfast so when we eventually stopped at a little food place at 1:30am, Steve and I tried the local corn and meat roll - not great but better than nothing. Our scheduled arrival time was 5am, but we were only just about to start the climb up onto La Gran Sabana. We eventually arrived in Santa Elena at 11am after a 40 minute stop at an army checkpoint around 9:30.
Mon Jun 16th - Santa Elena
We were all keen to have a late breakfast, but on the way to a local cafe, we accepted an offer of taxis to Brazil, a 20 minute drive away, with no border checks if you are in a taxi just going to the border town. Gibson's taxi did get stopped and searched, so we had another delay until we met at an 'All you can eat' lunch place, which was good. Steve bought a good hat for the trek and we returned to Venezuela. Later in the afternoon, some of us had a stroll down to Plaza de Bolivar (the name of the central square for all towns in Venezuela) and had a beer, and in the evening we ate at a nearby Italian. Erica is gluten intolerant so we need to choose places she can eat in.
Tue Jun 17th - Roraima Trek Day 1
None of us wanted to carry all of our own gear, so we would be sharing porters at $20 per day. Steve are I filled a plastic sack with our stuff for a porter - limit 15kg, and paid Frank, our local leader and cook. I didn't have enough dollars, so Steve paid part of mine, and I'll transfer money to him. We squashed into a 4x4 with Erica and Richard in the front, with her legs across his knees. We zoomed back down the road to the check point, where we were waved through, then near San Francisco de Yuruani turned off onto a dirt road for 34km to the start of the trek. Frank made us an early lunch as it was easier to do and eat at the hut before we started. The walk to the first camp took about 5.5 hours mostly in sun with the Roraima massif hazy but clearing in the distance but getting closer. It usually rains at this time of year, so we were lucky to see it with just a few clouds above. Early in the walk we stopped at a hut where women used cassava to make bread and an alcoholic drink. The walk was through grassy savannah, undulating and gradually up with few other plants or birds. Towards the end we crossed two rivers which needed to be waded in sandals. After struggling across the second river Steve cried "Where are my boots". He'd left them on the bank, so Richard hopped back over the wet rocks to get them. The camp was on the bank of the second river in trees, and here there were more birds and the start of a change in flora. It had been a warm sticky day, and it was hot in the tent until about 1am. Good spaghetti bolognaise for dinner. Our toilet tent had a seat with bags beneath to collect the waste, which would be taken back with us. However, within an hour Steve had tried it out and broken the seat. Gibson had turned back earlier in the day with a problem, so we'd lost our trainee.
Wed Jun 18th - Roraima Trek Day 2
It cooled during the night, so I had to get into sleeping bag and liner properly, but apart from some coughing, which started in Caracas, I slept through until 5am when it was light. Omelette with cheese and arepa - local cornflour bread - was for breakfast before starting to walk at 7:20am to Roraima Base Camp, so it was a steady uphill morning in steamy heat. Mads and I pushed on arriving at camp before 11, over 20 minutes ahead. Roraima cliff face was now a mile or so away and the route up could be seen when the cloud cleared enough. There was some drizzle but no serious rain. By late afternoon, there were about 20 tents in the area, all ready to trek to the top of Roraima next day. Mads and I had a dunk in a good pool in a nearby river. The local indigenous flora was plentiful and amazing and there were lots of orange-necked sparrows around waiting for crumbs. Good chicken stir-fry from Frank.
Thu Jun 19th - Roraima Trek Day 3 - to the top
Sunrise is 5am and I was packed and eating super ham and cheese empanadas by 6. Richard slept on as he was kept awake by Steve's snoring for much of the night. Steve had a dodgy stomach so only had 1 pancake, while Erica had a big bowl of cornflakes. Today we'd be climbing 800m to the top of Roraima and left camp at 7:45. Just over the river, there was a steep climb up awkward steps in a clay bank and Erica was worried that she wasn't going to cope with much of this. At the top of the clay bank there was a lovely indigenous bird with bright red head and yellow breast hopping around in the bushes. This was cloud forest territory with lots of plants found only here in the Roraima skirt and it was amazing - I took lots of photos. The climb wasn't difficult for me but Steve was very slow and Erica was fine after the difficult start. It was raining gently but warm and sweaty early on, so I stripped down to shorts, then later put on rain trousers as it got worse. At the viewpoint 500m up we could see very little, then we were warned that we'd be walking under a waterfall, so put rain jacket on. It got a bit steeper and rockier and soon we were at the top, then the sun came out too, for a while. It was about 11:50 when we reached the top and half an hour later when Steve arrived and we took group photos. The half hour stroll across the top to our cave - Hotel San Francisco was another world of black rock with lighter patches which were safer (grippier) to walk on, lots of water and little lakes and more flowers and plants only seen here. There were patches of light rain with reasonable but not good visibility. Our cave had a low sheltered section where the crew were cooking and a larger more open area where our tents were erected. The weather was not clear or dry enough for a 2 hour walk to the highest point, so we stayed around the cave. Later I had a stroll and saw a little black frog and found Frank in a small cave where he had erected his hammock. Dinner was a thick soup
Fri Jun 20th - Roraima - Exploring the top
It felt cold early in the night with the thin G sleeping bag, the wind and the damp - very high humidity, so nothing dries in the cave, but later the wind dropped and I was warm enough. Frank had promised to wake us at 5 if the weather was good for a pre-breakfast walk, but it was misty with light rain, so we had a pancake breakfast and left about 8, without Steve, who decided to stay in camp and read. We took a route around our rocky hill, then headed east along a sandy valley containing lots of quartz crystals. The scenery and flora were amazing but visibility was limited with some light rain. We took more turns and climbed to a point with a rocky valley below then to a waterfall, with some of the ups and downs being a bit challenging, especially with all the wet areas and black slippery rocks. Another half a mile of fairly flat and we reached 'the window'. Here a huge rock was wedged in a crevice with a big hole below which looked straight down Roraima East face towards Guyana, but it was too misty to see anything. There is jungle below on this side unlike the savannah we came across on the west. On the way back, we took the direct route via 'the jacuzzi', natural bath shaped holes in the bed of the little river. Richard washed his hair and Mads went in up to his neck, briefly. We returned for early lunch, a bit damp, but glad of the unique Lost World experience. The weather was poor again after lunch - it is the rainy season! - so we dozed for a while. At 3pm it was clear and bright when I went out, so I cheered 'yippee', not knowing that 100 yards away Erica was squatting behind a rock and was so shocked she fell into a bog up to her hip and had to change when she got back. We then walked to the highest point - The Maverick - about 30 minutes away up onto a rocky hill on the edge of the cliff overlooking our route up. It was already quite crowded with about 20 other tourists when we arrived but they were gradually leaving. The views along the cliff and out across the savannah including base camp were superb, then a double rainbow appeared for super photos of the cliff edge. There was a little shower and we sheltered under an overhang looking out over the abyss, then went back to have 10 minutes on the top to ourselves. We had been so lucky to get this break in the weather. Back at Hotel San Francisco (cave), 3 Italian Americans led by a friend of Frank's joined us, so they could use our cooking area. They had a small overhang on the sheltered side of our hill, but would move into our cave next day.
Sat Jun 21st - Roraima Day 5 - Down, down, down
It had rained a lot overnight, so the waterfall near the cave entrance drowned out Steve's snoring. We left at 7:15 dressed for the rain. Within 5 minutes, I had to take boots off as a stepping stone crossing was now a foot under water. We were at the start of the descent at 8:05 and waited a few minutes for Steve. The rocky route down was now a stream too and the water cascading off the top part way down was now a waterfall. There was no view from the lookout point again at 9:05. We waited until we could see Angel and Steve near the waterfall, then I told Frank I'd like to go down fast, so I went ahead moving quickly down the wet rocky track. Mads followed right behind me. Part way down I had a brief stop and Mads was past and I didn't see him until base camp at 10:00. It had rained all the way down, but was lighter with some sun at base camp. We were wet through, so hung things out in the shelter. Frank, Richard and Erica arrived at 11:00 and by noon we had hot chocolate and a pasta and tuna lunch. Steve and Angel arrived at 12:30 having gone down carefully, but Steve was very cheerful. After lunch the weather improved with just the odd shower, sometimes heavy, and it was quite a hot downhill walk to our first campsite. The river was now quite high, but there was a dugout canoe to get across. Frank took the bags across first holding onto a rope across the river which proved to be difficult, so he went to get a paddle to take us over one at a time. Mads, Richard, Erica and I then continued to the second river which was just an easy wade across while Frank waited for Steve, Angel and porters. Angel and Steve were quite late because Angel had a fall and badly bruised his hip on a rock. There were huts at the camp just past Rio Tek and our tents were already up. Our team had a key to a hut with our stash of food in it and some boys had brought supplies of beer, so we had celebration drinks with a good dinner. Mads kept buying beers but I stuck to 2 concerned that I was running out of money and would need to find a solution. Most of the groups from the last camp were there, so there were about 20 trekkers at the site.
Sun Jun 22nd - Roraima Day 6
The Roraima Ultra Marathon had started at 10pm from San Francisco de Uruani. This involved running to Roraima Base camp and back passing the camp at Rio Tek and was a total of 103km of muddy undulations and 2 river crossings, something I'd love to have tried 12 years ago. The first of the 800 runners came passed the camp, which was about at the marathon point at around 1:30 am, though I only heard a few of them so I must have slept well. With the new stash of food, we had a good breakfast as a few of the runners came past of their way back. I walked alone for much of the way back, initially behind Frank and the youngsters with tail-end marathon joggers nearby. Later I passed the group, but Mads and then Richard came passed me and jogged down the hills, so I did the same and we arrived back at Paraitepuy around 10:30. There had been annoying rain showers on the way, so I'd changed into and out of raincoat and wet trousers several times. Erica was about 20 minutes behind us and Steve surprised me by arriving in good time at 11:30. The bumpy muddy drive back to the main road took us to San Francisco where we found space in a cafe for barbeque chicken. The little town was busy with runners all celebrating their achievements, though several were on crutches or bandaged up. We had a look at the local artefacts shops and Richard bought a blow-pipe which I've offered to take back to London for him as he is continuing in South America for several weeks. In the evening we went to a local pizza place in Santa Elena, where the pizzas were good but the service was awful. Erica asked for omelette and chips, but when it came it included things she couldn't eat. Back at the 3 Naciones Hotel/Lodge, Angel found a posada which could take our laundry (on a Sunday) which we could pick up in the morning. Later he gave me Bolivars at an agreed rate if I could transfer money to him with Paypal. It took me a long time to get this done as my account - not used for several years - had an old withdrawn Visa card on it which I had to cancel and add the new one. I was very happy to succeed however as I now had money and a method of getting more if required.
Mon Jun 23rd - Santa Elena to Ciudad Bolivar
Mads, Angel and I went to a nice bakery for breakfast with the plan that we'd be catching a bus to Ciudad Bolivar at 1pm which was not expected to arrive until 1am or later - not a good prospect. While we were having breakfast, Terry (ex guide and local fixer) called to tell Angel that he and another vehicle were driving to Ciudad Bolivar soon, so we could go with them (fast) and arrive much earlier. The sudden change of plan was not easy for Erica as she needed to pack and get breakfast, after the pizza fiasco, and we also found that the laundry couldn't be collected until 10, so our departure was a bit delayed. However, everyone was happy that we'd be getting there in time for dinner. It was still a very long way - about 700km - and we had a short detour in Upata to Angel's house to drop his bags and meet his mum. Up to Upata the road is like a B road and fairly quiet, but from Upata it is duel carriageway and our driver drove mostly at 160kph with a max of 180kph (112mph). There are no speed limits in Venezuela and petrol is almost free. Our hotel in Ciudad Bolivar was near t eh airport and the smartest we'd seen in the country. We had a very good meal in the restaurant, I shared a paella with Angel, but Richard ordered a bottle of red wine - which 4 of us shared- without checking the price. 1800 bolivars!!! about £32 at our average black market exchange rate.
Tue Jun 24th - To Angel Falls
Flights to Canaima (for Angel Falls) are either in a 5 seater Cessna or a 19 seater BAe Jetstream. At the airport, we found that Terry had got us onto the 19 seater. The flight south took about 45 minutes and was smooth, but not much of a view. Canaima is about 100 miles from the nearest road and the few vehicles there have been brought in by cargo plane. We walked to our posada in 10 minutes and there we found out that we would be going straight up river to Angel Falls with only the 6 of us in the boat with driver and assistant. This was very good news. At busy times there could be 12 tourists on a boat and the 2 days can be swapped around with local Canaima Laguna and falls on Day 1. We had about an hour to wait, so went to see a lovely view of Laguna, falls and beach from a nice bar. A short truck ride away above the nearest falls, we boarded a long dugout canoe with outboard. We were warned that we'd get wet during the 4 hour ride to Angel Falls so wear sandals and swimwear and take waterproofs, camera and insect repellent. I wore running shorts as I'd given my swimming shorts to Steve. 20 minutes upstream, we had to get out and walk for a mile to by-pass rapids in which an Italian had been killed. It was a hot walk - 35C - on which we stopped to study a termite mound. Angel opened it up, put his hand in to get termites on it, then ate some. Indigenous tribes use termites for medicinal purposes as they contain eucalyptus. Mads, Richard and I had a go too - they taste fine. We rejoined the boat and half an hour and a small rapid later stopped for lunch at an idyllic waterfall. Angel Falls is up a deep valley in the middle of the largest and tallest tepuy (flat topped mountain) in Venezuela - Auyan Tepuy - and is nearly 50 miles by river from the airport at Canaima. From the lunch stop, we continued up the Rio Carrao to the outer edges of Auyan Tepuy, also called the Devil's Mountain, with rain starting to fall and as we progressed up rapids and into the narrower Rio Churun as the rained became torrential. Steve and I had not put on our wet gear and just got wet by the hammering warm rain for the next hour. 4 boats came down with the current at speed and eventually with the rain easing Angel Falls appeared from a fork at the highest point of the tepuy. It was an amazing sight. 10 minutes later we were stepping off the boat near Isla Raton (Rat Island). Our camp was an old concrete building near the banks of the river, with a clear view of the falls. We were the only tourists there and we'd be sleeping in hammocks hung from the rafters. At busy times there can be over 60 tourists there, so we were really lucky. Our boatman and assistant would be cooking for us. As it was the rainy season and had just rained a lot there was plenty of water in Angel Falls, the highest falls in the world at 984 metres (over 3200 ft), unlike a few months ago when there was just a trickle. The falls are named after Jimmy Angel, a pilot who discovered the falls in 1937, though of course they've been known by local Indians (as Korepa Ku'po Vena) for centuries. Another camp down on the river bank had a clearer more open view, so we went there for an hour, with a bottle of rum Mads had bought in Canaima, and watched as the light started to fade. Back at our our camp we had candle lit barbeque chicken with a noisy frog close by. We heard parrots and toucans in the jungle and had seen egrets, vultures, swifts, kingfishers etc on the river. Richard and Erica decided that they preferred the riverside camp, where a small group had been, but they'd moved across the river to the Angel Falls side. Sleeping in a hammock was a novelty. In order not to end up like a banana, you sleep diagonally to spread the hammock sheet out and flatten the base/back, so toes and head are at opposite edges. I slept okay, but Steve didn't which meant little snoring!
We'd Jun 25th - Angel Falls to Canaima
I was up just after 5, keen not to miss the sunrise hitting the top of Angel Falls. It was a lovely clear morning for just gazing at a wonder of the world. After breakfast, we took the boat across the river to Rat Island, which contained an empty camp, then waded across the rest of the river near the top of the island. It is a 90 minute trek through the jungle in sandals, shorts and shirt (raincoat optional) over lots of tree roots, through leafy puddles and then up rocks to a great viewpoint at the foot of Angel Falls. At one point Richard stopped dead; 'A big snake behind that tree' he said, so we waited and watched as a boa 8 ft long and 2 inches thick slithered off into the jungle. There was a little less water in the falls after the dry night, which was perfect for the viewpoint. Too much water and the viewpoint would be covered in spray making photography difficult. The group of 4 we'd seen the day before left the top just as we arrived, so we had this super vista to ourselves for an hour. On the way back to camp we passed several other groups. After an early lunch we started the return journey to Canaima, this time in raincoat and wet trousers, though there was much less rain. It was about an hour quicker going downstream. This time the boat driver went over the top part of the Rapidos de Mayupa, so we had a shorter walk. Near Canaima, we took a detour on a fork of the river to Salto Sapo (Frog Waterfall). Leaving the boat and Steve, we walked to the falls, then down and along a path 'under' the waterfall, getting a shower in the process. It was quite an experience and rather difficult for Mads who can't see much without his glasses, though I guided him through. We were back in Canaima in allocated rooms by 4:30 with 3 hours before dinner. I had a wander along the beach, which was nice white sand with a lovely view, expecting to meet the others in the bar, but it was closed as was most of the village. After an hour of strolling, I heard music from around the side of the lake and made my way to the only open bar in town where Mads, Richard and Steve had a small pile of empty cans in front of them and joined them as the sun went down. After a basic dinner at the posada, we looked for another bar, but all were shut and I returned to write up notes while the youngsters went back to the bar around the lake.
Thu Jun 26th - Canaima to Ciudad Bolivar
I had a refreshing swim in the lagoon at 6:15, though the current was quite strong to swim against. At the little airport, we looked at souvenirs, but there were no stamps for postcards. A 19 seater landed, but it was going to Santa Elena next, so we were flying back in little 5 seater Sessnas. Richard and I were very happy about flying in a tiny plane with great views, but Erica and Mads were both a bit scared of flying despite being world travellers. Angel went in a different plane with some Americans, so the five of us were together in a tiny old plane with a pilot. It was an exhilarating flight with some bumpy bits when we hit cloud, but with good views of tepuys, rivers, jungle, rocky area and a couple of small towns until we came into Ciudad Bolivar. We did a scary tight turn over the town, then had a very smooth landing. Wow! Later in the day, Gibson and his mate drove us into town to look at the sites. The old colonial centre of Ciudad Bolivar which used to be called Astorga was bright and delightful and on a hill overlooking the Orinoco river. We stopped in Plaza Bolivar, but the cathedral and other official buildings were just closing, so we went down to the river and watched the sunset, with Gibson producing bottles of beer. I had excellent Lau Lau fish for dinner, a giant catfish from the Orinoco.
Addis Ababa Airport was a bit of a shambles compared to the last time I'd been there in early 2012 when it was new and sparkling. It was already looking a bit tatty, though the main reason was that it was so busy for a few hours in the morning that facilities were very stretched. Lots of flights arrive in the early morning, but nothing takes off until 8:05 am and by 11 o'clock it is empty. Most passengers are in transit. I did manage to find a seat in a busy cafe and had a good omelette and coffee. My 9pm flight from Heathrow's smart new Terminal 2 had been fine, although there was not much time to sleep after the on-board meal and landing at Addis before 6am (4am in London). I'd left the van in Ashford, close to Heathrow where Alison, who gave me a lift, could keep an eye on it.
Back in Addis a lot of people in walking boots got on the 10:20 flight to Kilimanjaro, though there were quite a lot of normal travellers too. Less than an hour later we were back in the now empty terminal building as our plane had an engine fault and we had to get off. We eventually took off about 1:45, but had now been re-routed via Mombasa were most of the normal travellers got off. Somebody had taken my window seat, so I sat in the emergency exit row between Peter and Vanda who I'd met in the queue. After Mombasa I did get my seat back so got some good views of Kilimanjaro as were flew past. A Tanzania visa was $50 and Kessi was waiting for just me at the airport. It was a good hour's drive to the very smart Mount Meru Hotel in Arusha, on a busy road into the setting sun which went down in a few minutes as we were on the equator. I had a top floor room, so quickly washed my travel clothes as I showered, then went down for a good buffet dinner wearing my KE T-shirt so I could be recognised. Iain and Elizabeth, a young couple from Aberdeen duly found me - there would just be the 3 of us on the trip!
Sun Sept 28th - Arusha to Simba Camp
I joined Iain and Eli for breakfast on the terrace overlooking the gardens at 7:30, then packed leaving one bag for safaris at the hotel. We left in a 6 seater jeep with local guides/leaders Imran and Peter and cook Amos and took the road to Moshi. We reached the Kilimanjaro Park HQ at Marangu Gate around 12 where Peter and Imran sorted out the permits. We had another 2 hours to drive around to the much less used Rongai route which starts on the north side near the Kenyan border. Kilimanjaro had been in Kenya, a British colony until 1886 when Queen Victoria gave it to Kaiser Wilhelm II as a birthday present so the border with Tanganyika, a German colony (until the end of World War I) was redrawn. We had lunch of salad and sandwich first, then started walking from 1950m at 2:15pm. It is a gentle dirt track up through a temporary village and forest with Colobus monkeys in the trees and quite a lot of singing birds. After about 3 hours easy walk now in bushy terrain we reached Simba Camp at 2600m. About 30 Trekkers had already checked in including 11 Belgian pharmacists, 7 Swiss who we met later and 4 German guys who Eli spoke to. Our crew totalled 15 including guides, cooks and porters for just 3 of us, but there was a cook tent, small mess tent, toilet tent and 3 two-man tents for us and the guides. Dinner was a very good cucumber soup then fish, veg, salad etc. later the sky cleared and the stars were very good.
Mon Sept 29th - Simba Camp to Kikelewa Caves
After breakfast in the sun, we continued up the easy trail which became a little steeper through small bushes. Imran set a slow pace for us to keep behind. We stopped at a couple of small caves where Eli's geological knowledge was useful. Rain started while we were having lunch (Kili burger) in another cave at 2450m and continued gently on and off for most of the afternoon as we traversed south-south-east towards Mawenzi, a group of peaks east of Kilimanjaro. Kikelewa Camp is on open dusty dark earth and fairly rocky. Both my outer tent zips were faulty - they are always poor - so the guides swapped their outer. The angle of my tent with the rocky ground made it tough on knees and knuckles getting in and out. After more good soup, we had beef stew and rice for dinner. The evening was quite cool, but on the middle of the night I was too hot so reduced layers, though a look out of the tent showed a clear starry sky.
Tue Sept 30th - Kikelewa Caves to Mawenzi Tarn
We had an easy 7km morning walk rising 700m with the jagged peaks of the Mawenzi group to aim for. There had a been good views of Kili in the morning and a large group sang a song to the mountain. It was warm with clouds. Mawenzi Tarn is quite a small lake on a small rocky plateau below the peaks. We took it easy in the afternoon. General altitude rules applied with lots of soup and water. I felt fine but Eli had a headache.
Wed Oct 1st - Mawenzi Tarn. Acclimatisation Day
We had a late start with breakfast at 8 in cool weather. At 10 we had a gentle stroll 200m up onto a rocky ridge where Kili Base Camp was visible between the clouds, but the mountain stayed cloud covered. Eli had been feeling bad with the altitude but paracetamol helped. On the way back down the started to hail and continued on for most of the afternoon, so we were tent-bound except for lunch, tea and dinner. Wildlife is a bit limited up here - Sparrows, some with stripy heads, stripy mice hiding the the rocks but coming out for crumbs and big thick-billed ravens (as seen in Ethiopia). I did have a walk late in the afternoon and phones worked on the nearby ridge.
Thursday Oct 2nd - Mawenzi Tarn to Kibo Hut
We had an early start for the walk across the saddle between the Mawenzi Peaks and the mass of Kilimanjaro. Mawenzi was looking good with its sprinkling of new snow, but eh only had one brief of the top of Kilimanjaro. Half way across the saddle there is the wreckage of a small plane which crashed there some years ago. It was only a 400m increase today, but Kibo Hut is the base camp for Kilimanjaro with several more popular routes meeting there, so it was quite busy. We were there for lunch, then had an afternoon rest/sleep as we'd be getting up at 11pm. Getting all the right clothes together for the cold climb was the main task. Pasta for early dinner in preparation for the big day, then a few hours sleep.
Frii Oct 3rd - Kilimanjaro - the climb - The Big Day.
We were up before midnight ready packed and eating a few biscuits with a hot drink. It was now a clear star-filled cold night with a few headlights ahead of us as we left Kibo Hut at 00:09. Imran took the lead and judged that we were fit and acclimatised, so slowly caught and passed the groups ahead. To get to the top we had to climb nearly 1200m (4000ft) and after an hour we'd already done 300m. Simon (a porter) had joined us, so with Peter, the most experienced guide at the back, we were a group of six. I'd started with 5 thin layers on top and 3 on my legs and gaiters which helped keep my feet warm. I also had 3 pairs of gloves. By 2:30 we were half way up and it was getting steeper and colder, so I put on my thin duvet jacket and then Sprayway top too. The tube to my water tank had frozen within an hour and now the tops of my two water bottles, kept inside my pack, were freezing too, so there would be no more regular supply of water! The climb was getting steeper and slower and I was enjoying it, but starting to struggle having to stop for breath quite often as we reached Gilman Point (the beginning of the top ridge) just before 5 am. A German couple had just passed us, so I commented that they had to get their towels onto the summit first. Eli couldn't get her biggest gloves over her small ones, so I took off and gave her my very thin pair, and we struggled on up, now to the next point on the ridge - Stellar Point, where Eli said she was too exhausted to continue. Other groups (mostly German) went passed and Iain went ahead (with Simon) as I was now stopping for breath with hands on knees every 20 yards. The horizon to the east (behind us) was now bright red with cliffs of snow 200 yards to the left and the crater of the volcano to the right when the sun burst over the horizon with the summit (Uhuru) in view. There were about 30 people on the summit when I arrived at 06:35 feeling totally exhausted, but suddenly quite elated and emotional, which warmed up my cold hands. It was great to have made it - the highest point I will ever get to - 5896m (19344ft), but it had been very hard, probably not helped by the lack of water for the last few hours. Numerous photos and videos were taken and by 6:50 I was starting the long descent. Imran caught me up and we asked fast on the gentle slope back to Stellar Point. I'd been with Iain at the top, but it missed Eli coming up - she changed her mind and did reach the top, so we all made it - Excellent. The steep descent below. Gilman Point was a struggle with achy legs, dodgy knees and hip and no energy left. I'd have jogged down a few years ago. Back at camp around 8:30 I slumped by my tent and Goodluck, our camp waiter, came over with ginger tea. I crashed out for a couple of hours, then at 10:30, suddenly there was a tapping on my tent and a call for lunch and I could also hear that Iain and Eli's tent was being taken down. Help - I have to pack and have lunch almost immediately! The morning sun was being replaced by threatening clouds, so we'd leave as soon as possible before the hail and rain started. It was an easy 7 mile downhill stroll to Horombo Camp (3700m), but the hail started within 10 minutes later turning to rain, continuing until early evening, so it was a dismal end to the day.
Sat Oct 4th - Horombo Camp to Arusha
After the wet and cold of the previous day it was a lovely sunny and fairly warm day and a delightful walk down from 3700m through bushy terrain with lots of flowers and birds, so I stopped to take photos often. We'd started the day by saying goodbye to our porters who scant a traditional song. Goodluck had been very good at looking after us around camp. Below 3000m, the bushes gave way to small trees then to forest, which was still a delight to be walking through despite a sore hamstring. There were Colobus and Blue Monkeys in the forest as groups of schoolchildren came up the hill and near the end some boys had a couple of chameleons, which I took photos of. Down at Park HQ, we received our certificates and had lunch, then a jeep took us back to Arusha, which was about 4 hours drive with fairly heavy traffic. The road is good but it is about the only one there is, so heavy lorries slow things down. In the evening, apart from a nice buffet dinner and a couple of beers, it was time to catch up with the world and sort things out.
Sun Oct 5th - Tarangire National Park.
After a good breakfast, we left Mount Meru Hotel at 9 with John who would be our guide and driver for the next 3 days. Once out of Arusha, the road was good and fairly quiet until we turned off onto rough roads near Tarangire NP at 11:30. At the park entrance it took John over 20 minutes to sort out paperwork and payment as it was now quite crowded with tourists in safari jeeps. They are 6 or 8 seater 4x4 jeeps with roofs which can be raised up when on safari. John took us on a detour (game drive) in which we saw Banded Mongoose, Warthog, Impala, Lilac-breasted Roller and many Baobab trees then on a point above the river, we could see lots of large animals as well as numerous birds. A list of the animals and main birds seen on the 3 Tanzanian safaris will appear at the end of this diary entry. At the Tarangire Safari Lodge, which is perched on top of an escarpment above the river and plains, we had a good curry lunch and moved into luxury tented rooms - with proper beds, showers and flush toilet. There were about 30 tourists there, mostly European, including 5 Swedish girls. At 3:30, John picked us up for an excellent afternoon game drive which lasted until sunset. The highlight being a cheetah in long grass 150 metres away and 2 groups of lions including cubs. John was very good at spotting animals and birds and had a good knowledge of them - How do you tell the difference between a male and a female zebra? Easy, a male zebra is black with white stripes, while a female zebra is white with black stripes. In the evening, there were cocktails on the terrace and I chatted to a Dutch couple who were involved in helping young Tanzanian entrepreneurs set up in business, manly near our Kili starting point on the Rongai Route. Another good buffet included crumble and custard and more drinks. After dark, we had to be escorted to and from our 'tents' as wild animals can roam through the area.
Mon Oct 6th - Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA).
We were packed and ready to leave when John picked us up for an early morning game drive before breakfast at 6:30. We didn't see much new but hornbills, eagles, jackels and baboons but it a nice peaceful start to the day. After breakfast it was quite a long drive passed the entrance to Lake Manyara NP and up the Rift Valley escarpment to the NCA - Ngorongoro Conservation Area, famous for it's huge volcanic crater about 12 miles across. A National Park is for animals only, but the NCA has resident Maasai tribes who live off the land with their cattle, goats etc. The drive along the crater rim with a viewpoint stop to see the huge extent of the crater took an hour, then we paid a visit to a Maasai village. Two families of over 200 people live in this enclosed village containing about 30 mud and stick huts, a school and animal enclosures. We paid the head man $20 each and the young men and women sang and danced for us. We then visited a hut and the school and looked at their souvenir market. It was 1 o'clock when we started down the rough track to the floor of the crater, so I was thinking of lunch, but we had an extensive game drive across the crater eventually arriving at the hippo pool picnic area about 2:30. Thre was lots of wildlife there - no giraffes and few elephants because there are no big trees, but lions, hippo, buffalo, hyena, wildebeest, one rhino, Thompson gazelles, jackals, flamingo and crowned cranes (the national bird) - see appendix. It was after 4 when we drove back up to the rim and about 5:15 when we stopped at a souvenir shop and a break for John who had a been driving all day. Lake Manyara Hotel is a very classy hotel built on top of the Rift Valley escarpment with big views over Lake Manyara NP. It is a lovely place and I had a nice swim and it is in quite a unique and remote location. However the Exchange rates quoted at the desk are a joke - £1 = 1850 Tsh compared to 2500Tsh in The Arusha hotel and beers were 7000 Tsh instead of 5000 Tsh. In addition there was no WiFi and Internet in the Internet room was $10 per hour. Free WiFi is now common in most hotels. The rooms were nice and ladies came around to set up mosquito around the beds at dusk - the town down near Lake Manyara Gate is called 'Mosquito River' in Swahili.
Tue Oct 7th - Lake Manyara National Park
Our third safari park started as a bit of a disappointment with just baboons, blue monkeys and hornbills, but down near the water at the hippo pool there were lots of animals and birds. Towards the end of the game drive we saw a grey-headed kingfisher, then the red & yellow barbet at the lunch spot was very good. Iain and Eli had a plane to catch at least 4 hours drive away and John dropped me on the way at Meru View Lodge near the entrance to Arusha NP which I'd booked for 3 nights. I had a nice bungalow room at the end in nice green surroundings. At dinner, I discovered I was the only Brit with 18 Germans!
Animals and main Birds seen on Tanzanian Safaris
Locations:- K- Kilimanjaro, T- Tarangire, N- Ngorongoro, L- Lake Manyara (lower case = 1-5 only)
Animals:- Baboon (T,L), Blue Vervet Monkey (K,T,L), Abyssinian Black & White Colobus Monkey (K), Plains Zebra (T,N,L), Black Rhinoceros (n), Hippopotamus (N,L), Warthog (T,N,L), Giraffe (T,L), African Buffalo (t,N,l), Bushbuck (t,n), Waterbuck (T), Reedbuck (t), Coke's Hartebeest (n), Blue Wildebeest (T,N,L), Impala (T,N,L), Grant's Gazelle (t), Thompson's Gazelle (N,L), Kirk's Dik-Dik (T,n), African Elephant (T,n,L), Side-striped (Silverback) Jackal (T), Golden Jackal (n), Banded Mongoose (T), Spotted Hyaena (N), Cheetah (t), Lion (T,n), Barbary Striped Grass Mouse (K), Green Mamba snake (baby,l), Ostrich (T,N).
Birds:- Little Egret, Black-Headed Heron, Grey Heron, Sacred Ibis, Hadada Ibis, Yellow-Billed Stork, Marabou Stork, African Spoonbill, Lesser Flamingo, Greater Flamingo, Egyptian Goose, White-Backed Vulture, Bateleur, Tawny Eagle, African Fish Eagle, Black Kite, Yellow-Necked Spurfowl, Helmeted Guineafowl, White-Bellied Bustard, Kori Bustard, Crowned Crane, Blacksmith Plover, Crowned Plover, Black-Winged Stilt, African Jacana, Ring-Necked Dove, White-Bellied Go-Away-Bird, Yellow-Collared Lovebird, Lilac-Breasted Roller, Grey-Headed Kingfisher, Red-Billed Hornbill, Trumpeter Hornbill, Ground Hornbill, Red and Yellow Barbet, African Pied Wagtail, Grey Wagtail, Yellow-Vented Bulbul, Stonechat, African Thrush, White-Starred Bush Robin, Pectoral-Patch Cisticola, White-Crowned Shrike, Variable Sunbird, Streaky Seedeater, Cut-Throat, Red-Cheeked Cordon-Bleu, Indigo Bird, Masked Weaver, Red-Billed Quelea, White-Headed Buffalo Weaver, Square-Tailed Drongo, Yellow-Billed Oxpecker, Superb Starling, Black-Breasted Glossy Starling, Ashy Starling, Thick-Billed Raven, White-Necked Raven, Pied Crow, various migrant waders.
Wed to Fri Oct 8-10 - Meru View Lodge
Meru View Lodge is a lovely green spot near the gates to Arusha National Park. The garden is teaming with birds, especially sunbirds and weavers, with a Purple-Breasted Sunbird with a very long tail being an addition to the list above. Safari Trips to Arusha National Park and canoeing at Duluti Lake were all booked up, and would have been expensive to go alone, so I was a little disappointed. However, I did have a short swim and two local walks in the area, where the locals were friendly, the field had lots of crops in them and it was nice and green with birds singing. I also had time to catch up on photos and blog. The Lodge was set up by a German couple and all of the guests except me were German, though Cyril and Dominic from Switzerland who had just joined the staff as management trainees. At dinner, I was alone with 18 Germans, then 8 Germans, then 26 Germans, though I sat with and talked to Ingo and Astrid on the last night, who were on their first trip out of Europe. A Shuttle Bus and a taxi down to Arusha were organised for me by Cyril, though the 1400 bus booked was later than I had planned. On Friday I had a late breakfast with Ingo and Astrid and showed them photos from the National Parks they'd be going to. I paid the bill at the Lodge by credit card as I now plan to stay on an extra few days to see more of Rwanda and go to Burundi, where there's is a black market, so I need to save my dollars. I escaped from Colditz in a taxi down to the Impala Hotel, Arusha. - the driver lived locally in Usa River and we passed his mother on the way! The shuttle bus was a little 18 seater and I sat next to Mueni - 30, lawyer, mother of two, from Dar-es-Salaam, on her first long bus trip to see her uncle in Nairobi. About 12 miles from the border, the bus stopped with a radiator leak. We managed to limp on to the border, with 3 people being transferred to a car to get to the airport for evening flights. I left everything in the bus except passport and wallet to go through passport control etc, paid $50 for a Kenyan visa, then found that the bus had gone off to a garage for repairs. A replacement bus was on its way from Arusha, but we had to wait around at the border for about 3 hours, so it was after 7 when it arrived, went to the dead bus at the garage and got luggage transferred. A lady near me with a Kenyan phone called my hotel, so I could warn them that I would be very late. A taxi from Silver Springs Hotel to Hillpark. Hotel was quick and easy, and at 10:30 I was checking in to a single room, and finding food and drink. All the Exodus group had gone to bed after a night flight via Addis.
The Exodus Overland truck had 24 seats for 18 of us plus our crew of Lelei (leader), Adayo (driver), Liz (cook), Alex (camp master), though Jenny had missed her connection from Manchester and would catch up. We left Nairobi at 8:30, all English except for 2 Irish doctors. I sat at the front with Tom (27), the youngest, on the adjacent double seat and Micki, the oldest at 71 - a well travelled lady, just behind. With 17 names to learn, we took introductions slowly over a couple of days. There were 2 Barry's, 2 Dan's and 2 Richard Williams'. We stopped after a couple of hours with a view over the Rift Valley and Rock Hyrax on the slope below. They are guinea pig size and the closest relative to the elephant. The turning to Lake Naivasha is just past an old volcano, with Fisherman's Camp on the lakeside about 20 minutes down the minor road past an area of flower factories - western owned with cheap local labour using unhealthy chemicals to maximise yield. At the camp there were Marabou Storks and Sacred Ibis strolling around and lots of birds on the lakeshore including Giant Kingfisher, African Spoonbill and a Pied Kingfisher with a big fish in its beak. After lunch we had a boat trip on the lake, with Jenny arriving just in time, and saw more birds and some hippos, finishing at Elsamere, the home of Joy & George Adamson of 'Born Free' fame. We saw a film about her life and had tea and cakes. It was a lovely setting on the shores on the lake with Colobus Monkeys in the grounds. Our tents were up when we got back - head height dome tents, so not much crawling around on hands and knees. The mosquitos were quite bad as we were near the lakeside, but the Irish doctors, Barry and Dan had hats with mosquito nets hanging from them - they reason that a doctor getting malaria in East Africa would be considered as professional negligence! Barry works at St. George's, Tooting, while Dan is a Professor of Neurology in Dublin.
Sun Oct 12 - to the Maasai Mara
Three 4-wheel drive Safari Trucks arrived to take the 18 of us plus Lelei to the Maasai Mara National Reserve. I was in Sam's truck with Micki (Norfolk), Mike & Helen (Ruislip) and Richard I & Danny (Orpington). It was about a 5 hour drive and rough for the last hour, and we stopped at a curio shop half way (Narok). We had Luxury walk-in tents with real beds and en-suite toilet and shower at Mountain Rock/Mara Springs Camp. Exodus had messed up the order as 4 of us had booked single tents, and with 6 couples, this left Micky to share with Tom, so I gave my single key to Micki and shared with Tom. We had a very good game drive in the afternoon seeing lots of animals and birds. Sam was excellent at spotting, stopping and knowing the animals and birds. The highlights were seeing male and female lions strolling across and between the trucks, then a cheetah strolling closeby too. Food at the camp was good, but beers were a bit expensive at 300 Ksh (£2.10).
Mon Oct 13 - Big day in the Maasai Mara
Half the group were up at 4am to go ballooning. I didn't think it was worth it at $450 with the wildebeest migration almost over. We had an all day game drive with the excellent Sam, starting about 8 am and meeting up with the ballooners just after 11am. Mike has 2 SLR's and numerous lenses in a special camera pack, so is a keen photographer and is also keen on birds. I had a bird book and a mammal book, so kept a record of everything we saw. Lunch was under a tree in the middle of the Mara, then we went along the Mara river and saw Maribou Storks stripping dead Wildebeest in the river, and departed quickly when the wind changed. Late in the day was excellent - a cheetah with 5 cubs took them from one spot using the trucks as cover, walking up to and through the trucks. There were Reedbuck down in the woods a few hundred yards up-wind. She left them behind a mound near the trucks and stalked gently down to the woods. She failed to kill a Reedbuck - there were too many trees making it difficult. When she reappeared in a clearing the little cubs broke from cover and trotted down to join her. Next we came across a female lion relaxing in light bush with 3 cute cubs who played and posed for photos. The safari jeep drivers and Lelei were in constant touch with each other by radio and mobile phone, so any good sightings were quickly picked up by everyone, but they did seem to be like modern day teenagers who cannot live without their phones reducing communication with the group.
An Appendix of Animals and Birds sighted is at the end of this section of blog.
Tue Oct 14 - Back to Lake Naivasha
Seven of the group had early breakfast and a visit to a Maasai village - I had already been to one in Ngorongoro - so we had an easier start then picked the 7 up en route. I had a dodgy stomach so took an imodium for the 5 hour journey back to Lake Naivasha. The weather was looking threatening in the last hour of the drive. Nobody was interested in the rather expensive cycling option in a nearby park and about 6 went to the Giraffe Centre, 30 minutes drive away, to walk with giraffes for $45. Micki and I had a local stroll up the road where I bought a quality USB plug for about £1.20 so I could charge camera batteries, and we also saw a Nubian Woodpecker. In the evening I ate little and drank only coke.
Wed Oct 15 - To Lake Nakuru
We had a fairly early start for the 4 hour drive to Nakuru town where we stopped for lunch at a curio shop (made by Liz outside the shop). We were hassled a bit and some people bought things while I only only assessed what I may be interested in later. We had stopped at a big supermarket before lunch to stock up on beer, wine and chocolate. Lake Nakuru has had lots of rain in the last 18 months, so the normal saline lake has expanded enormously and the usual mass of flamingos have reduced to just a few. We bush camped at the park entrance very near the water line and flooded buildings. After putting up tents, we had a game drive in the Exodus truck which is a big large for the job, so we were all spotters shouting at Adayo when to stop, which was not ideal. It started a bit tame with few new sightings and stretches of nothing, but became good with a distant rhino, flamingos, waterbuck an avocet and several other birds and finally rhinos quite close and lions with cubs. In the evening we had a campfire with drinks and buffalo not far away, so escorts to tents especially for paranoid Irish Dan were required, though I walked there alone later in the evening.
Thu Oct 16 - Lake Nakuru to Eldoret
We had a long morning game drive in the opposite direction with very good views from a high lookout point. Later we saw Rothschild's Giraffe and several new birds especially eagles. After lunch back at camp, we had a 3 hour drive to a really super camp near Eldoret. Three couples and Irish Dan upgraded to nice rooms which were quite cheap. I had a 23 minute run through the local village on grass at 2800 metres which felt good, so now I have run at altitude in Kenya. However, after a nice shower, a sharp shower caught me in the van with my tent door open, so I had a wet tent. Most of us were in the really lovely bar with pool table during the evening.
It was slow going through Eldoret with a mediocre road most of the way to the Ugandan border with road works and diversions and lots of heavy lorries. 50% of the traffic is container lorries and 40% other heavy lorries, so it is slow. The border was the usual dilapidated mess, though they were building a new customs hall. However, we were through and into Uganda, for a $50 visa fee, in 50 minutes, when Lelei had said that 2 hours would be good. We reached the Overland Camp in Jinga on the West Bank of the Nile around 5pm. Ruth, the local rep with her leg in plaster, told us about the camp and the options. 24 hour hot showers and 24 hour free wifi proved to be an exaggeration as neither could cope with the volume of a full camp. Options for the next day included Bunjee from the nearby tower into the Nile - no takers, Horse Riding - no takers, Paint a local school for charity - 8 people, White Water Rafting on the Nile - 2 of us, Micki and me for half a day at $115, Late afternoon boat trip/birding to the source of the Nile and Lake Victoria - all of us except Tom, who'd be too busy drinking and watching football. It was a really good tented camp, though with communal facilities, and Tom and a group of young volunteers were in the bar making a noise until about 2am.
Micki and I were down at reception to book into White Water Rafting around 8:30, having had breakfast and handed over a big bag of laundry, and soon there were about 18 of us from the camp with the next eldest being 30! A 30 minute bus ride took us over the Nile Bridge, then right down the other side of the river on a straight but bumpy road and eventually down a track to the river. We had a small 2nd breakfast as other groups arrived - there were 55 in total. 9 of us from the Overland camp were grouped together for a raft with Olo as our guide. 3 were young Danes of 18 and 19 and 4 were English volunteer workers on 6 month projects in their late 20's. I wore only a running vest and swimming trunks and took only sun cream, leaving a bag of things in the bus. We were given life-jackets and helmets and our group had asked for medium/hard rapids. Micki had been disappointed last time when on the Zambesi, so was keen for it to be harder. We spent about half an hour on the water with Olo going through paddling and rescue instructions and practice, including tipping the raft over, righting it and trying to get back in. Micki got stuck under the edge of the boat when we were righting it and came up spluttering, but wasn't put off. We were the first down Rapid No 1 - grade 3 to 4 with a grade 6 part to avoid - too dangerous for rafts but okay for experienced kayak ears, which we had as support. We got stuck on a rock near the top and had to Boyce and paddle backwards to get free. Being then on the wrong line we couldn't paddle hard enough to get into a little calm bay and waited for the others further down. Fun, even if we messed it up. After an easier grade 2, we then had a long section of river to the next, so most of us had a swim in the warm River Nile. Next, a grade 4 where many thought we'd go over, but we stayed up although Rachel flew from the right into water on the left and the 2 Danish girls in front on me were on top of each other! The final rapid for Micki and I, the only ones on half day, was a grade 4 followed by a grade 6, which we had to get out and walk around, then a grade 5. Rosie at the back was the only one thinking of going in the safety boat if it got worse, and was the only one to go overboard. We saw the video later and the whol raft and all of us were briefly invisible under the raging water. After this dramatic and last rapid, Micki and I were picked up by the safety boat and rowed to the bottom of a steep path. At the top was a little house, the buses, one car and a nice lunch just for us. We also saw the pictures and videos of our raft going over rapids but didn't buy. The car journey back to the Overland camp took about an hour, arriving 20 minutes before the start of the boat trip at 4:15. The boat ride/bird watching trip with good guides took up river to Lake Victoria and we saw lots of kingfishers, Openbill storks, a darter, fish eagles and 2 otters - very good. In the evening, the bar area was quieter and the wifi was okay. The rest of our raft were there, and they'd had a big capsize near the end and finished clinging to safety kayaks.
My feet and shoulders were rather sunburnt from hours in the sun on the Nile, but Micki had some after-sun which helped. We had a long drive day, stopping in Kampala for supermarket, then at the equator for photos, souvenirs and lunch. The roads were rather slow as there are lots of villages with many road humps. In mid afternoon we turned off onto a bumpy track to Lake Mburo National Park, one of Uganda's smaller parks, eventually reaching the lake and our last campsite where we would need sleeping bags and mats. We picked up 2 park guides on the way, so after dropping off Liz and some equipment, we were dropped 10 minutes back through the park for a walking game drive. Lawrence took half of us including the 'birders' and we saw numerous animals including dwarf mongoose and several new birds to add to my master list. At the end Dr Barry asked Lawrence if they do Night Game Drives and this was duly arranged for 9pm. We were back in camp around 7pm - sunset, as we were now a long way west of Nairobi - where Alex had put up the tents, Liz had dinner ready and there was a big fire going. At 9pm, a safari vehicle with raised roof arrived with Lawrence and search lights and 7 of us decided to go. At night there are lots of big animals near the road including hippos, White-tailed Mongoose, Bushpigs, Baboons, Impala (the default name for anything which has become too common), but we were all looking for the elusive Leopard. We had no luck despite not getting back to camp until 11:30, where the fire was going very well, so I had a drink by the fire with Tom, Barry etc. This was the most remote and basic camp we went too and most of us loved it for the closeness we were to nature. During the night hippos could be heard grunting quite close by as they returned from the forest to the lake, so some people didn't sleep so well.
Next morning, we returned down the very bumpy track through the park, looking out for wildlife. I was sitting in my usual seat at the front which is good for spotting if I'm standing up at the window, but otherwise I'm looking at a wall. Suddenly, there was a shout of 'Leopard', and everyone rushed to the right, but I was too slow and missed it, and so did George (the lady behind me). The was lots of cheering on the truck, then a minute later, Lelei was shouting 'Leopard' again as it crossed the road in front of the truck and rushed off into the bush, but I missed it again. Leleiwas very excited - Wow, Man - it was the largest leopard he'd ever seen, so certainly a male.
Mon Oct 20
After the excitement of the morning sighting, the bumpy track became a winding road with humps, so I moved back to sit next to Jenny and a move comfortable seat with a view. We had a stop a Mbarara, where I bought a good book (autobiography) by Alan Root, a naturalist and wildlife pioneer who spent most of his life in East Africa. We then headed into the mountains of South East Uganda, then down to the town of Kabale. Bunyoni Overland Camp is a lovely place on the east bank of Lake Bunyoni with luxury tents raised on wooden platforms on the hillside nicely spread out. Tent 6 was in a lovely spot overlooking the swimming platform, while most of the couples upgraded to chalets. Lake Bunyoni is over 20 miles long with lots of inlets and islands and is the 3rd deepest lake in the world after Baikal and Tanganyika. After lunch I had a walk, but found some of the group returning from a poor local market. There were lots of birds around the camp especially weavers down by the water making new nests. I decided that a birding trip would be best in the morning, so arranged for a 7am trip which Mike and Dr Barry would join.
Tue Oct 21
Mike, Dr Barry and I met Thompson, our birding guide at 7am and we strolled off towards the village. There were tiny firefinches just outside the gate and soon we were adding many new birds to the list with a tree full of sunbirds, Swamp Warbler, then a family of Imperial Eagles in a tree, several flycatchers and a Bee-Eater. In a nearby bush there was suddenly a lot of noise from Whistling Cisticolas. All of this was just walking along the dirt road. We turned off into the forest which seemed to have less birds, but then down nearer the papyrus there was a Red Bishop and the elaborate long tail of a Pin-Tailed Whydah which eats little seeds off the top of certain grasses. On the way back we saw otters in the lake and more birds including lots of Mousebirds. We added 22 new birds to the list in just 2 hours before breakfast. Some of the group went for a walk with guide to the Little Angels school, but it now had a lot of catching up to do. Later in the day, I took a dug-out canoe out on the lake for an hour round to the otter area then around an island. It was very peaceful but quite hard work when the wind got up and the rain started on my return. At 6pm, I went for a run along the lake which was quite hilly and busy with children playing and shouting me on and women returning home after a day in the fields but the views of the lake in late afternoon were excellent. Dinner was good - pork steaks. Wifi worked a bit, but kept dropping.
Wed Oct 22 - Into Rwanda
It was a long winding undulating drive but on a very new smooth road, funded by the UN, through the hills around Lake Bunyoni and down to the Rwanda border at Cyanika. For the English, there was no problem and no visa required to get into Rwanda, but there was a shock for the Irish boys and a headache for Lelei, as customs declared that the Irish need to have visas which should have arranged in advance. We hung around the border post for a couple of hours with good views of Volcan Muhabura, while phone calls were made to the Irish Embassy (in Nairobi) and eventually Dr Barry and Prof Dan got their visas and passports stamped. As we changed our watches by one hour, Dr Barry claimed that we really lost only one hour because of their visa problem! Down in Ruhengeri we checked into a super new 'Best View' Hotel in which I was allocated a nice suite on the 3rd floor with good views and good wifi. In the afternoon, Micki and I had a wander down to the shops in town where there were just small shops and no tourists. After dinner and a beer, I took advantage of the best wifi we'd seen on the trip and got ready for the early start - we'd need boots, Leki stick, raincoat, water etc.
Thu Oct 23 - Gorillas, Oh Man, You are so lucky.
A 5:45 start as we had to be in jeeps for 6:30 having had breakfast and made our own, packed lunch. At the Volcanos Park HQ the Gorilla tourists were having coffee. There are 10 families of Gorillas and a maximum of 8 people can see one group for one hour per day = 80 tourists max. The cost to tourists, included in the cost of our Exodus trip, is $750, but it is much less for East Africans. Groups are allocated a gorilla family by the Park Rangers and our little group of 6 - Micki, John, Ang, Tom, Jenny and I with guide Placid were allocated the Susa Group - the biggest group of all with 40 gorillas. It is the group that everyone wants, but the journey and the walk to get to them is the longest, so apparently they look for a fit looking group. After the briefing, Lelei came over to us beaming - Oh Man, you are so lucky. The jeep journey, now also with Placid, went back into town, then west until we were about 10 miles from the DR Congo border, then up a very bumpy track to a village - about 90 minutes in all. There, we picked up 3 porters whose main job was to help the ladies up and down the muddy tracks in the forest, though they did carry some of our stuff. There was also a tracker with us who communicated with 3 trackers who were in the forest near the gorillas, and 2 security guys with guns as it is possible to meet elephants or buffalo en route. For over half an hour, we were walking through villages and fields with children cheering at us and women working in the fields, until we reached a wall and the start of Volcanos National Park, initially a bamboo forest and fairly slippery. The scenery changed to include trees and soon we were in jungle and met the trackers who stay near the gorillas, though it had been about 80 minutes walk, so it was now 11:10. We had a briefing about being with the gorillas - they are actually very calm creatures and used to seeing humans. Stay 8 metres away from them though they may get closer, as we can pass on germs to them and vice-versa. The trackers will use two sounds to communicate - a friendly low grunt or a warning cough. We then walked another 50 yards to where some of the gorillas were in the jungle. It was just amazing to stand quietly and watch these gentle animals with the lively youngsters leaping around in the branches and the huge silverback taking his time. For twenty minutes the weather was good as we watched and took photos, then the 28 stone silverback Kurira walked towards us and passed us in touching distance just to move to another patch - we were quaking! They were so peaceful seating and eating though there was some noisier chest-beating from the youngsters just behind us in the branches. Then the mist came down and as we rushed to get our coats on with the rain starting, the gorillas scampered off to take cover under the bigger branches. We followed and watched for a while, with one of the cheeky youngsters approaching Ang and giving her a little prod then running off - a super moment. The weather improved again ana a tracker found another group and called us over. There was a mother, Tuyishime, with a 1 month old baby in the crook of her arm and several youngsters. Now they were almost surrounding us, and we were in the way as they tried a bit nervously to get passed us. I had two close encounters, once when I was taking a video of a juvenile who decided to go through the gap between me and a bush and almost stood on my toe. Then when taking a shot of Tuyishime, there were calls from the others as another juvenile was right behind me trying to get past. It was all an amazing experience and soon our slightly extended hour was over and it was time to leave them. We'd seen 18 of the 40 gorillas in the group. The path back was now even more slippery and I fell in the mud twice with my little finger getting a bit damaged. The porters did a good job of helping the ladies down, Micki saying that she probably couldn't have done it without them. Wow, we really were so lucky. We bought souvenirs from a lad who set up a stall near the jeep for 10 minutes of selling - we'd be the only tourists for the day. Some of us bought Susa Group T-shirts and I also bought a little wooden gorilla which used up all my local currency and the dollars I had with me. We were last back to the hotel for celebrations, as it was also Gary's 50th birthday. This was the third birthday of the week as Richard I (Monday) and George (Tuesday) had received cakes and a song from Liz and the crew already. After an initial drink, I walked to the ATM at dusk to get local currency. I'd saved a nice bottle of Rioja for this evening too, which went well with the good steak and chips.
Safari Appendix - Animals and Birds sighted
ANIMALS - Day 1 - Baboon, Black & White Colobus Monkey, Hippopotamus, Rock Hyrax. Day 2 (Masai Mara) + Zebra, Giraffe, African Buffalo, Eland, Topi, Blue Wildebeest, Impala, Thompson's Gazelle, Kirk's Dik-Dik, Cheetah, Lion (m,f & c), Serval Day 3 + Vervet Monkey, Reedbuck, Coke's Hartebeest, Grant's Gazelle, African Elephant, Black-Backed Jackal, Banded Mongoose, Nile Crocodile, (Spotted Hyaena, from Balloon). Day 5 (Nakuru) + Black Rhinoceros, White Rhinoceros, Waterbuck. Day 6 + Rothschild's Giraffe = 29 in Kenya Day 8 (Jinja, Uganda) + Cape Clawless Otter, Monitor Lizard, Danny's Frog. Day 9 + Dwarf Mongoose, White-Tailed Mongoose, Common Duiker, Bushpig, Common Large-Spotted Genet. Day 10 + Leopard. Day 13 + Mountain Gorilla
BIRDS - Day 1 - White Pelican, Pink-Backed Pelican, Long-Tailed Cormorant, White-Necked Cormorant, Little Grebe, Great White Egret, Little Egret, Hamerkop, Grey Heron, Sacred Ibis, Hadada Ibis, Yellow-Billed Stork, African Spoonbill, Marabou Stork, Egyptian Goose, African Fish Eagle, Black Crake, African Jacana, Whistered Tern, Grey-Headed Gull, Ring-Necked Dove, Giant Kingfisher, Pied Kingfisher, Yellow-Vented Bulbul, White-Browed Robin Chat, Black-Throated Apalis, Grey-Backed Camaroptera, Variable Sunbird, Masked Weaver, Superb Starling, Pied Crow. . Day 2 (Masai Mara) + Saddleback Stork, White-Bellied Bustard, Crowned Crane, Helmeted Guineafowl, African Marsh Harrier. = 36. Day 3 + White-Backed Vulture, Ruppell's Vulture, Secretary Bird, Tawny Eagle, Crowned Plover, Wattled Plover, Common Sandpiper (visitor), Lilac-Breasted Roller, Little Bee-Eater, Grey Hornbill, Yellow-Throated Longclaw, Anteater Chat, White-Crowned Shrike, Red-Billed Oxpecker, Yellow-Billed Oxpecker, Purple-Headed Glossy Starling, Blue-Eared Glossy Starling, Ostrich. = 54. Day 4 + Little Bittern, Augur Buzzard, Ground Hornbill, Nubian Woodpecker, Magpie Shrike. Day 5 (Nakuru) + Cattle Egret, Black-Headed Heron, Lesser Flamingo, Greater Flamingo, Martial Eagle, Coqui Francolin, Blacksmith Plover, Black-Winged Stilt, Avocet, Wood Sandpiper, [Swifts], African Hoopoe. = 71. Day 6 + African Pied Wagtail, Grey-Headed Kingfisher, Drongo, Blue-Naped Mousebird, Tropical Boubou, Lesser-Spotted Eagle. = 77. Day 7 + Superb Sunbird, Copper Sunbird, Aberdare Cisticola, Black Kite = 81 in Kenya. Day 8 (Jinja, Uganda) + African Darter, Green-Backed Heron, Openbill Stork, Eastern Grey Plantain-Eater, Malachite Kingfisher, Woodland Kingfisher, Black-Headed Gonolek. Day 9 + Red-Necked Spurfowl, Green Pigeon, Red-Headed Lovebird, Broad-Billed Roller, Striped Kingfisher, Grey-Backed Fiscal, Red-Billed Firefinch, Sooty Chat, Black-Headed Weaver, Ruppell's Long-Tailed Starling, Long-Toed (White-Throated) Lapwing, Water Thick-knee. = 100
Day 10 (Lake Bunyoni) + European White Wagtail, Blue-Headed Sunbird, Grey-Headed Social Weaver, Rufous Sparrow, Purple Heron. Day 11 (Lake Bunyoni) + Imperial Eagle, Speckled Mousebird, Somali Bee-Eater, Angola Swallow, Common Bulbul, Brown Babbler, Stonechat, Ruppell's Robin Chat, Blue Flycatcher, Swamp Flycatcher, White-Tailed Blue Flycatcher, Greater Swamp Warbler, Grey-Capped Warbler, Stout Cisticola, Whistling Cisticola, Red-Chested Sunbird, Bronze Sunbird, Streaky Seedeater, African Firefinch, Pin-Tailed Whydah, Red Bishop, Grey-Headed Sparrow, = 127
Fri Oct 24
The road to Kigali was good but very twisty and undulating - we are in the land of a thousand hills - so I sat further back on the truck. The Kigali Genocide Museum explained the history of Rwanda which led to the 1994 Genocide as well as showing graphic details. In brief (and maybe a bit biased): A German colony before World War I became a Belgian colony. In 1932 the Belgians introduced compulsory ID cards and created a class division by labelling those with over 10 cows as Tutsi and those with less as Hutu - there is only one tribe - the division was created by the Belgians into ruling class and lower class. This later became the root cause of propaganda by the ruling akazu, supported and funded with millions of dollars and troops by the French against the Tutsi and moderate Hutu which resulted in the genocide with about 1 million people being killed in 100 days. It is said that the strong French support was because many of the educated Tutsi could speak English, so the French language was in decline. The propaganda machine generated enforced hatred of the Tutsi with the genocide being triggered by the death of their president in a 'plane' crash in 1994. The UN were very slow to understand that thousands were being slaughtered daily and reacted far too late. In the last 20 years, lots of Western and UN 'guilt' money has been poured into Rwanda to restore and rebuild the country, the French are hated for their support of the genocide, with English now being a major language and Rwanda has joined the East African Community and the Commonwealth. It is now one of the safest, least corrupt and clean countries in Africa, with a ban on plastic bags and a monthly street clean-up day.
The Beausejour Hotel is several miles out of Kigali city centre towards the airport, fairly smart and new but close to the busy road. I had a room close to reception at the back with a big view towards the city - Kigali is very hilly - but several of the group said they didn't sleep much because of the busy traffic. However the hot water and wifi were both very good. Micki and I had a walk up the road to find shops and soon found a busy area up the road, then 6 of the group found us and we continued a hilly walk. Lelei booked the New Cactus for our last night meal, which was a 15 minute drive, so Micki didn't join us. It was a nice evening. Lelei had a contact for trips to the DRC volcano near Goma, so I spoke to a lady on his phone to get the details. It would involve a 3 day trip and I would need to get to the border at Gisenyi, be met by their guide to get through the border (and visa), taken via Goma to the start of the volcano walk, change to a park ranger for the walk up to the top, where we would stay the night, then back to Goma and eventually back to Kigali. It would just be me and would cost over $800 - a bit lonely, a bit risky, the path up to the volcano only reopened a week ago, and a lot of money, so NO. I'd be interested if it was a small group, which would also bring the cost down, so maybe sometime.
Sat Oct 25
It was a quiet morning in Kigali, as it was the last Saturday of the month, so National Cleanup Morning - no work is allowed, with minor tourist related exceptions, as everyone is cleaning the streets, hence the relative lack of rubbish in Rwanda. After breakfast, I sat on my balcony overlooking the city and caught on on my blog. We had a group photo, then most of the group went to the airport in the truck for the group flight. I joined them, so that I could change my ticket to return a day later, but found that I could only do that at the office in the city. However, Lelei phoned them for me and I changed it over the phone, agreeing to go to the office on Monday to get the ticket and pay $40. The truck damaged the entrance box to the airport car park, so Buddha (Odoyo) had to repair it! I had a local walk around and found a supermarket for snacks and a coffee and cake, then in the evening ate at the pizza restaurant next door which was busy and good.
I had an early big breakfast and checked out of the hotel leaving my big bag with them. A taxi bike sped me to the bus station at Nyabagogo on the other side of town, but the next bus to Bujumbura was 10am with Yahoo Car Express, so I walked 10 minutes up the road and found a cafe for coffee - there were free condoms in the toilets! Back at the bus station at 9, I found that most of the seats already had bags on them - it was a German colony once. I was the only foreigner on the bus, but met two ladies on VSO at a stop in Nyanza. The road was very good, but of course it was hilly and very twisty, like being at a fairground. The bus did go fast and the scenery was lovely, like the foothills of Nepal. Getting into Burundi was $40 for a 3 day visa and the country was noticeably more basic and a bit tatty, but still clean. There a huge but short thunderstorm and downpour, so the road was awash for a while as we passed little hilltop villages, then we could see Buj and Lake Tanganyika about 1500 metres below, so a long downhill section into this very busy 3rd world town. Burundi was the 4th poorest country in the world in a survey a few years ago. Siyone Bus Station is in a muddy market area 2km north of the city centre, and after passport checks, I decided to change my return ticket to 7am to be sure I was back in Kigali to get my airline ticket. As I result, I missed the bus continuing into the city and had to get a taxi to Amahoro Hotel, where there was another huge downpour as I arrived. The hotel was good but a fairly basic room with A/C, hot shower and good wifi for $80. It was now after 5 with light fading, but the rain had stopped, so I walked fast to Lake T and found the Ubuntu Residence. It is a very nice place with a busy outside bar, people watching Man U v Chelsea live, a good band playing Clapton type music and 2 Crowned Cranes wandering about the grounds. There would have been lovely views over Lake Tanganyika in daylight. There were even a few white faces, probably UN. I had 2 beers and an excellent Boeff Ubuntu - steak kebab hung from a hook with chips and veg all for $19. I didn't bother to get Burundi Francs or use the black market as they are happy to take dollars. For one quick night in Buj, I was happy that I'd seen Lake Tanganyika the the Ubuntu. Buj is a bit dodgy after dark, so I got a taxi in a very tatty car and the driver got lost and had to ask the way a few times, but it was fun for $5. I had a nice hot shower so I was ready for a very early start.
Mon Oct 27 - Bujumbura to Kigali
I was waiting for breakfast before 6 and getting a taxi to the bus station before 6:30, but it was not full and I took the seat by the door. With Bujumbura at 800m and Bugarama at the top of the hill at 2300m, it is quite a climb out of town, passed an old SCZU Sea Container on a lovely sunny morning. A few bikes carrying 3 large bundles of wood about 5 ft wide whizzed down the hill. Burundi is green, hilly and fairly well wooded, but a bit less organised than Rwanda. Further north, there are lots of bricks on the side of the road, made from the soil dug out of the hillsides. Getting into Rwanda involved a plastic bag search, with some being confiscated, but no visa yet - Visas are coming in from Nov 1st. At the Nyanza stop I used up my local currency with 2 brochettes (kebabs), 2 bananas and a bar of chocolate with the girls there asking if I had sons they could marry. Arriving back in Kigali at 1:30, I decided to walk to Ethiopian Airlines office in the city centre, but this proved to be a long hot hilly walk, so I needed a towel down and a glass of water on arrival, then got my new ticket, paid $40 and booked my seats too. The United Trade Centre had ATM and a nice cafe, so I had apple pie and coffee, then strolled around the supermarket. Back at the hotel, the next Exodus group had arrived including 2 ladies from the Svalbard trip in 2011, though there are only 9 in the group. I had a lovely meal in the pizza place - Tilapia boat with veg, then took a taxi to the airport.
Tue Oct 28 - Back to London
Ethiopian Airways schedules geared to maximum transfer traffic in Addis Ababa in early mornings means that short flights from Kigali often run in the middle of the night, which is not great for travellers, so for a 2.5 hour flight at 02:25, sleeping involves short naps at Kigali airport, then on the flight, then at Addis airport where there were at least lie-back chairs. There were only 35 of us on the flight. The London flight was on a new 787 with windows that had graded controls from light to dark via tinted. I had a window seat near the back next to 2 empty seats and Trish, a lady from Newcastle returning from a year on VSO in front of me. It was only a third full. Views of the Nile in Sudan, Corfu, Venice and the Alps were very good. It had been a super month of travelling.
There are direct flights to Cancun, the starting point for exploring the ruins of Yucatan. An early morning ADO bus took us to Tulum, a small Maya site on a spectacular clifftop location overlooking the Caribbean Sea. After a break on a local beach, the next stop was Valladolid, a clean pretty town. The Tunich Bah Hotel is on picturesque diagonal street 41A, where Spanish Colonial houses leading from a 5-ways corner leads to San Bernardino Church and Convent de Sisel. A few miles away is Ekbalam (Black Jaguar), where a dozen or so Mayan buildings dating from 700-1000 are surrounded by jungle, some restored and some not. The highlight is the 98ft tower with a view from the top of endless flat jungle. The Cenote of Dzitnup, a large natural well is a cycleable 4 miles from Valladolid and a good place for an unusual swim with fish, a natural hole in the roof and hanging tree roots.
Chichen Itza is the best preserved and biggest Maya site in Yucatan and was voted one of the New 7 Wonders of the world. It supported about 35000 people until about 1300. It is good to get there early before tour buses arrive around 11. El Castillo is a large imposing pyramid with 91 steps on each side, closed to the public, with one side left unrestored. The Ball Court, the largest in Yucatan was the scene for games where a heavy rubber ball was kept off the ground by players with body protection and a goal was scored by getting the ball through a ball court ring high up the wall of the court. Losers were subject to human sacrifice, an honourable death, with their heads put on a spike around a platform decorated with skulls and snakes. The Temple of the Warriors with 1000 columns and the Observatory with other main buildings. The Maya had a good knowledge of astronomy and their calendar of 365 days was made up of 18 months of 20 days plus 5 unlucky days.
From Merida, we joined a tour to Uxmal and Kabah, Mayan sites with Puuc architecture from the 7th to 10th centuries. At Uxmal the Magician's Pyramid had rounded corners and the Nunnery Quadrangle and Governor's Palace have impressive detailed carvings, many of Chac the rain god. In this limestone area, there are no rivers, so water was collected and stored from rains. Campeche, a walled city and colonial port, had really good Christmas figures and lights in the main square and brightly coloured houses in the pretty streets.
First class buses, run by ADO in this part of Mexico, are a good comfortable way to travel in this big country. It was 6 hours from Campeche to Palenque, a mediocre town, but an essential base to see Mayan ruins in the area. A long day tour with experienced travellers on a twisty road took us to Yaxchilan, a remote and only partly restored Maya site 40 minutes up the river which is also the Guatamala border. There were howler monkeys, spider monkeys and numerous birds in the jungle setting. At Bonampak, there was only a Spanish speaking guide, so we just explored the temples and the very good murals inside one of the buildings before the other groups arrived. Palenque ruins are excellent, and on a very large site, as there are stills lots of unrestored buildings in the jungle. The Palace stands on a raised platform with a complex of rooms and courtyards and a very good viewpoint for the Temple of Inscriptions, a large pyramid which contained the tomb of Pakal, the ruler of Palenque. In another corner, the Temples of the Sun, the Cross and the Foliated Cross provide a good view over the main group. The nearby museum contains the Tomb of Pakal, excavated from the Temple of Inscriptions. From Palenque, the bus to San Cristobal de Las Casas was twisty, humpy and slow through spectacular hills. San Cristobal is a clean upmarket town with lovely smooth stone roads and pavements where plain fronted buildings hide an amazement of treasures - eg: the hotel and the evening restaurant. The main city square was very active (Saturday night) with a large Christmas tree and a skating rink. Next day, I had a good walk to a local hill for a few hours, returning over another hill close to town centre. In the afternoon, we strolled the streets and found a blue and white church with streamers over the courtyard - very photogenic. Up in the bell tower for the view, bell ringers started ringing the bells as a procession approached the church for the festival of Santa Lucia - Catholics will celebrate anything. At another good cafe we had huge bowls of beef and veg and a beer before catching the ADO night bus to Oaxaca (Wahaka). ADO Platino buses have only 25 lay back seats and 2 toilets. They also have personal film and music options - very comfortable. We did get held up for a police drugs check about an hour before Oaxaca. In Oaxaca, we left our bags in a rather basic hostel and went for breakfast in a super healthy cafe, then took a bus up to Monte Alban, the greatest Zapotech City (500BC to 800AD) on top of a hill 400m above the Oaxaca valley. It is laid out around a big plaza rather than the scatter of buildings like the Mayans and is really very impressive. The observatory in the square is set at 45 degrees. Santo Domingo Cathedral in Oaxaca looked good at sunset, then we had a local 'Mole' meal overlooking the Zocalo. Next day we did a tour to the east. It takes 52 Mexicans holding hands to circle the biggest tree trunk (1500 years old) in the world at Tule. At a carpet making village cooperative, we saw weavers and the dying process and I bought a small carpet. At Hierve El Agua, there is a big view of the hills and canyons and a petrified limestone waterfall. It would be lovely walking country. Back down in Mitla, the old Zapotec & Mixtec city is still well preserved with elaborate architecture and decoration. A stop at a Mezcal factory was disappointing. Next morning after breakfast in the favourite cafe, we took the 5 hour bus journey to Puebla.
Puebla has lots of tiled buildings and an extensive arty area, a street of sweet shops, lots of churches and many pastelarias and was nice to stroll around. The Zocalo next to the main Cathedral had Christmas lights of trees, animals etc but not as good as Campeche. After 1 night there and a walk next morning, we took a local 'chicken' bus to the main bus station and a ADO bus to Mexico City Oriente station - there are 4 main bus stations in the city. As it was the day before the festival of Santa Maria de Guadelupe - bigger than Christmas for Mexicans, there were lots of cyclists on the road doing their pilgrimage to Guadelupe Basilica in the north of the city where about 4 million would visit the shrine in the week up to Dec 12. The altitude of Mexico City is around 2400 metres and the road from Puebla gets close to 3000m (10000ft). Getting from the bus station to the lovely peaceful city centre Hostel Ildefonso was a slow process. A few streets away, I had an excellent fish dish in a recommended restaurant as lots of pilgrims made their way through the streets on their last few miles. Next day was a domestic day of laundry and planning and booking Copper Canyon train, flights, hotels etc.
The Aztecs built twin capital cities of Tenochtitlan and Tlatalolco around 1300 on islands in a large shallow lake in the Mexico Valley. The lake dried out around 1600 and the Spanish arrived and defeated the Aztecs in 1621. The cities had walkways over the lake. Tenochtitlan became the centre of Mexico City around the Zocalo, while Tlatalolco is an archeological site and district in the north of the city, though the tops of the buildings were used to build the Cathedral nearby. This was our first stop on a tour to the north of the city, with a guide who was very good on the ancient history of Mexican civilisations and the Spanish takeover. The origin of the emblem on the Mexican flag is from Aztec legend - an eagle standing on a cactus with a snake in it’s mouth. Our 2nd stop was the Basilica de Santa Maria de Guadalupe where thousands of pilgrims had been the previous day. The original cathedral was built on a slope in the early 1700s and a modern large cathedral which can house 10,000 was designed and built by the designer of the Olympic stadium (1968). An hour out of the city, Teotihuacan is one of the earliest civilisations in Mexico (AD150 to 650) and is a large and impressive site with the Avenue of the Dead running for about 2km through the centre from the Pyramid of the Moon, past the 65m high Pyramid of the Sun to the Temple of Quetzalcoatl. We had a couple of hours here to stroll and take photos. The design of buildings in Teotihuacan was a significant influence on later civilisations in Meso America.
Next day, we took the metro for the first time - good and safe as there were lots of police, though they were actually on the way to the Aztec stadium for a football match. With a change onto a suburban line in the south, we reached Xochimilco, once a lakeside village linked to Tenochtitlan by a causeway. Canals built by the Aztecs are now a location for trips on colourful boats, and as it was Sunday, it was full of Mexican families and mariachis enjoying picnics on these boats, so was rather congested but fun. The local markets were good and busy and we had very good street food. In the evening, we watched Christmas lights being turned on in the Zocalo, 20 minutes late!
We were a little concerned about how safe it was going to Zetacuaro just inside Michoacan state, in order to reach Macheros, the village of the butterflies, so we went to the western bus station (Poniente) to check the buses and timetable, which looked fine. Advise to Americans is to avoid Michoacan state because of drug gangs, though the problems are actually in the west of the state.
The National Anthropology Museum was a must and the 3 hours or so we allocated was not really enough. The Teotihuancan, Aztec, Monte Alban and Maya sections were the most important to us as it backed up what we’d seen at the sites and was excellent.
A 2 hr 15 min flight and a taxi took us to Los Mochis, a large town of 200,000 near the Pacific coast. We’d just missed a bus to El Fuerte, so had a bit of a wait for the next one which was full, though many got of fairly early. El Fuerte is a nice little town with a pretty town square and a river. Hotel Rio Vista, run by bird enthusiast Chal, is on a hill overlooking the river with good view from all rooms and bird paintings on most doors and walls. We had a good walk along the river and around town and had fish (black bass) for dinner. Next morning before breakfast, Chal’s brother Felipe took us on a birdwatching trip. On a drive a mile up the road with a boat behind us we saw numerous birds, then Felipe paddled the boat downstream, with a walk around the bush on the opposite bank and by the time we got back El Fuerte it was 11:30 and we’d seen over 40 different birds - Streaked-backed Oriole, Tropical Kingbird, Social Flycatcher, White-winged Dove, Crested Caracara, Black Vulture, Vermilion Flycatcher, Bare-throated Tiger Heron, Ladder-backed Woodpecker, Black Phoebe, Fulvous Whistling-Duck, Double-crested Cormorant, Red-winged Blackbird, White-fronted Parrot, Red-billed Pigeon, American Coot, Northern Jacana, Common Moorhen, Great Blue Heron, Green Heron, Green Kingfisher, Grey Hawk (j), House Finch, Inca Dove, Northern Mockingbird, Thick-billed Kingbird, Elegant Quail, Curve-billed Thrasher, Turkey Vulture, Osprey, Townsend Warbler, Common Black Hawk, Rufous-bellied Chachalaca, Groove-billed Ani, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Great-tailed Grackle, Belted Kingfisher, Great Kiskadee, Bank Swallow, Spotted Sandpiper and a hummingbird. At brunch in the restaurant, there were hummingbirds flying around us, so we’d had a super morning, which was followed by a relaxing afternoon.
After an early breakfast, we took a taxi for the 7km trip to El Fuerte station to catch El Chepe, the Copper Canyon train. The fare, paid on board, but with a email reservation, is nearly £100 to get to Chihuahua, 350 miles and 14 hours away, but we’d be taking two stopovers. In an hour, we were climbing into the mountains along river valleys with lots of tunnels (there are 86) and bridges (37). The El Chepe railway was proposed in 1872 as a way to connect Chihuahua and Kansas to the Pacific, but was not opened until 1961. The area around Temoris station was the most spectacular with a waterfall, a big loop, then a loop inside a tunnel to gain height. Alberto picked us up at Bahuichivo for the drive, partly on newly laid road to Cerocahui and the Jade Hotel. A local lad, Jesus (16) took us on a brisk walk to a local waterfall, 2 miles away in the forest, before rushing back for the village nativity play in the square. Jade Hotel is really a homestay growing into a small hotel - they will have 10 rooms and good plumbing in a few months. In the morning, it was frost outside and only 14C in the room! The dirt road to Urique goes up into the forest, then after about 10 miles emerges above a big canyon with Urique below. We continued on to a spectacular viewpoint over the deepest canyon (6165ft) of the 9 in the Copper Canyon area, and deeper than the Grand Canyon. From here we walked down the dusty road for 4 hours, with Alberto passing us in the car about half way down. It was a long walk, but the canyon scenery was excellent as was the Seafood Chilli soup in the Urique restaurant. On the way back, there was an army checkpoint checking for drugs. On an early morning walk, next day, there were lots of dogs in the streets, which is never a problem for me. However, one young Alsatian tried to bite my leg and ripped my trousers! Alberto’s wife Francia took us back to Bahuichivo, as he had new guests to take to Urique. 80 minutes on El Chepe took us to Posada Barrancas, where a lovely 5 * hotel has been built on top of a cliff with big views of the Copper Canyon. After lunch (with a view), we joined a local walk to see scenery and Tarahumara Indians. For one evening of relative luxury, we had wine and chatted to an Australian group. All other guests seem to be Mexican as Americans have been advised not to go to Chihuahua state! A short bus ride away from the hotel is a cable car, 7 zip wires and 2 rope bridges all over bits of canyon, so I booked to go on these and joined 5 from the Australian group. I’d not done a zip wire before, so was a bit apprehensive, but it was great fun. £ of the zip wires were quite short, but the longest was over 1100 metres long and had to be done as a tandem, so I paired up with an Oz lady. Back on the train, we stopped 20 minutes on at Divisadero for 20 minutes where there were very good views and very good street food. From there the train up to Creel was scenic through mountain and forest including one complete loop and rising to 2460m (8071ft), so we were mostly in the corridor taking photos out of the window while many passengers just slept! The train from Creel to Chihuahua is less interesting and it was soon dark. Arriving at 9pm, we took a taxi to a pre-booked hotel near the airport.
The last 4 days and nights in Mexico were spent in the little village of Macheros on the western edge of Mexico state near Zitacuaro, which is in the dodgy state of Michoacan. Getting here from Chihuahua actually worked out quite smooth and easy, with a 15 minute taxi ride to the airport then a Volaris flight to Mexico City, during which the lock on my bag was sawn off, but nothing touched - probably dog sniffed! A taxi then took us across the city to Poniente bus station, then a very nice double decker bus with laid-back seats went non-stop to Zitacuaro. We’d been a bit nervous about going there because Americans have been warned off going to Michoacan state altogether by their government advise, though the only trouble is with drug gangs way over in the west of the state, 200+ miles away. Elena from the B&B picked us up at the station for the drive on little backroads to Macheros, a village of about 800 people, many of them related to Joel, our host. When Joel arrived, he was with another 4 day guest, Emma, a young English independent traveller.
The village is a base for visiting Monarch Butterflies which migrate to the nearby hills from Canada and North East USA in the winter. Morelia is the best known place to see them, but there are thousands of visitors a day there, compared to maybe 20 a day here. It was a lovely peaceful few days around Christmas after seeing so many ruins and travelling on so many buses. Joel’s family own a trout farm, so on the first evening we went there, caught trout and ate it for dinner. Meals were prepared and taken next door where his mother and sisters lived, and everything was prepared and cooked from scratch - Tortillas, which were blue, started from (fermented) maize which was ground up. Chickens for Christmas Eve were chased around the garden, caught, killed, plucked and chopped up, and the mole (moley) sauce took several hours of chopping ingredients and stirring by us all. With no TV or wifi, we played games in the evenings.
The weather looked quite good on Christmas Day, so a group of 5 of us with Joel and Elena took the walk to the butterflies. It is a good 2 hour walk uphill to El Pelon at over 3000 metres through lovely woods with lots of hummingbirds around. Taking horses was an option, but not for us walkers. The main areas used by the Monarch Butterflies are fenced off to protect them, but they are clearly visible hanging from tree branches in their thousands, with some on the ground fluttering, though it was still a bit cold (especially at this altitude), so few were flying. However, it was an amazing sight to see them and try to take good photos of them. On the way back to the village, we stopped at the trout farm again to catch our Christmas dinner. Next day was clearer and a bit warmer, so the three of us went back to see the butterflies, with a guide (compulsory) Juan and his horse. This time there was more fluttering and flying, but still not the clouds of butterflies in flight we’d hoped to see. On the last day, Emma left early to connect to buses going to Oaxaca and beyond and we had a Zitacuaro to Mexico bus at 1330 to catch an evening flight. It was a lovely warmer day, so would have been even better up at El Pelon, but we didn’t have time, so just had a local stroll. Macheros - lovely little village, good scenery (and stars), great B&B hosts, super food, lovely walks and runs in the woods, amazing butterflies. The Monarch Butterfly story of migration and breeding means that newly hatched butterflies take the migration route their grandparents took, unaided - how do they do it!
The BA flight from Heathrow was a new huge double-decker A380 plane to Hong Kong. I had a good aisle seat upstairs, but the seats don't recline far, so are not great for sleeping, but there was good new flight info as we flew over Estonia, Russia, Mongolia and China - a flight of nearly 11 hours. It was very misty and smoggy over Hong Kong, so views were poor. Getting visas and bags was smooth and we were met by a friend. The airport is on Lantau Island to the west of Hong Kong Island and Kowloon to which it is linked by bridges and tunnels. We were staying in Shouson Hill in the south of Hong Kong Island and the friend was very busy with meetings for the next 24 hours. We missed getting money from an ATM at the airport, so walked down to Repulse Bay along the seafront, then got a bus to Stanley to find the ATM and eat as visibility improved. Hong Kong is very hilly and green with high-rise buildings on all flatter areas.
Next day was nice, clear and sunny, though I slept badly with a cold and jet lag. After breakfast and a long slog doing on-line checkin for next day, we took a bus through the Aberdeen tunnel to Admiralty, and had a good walk in hilly Hong Kong Park, with an especially good walk-through aviary. Space in Hong Kong is limited, so tall buildings built on slopes often have a 'ground' floor on the high side and several 'below ground' floors on the low side. The Peak Tram up to Victoria Peak at 554 metres is a major tourist attraction giving super views of Hong Kong, Kowloon, harbours etc. There is a good walk of about 2 miles around the top for good views looking south too. Back down the tram, there were more birds in the Zoological Park with the sun now setting. Down near Central, we took a tram to Causeway Bay and found the Red Pepper Restaurant in the back streets, one of the best and most expensive Chinese restaurants in town. Finding a bus back around 10pm proved difficult, so after drinks in a pub, we got a taxi.
Despite another poor nights sleep, I had a good 6 mile run along to Repulse Bay and back. An Express 260 bus took us to HK Central for a wander through the streets to the Man Mo Temple, which was interesting and quite photogenic. Next we took a tram and the Star Ferry (Morning Star) over to Kowloon, which cost 40p return! From Kowloon, there were good views of HK Island and the waterways and a pleasant walk along the front. Twinkling Star took us back to Central, then a 260 Express back. Our host took us to the local cricket club for an early meal, then we were dropped back in Central where the City Check-in was quick and easy, with a fast train out to the airport. The DragonAir flight left at about 10pm for a 3.5 hr flight to Yangon, Myanmar (Burma) with 1.5 hr time difference, so landed at midnight. A taxi met us for the one hour drive to a pre-booked hotel.
Yangon is very spread out and cars are right-hand drive but drive on the right! At GardenHome B&B, we only just made it to breakfast at 9:30, then had some planning and sorting to do. An electrical problem was eventually solved - most sockets are too weak to charge iPad and camera batteries, so disconnect the fridge and use that socket. Shwedagon Pagoda, the No 1 site in the city was a 20 minute walk away along a road with lots of taxis, then another temple. Shoes off for the walk up the long steps -a covered walkway with little shops selling Buddhas of all sizes. Near the pay desk there was a Money Exchange ($1 = 1020 kyats) and an ATM and entry was 8000 MMK or $8 pp for foreigners, but free for locals. The main stupa of the Shwedagon Pagoda is 100m high but only the top quarter was clearly visible with bamboo scaffolding covering the central section, then sacking over the base, as gold leaf is being applied to it, which was rather disappointing. The are hundreds of small stupas around the main one with the Nuangdawgyi Pagoda less than half the height but clear and shiny with about 20 small stupas around it. There are thousands of buddha figures on the site in Buddha Image temples and in individual shrines. There were lots of locals praying and bowing and plenty of tourists taking photos too - all very busy, but peaceful. There is so much glittering gold that it makes Catholic Cathedrals look plain! It is quite fascinating to look around and take photos or just watch other people. As the sun goes down lights around the site come on to illuminate the main features and birds, especially sparrows and drongos get noisy. Also around sunset a group of young girls in pink with shaven heads were meditating - nuns. Back at the B&B, the food was fine and the Myanmar Red wine was good and reasonably priced.
Downtown Yangon is rather dilapidated and sad with numerous government and official buildings, neglected for 70 years now boarded up or in the early stages of redevelopment. The military government decided some years ago to create a new capital in Naypyitaw, half way to Mandalay and reputed to be functional and plain. Sule Pagoda in the middle of a roundabout and the park nearby are the only pleasant features of downtown Yangon, though wandering the tatty streets and markets is interesting. The Strand Hotel near the river, is a very smart upmarket hotel where we had coffee and pastries and used the wifi to investigate and book flights - then forgot to pay!!!
I had a 6 mile run around the local lake and park before breakfast, then the taxi to the airport to 50 minutes with traffic in town busy and a bit congested. The AirKBZ plane was an 80 seater turbo-prop which left half an hour late but we got a sandwich, cake and coffee for the 70 minute flight to Heho. From plane to taxi took 5 minutes, then we shared with a Chinese couple for the 1 hour drive to Nyaungshwe through villages and countryside including a brief stop at a crossing for a very slow train to cross. Golden Dream Hotel (selected from guide book) was quite new, cheap and near the boats for Inle Lake. Nyaungshwe is a nice little town with temples, canals, long-tail boats, places to stay, eat and drink. It is a backpacker town, if there is such a thing in Myanmar, with lots of French travellers and French music in the cafes, where they have to speak English. Ancient utility trucks with noisy chugging engines mix with bicycles on the dusty roads.
My 4 mile run towards the lake was cool in the early morning mist - should have taken the little camera. We hired a long-tail boat around 10am for a long day on and around Inle (Inlay) Lake for $20. It was lovely, peaceful and fascinating with fishermen rowing with one leg, as they use two hands to pull in their fishing nets. There were lots of black-headed gulls in winter plumage, cormorants, egrets, 1 crane and lots of martins etc. It is 3.5 miles to the lake which is then about 10 miles long with floating islands, channels etc, and numerous resorts on distant banks and on islands. At the southern end of the lake, Nan Pan village is a collection of bamboo houses on stilts in the surrounding marshlands, including schools, shops and restaurants. Our boat driver, who slowed or stopped when we tried to take photos took us past the Floating Gardens (Kyay Sarkone) then down via Nan Pan to a little clothing factory on stilts. Processes of using lotus and silk in weaving were shown right through to the showroom. Next was a nice fish lunch overlooking the main channel South of Inle Lake, though I had a contact lens problem for a while. Back on the water we went north to a floating market area and stopped at a little souvenir and cheroot factory, followed by a silversmiths where silver was being processed into jewelry. I'd specifically requested to see Inn Dein, a temple complex on a hill to the west of the lake and amazing it was too. Getting there took about 20 mins up a narrow twisty river with some minor Rapids and a flow of boats coming back. It was about 4pm, so we must have been the last tourists. Entrance to Inn Dein was a 10 minute walk from the boat, then a long walk up a covered walkway to the top of a hill covered in pagoda/stupas - over 500 of them. There were several ancient brick pagodas near the bottom and the walkway was full of souvenir sellers packing up their stalls, so we were in a rush to see the best of this amazing site and get back to the boat around 5:15 with the sun getting low. The journey back in the boat which must be about 18 miles took about 90 mins including a spectacular sunset over the lake. We finished the day with a very nice set Shan meal in a restaurant near the boats and bridge over the canal.
Next day we strolled around town, booked a flight to Mandalay for $56 each on Mann Yadanarpon Airways at an agent. Guidebooks still warn of a lack of ATMs in Myanmar, so take lots of US dollars, but lots of ATMs have sprung up and rates for changing USD are often poor. Also, most places will take local or USD at $1=1000MMK.
I had a lovely early morning run taking a track north away from Inle Lake through villages. At the furthest point I crossed the little river but the track became rough and I tripped, stubbing my toe badly but then had to run 4 miles back with a sore toe and bloody hand and elbow. After a clean up and breakfast, I took it easy. In the afternoon a taxi took us back to Heho airport for the 35 minute flight to Mandalay.
We shared a minibus taxi with several others to get to the Ayarwaddy River View Hotel, but it took over 1.5 hours as the airport is 25 miles from the big city of Mandalay - population 1.1 million - and dropping off others at bus station etc took time in the busy traffic. The hotel was nearly full but we got an okay room and would change to a river view after 2 days. There was a nice rooftop restaurant with puppet show entertainment, views over the river, good food and wine, but we didn't need the starter. From 9pm tables get cleared and packed away as people leave!
With a sore toe, I wanted an easy day next, so we strolled along the river, where the sandy slopes are populated by lots of people in bamboo shacks, dogs, pigs, motorbikes, ancient little lorries and clean hanging laundry, to the pier for the Mingun Ferry. The main tourist boat had left hours before but we decided to take a private boats which we boarded within 10 mins. However, 15 mins later in mid channel, the boat broke down and another 15 mins later, we transferred to another which came out to get us. We had 2 hrs to explore the Mingun area - a small site containing the whitewashed Settawya Pagoda (1811), the ancient huge incomplete Mingun Pagoda (1790) where the climb to the top was a struggle in bare feet, but the view was good. There were other temples and the great Mingun Bell weighing 200,000 lb. Mandalay Palace and its grounds is enclosed by a wide moat/canal and about 2km x 2km square, so is a large area in the middle of the city and a $7 taxi ride from the ARV - tourists can only enter via the east gate. The Palace is faded grandeur except for the entrance area and Lion Throne room which have been restored, so are shiny gold. It was a bit disappointing, except for seeing white-throated babblers, which were soon to become common (in Bagan). Outside, where we stopped for refreshments, a young taxi driver (Ayo U) asked if we'd be interested in a 3 city tour next day, so we agreed price and time. Next to the Atumashi and Shwenandaw monasteries - one shiny and quite new, the other old teak and very ornate. More pagodas followed - Kuthodaw, with lots of stelae (inscription tablets) in little pagodas and a big gold pagoda and lions (where we bought cushion covers), then a sister temple, the Sandamuni with 1700 little white stupas containing stelae and one big gold one. From there we took the walk up the covered walkway to the top of Mandalay Hill, switching to the road half way up, so shoes could be worn. There were lots of people, most of whom came up in vehicles in the Sataungpyei Temple at the top waiting for a mediocre sunset. A taxi took us to Ko's Kitchen, a nice Nth Thai restaurant which was very busy with locals, for a while.
Ayo U picked us up at 9 for a long day touring the 3 cities. After a souvenir shop stop in Sth Mandalay we saw monks at the Maha Ganayon Kyaung monastery in Amarapura, where are over 1500 of them, walking to their dinner and eating, before having a brief look at U Bein's teak bridge, which we'd return to at sunset. After a silk shop visit, we crossed the new Ayarwaddy Bridge, built in 2008 to the city of over 1000 pagodas, monasteries and temples - Sagaing (over 50's only), the capital in 1760. There are golden pagodas all over the hillside. After a stop at a new monastery, we went to Umin Thounzeh (30 caves), a large site on a hill where there are 45 Buddha images in a crescent shape in a cave. Soon U Ponya Shin Paya is the most prominent temple complex on top of a hill with big views over the river and pagodas. It contains a golden rabbit. Back over the bridges, we took a short boat ride to the old Island city of Inwa, capital in 14th century and a 2 hour horse and cart ride to monasteries and pagodas. U Bein's bridge is a 1 mile long teak bridge over a lake and a main attraction at sunset. Walking part way to an island for a beer and photos at sunset was much better than hiring a boat, before completing the crossing and back. $50 to Ayo U for a very good day.
The final day in Mandalay was a stroll around some more of the sites. Mahamuni Temple contains a large Buddha - 2nd most revered shrine in Myanmar after Shwedagon - with men adding more gold leaf to it - no women allowed close. Buddha Image makers (stonemasons) line the streets outside with other small industries and busy traffic made it a dusty walk to a disappointing Jade and jewel market. Shwe In Bin Monastery was another old teak building, then a ride in the back of a taxi van took us to Sekkyathiha Pagoda with a giant 16ft Buddha and a chat with a monk who gave us oranges. After a walk in the market we found the nicely shaped Eindawya Pagoda complex and a final taxi van back to hotel. There was a nice Chinese on the riverbank 10 minutes walk away for a final Mandalay meal.
The boat for Bagan (half full of tourists - capacity over 100) departed at 7am and apart from the hills and temples of Sagaing and the bridges, there was little of interest on the riverbanks. The water level was lower than it has been for years, so a guy at the front was checking it with a pole and progress was a bit slow. It was a relaxing day, mostly spent in a chair on deck at the back of the boat reading.
We arrived in Nuang-U not Old Bagan nearly an hour late after a really good sunset and got a taxi van to the Thande (selected from guide book). We had a cheap room in a lovely location and the food was very good but not huge with excellent views. I had an early morning run investigating the area near the river then took a route South to the easily visible Sulamani Pagoda, then taking a more direct route back. There were balloons in the sky and it was lovely to run on mostly soft ground around old pagodas. There are over 3300 pagodas (temples, monasteries, stupas) in the Bagan Archeological Zone of about 5 miles x 5 miles. All have at least 1 Buddha, many have 4 and large ones have many. Some have murals and some stairs to an upper area. They were built from 11th to 13th centuries. We had a day of walking around the main temples/pagodas of Old Bagan, with some outside the walls. After Gawdawpalin, our local pagoda, and a small one nearby with stairs to a balcony, we went east via a pagoda with murals then a small Hindu Temple to Thatbynnyu, a large square two-tier pagoda which is lit at night. From there we turned north via several more including one with a brick Buddha to the reconstructed Golden Palace where we found some lunch. Ananda Pagoda is large and important with three concentric passageways with a film crew in one. It has 4 large standing gilded Buddhas, several smaller and a corncob tower. Shwesandaw Pagoda is the favourite spot for sunsets. It has 5 levels with steep stairs on the outside and was very busy with tourists. I stood on a narrow ledge at the top for 20 minutes to get very good sunset shots. Fried Whole Fish in the Sarabha restaurant was just amazing.
Next day, I hired an e-bike for the day while my travel friend took a horse and cart. The e-bike was easy to ride on road and firm track, but hard work on smaller sandy tracks. Dhammayangyi is a massive walled the temple, the largest and best preserved in Bagan and built by the violent King Narathu in 1170. Sulemani Pagoda is large 2 level refined temple visible from afar with a lovely sikhara tower. East from Sulemani the track was smaller and sandy passed numerous smaller pagodas, though Pya-tha-da was larger with stairs going up to a large platform roof which had a sikhara tower in the middle. There was a good panoramic view of groups of small pagodas and of Dhammayangyi and Sulemani. The Southern Plain group contained many smaller pagodas and the striking white-washed Lemyethna, then I turned North taking the road towards the airport, then the big road into Nyaung-U where the Queen restaurant was a good spot for lunch. The large gilded pagoda complex of Shwezigon near the river at Nyaung-U www a most important religious site when the Bagan Empire was founded in 11th century. I took in a few smaller temples on the way back to Old Bagan, including the Htilominlo, one of the last great temples built a round 1230, arriving back for sunset.
We'd met Donna, an Australian balloon pilot on the first day in Bagan and decided that a trip on a balloon over such amazing scenery would be great. We were picked up at 5:30 am for the balloon field near Nyaung-U where about 15 balloons were being readied. Oriental Balloon baskets only take 8 passengers, compared to 16 for others, so we get a better view for a few dollars more. Our pilot, Piers, from Bristol, had been flying over Bagan for 10 years so was a great commentator too. We took off at sunrise and gently drifted south-west and fairly low over an amazing scene of thousands of temples and stupas near the front of the group of balloons taking lots of super photos as Piers told us about the view and ballooning. Nearing Old Bagan, we went higher to catch more northerly breezes, landing in a field south of New Bagan an hour after take-off. After a glass of champagne we were whisked back to the Thande in time for normal breakfast. Later in the day we wandered south visiting various smaller pagodas to Myinkaba, a village where there are 2 main pagodas and many lacquerware workshops and shops, in which I bought a lovely vase and a few smaller things. The Mya Zedi Pagoda (emerald stupa) has a gilded main stupa, paintings inside and a gilded cage containing figures and inscriptions in 4 languages. Manuha Temple has enormous Buddhas almost too big for their enclosure. South of Myinkaba village there are lots of groups of smaller pagodas. We had a look and ate in New Bagan where the people of Old Bagan were moved to and many tourists stay, but we were not impressed.
Mount Popa is a good day trip from Bagan, about 90 mins each way in a car. It is a sheer-sided volcanic plug with a covered walkway of 777 steps leading up to a small Buddhist Monastery. There are lots of monkeys there. At the bottom are several Nat Temples, relating to natural spirits, which are encompassed in Burmese Religious life. There is a spectacular view from Mount Popa Resort on a nearby hillside, where we went for lunch. The taxi dropped us in Nyaung-U to see a pagoda and try to book a flight out. At 4:50, with shops closing, we found a small travel agent (bus, train, air tickets) run by a young man and asked about flights to Yangon next day. He phoned an office half a mile away and got us a flight for only $75 each on Golden Myanmar - our 3rd domestic airline, and organised taxis back to Old Bagan and to the airport next day, with his brother. At sunset, back in Old Bagan, we met a newly retired couple from Deal and went to the Sarabha for a good last night in Bagan.
The Tande had been a good base and a lovely location for seeing lots of Bagan Pagodas, despite there being few shops and restaurants - go to Nyaung-U for these and more life and variety. In Yangon, we got a taxi to Wai Wai's Place near Inya Lake, who I'd emailed, but they were nearly full, so took us next door to Bamboo a Place which had just opened, where we got a nice room for $40.
After a good breakfast (with Nwezin, our lovely young host still working out how to set up this new business), her husband took us 70 miles north to Moeyungji Nature Reserve, undercutting the normal taxi rate. He picked up a mate, as driving in Myanmar is rather hairy, especially right hand drive cars on the right side of the road and a complete mix of traffic on mediocre roads - cars, coaches, lots of big lorries, old lorries going at tractor speed, small trucks with seats in the back which are the local flexible minibuses often carrying up to 20 people and luggage, lots of motorbikes usually with 2 or 3 on board, bicycles, some with sidecars and few rules of the road at all. Lorries have a bizarre signalling system to help with overtaking. Right-hand indicator (kerb-side) means stay behind me, while left-hand indicator means clear to overtake. Myanmar switched from driving on the last to the right in 1970, as decreed by the president who had been advised by a wizard! But cars are still right-hand drive, either old or Japanese imports. Moeyungji Nature Reserve is built on stilts on the edge of a wetland area created as a reservoir over 100 years ago, but it is in a dilapidated condition with renovation work in progress. A little museum and large bird pictures along the entrance walkway are quite good. Locals go there for lunch, but there are only about 150 foreign visitors a year, so it was not surprising that we were the only people staying in the quaint little houseboat shaped huts. It was very quiet, but a common kingfisher sat on a post nearby and there were plenty of plumed egrets, black drongos and green bee-eaters. Food there was a bit limited and it was expensive for what it was.
At 7am, we took a long-tailed boat out into the middle of the lake to a weedy island with lots of birds. The driver was a young lad who spoke no English, so was no guide, so just as well, we had books and were quite good at recognising birds. New species seen were - Little & Great Egret, Purple Heron, Asian Openbill Stork, Indian Pond Heron, Purple Swamphen, Pheasant-tailed Jacana, Barn Swallows, Grey Bush Chat, Large-Billed Crow. Later at breakfast, we met a Swiss couple who had just come from Bago for a quick boat trip to the birds. They told us about Golden Rock and how to get there from Bago etc, so we decided to leave the too quiet dilapidated nature reserve and get a taxi to Bago. We tried to find a hotel which I'd been given the web address for but it was 20 miles south of town, so eventually checked into the Mariner on the top floor with a great view of the big pagoda. The bell-shaped Shwemawdaw Pagoda of Bago is the tallest in Myanmar at 114m (374ft) and the pagoda complex is otherwise like a smaller version of Shwenandaw in Yangon with 4 covered entrance walkways, 2 huge lions at the main entrance and lots of smaller temples on the site.
Breakfast was cold fried egg on white 'roasted' bread - not good. We hired a taxi for the day ($55) as the most practical way to get to Kyaiktiyo (pronounced Chaitiyo) Golden Rock, over 60 miles away and back in a day. After a 2 hour drive on reasonable but twisty roads, we reached Kinpun, the basecamp town from which fleets of lorries load up with passengers - 6 across x about 8 benches for the very twisty 50 minute drive up Mt. Kyaiktiyo to the Golden Rock complex. Most of the road is newly laid concrete, so it was improved. The attraction on the hill is a gilded Boulder 50 ft around which is precariously balanced on a rock and the pagoda on top of it which is the 3rd most revered shrine in Myanmar. Some of the developments around it are a bit tacky, like a large pier in England. It was very hot, so walking, barefoot as usual, on marble floor was a challenge - find the shade. After a walk around, we stopped at the Mountain Top Hotel, just outside the entrance, for a light lunch, and managed to negotiate seats in the cab of a truck on the way down. Overall, a long day for an okay different site - must be seeing too many pagodas!
I'd emailed Nwezin to rearrange our taxi, but her husband was there 2 hrs early as I finished a run around the streets of Bago, so we were back in Yangon by 11am. I was feeling a bit delicate, so limited the afternoon to a stroll to Inye Lake, where kayakers were race training, then a taxi to a Gems Museum - closed as it was National Day - and Kaba Aya Pagoda. I didn't sleep well and still felt weak in the morning but had a slow jog to Inye Lake and back before breakfast and getting packed for the flight to Bangkok. Overall, Myanmar had been good, especially Bagan and Inle Lake. The people are lovely, smiling and very helpful and are doing well to improve their lives and businesses after 70 years of military suppression.
Myanmar has developed a lot in the last few years. Guidebooks advise to take lots of US Dollars to change into local currency, but most of the Currency Exchange Booths have closed down because there are now ATMs everywhere.
The Bangkok Skytrain Express from the airport was not running, so I took the stopper to Phaya Thai, then hailed a tuktuk to the Royal Princess Hotel where I checked into a lovely room on the top floor overlooking the pool. There was food on the short flight from Yangon, so I just got snacks from the 7/11. Helen phoned for me to meet her at Phaya Thai at midnight, having flown in from Ho Chi Minh. After breakfast next morning, we met Woody (Sarawut), our Thai leader and 8 Explore clients who had just flown in from London. We had a good swim before lunch then took tuktuks with the group to a pier, then a long-tailed boat, which chugged rather than zoomed, along canals stopping at the Royal Barge Museum. We saw several large water monitors and finished at Wat Arun, a steep sided pagoda with good views of river and city. We ate in Khao San Rd then H and I walked back to the hotel.
We were packed and breakfasted for 8:15 as we were catching an evening train. The group walked to the Royal Palace, which I'd done before, and it was absolutely heaving with tourists especially Chinese taking 'selfies'. After lunch in the Navy Club, we had a look around Wat Pho and the giant reclining Buddha, then H & I took a tuktuk to MBK shopping mall in Siam Square to look at cameras etc, and walked back to the hotel in baking heat and traffic. We had a short swim to freshen up then took cabs to the Railway Station to catch the night train to Chiang Mai. We'd bought food at MBK but still had street sausages at the station. We shared an area with Paul & Vivienne from Cheltenham who'd done lots of travelling since their retirement. Paul does some work on the Gloucester & Warwickshire steam railway and John drives trains on the Severn Valley Railway (Bridgnorth), so we were with some train enthusiasts. The train was quite slow with numerous stops, but I slept quite well. Helen was not pleased to be woken at 8 as she had not slept well! We arrived a few minutes early in Chiang Mai having done twists and climbs through jungle scenery. Park Hotel is quite large (10 floors), just south of Chiang Mai which is a delightful little city - slow, peaceful and green after Bangkok. The lovely old city is a square enclosed by canals and some walls and contains many temples in addition to lots of shops. There are many western franchise shops - McDonalds, Starbucks, Boots mostly just outside the old city in the Night Market area which is a major attraction and fun to walk around. Doi Suthep Temple is in the hills west of the city at 1030m (Chiang Mai is at 300m), with a long windy hill used by racing cyclist for training to reach it. There are then 330 steps up to the impressive buddhist temple. Woody showed us secret scrolls kept in a box and there were good decorated columns of Buddhas life at a viewpoint of the city in the mist. The open restaurant in the Night Market area was excellent (steamed snapper) with a band playing Eric Clapton music well. We walked back past lots of market stalls (inc pancakes) then a mile to the hotel.
We were going to the Elephant Sanctuary and Helen was like a kid at Christmas. Woody drove 4 of us (Annabel, Liz, H & I) in a 4x4 South-East for an hour over a pass with lots of little shrines on top and passed a giant monk statue on a hill to the sanctuary in Lampang Province. The sanctuary has a total of about 40 Indian elephants, orphaned, abandoned, damaged by explosives or cars or sick but mostly happy. First we saw and fed a mother who was then joined by her youngster. They then joined the main group with mahoots for a 10 minute barhtime in the lake, with the babies having a great time splashing around. The troop then marched up the hill to a little parade ground headed by 3 elephants - 2 holding a log with the middle one banging a drum suspended from the log for them all to march to in a tail to trunk chain. We were then treated to an elephant show watched by about 60 excited junior school children and about 20 western tourists. They introduced themselves with bows and curtsies, then circled around in a chain, rolled logs, dragged and stacked logs. The children sang an elephant song and the elephants trumpeted back. Young elephants of 3.5 and 6 played glockenspiels then 3 elephants painted pictures - very well. At the end they came to the front and we went down and fed them. Helen dropped her water bottle, which rolled into their enclosure and the elephant picked it up and returned it to her. Helen and the children were really enjoying it. We saw a little factory where they make paper from elephant dung, which is washed, cleaned then dried on frames into paper. The nursery contained 3 babies with surrogate mothers, one only 4 months old who they had to make up lots of milk for. In the hospital section, 6 older elephants were damaged from wars and cars, so we're blind or deaf. Back at the Sanctuary Museum, H suddenly discovered her glasses had fallen from her camera case, so Woody took her back around, but didn't find them. Back in Chiang Mai, we relaxed and swam in the rooftop pool, then decided to find a police station to report the lost glasses (for insurance), but gave up after 2 hrs and about £10 in taxis when confronted by a very unhelpful interpreter. Teak House had been recommended by a friend so we ate there but found it very bland and boring, then we zoomed around the night market - it was after 10pm, found a money changer, bought a few items and picked up a tuktuk on the way back. H was struggling to see in the evening light.
We spent 3 days progressing south to Ayutthaya mostly by van, poorly driven by Mr Wun with the tentative right foot. This involved visiting 3 old Siamese cities which are now all UNESCO sites. At Si Satchanalai, from the 14th century, we had a lovely stroll around the grounds of wats and chedis, the most impressive being Wat Chang Lom which has 39 standing elephants with Ceylonese influence. The red-cotton trees and Indian Rollers (birds) added to this. The hotel at Sukothai was rather run-down and almost empty, but quiet for Chinese New Year. The group cycled around the grounds of Old Sukothai, a twin city of Si Satchanalai, while I had a good sweaty 9 mile run around the old temples and lakes there. In the afternoon we switched to a rice barge at Phayuha Khiri for a leisurely cruise and nice food down to Uthai Thani where we stayed in cabins and there was a good thunderstorm. Next morning, after a stroll around the local market, we re-boarded the rice barge on the Chao Phraya River down to Haoprata Dam, then on to Ayutthaya by van. Ayutthaya, situated on an island at the confluence of 3 rivers, became the chief city of Siam around 1500, replacing Sukothai which was abandoned and retained power for nearly 400 years, until the Burmese sacked it and the capital moved to Bangkok. More old temples and Buddhas to visit in addition to the old Royal Palace. The streets of the new city nearly was very lively with Chinese New Year celebrations, a beauty pageant, and a Chinese Dragon dancing in the street.
An early morning drive took us to Kanchanaburi and the River Kwai, where we stopped at the war cemetery, then at the famous bridge over the River Kwae Noi - Kwai just means 'river' in Thai. The Death Railway was built by the Japanese using Allied prisoners of war and Asian forced labour between June 1942 and October 1943 to connect Siam with Burma as a supply line. Conditions were atrocious and over 16000 troops died as well as over 75000 Asians. We took a train on part of the route, then took the van onwards to Hellfire Pass and the Memorial Museum with stories and pictures, then had a walk along the pass. We took long-tail boats up the Kwae Noi to Raft Houses for a couple of nights of jungle tranquility. During the day, we had a lovely elephant ride through new forest, a look at the local Mon village and a raft ride and swims in the fast flowing river. In late afternoon it rained hard, but it was such a lovely peaceful setting that we'd have loved to stay another day. In the morning, I had an early morning run up a steep hill (230m) and back, then finally we returned to Bangkok, initially with a long 1 hour ride in longtail boat down the Kwae Noi, then in the car driven by Boon, frustratingly following the slow juddering van driven by Wun. After a relaxing afternoon by the pool, we had a final group meal overlooking the river. Liz was the only one going straight back to the UK and work, Annabel had friends to see in Bangkok, Glynn, Jacqueline, John and Karen were joining a trip to islands in southern Thailand and 4 of us would be going to Koh Samet.
Paul & Vivienne joined Helen & I for a relaxing 3 days on the island of Koh Samet, 3 hours drive south-east of Bangkok on good roads with lots of containers to spot! We don't usually do beach holidays, especially when the beaches are full of Chinese taking 'selfies' but it was quieter further down the beach near Jep's, which did great food and the sea was lovely and warm, though rather salty. 3 days was just enough to round off the holiday.
On Saturday, after a swim, I moved to a more convenient hotel at Phatchaburi, where the metro and Skytrail cross, though it took a while to find it in the heat. Next day I booked a flight to Chiangrai and took the metro to Chatuchak Park for a nice walk though it was 38C (100F), then in the evening found a big shopping mall in Sukhumvit for a cool browse and food. I left a big bag at the hotel and took the metro to Bang Sue then a tuktuk to Dom Mueng (Domestic) Airport for the AirAsia flight to Chisngrai. I'd booked to stay at Kanlaya Place in Chiangrai, which was run by a Scotsman (Stuart) and his Thai wife and daughters and was fine with good wifi, but basic breakfast. Chiangrai is a nice town with a very good Night Market, lots of 7/11s as all Thai cities have and a Tesco Lotus Metro, but I had a pizza in the evening for a change from rice.
After an early morning run, and small breakfast, I found a nice Scandinavian Bakery near the bus station for coffee, Danish pastry and a baguette to take with me. The local bus to Chiang Khong left at 10:30 (they are hourly) and was half full including 3 Israeli students at the back. 5 of us were dropped a few miles south of town at the road to the new border crossing - 3 Israelis, a Spanish girl (Veronica) and me and took tuktuks to the border post, where we met more travellers including Angela (Dutch). Having been stamped out of Thailand we waited by a bus for half an hour, then it took us over a very new bridge to the New Laos customs building, where it took a while to get 30 day visas for $35. 7 of us then took an 8 seater tuktuk to town, but all but Angela and I got out at the bus station about 2 miles south of Huay Xai (or Housesay) in order to catch a bus direct to Luang Prabang. All guide books and maps are now wrong as the border crossing has moved 4 miles south and the little passenger ferry is for locals only. I checked into the BAP Guest House and took the best room there - at the back with balcony and river view for 130,000 kips - about £10.50. I took a walk down to the old abandoned customs house passed a closed shop selling local wine and 'whisky-ginger', then heard monks chanting on a loudspeaker at the top of the hill, so climbed the steps to see a lovely Wat Jom Khao Manilat temple/monastery with monks beating a big drum to the chanting. I found Angela in a nearby cafe and we were joined by Frenchman Robin, so ate, drank and talked travel plans with them. I'd already booked the bus at BAP to go NE to Luang Nam Tha, a fairly new National Protected Area.
At 9, I joined a tuktuk which already had 7 westerners on it, but they were all going to the Thai border. I was dropped at the bus station and the driver wrote out my VIP bus ticket (100,000 kip). It was a sleeper bus with pairs of 5'8" slots up and down either side of a gangway and it was full of locals,and soon became overfull with baggage and people lying in the aisle too. The road was new up to the Chinese border, but very twisty climbing to 1000m and with a couple of short stops took only 3 hours to Luang Nam Tha (LNT). The old road in the guidebook says 6 hours and the bus station is now about 6 miles south of town. I took a tuktuk to Boat Landing Guest House less than 2 miles up the road, which is in a lovely peaceful setting by the Nam Tha river with beautiful cabin rooms on stilts for $40 B&B. I asked about treks etc, run by Green Discovery and only the 3 day (2 trek + 1 kayak) had bookings next day, so after planning my remaining days, I booked onto it, then had a nice 5 mile run through Black Tai villages as the sun was sinking. There were 2 French couples and 1 English couple at Boat Landing.
The 3 day adventure cost $132 as there would be 3 of us, and included food and accommodation. I had no idea who the other 2 were until I was picked up at 9:15 by A, our guide and joined two 20 year old Danish girls! We drove south down the main road for less than 30 minutes to the Khmu village of Chaleunsouk, passing 3 Chinese camper vans on the way. With a village man carrying our lunch, we climbed quite steeply up 300m on tracks in the forest for the first hour or so, getting hot and sweaty. Ditta was sporty and ran and did adventure races while blonder Benedicta was planning to study law. They were on a gap year, had done Sri Lanka and would progress steadily to Indonesia, Philippines and China. At 11:30, now at the top of the trail with good butterflies, we stopped at a sheltered table on the path for lunch. With big banana leaves as a cloth, food in leaves was set out - sticky rice with 3 little piles - pork, eggplant, beans to be eaten by taking some rice and food in fingers. The path undulated in the forest for about 2 hours, to rice paddies and the small Khmu village of Ban Nalan Tai - about 24 bamboo houses and 100 people and lots of chickens, ducks, dogs and pigs. The guest house for visitors was down by the Nam Ha river and dinner was more sticky rice with bowls of soupy dishes and Beerlao, the only thing for sale in the village. It was a full moon and early March, so at night hundreds of frogs were croaking in unison like a slow handclap from the far side of the river - all night. At 2am I found my earplugs!
Sticky rice again for breakfast with omelette mixed with local greenery - okay, but Ditta didn't like it. In the next village, Ban Nam Goy, the Lanten women all wore black dresses down to the knee with pink around their neck. The trail then went into jungle often along little streams with lots of small steep ups and downs. More sticky rice with little heaps of pork, bamboo and spinach for lunch! Eventually we dropped down to the Nam Tha river where boys ferries across to the village of Ban (which means village) Hat Yawng in dodgy canoes. We were in a homestay sharing with a family with mattresses laid out upstairs. I had a swim in the river, washing a few clothes while there. The kitchen and eating room was a separate bamboo house shared by two families. Yet more sticky rice with pork, bamboo and mushrooms which A had picked on the trek, then an extra little dish came in - barbequed dog! Ditta and I tried a small cube - okay, a bit gamely and chewy. I bought a few beers for guide, hosts and me while the girls departed for reading and sleep. The host produced a plastic bottle of laolao, home made whisky and an older slightly drunk guy joined us for an hour of drinking and chatting, mostly in Lao with some interpreting and lots of laughing.
For our 3rd days activity we had inflatable kayaks, but in March which is dry season the river is low and slow with shallow rapids so it was quite hard work. In August/September it would be full and easy. The girls said they'd done some kayaking, so they went together, but they were slow and struggled on the rapids while I could take it easy with A and try to get photos of a lovely blue kingfisher and yellow wagtails which were common. After an hour, we came to a stretch of river by a village where men in canoes with little harpoon guns were catching big fish, up to 4ft long, which may have been the famous Mekong Catfish. We stopped for lunch, more sticky rice etc, where a small river joined ours and the girls suggested swapping as they were struggling. I found it hard work with Ditta in front, but we only got twisted on one difficult rapid and kept going for nearly 2 hours to the end. A said it was 20k, but was probably more like 10 mile kayaking in total. After a quick change in the bushes, the van took us back passed B Hat Yawng and to Luang Nam Tha on a bumpy dirt track - about 1.5 hrs. A had been very good at plants and cooking and wanted to know more about birds, so I gave him my South-East Asia Field Guide. In the evening I took a tuktuk the 4.5 miles into LNT to get money, a good pizza and shopping and met other travellers. I could not find a tuktuk or taxi to get back, so started walking, then met some lads with little motorbikes and asked one to take me to Boat Landing.
Disaster!! I was packed to leave for Luang Prabang, but could not find my camera. Boat Landing staff phoned Green Discovery, but the van had gone to the garage to repair a damaged mirror and they'd not seen it. The last time I definitely had it was changing in the bushes at the end of kayaking, so I hired a tuktuk for the 50 mile round trip to Hatnalang to check the bushes, but found nothing, and even went to the village to check with senior people there. The poor tuktuk was struggling on the long bumpy dusty road back and I had to hold the door on, and I was rather distraught at losing 7 weeks photos, except the good ones I had on the iPad. We went into LNT but GD office was closed for lunch and police were closed too. It was International Women's Day which is a big thing in Laos, so many places are closed. At Boat Landing the staff said they'd had a phone call about my camera. Green Discovery had found it in the van, so I flagged down a car to get to the office in LNT, but it was not at the office, though I spoke to them and would get it later and did get a lovely baguette for lunch. At 5pm, my camera was returned and I went for a good 8 mile run, relieved.
It was a long long day on a bus from Luang Nam Tha to Luang Prabang - 11 hours, though at least I had quite a good window seat. Initially, the road is good but very twisty towards the Chinese border, then turns right to Udomxai, and is still good. We stopped in Udomxai for a lunch break, but I had snacks with me so had a walk around. However, the section of Route 1 from Udomxai to Route 13 near Nombak was in the process of development (by the Chinese) from a dirt track through the mountains to a wide paved road, but only a small section near the end was completed. There were several long stops while JCBs dug chunks out of the hillside - it was like a 50 mile road construction site with traffic including buses and lorries trying to get through. When we eventually got to Luang Prabang, I joined 7 other backpackers in a tuktuk into town, found the LP Bakery recommended in the guidebook, but they no longer do rooms, so I found a guest house opposite. The room and shower were fine, but I think I was the only guest there! The night market was quite extensive, and there were plenty of eateries and travel/activity agents nearby. Next morning, I found a nice guest house on the road overlooking the Mekong - ground floor with a window and shutters opening out onto a little balcony, a river view and a bakery cafe (where breakfast was included) on the riverbank. It was hot and sticky, probably over 30C by noon, but I took the steps up Phu Si to That Chom Si Temple, a 100 metre high hill in the middle of the town, but views were a bit murky. In March, (mid dry season) local villages in Northern Laos start burning fields in preparation for planting new crops before the rains in May/June and this affects the quality of the atmosphere. The road along the River Khan up to its confluence with the Mekong is peaceful and charming with numerous restaurants offering cooking courses, then at the confluence, there is a rickety bridge over the Khan to a little temple. With the extra day in LNT because of the (temporarily) lost camera, I now decided to stay on in Luang Prabang an extra day and fly direct to Bangkok, so missing Vientiane and numerous other options in the area, so booked the flight - not that cheap at $159 - and also booked an activity for next day. Luang Prabang is the main tourist town in Laos, and Laos is a great backpacker country - remote, green, peaceful, easy-going, cheap, though the Americans did their best to destroy as much of the country as they could in their ‘secret’ part of the Vietnam war.
For my last day in Laos, I’d booked a boat trip up the Mekong to Pak Ou caves with several stops on the way. There was a good group of 11 on this trip, including Kirsten (UK) who was a few weeks into a year travelling in Asia and Merle (Germany) who was a international swimmer when in her teens. The long-tailed covered boat with about 16 seats takes 2 hours to get upstream to the caves and only 1 hour to get back. First stop was a village on the west bank where frames of a bamboo substance mixed with local greenery which make a tasty giant crisp were drying in the sun. Next a village on the east bank where laolao (local whisky) is made and there is silk production, from worm through to garment. The Pak Ou caves contain thousands of Buddha images, with the upper cave being up steep steps and quite deep. The caves are opposite the confluence of the River Nam Ou and a restaurant where we had lunch, followed by a walk to the local village where several elephants live and give rides. In the evening 7 of the 11 of us met up for drinks at the popular and trendy Utopia bar in the east of town near the Khan River.
My flight back to Bangkok was around midday, so I had a run on the quiet roads near the river before breakfast, then paid for the 2 nights in a mix of US dollars and Thai Bahts as I was getting low on Laos Kips. At Bangkok airport, it was a steamy 35C (95F) and an easy train ride to my hotel to collect a bag of things, repack, and take the metro to a cool mall for a final browse and meal - then I dashed back to check-in on-line and was happy to find I’d been given a good window seat near the back for the long flight back to London.
Saturday Aug 1st/2nd - Heathrow to Abu Dhabi and Delhi
Etihad flight EY020 left about 50 mins late at 15:55 with me in aisle seat 69H on a double-decker A380 and landed 30 mins late at 01:30 in Abu Dhabi. On the flight to Delhi at 02:55, I was upgraded to Business Class in seat 4F, with champagne, nice food, good service and wine and got some sleep - I have an Etihad Guest number by filling in a form on a previous flight. We landed at 08:35 and were through customs very quickly, but there was NO LUGGAGE for me. About 10 of us, all from London had some lost luggage and it took about an hour at the luggage desk to fill in the claim forms. New buildings are being built at Abu Dhabi airport, so bag transfers are currently not very slick! The local KE agent was waiting outside with John and Jayne from Wharfedale (Leeds) who had flown in BA. A 15 min drive took us to Ashoka Resort near the Gurgaon/Delhi state border, where we met our tour guide Jo, who lives in Kathmandu (sometimes Keswick). I then met my room mate - Barry, born 1950, divorced, 2 sons! but from Perth, Australia, so he will be called Bazza. At lunch we met Shirley from Derby and Jackie from Paris. This is the group - 6 customers and leader Jo. None of the ladies have children and all 3 men are divorced with 2. Jo phoned Etihad in Delhi but they did not yet know where my bags were, so Jo gave instructions that they must get to Leh as we would be flying there in a few hours, and I am a privileged customer with an Etihad Guest No. Jo then suggested that she and I go to the local big shopping mall, over the state border in Gurgaon, as she needs a hard drive and I need some emergency clothes from the M&S. We took a tuktuk and I bought 10,400 Rupees (£110) of items. The ATMs there did not like my debit card, so we walked back to the hotel on a hot and muggy day then walked another 10 minutes to the local shopping area for money. Jo was knocked off her bike in Kathmandu a few days ago, so has a gashed arm and is recovering from concussion. After an evening buffet meal which was very similar to lunch, Jo called Etihad, but the local evening staff were useless. We had an early night ready for a very early start.
Monday Aug 3rd - Delhi to Leh
We were up at 2:30 am as we were being picked at 3 for early flights to Leh. I didn't have much to sort out, so took it all as hand luggage. We were first at the check-in desk with Bazza booked for the 05:15 flight and the rest of us on the 06:40. 3 of us had rather mediocre breakfast boxes from the hotel and we had a coffee there. We had all been upgraded to Business Class in rows 1 & 2 including breakfast - a benefit of being first at check-in. The fly past and turn into Leh, the capital of Ladakh at about 3400 m (over 11000ft) was quite spectacular. Leh is in a little bowl in the mountains a few miles to the north of the upper Indus River which flows down to Srinagar then on through Pakistan to Karachi. It is a mix of greenery and grey desert with granite mountain slopes of the Northern Himalayas. Being north of the main Himalayan chain, Ladakh does not usually get affected by the annual monsoon, though rainfall has increased in recent years - global warming. Our sirdar Dipesh took us to the Mogol Hotel in NW Leh. The town is a ramshackle maze of shops, cafes, travel agents, hotels, and guest houses with building works in much of the centre. It is like a small version of Tamil, Kathmandu and has everything a trekking visitor requires and it is cheap too. After 2 short nights we crashed until lunch. In the afternoon we had a local walk around the lanes then into town for coffee and some shopping. Evening meal was in the Mogol - another Indian buffet. As we were in a sensitive restricted area near the Chinese and Pakistan borders, foreign mobile phones do not work and the hotel wifi was not working either. Jo went to the RIMO Expeditions office to get the trek organised and reported that my bags had reached Delhi, and RIMO were on the case to get them to Leh. She has a pulse oximeter so checks our oxygen saturation and pulse rate daily. The shower was hot, so I was lucky.
Tuesday Aug 4th - Leh
It was raining heavily for much of the night. After breakfast, a minibus took us south-east, the plan being to go to Hemis Gompa, Thikse Monastery and Shey Gompa/Monastery. However, the roads were wet and muddy at Shey and just beyond a major cloudburst the day before had washed the fields away and the road was blocked further along, so we would have to go back. This is the main Leh to Manali road, so is the main road south out of the area and this rare flood has wiped out the local crops and harvest for the year. Shey Gompa (Palace) is a monastery high up on rocks with big views of the Indus and Thikse Monastery visible a few miles upstream. On the way back to Leh, we went to Namgal Tsemo, a monastery overlooking Leh, then walked down a winding path to Leh Palace, a 9 storey Royal residence. In Leh, we browsed shops and bought a few things. There had been no flights, due to the bad weather, so still no bags. Back at the hotel, we met a Belgian guy from a group of 10 who had to abandon their Markha Valley trek due to floods and avalanches and were lucky to find a way out. 15 minutes later, Jo returned from the RIMO office and said that we would not be doing Markha Valley, but that they had a new plan. We ate in a Tibetan Restaurant where Jo explained the new plan to trek from Tsomar (a lake to the south) back to Leh, but this may change due to weather etc. The fibre-optic cable from the Leh transmitter had been washed away in the floods, so there would be no internet for several days.
Wednesday Aug 5th - Leh
It was a much brighter day, so there should be flights, but after breakfast Jo found that my bags were not on the early flights. It was a big acclimatisation day for us taking the minibus south and east, but the main road to Manali was still closed, so we had to cross the Indus and cross back at Karu. I'd had no headaches so far unlike some. The road NE from Karu was open towards the Wari La but not for Indian tourists who visit a lake used in a film which was 4 hrs drive away. There are lots of military in Ladakh especially in the Karu area as it is near the disputed border with China. From Karu (3400m), there was a good road NE to Chimre where there is a monastery on a hill to the left then we continued via Sakti with some hold ups due to the recent rains. We took a left fork, and stopped at the local Gompa (Monastery) before starting a serious climb on hairpin bends towards Wari La - still a good road as it used by the military. Half way up at about 4700m, we walked a section for half an hour up a ridge, which was quite tough, then ate our lunch, before the final rise to Wari La (5050m), seeing marmots on the way. Some of the group now had headaches and Jayne was sick at the top, but this was very good acclimatisation. Back in Leh, we ate in a nearby cafe and I bought a few items for rafting the next day - thin fleece and trek trousers - from Raj who has a shop in Kathmandu. I still had no bags and there was still no wifi. Changsha Lane where our hotel was is a major area for young Israelis, it being a standard thing for them to go travelling after their compulsory military service.
Thursday Aug 6th - Leh
Despite RIMO staff chasing Etihad hard, my bags did not arrive today. It was rafting day and the Indus was very high, so rafting from Phey to the confluence with the Zanskar river was faster and a bit more hazardous than normal, but the rapids were still only up to grade 3, so good fun through dry grey steep-sided hills. However, towards the end a German group ahead of us had capsized when their raft hit a deep whirlpool and was stuck in the middle of the river. We stopped, so that our leader and support kayak could help to recover their raft - eventually. In the afternoon, I went to the RIMO Expeditions store to hire whatever I could for the trekking trip, then had a big shop for trekking clothes etc in Leh. With the trek beginning next morning and still no bags, I had no choice, and Etihad will have to cover the expense. As I had a comprehensive list of what I had packed, I managed to get what I needed in about 2 hours, some from Raj and some from a good trek store in town, though some things were irreplaceable.
Friday Aug 7th - Leh - Trek Day 1
The original trek (Markha Valley & Stok Kangri - Plan A) had been cancelled due to flood damage early in the week - in fact some trekking groups were trapped there for several days and were eventually rescued by helicopter. Now Plan B (high level trek from Tso Mar to Leh) was also out as the road south was still blocked. A Plan C had been worked out by Jo and RIMO. This was to be 12 days including some contingency, but as my bags had still not arrived, this was modified, so that we could finish in Leh at the end of day 1 giving me time to get sorted. My bags did arrive as we were at breakfast, after much chasing and threatening from RIMO staff, so I took a few things out for the day, but left the sorting until later. Our trek for the day was to walk for about 5 hours into the country to the north of Leh, starting with a visit to Shanti Stupa where there were good views over the town. An hour later we met a group of runners training and acclimatising for an ultra race - 333 kilometres with options to do 222 and 111 as a single race. Shirley (60) was slow but steady and determined on the uphills. I had a busy afternoon sorting out what gear and clothes to take on the trek and what to leave now that I had lots of new items. All of the hired gear from RIMO went back, except for gaiters.
Saturday Aug 8th - Trek Day 2 - to Rumbak
We drove along the south side of the Indus then up a river valley to the road head at Zinchan where we met the rest of the crew. There were 12 horses led by 2 Ladakhi horsemen with a Nepalese trekking and cook crew of 5 in addition to Dipesh. Rida was our lead Sherpa, who would set the pace for the trek on this new Plan C route, which would take us over the 2nd half of the original route (Markha Valley and Stok Kangri) in reverse, but excluding Stok Kangri, because it would be too early to climb it, and Markha Valley because it was flooded, then next week at the southern end of the route, we would be in the Kang Yatse group of mountains and attempt a different 6000 metre peak. Rida set a slow pace, too slow for me, but the right pace for later when it would be steeper and rougher, so I adapted by looking around at the scenery, flowers and birds. We had lunch at a parachute hut below Rumbak village where the path split. A parachute hut is a large circular tent on the track where they serve food and drink and it is possible to stay there, so independent trekking on the main tracks of Ladakh without carrying a tent is possible. We turned left up to the pretty village of Rumbak seeing Tibetan Partridge and Blue Sheep on the way. The camp site was about 2 miles further on nearer the foot of the climb up the Stok La pass at 4050m, with choughs flying overhead and several brick tower drop toilets at the site. It was a lovely warm afternoon, so we did washing in the streams running through the camp.
Sunday Aug 9th - Trek Day 3 - to Smankarmo
This was a spectacular day of walking with a 700m ascent up to Stok La (4790m), a pass between spiky ridges, with great views of the mountains and many rock bands and ridges. Ancient sedimentary rocks laid down (horizontally) millions of years ago have been thrust up as the Indian tectonic plate has been pushed into the Asian Plate creating the Himalayan Mountains and these rocky ridges which are now close to vertical. Amusingly, my ancient mate Bazza was often in the foreground of my photos of ancient rocks. From there we dropped down to the main river coming off Stok Kangri on its way to Stok village, then turned upstream for a mile to the busy campsite on the riverbank. For groups going up to climb Stok Kangri, the next camp up is base camp. This was the first time our amazing toilet tent was erected, with a seat on metal legs perched over a hole in the ground, inside a blue tent.
Day 4 started with a knee-deep river crossing for which I borrowed Bazza’s shoes as I thought my flip-flops may get washed off my feet. A long uphill path then took us up to Matho La (4900m) with wild flowers, marmots, Himalayan Griffon and amazing spiky ridges to look at. Some of the group were discussing religion and politics which are very interlinked in this part of the world. The Gangpoche campsite at the end of the day was nice a flat with distant mountains all around, but it rained quite hard just after we arrived.
It rained again for a few hours overnight, but was lovely and bright for our open-air breakfast on Day 5. There were lots of ups and downs on his fairly long (8 hour) day, starting with one of several river crossings, all of which were crossable with stepping stones, sometimes made by the sherpas as we got there. The climb up to Shang La was the highest yet (4950) and Jane struggled (headache), so went onto diamox, which helps acclimatisation by making you want to drink even more. The campsite at Shang Phu was lovely - enclosed by stone walls, with mountains on three sides and a distant view of snowy mountains on the fourth. Local cows, calves and sheep did need to be chased off from time to time, and we witnessed a large herd of sheep running down the mountain path, then being ‘encouraged’ to cross the river to get home. A small German group with large tents containing “beds” who had done the same trek that day were also there.
Day 6 was another undulating day though Gyuncho La at only 4700m was a stroll after the previous days. On the way down into the next valley however, the floods of recent days had left the river with lots of muddy banks for us to negotiate as well as several river crossings. The Latsa campsite was up a tributary and involved walking below precarious cliffs to the busy little site up on a ledge. Good day for birds with white-capped water redstarts, numerous noisy bouncy warblers and more Himalayan Griffons.
Day 7 was an excellent trekking day, the best of trip and much better for being done from east to west - opposite to the original Markha Valley & Stok Kangri plan. After breakfast, with a baby White-capped Water Redstart hopping around near us, we dropped back down to the river, which was the start of a long spectacular gorge with dramatic rock formations, waterfalls and wild flowers with the path crossing the river often as we rose from 4200m up to a parachute tent (lunch break) at about 4700m. On a lovely blue sky day, we then started the real climb up to Kongmaru La (5280m) our highest pass with big views from behind. Jane and John were finding it tough, unusually being behind Shirley. From the top we had a super new horizon of the Kang Yatse range including KY2 (at 6175m) which would be our objective. After group photos, I jogged down the easy path towards Nimaling, which is easier on the old knees, then stopped to study the new fauna - pikas, a small mammal of the rabbit family with a high pitched call which has burrows in cool mountainous regions. There are often seen chasing each other and having little fights. Nimaling is the fairly wide green river valley of the upper Markha valley with a popular campsite (including parachute tent), where we would be having a rest day.
Day 8 at Nimaling (4860m) was a lovely day to take it easy, though we still went for a walk towards Kang Yatse in the morning before an unexpectedly good lunch of pizza and chips! In the afternoon we got all of the mountaineering gear out for a practise with harness, roping up, fitting crampons and practising ice axe rescue (on grass). Although there were few other campers because of the Markha Valley floods, the area was busy with local activity and wildlife - cows and goats had to be shooed away from tents, especially the cook tent, and at one time there was a cow in the toilet tent! Picas, Horned Larks and Mountain bulbuls were a common site and later there was an amazing sunset. Nimaling is a lovely place.
Day 9 was a gentle stroll of about 2 hours over a hill into the next valley to KY Base Camp (5050m). The plan was that we attempt to climb up Kang Yatse II, a 6175 peak at the top of a long snowy ridge with a very early start in the morning, so today was rest and early night. Jo and the sherpas went up the stoney track to the start of the snow (crampon point at 5600m) in order to check out the route and conditions. A Spanish couple, who Bazza went to chat to, were also going for KY2, but they were quite experienced in the mountains. We had an early dinner and an rally night, ready for a 1 am start.
Sunday Aug 16th - Attempt of Kang Yatse II
We had a 1 am call to get ourselves together for porridge and tea, then left base camp at 2. The Spanish couple had left just before 1 am. The way up to Crampon Point where the snow starts at 5600m was a slog up a rough stony path then over even rougher rocky terrain and it was 4:50 with the sky brightening in the east when we got there. Surprisingly, Bazza decided that this had been tough enough, so he’d go no further and Shirley who is always slow uphill decided that her legs had nothing left either. Now we had 4 clients and 4 guides to tackle to snow slope. It took about half an hour to get crampons, harness, ropes and ice axe together, then the first 5 minutes were slogging up the rocks next to the snow. Rida led with John, Jane, me and Jacquiline next on the rope with Jo, Dipesh and Gyalpo at the back. The snow slope was steep - maybe 60 degrees, and the snow had an icy névé layer on top, so we had to stamp out cramponed feet down for grip. Jo shouted out the steps slowly from 1 to 20 then we’d stop for about 30 seconds rest. It was exhausting work, especially with my heavy mountaineering boots weighing 3.5 kg which I’d had since 1998 but not used and with crampons. My fingers and toes were cold when we stopped at Crampon Point and for 5 min breaks, but warmed up again when we were working so hard. At 6:40, Jane said that she’d had enough as she’d need some energy to get back down too, so she was taken off the rope and short-roped back down the steep snow slope with Jo and Gyalpo. We continued on now, slightly less steep now traversing across the slope, but it was obvious we were not going to get to the top (6175m) as it was exhausting and Jo said we should turn around at 8. At this altitude, as well as the effort of walking up such a steep snow slope, there is only half the oxygen of sea level. I was keen to get to 5900m as Kilimanjaro, which I’d done 11 months before was 5894m, so I checked my (altitude) watch often. At 1 minute to 8, my calf muscle went really tight so I said that I’d have to stop. My watch was only on 5860m but a check against Jo’s later showed that we were actually close to 5900m. John and Jackie were happy to stop too, so we stopped where we were and took photos of the group and the views sitting in the snow. Going back down the steep snow slope roped up requires concentration, digging in heels with legs wide apart (so you don’t trip on your crampons). Back at Crampon Point exhausted, I took off mountain gear and some clothes as it was now quite warm and sunny, then I hung prayer flags between 2 cairns as Bazza had done. The plod and stumble back to base camp was a real slog with a sore toenail and boots now rubbing my ankles raw, but I found some nice flowers on the way.
Aug 17-18 - Trek to the roadhead
It was a glorious blue sky day for day 11 of the trek and the start of our walk out to the roadhead.We were all fit and acclimatised and had made a good attempt at getting to 6000m, so we had nothing to prove. We returned to the Nimaling campsite and bridge over the river, then continued up the valley surrounded by super views, goats, birds and flowers, though the walk up to Lalung La was a little tougher than expected. The descent into the next valley was quite steep with spiky peaks that looked like the back of a stegosaurus, where we camped for the penultimate time.
Next morning, it was cold and snowy and we hid in the mess tent until it was being taken down around us. A good sprinkling of snow had covered the hills and mountains and within an hour of walking up to another pass, the snow had stopped, and we had very good final views of the now snow-covered Kang Yatse group as the sun came out. The flowers on this section were superb as we descended into a gorge and had to make three river crossings with boots off. Eventually we were down to golden fields and the main Manali-Leh road at Lato, where we camped in the shadow the local rocky hill, which would have been a good rock climbing challenge. We were expecting the horsemen to leave, so gave them their tips, but they decided to stay, probably because crates of beer were arriving at 6pm for us all to celebrate with. Indeed the crew ere up most of the night drinking and singing!
The final night of camping was comfortable and flat, but it took a long time for the sun to reach camp in the morning as we were in the shadow of the local rocky hill. As usual, after breakfast on the last day, we said our thanks (with tips) to the crew, and I gave my heavy mountaineering boots to Rida - he had been our sherpa trek leader and he had the right size feet. Our van was due at 9, but was half an hour late as the main road from Leh to Manali, which we were on was fairly busy and there were places where avalanches which had blocked the road were only partially cleared. We stopped at a cheque point and for a break at Upshi, where the Khyammar valley, which we’d been in, merges into the Indus. At Karu, where we’d been on the way to Wari La 2 weeks before, we crossed the river and turned up the hill to Hemis. The Gompa and Monastery at Hemis is the most important Buddhist Monastery in Ladakh, high above the Indus valley and surrounded on three sides by steep mountains. We stayed for an hour then had our packed lunch there before returning to Leh and larger rooms at the Mogol. Wifi was now working at the hotel, though slowly of course, so I caught up with emails and UK news and drafted and sent an email to Etihad Guest Services to start the process of recovering the extra cost of clothes and equipment I had to make when my bags hadn’t arrived on Aug 6. In the evening, Shirley, Jackie and I ate in a nearby restaurant, above Raj’s shop where I’d bought extra stuff. Shirley’s ankles had swollen up, which was a concern with Jackie, who now confessed to being a doctor, as flying could be a problem.
We’d returned to Leh a day early, so had one day to take it easy, stroll around the streets, buy a few souvenir books and get washing done. I also swapped a couple of unused items I’d bought from Raj.
We were all packed and out of the hotel by 5 am, as our flight from Leh to Delhi was at 7:30 am. Shirley’s ankles were now fine after a night in compression socks. One of our taxi drivers had a brother at the airport, so knew the procedure well, so was effectively our fixer. Bazza and I both had a lot more than the 15kg limit, but all of our bags were heaped onto scales together and no proper reading taken, so no excess baggage charges. Back at the Ashok in Delhi, an afternoon site-seeing trip was being organised, but I’d been on several such trips in Delhi in the last few years, so decided to stay at the hotel, catch up on writing and have a swim. I’m certainly glad I did as it was Friday afternoon very busy traffic with some heavy showers to make it worse. In the evening, Jo and I took a taxi to a restaurant on the edge of Delhi, 7 miles away, which took 90 minutes to get to!! After okay food and a few last night beers, we had to get back for some early starts.
John and Jane had a 4:30 start to get a train from Delhi to Agra as a 3 day extension to their trip. I was up at 6:30 for a brief breakfast, then taxi at 7 for the airport and the Etihad flight to Abu Dhabi at 9:15. Flights and connections were fine and my bags duly arrived at Heathrow with me.
Overall, the trip had been eventful for the wrong reasons - Lost Baggage, storms, floods and avalanches - but the Plan C trekking route had been good and much quieter than the original Markha Valley route. Not getting to the top of Kang Yatse II was disappointing, but had been seriously hard as it was and the wild flowers had been superb.
Sunday Dec 25th 2016 – Amman & Jarash
The Royal Jordanian Airlines flight from Heathrow took off a bit late at 5pm, so with a 5 hour comfortable flight and a 2 hour time change, we landed in Amman just before midnight. Visas into Jordan are free if you are met by a Jordanian representing the tour company, so we were gathered together and taken to a Jordanian desk, rather than a foreigners desk to get our free visas and passports stamped. Mousa (Moses in English), our tour leader met us in the arrivals hall, and a bus took us to our hotel in the north of Amman. The city has 4 million people and the airport is at the south end, so even after midnight, it took about an hour.
Jordan is a country the size of Portugal surrounded by Israel, Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Egypt – all neighbours with problems. It is mostly Muslim, but 10% Christian and was a British protectorate between 1922 and 1947. A few thousand years ago, in biblical times, this was a very fertile area, with lots of trade and many cities were founded and fought over. Three religions were founded – Judaism, Christianity and Islam which have lots of similar beliefs, but have evolved into conflict. There are numerous biblical sites in Jordan and we would visit some of them. Between 1947 and 1967 Jordan included the West Bank and half of Jerusalem, but these were taken by Israel in the 6 day war. Jordan has had a big increase in population recently because of the influx of refugees from Palestine, Iraq, Egypt and Syria. In addition, the Muslim custom is to breed like rabbits and take little notice of the environmental problems around them.
Christmas Day breakfast was a standard hotel buffet for our group of 13. Sam, 26 and in the police force and I were the only men. Our morning tour of the highlights of Amman took us to the King Abdullah (Blue) Mosque, which is quite new. We then moved on to Citadel Hill, which had big views over the city, including the Roman Theatre and contained the Roman built Hercules Temple, an Umayyad Palace and the Jordanian Archaeological Museum. Desert Larks and Hoopoes were seen there too. Citadel Hill (and Amman) has been through a lots of different periods – Neolithic, Thalcolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Persian and Hellenistic (Greek) as Rabbath-Ammon, then Nabataean, Roman and Byzantine as Philadelphia followed by Umayyad, Abbasid, Fatimid, Ayyubid, Mamluk and Ottoman as Amman before the Arab Revolt in 1921.
We drove on to Jarash (about 2 hours north), stopping for an excellent lunch on the way. Jarash is in the Gilead hills and is the best preserved of the Ten Decapolis Cities of the Roman Empire. It was cold and wet, as the Moab Hills, which cover this main part of Jordan are high above the Jordan Valley at around 4000ft, so I bought a local scarf and a poncho. The Roman city is large and amazing and still only partially excavated. It is known as the Pompeii of the Middle East and Mousa was a super guide and commentator.
For Christmas Day evening, some of the group went into the city, but we decided on an excellent but expensive small meal in ‘Trader Vics’ an Easter Island themed restaurant in the basement of the adjoining hotel.
Monday Dec 26th – Desert Castles, Mount Nebo and Madaba
A 90 minute drive south through and out of Amman, then east took us into the Badia – desert – though there is still some greenery and would have been lots a thousand years ago. Our first stop Qasr Al Kharana was a castle built about 1200 years ago, which was a caravanserai, a cross roads and stopping place for camels, which can cover 20 miles a day. A short distance on is the UNESCO site of Amra Palace, which was actually a hunting lodge and Umayyad desert complex in the days when Oryx roamed the area. It contains amazing early Islamic frescoes including a bath with a ceiling showing a depiction of constellations. Outside the gates we visited a Bedouin tent for coffee before continuing east to the oasis town of Aszraq, which is popular with bird watchers as it is on a main migration route from Asia to Africa. Aszraq Castle was once a headquarters for Lawrence of Arabia (around 1921) and would have been a fortress surrounded by lakes and greenery rather than the growing town around it.
We drove back west for a buffet lunch of salads and tagine near Mount Nebo, with views down to the Jordan Valley, then a visit to the local craft shop. Mt Nebo is a pilgrimage centre for Christians as it was here than Moses is said to have seen the Promised Land. The Dead Sea and Jericho were visible below but not clearly. Madaba was our final stop for the day before returning to Amman. A small Christian town with the Greek Orthodox St George’s Church containing a mosaic map of the Holy lands, Madaba looked relatively affluent.
In the evening, we had a local walk from the hotel, but it was just a big road and some residential streets. We ordered a Spanish omelette in the hotel restaurant (ie: a small meal), but it arrived with chips and salad. There is too much food on this trip, so we’ll skip lunch and take some fruit from now on.
Tuesday Dec 27th – Shawbak Castle and Petra
Our itinerary had been modified as there had been a shooting at Karak Castle the previous week, so we went to Shawbak Castle, an impressive ruin high on a very windy hill along the King’s Highway where a big hawk and some bulbuls were seen. It was cold and very windy and I was down to my last camera battery, so I tried the IPad. We continued on to Wadi Musa, the town for Petra - a World Heritage site and Jordan’s biggest tourist attraction. We had about 2 hours to see the first part of Petra in cool damp weather, long enough to go down through the Siq – deep gorge between mountains – to the Treasury, the best known and most impressive site of this partly restored Nabataean city built out of the pink sandstone over 2000 years ago and forgotten until it was rediscovered by a Swiss explorer in 1812.
We had a nice room at the Marriott Hotel, which is on a hill outside Wadi Musa with big views of the Petra Mountains (but not out of our window!). The bus took us back down into town where we found a restaurant. I decided to try the national dish – Mansaf – a big lump of fatty lamb with rice and nothing else – definitely not enjoyable. We then got a taxi back to the hotel and got ripped off by the driver – having the right money and checking the fare first is important.
Wednesday Dec 28th – Petra
It was a good start to the day with clear blue sky and good views. The 4 youngest of the group, Sam, Darlene, Kat and Claire left early to catch the sunrise at Petra and the rest of us followed in the bus with Mousa after a good breakfast. We strolled down to the Treasury taking photos in the better light than the previous day, and regrouped there with Mousa. Only about a quarter of the original city of Petra has so far been excavated with most of it beyond the Outer Siq which we walked down slowly passed several tombs with commentary from Mousa. I climbed up to the Tomb of Unayshu taking a short cut over the top with a good view of the Theatre (Al-masrah) and rejoined the group near the Urn Tomb, the most impressive of the Royal Tombs but it was still in shadow. Round the next corner, the Nymphaeum was a biblical site with sparrows in a big tree and goats gathered below. The main part of the city of Petra includes a colonnaded street, Great Temple, baths and Qasr al bint temple, which we passed on a higher path to the Basin Restaurant. Mousa gave us a final briefing and directed us towards the Monastery just after 11am. It was time for me to set off speed walking for the next 5 hours in order to see and photograph as much of the site as I could. You really need 3 days to do Petra justice including Little Petra and the Neolithic site (6000BC) a few miles to the north and more high places with views. Mousa said it would take about an hour to climb up the 800 steps to the Monastery – I did it in 21 minutes and found Sam and the younger ladies there having refreshments. Claire passed me her camera charging gear and I found that it worked for me, so I can recharge batteries later. The Monastery was excellent. Most of the Nabataean buildings and tombs at Petra were created by carving into the soft pink sandstone rock from the top downwards. Sam, Darlene and I then did the 10 minute walk to a big view of the Jordan Valley and also Jebel Harun, which has a mosque on top. I passed Helen on the way down a few minutes after leaving the Monastery, and she was doing fine without leki sticks. Back in Petra city, I walked the colonnaded street with the royal tombs ahead, then round passed the amphitheatre to steps which led up to the ‘High Place of Sacrifice’ – quite steep but shorter than the climb to the Monastery. Here there was a big view over much of Petra. It took a while to find the route leading down to Wadi Farasah, but a joint effort with a Korean girl helped – down steep steps passed Lion Monument and into a valley containing Garden Temple, Triclinium and several large tombs with painted walls and ceilings all cut into the sandstone walls. Note that Wadi means river, though it is usually a dried up riverbed. Down near the Great Temple, I took the high path and found the ladies coming down from the Royal Tombs as I was going up. It would have been good to see even more, but we had a 4pm rendezvous at the entrance gates.
Back at the hotel, we just caught the sunset, then tested the steam room and Turkish bath before a very good buffet in the hotel.
Thursday Dec 29th – To Wadi Rum
We had a late start today, so plenty of time for a leisurely breakfast with fine views of the Petra Mountains. We continued on down the King’s Highway to the Desert Highway – main road to Aqaba – stopping a couple of times for views and refreshments. In Jordan, turning left off a dual carriageway is done with a U turn beyond the road, followed by a left turn, which is safer and slower. We turned left towards Rum where lots of camels were eating the remains of the tomato fields after harvest and drove close to Jordan’s only railway, which runs from Aqaba to Amman, but is now only used for transporting phosphates and for filming. It was originally part of the 1908 Hejaz Railway built by the Ottoman Empire which ran from Damascus to Medina.
At Rum Visitors Centre there were fine views of Jabal al-mazmar, which has been called the ‘Seven Pillars of Wisdom’, after T.E Lawrence’s book. We were now in amazing desert scenery at an altitude of about 1000m with picturesque mountains around rising to over1700m. We stopped in Rum village where 8 of us transferred into 2 open-top jeeps for a tour of the area. At Lawrence’s Spring, there was a small Bedouin camp with camels and donkeys below a hill with a few trees and visible watercourse route. Our desert tour then took us to Siq Barrah, a gorge with rock pools between 2 rocky hills and we continued to a rock bridge for photos. We stopped by a biggish sand dune and some of us ran/walked up it for the view, then ran back down before we arrived at the Wadi Rum Luxury Camp which contained big square tents with twin beds and heating. There were also astro domes (more expensive) where you could lie in bed at night and watch the stars. I had a peaceful walk in the desert to take in the scenery, before we had a good early evening buffet in the mess tent. The starlit sky from this remote location was just amazing, so we had an evening walk in the desert where we lay on the sand looking up to the sky with binoculars (and SkyMap on the IPad for reference!). We expected it to be cold at night, but it was warm and comfortable in the luxury beds.
Friday Dec 30th – Wadi Rum to Aqaba
We were up early in the morning for a 6:30 walk, but it was already light with the sun still behind mountains and frost on the sand ridges. We walked half a mile to a sand dune in the perfect spot to see the sun rise between a small gap in the mountains, then ran down the dune and returned for breakfast. The jeeps took us to Rum Village where some of us took camel rides (for the experience) up to a Nabataean Temple. Back on the bus, we stopped at Rum Station to see the steam train used for films, and to find that Sam’s hobby is driving steam trains, so he knew what all the knobs were for. An hours dozing downhill took us into Aqaba and the Double Tree by Hilton Hotel. Helen had lost her phone, but I found that it was on my last photo taken (as we left) inside the tent at Wadi Rum, so we knew where it was. Mousa tried to phone them, but couldn’t get through. 9 of us booked for the boat trip in the Gulf of Aqaba which included lunch and snorkelling, as well as being able to see four countries at once. Jordan, Israel, Egypt to the south-west and a little bit of Saudi Arabia down the coast. 5 of us enjoyed seeing the coral reef and colourful fish as we snorkelled for an hour just off the south beach and south of the big container port – about a dozen SeaCo containers visible. As the boat came towards port, there was a super sunset and Mousa got through to a Wadi Rum jeep driver who rescued Helen’s phone. In the evening after a stroll around the market and phone delivery, we had a nice meal in a nearby seafood restaurant.
Saturday Dec 31st – Dead Sea and back to Amman
There were good views of the Gulf of Aqaba from the hotel roof before a good breakfast. We left Aqaba (at sea level) and kept to the Jordan Valley heading north, stopping at a good shop for bargain gifts after an hour, before descending to the Dead Sea at 400m BELOW sea level. We stopped by the water to see the new salt lines in 1 metre bands which showed how much the Dead Sea was dropping as Israel and Jordan are both taking to much water from the Jordan River further to the north. There is a new plan to build a pipeline including a desalination plant to take seawater from Aqaba to the Dead Sea to restore the level of the Dead Sea and provide new water supplies. A column of salt know as Lot’s Wife was on the cliffs above us. We continued north through this warm and very fertile are where lots of salad crops and vegetables are grown to a public baths opposite Jerusalem which was just visible on the hills in Israel to the west. We were here to take to the salty waters, just for the experience, though some people come for the therapeutic and health benefits. Getting in and out of the Dead Sea is tricky as there are sharp salt ridges to negotiate, and when in the water it is advisable to float on your back to avoid getting salt in mouth or eyes. So we’ve now been to the lowest point on earth and floated in the Dead Sea. It was the last day of the trip so, before we moved on, Helen made a little presentation to Mousa for being a great guide. Ali, our tourist policeman, who had been with us much of the time was dropped off on the way into Amman. Sam had been communication with him very cleverly by using WhatApp and iTranslate, so messages were sent and received in Arabic with Sam translating both ways at his end.
At the hotel, we were allocated a room which was smokey, so I went back to the desk and had it changed to a nice double room on the top floor. I was dealt with promptly and courteously but the ladies were treated like 2nd class citizens by the male staff! Mousa arranged a last night banquet in downtown Amman, which we all went to and it was excellent value for less than £20 each. Back at the hotel, the lounge had ‘No Smoking’ signs up which were ignored by some customers and by staff. We shared a bottle of good Jordanian wine and retired early – No Year Party!
Sunday Jan 1st 2017 – Amman to London
Six of us were on a late afternoon flight, so we got down to breakfast around 8 to find that there was little food left and the staff were walking around like zombies as though they had been up all night, so service was terrible. Helen, Jan, Sarah, Claire and I decided to see more of Amman, so we all piled into 1 taxi to go to the Roman Theatre, the roads being quiet as it was a holiday. We had a pleasant stroll around the Odeon, looked into the Theatre and passed the closed Nymphaeum, then bought some fruit in the market. It was then a stiff climb up several streets to Rainbow Street where the smart houses and shops were built after the 1927 earthyquake which destroyed the area. The are several embassies up there including the Iraqi where they did not want us to take photos! We strolled on some more before cramming into another taxi. The flight home was on a smaller plane and was steaming hot!
Overall, a very interesting country with lots to see, especially Petra and Wadi Rum.
This trip started with a Jet Airways night flight from Heathrow to Delhi on Saturday. I had an aisle seat with a pleasant Nigerian lad who was president of the student union at Bournemouth by the window and an empty seat between us, so not too crowded. I managed to get a few hours sleep after an uninteresting meal with wine. 3 hours in transit in Delhi is fine as it is quite new and they even have beds if you are there for a long time. However a stopover in India is not a good idea as an Indian visa costs about £90!
I was excited to find that my seat to Kathmandu was 11A - on the left near the front, so excellent for seeing the Himalayas, but the view was a mix of cloud and mountain, so not great. Although it was only a 75 minute flight we had a nice chicken pilau meal. At Kathmandu Airport, most people had to get visas, but I'd got mine in London, so was through customs into baggage in minutes, and my bag was nearly first, so I was outside quickly. My name was held up on a board so I was soon in a taxi and into the busy dusty Kathmandu traffic. I had booked my first night in the Fuji Hotel near Shona's in the centre of Thamel from their website, having stayed there in 2013.
Paula and I have been good friends since meeting on a Karakoram trek in 1996, but had rarely met in the last few years. However, we were both in Kathmandu for 1 evening so met at the Roadhouse pizza house in Thamel for a few hours catchup. Paula was starting on a trek to Dhaulagiri (on my list too) in the morning.
On Monday morning, I awoke at 9:30 somewhat jet lagged and quickly went down 5 flights of stairs to breakfast. At noon, taxi took me and my gear to the Shanker Hotel, which is the KE base for treks. Sussan, the local fixer was there - I had met him in 2013. I had a stroll into Thamel, to Hot Breads - a super cake, savoury and coffee shop with a roof terrace and free wifi. I love wandering in the dusty narrow streets of Kathmandu and particularly Thamel, the main area for trekkers to buy anything they need – trek gear, souvenirs, food, all at good prices (with a bit of haggling). My friends Depak and Chameli were not at their shop where I've often taken my laundry but I found out later that they would be back on Wednesday. Back at the Shanker, the rest of the KE group had arrived from UK. After a brief swim in the hotel pool, I joined Ricky, our Nepalese leader, and the rest of the KE group for an intro and then an evening buffet in the hotel restaurant. Beers were extortionate at 650Rp (£5.20) for 660ml local beer including 10% VAT and 13% Local Tax. The jet-lagged group crashed early and I shared a beer in the bar with Ricky - real name Rinchen Lama - 33, a Buddhist originally from the Eastern border but now living in Patan (south suburb of Greater Kathmandu).
There were to be 9 of us in the group - Andy & Cathy from Woking with Darren from Pirbright who works with Cathy, Bethany (19) and her dad Richard from Cardiff, Eddie and Jeanie from north of Inverness and myself from the UK and 1 to arrive from USA.
Tuesday started with breakfast and meeting Sandy from Newport Beach, California before going on a morning city tour to 2 World Heritage Sites I'd been to before. The traffic out to Bodnath Stupa was very busy, slow and dusty. There had been some earthquake damage to the stupa and surrounding buildings in April 2015, though the stupa now looked fine with new paint being added (probably a daily ritual) and saffron water being thrown over the dome. It is a combined Buddhist and Hindu site, which we strolled around taking photos (Andy is a photographer) and looking into the monastery and a tanka factory. A tanka is an intricate Buddhist painting. Buildings near the entrance had been completely rebuilt and I lost the group after a toilet stop and stood at the roadside for 10 minutes before finding them just inside!
At Pashupatinath, we went in via a new tourist entrance on the far side, which led to a viewing terrace above the river bank. Holy men were there hoping to make money from having their photos taken, but I took a zoom shot of 2 of them from the terrace. Pashupatinath is a Buddhist cremation side where the bodies are burnt on ghats then pushed into the river, but there were no ceremonies in progress.
Lunch was back at the Shanker by the pool and a trek briefing was held in the garden at 6 before we all walked into Thamel – the touristy centre of Kathmandu - for a meal. I changed money at the best rate I'd seen on the way - 127.
I never did get to the main Darbar Squares of Kathmandu and its twin cities of Patan and Baktapur on this visit, but there has been extensive earthquake damage to many of the ancient temples.
Wednesday April 19th - Arughat
Treks I've done in Nepal before have started with a flight to Lukla or to the west or east of the country but Manaslu is only about half way between Kathmandu and the Annapurna range (and Pokhara), so a 6 hours drive by minibus away. Two years ago, a big earthquake struck Nepal with the epicentre in the Arughat/Gorkha area, and Ricky was leading an 'Around Manaslu' trek at the time. Fortunately they were over a week into the trek, so were just beyond the gorges where there was most damage, but were stranded for a week before being helicoptered out. I was also keen to see the area because my friends Depak and Chameli come from Gorkha.
For this trek, we were to be joined by Aakash , a photographer friend of Ricky's, and we also met our Sirdar, Maan and Sherpas, Shakta and Tendi and waterboy Bijay at the hotel before starting out in the minibus. We picked up 7 strong men (boys) who would be our porters on the Kathmandu ring-road then got stuck in a jam. The start of the Pokhara road was bumpy but okay until the far side of a big pass about 10 miles out where there was a huge jam. We were stationary for 20 minutes then in a slow crawl for an hour, but it was fairly clear after the turning to Hetauda and India. The final small mostly dirt road to Arughat was very scenic, bumpy, twisty and hilly, but delightful. We arrived in Arughat a large village on both banks of the Budhi Gandaki river in mid afternoon. Darren, Richard and I were to rotate a single and double room throughout the trek. Darren won the toss after I drew the short straw, so I was sharing with Richard, a runner (Les Croupier) and canoeist who has done numerous marathons and ultras. We had a stroll around the town and saw earthquake damage especially at the north end of town, many of the houses now being temporary corrugated iron huts. Men were finding big and medium rocks and women and girls were hammering some of them to make smaller rocks for house and road building. The hotel we were at had been damaged too, with a pile of rubble in one corner and no roof on the main eating area. We played Uno after evening meal.
Thursday April 20th - Seti Khola
We had a morning walk to the end of the driveable road at Seti Khola, which was hot and dusty with some jeeps, buses and mule trains passing by. We were only at 600 to 700 metres above sea level, so way below the level of Kathmandu. There were several birds and butterflies to see including a Black Capped Kingfisher, as well as fields of maize but most people were working on rebuilding. Our Seti Khola hotel looked newly rebuilt and smart. I was feeling a bit delicate so had a rest before joining the others down by the river. Our menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner was quite extensive, and would vary slightly as we progressed higher. Dahl Baht is a standard here which the crew have twice a day, but its contents varies in terms of the veg and sauce, and the rule is that you can have as much as you like. I had something safe - rice.
Friday April 21st - Machhakhola
I was up a couple of times in the night, then was woken at 4 by the 'alarm clock bird', which sang loudly for half an hour with almost the same noise as the alarm on my watch! The next section of road was being built, with the normal route being closed, so we crossed the raging Budhi Kandaki river for a detour which would take us up 400 metres through small villages on a little trail. Bistari Bistari (slowly slowly) especially on the uphills. It was quite delightful to stroll through the little villages on small tracks through terraced fields of vegetables with people and children working on their houses and in the fields. Aakash was carrying a lot of equipment, and sometimes popped up in front of us, but gradually lagged behind and got lost. As we started to descend and had a break, Ricky went back to find Aakash. After more fairly steep downs, ups and river crossings, we reached Machhakhola, still warm and sticky and 500m below Kathmandu. I had a small single room at the top of steep stairs and was feeling a bit delicate so had an early night.
Saturday April 22nd - Jagat (Gorkha) – 1400m
My stomach was still not good in the morning, so I took 1 Imodium and plodded along at the back to Tatopani (Hot springs), where there are actually just 2 taps - one tepid and one hot, so it has become 'two tepid taps of Tatopani'. We passed small villages, which were partly rebuilt, but generally most locals work on house and path building after the earthquake. Beyond Dobhan on the east bank, we crossed a recent landslide before stopping for lunch. In the afternoon, we saw monkeys and came out into a more open area where there were several bridges including one along a wall where the river had changed course after the earthquake so the old path could not be used. We reached the entrance to the Manaslu Conservation Area and were now back up to Kathmandu altitude, but now there was light rain and in the evening at Jagat, there was a big thunderstorm. Food on this trek is very good with a fairly extensive menu - much more than is possible if camping. I had spaghetti with mushrooms and a can of San Miguel.
Sunday April 23rd – Deng – 1900m
I was feeling much better, so had a good day, though tired a bit in the last climb up to Deng. We were now gaining in altitude from 1400m to 1900m, so it was important to drink a lot and pee a lot in order to avoid altitude sickness (which start with headaches). Today, we saw lots of mule trains (mostly empty going down), so had to stand on the uphill side of tracks to let them pass. We were deep in the gorge of the Budhi Gandaki for much of the time with several crossings over the raging river on metal swinging bridges. Crops in the village fields were starting to change from mostly maize to potatoes, maize and other veg and maruana was growing wild too.
It was now an ideal temperature, with some light rain in the afternoon, and it was great to be out of the steaming heat walking up and down in rhododendron woodlands near a raging river with some glympses of high mountains. We were now in a Buddhist area with plenty of chortens, mani walls, koni gates and prayer flags and the Buddhist flag of blue (sky), white (cloud & water), red (fire), green (nature), yellow (earth). A longish days walk finishing at a fairly basic hostel in Deng. I’d worn my GPS watch, so could see that we’d walked over 11 miles – Up 1090m, Down 585m
Monday April 24th – Namrung – 2630m
At breakfast, I produced my secret supply of marmite, which became quite popular with Cathy and Darren. It was a lovely day, sunny with clouds in beautiful alpine scenery with the Budhi Gandaki river always present. I felt strong except for the last hour uphill into Namrung. I’d had little hill training before this trip, and now it was showing.The path was undulating and sometimes steep but mostly a good surface. There was a landslip before Ghap, so we had a high detour on a narrow steep dusty track, and we saw few mule trains now we were getting to the higher villages. There were rhododendron trees and at one point a sunbird was seen in them. At Namrung, I had a nice big single room and there was a luke warm shower. A nail was poking up through the floor in my room, so I stuck a chewy sweet (and wrapper) to it to avoid accidents. A good long day.
Our big bags are carried from one tea house to the next by our 7 ‘strong men’ who are mostly boys. We have to pack these bags to be picked up just before breakfast, and the ‘strong men’ carry 2 bags of up to 15kg each and their own stuff – ie: about 38kg each. There are also some tents for high camp and emergency gear like oxygen, gamma bag, ropes etc. The ‘strong men’ set off before us and stay ahead, though we often see them at lunch time.
Tuesday April 25th – Lho – 3180m
What a fabulous half day walk in the sun, with super views of mountains and villages, including Manaslu North, though the main peak was already in cloud. It was also excellent for birds, so I was at the back, of course.
The earthquake struck at 11:56 two years before when Ricky was in Lho with 4 trekking clients, and at 11:56 we were now about 2 miles short of Lho, so quite a poignant coincidence. Lho is the first village out of the gorge, so they were fairly safe, but all villages in the area were badly damaged, with the epicentre between Gorkha and Arughat where our trek started. Over 8000 people died in Nepal from the earthquake. In 2015, Ricky had a sat-phone, so could phone agents etc, who could get messages to relatives etc, and they knew that they would be rescued eventually – 5 days later in fact.
We were in Lho for lunch, where I bought a wifi connection – very slow – so received about 15 emails. Getting web pages was impossible. Richard and Beth had been getting phone connections on BT for much of the trip but attempts to send texts via my EE phoned did not work. I was especially concerned about a week old email from Helen as she had an unpleasant and painful biopsy done and I had no updates since. I could only email back.
In the afternoon, we had an acclimatisation walk up to the monastery where the monks, mostly boys were in prayer, so we kept quiet but took photos and videos. As usual the rain started gently around 5 and finished about 7. After dinner (mixed pizza), we saw a video of Shuklafanta National Park in South West Nepal which a French guy at the tea-house had just made. I stayed up late to sort emails before a fairly cold night in a hut with Richard, though the stars were good.
Wednesday April 26th – Samagaun – 3520m
Wow, the first view of Manaslu before the 8163m spiky peak became cloudy were superb. It is so much higher than the other peaks around, and it was perfectly placed behind the monastery with 2 little clouds above it. Aakash, a city boy who had been carrying a heavy load of camera and video gear was suffering from the altitude and had decided, no doubt in discussion with Ricky, to stop in Lho and await a Russian helicopter due in a few days time.
Another beautiful half day of trekking, mostly up and now with bigger mountains, mostly in forest with several bridges to cross over the fast moving river. We could see Samagaun from over a mile away across fields with yak and marmots. As usual, our tea house was the best in town and at the far end of town – Tashi Delek Hotel, which we reached around 12. I was keen to get wifi and try to contact Helen as it was her birthday and miraculously FaceTime worked fairly well from this little village in the Himalayas and I was relieved to see that she was okay and happy. After cheese and chips for lunch, we had another acclimatisation walk, this time to a peaceful green lake on the way to Manalsu Base Camp where there were lots of columns of stones built in remembrance of friends etc. I built one for Nick, who had been my best mate for 35 years, and had been in Nepal with me in 1972. Again the cloud cover came over around 5 and this time it snowed while we had dinner (Thenthuk – lots of veg in a big soup, for me).
During the day while we’d been trekking slowly up to Samagaun, Tendi (Sherpa) had walked up to our next stop (Somdo) and back to Samagaun in order to book our rooms for the next night.
Overall, it had been a very good, and emotional day.
Thursday April 27th – Samdo – 3875m
Darren and I were up and out at 5:15 and went up a bank above the hotel to catch the sunrise and a lovely pink Manaslu. The snow from the previous evening had left a covering on the slopes and on the little fir trees that we walked through during the day, so it felt like Christmas though I wore thermal gloves for the first hour. Another beautiful half day gentle walk with a steep climb from the river up to Samdo at the end. Samdo is a small village on a ledge with paths and passes in Tibet going east and north – only about 4 miles away. Our trek goes north and west to the Larkye Pass. I had a little single room with a drip in the roof in the Yak Hotel.
After lunch, we took an acclimatisation walk up a local hill to 4000m. Richard jogged down like a fell runner (which he is) and I tried the same, but had a very sore hamstring afterwards. This tea-house is rather more basic that at Samagaun and now we were nearly at 4000m it was colder. We played Uno in the warm mess room in the afternoon, with many of the group now in down jackets, but mine stayed in the bag.
Friday April 28th – Dharmsala – 4460m
We had a lie in as the plan was to walk after lunch. This would give us 24hrs at Samdo to check that nobody had acclimatisation problems, and also reduce the time at Dharmsala, the high camp, which is very basic. I had breakfast about 7:15, then packed by 8 as the strong boys were ready to prepare their loads. The day before, on our walk above the village, we’d seen locals running around in costumes. Somebody had died and they were getting rid of evil spirits. Today, women with baskets of wood followed by men carrying a byre containing the body walked down the hill to the river to perform the cremation, with the women returning 10 minutes later.
We had an early lunch of spam, beans, chapatti and cheese at 10:30 as more groups would be arriving soon and started the trek at 11. The weather was good with cloud coming up the valley. My left hamstring was sore but manageable. Tendi set a fairly quick pace, so we only took 3 hours to reach Dharmsala, 600m up, with several of us exhausted. We saw some ‘blue sheep’ on the way and there were good views of mountains and glaciers.
Dharmsala is a very basic site with one long dining room, and a couple of smaller stone buildings, one being a toilet. We were in tents. This was quite a busy place with about 60 trekkers in the dining room (rough brick with holes in!) and only a small kitchen, so our group would all be having Dahl Baht, cooked by Maan at 5pm, before we crashed out as we would be woken at 3:30am. In other villages we’d stayed in there were several ‘hotels’ to choose from and even different villages, but Dharmsala is a compulsory stop as it is a long way over the pass to Bimtang, the next village. I was up a few times in the night as usual while Richard snored gently for 8 hours.
Saturday April 29th – over Larkye Pass (5135m) to Bimthang – 3700m
This was to be the big day, as well as Sandy’s 50th birthday. We were woken at 3:30am with bed tea, quickly followed by hot water to fill bottles, a bowl of porridge and a set of small crampons. Usually I don’t eat porridge but I ate all of it quickly as we’d need all our energy. At 4:30 we started walking slowly up the track in a snake with head-torches on and with walking poles, and it soon started to get light. We saw marmots and pikas and there were good views of Naike Peak and Larke and Samdo Peak behind us as well as Syacha Glacier where there were a few avalanches. It was rough and rocky with some snow and quite up and down, and the last part up to the prayer flags at Larkye Pass was quite steep, which we all reached by 9:30. I was 2nd to the pass behind Richard with no headache at all. We’d seen a few other groups on the way up, but it was not busy. We had a photo stop at the top.
After a couple of gentle down and ups on snow we reached the steep descent and put our little crampons on. The top section was steep on new snow, so the crampons were excellent, but within a few minutes my right foot slid forward while my left was fixed and my left knee was bent over I was sitting on my left foot – ouch! Had I damaged my knee? Ricky and Maan got me back to my feet and I could still walk but my knee was sore, and I was now more dependant on the walking poles, but managing okay at the back. We stopped at a big rock and I took my track bottoms (under my trousers) off as I was getting hot. The surface then turned to wet slushy snow, still steep and twisty, and crampons did not grip. We were all sliding about, but with the dodgy knee I was really struggling and Ricky and Mann had to help me a lot. It was a long descent, which became easier and rocky down to a tea hut. I was exhausted, but a bowl of hot noodles helped as we still had 90 minutes of quite rocky track to descend to Bimthang. The weather was now cloudy and we’d had no views at al of the Annapurna Range to the west. Bimthang is a flat green area with a collection of little ‘hotels’ with the Ponkar Glacier ridge on its western edge. We were cold, more from exhaustion, so Darren and I had a rest in sleeping bags to warm up. It had been a long hard 10hr trek including a 1500m descent. In the dining room, the fires were on so we were soon warm. After dinner (mixed spaghetti), Ricky, Richard and I stayed for a beer – now that we were on the way down. In the evening a dog parked on our balcony for a while before moving to Andy and Cathy’s – barking often, but I still slept okay, with a few breaks as usual.
Sunday April 30th – Surki near Kharche – 2700m
Darren and I were up at 5 to catch the sunrise on Manaslu from the slope near the village, but it was not as impressive as from Samagaun. Andy joined us and we went to the top of the glacier ridge to get a better view and see the glacier and a nice green lake, and the dog joined us. Darren skipped breakfast and went off for a walk to see more of the glacier, but when I told Ricky an hour later, he calmly asked a couple of the sherpas to go find him. This was Darren’s first trip to Nepal, so it was all so new for him. He’s a quiet guy, who has got into walking in the UK with Andy and Cathy and is also a keen photographer, but only drinks cider, which is hard to find in Nepal. After the long day over the pass, we had an easy morning in the sun with a late breakfast, then an early lunch at 11:30. I was still unsure about my knee, so Ricky produced a nice pink bandage for me! The half day trek down started at 12, crossing the Ponkar Glacier 20 minutes later, then into the rhododendron woods with the river below us on the left. By 1 it was raining gently. I’d left my big raincoat in the big bag, so only had an emergency poncho, which was okay. It was a lovely walk down through the forest, mostly with Eddie and Jeanie at the back. They are a lovely couple, who go walking in the Scottish hills every weekend. They usually have one set of poles, which Eddie uses going up and Jeanie used going down. Jeanie, who used to play football and rugby for Scotland always leads and they have a neat pole passing technique.
We had a nice tea stop (and rain shelter) at Yak Kharka, a remote little place in a forest clearing, which was very neatly kept. An hour later we were at a little lodge in Surki, where I had my own little hut containing a double and single bed, but not much space, with a nice view down the Dudh Khola river. I had mixed pizza in the hot dining room, having missed an Uno session.
Monday May 1st – Dharapani – 1860m
It started to rain as we were about to leave Surki after breakfast (Tibetan bread with cheese + marmite), so I put my raincoat on. The weather had got worse yesterday and today, so Ricky’s decision to go over Larkya La a day early was very good. After a steep uphill, it was downhill most of the way on good easy surfaces with a few rough bits. I stopped to take off some clothes and left my leki stick behind but realised 5 minutes later so went back for it. I then race walked in the rain to catch up with the group just before the tea stop at Tilije and found that the 4 year old raincoat was wet inside especially the sleeves. From Tilije to Dharapani, most of it is a broad track, the basis of the jeep road they are trying to build, but parts of it are bound to be destroyed in the monsoon from June to August.
Dharapani is a small town where the Manaslu Circuit meets the Annapurna Circuit, but we have nearly finished and Annapurna trekkers are just starting and going up. There are dramatic high cliffs all around the town with the rivers creating deep gorges. At the bottom end of town there is a spectacular high bridge over the Dona Khola gorge. At our lodge, I was sharing with Richard and we all had ‘en suite’ bathrooms, though they were rather a joke. I did manage to get a trickle of warm water for half a shower, but most of the others failed with taps coming off in their hands etc (see pic). The cook at the lodge was away, so Ricky and the crew cooked our dinner, still with an extensive menu. Eddie and I had Chilli chicken which was excellent.
Tuesday May 2nd – Jagat (Manang) – 1300m
I was up at 5:30 for a final view and photo of Manaslu up the Dodh Khola valley from Dharapani. We had another lovely days trek almost all downhill, starting on the jeep track out of town for 2 miles before crossing the river onto the little path down to the lovely village of Tal, a super peaceful village by the river with hills and waterfalls around. We stayed there for over 2 hours relaxing in the sun with a tea break and then a lovely lunch of veg spring roll, beans and chips. On the way through Tal, Ricky found a shop with cider, so bought a bottle for Darren, then a mile beyond Tal the river went down a waterfall into a deep gorge, so steep downhill path for us. We saw numerous trekkers starting up the Annapurna circuit, often young Israeli couples (without guides), who get a good break after their national service. We stopped at a tiny tea hut perched on the steep slope where I bought a coke. A couple of miles later, we crossed back over the river onto the jeep track into Jagat (in Manang district) passing a wild bees nest hanging under a high cliff on the other side of the river. There really was a gas powered hot shower at our lodge, so everyone had the chance to wash off 2 weeks of Nepalese dust. I had a sore toe for the last mile, but would no longer need my boots and would donate them to the porters. Jagat is a nice little village with all of the useable space taken up with building or veg plots and with occasional jeeps passing through on the dirt road.
This was to be the end of the walking, though we had hoped to walk for a few hours in the morning. Richard had been concerned at the beginning of the trek that his daughter Bethany may struggle either physically or with mixing with a group of ‘oldies’, but she had been fine. It is so refreshing to see a 19 year old take on the experience of trekking in high mountains in a third world country which is struggling to recover from a devastating earthquake. Well done Bethany.
Wednesday May 3rd – Besisahar – 800m
The plan had been to walk for 2 hours then get jeeps to Besisahar, but with the election coming, people are starting to travel to their own villages ready to vote, so jeeps are in more demand, and picking up 3 jeeps around midday may be difficult. We therefore booked jeeps for the whole trip, which meant about 4 hours in the back of a jeep on extremely rough bumpy roads – not at all comfortable and I had a backache for several days afterwards. I was with Richard and Beth, and Richard in the middle had a softer ride, but then the jeep broke down with broken suspension at the front – in the middle of nowhere of course. We were the last and slowest jeep. Ricky phoned the sherpas in the jeeps ahead to stop while we sort it out, but there was no easy fix. Eddie, Jeanie and Sandy in the front jeep were a long way ahead with a fast driver, so Ricky asked the driver to drop all passengers at a village and come back for us. The new driver had a secondary agenda as he was picking up single women who wanted lifts whenever possible, and when we reached Eddie, Jeanie, Sandy we were just waved on, so got to the hotel in Besisahar first an hour ahead of them. Eddie was not impressed!
The hotel just at the beginning of the medium sized town of Besisahar was very smart, and I had a lovely single room with hot shower and western toilet. I had a walk in the local streets and bought a charging adaptor and a choc ice! We had tea on the roof garden with big views to the north, and I started to collect tips for the crew. Later Ricky and I apportioned the tips in my room.
We had a good evening meal in the hotel restaurant, which included all of the crew, though the sherpas were still doing the serving. The 11 tip envelopes for 7 strong men, water boy Bijay, Sherpas Tendi and Shakta and Sirdar Maan were spread amongst the 9 trekkers, so we were all involved in the presentations. We had also created a small pile of trekking gear that we were donating to the strong men. This was split into 7 and lots were drawn. Ngima, the tiny strongman leader won my boots!
Eddie, of the granite exterior with a soft centre gave an excellent thank you speech to the crew, especially praising Ricky who has been so attentive to trekkers and crew alike as well as being fun. He is a really charismatic guy and a great decision maker. His next task is director of the Everest Marathon, which starts at Everest Base Camp on May 29th with 200 competitors staying there 2 nights before the race. Tendi will be helping and Maan will be running. The drink continued to flow after dinner, including several ciders for Darren.
Thursday May 4th – Kathmandu
I was kept awake in the night for a while by another noisy persistent bird singing just outside my window and took a video of the room to record the bird song! After breakfast, we had a long drive in a small coach back to Kathmandu. From Besisahar down to Dumre (and the Pokhara to Kathmandu road), the road was fine – twisty and undulating over nice countryside and villages with fairly light traffic. We had a toilet stop just after Dumre and then a lunch stop at Malekhu near the turning we took to Arughat at the beginning. From there the volume of heavy lorries and coaches increased as did the motorbikes. Lunch was a good buffet at a restaurant by the river and we sat outside. We dropped 3 strongmen (boys) off at Galchhi where the Trishuli river and valley turn north. The big pass at the west end of the Kathmandu Valley was again very slow, but we only had short stops. This is one of the busiest roads in Nepal and is in a bad state in Kathmandu’s western suburbs, though there is a lot of work going on to improve it. No doubt the earthquake caused a significant amount of damage to roads and services in the area.
Back in Kathmandu, I took my laundry to my friend Dipak who runs a little shop in Thamel with his wife Chameli. They had a nice house in Ghorka, near the epicentre of the earthquake, but it was destroyed, and they cannot afford to rebuild it – very sad, but they are fine. Our final group meal was a nice meal in the Third Eye in Thamel with Richard giving a final ‘thank you’ speech to our super leader Ricky, then we trudged back to the Shanker in the rain.
Friday May 5th – Kathmandu
Seven of the group were flying home in the morning and I dropped down to the breakfast room to join them for the last time. I had an extra day in Kathmandu, because I love being here, but I still had to decide and book my last night. Staying in the Shanker would be easiest, but not the cheapest, but when I checked at the desk they were full! Later in the morning, I met up with Paula in Hot Breads, and booked into the Tibet on the web. Paula’s trip around Dhaulagiri had been rather tough and eventful. She was the oldest in the group of six with fit triathletes and ex-marines! It had snowed quite a lot, so they couldn’t see the tracks to follow. They had almost turned back due to the conditions, but decided to continue beyond a point of no return. Their well known UK leader Ade had a fall and damaged his leg and just plodded along behind them leaving their very good sirdar to take the lead. Ade was taken to hospital when he got back to Kathmandu.
Just before midday, I move my stuff from the Shanker to the Tibet, taking a taxi for the little trip to the next street. I’d been there before in 2010. Nice little hotel. After some last minute shopping, I collected my laundry from Dipak and Chameli and stayed for a little chat – Next time I come, I have an invite to stay with them and we exchanged emails, so we can keep in touch.
I then had to rush to get ready for an evening out, getting back to the Tibet, then picking up Sandy at the Shanker and going to ‘The Factory’ in Thamel where Ricky would be singing. Ricky has just bought 50% of ‘The Factory’ which is an upstairs bar/restaurant and a large roof area which currently has a little bar and a few tables, but would be great to develop. He sings western rock music in a band and they were performing there tonight. We had food and several beers with Ricky and Aakash, who is on the staff then it was Ricky’s turn to join the band and sing. I took a few videos. No big crowds, as this was a new venture, and they need to get advertised and known. As we came out, Paula was just coming out of the K2 restaurant opposite after their last night do, so we walked back to the Tibet together in the dimly lit streets.
Ricky was at the Tibet to escort me to the airport around 6:30 next morning – he is just so thorough as well as being a great guide and a great guy.
Dhaulagiri & French Pass 2017
Friday October 6th 2017 - London to Muscat
Intro: Why Dhaulagiri? - I'd seen Dhaulagiri, a big lump of a mountain and it's related range (Dhaulagiri II to VI) from a Dolpo trek in 2012, so it has been on my list as a tough trek to do since then. KE (my usual trek company) were not doing it in Spring 2017, so I did the 'Around Manaslu' trek as a slightly less challenging option, having had a big operation in 2016. I'd discussed Dhaulagiri before with Paula (trekking friend) and she'd found that The Mountain Company (TMC) were doing it in spring and went with them and we met in Kathmandu after our respective treks. I saw Paula for a few days in August, with the result that I then booked Dhaulagiri with TMC and she booked Manaslu with KE!
I was at LHR T4 at 06:25 and checked-in with Oman Air for flight WY0104 in a few minutes. As usual we took off late around 0845. The flight was less than half full, so I moved to an inner aisle seat, so I could spread out things to keep me occupied with easy access to toilets. It was an uninteresting 7 hr flight of puzzles, reading, music and dozing interspersed with food - no alcohol. At Muscat, I had a 7 hour wait for the flight to Kathmandu. I'd booked the trek and flights quite late so there were no good cheap flight options and I love Kathmandu, so going on Friday and returning on Monday to reduce the cost was fine and the 7 hrs in transit was less than cheaper options. I found a Costa for coffee and muffin and paid by card with no idea how much an Omani Rial was. They had big comfortable chairs where I did the Sunday Griddler in less than an hour.
Saturday October 7th - Muscat to Kathmandu
The flight to Kathmandu took off on time at 0220, and I found an empty aisle seat with extra leg room, which should have cost more. The window seat I'd been allocated was only for little Nepalese legs. 90% of the passengers were Nepali men who work in the Gulf returning to KTM for the festive season. Despite it being a night flight, we were fed (more chicken & rice) and the lights stayed on! Himalayan views on the descent were very good. At Kathmandu, I was through customs in minutes, but bags for those of us that had long transits in Muscat were last off. Hotel Fuji AND TMC had both sent cars for me! I had a room by 10:30 at the Fuji and crashed for a few hours. I changed £100 at the hotel and went for a stroll around Thamel, which I love. I'd arranged to meet Mann (Sirdar from Manaslu) in HotBreads around 3. He'd just returned from a trek and would be Sirdar for KE boss Glen on a Jiri to Namche trek next. It was good to see him and chat. Next I went to Dipak and Chameli's shop and chatted to them. Trade is poor and their big house in Gorkha was destroyed in the earthquake in 2015, so they need to find something new to take on. I found a good CD shop in Thamel and bought 5 at less than £2 each to replace old tapes I'd thrown out, then had another rest at the Fuji before going out for the evening.
I knew that Ricky - trek leader from Manaslu - would be at The Factory, so I went there, and although he'd just left, staff called him and he came back. He now owns The Factory outright, which is a restaurant & bar, and has live bands including his own. It also has a huge rooftop area, with lots of scope for development. Recently, there was a big do there with about 700 people. We had a good chat and drinks, then went to a bar/club nearby where Ricky was called up to sing a few numbers (Western Rock) as 'Chocolate', their lady singer was losing her voice! They are a very good band. Ricky tried to give me a lift on the back of his motorbike, but couldn't find the turning for the Fuji - not easy when all the shop shutters are down, so I walked the last bit and had to ring the bell at 1am to get in! It was a really good evening out, with Ricky treating me as his special guest.
Kathmandu IS polluted and hectic, though less so this time. Most of the main roads in the city are now in good condition - they used to be terrible. Maybe the earthquake has kicked the authorities in action.
Sunday October 8th - Kathmandu
I slept until 9:30, then jumped up, had a quick shower and was last to breakfast, which was okay but fairly basic. Outside, Kathmandu was still quiet as it was Sunday. I sorted, packed and checked out around 11:15 and took a taxi to Hotel Manaslu, a lovely hotel tucked away in a quiet spot in Lazimpat with gardens and a pool. I met Natalie (Nat) our leader, in the lobby and Richard, my roommate - a 59 year old journalist from Melbourne. After a look around the hotel and some unpacking, I walked to Shona's in Thamel, with a stop with Chameli, to hire a hard hat. Roland (The TMC MD) had warned them I'd be coming. I also bought a cheap Chinese Leki stick (about £5) with a horizontal handle to match the good one I have - I only use sticks for steep or icy downhills. After coffee and cake in the wonderful HotBreads, I marched back to the hotel for our first team briefing.
There were 11 of us clients present with 1 arriving late and 1 joining in Pokhara. With the exception of Richard and myself, it was quite a young group with three couples, 3 single ladies and 2 single men (Richard and I), with one woman and one man to come. Most people were tired from long flights, so we went to the nearby Hotel Tibet and had their standard buffet. Our hotel (Manaslu) had the best exchange rate in town, but they had run out of money and said they'd have some in the morning.
Monday October 9th. - Kathmandu to Pokhara
In the morning, I felt creaky in my back and hamstrings and also had a sore throat (long haul flight syndrome!), so after packing and breakfast, I went for a massage close to the hotel. A little 23 year old Bhutanese girl pummelled and pressed me for an hour for £21. The hotel still had no money when we were ready to get the minibus to the Domestic airport, where our flight was delayed from 12:30 to 14:00. It is a new domestic air terminal, much better than the old 'sweaty shed', but is still quite crowded and chaotic. When we did get out onto a bus, there was then another long wait for the plane to be ready. The flight to Pokhara took only about 30 minutes, followed by a 7 minute bus ride to the Mount Kailash Hotel, a lovely hotel, though my sore throat was turning into a sneezy cold.
I walked down Pokhara main street checking out exchange rates, which were all the same at 132.32 - worse than yesterday. Pokhara has a long main street running parallel to Phewa Tal lake with shops on one side and rough ground down to the lake on the other. It is much more peaceful than Kathmandu with super views of the mountains, though they were in cloud this afternoon. After a stroll along the lake, I chose a Money Dealer and asked what rate he would give me for £300. 133, so I changed £260, as he rejected 2 notes which had rips. I then bumped into Richard in the street, so we went to a German Bakery for coffee and cake. In the evening, the whole group went to the Road House Restaurant and I took a single seat at the end, away from most of the group as my cold was now in full flow! At night I found it hard to breathe, so didn't sleep well.
Tuesday October 10th - Pokhara to Babachur (870 metres above sea level)
I was up and packed early and despite my restless night, Richard slept like a log. Machapuchre (The Fishtail Mountain) was visible from our balcony. We had a good breakfast, where we met Uly (63, from Dortmund area) who had just joined us, having been to Chitwan National Park first. He will soon be a grandfather and this was his 17th trek in Nepal. We had a half hour delay because of a transport issue, so I went to a local pharmacy and bought statins (the right ones) as I had forgotten to pack them. We left in a small bus around 8:30 and I sat with Jess, who had flown into Kathmandu the previous evening, as the bus progressed to Beni, 3.5 hours away, with good views of the Annapurna Range and Machapuchre on the way. Jess, 30 and living in Putney, is a qualified pharmacist and a very good triathlete having been in the UK team for the Euro Champs in her age group.
We had lunch in Beni, inside a local hotel, which was cooked by our own cook crew, though as they were only just arriving too, this took a while. My cold was still bad but improving slowly. The walk to Babachur took about 3.5 hours along a dirt road with quite a bit of traffic. It was possible to get transport through to Darbang, where we would get to for lunch next day, but the roads are controlled by the local 'Beni Mafia', so you have to use their transport and pay them! I walked at the back most of the time, partly because I was taking more photos and taking in the local scenery, but also because this was a fit fairly young group with no snails at all. The scenery and villages in the Myagdi Khola valley were delightful, with women breaking rocks for a new building at one stop, cheeky children, little shops, butterflies, dragonflies, fields of corn, rice and wild marijuana and some black kites above. Our campsite was already set up on the banks of the river at Babachur, but it took a while for the porters with our bags to arrive - their first day in hot sweaty conditions as we were well below the height of Kathmandu. The evening meal was very good and I slept quite well.
Wednesday October 11th - Babachur to Dharapani (1470 m)
It was Richard's 60th birthday, so we sang 'Happy Birthday' at breakfast before continuing the trek on the dirt road, now with a little less traffic. It was a lovely sunny hot day, through more villages and we were starting to see terraced fields as well as a tiny frog, a preying mantis, more butterflies and more children. We stopped for lunch in Darbang, where the streets were lined with little flags over the road from a recent festival and here permits for the trek to Dhaulagiri were obtained.
By mid-afternoon we were in the lovely hillside village of Dharapani, camped on the school playground and a short walk down to 3 water shoots, which were ideal for washing us and our clothes, though there were lots of children around and groups of teenage boys waiting to see scantily clad western women! Andrea, from Hanover but living in Brixton Hill and married to James, organised the children to pick up all the rubbish in exchange for sweets. The excellent evening meal was finished off with a superb birthday cake for Richard - Sangram is a very good cook.
Thursday October 12th - Dharapani to Muri (1850 m)
As we left Dharapani, we could already see snowy Himalayan Mountains in the distance and within an hour could make out the big mass of Dhaulagiri, with other pyramid shapes in front of it. Today was lovely walking through prosperous villages with nicely built little houses, beautiful terraced fields of wheat and other crops and neatly dressed schoolchildren. At our lunch stop a Czech group caught us up. They were drinking beer at stops and this seemed to continue for several days whenever we saw them. It was an odd group of 7 laid-back older men, 1 pushy woman (matriarch) and a young couple.
It was an undulating day, crossing bridges and climbing up from the deep valleys with big views. Our camp at Muri was at the Primary school high above the river, with noises way over the valley coming from a volleyball tournament.
Friday October 13th – Muri to Lower Boghara (1850)
Today was a fairly long very up and down day, finishing at the same height because we were at the lower village and camped near the river, and in view of a honey site on steep cliffs. The scenery changed from lush jungle to zigzags and traverses high above the river, with small alpine flowers along the path and views of high waterfalls. We were in leech territory, so kept our eyes open for these annoying, unpleasant creatures. Jess had three small mishaps (Friday 13th) – a leech on her leg at lunchtime, a big spider in her tent (which I removed) and a bang on her head on a mess tent support. The planned camp at a much higher level appeared to be closed, possibly due to an avalanche as a path upwards had branches across it, so we finished at a busy camp not far above the river, where a Swiss group were already camped in one section. The Czechs had stopped at the village half a mile before the camp, and were already drinking. At our camp, we met a pair of Frenchmen from a Mountaineering club. On the 4 days of trekking so far, we appeared to have a problem with 4 of our porters – young lads who probably liked the money they could earn with a trek group without realizing what hard work it was. They were always last into camp with their loads which included Uly and Lu’s bags.
Toilets at this site and several others were neat wooden huts, often but not always well kept, but they were built by Nepalese to their own size, so were rather difficult to use for 6’3’’ Emile and 6’ James.
Saturday October 14th – Boghara to Dobhan (2440)
Boghara was the last village, so from now on there were very few local people, just odd houses or farms, and we were moving upwards mostly through forests on slopes with the river way below. There were views of high waterfalls, then we came to a cliff with wild bee hives clinging to the rock high above. There were different kinds of very small orchids at the side of the path as I walked at the back, often with Jess or Richard looking for photo opportunities. At the lunch stop, we joined the Swiss and Czech groups and kept an eye open for leeches. In the afternoon, there was some light rain, and I had an emergency bush stop – dodgy stomach! The Dobang camp was in a clearing with views to the west of Myagdi Matha (6274). During the afternoon I’d walked and chatted to Pema, our Sirdar, who will be sirdar to a Russian Expedition to Everest in Spring 2018. He’s also climbed Dhaulagiri.
Sunday October 15th – Dobhan to Sallaghari (3010)
It was a clear but cool morning as we’d be in the shade until about 11 am. There was a steep downhill from the camp to a bridge over the river to the east sside, then quite steep ups into the forest, with drops down to small river crossings. This was quite tough walking especially for Andrea who had a bad throat, so she and James took it at their own pace at the back with either Chiwang (guide) or Pema (sirdar). There were several spectacular waterfalls on the way and more tiny orchids. We arrived at Sallaghari around 1:30, so had lunch there. It was a lovely spot by a small river, but was quite small. The Swiss group had arrived before us and taken the upper terraces and those of us in single tents had agreed to share if there wasn’t enough room for all of our tents, but we just found enough space for them all, though several of us would be sleeping on slopes. The cook crew levelled out a new area to put the mess tent and our leader Nat was on the Swiss terrace. The small river nearby was good for washing though I only did hair, face and top, while others were going for the full wash – James and a Swiss girl stripped down to bikini.
While we were having tea in the mess tent, Uly came in to say that the cloud was clearing and Dhaulagiri was visible from the river. Jess and I went out to join him and waited for a while. Then the clouds dropped as the sun dropped below mountains revealing the mass of Dhaulagiri. After a few minutes of photos, I went quickly back to the mess tent to get the rest of the group. As I moved back down the rocks to the best place, my foot caught in a tree root and over I went, my hands saving me on the gritty rocks and I escaped with a grazed leg and a bit of shock, but still took more photos of the excellent scene.
Monday October 16th – To Italian Base Camp (3500)
We had an easy walk of only 2.5 hours, gently uphill all the way through low shrubbery with two small river crossings in nice clear weather. Italian Base Camp looked like a newly created site before a big glacier gorge at about 3500m, rather than the real thing which was marked on the map as a few miles further on – we were beginning to think that the map was rather approximate anyway. It was actually a stunning location with half a dozen flat terraces and more being developed, with Dhaulagiri West Face and SW Ridge behind it. In the afternoon, Richard and I walked up further to see where a huge glacier had left a big wide glacial gorge, with rivers flowing out of the bottom of the glacial moraine. We could see that our path onwards will drop down, cross the moraine and climb onto the side of the gorge – quite spectacular.
Nat, our leader, sorted out our crampons and ice axes which would need to be packed in our bags for the next few days until needed. Nat, 41, is from Blackpool, was a climber, and is now a very thorough trek leader. In the afternoon, I did some washing. Jess was now spending a lot of her time in camp with the French guys, Francois 24 and his 50 year old climbing mate. She has a job lined up in France for the winter and is keen to improve her French.
Tuesday October 17th – Italian Base Camp – Acclimatization Walk to 4040m
I was warm and cosy in thermals and new sleeping bag overnight, though it was only 4 C in the tent with a touch of frost on the outside of the tent. Our acclimatization walk took us towards the saddle south of Dhaulagiri and was quite steep and much tougher than the previous days walk. My stomach was not good, so I took cipro in the afternoon and took it easy, then in the evening just had a few lovely cinnamon rolls and some apple pie, all cooked by the excellent Sangram.
Acclimatization is very important in the mountains to avoid getting headaches and much worse from the altitude and reduced oxygen. The recommendation is to drink about 4 litres of water (and other liquid) per day, so lots of peeing, which helps the body cope with the changes in pressure and oxygen. Some of the group were taking Diamox, which I’d not heard anyone take since my Peru trip in 1990.
Wednesday October 18th – To Glacier Camp (4145)
It was a bit warmer overnight, but we had an early start, so I set my alarm for 4:45, as bed tea was 5 am (but it was late). We set off at 7:30, rather than 7, wearing hard hats ready for some dodgy sections, and it was a nice clear morning. Within 10 minutes we were descending steeply down to the glacial moraine, and James helped me a lot by showing me how to go down with two long sticks. After crossing the moraine, there was a steep up, then a narrow path running along the edge of the slope, all with great views of mountains, waterfalls, glacial remains and rushing rivers. This was now real trekking in the mounatins, much of it over rough glacial boulders high above the river. My energy levels were still down on normal, so I plodded mostly at the back taking numerous photos.
Pema and Sonam had gone ahead to find the best crossing point over the river. With sandals on, trousers zipped down to shorts, pack on, boots around neck and holding 2 trekking sticks, we waded across the very cold river, facing upstream and working our way across leaning on sticks. Wow, it was cold. Poor Nat stood in the deepest part to help us all across, so had frozen legs and feet when she got out. One of the kitchen crew had brought hot juice and cups down to the river from Glacier Camp where we were going, which was a really nice treat. In fact, it was a good 45 minutes uphill over rocky and sandy moraine to Glacier Camp, above the snout of the Chhongardan Glacier, where rivers poured out from tunnels, their origins being spectacular waterfalls.
Glacier Camp is a very lumpy site on the glacial moraine with flat spaces cleared for tents. Once the tents including Mess Tent had been erected and my tent moved from a small plot on a 15 degree angle to a flatter spot, late lunch was served. We relaxed and sorted between meals.
Water:- I had a Camelback water bladder in my daypack which could take up to 2 litres and only 1 Nalgene water bottle of 1 litre. The cook crew would take bottles at meal and snack times, fill them with hot water and usually return them at the next break time (except in the evening when they would always be returned). As the Camelback could not take hot water, I usually had to get the Nalgene bottle filled at most meal times, then transfer water to the camelback when it had cooled, so I had a constant but manageable water maintenance process. At night, the bottle of hot water would usually go straight into the sleeping bag to get feet warmed up.
Rest/Acclimatization day logistics of having 2 nights in 4 consecutive high camps [Italian Base, Glacier Camp, Dhaulagiri Base & Hidden Valley] is good but a bit excessive. However, this is actually driven by the transport logistics devised by Roland (TMC boss). Mountain equipment – crampons, ice axes, ropes, gamma bag and lots of food, had been taken from Beni to Italian Base Camp by mules, which we only saw when they were returning. From IBC onwards, we pack crampons and ice axe in our bags (or use them) and other equipment and extra food is ferried by some of the ports to the next camp, then they return.
Thursday October 19th – Glacier Camp – Rest/Acclimatization Walk
I was up at 6:30 to trudge over the glacial rubble to the toilet tent, otherwise it was all quiet with bed tea not due until 7:30. I updated my log and was called at 8:30 as I had forgotten that breakfast was at 8. I was feeling good, so joined the morning walk for about 90 minutes up the trail, all over glacial moraine. It was a cloudless morning with mountains, waterfalls and crevasses and I took quite a few photos. Richard, Katie and Andrea stayed behind to rest and Emile turned back after an hour. James and I had some fun taking photos standing next to crevasses. We were back for lunch of course.
The Chhongarden Glacier is rocky and lumpy, but the scenery is spectacular, especially in the morning when the weather is almost always clear with blue sky.
Friday October 20th – Trek to Dhaulagiri Base Camp (4720)
Yet another wonderful blue sky day, though we were in shadow until about 9am, having set off at 8:15. Sunrise in the mountains is a really magical time, and I often think of my old mate Nick who did the hippy trail with me in 1972 and so introduced me to the wonders of travel and to Nepal. Sadly he died in 2004. The group pace early on was fairly slow over the rubble field of the Chhongardan Glacier, so I could take photos, adjust gear etc and still catch up. It was a 4 hour walk getting steeper in the last hour when I found it harder with an aching shoulder and sore glutes. Dhaulagiri Base Camp is a very lumpy spot and getting around camp is harder than anywhere else on the trail. The old farts – Uly (63), Richard and I were all on the higher ground – the executive terrace! The Mess Tent however was at the bottom, so it was an awkward clamber to get there. The toilet tents were even harder to get to being at the lowest point, but just below a fairly steep slope of small rocks. As usual, cloud built up in the afternoon and there was an anticipation of a cold night.
Saturday October 21st – Dhaulagiri Base – Acclimatization Walk
At 5am the temperature in the tent was about -4C, cold but not too bad. Being a rest day, breakfast was not until 8 – corn flakes, hot milk, pancakes, boiled egg. After 10 days of trekking I was feeling fit and strong, so joined Christian, Laura, Polly, Bea and Lu for the walk towards French Pass with Sonam leading and Nat and Pema at the back. Again it was a wonderful blue sky day in the mountains and a fairly easy path. However, the pace was quite brisk – Sonam does not hang about especially when he is being pushed by the Canadian Racing Snakes. Laura (29) is very fit and fast, as is husband Christian (34). They live in Vancouver and do lots of outdoor activities, while Lu (53) from Calgary, but now living in Budapest, used to play lots of tennis and is in great shape too. Nat was feeling below par so turned back within an hour and about 20 minutes later I decided to stop. I’d done no stretching first and felt a risk of pulling muscles, so did some stretching. The group continued on to about 5000 metres as the path went up onto a ridge, but they were in sight much of the time, so I took zoomed photos of them. I sat on a rock in the sun at ‘Jess Place’, where Francois had left a message ‘Come On Jess’ with stones, until the group returned, then we all went very quickly down the rocky path back to camp. This group really is the youngest and fittest group I have ever trekked with.
Bea and Richard volunteered to manage the collection and allocation of tips for the crew, which they progressed during the afternoon. The stars and the Milky Way in the evening were stunning, but it was too cold to hang about.
Sunday October 22nd – Over French Pass (5360) and into Hidden Valley (5050)
This was the big day of the trek, going over our highest pass and into the magical Hidden Valley. It was a bit colder overnight, being a few degrees below zero at 6am, but it was another clear blue-sky day in the morning with a cool breeze of about 10 mph coming up the valley behind us. We had a fairly early start at 7:30, loaded down with crampons, ice axe and hard hat just in case they were needed. My shoulder was still sore, probably more from sleeping position than carrying too much, though using James’s spiky ball and muscle rub had eased it a bit. Several of us had aches and pains and bruises from sleeping. It is essential to make quite a high pillow, from clothes etc, in order to sleep on one side, and I’d now cracked it by loosely stuffing my duvet jacket and more into a large dry sack. Going up the gorge we were in shade until 9 when the sun finally peered over a hill as we climbed up towards a ridge. Scenery from the ridge of the Tukuche icefall and glacier were amazing as we walked the full length of a the ridge to get to the start of the clumb up to French Pass, our highest of the trek at 5360m. As usual I took lots of photos especially along the ridge with Dhaulagiri in full view behind us and the ridge, glaciers and French Pass ahead. I pushed it up the pass in order to hang onto the fit youngsters and Bea and Lu (both 53). We took group shots at the top, and stopped shortly after in a sheltered spot for our packed lunch.
Hidden Valley is a fairly broad valley between high mountains where the rivers go north towards Tibet, but at over 5000 metres it is both beautiful and desolate. The path down to camp was a lovely gentle slope suitable for jogging down, so I marched it quickly. Our camp was in a nice flat open area in a dell with a small hill to the north side of us and small winding rivers with Dhaulagiri and the Dhaulagiri Himal (Dhaulagiri II to VI) to the south and west. There was still a cool breeze from the south.
Monday October 23rd – Hidden Valley
Weather reports had suggested a few days ago that it could get very windy with a jet stream influenced change to strong North-Westerlies, which would have resulted in us getting out of Hidden Valley and over Dhampus Pass as soon as possible. Nat was in contact with Roland (by sat-phone), who could get the latest weather info and advise. However, this risk had now reduced, so it was a fine but cool day for a Hidden Valley Excursion.
At 5050m, this was the highest I’d ever slept, and some of the team were struggling with headaches so took it easy. I was feeling good and strong so joined James, Lu, Christian, Laura, Richard and Katie on the recommended trek over the river, which we had to wade across (v cold in the morning, but warmer on the way back) and up a fairly steep slope to the north-west towards a high ridge where we should get good views of the Nilgiris and Annapurna Range on the other side of the Kali Gandaki Valley to the south-east. The wind was quite strong and cold and we saw blue sheep or mountain goats on the horizon. Most of us gave up ay about 5350m and found a sheltered spot in the sun, but James was keen to get to the next ridge – his highest point ever. On his way back to us he found a skull and massive horns of a blue sheep. Cloud had built up in the Kali Gandaki Valley, so views of Nilgiris and Annapurnas were poor.
Back in camp, the porters and crew said they they would like our next camp to be at Alu Bari, which is lower and warmer than the planned stop at Yak Kharka, and as we were a fit and fast group and always beat the predicted trek times easily, we agreed. We also heard that Uly will split from the group at Marpha, the first village in the valley, and walk back to Pokhara down the Kali Gandaki Valley with Baal as his guide/porter.
We’d been having Ogygen Saturation (Sats) and Pulse Rate checks every afternoon to monitor how we were coping with the altitude and exercise. At higher altitude, my pulse rate seemed to be quite low. Now, those of us who had done the Hidden Valley excursion in the morning had low Sats around 79, while those who rested had stayed around 90.
Tuesday October 24th – Down to Alu Bari (3900)
This was always going to be our longest day of trekking, over Dhampus Pass and down towards Marpha, but as a group we were all fit and much faster than the estimates, so doing the extra hour to Alu Bari should be no problem. We had an early start but the sun was already warming us up during breakfast. The initial trek to Dhampus Pass (5244) was an easy rise with views of the Nilgiri Range appearing, though there were already clouds building up from the south in the Kali Gandaki Valley we were heading into. Just beyond the pass the track was on snow and the start of a very long traverse – an undulating narrow snowy track with a big drop on the right. I found this quite tough as I’ve never enjoyed walking or running on snow and was a bit low on energy after the previous days excursion. The traverse seemed to be never-ending but quite photogenic. Eventually we did descend quite steeply with big views into the Kali Gandaki valley, then had a stopped for our packed lunch. The gradient eased a bit, then it happened! Maybe I was rushing as I was at the back, and suddenly I tripped and fell forwards hitting my right knee hard on a big rock. I got up quickly but the knee was very sore. Pema, just in front of me, came and helped then called Nat for help and James came back to give support too. Bending the knee was unbearable, but walking down with a straight right leg was okay, but slow. Nat examined the damage and applied cream and a bandage, then we progressed slowly downhill. It was still quite a way down to camp, but after 10 minutes or so we could at least see tents some way below. With good support and guidance we made it to camp in half an hour or so, just in time for juice and then tea. Getting into and around the tent was awkward but manageable, and I asked Pema to find the toilet seat for the morning as bending the knee to squat was not possible. The next days trek down to Marpha was very steep in places and would be very difficult for me, so Pema contacted our hotel in Jomsom to arrange a horse for me!
Wednesday October 25th – Last day of the trek
Sleeping on the last night in the tent was a bit awkward, as I needed to keep the knee straight or move it slowly, but packing by sitting in the middle of the floor (instead of kneeling) worked fine. After a good open-air breakfast and a goodbye to Uly, the group were off down the track to Marpha, leaving the porters and cook crew to clear up, take tents down etc. I wandered and sat until about 9:15 when all the porters had left with Lakpa and Chiwang remaining to escort me down by horse on gentler but much longer tracks. We started walking down gently and met the horseman riding up within 10 minutes. It was a good looking horse, not a donkey, pony or yak as some had speculated.
Getting on the horse was tricky and sore on the knee, as I needed to bend it (slowly) at right angles to fit into the stirrups. The early stages of the ride down were a bit tricky too as the path was narrow with sometimes fairly steep steps where the horse stopped (ouch) and needed to be gently encouraged. There were also bushes and branches to avoid, sometimes at foot level, with the potential to push my knee to a painful angle, and sometimes at head level so I had to duck. Lakpa and Chiwang followed carrying my pack and their own. 30 minutes into the ride, an arrow showed the way down steeply to Marpha (the trekking path), but we continued straight on with the track now less steep and the horseman carefully finding the best route. Around 10:15, I asked for a toilet stop and also took off excess clothes, but it was a difficult and painful experience getting off the horse. The gradient and underfoot conditions gradually got easier, then we reached a wide track with a few houses and a tractor in the road, though we were still a long way above the valley floor and main villages. From there the horseman marched quickly on but Lakpa and Chiwang were nowhere to be seen! We reached the main road out of Marpha, and I got off the horse with the help of a wall, which was painful on both knees – the left one had been bent right back twice in incidents in 6 months, so was not perfect either. A few minutes later Lakpa and Chiwang arrived, having got a lift down on the tractor. They’d also filled up my bag with apples, but only gave me one.
5 minutes later, the group appeared on the way from Marpha, which was very good timing, as I’d decided to walk on the now flat road to Jomsom, though it was a dirt road with lumps and traffic. I paid the horseman 7000 NRP as agreed (~ £50) and he rode off. 90 minutes of gentle walking/limping with Nat and James took us to Hotel Dhaulagiri in Jomsom. I was really happy to have walked the final section of the trek. The hotel, which overlooked the little runway and was close to the airport building did not look like ‘the best hotel in Jomsom’, but it did in fact have hot showers, fairly good wifi, comfortable beds and fitted our requirements well. Porters and Kitchen crew took over the back yard and kitchen and the little dining room for 16 was just right for us. We had a round of Everest beers – my first for 17 days – while rooms were being sorted. Richard and I had a big room with 4 beds and an en suite with hot shower – my first for 16 days. Between afternoon tea (including local Rose wine from Lu) and evening meal, Richard, James and I had a stroll down the street resulting in all three of us getting shaved at the local barbers.
Sangram, our cook, really excelled, with chicken curry, rice, veg and crispy noodles with egg. The evening became a raucous event as all of the porters came over to our hotel for final night celebrations. Drinks were acquired for the crew including local raczi and a tips ceremony commenced for the crew of 28 porters, 8 kitchen crew, 5 sherpas and Sirdar Pema with their envelopes being distributed between us 12 clients with Nat (with translations from Pema) in charge of proceeding. We’d also collected up various things we didn’t need, in order to create a raffle for the porters, so 28 packages were created. I’d donated Chinese trek stick, T-shirt, socks & woolly hat. Polly donated her ‘polar bear’ suit to great amusement and Richard his ‘dung’ coloured very warm fleece. The final item in the draw was a Berghaus down jacket which was won by Prakash, a very exuberant and eccentric guy who had transferred to us from the Swiss group at Italian Base Camp. From his speech and actions, we believe he is partially deaf and varies from being really helpful to a nuisance. Drinking, singing and dancing mostly by the young porters continued until 10 when Pema called a halt to their fun.
Thursday October 26th – Back to Kathmandu
Our original flight from Jomsom had been cancelled by Goma Airlines a few days before, leaving Roland (TMC Director) with a headache. However, he managed to charter a plane for us with Tara, though it would do trips to Lukla first if the weather was clear there. Jomsom is a small STOL runway (short take off and landing) so planes are only 18 seaters – just right for 14 of us. We took off at 11 and went direct to Kathmandu, rather than going to Pokhara and changing planes as had originally been planned. The Annapurnas and Machapuchre were visible above clouds from the left windows. It all worked smoothly though we were surprised to be dropped at Hotel Tibet, rather than Manaslu, though they are only 50 yards apart. The Tibet is a smaller hotel but facilities (rooms, showers, electrics, wifi, food) are all better than the Manaslu, so we were happy. However, it was only for 1 night and we would move to the Manaslu next day. The afternoon was very much domestic – hot showers and getting washing sorted which meant a visit to my friends Dipak and Chameli in Thamel.
In the evening, we got taxis to KToo, a popular restaurant where you can actually get steaks – Nepalese don’t eat cows, so there are few such restaurants. Roland joined us for the event and I (Uncle Barry) did a little presentation for our leader Nat. Back at the Hotel Tibet, the roof bar had just closed, but we continued in the garden for some time.
Friday October 27th – Kathmandu
I joined the morning excursion to Patan Darbar Square as I wanted to see the earthquake damage from 2015 to the old temples. Only some temples were affected and many were being restored with the original intricately carved stones, which were lined up and labeled nearby. Our guide was very good at explaining the Hindi-Buddhist philosophy in Nepal.
On our way back I left the group near Thamel, went to BreadShops for lunch, then walked/limped my way to the CIWEC Hospital to get my knee checked out. The Travel Clinic there was clean, well run and not too busy. In less than an hour I saw seen by a nurse, who did a basic check over and put me in a wheelchair, just for moving me around the clinic! Dr Gerda Pohl then gave the knee a more thorough inspection and recommended an X-ray, which showed some arthritis but no break, then finished by fitting me with a knee brace for support and reasonable flexibility. She would write a report for me and the insurance company to pick up in the morning, recommending that I would need an upgrade to fly as the leg needed space to be fairly straight. I walked to Hotel Manaslu.
Our bags were moved from the Tibet to the Manaslu during the day, and soon it was time for James and Andrea, who live in Brixton Hill, to leave for the airport. I phoned my travel insurance company to start my claim. In the evening, we took taxis into Thamel for evening meal at the Roadhouse, where Christian, Laura and Jess all bumped into friends. Polly was not with us – she had an early flight in the morning. Polly, 28, and living in Battersea, was the baby of the group and had studied geology, so would often tell us about the rocks around Dhaulagiri, so we would know our gneiss (nice), from our schist. After about 2 hours sitting with my right leg under the table, getting up was more of a struggle than I expected – I do need an upgrade!!
Saturday October 28th – Kathmandu
At breakfast, there were goodbyes to Christian and Laura (Vancouver racing snakes) and Emile (originally Hong Kong) and Katie (Nth Carolina) who live in Greenwich, and often go to the Greenwich Union. Bea (Polish Dane) was also going. I picked up my medical report from CIWEC and my laundry from Dipak and Chameli, who had invited me to stay with them. I then spent about 3 hours sorting out and completing Insurance documents on my iPad. WiFi at the Manaslu is so poor that I then went up to the Tibet to send the info back and had a late lunch there too. I needed to book a room for Sunday, ideally at the Tibet, but they asked me to book it through Roland – they were very busy. Back at the Manaslu around 6, it was time for Jess (Putney), Richard (Melbourne) and Lu (Budapest, but going home to Calgary first) to go to the airport. I then met Dipak at the shop and we took a taxi to their apartment in Balaju, about a mile NNW of Thamel. They have a large 2 floor apartment and I was allocated a large room with a choice of 2 beds, toilet and shower. The large kitchen diner was upstairs. Chameli cooked a dahl baht with chicken, which was good. The evening chat focused mostly on their desire to get and run a guest house in Kathmandu as the shop is not doing well and will close down soon. They will need some financial help get this idea off the ground. I’ve promised to contact Ricky, the most charismatic Nepalese guy I’ve ever known to see if he is interested or has contacts. During the evening, I received emails from my insurance – 1. They have received all documents, 2. My claim has been approved, 3. They have a provisional Club Class booking for me on Qatar Airways for Monday, so please confirm this is okay.
Sunday October 29th – Kathmandu
Dipak left fairly early to open the shop, and Chameli and I walked in an hour later. During the day, I walked down to Darbar Square in Kathmandu to see the earthquake damage, which was rather more than in Patan. I’d left my big bag at the Manaslu, so returned there to pick it up and found Roland and Uly. I did some last minute shopping – 4 shell suit jackets for £92 total, but then needed a new bag to put them and other things in, so went back into Thamel via Dipak & Chameli’s shop. There was a big shower, so Chameli took me and an umbrella just around the corner to a bag shop – no need to haggle if you’re with a local. After a meal and packing at the Tibet, I emailed the insurance company as I’d had no final conformation and booking reference. At about 11pm, an email can in offering me 2 flight options, but I’d already arranged transport to the airport and at Heathrow and time was getting short, so I phoned them to confirm what I wanted and the final confirmation and booking ref reached me by email when I was asleep – about 1am.
Monday October 30th – Kathmandu – Doha – London
I had a leisurely breakfast as transport was booked for 8:30. At check-in, I was given a ‘silver’ boarding pass and a silver executive lounge pass, where I could have had a large free breakfast too, but just had coffee. There were 12 seats in the 1st/business class area, but there were only 6 of us, so I move from seat 2A – left window to 3F – right window in order to get a view of the mountains. I was offered champagne as I sat down and then when they announced a 30 minutes delay, I was offered a second glass! I was concerned that my change at Doha was only 65 minutes, so a delay could be a problem, but was assured that the time slot was much bigger than the actual flight time. I did spot Dhaulagiri and K2 (and Karakoram) from the plane, and we arrived in Doha only 5 minutes late, having had a lovely flight with lots of room.
In Doha, there were 10 of us connecting to the London flight, with an airport staff member waiting to take us through as a group. The London flight QR15 was a much bigger plane, so had a real 1st class – I was in Club in row 6 – for the 7.5 hour flight.
Wed March 21st - London to Istanbul
British Airways flights of less than 4 hours no longer do meals on board, but you can buy snacks, so I had a cheese & mushroom toastie. As there was a strong tail wind, the flight took only 3hrs 30, and I sat next to a Japanese couple. Of course, the airport is now flashy and modern, not like it was 46 years ago. The taxi queue was long, and right next to a metro sign, so I went down to the metro and caught the last train into town, 10 miles away, paying the attendant £1 to get in. I had a chat to a couple of Turkish guys on the train who had been to London, and one escorted me to the taxi rank as it was still a couple of miles to the Sultan Ahmet district where the Hostal was. It was all quite an interesting journey arriving there at 1am then showered before bed.
Thu March 22nd - Istanbul
I was at breakfast upstairs at 9 and was soon joined by Kay, then Elaine, Fran and Rebecca who were all on the Dragoman trip and all going further than me into China. At 10, there was a Dragoman group meeting with our leaders Jaz and Adam. They'd both been with Dragoman only 6 months and mostly in South America, so the Silk Road route was new for them too! There were 12 of us customers - 4 single ladies who I'd met at breakfast (well-travelled Kay and 3 youngsters), 4 old men - Craig (Florida), Mel (Leigh-on-Sea, Essex), Rehan (Milwaukee) and me, plus two young couples - Felix & Ulia (Austria) and Goeril & Thomas (Norway). With insurance docs checked and kitty money paid up to Tbilisi, we were free to roam Istanbul for the day, but the truck would be leaving for a very long drive at 5am in the morning!
I had to pack in order to change rooms first, then went on a quick outside tour of the main mosques nearby - the famous Blue Mosque (Sultan Ahmet) and Aghia (Aya) Sophia Mosque. However, it was a dull cold morning, so after a quick few outside photos, Blue Mosque being closed for renovation, I returned to the hostal for hat and gloves. Elaine was still there, saying she wanted to walk to Asia, which would be a very long walk. She actually meant over the Galata Bridge to Taksim, so I joined her. On the way to the Galata Bridge we came across a white wall of street art, very well done of some of the main sights of Istanbul.
The Galata Bridge has been doubled in width (since 1972) with restaurants down near water level for part of it and there are many more ferry terminals and boats. We walked to Galata Tower. Elaine had been before, so she went to explore Taksim while I went up the tower. Views at the top are very good. I explored the Taksim backstreets and found a little bakery for lunch. On the way back I went via the Grand Bazaar and past the Nuruosmania Mosque then down to Aghia Sophia Mosque joining the queue to go into the mosque and museum. Although there was scaffolding in the centre as they were working on the dome and the light inside is quite low, the architecture and decor is still amazing and comes out well on photos. Upstairs in the gallery there are 3 gold Christian mosaics. In the evening 7 of us went to a nearby restaurant where I had sea bream. The Blue Mosque was lit up at night and looked picturesque. Back in room 60 chatting to Craig and Mel, I realised that I'd misread the notes and needed an Uzbek visa! However, our drivers Jaz and Adam need visas too as they've just got new passports after filling the old ones with stamps for Chile and Argentina.
Fri March 23rd - to Goreme
We were up at 4:30 (1:30 am UK time) and left in Tallulah, our brand new Dragoman truck at 5:20, a good time to drive in Istanbul as the traffic is almost at a standstill for much of the day. Over the Bosphorus and into Asia on big fast roads but limited to 90kph for our 11 ton truck. Tallulah is a lovely new truck with reclining seats and lots of room for only 12 of us. We had stops every 2 to 3 hours as a cloudy day but got warmer. Elaine is very good at sketching with accompanying lovely writing. She should try to publish her version of the trip, all the way to Beijing. We arrived at Kose Hostal Goreme about 5:40. I shared a room with Mel & Rehan. Evening meal in Fat Boys was a Clay pot meal & beer. I'd been to Goreme with Nick in '72 but there was only a small village and no tourists. Now it is a town with over 100 hotels.
Sat March 24th - Goreme
After a good breakfast, we had a morning tour of the Goreme area by minibus. First, we went to a high point to see the amazing scenery. Our local guide Sirdar explained the geology of the area. Cappadocia was a volcanic region millions of years ago (last eruption 14000 years ago). The soft rock columns are mostly pumice (but look like sandstone) with harder basalt between. Erosion by wind, water and snow have created the fairytale landscape, and the soft pumice has been easy to create caves, originally for storage in the Hittite days around 1700BC and eventually houses and underground cities in the Christian/early Muslim period.
Next we went to a Rock village and Church which was in use until a few years ago when it became too dangerous followed by Urgup Fairy Castles with lots of 'Mushroom' Columns & caves and also groups of children as it was weekend. Imagination Valley followed where we had a walk up and into the scenic columns. Next was a Pottery shop where there was a demonstration of vase making and Elaine had a go. The wine pouring jugs were very interesting. Time for late lunch back at Fat Boys which was more than a snack. The main afternoon trip was to Kaymakli Underground City which is the largest of many underground cities, most of which are not open. Again there were lots of kids. Kaymakli has 8 levels but only 4 can be visited, squeezing through narrow passages often having to crouch and bend. There are huge wheels used to close tunnels if they were invaded. The sun came out and we stopped on the way back at a lovely spot to see the rippling hillsides and Rock chimneys. Finally having returned to the hostal, we walked to a high point east of town for the sunset, but a cloud got in the way, so nothing to see except bright hills to the east. We were booked to go Ballooning in the morning, but it was cancelled due to expected high winds.
Sun March 25th - Goreme
It was a lovely sunny morning (with a breeze), so I had a 2 mile run before doing my washing then had breakfast - big breakfast sandwich again! At breakfast, we met Peter and Christine who are cycling from Hadrians Wall (they live nearby) to Beijing (Great Wall of China). They've been going since October! - www.cyclingwalltowall.co.uk . We had a free day to explore the area, so around midday, I walked out to the Open Air Museum, but decided not to join hundreds of people and continued up the hill onto remote tracks to see the scenery without people. I was out strolling for over 3 hours detouring to the area below our first viewpoint for shots of columns and 'mushrooms' on the way back.
In the evening, we went to a good Turkish Restaurant, and later I had a beer in the hostal.
Monday March 26th - Goreme to wild camp nr Susehri
We made good progress in the morning north-easterly via Kayseri to Sivas. It was mostly hilly open country with some snowy mountains and some industrial towns on good roads. Sivas is a big town of 320,000 where we drove into the middle of the city to shop for the next 2 days of wild camping and get some lunch. We'd been split into 4 cook group and I was with Fran and Thomas. Our job was to shop for breakfast for the next morning, which we did in the supermarket close to where the truck was parked. Fran and I then returned to buy rolls and fillings for our own cheap lunch. From Sivas we continued north-east turning at Zara into mountains and over a 3000 metre (10,000ft) pass, but on the way down, there were strange noises from the truck. Tallulah was originally a gritter, and has been reconditioned, so the engine and chassis are about 13 years old. We stopped and Adam & Jez found a small problem with the air brakes and made a fix. We continued on more carefully through the hilly terrain, stopping again, and then decided to find a site to bush camp early, so they could have a more thorough look at the problem. We found a great site down by a river. The tents are brand new and so is all of the kitchen equipment. I took a tent for myself, though they are big for 2. Elaine was chief cook, with Rebecca and Craig, but many of us helped. Big vegetable hotpot then baked apples. After the meal, a fire was started, then we had a visitation from the local farmer, who was fine with us staying there - we were not Kurdish terrorists and the Turks are very friendly to western visitors. Half an hour later, a police car arrived with 3 policemen (including guns), but they immediately said 'no problem' and just chatted and checked where we were from. Next came an armoured car of 7 military men. This looked more serious, but they were very friendly, having pictures taken with us around the fire and laughing and handing out cigarettes (only Jaz smokes). The ultimate photo was of a military man in front of Tallulah with Rehan, Adam and Rebecca holding their guns. We were all amazed and laughing. Turkey does have problems with terrorists from neighbouring countries so there is a strong military presence.
Tuesday March 27th - Trabzon
We had our big bags in the back locker for 7:15, then were shown how to pack up the new tents to fit into their space. I was on breakfast duty too, but Fran and Thomas were well in control. We continued NE along some rough roads to Siran and Torul. Near Macka (Machka) we turned off uphill to Sumela Monastery, where we had lunch, then walked up the road to see this amazing huge monastery build into the side of a cliff. It is closed for refurbishment and repair but there is a little video room showing it and its history and a good viewpoint. Elaine stood at a corner and drew the scene while a camera crew set up to do a TV report. It had been a long walk up the road but we found a quick short cut down through the trees. While we were away, Jaz and Adam had another look at the truck and found cracks in the casing of the steering and had found a good garage near Trabzon to take it to, so that was the next stop. It would take a few hours to get the part and fix it, so Jaz found a hotel in Trabzon for the night, instead of the planned wild camp. Trabzon (pop: 240,000) is a major port for North East Turkey. The Hotel Feta was close to the old town and the Black Sea and was good except for a bathroom design fault. The toilet was in the shower area, so the toilet paper was wet! We had a good cheap meal in old town, then found a liquor shop to buy beers and we then gathered in Jaz and Adam's room to consume the beers. Tallulah would be ready for pickup at 10am.
Wednesday March 28th - Into Georgia
I had a short walk down to the water before breakfast, but there were just a few little cafes there. After breakfast, a minibus took us back to Tallulah, and after some small checks she was reversed out and we were on our way with Jaz driving along the Black Sea coast. Just past Pazar, we turned inland up a river valley, climbing up a small road with nowhere to turn. Eventually we reached Zilkale Castle perched on the edge of a big drop into the river. The castle was originally built of wood in 6th century, then rebuilt in stone on the stark rocky outcrop in 13th century as a watch tower and security check against threats from east in Byzantine period. The Ottomans used it for trade. There were interesting foot bridges as we returned to the coast and headed for Georgia. There were lorries queued up over 10 miles before the border, but as a passenger vehicle (campervan), we were in the fast lane with cars. It took us passengers about 40 minutes to get out of Turkey and into Georgia, then meet up with our guide/fixer Zhazha. Adam would be stuck there with the truck and most of our luggage for much longer, so a minibus was organised for us to get to the Hotel Vanilla in Batumi. We had drinks in a local bar until the luggage arrived in taxis, the truck having been 'parked up' on the outskirts of town. Food is cheap in Georgia and there are lots of casinos and massage houses in Batumi, with the Turkish border only about 10 miles away. After a meal, Mel and I went for a walk around the coast, which has been nicely developed since independance from the USSR in 1990, with lit up statues, towers and a wheel. There are numerous stray dogs around looking for attention, but they get a bit too friendly if you let them! We got lost on the way back to the hotel as we'd gone around a bend and come back into the streets at 90 degrees, but fortunately had a street map.
Thursday March 29th - Batumi to Kutaisi
We met Adam down at breakfast, and heard the latest saga with Tallulah. While at Turkish customs, Adam started having trouble with the gears, but was okay plodding forwards in 1st and 2nd. However, on the drive to Batumi, on a 3 lane highway, he couldn't change gear and eventually cruised to a garage on the edge of town, which was the 'safe' place he'd left it. Tallulah was broke!!
We had the morning to look around Batumi, while Zhazha sorted out a minibus for the next leg to Kutaisi. Mel and I had an extended walk along the front passed statues, towers etc and into gardens with fountains, columns and theatre. Back in the streets, there were more statues, columns and public buildings as we progressed through interesting backstreets to a road of money changers, where I changed $150 into Georgian Lari at 2.42. For early lunch, I had cheese filled flatbread - a local pizza-like speciality and too big to be followed by strudel & ice cream!
We piled into a rather tatty minibus with our luggage and drove out to Tallulah to rescue things we'd left including clearing out the fridge (except for a beer supply for Adam). Adam would be staying with Tallulah and would catch us up when the truck was fixed, or gearbox replaced and Zhazha would stay for a few hours to interpret. The next 3.5 hours was an unpleasant experience with a bad driver in a dirty old minibus with not much leg room. We'd asked the driver not to smoke, so he seemed to be in a desperate hurry to get to Kutaisi along a road which was often bendy, fairly busy with lorries (to overtake) and sometimes bumpy. When asked if we'd like a stop, we just agreed to carry on and get it over with. We actually went through Kutaisi and out to Prometheus Caves as requested.
Prometheus Caves were actually quite stunning and quite big. Only discovered in 1984, the cave was soon developed and opened up to tourists - see photos. In Kutaisi, we were dropped at the family run Argopalace Hotel on a hill with views of town from the back. We had an hour to walk and see the town, though it was about a 20 minute walk down to the centre. I left after the other men and rushed around down to the main square and back. Evening meal was included at the hotel and included local red wine, with 3 middle-aged ladies attending to us.
Friday March 30th - Kutaisi, Gori, Mtskheta
We had a much nicer minibus today, with more room and a luggage box on the back, together with a good steady driver. The weather however was cool and damp. 1st stop was less than a mile away - Bagrati Cathedral along the hill overlooking the city had been restored after destruction by various armies, and now contained an ugly lift on the outside. Next we were dropped in the centre of the city for 90 minutes next to the pretty Colchis Fountain (photo). Kutaisi had been the capital of Georgia in the Middle Ages and since 2012 has been the seat of a decentralised Georgian Parliament. There was a good market there where various nuts are a speciality and later some of us went to Kutaisi State Historical Museum while others went to the McDonalds! From Kutaisi, we took a detour at Zestaponi to Chiatura to see soviet style old factories at the site of Manganese Ore processing, which had been the biggest in the world.
Gori, the birthplace of Stalin was on route, so we stopped to go in the Stalin musuem. Born Josef Djugashvili, he was a rebel who escaped from prison 6 times, then changed his name to Stalin eventually taking over dictatorship of the USSR from Lenin, and sending lots of his enemies to Siberian gulags.
We arrived in Mtskheta as it was getting dark, so would see the Cathedral in the morning.
We stayed in a really nice Guest house, with the 2 couples in a 2nd cosy guest house nearby. The food and drink was mostly homemade and excellent.
Georgia has a big variety of wines, and we bought some at a stop during the day.
Saturday March 31st - Mtskheta to Stepantsminda
As in many places in Georgia, the Wifi bandwidth was limited, so I woke at 6 in order to upload photos. Breakfast was more lovely homemade food, before we packed our stuff into the minibus that we would now be keeping for the drive north to Stepantsminda and back. Tallulah was still in Batumi, and engineers from Tbilisi had been flown in to diagnose and fix the problem.
Next we did a thorough tour of the Svetitskhoveli Cathedral near the guest house. It is the holiest place in all of Georgia. Christianity (Eastern Orthodox) started here in the 4th Century following the conversion of Roman Emperor Constantine, who founded Constantinople (which later became Byzantium and then Istanbul). Most of the the cathedral dates from the 11th century and there are very good frescos inside. We could see Samtavro Church and Nunnery up on the hill over the river and this would be our next stop. However, it was a Saturday and time for coach parties to roll up, so we didn't stay long.
The drive north was initially up a wide river valley in dull weather, so we kept a couple of stops for the return journey. We found a roadside restaurant for lunch and I shared a cheese flatbread with Kay, and also had pork soup, which was 'remains of pork', with some meat but also fat, grissle and bone! The Caucasus Mountains run along the north of Georgia and Azerbaijan, so act as a natural border with Russia. Soon we started to climb on twisty roads up to Dzvris Pass at 2379m with numerous heavy lorries. We stopped for snowy views and there were numerous tunnels on the descent to Kasbegi municipality, which includes the small town of Stepantsminda, only about 8 miles from the Russian border, where we would check into a homestay.
Why were we here, close to the only border crossing between Georgia and Russia? From the lovely homestay we had a great view of Mount Kazbek, 5047m (16,558ft), the 3rd highest peak in Georgia on the Russian (Sth Ossetia) border, and highest volcanic peak in Georgia. Its Georgian name 'Mqinvartsveri' means 'Glacier Peak' or 'Freezing Cold Peak'. In late afternoon the temperature was only 2C and would be -5C at sunrise! To the left of Mt Kazbek stood Gergeti Trinity Church on top of a hill overlooking the town.
I didn't join in the dumpling making, but there was then a good Georgian meal with lots of free Chicha (grappa) & wine and good views of Mt Kazbek in the moonlight.
Sunday April 1st - To Tbilisi, end of leg 1
After breakfast, most of us walked to the Gergeti Trinity Church on top of the hill. Mel and I took 53 minutes to the top where there were good views. We left Stepantsminda before 12 for the drive back south. There were large groups of lorries lined up for the Russian border for over 10 miles, then this changed into lorries queuing up to go south, which we passed. There is not enough room in the tunnels for 2 lorries to pass, so there is a 2 hours north/2 hours south system for lorries. Most of the lorries were Russian or Armenian. Near the top of the pass we stopped for 20 minutes at a Georgian/Russian viewpoint - a semi-circular decorative structure, with a big drop into the valley below. There were hang gliders in the thermals as we descended. We lunched at the same restaurant as the day before, before moving on to Ananuri, a castle complex which encloses a church with views down the wide Aragvi River valley.
As we were nearing our hotel in Tbilisi, big cheers went up from us as Tallulah was sighted a few cars in front of us. Adam had just completed a 7 hour drive from Batumi. Motor engineers flown in from Tbilisi had diagnosed that the truck had a hydraulic fluid problem, which was fixed fairly quickly.
Rehan & I were in room 106 at the GTM hotel, close to Metekhi Church with a major restaurant area just over the bridge and views of the Narikala Fortress. We were losing Felix and Julia (Austrian) who did not go up to Stepantsminda, and also Goeril and Thomas (Norway) and we were gaining 4 new passengers, so all 19 of us, including fixer Zhazha were to have a night out - on Dragoman!! We took taxis to a big place about 5 miles west where there was music and dancing, otherwise much of the food was typical Georgian. Many of us went for drinks over the river from the hotel outside a Jazz bar. I left them early, but back in room 106, my bed collapsed, so I was moved to 418 - a very nice room with double bed and a super view.
Monday April 2nd - Tbilisi
We had a free day in Tbilisi but I was feeling a bit green, so had a gentle morning, rather than joining the group on an organised 4 hour tour. I did stroll up the road to find a shop for lunch. Tbilisi is a very nice modern city of 1,114,600 with some lovely historic sites, especially near our end of the city. The Georgian language & script are quite unique having been developed in the 4th century and evolved into Middle Georgian in C11. There are 33 letters in common use and another 6 which are obsolete.
In the afternoon, Rehan and I switched to room 315, then I went for a walk up to the Narikala Fortress, climbing up to the highest point, then walking along the top past the cable car to the huge statue of a lady with sword, then down to the street. I noticed that Georgian number plates (since 2014) almost always have a symmetry or pattern to them - eg AA-343-BB or CD-456-DC as Georgians can select their plates and chose symmetry.
In the evening I went for a good curry then a few drinks in an Irish bar with Mel, Adam, John & Craig, though Craig left us in the bar as he doesn't drink. Georgian food is all a bit the same.
Tuesday April 3rd - Tbilisi to Telavi
We were free to explore Tbilisi until 3pm, so I decided to do a Big walk up to Mtatsminda park on top of the highest hill (720m) and back. I'd loaded maps.me onto my phone just before we left Stepantsminda and loaded the countries we were going to while at breakfast, so I now had a means of navigating without wifi or 4G if required. It was a slog up the road between 2 main hills, then after a hairpin bend I took a path up a tree-lined grassy avenue with city views behind. I then got a little lost as I missed a turn, so was in the next town with no way to the top. maps.me confirmed what I suspected, so I found the lovely path up onto the top. There was nobody on the path with birds singing and super views over Tbilisi, just delightful. At the top Mtatsminda Park is fairly busy as there is a funicular and a road to get there. I found a stall making cake on a roll over a charcoal fire and had a piece with chocolate sauce for lunch as I strolled down the steep path near the funicular, which took me straight down to the area near the Parliament building and on to Freedom Square.
We were reunited with Tallulah driving east and north on bumpy roads to Telavi. Our Homestay was beautiful with lots of shiny wood flooring though John & I were in lesser room. Laundry hadn't worked out in Tbilisi, so about 10 days worth of mine was handed in to them to do for 10 GEL.
John has been travelling for 40 yrs. He used to built military aircraft in Preston and has been to some very interesting places - Yemen, Nth Korea, Syria and Transnistria (an independent enclave of Moldova). At dinner - Georgian fare with lots of wine, we diagnosed that Rolf & Renata - SA & Germany. 76 & 65 were on Cameron (German Truck) in Patagonia in 2012/3 while I was in 'Carmen', so we had met before at various campsites.
Wednesday April 4th - Wine Tour near Telavi
Today, we were taken on a wine tour of several wineries in the Telavi region. This started at the Chavchavadze family estate at Tsinandali. Chavchavadze was a very successful entrepreneur from the 1820's who brought grand pianos and other exotic items from France to his extensive home and grounds near Telavi and also developed the winery. There is an Enotica, (wine cellar), below the floor and avenues of trees in the grounds.
At Vinoterra winery, we were shown the Georgian fermentation process in giant clay pots (200 litres) and the European process in metal tanks. We sat in a room with good views of valley and hills to taste several wines. Next stop was the Alaverdi Monastery where there are bee hives in the grounds which we saw in detail before visiting the honey processing room and shop. 58% alcohol drink was on offer too!
We reached our 3rd and final winery after 2pm, where we had lunch and more wine.
Back to Telavi, dinner was similar to lunch but most of us were now drinking water rather than wine.
Thursday April 5th - Telavi to Lagodekhi
Tonight we would be bush camping in a National Park near the Azerbaijan border, so cook group 1 (which included me) were shopping for 3 meals in Telavi. Kay (who was once a cook) and I shopped for dinner while Craig & David did lunch then next breakfast. It was all rather fun trying to buy in the local market where the locals did not speak English. We wanted minced beef, so at the butcher's stall, after a few failed attempts to identify the meat, I bend my head down and went 'moo'. The butcher replied with pig, sheep and cow noises as he pointed to items and other traders were laughing. Kay made mincing signs, so we soon had several kilos of minced beef. We had Georgian Lari to use up, so bought wine in the supermarket, Rolf finding a 5 litre carton of dry red. We drove south-east past Gurdzhani and detoured to the lovely walled hill town of Sighnaghi, where we had lunch then a good walk around town & walls. I spent my last coins on a little pair of booties!
At Lagodekhi, we turned onto a very bumpy road and into the National park where we set up camp in the woods, in a spot recently build for camping. Several of us had a good walk in woods, with birds, rapids & dodgy wooden bridge. Kay cooked pasta bolognaise AND Apple crumble with help from David and I - Craig, Mel and Rehan only just made it back from a longer walk in time for dinner. Lots of wine was consumed again.
Friday April 6th - Sheki
Early start. I got very muddy packing tent up with help from Mel, then it was only a short drive to the border on very bumpy road. It was about half a mile walk between border posts and into Azerbaijan. Adam & Tallulah took about 2 hours due to paperwork and computer problems. Roads in Azerbaijan were even worse than Georgia, but Adam turned south to the A315 which was fairly good and by-passed all towns. Eventually we turned north to the city of Sheki with extensive southern suburbs. We stopped in the town centre to get money. Rolf, Renata and I went to a bank where I changed $50 @ 1.696 Manat before joining the others in a restaurant next to the truck. Most had sandwich (donner) but I ordered a pizza which took a while (memories of trout) but was good.
We were staying at the Caravanserai which Jas said would be dorms and cold showers. It was up hill out of town, and because of road works Jas had to perform an 11 point turn and take the detour.
The Caravanserai was relative luxury in an ancient setting, with suites for 2 - I was with Rehan - and excellent hot showers. Next was a walk up to Khan's Palace, which was the administrative building for the Khan, very ornately done, but no photos except outside. In the evening, I went to the restaurant in the Caravanserai, and most of the others followed or ended up there after a wasted taxi ride into town. No alcohol day.
Saturday April 7th - Gobustan
Sheki was a nice introduction to Azerbaijan, a rich country of only 9 million people, but they have lots of oil. Baku, where we would be going was one of the first and largest oil refining cities in the world 100 years ago. Back on the main road a few miles from Sheki we had super morning views of the snowy Caucasus Mountains, and the road improved an hour later when we joined the through road by the railway which was built to take oil from Baku to Batumi (Georgia) on the Black Sea and out to the rest of the world. Apart from brief stops, we continued until we were by the Caspian Sea at Gobustan.
We turned off to the Nature Reserve and Archeological Museum. The local guide there spoke good English and was into German Philosophers! The little museum showed the history of the area from the beginning of man, then the area outside had several caves, now more exposed by earth movements with numerous cave drawings.
Next, we drove a few miles back south, then off over the railway line and up a bumpy track and into the hills. Tallulah did very well to get up quite steep dirt tracks to the top where we stopped by numerous little mud volcanoes. These were fascinating and very photogenic. We set up camp half way back to the rail track not far from a sheep farm and the sky was very clear with stars.
**tick**. As we arrived at our wild camp site, I could feel that I had a strange bite on my back. I asked Renata (sitting opposite) to have a look, and she said 'We must get that out'. It was a tick but Dr Rehan said there was no reported incident of infection in this part of the world, so I should be alright. The first sign would be that I get a bit more 'eccentric'! As we got off the truck, Adam had a look. He'd seen lots of them from school kids on outward bound courses he'd led, so we found tweezers and he removed 90% of it. Tick bites can lead to Lyme Disease (re: Matt Dawson), so Rehan will keep an eye on it. **
Sunday April 8th to Tuesday April 10th - Baku
We had lots of time to get to Baku, about 1 hr drive away, as the hotel would not be ready until noon, but David was packing up his tent at 6:20! Mel & I took our time, drying our tents from the dew for ease of packing.
On the way into Baku, we stopped at the Bibi Heybek Mosque which overlooked an industrial port, then went down to an old oil pump field of nodding donkeys used in the Bond film 'The world is not enough'. No photos aloud, but I did one from a distance with zoom lens. The centre of Baku was getting ready for an F1 Grand Prix in 2 weeks time, with concrete barriers and fences at the sides of the big roads, and some seating being erected. Eventually we found our way to the gates of the Old City where Adam & Jaz haggled over a parking price for 2 hours. The little Altstadt Hotel was in the middle of the Old City, and only residents and traders can drive in, so we had to carry our gear through the narrow streets.
The rooms in the Altstadt were mostly doubles and some of us would have to share double beds, which the girls accepted, but the men objected, so Jaz and Adam gave up their room and found another hotel. I was with Rehan again and I took the single bed. A walk around the Old City soon proved that restaurants inside it were posh and expensive, so we continued to an exit where there was a small cafe under the walls. Outside the walls lots of people were strolling through the parks and fountains. Azerbaijan is a secular country (for any religion) but also classified as Islam. However, there were very few women wearing headscarves and I only saw 1 burkha in 3 days, and that had been the same in Sheki.
Baku is a very wealthy city because of its oil, so there are lots of very expensive cars, much different to Sheki where almost all taxis and many other vehicles are ancient little Ladas or Fiat style cars. Baku has over 2 million people of the 9 million in Azerbaijan.
Our walk extended to the sea front then back through the streets until we found the main shopping street just below the walled Old City. There are lots of big shiny and usually curvy (buta shaped) buildings in Baku and more under construction. In the evening 5 of us (Rolf, Renata, Elaine, Rehan & I) went to a rooftop restaurants with blankets. The food was good, but it was cold.
Monday was visa day. Jas and Rehan needed to get visas for Turkmenistan, and Mel and I needed them for Uzbekistan and the 2 consulates were no longer next to each other. After an 8 am breakfast, Mel and I walked to the entrance of Old City and took a taxi, showing him the location on maps.me but we still took a wrong turning and went via the bus station. We were at the Uzbek Consulate before 9, but the hours were 10-12 and 15:30-17:00 Monday, Wednesday & Friday only. We could have walked the 2 miles instead. A stroll back along the road took us to a supermarket, then we sat on a wall near the Consulate in the sun. Getting the visa forms approved was quite easy, though they rang London to check that Mel's original application had been processed. Next we had to go back into the city to pay $55 each and return with a slip to get the visa. Arriving back at 11:30 we found several people waiting outside - they limit the number inside to 8, with no idea how long it would take to get in or what happened at 12. Numbers grew with some agents with several passports. At 12:30, we got in to find several Russians there, including a girl arguing with the official. The process was quite slow, but no problem. Walking back to the city, we found a Turkish wrap & sandwich place for cheap lunch.
Later in the afternoon, I walked to the Maiden Tower, then in the evening, most of us went for a good curry above the William Shakespeare pub, after making some progress with the 5 litre unlabelled jar of red wine which Zaza had donated to us.
By 10am on Tuesday we knew that our ferry to Turkmenistan would be on Wednesday, so we had another free day in Baku and with good wifi which will be rare for a week. I did walk around the Shirvanshah Palace Complex from the 12th to 15th century, followed by the Miniature Book Museum. I also found a supermarket to stock up with provisions for the ferry journey. In the evening 7 of us went to a Dolma, an Azeri restaurant recommended by David which was very good.
We were told to be ready to leave the hotel at 10am to get taxis to the Port, but our driver dropped us at the Port Hotel, and we walked about 500 yards to the gates of the Ferry Port where the 14 of us stood around until just after 11 when the Passport Check lady arrived. It was obvious that we'd be hanging around for a while, so Jazz collected all of the remaining Azeri Manats from us (totalling about 115) and suggested that we have pizza for lunch. Adam and 4 of us duly walked about 2km towards town to the nearest pizza shop to put in a big order including salads and cokes asking for it to be delivered to the Ferry Port Office. It was windy in the streets, so maybe the crossing would be rough! We returned via a big flashy mall with lots of expensive shops and very few customers. The pizza eventually arrived on 2 motorbikes, and we demolished the lot.
Eventually we were let into the waiting area and an hour later allowed to get to customs in Tallulah, where our bags were scanned by a mobile scanner (in a little purpose-built van), we were asked how much money we were carrying and had passports checked and stamped. It was around 5pm when we boarded the Q. Qarayev, a RoRo cargo ship which took about 16 big lorries and several trailers and a few passengers. The ship was built in 1983 in East Germany. Lara Karayev (1918-1982) was an Azeri composer. A young Russian lady looked after all customer related functions, cooking, cleaning, allocating rooms etc. She found two 6 berth cabins for us - single men in room 137 and girls + Rolf & Renata in room 136. Adam would sleep in the truck and Jazz would take the floor in 136. In fact, R&R shared a bed, so Jazz had a bed. To get the lorries and Tallulah onto the main deck, there was a lift, which surprised Adam.
The ship departed about 7:30pm with a tug pulling it around, then we were off over the Caspian Sea as dinner was ready.
It was a very calm crossing, but we went very slowly. In the late afternoon, we could see buildings of Turkmenistan on horizon, but were told by 7pm that we would not arrive until next morning, so we had another night in room 137. Either the port was too busy, or customs were closing for the night. Everything moves at a snail's pace here, especially customs. We were woken at 6am, but did not dock until about, where it was quiet except a few young guards. The few foot passengers, including 2 little girls who'd kept us amused were let off about 10:30, but we had to wait for lorries to unload - very slowly. At 1:30, we got into Tallulah, still on deck. Passport & Customs was very slow, then they had to search Tallulah. Eventually we left customs at 5:30 and arrived at Turkmenbashy Hotel at 6pm, 57 hours after leaving the hotel in Baku! There was a 1 hour time change. The hotel was very smart, though the plumbing and beds were not great. Our Guide/Fixer Slava had met us at Customs. On the way to the hotel he told us about money changing. Turkmen Manat is 3.5 to $ at the bank, but 11.5 on black market (Slava), but keep it quiet and come to his room.
We had a good meal in the hotel in Turkmenbashi thanks to the main cook coming in on her off-day just for us. As Turkmenistan was so amazingly cheap, due to the black market, Adam, Rehan and I stayed up drinking whiskeys until late. We had an early start next morning as it was a 580km drive to Ashgabad. However, 20 mins into the drive, Rehan realised that he'd left his iPad in his room. Jazz phoned the hotel and when they'd found it they sent it in a taxi which caught up with us within the hour. This cost Rehan only 150 Manat! Next Jazz got stopped for speeding in a village, but got away with a small fine. We stopped at Balkanabat for supplies at the local market - very colourful, but no photos - very strict rules in Turkmenistan! Many of us had local pasties. The 2nd best road in the country was mainly straight and smooth but bumpy going over bridges etc and often changes of carriageway. There were only occasional villages with hills on the southern side, with Iran not far beyond them. About 5pm stopped at Lake Kow Ata, a thermal underground lake for a swim in the sulphury water - warm, smelly but fun and refreshing. Fran and Elaine wore bikinis which were banned in Turkmenistan a few days later!
Ashgabat is a White Marble city, where a large proportion of the buildings and new and gleaming, but otherwise rather boring. There are lots of monuments and public buildings, as well as flats for social housing, all replacing the old city which had been there. Most of the streets are wide, smooth and clean unlike those in the rest of the country. The Asian Games (for indoor events) were here recently and lots of the developments were done for it. It is all very sterile with not many people on the streets. I missed the morning trip to the market, as did four others after Balkanabat local pasties, but it is new, not the original.
In the afternoon, we had a tour around the landmarks of the city, though it was the most boring city tour I've ever had. The Presidents Mosque, Monumental Gardens, passed numerous white marble government buildings. Turkmenistan is a serious basket-case dictatorship and is the North Korea of Central Asia. The leaders of Turkmenistan wanted to stay in the Soviet Union, but in 1991 were told that they had to be independent, so the Communist boss Niyazov took over proclaiming himself 'The head of all Turkmen' or 'Turkmenbashi'. Although he died in 2006, there are still some big gold statues of him. He was succeeded by his former dentist (who may have been his illegitimate son) Gerbanguly Berdymukammedov whose photograph is everywhere. Many things are banned and many internet sites are blocked. Everyone has to study the Presidents (Niyazov) Green Book, and pass exams on it if they are to make any progress in life. No photography is allowed except when approved by the guide. The people are nice, but they know they are suppressed by a mad dictator. At the market next morning, I jokingly took a photo (without camera) and a girl waved and made a cut-throat sign.
In Ashgabat, we were joined by 9 new people, but nobody wanted to leave, so the truck was up to 21 + guide. Zac and Claudia, just married, Andrew and Leah were all Australian. Naomi, Mel(anie), Jo and Hetty are all English and Bibi originally from Pakistan is a nurse in England.
We had the morning off as the next leg was only 180 miles, so I had a back & legs massage. Within 30 miles of leaving Ashgabat, the road deteriorated to poorly maintained tarmac, and we were into the scrubby Garagum or Karakum Desert, with the occasional poor little village and some sheep and camels. Outside of the capital much of life looked much as it did 100 years ago, except for 20 year old vehicles, though diesel was only about 10p per litre. We turned off and made camp behind a hill in the semi desert. I'd agreed with Mel that we'd share as there would be little chance of single tents. Slava had arranged a car which would ferry us to the Derweze Gas Crater during the evening. The crater was an amazing site, and certainly the only thing in Turkmenistan worth seeing. Back in the 1970's Soviet engineers thought they'd found oil, so started drilling, but it was gas, and thinking it was small, they set light to it. It is now a crater about 100 metres across and about 50ft deep (6 floors) and burning nicely like a giant camp fire. It was good for photos.
Next day was a long bumpy ride (260 miles) up to the UNESCO site at Kuyne Urgench, which dates from 6th century BC, though most of it relates to Seljuk and Khorezm times (12th to 16th century). There are several mausoleums and minarets which have been partially restored, and many building foundations uncovered in between. This area in the far north of Turkmenistan is quite green and fertile. The Amu-Darya River is not far away and used to go through (Kunye) Urgench before an earthquake changed its course. We set up camp about a mile away in a bushy area. Mel was cook group boss, so I was on tent duty.
Next morning, Rolf was in a bad way, having numerous trips to the bushes overnight. Mel and I both had colds now, which had been going around the group. It was about 70 miles to the border town of Dashoguz where we explored the market. I bought a pair of sunglasses with Hetty's last 25 Manats (£2). Rehan had to be dropped off at a hotel before the border, as his Uzbek visa did not start until 19th, and he would have to catch up in the morning! We'd been advised that the border crossing into Uzbekistan could be slow and very thorough, but it turned out to be fairly easy and quick and I was into country number 88.
It was easy to see that Uzbekistan was a more normal country, with people, cars, shops and homes along the roadside and people working in the fields, though the road was still fairly rough. It was only 50 miles to Khiva, our first real 'Silk Road' city. The Hotel Hyatt was on the west (sunset) side of the city, just outside the old city walls, and I was sharing with Rehan, so was alone for the first night. Now that we had 7 single men, one of us would always get their own room, this time, it was John. We went out for a group meal just inside the city walls, but did not go exploring the city.
The city walls of Khiva were built in C10 (10th Century) and measure 400m x 650m and there was originally an extra outer wall. Within the walls, there is an extensive complex of Mosques, Palaces, Madrasahs, minarets and mausoleums in addition to lots of street stalls and cafes. There is too much to describe in this blog, though the most impressive are Muhammad Amin-Khan Madrasah, where I banged my head (a little concussed) going up narrow stairs - see photos, Tash-Hauli's Harem, Kunya-Ark, Madrasah of Muhammad Rahim-Khan, Djuma-Mosque which contains 212 columns and the 146 ft high Islam Khoja Minaret, which many of us went up -steep and dark! Most of these impressive buildings were built in 17th to 19th century. Khiva was the first place we'd seen lots of other tourists, including many French. It was excellent, especially after dull Turkmenistan, though personally it wasn't an easy day with cold, cough, slight concussion and news that my uncle had died. Also made the mistake of having a soft ice cream later in the day, which my stomach didn't like! There wasn't much to see outside of the city walls, though there would have been a moderate sized town nearby and numerous hotels.
We had a long drive of nearly 300 miles to Bukhara, and I sat near the door in case of emergency, but was okay. At the Hotel 'Old City', I was given my own room, so that I could recover in peace. In the evening, I stayed in and had pizza.
The Old City was less than 200 yards behind the hotel through back alleys. The origin of Bukhara dates back to 1000BC, and it was established as a holy city in pre-Arabian times. It has always been a major stop on the Silk Road though Marco Polo did not see it. The Historic Centre is a unique 'open air' museum and UNESCO World Heritage site, much more open than Khiva.
On the walking tour, we started at the Jester on a donkey - Khadja Nasr ad-Din in front of the Divan Begi Madrassah. In the centre of the main (tourist) square is a pool Lyabi-Hauz surrounding by open air eateries, then there are street stalls of silks, pottery, knives. Our guide Ilie gave extensive stories about it all. Next, a pair of Madrasahs, Ulugbek & Abd Al-Aziz-Khan faced each other before a stop for a carpet demonstration including girls making them. The Mir-Arab Madrasah is part of the Uni opposite the Kalyan Mosque & minaret. That's a lot of Madrasahs before lunch!Madrasahs are Islamic schools, which were also very advanced in science and technology centuries before the Europeans. After lunch, we saw Bello Hauz Mosque & ceiling then the Citadel Ark which was the original core of the town in the 10th century. In the evening I had a nice 'safe' meal in touristy restaurant with Naomi, then we walked the sites taking night photos while Others were out late on vodka.
On Sunday morning, I was up early and went for a 25 min run before breakfast, then joined Rehan, Bibi & Naomi on a taxi trip to Naqshband Necropolis about 5 miles away. Meeting 1 Pakistani traveller is rare. Meeting 2 on the same trip is unprecedented. Rehan (50) & Bibi (48) both grew up in Lahore a few streets apart. Rehan trained as a doctor, then emigrated to USA. Bibi ran off from boarding school to train as a nurse at 15, then worked in lots of overseas locations via aid agencies, eventually settling in UK. Both have rejected their Moslem upbringing. Naqshband was very busy with locals, many dressed in their Sunday best, while I had yellow shorts and a pink shirt on which attracted attention, with several people asking to have their photo taken with me! We were dropped back near the fort in Bukhara, so walked down to Samani Park, which was busy with families, and saw a tiny mosque. After a tea break, Bibi and I, having lost Rehan, walked to Chor Minor to see its 4 small minarets.
Bukhara is a big city to get out of, and as in many countries in Asia, there are no left turns off dual carriageways, and it is necessary to use 'U' turns after your required junction, then go back and turn right. It is actually very safe. An hour out of Bukhara, we stopped at a pottery centre and were given a demo on making pots, then saw the mother making bread. Next stop an hour later was at the remains of the Rabati-Malik Caravanserai, where only the entrance door remained (or had been restored) and there was a nest of bright orange wasps. Soon after, we turned off the rough main road and headed north (even rougher) into the Oqtov Hills and Nurota, then further on a road where there were lots of tortoises trying to cross the road. We were in semi desert, which became small sand dunes, eventually arriving at our accommodation for the night - a camp containing about 15 yurts and a few out buildings in the sands about 4 miles from the west end of Lake Aydar-ko'l. Centuries ago, this area would have been more fertile, but almost all of Central Asia is getting drier. The lake, which is about 80 miles long drains into the Syrdarija River which flows north through Kazakhstan to the Aral Sea, which is drying up too. Each yurt had 4 beds and I was with Mel, Rehan and Andrew, who was not well and had slept most of the day. With bags off-loaded, most of us were in the truck to go visit the lake. We'd committed to go for a swim, but except for keen swimmer Mel, it was a quick dip, swim and back out of the very cold water.
In the evening, there was a camp fire and some very good story telling from Craig. Many of us stayed up until midnight for Melon's 39th birthday. Next morning I was up quite early and ran about 4 miles towards the lake, but turned before I could see it, then had a cold shower! Early lunch included good fish from the lake, then we were back into Tallulah and back down the rough road to Nurota. Alexander the Great (from Macedonia) had a fort on top of a hill here, so we stopped for a break, an Ilie story and a steep walk to the top of the hill. From Nurota we took minor roads and some 'under construction' eventually arriving in Samarkand.
We were in our best hotel for weeks, Rehan and I sharing a big room with 3 beds. I intended to join the oldies group to eat locally, but missed them, so was with the main party. Our taxi stopped several times on the 2 mile trip (out of fuel), and I found that I didn't have my wallet when I got out, so assumed I'd left it in the room. We had a big long table, in a large noisy hall,with a big wedding party downstairs. Service was a shambles with Ilie having to personally translate everything, and paying took ages. Melon's birthday cake was the only good point. When I got back to the room, there was no wallet and I realised that it had slipped out of my pocket as I slid across the back seat of the taxi to get out. I reported it to hotel reception and 15 minutes later it was found, and soon returned, but without cash - $110, £20 and small local money had been removed, but most importantly my cards and other pieces of paper were still in the wallet! Hotel staff interrogated the taxi driver, who said he had another fare after us, then took the taxi to the garage for repair. The wallet was found on the back shelf, not on the seat. Not a big disaster - I was lucky!
Samarkand has been on my list of places to get to since I was young, so I was excited to see the historic centre. The city has 2750 years of history, from its initial foundation near the Zrafshan River, and includes Registan Square, the most famous site in Central Asia. Alexander the Great said 'it was even more beautiful than he imagined' when he took it over in 328BC. Ten centuries of invasions followed by Seleucids, Graeco-Bactrians, Kushans and Turks before the Arabs took it in 712AD. Genghis Kan arrived in 1220 and wrecked the original city, which was rebuilt nearby. 50 years later Marco Polo arrived and reported that it was very large and splendid. However, Tamerlane was to be its greatest ruler (born 1336), making it the centre of his empire, which stretched from India to the Mediterranean. Magnificent Mosques, Madrasahs and Palaces were built, as he recruited artists and architects from all over Asia. Now 'the town of the blue domes' is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Our hotel was 3 miles from the centre, so we took taxis to our starting point - The Gur-Emir Mausoleum built by Amir Temur (Tamerlane) initially for his son who died young in battle, but it contains Temur and all of his family too. The main portal is magnificent and the octahedral mausoleum with a ribbed dome is amazing. The top of the underground crypt containing bodies of the family is next to the mausoleum.
We walked half a mile up the road to the famous Registan, a huge square with very impressive Madrasahs and Mosques on 3 sides, with a viewing platform ideal for photos. Entry was included from the Dragoman kitty, just as well, as I had no money - local ATMs only take Uzbek cards, so I was borrowing. On the left, the Ulugbek Madrasah with one leaning minaret was Ilie's first subject, built 1417 to 1420, with a huge entrance portal. He took most of the group in to see tile making, but Rehan, Bibi and I moved on to the Tillya-Kari Madrasah and Yalangtush-biy Mosque, finished in 1620, though the dome of the mosque was destroyed in an earthquake in the 1820's and reconstructed in the 20th century, the inside being very lavish. Inside the courtyards and madrasahs there were numerous little gift stalls. The Sher-Dor Madrasah mirrors the Ulugbek and includes a ribbed minaret, and a portal including tigers with lions manes, but inside is full of little stalls. Ilie had given us 90 minutes to see these 3 Madrasahs, when 30 was enough, so Bibi and I walked up to the Bibi-Khanym Mosque along a wide boulevard of shops and people. Photos from outside were fine and I had no money to go in (we later found that it would have been included when our guide got there many hours later!). We walked back down the main street trying to find an 'visa accepting' ATM, but found none. Bibi took a taxi back and I rejoined the group for lunch near the Bibi Mosque, where service was shambolic.
I walked the 3 miles back to the hotel, enjoying the local scenery, but finding no ATM. In the evening, we walked to the nearby Fresco restaurant where 5 of us had cheeseburgers, then the red wine connoisseurs enjoyed my last bottle of Georgian wine.
I had a domestic and catch up morning then Zac told me where the Kapital Bank was, about 10 minutes walk away. I withdrew $200 and changed a $100 note into 161 x 5000 Som notes! On the way back, I had a haircut, then amazingly found a shop for an SD card. In the evening, most of us took taxis to the Samarkand Registan to see it lit up. Our time was perfect. Within 10 minutes of arrival, we were at the viewpoint when an amazing 20 minute light show started. It showed the history of Samarkand using the Tillya-Kari Madrasah as the screen and was superb -see photos. We were soon back near the hotel for a Shashliq barbecue - choose your skewers and it gets brought to you barbecued in 10 minutes. I had duck, chicken and potatoes, but there was also liver, lamb, beef, ox and more. Very good, and much better than the first 2 nights.
From 1839 to 1895, the Russians gradually conquered Central Asia between the Caspian Sea, China, Iran and Afghanistan creating Russian Central Asia or Turkestan. However in 1930 Stalin deviously broke this area up into Soviet Republics split into ethnic groups with ridiculous borders, so that they would have disputes among themselves and never group together to threaten the Russian SSR. These messy borders and varied politics now impact the development of the independent countries of Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan which they became.
On the fairly bumpy road from Samarkand to Tashkent, we had to take a diversion because an enclave of Kazakhstan pokes into Uzbekistan. Roads nearer to Tashkent were big and smooth with our Grand Orzu Hotel in the southern suburbs, not too far from the airport. We arrived in mid afternoon, so time to get out and walk. I joined Craig and Mel for an exploratory walk around the area, which took over 3 hours and nearly 7 miles. The local park looked a bit sad, but it did have a Korean garden. There are lots of Koreans in Tashkent as they were deported here in the war, and quite a lot of Germans who got out of East Germany before unification. In general Tashkent is a Soviet concrete city of over 2 million people, but it is clean. Most public vehicles and many cars in Uzbekistan (and also Turkmenistan) run on gas as it is cheap and available, so pollution is low and there are plenty of bins, so not much litter. There are lots of 'no photos' signs around especially around government buildings, where there also lots of cameras and police/guards. Uzbekistan is actually only 1 step above Turkmenistan, though they make it much more welcoming and available to tourists. Although our hotel was in a quiet backwater, there were plenty of good shops and some big hotels less than a mile away. In the evening, I joined John for spicy pork at the hotel, though this proved not to be a good idea for my recovering stomach.
Saturday was to be the main day for seeing the best of Tashkent. The main historic centre is in the north-east of the city and is small compared to Samarkand and Bukhara. The Hazrati Mosque has 2 tall minarets and a large prayer hall, then the Holy Koran Museum has an ancient version of the Koran made of antelope skin (no photos). The Kaffal-Shashi Mausoleum relates to a famous scientist (903-976), though it was built in 1542. From there, we walked about a mile to the nearest metro station - G'ufur G'ulam. The Tashkent metro is a tourist attraction with every station designed and decorated in a unique way - but no photos. There is a flat fare of 1200 Som (12p) to get in, and initially we went 1 stop to see the decor of the next station (A.Navoiy). Some then split to go to the market, while some of us went to Kosmonavtlar station which commemorates Soviet astronauts. Mel and I then took the metro to Chorsu (market), where we lost Rehan and Craig. It was mostly just day to day stuff, but I found a good Uzbek T-shirt and we had lunch - 2 meals for £2.50. We took the metro back to a station a mile from the hotel and walked.
In the evening 13 of us went to the magnificent Tashkent Opera House to see a local production of Aidi, sung in Russian. Good, but a bit challenging and very well produced. Mel, Andrew and I then took a cab to Grand Mir Hotel, where there are restaurants and shops, and found a combined Korean and Pizza place. We had pizza and walked back.
Sunday was a free day for domestic and catch up and the wifi was really good when most people were out. It was 32C for much of the day, so I only got out for a walk in the evening. Rolf and Renata were leaving in the evening though their flight wasn't until about 6am as there visa ran out at midnight, so I ate at the hotel with them and bought local wine (at £2.50 a bottle). They had become good friends over the 5 weeks since Istanbul. Bibi and Wanja also left for the airport at midnight.
In Tashkent, we were joined by Jake (18), an outdoor enthusiast from Cheshire, Aaron (Bean) and Jordan, (25) modern day hippies with dreadlocks from Milton Keynes, Sigrid (39) from Norway and Mary (65) from Quebec. The Kamchik Pass is the only road to get to East Uzbekistan and stay in the country (another devious Stalin trick) and vehicles with more than 5 passengers are not allowed over the pass at the moment, so Adam & Ilie took Tallulah the day before just in case there was a problem then they'd have to go via Tajikistan (with visa). A Fleet of 7 cars -all white Chevrolet which are made in Uzbekistan took us. The road is mostly big dual carriageway, but with some road works and tunnels at the top - 2267m. We had lunch on the way down. Next we stopped at Khudayar Khan's Palace in Qo'qon (Kokand) with good info about the area over the centuries then we stopped at a Silk factory in Fargona, where the process from sick worm to silk garments was clearly shown. Our hotel was in Fargona City and I shared with Andrew. We ate at Alibaba close by and I had drinks with Sigrid after.
Tuesday was a long drive day. The Border crossing into Kyrgyzstan was quite quick as Jazz bribed customs for us to jump the queue, but the truck papers took a while. Our new guide Begaim joined us. She gave us lots of information about Kyrgyzstan. The currency is still Som, but now 68.5 to the dollar rather than 8000 and they a 3 som coin (unusual denomination) in addition to 1,5 & 10. We stopped in Osh, just over the border to find lunch and do some shopping. However there was a huge rain storm, so we had to take off shoes and wade up the road to shop for provisions and alcohol. The road from Osh has to do a big loop because of borders, then Arslanbob is in the hills a bumpy 90 minutes from the main road. We stopped at a Guest House - I shared with Andrew.
Arslanbob is an extensive small town in a valley at 1600m with snowy mountains around it. It is the centre of the largest walnut forest in the world, and we took Soviet style ancient 4-wheel drive jeeps up and into the forest where we had an hour to explore. Adam, Andrew & I walked along the muddy track for half an hour & back which was good exercise but not a trek. We visited a high point for views over the town, then went to a the local waterfall. For lunch, 5 of us found a small restaurant where we sat outside overlooking the river. Sigrid was very surprised when the waiter could speak Norwegian to her - he had spent a couple of years working there. In the afternoon Sigrid & I had a fairly tough walk up from the guest house seeing children, men with horse and plough in the fields and views of the mountains. In Uzbekistan & southern Kyrgyzstan seating in restaurants and homes usually involves sitting cross-legged (or variations) with a low table, which John & I found difficult, so in the guest house, we sat on chairs at an ironing board.
There are very few through roads in this mountainous country, so our route took us back on the scenic but bumpy road to the M41 = the only main road from south to north of Kyrgyzstan. We stopped to find our own lunch in Kochkor-Ata near the Uzbek border. I bought lots of fruit including strawberries which are excellent but 100 Kyr Soms buys a lot.
The good road continues north alongside the River Naryn. We stopped at a dam, then scenery became spectacular with road winding along the edge of the mountains with the lake below. We climbed up to a pass with views of Lake Toktogul and snowy mountains, then turned off to find a wild camp spot by the lake - quite a stunning location. I decided to have a run (3.5 miles), but after a really good meal from Cook Group 1, then a good sunset, I retired early to my single tent with a cold.
I had a streaming cold so kept a low profile in the back, but there were good views as we climbed up to the Ala-Bel Pass (3184m) where we stopped to play in the snow. Soon we had to turn off onto the A367, which was a good dirt road heading east to our Guest House in Chaek where I shared a room with Craig & Rehan. I Walked up to top of local hill for views of the town and mountains and met Hetty, Elaine & Rebecca up there. Fran & Jo also appeared - out for a scenic run. The views here are stunning with 360 degree of snowy mountains.
We had a half day drive to a Kochkor Guest House with a amusing demo on felt making. There are containers everywhere in Kochkor, so I was very intrigued. GESU461501-3 is now a shop and many houses and the market are made from containers! I shared a room with Mel and he went for an afternoon walk. I was getting to like Kyrgyzstan with its mountain scenery and thousands of old containers, but was still looking forward to some trekking.
Lake Ysyk-Kol is the 2nd largest inland lake in the world by volume (after Titicaca) but 6th in area - ie: it is deep. Near Kadzi-Saj, he saw the yurt building process by a master craftsman (carpenter) using willow wood, cutting and shaping using steam etc. It takes months to make them and they come in any size. We then went to an open area to see eagle hunting. Most of us had a golden eagle on our arm, then saw it hunt and kill a (pet) rabbit!, when pull down a fox skin being run by the man. It was all quite fascinating. Further along the lake, we stopped for the night at a Yurt camp by the lakeside. The over 50s had a 4 man yurt and I went off for a good 4 mile run along the sandy tracks. Kay & Adam were not well so stayed in house with Begaim. There was a bad rain storm during cooking, so we had to move everything into a 40' container. A Japanese group who were also there had organised a music evening with a local family of 3 band.
There was a lot of clearing up to do in the morning with the remains of the cooking left in the container in the storm, so we left the Yurt camp 30 minutes late without Kay and Adam who were sick and would go direct to the hotel (and hospital checks) in Karakol. Brave (or Mad) Mel was up early for a quick swim in the very cold lake! Jazz was now our only driver until Adam recovered, so we would need to pull together more as a group to make it as easy as we could for him. Soon, we turned off into the hills to a Fairy Canyon where we had 90 minutes to go for a trek/scramble in the sand coloured hills. I started out with Begaim, who is a keen trekker and has climbed to 6300 on Peak Lenin, but she soon turned back to help the group and Mel, Sigrid and Andrew joined me for a good hour of scrambling. Mel & Sigrid took the wrong route off a ridge and had a long detour out, so 20 minutes late! Back to the main route, we turned off a few miles before Karakol to go up the Zety-Oguz gorge with 5 dodgy bridges. Where we camped at about 2200m near the river with lots of wild flowers. Good chicken curry by cook group 2 then a good camp fire. It was a cold night in single tent (about -4) but I was fine - some were not.
On Tuesday, the choice was trekking and horse riding. I was keen to trek morning & afternoon, so the non-riders - Rehan, John, Sigrid and I walked up the trail by the river to over 2500m and back in lovely weather & scenery. Fran had a bad fall from a horse and was bruised & tearful in her tent when we returned. A few hours later, she was taken by taxi to Karakol for tests and then joined Kay & Adam in the hotel. Craig & Rehan had set up the 'US Embassy' tent with Rehan's US flag T-shirt flying on a branch. I had left a line of pants drying on my tent, and while I was away trekking Claudia & Jazz had hoisted my red & black pants up a 10 ft pole in retaliation!
There was a tough trek in afternoon with Mel, Sigrid, Hetty & Rehan to try to get to a peak opposite camp. Once on the ridge, Mel shot off on his own while Rehan struggled with the altitude & effort, so I stayed with him to 2850m and helped him up and down. Mel & the girls & group 1, who left 30 minutes before us got to a higher false peak. It was a super blue sky day with great views including across to Lake Ysyk-Kol. In the evening, the camp fire was ever bigger and better, due to Bean's efforts.
Going back down over the 5 bridges seemed easier, then we stopped for views and photos of the 7 Bulls Rocks - red sandstone cliffs. In Karakol, we stopped for 90 minutes, with an opportunity to get our lunch and use wifi in a cafe for the first time in Kyrgyzstan. Incidentally, all plastic bags supplied by little shops in Kyrgyzstan are 'Morrisons' bags! At the Amir Hotel, we met up with Kay, who seemed much recovered, though she would stay there while we took Soviet-style trucks up very rough tracks into the mountains to Altyn Arashan Hot Springs. At one point there had been a snow avalanche and our trucks got stuck, so some heavy work had to be done by locals and a truck to clear more snow, move a large rock and fill a hole with stones, then we were through. Most of the track was along a river, then there were hairpin bends to gain height. At 2700m, we saw yurts and a GESeaco container, then we were at the hot springs and our hostel for the night. It was a lovely spot with good views of a peak up the valley.
Hot spring 2 was a very hot big tub which 7 of us got into, but 10 mins was enough. There was a cool breeze outside, so I didn't go in the cold river then had a short walk up to a ridge for more views, birds & sheep. The Evening meal continued into drinking & party mode & chess. I gave up about 11:15 and was asleep in minutes. I'd planned and told Jazz & Begaim that I would jog/walk back down next morning.
I was up early and by 7am 5 of us were in Hot Spring 1, which was a nice hot bath temperature. After a quick breakfast, I put my bags in a truck so that I was only carrying a light backpack and set off at 8:25, 35 minutes before the group. It was a lovely warm sunny morning and so much nicer to be out in the open jogging down the easier sections and walking on the ups and rough bits. I'd told Begaim that if I got to the avalanche before them, I would put my red & black underpants on display in the snow and carry on. There were numerous trekkers walking up, and at 10:30 I stopped by a water supply nearing the end of the trail and had a Mars bar. I'd walk/jogged about 10 miles in 2 hours and sat in the sun for 20 minutes before I was picked up - so much better than sitting in a bumpy truck for 2 hours!
At the Amir Hotel, I put some laundry in, then went to the cafe over the road for salmon and crisps. Wifi at the hotel was quite good and the first we'd had in Kyrgyzstan. It was Kay's birthday, so we had a set menu group meal in a local restaurant, which was like a banquet. Some stayed drinking and dancing till late.
I was up early to shop for Cook Group 4 and our own lunch in Karakol and also bought lots of fruit. Adam, Zac & Claudia were staying in Karakol then going direct to Bishkek, but Kay and Fran were rejoining the group. We had a brief stop at Colpon-Ata in the middle of the north shore of Lake Ysyk-Kol to see a goat polo field. Silk Rd Marathon registration was taking place there for a race the next day. Just out of town was a large boulder field containing petroglyphs (rock carvings), where we stopped for a talk from Begaim. It was still a long drive to our wild camp for the night in the Chong Kemin Valley with one amusing toilet stop in the gorge between mountain ranges. Near Shabdan, we parked up near the river on a good flat spot, but not so good for toilets! Andrew, Kay, Jake & I (cook group 4) set to work on a beef stir fry for 19, and Kay created bread & butter pudding from old bread. Sigrid was not well, so spent much of her time resting in truck or tent, and others had coughs. The youngsters spent much of the evening around the camp fire drinking and laughing, but I only stayed a while.
On Saturday morning, I was awake early and had the kettle on by 6:45. Cook Group 4 were on duty again. We did eggy bread, cereal etc, and because many of the youngsters were slow out of bed, cook group ate before some of them and breakfast was almost finished by its planned start time!
The optional activity for the morning was rafting on the river we were camped by. The water level had risen by a foot to make it possible to start nearby, but I'd decided not to do it, as I'd done some dramatic rafting on the Nile, Indus and in Peru which this would not match. Mary looked after Sigrid and John and I had a walk and good chat around the horse track and goat polo field fairly nearby. Some of the group went over the river to shop in the local village, and I followed 5 minutes behind, but felt weak. On a slow walk back, I had to have an emergency stop in the bushes, then went to my tent and slept for a while. Later, I felt okay for a walk up the hill to the local village while Jazz started cooking a large beef joint over the camp fire. However, this was interrupted by the arrival of dark clouds, rain and strong winds, so cooking was moved to the shelter of the truck, with most people on the truck. There was enough of a lull to eat around the camp fire, but the rain and wind returned, with many of the group playing games inside the truck, but I went to bed early.
Jazz had set a time of 7am for 3 things to be done - 1. Load back locker, which means getting big bags packed, 2. Tents ready to load into the truck, so dismantled and packed despite the wet evening, and 3. breakfast to start with Cook Group 4 again being responsible. This was a tall order for many, especially as most of the youngsters (over half the group since Tashkent were under 35) were in the truck during the evening storm testing the local vodka. I was up before 5:30, and my bag was packed before 6 and the kettle was on by 6:15 and the truck actually left the site only about 20 minutes late, which was good. The last leg to Bishkek was fairly easy though slow because of the speed limit through many villages and without Adam, it was my turn to ride shotgun (in the front) and supply the music. A detour on the way took us to the ancient settlement of Balasagun, now called Burana. There were stone statues from about the 8th Century and petroglyphs which were many centuries older. There was a tower to climb, but I was feeling weak, so unusually didn't bother to go up it. I was starting to get a cough and touch of flu which was going around the truck.
In Bishkek, we checked into the Asia Mountain Hotel-1 - I shared with John - for a domestic afternoon.
In the evening, we had a group meal in a nice restaurant in walking distance from the hotel. However 22 individual orders is a nightmare for the staff, and as usual, mine was last, but not as late as the infamous trout in Batumi! There were speeches of thanks and appreciation from most of the leavers (inc me) and others. Rehan had become a good friend, and was keen to thank me for help in the mountains. We had to get taxis back as it was raining again, but they are very cheap - less than $1 for 4 for about half a mile. Mel, the quiet strong man from Essex, was leaving at 2:30 am, with Jo who was going to Dubai, then Japan and Hetty was returning to Wandsworth at 4am. John, Bean, Jordan, Zach and Claudia were leaving the group but would be in Bishkek for a few days. Next stop Kashgar and China for the rest of them.
John and I checked out at noon on Monday, just as the group were off on a city walking tour with Begaim, who had been a really super guide, so it was time for lots of goodbyes. Kyrgyzstan had been my favourite country of the 6 we visited, with its mountains, lakes, greenery, walks and politics. Begaim, as a keen trekker and mountaineer had been to numerous countries in Europe, which would not have possible if she (a single lady) had been from Turkmenistan or Uzbekistan. I would come back to Kyrgyzstan to trek, and maybe include Tajikistan and Kazakhstan.
I flew back to London with Aeroflot via Moscow with an annoying cough - 8 hours flying and over 15 hours from hotel to home, reflecting on an excellent trip.
Thanks and Good Luck to all my fellow travellers.
Summary:
During the 4 legs of this Dragoman trip from Istanbul to Bishkek, 37 people had been in Tallulah including 2 drivers and 4 guides. Ages ranged from Rolf (76) to Jake (18), with a significant drop in the average age after Tashkent. In the 'Countries Visited' list, the results were :- John 95, Barry 89, Mel 72, Rolf 69, Renata 62, Craig 62, Bibi 61, Kay 58, Fran 49, Rehan 48, Adam 40.
Friday Aug 10th 2018
The Area
The Albanian Alps or Accursed Mountains where this trip takes place has been an area of political turmoil for centuries. From Illyrian, Thracian and Greek tribes, the area was taken over by Rome C3BC (3rd Century BC), Slavs C7, Bulgaria C9, then became Medieval Kingdom of Albania (Sicilian dependency). In C15 the Ottoman Empire took over. Albania declared Independence in 1912 and included all of the area of this trek but after the First World War, Yugoslavia was created and Albania lost the region which is now Kosovo and the corner of Montenegro around Plav which is still populated by Albanians (Albanian speakers). After WW2, Albania was closed to most of the world under the Communist dictatorship of Enver Hoxha. From 1985, Albania slowly emerged with support from Italy, Greece, Switzerland, Germany and US and became a NATO member in 2009. Tourism is still in its infancy, and the population especially in the mountains is low.
My late afternoon flight to Rome took off 90 minutes late, so I was concerned that I would miss my connection to Tirana. I had a window seat next to an a empty seat then a Syrian family with two boys who lived in Dubai. She was a pharmacist. As we were descending into Rome, a steward checked people with connections. There were 16 of us going to Tirana, mostly Albanian families from the UK going to see grandparents, so the plane would wait for us. The process at Fumicino (Rome Airport) was slick with staff holding up boards for connections to Tirana, Cairo, Bari etc, then walking with us to the gate. I sat next to a good 3 year old boy and his mother who were living in Nice and going home to see grandparents in Tirana. We landed at midnight. I met a taxi driver in the arrivals hall and I knew that €25 into Tirana was fine. He'd lives in Southgate and Edmonton and zoomed along the empty roads to the Kruja Hotel. It was very hot and the air con in room 403 was limited, but the wifi was good as was the beer in the fridge for €2.
Saturday Aug 11 - Tirana
I had an easy morning including moving rooms to 103, which was a twin with good air conditioning. When I went down for early lunch, the manager offered me a free coffee, then came over with a city map and gave me instructions for a 2 hr walk of Tirana Centre - very helpful. I had lunch in the hotel garden - chicken, round chips and salad which was good. Down near Skanderbeg Square - an oval shaped paved area with water spouts and statues - I found a money changer and changed £40 into Albanian Lek @ 139, the Euro rate being 125. The centre of Tirana is quite green and clean with few tall buildings, but with plenty of shops, restaurants etc, but it was hot. Back at the hotel I met tour leader Dorien and assistant Arvid. The main Exodus group were not arriving until very late, so I left the door open for my roommate Joe.
Sunday August 12th - Tirana to Tropoya
Joe arrived around 2am and I grumbled a 'hello' and went back to sleep. Breakfast was at 6:30 where I met the rest of the group in the garden. Our minibus containing driver, Dorien, Arvid and 15 clients left at 7:30 and took a route out of the city passed the airport. After about an hour on duel carriageway, the road narrowed and we slowed to a crawl of heavy traffic. At least half the traffic were cars from Italy, Germany and other parts of Europe. This is the only road going north-south in Albania -the SH1- and is the main road connection from coastal Croatia through to Greece. A few miles before the city of Shkodar, we turned right onto the SH28, then after passing a big dam over the River Drin and climbing a hill, took the SH25 down to the lake behind the dam, stopping for refreshments on the way. We were then on a scenic winding road above the flooded river for half an hour to Koman where there was another dam. These dams had been built in the 1970s and 1980s in the communist era when Albania was closed off from the rest of the world (except China, Cuba & GDR), and the resultant hydro-electric power supplied all of Albania's needs. After a short wait the minibus went into a tunnel under the dam, joining a queue for the ferry. It is a gentle 2 hour ferry ride up the scenic limestone gorge to Fierze, with a full deck of vehicles and plenty of people and is a short cut compared to the tortuous road journey. We continued in the minibus to Sopot where we did a small detour to an old square tower - these were used as meeting places by the village elders and were a defence against invasion. We were dropped off a few miles outside Tropoya where Dorien's Uncle took us on a walk of about 4 miles along the local paths, while Dorien went ahead to get the rooms organised at the guest house. Our group of 15 contained 4 couples who were allocated rooms upstairs, 4 single ladies in one room and 3 single men in another. Joe is a Welsh speaking 25yo teacher from Carmarthenshire who is also a rugby referee and sometimes does some work with S4C. Padraig (50s) is from Carlow in Ireland and is chairman of a mountaineering club. We had standard Albanian local food of bread, salad, cheese, sausage, beer almost all grown close by.
Monday 13th August - Tropoya to Sylbice
This was a hot 12 mile walk along the Tropoye River, up over a pass of 1600m. The alpine scenery was lovely with the occasional group of houses, haystacks, alpine flowers and with sharp limestone mountains always in view. Higher in the mountains, the villages of huts are only used in the summer, as there is usually much snow in the winter. This was a tough walk for Day 1, almost all uphill. We did have numerous stops and packed lunch at a high point was again standard Albanian fare. Sylbice is a small mountain village accessible by 4 wheel drive only, and our accommodation for the night was at a lovely farm site owned by a family with cows and sheep. There were two big dormitories upstairs, one for men and one for ladies. Ours had 10 beds on the floor for 8 of us - 7 clients and Arvid, but with big concrete steps and no rail (only the spikes they will fit to!) to get there. Evening meal was very good with soup, rice, salad and a chunk of lamb then cake and yoghurt. We watched the sheep being brought in from the fields and selectively milked as they went into the pen. When I did get up in the night, the stars were wonderful.
Apart from Padraig, Steven (64) and Beth (62) were the only non UK trekkers. They live in Boston and travel a lot for Americans. Becky was the only other youngster - an English teacher and runner from Newbury. All the rest of the group had grown-up children.
Tuesday August 14th - Sylbice to Belegu (Kosovo)
The standard format was to become breakfast at 7:30 and start walking at 8:30. We were now at 1600 metres, and we walked up to a pass of about 2100 metres with our bags being taken by horses. At the top of the pass, we could see a big cairn on top of a hill marking the borders of Albania, Kosovo and Montenegro. Turning right, we descended for 5 minutes, then up to the Ali Cela pass at 2227m, with super views of glacial lakes of Albania behind us and limestone mountains and wooded valley of Kosovo ahead. Turning left, we traversed along the Kosovo side of the ridge down to a lake where we had our packed lunch. Soon, we reached a north-south ridge which marked the border into Montenegro, and continued north just inside Montenegro for a mile before turning east back into Kosovo and a long stroll down to the nearest group of shepherds huts in the woods at Belegu.
The family, which included daughters of 20 and 18, were very welcoming and there was a hot shower. Accommodation for the men was a bit squashed with 2 bunks and 4 mattresses on the floor and not much room to move. The evening was quite jolly as we moved into the warm kitchen and had drinks and singing after a good meal of goulash, bread, salad, spicy pepper, white cheese and a layered pancake called Flea which takes 5 hours to make using heated lids from the fire (in the garden).
In the group, we had 4 runners from Dundee - Richard (62, Pastor) and Ruth (65, retired Doctor) and John (54) and Alison (retired Doctor). The last couple were Steve (the stick) and Sylvia from Malvern and both retired. Three ladies in their fifties made up the group - Alvina, a teacher and trek leader from Cumbria, Brenda, a TV production manager from Lancashire who was the least experienced trekker, and Marion, a head teacher from Sussex, who was married to a keen golfer who did not trek.
Wednesday August 15th - to shepherd village of Milisevac
We had a lovely day of walking through meadows of wild flowers and along less steep tracks and paths. Joe and Brenda were both unwell in the night and would be travelling to our destination in 4-wheel drive vehicles with the bags - rather bumpy apparently. This part of Kosovo - the Accursed Mountains - has many feet of snow in the winter, so the little villages and shepherds huts are only used in the summer. The scenery is of pine forests on the slopes, with jagged limestone mountains above, and alpine meadows of wild flowers, wild strawberries and with only a few animals near huts and small villages below. It was just beautiful and unspoit.
We did have a scramble up onto a rocky hilltop, before dropping down to a village for a really lovely lunch with a Kosovan family who live and work near Lausanne, Switzerland, so spoke French. After lunch, we had a long descent on a track through the woods to cross a river at a small village, before climbing for about a mile to our shepherds huts for the night. It rained hard half an hour after we arrived and continued on and off into the evening. The Boys hut was outside, 30 yards away, and had 4 bunk beds and a couple of comfy chairs. Dinner was standard Kosovo fare again. We did see & photo a Crossbill during the day.
Thursday August 16th - to Reka e Allages Guest House
It rained overnight and Joe & Brenda had a 2nd rest day to recover. After a short uphill, the track went down to river before a big climb diagonally up and over Lumbardhi Ridge with a good sighting of a Nutcracker on the way. After 20 minutes of downhill, we stopped by a pond for our packed lunch. Spectacular views and wild flowers continued especially at the start of the long downhill, which turned into a steep slippery track through the woods where most of us fell. It was about 4000' down to a cafe, where I had a beer but left my leki stick! A minibus then took us up winding tracks to nice guest house. We had 6 old men in 1 outside room with the others in main house and the food was very good.
Friday August 17th - to Boge
Joe & Brenda were back with us, but Steven (Sykes) had a bad night, so was not walking. We had a tough uphill walk to the base of Mt Hajla but with big views below. We then continued just below a ridge, which is also the border with Montenegro, with more uphill under a rock and eventually to our lunch spot. At one point I lost my legionnaires hat and had a quick unsuccessful 20 minute walk back to try to find it. It did rain just after our lunch but not too much. A long scenic downhill then followed to our hotel above Boge village where the start of a ski resort is taking shape, which could be a bit of a blight on the scenery for trekking. There is a lot of rubbish around especially where developments are taking place. They just don’t have the infrastructure here yet to cope with expansion and tourism quickly. I bought snacks at a village shop which was 15 minutes walk away. In the evening, I had 2 large glasses of the local red wine, which was light but good and a pizza, saving some of it for next day lunch. Food and drink in Kosovo is cheap, typically 1.5 or 2 euros for a very large glass of red and 4 euros for a good 10” pizza. Joe was my room mate again, young enough to be my grandson!
Steven (Sykes) is very unusual for an American. He has been to about 40 countries having started travelling in Europe in 1973, so has a good geographical knowledge, unlike 85% of Americans who have never been out of the country! He was in IT, so we have a lot of memories of IT developments in the 1980’s. He’s a tall gangling joker and buffoon and reminds me of Eric Sykes, who he could be related to but he didn't know him.
Saturday August 18th - Into Montenegro
We took a minibus down to a main road at Kuqishte, then up zigzags to the start of the trail, leaving Steven in the van for a day of rest. Dorien had planned this trip to cover the best parts of the Via Dinarica in this area excluding road sections, so we start walking where the track or path starts.
The Via Dinarica is a long distance footpath and trekking trail from Slovenia down to Albania which was opened about 10 years ago, but few people have walked it all, and only one group has been to this area of Albania, Kosovo and Montenegro before us, so it is effectively virgin territory for trekkers, with few places to stay with an embryonic infrastructure. We are pioneers!
It was a long steady climb through forests to delightful lake - Liqeni i Kuqishtes where butterflies, dragonflies and flowers were prominent. There was more tough uphill over into Montenegro then up to Jelenka Col where we had our packed lunch with great views in all directions. After lunch we had a long lovely route march along the path with Kosovo on our left, including views of our lunch place from Wednesday. Eventually there was a down path on our right into Montenegro, and I found it easier on the knees to jog/shuffle down at the front. However, when I reached a small farm with the path going straight across it, an old guy came out of the house with a walking stick and a wood axe. I waved at him, but he started shouting in a threatening way, so I stopped and waited for Dorien. He was obviously not happy with us crossing his land although the path went straight through it. Dorien told me to stop laughing and smiling and be serious, and he approached the old man though he didn't speak Serbo-Croat (Montenegran). Arvid joined them and shook the old man's hand - Arvid is a linguist who speaks lots of languages. Dorien then opened his bag and offered the old man 6 euros, which seemed to calm him down, and we were then allowed to pass. The old man and his granddaughter lived in a ramshackle hut and she was wearing tatty clothes, so we cannot begrudge them for raising a few euros tax for crossing their land. However, the axe-man incident became a source of amusement to the group and was often mentioned thereafter.
The Triangle Woodhouse was the best place we'd seen, with the men in a beautifully constructed hut with showers and deck chairs, and the ladies and Steven (with Beth) in the house. There was a surprise for me too, as Steven had got the driver to detour back to the cafe to recover my leki stick. Our host Agron was a very good presenter with respect to explaining the food and drink at dinner. He had schnapps which had been matured in oak barrels for 2 years, so it tasted quite like whisky, and the food was excellent too.
Sunday August 19th - to Lake Hrid and Plav
I bought a T-shirt from Agron as we left the Triangle Woodhouse, then it was a fairly easy 5 mile uphill walk most of it through forest to the beautiful Lake Hrid where Richard and Becky had a swim and we stopped for lunch. After a short steep climb to the track there was a long gentle descent on tracks and paths, some through forests and some places with big views into Plav, a town next to a big lake which is mainly moslem. We had to walk through most of the town to apartments which only had room for 12 of us, so Padraig, Alvina & Becky (who were all paid-up singles) and also Dorien and Arvid went elsewhere. There was no electricity for the first few hours, but it was fine in evening. The food and the WiFi were good but there was no alcohol.
The difficulty of finding accommodation for 17 people in this area where tourism is in its infancy became more obvious. We are only the 2nd group to do this trip through amazingly pristine alpine meadows and stunning limestone mountains, where there are few people or animals. A phone signal is rare and weak WiFi only exists in a few places where tourism is slowly developing.
Monday August 20th - over Mount Bora & down to Vusanje
This day looked like a tough climb to a hill of 2106m, but Dorien arranged for 4x4 transport to take us up to about 1500m in the forest, thus cutting out the boring slog out of Plav and a long plod up a big muddy track through the lower slopes in the forest. The open-top ski vehicle was great fun to ride in. I was in the front holding on as the seat was only fixed on one side, while 8 others were sitting in the open back with branches brushing past them. The view from our drop-off point was spectacular. The drivers of both vehicles were huge, compared to Dorien and Arvid which created an amusing photo. After an hour of easy uphill walking mostly through forests, and a fresh water stop, there was a steep quite difficult scramble up to the top of a ridge with the 3rd hill being Mount Bora (2106m) where we had our picnic lunch. Wild flowers and big views abounded. We could see the village of Vusanje below us, but the gentle downhill path headed towards the limestone mountains on the Albanian border before a big U-turn and a long downhill to the village with an extra mile to the guest house over the river. The Rosi Hotel & Campsite had cabins for the couples, which were smelly and 2 rooms upstairs for the singles. I was a bit squashed in the corner, and the shower was only hot in the morning, but remember, we are pioneers, so have to accept what exists and the food and wine were good.
Tuesday August 21st - to Old Military Hut and campsite
The original plan was to walk up to Jezerca Lakes and camp, with our big bags going by horse, but Dorien had changed this as the camping would be remote and prone to poor weather. The new plan was to do an even shorter walk of about 5 easy miles to a recently reopened old military hut, where we would camp, with a 4x4 vehicle taking our bags, and cooking provided by the new owners. The tents would be brought up by horses.
With such a short day, we started an hour later than usual with a leisurely breakfast, and on the gentle walk up the valley saw a waterfall, a red-backed shrike and stopped at a scenic pool. A lake further up the valley near the Albanian border had dried up, despite the fairly wet summer that the area has had, so we found a hill above it to have a lunch break. The campsite was a further 30 minutes uphill, where we relaxed until the tents arrived. The hut was well constructed, but was otherwise rather dirty and in need of improvement. For the evening meal there was a proposal that they kill a sheep/lamb and roast it, splitting the €100 cost between those that eat it. Not me, I rarely eat lamb and I’m certainly not grappling with bones and fat, so some of us had salad and pasta. The camping was fine, and during the night the site dog was barking and some heard a wolf howling!
Wednesday August 22nd – Jezerca lakes, mountain option and down to Valbona
There was much talk at camp the day before about this tough final day with the option of trying to ascend Albania’s 2nd highest peak, Jezerca (2692m) and the fact that it was even longer than the original plan as we were camping lower. Certainly we’d split into 2 groups. In the morning I found that my stomach was a bit delicate and my energy levels were down, so I would not be climbing the peak, but I was not going to miss this biggest day of the trek. Our main guide for the day was the shepherd of the house, who knew the mountain well, but was not really an experienced mountain leader. However, he set a nice pace up to the Albanian border and the Jezerca Lakes where we had a short break and saw a military bunker from Communist days. 40 minutes later, we reached the decision point, where there was expected to be a water source, but it was only a dribble from wet moss. I called it Goats (going up the mountain) and Chickens (down), but somehow a decision was made for the Chickens to continue on for 20 minutes or so to a point we could see Mt Jezerca more clearly and there we split the group in half. Arvid went with the Goats as he would have to translate for the guide/shepherd and Dorien would lead us Chickens on a contorted route over the passes towards Valbona.
We started by traversing along a slope, but Dorien soon decided that this was tough for the less experienced, so decided to descend over grass covered scree (nastier than a traverse!) to the scree around the lakes, where we had our packed lunch. I was at the back, which suited my combination of experience but low energy. After lunch, we then climbed up a tough hill to reach the upper slopes with Brenda, the least experienced and me at the back. Dorien then found a dextrasol for me which helped a lot on the long set of traverses, up, downs and passes over a mixture of scree, grass and grass covered scree. It took us an exhausting 3 hours at this high level with the sun setting, back into Montenegro, to a pass where a path went down to Valbona, with Alvina, who guides in Cumbria taking over at the back with Brenda. We stopped at a hut and had drinks on the descent. The final path from hut to awaiting van was done in the moonlight.
The Goats arrived at the very good hotel 30 minutes behind us. They had reached quite a high point on Jezerca, but not the top. On their way back, on a similar but shorter but more dangerous route, Marion fell on a narrow path with a big drop below, when a rock came away in her hand, and was lucky not to follow the rock down the drop, and just get a cut arm. The general consensus was that this day was much harder than an Exodus Grade 5 trek, and that the ascent was okay for those with some technical experience only but should be led by an experienced mountain guide. It had been a very long tiring day, not helped but a late start, and most of us has run out of water as the expected supply was nearly dry.
Thursday August 23rd – Back to Tirana via Kosovo
From the hotel above Valbone in the Albanian Mountains at about 900m, the quickest route to Tirana is via Djakovica and Prizren in Kosovo to join the new motorway to the coast road north of Tirana, but it is still a long way. At the border, we did get our passports checked but not stamped. Djakovica was partly destroyed in the Kosovo war in 1999 and thousands of locals were killed in the Serbian genocide, but now there are pedestrian streets of cafes, bars and shops, where we stopped for coffee, after a short tour of the town – a mosque and several cradle making shops, which seems the local craft. I couldn’t resist buying a chocolate ice cream called a ‘Bumm’, which was nice and cheap but dripped onto my trousers! Prizren is the second city of Kosovo, where we had a wander through the busy streets to a large restaurant. The new motorway runs south west from Prizren, with another passport check entering Albania. In the next section twisting over the Upper Drin Valley, the bridge section are still under construction on one side, so traffic narrows into the completed half, but it is a very scenic area. When we stopped for a tea break, there was an enormous but short thunderstorm. A few miles north of Tirana, the traffic slowed to a crawl, and the driver took the detour via the airport road
The group meal was booked for 9:30 pm as we arrived back quite late. It involved a 20 minute walk via Skanderbeg Square and beyond and was much more lively and agreeable than when I’d strolled round on a very hot afternoon. The restaurant was a nice place, but service was slow, some waiting about an hour for their food, and the music (when they were playing) destroyed the option to chat. There were presentations to Arvid and Dorien and several little speeches.
Friday August 24th – Back to London
My flight via Rome was later than the rest of the group, so I put my bag down by a pillar and walked a few yards to where many of them were checking in, to say my goodbyes. A few minutes later, John warned me that my ‘unattended bag’ was causing concern, and I turned around to find 3 security men roping it off! I told them it was my bag, but they said they would have to go through the full security procedure, but don’t worry. About 20 minutes later, a dog arrived to give it a sniff, then I had to take it to be scanned before it was returned to me. As a result of this I missed the Manchester group goodbyes. In Rome I had another wait of over 3 hours, so more time to write notes and get some food. On the flight to London, I swapped seats with a lady who had been given a seat 5 rows from her baby daughter. We landed at 11:30 pm but no problem getting home as tubes and buses run all night.
Overall, it was a very good trip to a beautiful area which has only become accessible recently.
Ecuador & Galápagos Islands - Oct-Nov 2018
Friday Oct 19th
It is a long journey from Devon to Ecuador taking about 27 hours. One improvement to the journey is the new Tfl (overground) line which takes the same route as Heathrow Express but with stops for normal tube price, so we were at a smart new Heathrow Terminal 2 with lots of time for a meal before the 22:40 flight to Bogota (Colombia), an 11 hour night flight with a 6 hour time change. We had seats by the emergency exit, so lots of leg room, but responsibilities if there were problems.
Saturday Oct 20th - Quito
Having landed in Bogota about 3:30 am, we then had over 4 hours to wait in Bogota, but there were good lie-back chairs. We'd had breakfast before landing in Bogota - fairly standard English probably made in Slough, then shared a nice tuna sandwich with coffee at the airport. On the short flight to Quito with views of the Andes, there was a 3rd breakfast. Miriam, the local Explore rep met 11 of us at the airport. Quito, the capital of Ecuador, is a long thin city of over 2 million people set in a valley between 2 ridges of the Andes at a height of 2850 metres (9500ft) with active volcano Pichincha quite close to the west. The new airport is 45 minutes drive from the city in a valley to the east. Our hotel, the Plaza Sucre was in the old town in the south with narrow hilly cobbled streets. In the afternoon, we walked some of the local streets including the colonial square and church of San Francisco, the oldest in South America, which was dripping with gold and gold leaf as many old Catholic Churches are. The streets were busy with locals enjoying Sunday afternoon as we continued to Plaza Grande, the heart of the old city with Jacaranda trees, the Cathedral, Government Palace and the Bishop's Palace. In the evening, we found a nice roof restaurant in the Ronda, a popular back street full of eateries, where we had a good view of 'La Virgen', a giant statue on top of the local hill - El Panecillo.
Sunday Oct 21st - Quito
After an okay breakfast on the top floor, we met our tour leader Diego, who had flown in from the Galapagos the day before with another group he'd had to take on at short notice. There were now 16 of us in the group - 4 couples, 4 single men, 4 single women, most of us retired. We set off in the minibus on a tour of the old city, which on a Sunday morning has to take a detour out and around much of it as many streets are closed for pedestrians use only. The church of Santa Barbara has interesting gargoyles of iguanas, frigate birds and jaguars. Steep streets and sharp turns took us up to 'La Virgen', where there were big views over the old city and beyond and also good views of Pichincha, the local volcano. Back down in the old city, we visited a market where Diego explained all of the more unusual fruits available in Ecuador. As the equator runs through Ecuador, there are no seasons apart from two periods when it rains more, so many crops can be grown anytime. The mountainous Andes region is mostly fertile volcanic soil and the weather is variable, so most things grow well. The walking tour was rounded off with another visit to San Francisco Plaza and Church, then Plaza Grande (Independence Square), before we went for a group meal in a little restaurant at the top end of La Ronda. In the evening, some of us went for a light meal in a restaurant at the Bishop's Palace.
Monday Oct 22nd - Otavalo
Our minibus driver Vladi was sick, so Jesus would be our driver for 3 days. With 16 of us on board, we were quite cramped with limited leg room and nowhere to put small bags. Morning traffic in Quito was heavy and slow and traffic pollution is bad, but we were soon past the worst and onto good big roads with views of volcanoes. This is the 'Avenue of the Volcanoes'.
On the way to Cayambe, we stopped at the Equator Monument. In 1792, a group of French scientist set up an experiment nearby to determine the exact line of the equator and also to set the standard distance for a 'metre' as an exact proportion of the circumference of the Earth at the equator. The shape of the earth as an 'oblate spheroid' with flattened poles was also clarified.
At Cayambe, we stopped at a biscuit making shop to see the process. Mt Cayambe to the east of town is the third highest mountain and volcano in Ecuador. The area north and west of town is a big flower growing area, especially roses, which are a major export for Ecuador. A few miles before Otovalo, we turned onto a smaller road, then onto a cobbled road, then walked about 4 miles downhill towards Otavalo. In town, we stopped for late lunch, before going to our little hotel/guest house.
Tuesday Oct 23rd - Otovalo
After a nice breakfast, we drove to Laguna Cuicocha situated below Mt Cuicocha and had a good walk on the ridge around part of the lake. It was another clear blue day. In nearby Chilcabamba, Antonio, the head man introduced us to Francesca, a shaman, who looked after the local clinic. Helen volunteered to be cleansed with perfumed branches, then scanned to find any problems with a guinea pig. She felt refreshed. Next Antonio showed us the crops which were grown by each family - corn, quinoa, beans, physalis. Antonio's sister Juanita provided a lovely lunch where all ingredients were locally grown. We returned via the nearby village of Peguche where we saw local crafts - weaving and panpipe making. Back in Otovalo, we walked to the market and the recommended coffee shop, which was excellent, being joined by Claire, Dave, Kevin and Stan, then bought Amazon T-shirts in the market. Back in the hotel, we skipped dinner and got organised.
Wednesday Oct 24 - Cotopaxi
After another good breakfast, we took the fastest route to get to Cotopaxi National Park, which is well south of Quito, stopping at 3960m just below the volcano in lovely clear weather. On the way, we had a brief stop in Tabacunde, the centre of the Rose's industry, and took a new road north of Quito which cut through the mountains with millions of rock anchors to stabilise the banks. The road was only opened in 2014 and cost $20 million for just 9 miles. We could see Pichincha, the volcano above Quito, but there was then a layer of smog below it from the city (which would clear later in the day). We had several photo stops on the way as we could see so many volcanos, and Cotopaxi was unusually clear. We had lunch (sandwiches) just off the road at 3900m with 10 volcanoes in view. This really was the 'Avenue of the Volcanoes'. We had a good circular birdwatching walk around a lake just below Ruminahui, then headed back to the Plaza Sucre Hotel in Quito. Some of us ate at the Bishop's Palace again.
Thursday Oct 25th - Hummingbirds & down to the Amazon basin
This was another long day of driving in a cramped little bus, but with 2 good stops and a super destination. We went over the Papallacta Pass (4064m) about 90 minutes east of Quito, and stopped way below at Termas de Papallacta - thermal baths, where we split into bathers and walkers. I did the walk, which was quite hard work (altitude) mostly along the banks of a little river where we saw interesting plants and a few birds. We had lunch at the Termas - trout (local speciality) and chips. 20 minutes down the road, we stopped at a wonderful hummingbird garden where these tiny birds were buzzing around with stops on branches and feeders -.lots of photos.
Our lodge in the Amazon region was Jardin Aleman near Misahualli at around 600m. In jungle surroundings, there were about 20 en-suite rooms within huts, with general areas and a swimming pool. We would be here for 3 nights.
Friday Oct 26th - Misahualli
Meals at the lodge were outside, but under cover near the pool. Our morning excursion was a local walk in the jungle with Jerson, our local guide, who was brilliant. 10 years ago the area had been fields, which were then planted with native trees and left to develop. Now it was secondary forest full of insects, flowers, small trees including walking palms, but not mosquitos. Walking Palms have roots above ground and can put out new roots in the direction of light, which take 30 days to grow, then drop roots on the other side in order to 'walk' a foot or so to where there is more light - very clever. We saw palm-roosting bat nests, beetles and spiders - all quite fascinating. After lunch - 3 meals at the lodge each day was really too much, so we were starting to skip courses - we took the bus down to the local town, Misahualli, walked over the river and up the hill, with views of hummingbirds and a potoo. A path through the bushes led to a little circular waterway with canoes, so we boarded one for a gentle journey through forest with lots of birds (about 15 varieties) to see and hear, including hoatzin, an almost pre-historic bird and the only one in its own family, and there were spider monkeys in the trees too. Later, we had a swim in the pool before dinner, then Jerson and Diego looked for tiny frogs in the bushes for us. An amazing day in the jungle!
Saturday Oct 27th - Misahualli
It rained with thunder overnight, but was then another good day. After breakfast, we took the bus into town and boarded motor canoes which took us down the Napo River (east towards the Amazon) for 20km, in light rain, landing on the north bank with muddy steps to a bench area. It was mostly jungle on both banks with the odd little village and a few Neotropic Cormorants on the banks. Jerson, then took us on a good walk through primary forest with larger trees and epiphytes, especially bromeliads where we also saw a bat inside a tree and poison-dart frogs as well as other creatures, plants, flowers and insects. We had a good pre-cooked lunch in tins which had been kept in cool-boxes at the end of the walk, before returning to Misahualli via a short stop at an indian village to see their produce and crafts. Back at Jardin Aleman, we had a good swim, paid a rip-off $31 for the laundry, then had 2 of the 4 course dinner. In the evening, Diego, the most knowledgeable guide I've ever met, winner of the Wanderlust Travel Guide of the year in 2009, and a very helpful guy, helped us to book hotels and a flight between Guayaquil and Quito after this trip, having given us really good advise on where to go in our 3 days between trips, based around Quito.
Sunday 28th October - Waterfall Route to Banos (by Helen)
We left our beautiful lodge complex at 08:30 for a 150km drive to Banos along the waterfall route leaving the Amazon Jungle behind and heading south to the to the highlands and cloud forest. En route, we stopped to visit El Pailon del Diablo waterfall or the Devil’s Cauldron. After walking downhill for approximately 1km we came to the bottom of the falls. It being a Sunday, it was heaving with people all out for the day. We had a lunch of Avacado soup on a bar overlooking the river, and watched a turkey vulture riding the thermals at the bottom of the waterfall. We had a further 20mins drive into Banos and saw black vultures riding thermals on the way, and arrived at Hostal Posada “J”, our accommodation for the night. Our room was brightly decorated with Inca designs, however in order to turn the bedside light on we had to screw the lightbulb in and unscrew to turn it off!
Banos is a smallish town which sits 8km from the crater of Tungarahua, an active volcano which last showed activity from 1999 to 2015 after 80 years of dormancy, so we were advised that our accommodation could be subject to change at short notice! We wandered around the town with Diego pointing out the key places, including a toffee making shop, where we all bought some goodies for the bus. The church contains a statue of the Virgin of the Water, who apparently gained her reputation by making a spring flow again following a drought and intervened on several occasions, saving people from various fate, such as jumping from a bridge. These miracles are captured in paintings along the walls of the church, which we were invited to view. She has an enviable wardrobe of fine dresses which appear to be changed every week - Diego has never seen her in the same outfit twice. We also visited a vegetable ivory shop where they make mock ivory items of jewellery and figures crafted from the tagua nut.
Several of us found a little bar/restaurant serving beer and with a good menu next door to the hotel called Cafe Hood. The owner appeared to be an old hippy traveller (just like us) who liked our sort of music, and his cafe was filled with masks, pictures of old film stars and prayer flags, and offered an Ecuadorean, Thai, Indian and Mexican menu. We all revelled in the music and after a few beers and a shared shirmp curry we headed back to the hotel to write up the day. As usual I fell asleep before writing very much at all.
Monday 29th October - Chimborazo & Riobamba (by Helen)
On our way out of Banos this morning, we passed Tungarahua, and the devastation it caused as we started our climb back up to the Andes and Riobamba, our destination for this evening. On our way to Riobamba we drove up to a refuge at 4800m which was in the Chimborazo Forest Reserve. Mt. Chimborazo, at 6,310m is the most distant point from the centre of the earth, and the highest mountain in Ecuador. It is also an extinct Volcano.
When we got to the refuge, Chimborazo had considerable cloud cover, so we couldn’t see the top of the crater. It was very cold and windy, but we saw Vicuñas, which are a protected species in Ecuador. The landscape at first seemed quite barren, but on closer inspection we found several species of small stemless flowers, some of them the same as flowers we have at home, it of a more hardy species. We also saw Ecuadorian Hillstar hummingbirds, and Plumbous Sierra-Finches, which thrive at these altitudes, and got some amazing photos.
We returned to the visitor centre at 4200m and walked on a mountain track for about 45 minutes when Jesus picked us up with the bus.
On the drive to Riobamba, I happened to look around as we entered the town and saw that the cloud had lifted from Chimborazo, and I could finally see the top of the mountain. I alerted everyone on the bus, and Jesus turned the bus around as we weren’t allowed to stop on the Pan American Highway, and found us somewhere to park to take photos. You would have thought this was the end to a perfect day, however ........
We arrived at our hotel on the edge of town and had to get back on the bus to be taken to a restaurant about 20 mins drive away. It was a pizza and pasta bar, and we ordered food and drinks. An hour later we hadn’t even had drinks or the usual popcorn appetisers. When the food eventually arrived, some of the orders were wrong too. This experience was unfortunate, as we didn’t get back to the hotel until 21:30 and had to be up at 04:00 for the very long drive to Cuenca.
Tuesday 30th October - Devils Nose Train & Cuenca
The reason for our early start was to catch the 08:00 Devil’s Nose Train from Alausi, so breakfast was at 04:30,and leave at 05:15! We arrived at Alausi at 06:30!! There were cafes there where we could easily have had breakfast, and a later start.
The Devil’s Nose Train is one of the best railway journeys in the world. The track drops 800m down a ridge and into the gorge of the Rio Chanchan. The railway line runs along a series of switch backs, which at times run next to a sheer drop. The scenery is stunning, and many photos were taken. On arrival at Simbamba we were met by local dancers who entertained us for an hour before the train returned to Alausi. There was an old Indian village next to the track which had been turned into a museum. We arrived back at Alausi at 10:30, where we shopped for lunch, and found a litre box of Cabernet Sauvignon for $6.75, which just had to be done!
We continued driving along the Pan American Highway to Ingapirca, the main Inca site in Ecuador, which provided us with a 45 minute slow walk where Diego told us about the Inca’s time here. He also explained that there is a planned programme to reinstate all of the old Inca Trails. We arrived at Cuenca at around 17:30, so a very long day for Jesus, our driver.
We found a little cafe across the road and just down from the hotel, where we found Kevin eating a burger which looked delicious, so we joined him.
Wednesday 31st October - Cuenca
Cuenca is a UNESCO World Heritage city with a large expat community, making it quite an affluent city, and Diego took us on a tour of the downtown historical area with its markets and it’s new and old cathedrals. It has quite an arts and crafts tradition, and is an intellectual centre, with a history of notable artists, writers, poets and philosophers. Many of the locally manufactured products can be found for sale in an indoor market off Parque Abdon Calderon, which we decided to revisit this evening for gifts.
Jesus picked us up across the Rio Tomebamba,along who’s banks were more artists and eateries and drove us up to the tourist balcony of Turi from where we had a panoramic view of the city.
Many of the group went on to the Homer Ortega Panama Hat factory.
In the evening, we watched the All Soul’s parade, then found a restaurant for a 2nd rate chicken Lasagne. Cuenca is a lovely city and worth going back to.
Thursday Nov 1st - Cajas National Park & Guayaquil
On the way out of Cuenca, we passed the Jefferson Perez Stadium. Perez is the only Ecuadorian Olympic medalist ever having won the 20km walk twice and held the world record. He is a national hero. The road to Guayaquil climbs up over the Andes and we turned off down a track before the top into Cajas National Park, where we had a good 90 minute walk with Guide Edison to spot birds, flowers and the odd alpaca. Tres Cruces Pass at 4200m (13,500ft) is the continental divide and is only 40 miles from the Pacific coast. On the way down, we stopped for lunch with big views. Eventually, we crawled into Guayaquil and our ***** Unipark Hotel, overlooking the park and next to the city Cathedral. We all ate at the hotel restaurant as we'd been warned that the streets were not safe in the evening, though things have improved.
Friday Nov 2nd - Guayaquil
From our 10th floor room of the hotel, we had a great view of Parque de las Iguanas and the Metropolitan Cathedral of Guayaquil, both of which we explored after a good breakfast. Jesus then took us a mile or so to the La Panas bohemian district, and said goodbye to us to drive back to Quito. The plan was to go up 450 steps to the tower/lighthouse above the city, but Diego decided we didn't have time, so we strolled around La Panas, then back along the nicely developed river front where there were yellow-crowned night herons, stilts and ibis. At the clock tower, we turned right to the government and admin buildings, statues and monuments. We were back at the hotel early, so I went for a 17 minute run along the river front towards the sea and back.
For out 3 days between our Explore and Exodus trips, Diego had suggested going to Mindo Cloud Forest and also to Nono, and had put me in touch with Lorena, a travel guide friend who lived in Nono, so our plan now was to repack, so that we could leave 1 big bag in the hotel in Guayaquil, to pick up after the Galápagos trip, thereby travelling lighter for the Galápagos and our next 3 days, which had now been confirmed with Lorena. We had a big lunch with most of the group and joined their transfer to the airport, as we were flying back to Quito at 18:30. We'd had a great group of 16 and will certainly stay in touch with a few, notably Sid and Jan from West Wales. From Quito airport, we took a $25 taxi (40 mins) to Hotel Vieja Cuba, a lovely little hotel in 'new town'.
In the afternoon, we did get an email from Exodus about our Galápagos trip advising that our boat the 'Cachelotte' was waiting for papers to be approved and would not be ready for us for the first week, so we had been upgraded to the 'MY Passion'.
Saturday Nov 3rd - Quito to Nono
After a fine breakfast, we explored Quito 'new town' by walking to Parque El Ejido via Reina Victoria (Queen Victoria Street), then around the park looking for paintings in the style we'd seen in our first hotel. We met 1 artist and found that Endora Crow who died in 1998 had been the originator of the 'Magic Realism' style we liked, and there were now several local painters who copied the style and there was a gallery in the old city. On the way back, we found a little market and bought T-shirts.
Lorena and Carlos picked us up from Vieja Cuba at 1 and drove via the Quito West bye-pass then up small roads to Nono about 20 miles out of the city. Nono is a lovely long thin village on a hillside and their house was at the bottom by a tumbling stream. They had bought a little old house and a plot of land in 1998 and had developed it into a wonderful house called Villa Doris with a garden full of hummingbirds, so we spent most of the afternoon taking photos of birds, there being several feeders near the windows. Our room was the old piggery under the house and was delightful. Carlos's son Marcello ran a restaurant in the village and being Argentinian and an excellent cook, we had to have Argentinian steak and a bottle of Cab Sav/Malbec - a really super meal.
Sunday Nov 4th - Nono to Mindo Cloud Forest
A good breakfast and more photos of hummingbirds and red squirrels took us to 11am, then Carlos drove us to Mindo, which doesn't look far on the map! Initially it was a scenic and undulating dirt road up to the main Quito to coast road, which was very busy with traffic, especially going back to Quito at the end of a 4 day national holiday. It took over 2 hours to drive to the Septimo Paraiso complex not far from the turning to Mindo. It was a wooden complex of about 26 rooms, including dining room, pool and games room in the middle of the forest, with a land area of several square miles. We took a taxi about 3 miles down to Mindo village to see an Orchid garden, many of the flowers being minuscule, and had a stroll around the village. Back at Septimo, we walked in the forest on the Snake Trail to a platform where there were a few hummingbirds, but it was getting late. We'd asked Nancy, the manager, about getting a local bird guide for next day and she told us at dinner that she had found one. Septimo was fairly quiet except for about 12 birders who had arrived in the afternoon.
Monday Nov 5th - Mindo birding then back to Quito
We were up early for a 5:30 breakfast with the bird group, then had showers before meeting our guide Danny at 6:30. We walked around the tracks not far from the lodge for 4 hours and Danny pointed out 36 different birds including several colourful tanagers, toucans, flycatchers, foliage gleaners, hummingbirds. Back at the lodge, still with Danny, Nancy came out and took us to a Potoo.
Full list for the record:- Crimson-rumped Toucanet, Crested Guan, Yellow-throatedToucan, Rusty-margined Flycatcher, Cattle Egret, Rufous-collared Sparrow, Blue-necked Tanager, Yellow-throated Bush-Tanager, Blue-grey Tanager, Grey-breasted Wood-Wren, Ecuadorian Thrush, Swainson's Thrush, Masked Trogon, Slaty AntWren, Ornate Flycatcher, Pale-mandibled Aracari, Violet-tailed Sylph, Brown Inca, White-necked Jacobin, Rufous Motmot, Empress Brilliant, Common Potoo, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Golden Tanager, Spotted Woodcreeper, Montane Woodcreeper, Flame-rumped Tanager, Black Vulture, Buff-throated Saltator, Black-winged Saltator, Buff-fronted Foliagegleaner, Scaly-throated Foliagegleaner, Red-faced Spinetail, Orange-bellied Euphonia, Brown-capped Vireo, Red-eyed Vireo.
We then spent time in the hummingbird garden watching them race around before Carlos picked us up at 2 for the long drive back to Quito. Back at Vieja Cuba, we met Ian and Rita who were also on the Exodus Galápagos trip, had a light meal of nachos in a local cafe, but service was poor and the music was annoying. The washing we left at the hotel had not been done, as they had not labelled it, so they got it done while we were out. There was a group meeting with the local (Ecuador land) guide for the 10 of us who had arrived.
Tuesday Nov 6th - Quito
In the morning, we took a cab to the old city to look for the Endora Crow Gallery, but the helpful Information Centre told us it was no longer there, but there was a Foundation office and there may be a gallery in Guayaquil. We bought a micro SD card for the underwater camera, then caught a bus to the Botanic Gardens for 25 cents each. We had a good walk around the gardens which are inside a big park (including a big skateboard circuit). We failed to find the E. Crow Foundation on the walk back to Vieja Cuba Hotel. I had a haircut ($5) in the nearby shopping mall, then we walked along Reina Victoria to get some money. However, on the way, some sticky liquid was dropped on us from above, and suddenly there were five men around us with paper tissues to help to clean us up. We realised quickly that this was a scam to try to steal wallets etc from us, and walked away quickly. I'd seen this scam in Buenos Aires a few years ago. I went for a run around the big park, while Helen told the hotel receptionist about the scam and she called the police. When I returned there were 5 policemen there keen to get what evidence they could. Quito New Town, which is a new tourist area, does not want to get a reputation for such crimes, so they are keen to track down the gang involved.
In the evening, we found a super camp shop for shorts, sandals etc, just before it closed, then found a really excellent Ecuadorian restaurant with groups of tourists inside. Our latest briefing document from Exodus now stated that we would be on the MY Passion for 2 weeks!
Wednesday Nov 7th - Santa Cruz, Galápagos Islands
Overview of the Galápagos Islands
The Galápagos Islands were discovered in 1535 and Charles Darwin visited them 300 years later. The archipelago straddles the equator and is 600 miles west of Ecuador in mainland South America. There are 13 main islands, 6 smaller islands (between 0.5 & 2 sq. miles) and numerous tiny islands and rocks. The total land area is 3043 sq miles, with Isabela, the large seahorse shaped island in the west being 60% of this. Only 5 of the islands are inhabited by a total of 17,000 people, mostly supporting the tourist trade. The islands are volcanic in origin, with the eastern island being the oldest as the Nazca tectonic plate is drifting eastwards. Three ocean currents converge on the Galápagos Islands - the cold Humboldt current from the south, the warm Nino (or Panama) current from the north and the South Equatorial current from the west, and this results in a significant difference in the vegetation which grows on each island. Over millennia, some animals have evolved to suit these differences, so that there are 'island specific' species of Giant Tortoise, Finches, Mockingbirds, Lava Lizards, Geckos, Rats and Snakes, while other animals are found on certain islands only. Charles Darwin's discovery of these differences led to his theory of evolution.
I have been fascinated by the Galápagos for many years, seen numerous documentaries and started to read 'The origin of species' though much of it is in biological Latin, so it was great to be going there. The wildlife has been isolated from the mainland and man for so long that they are accustomed to having no predators, so have no fear of humans.
The alarm went at 4, as we had to leave the hotel at 4:30 to catch an early flight - via Guayaquil. On the way to the airport, the news was that we were only on the MY Passion for 1 week and that plans for Week 2 were is progress. On the flight from Quito, there were great views of Cotopaxi, Cayambe and Chimborazo in the early morning light before the clouds and smog rose. At Guayaquil, most of the local passengers got off, leaving about 3 tour groups on board, then the plane filled up with more tourists and people living in the Galápagos for the 90 minute flight out to Baltra, the main airport of the islands. There was also a 1 hour time change, so we were now GMT - 6. We had to pay $100 Galápagos Tax and $20 for an Immigration Control card to get through customs but got a nice passport stamp. The Galápagos is very environmentally conscious, so no fruit (except bananas), nuts or seeds are allowed in and footware must be clean. When we came to collect our bags, they were all stacked in rows with sniffer dogs checking them.
David was to be our Galápagos guide and naturalist for the trip, and his knowledge was comprehensive. We would be doing Itinerary A - the Eastern Islands in week 1, and still did not know what would happen in week 2. There were 12 of us in the group, 8 from the UK who had booked for 2 weeks and 4 from USA and Canada who had booked for 1 week.
From the airport, minibuses took us to a ferry for the little crossing to Santa Cruz, the main island. Here a small coach took us from the sheltered dry north of the island up onto 'the highlands' then after about an hour we turned off and down to a Giant Tortoise reserve. Giant Tortoises were on the track making it difficult for our driver, then we stopped for a walk to see them more clearly and went down a lava tube where a barn owl lived. Lunch was at a nice villa. The coach dropped us in Puerto Ayora, the largest town in the Galápagos, and we walked to the Charles Darwin Centre with iguanas at the side of the road, to see the tortoise hatchery and to learn about the ecology of the islands. Birds and animals take very little notice of our presence, so it was amazing. We had time to stroll around the town on the way to the harbour.
We boarded pangas (Little rubber inflatables like zodiacs, which took about 10 people) which took us to the smartest yacht in the bay, the MY Passion. We had a nice twin cabin in the middle and the yacht was spotless luxury with excellent food and service.
We did see the 'new Cachelotte' in the harbour, a converted Canadian fishing trawler which was ready to sail, but papers had not yet been approved by the authorities. There are strict limits and controls on boats in the Galápagos, there being a total limit, and specified routes and schedules which must be adhered to. This means that nowhere gets overcrowded.
Thursday Nov 8th - Cruise Day 2 - Plaza Island & Santa Fe
We cruised to Plaza Island (South) overnight, and although it is a small island, spent 3 hours there because there is so much to see. There are lots of sea lions and land iguanas among the cactus plants which cover only part of the island and a large number of different birds - Frigate birds, Nazca and Blue-footed Boobies, Red-beaked Tropicbirds, Brown Pelicans, Swallow-tailed and Lava Gulls, Galápagos Herons and Hawks, Galápagos Sheerwaters, Brown Noddies, at least types of finches, yellow warblers and ruddy turnstones. There are also lava lizards and Sally light-foot crabs. We also saw several skeletons and numerous youngsters to show that this is real life. For this blog, I have tried to select only one photo of each species from the whole cruise.
In the afternoon, we sailed to Santa Fe Island and had our first snorkel, seeing lots of fish and I was lucky enough to see a sea lions swim past.
Friday Nov 9th - Cruise Day 3 - San Cristobal Island
In the morning, we were off the north-west coast of San Cristobal near Kicker Rock, where some went snorkelling before breakfast. We then had a few hours on the white sandy beach nearby under the headland of Cerro Brujo with Pelicans, iguanas, San Cristobal mockingbirds, wimbrel and sea lions for company. After lunch, we docked at Puerto Baquerizo Moreno and took a coach ride across the island to La Galapaguera, a tortoise breeding centre. There was an option to climb 400 steps to Frigatebird Hill, but it was invisible in the cloud.
We'd had news during the day about Week 2 of the trip, with an offer to join the 100 passenger MV Legend for 5 days or reject this and go home a week early. The highlight of week 2 for me would have been the visit to Puerto Villamil and Volcan Sierra Negra, the 2nd largest caldera in the world, but this was not even on the MV Legend itinerary. We unanimously rejected the offer, but wanted Exodus to come up with a better compensation offer. Wifi was now becoming a rarity, so we found a wifi cafe in town to catch up before leaving San Cristobal.
Saturday Nov 10th - Cruise Day 4 - Espanola
Espanola is the most southerly island in the Galápagos and the coldest due to the Humboldt current and winds. However, it is excellent for wildlife. After breakfast, we took a panga to the local sandy beach to explore. There was a whalebone on the beach, Pelicans in the sea and Sally light-foot crabs, Espanola Lava Lizards and Oyster Catchers on the rocks. The Espanola Mockingbirds were very persistent. There were sea lions and their pups on the beach as well as yellow warblers and finches with Nazca and Blue-footed Boobies diving into the sea.
Next, snorkelling in Gardner Bay was the best I'd ever done with numerous sea lions swimming around us and a Pacific Green Turtle which I swam next to and was so close to as it surfaced for air that I could have touched it.
In the afternoon, we went around to Punta Suarez and took pangas to steps sheltered from the crashing seas. Here, we walked the 2 mile trail around the area - the best walk in the Galápagos. We had to be careful to keep to the path, not step on vegetation and also give the wildlife space, even though it was often on the path There were lots of Marine Iguanas, Sea lions, Nazca Boobies, Blue-footed Boobies, gulls, doves and tropicbirds. Espanola Mockingbirds were amongst us after our water again and there were several varieties of finch. There was a Galápagos Hawk and chick, but the highlight of the week was the Waved Albatrosses. First, there was a youngster just by the path, then we came to a pair of albatrosses doing a courting display, knocking beaks together. It was marvellous. Further up, there was a whole field of them and the sky was full of birds gliding overhead - Albatross, Boobies, Frigatebirds etc. At the far end of the walk, we were near the cliff edge and Waved Albatrosses were walking to the edge and taking off, though some of the younger ones were taking an age to get the courage to do so. There was then a big waterspout on the rocks below whenever a big wave came in. There were nests and pairs of Nazca and Blue-footed Boobies to pass on our way back and our first fur seal, which is actually a variety of sea lion. What a wonderful day!
Sunday Nov 11th - Floreana
Overnight, we sailed west to Floreana Island. After breakfast, we had a wet landing at Punta Cormorant where we saw our first penguin, then Blue-footed Boobies, Flamingos and Black-necked Stilts. The geology of the Galápagos Islands is fascinating and David was superb at explaining it, but my brain is slowing down, so although I understood most of it, I soon forgot it. The sunken crater of Devil's Crown was close to where the boat anchored and was our site for the morning snorkelling. There were awkward currents, so although I saw lots of fish, including starfish and some sharks, I found that I frequently lost the group and spent much of my time catching up. Just as we were getting back into the panga, there was a shout that a hammerhead shark was in sight, but I missed it. The underwater camera we bought didn't work, probably because of the cheap SD card. In the afternoon, we went to the beach at Post Office Bay, where there was once a settlement of Norwegians, but now there was only a post box. The idea now was that you left letters for future visitors and picked up any that were local to you to deliver manually, but there were none for Devon or Cornwall or for any of the group. Some of us investigated another lava tube with a tricky steep entrance which reached an underground channel which went out to sea. Back on the boat a school of dolphins was spotted nearby.
Monday Nov 12th - Cruise Day 6 - Dragon Hill & Sullivan Bay
During the night, we cruised north to Cerro Dragon on the north-west corner of Santa Cruz Island. After breakfast, we went ashore do a walk through this green land of flowering cacti, Stilts, White-cheeked Pintail, Semipalmated Plover, Sanderling and many Land and Marine Iguanas. During lunch, we crossed over to Sullivan Bay off north-east Santiago close to Isla Bartolome, a big spike of a rock. A few went snorkelling near the beach as Galapagos Penguins swam along by the panga but we continued to the beach for a stroll. Later most of the group had a big walk over amazing 100 year old black lava flows.
Tuesday Nov 13th - Cruise Day 7 - Genovesa
Genovesa is a less-visited small island (5 sq miles) in the north of the Galápagos with a big bay formed from a large sunken crater. It is 6 hours sailing (with the current) from Santiago Island, but when we arrived in the morning, we were not alone. In fact the MV Legend, the 100 passenger boat we had the option of joining for week 2 was there and seeing her, we were all very glad that we'd rejected the offer, so this would be our last island. We took pangas to Prince Philips Steps, quite rough steep steps cut through the cliff and named after the Prince's visit in 1965. The island is often known as 'Bird Island' as there is a big variety and quantity of birds here - Frigatebirds, Nazca & Red-footed Boobies, Swallow-tailed and Lava gulls, Red-billed Tropicbirds, Short-eared Owls, storm petrels, finches, mockingbirds and more. We saw most of these on our morning walk, though many of the MV Legend passengers seemed to be chatting in groups and looking at their mobile phones, with little interest in their surroundings. Next, there was a choice of snorkelling or kayaking, so 4 of us took to kayaks for the only time on the trip, which was fun, though William and Julie capsized twice, and Julie's camera was lost to the Galápagos waters with lots of pictures. Poor Julie, from Exodus North America had helped a lot to get us a good deal from this shortened trip though WiFi was a rarity.
After lunch, many of us went ashore at Darwin Bay for our last Galápagos walk amongst the timid and fascinating wildlife including Yellow-crowned Heron, Beachmaster (male Sealion) and tiny Fidler Crabs about half an inch long? We set sail about 5pm, as it was quite rough into the current with the sun going down as we crossed the equator - Quite a fitting end to a super holiday aboard the lovely MY Passion around the Galápagos. 7 days was enough, as we saw almost everything there was to see apart from flightless cormorants and Isabela and the big volcanic crater.
Wednesday Nov 14th - Back to Guayaquil
I was up for an early morning panga ride around a cove on the north coast of Santa Cruz, which was surrounded by mangrove trees and protected a lot of marine life from big sharks and orcas. I found it a bit murky to see into the depths, but there were White-tipped Reef Sharks, Green Sea Turtles and Eagle Rays near the surface and Striated Herons and Blue-footed Boobies on trees and rocks. There were bigger sharks and Baracuda visible from the back of the MY Passion for those that didn't go on the panga ride. Soon we were back in Baltra with a short minibus ride to the airport. We'd had no WiFi for days to reorganise our journey home but the rest of the group had booked their flights via Exodus, so had been sorted. The Avianca flight from Baltra to Guayaquil was 2 hours late, so we had lots of time to buy T-shirts etc in duty free and have a snack with the compensation voucher, but we did have very good seats (7A &B).
At Guayaquil, we went to the Avianca desk, and there was now no chance of getting the 17:23 as we had a bag in Guayaquil to pick up and no time. The only option was to get the 09:30 to Bogota in the morning, then the 22:55 from there to London at an extra cost of $170 each, which we can claim from Exodus. We should be able to go into Bogota for several hours and we checked in while we were at the airport. We took a taxi to the Unipark Hotel, recovered the bag and moved into room 1106. Now we had WiFi, so could catch up with home etc before having a meal with wine in the hotel.
Thursday & Friday Nov 15th/16th - Avianca fiasco
We had an early breakfast, then a taxi to the airport for the 09:30 flight, but it was 2 hours late - again. Okay, we have lots of time in Bogota, so we looked around the shops and bought Panama hats, which originate from Ecuador - the French bought lots of them when in Panama on their way to the gold rush, hence the incorrect name.
At Bogota airport, there was no problem at customs going into the city for 6 hours or so (and we got a passport stamp). We talked to Aviator, the only tour operator at the airport and found we could not do a 3 hour city tour due to student demos and had no city map, so I used WiFi to download a city map into Google Maps and we caught a bus outside. Oops, it was an airport shuttle bus going around the airport only. Colombia was a 'no go' country for tourists only a few years as it was run by drug barons and was very dangerous, but there has been a remarkable clean-up and agreements and is now a new popular tourist country. We took a taxi to La Candelaria in the centre of the city, then found Corner Cafe run by a very helpful guy who spoke good English and supported West Ham. Just up the road were the main tourist roads and lanes with lots of super graffiti - lots of photos. Further on we found the main street and a restaurant where we had a good meal (beef shin) and Colombian beer for $20 for 2, then took a taxi back to the airport. It had been a good excursion for the day. The 22:55 Avianca flight was already labelled as 2 hours late, so that was 3 Avianca flights in 20 hours all being 2 hours late, so 6 extra hours of sitting around in airports - not happy, especially as we would almost certainly miss our train connection to Dawlish. The plane eventually took off at 1:20am and I and most other people fell asleep, so missed dinner which was served about 3am (Colombian time) but 8am in the UK, then no food was served until 2:30pm UK time, so we were all starving - appalling service! At Heathrow, we took the Heathrow express to Paddington (to get the next possible train) and although we missed the 18:00 caught the faster 18:30, which was fine.
Overall, we'd had a super 4 weeks in Ecuador (inc Galápagos), a lovely varied country to visit, with so much to see and so many really good photos.
Sunday March 24th 2019 - Kathmandu
I arrived at Kathmandu Airport at 11:05 from Qatar Air flight 652 having dozed on the 4 hours from Doha. I was lucky to be near the front, so got to the arrivals hall quickly, where Visa entry was now done on a large touch screen which produced a print out to take to the desk. £32 for 17 days, then on to baggage claim. There were lots of young Nepalese lads there as many of them work in the Gulf States so it was very busy. Outside, I waved at the guy with the Explore board and joined Jane and Anne for a ride to the Ambassador Hotel in Tamil (the tourist area of Kathmandu). I didn't know the hotel but when I looked out of my room window, the Shankar was clearly visible, so I knew where I was. Our leader was Kunjang. In the afternoon, I took Jane and Anne into Tamil as it was their first time in Kathmandu. I hadn't bothered to buy US dollars in the UK, which was fine as the GBP exchange rate was good. I changed £200 to Nepalese Rupees at 142.80 then we had quiche and a coffee in Hot Breads - a good rooftop cafe with views of the busy streets via a mass of telephone and power wires. I got 6 passport photos (£4) for permits, then we went to Shonas, the U.K. trekkers mecca in KTM. Shona set up this trekking store over 30 years ago with Yorkshire husband Andy. We then found a top floor cafe/bar which had only just opened, for a beer and chat. J & A from near Brecon were Welsh rugby supporters ! This seems to be a theme with friend I've met recently on trips after Jossef in Albania and Sid in Ecuador.
Back at the hotel, we met Valerie from Utah, Karen from East Grinstead and Hester from Bristol, so there were only 6 trekkers - 5 ladies and me! In the evening, we had a group meal in The Ship. I realised that I had a problem as I'd left my travel insurance details behind and these would be needed before I could join the trek. I found Nationwide insurance numbers on the web and phoned the emergency number - the only one open on a Sunday - and they gave me the number to ring on Monday morning UK time.
Kunjang warned us that there had been a lot of snow in the Annapurna area and tracks to the Sanctuary had been closed, but we're now open again.
Monday Mar 25th - Kathmandu
After breakfast, I joined the group on a walking tour of the Darbar Square area, where there is still extensive rebuilding in progress 4 years after the earthquake. There are lots of pigeons there and numerous dogs lying in the sun. We looked in several temples including one where 'The Living Goddess' lives - a girl of 4 who appears in a window twice a day for about a minute dressed in gold - no cameras allowed - and we were lucky to be there just at the right time. She will cease to be the Living Goddess when she bleeds, even a small cut or a pinprick, so she is carefully protected and educated in the temple.
The group continued to Bodnath and Pashupatinath where I'd been several times, so I was dropped off near Tamil for a stroll and a coffee. I also found and bought a copy of 'Annapurna South Face' by Chris Bonington, which I'd read in 1971 but never kept. Back at the hotel, I phoned UK to get my travel insurance policy no etc, then went to visit Dipak and Chameli, my friends with a little shop in Tamil. David, a fit 75 year old Australian, joined us for a while. Chameli then took me to the techy area of Kathmandu beyond Darbar Square where we eventually found a shop with an iPod Nano (16Mb), which I bought. In the evening, I joined Jane, Anne, Karen and Hester at a nice bar/restaurant in a lane down the side of the Garden of Dreams, which was very good. We then had more drinks off New Road - these ladies can drink !!
Tuesday Mar 26th - Pokhara
As we would have 2 nights in Pokhara at the end of the trek, the plan was to take everything, then sort it in Pokhara into Day Packs with 10kg of trek stuff into our new red Explore bags to be carried by porters, leaving anything we didn't need in our original bags at the hotel in Pokhara. Leaving Kathmandu at 8, the traffic was fairly light in town, but soon got much worse on the 'Highway of mud' out of the Kathmandu Valley. Progress was slow with a tea stop until 80% of the traffic turned left towards the Indian border. This poor road is the main route for all goods and services between Kathmandu and India. Beyond this junction, travel was smoother and we had several stops on the way including lunch just after the Trishuli River turned south. Later we passed the turning for Gorkha, which had been an old kingdom and was the centre of the 2015 earthquake, and the origin of the Ghurkas. On the way I spoke to Valerie, a pharmacist and fanatically active lady. She had run lots of marathons and ultras (over marathon distance) and had reached 34 of the 50 US states in her quest to run an ultra in every state when her hip went and she had to have a replacement, so now cannot run. She has also been a keen mountaineer, but is now limited to cycling, trekking and kayaking.
We arrived in Pokhara at 5:30, so 9.5 hours on the road including stops! Hotel Pokhara Batika was a fine small hotel not far from the lake side. In the evening the UK girls and I went for a good pizza in Cafe Concerto then sorted packing for the trek.
Wednesday March 27th - to Ghandruk (Hotel Buddha)
Morning stretches and a little run to and around a lakeside park was followed by a good breakfast. Our new red bags were thrown on top of the minibus, but not tied down and we were joined by assistant guides and porters, leaving at 9. Within minutes of leaving we could see Machhupuchhre, the Fishtail Mountain from the streets of Pokhara, and about 10 minutes later we stopped for group photos with Annapurna I, Annapurna South, Machhupuchhre, Annapurna IV and II in the background. The road near the Mardi Khola (river) soon became lumpy and muddy, but improved as we climbed. Up onto a ridge onto a ridge, we had great views of 'Fishtail' and also back down to Phewa Tal, the lake at Pokhara. At Nayapul we changed to 2 four-wheel drive vehicles which took us, via a tea stop, up to the start of the short trek for the day - about 20 minutes up a stone staircase to the town of Ghandrung, where we checked into the Hotel Buddha and had our lunch.
In the afternoon, we had a walk around the extensive hill-side village of Ghandruk/Ghandrung/Ghandlung. This involves going up and down lots of stone steps, between buildings and up to the monastery with constant views of Machhupuchhre and the foothills of Annapurna South. We had 4 double rooms, so Valerie and I had a room each.
Thursday March 28th - to Chhomrong (2170m)
In the morning, we were gently woken by chanting and drum music coming from the monastery, which I videoed. The theme of the trek today was stone steps, and though it was only 12 km (8 miles), there was very little flat with 810 metres up steps and 670m of down them. Three porters, one of them a lady, took our red bags, then Bishal led the way, with Kunjang and Pramess at the back and Amrit, who looked after food and tea-house contacts, in between. At the top of the first pass, we had lemon and ginger tea, then descending steeply through woods to the river Kimrong, where we had a 2 hour break including lunch. Over the river and up steeply, it was then fairly flat for a while where Griffon Vultures and a Golden Eagle were seen. A steep descent took us to Chhomrong, the last village on the trail, which stretches all the way down to the river, though the Mountain View Guest House where I had a small single room is nearer the top. There are only tea-houses beyond Chhomrong. The shower was good, as was the apple pie from the bakery next door. Views of the mountains were good all day. On trek, Jane (Crickhowell, 60's) was usually with Bishal with Hester, the youngest from Bristol, at the back especially uphill. I usually walked faster with more photo stops.
Friday March 29th - to Dovan (1505m)
My breakfast was muesli with hot milk, then toast and omelette, as we sat looking at the first part of the trek for the day - way down on stone steps to the Chhomrong river, then back up to tea-houses at Sinuwa - probably the toughest section of the route. Beyond Sinuwa, the valley of the Modi Khola became deeper with cliffs on the far bank, as the trail continued mostly up, but now in Rhododendron forest with deep red flowers (National flower of Nepal) - higher up the flowers are pink and those at the highest altitude are white. Bamboo forest was mixed in too, as well as plenty of bird life, butterflies and little blue flowers. We had lunch at Bamboo where there are 4 tea-houses, then continued upwards, now mostly on dirt paths, across a few avalanche chutes to a big overhanging rock, referred to as a cave. Dovan, our resting place for the night is now clearly visible and the amazing Fishtail Mountain has been in front of us all day. The overall distance for the day was only about 6 miles, but with 1060 metres of ascent and 620 metres of descent, it was quite challenging. At Dovan we had a room for 4 and a room for 2, so I shared with Valerie.
Saturday March 30th - to Deurali (3220m)
Much of today was walking uphill (less steps), though bamboo and rhododendron forest, progressing up the Modi Khola gorge, often with steep cliffs & waterfalls opposite - 'weeping wall'. We had a tea stop at the Himalaya (Hotel!) and continued upwards to Hinku Cave - a huge overhanging boulder - with Deurali now in sight.
We were at Deurali for lunch (spaghetti etc), which was good because the weather was bad in the afternoon with rain and strong winds. Kunjang set up a video of the Annapurna South Face Expedition 1970 from YouTube, except for the noisy background of a Ukrainian group near us. We had 2 rooms of 3, so I shared with Jane and Anne. We would now have a menu to choose from in the evening, so I had mixed spring rolls & chips and shared a beer with Hester.
Today, after being hassled by physio Anne, I started using one pole, in order to take some pressure off my knees, which also had support bandages on.
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Sunday March 31st - to Machhapuchhre Base Camp
By the morning, the storm had gone and it was clear and calm with Langur monkeys visible in the trees across the valley. However, from here on, we were walking on snow, which I found great fun. Karen had been ill overnight, so she would be going slowly with Kunjang carrying her day-pack. It was very scenic in the snow with the mountains appearing around us as we were going through the 'gates' into the Sanctuary. The girls all had 2 poles each and were sliding about a bit, though gradually learning to kick steps (uphill) and dig in heals downhill. I was being more forceful, so getting more grip and had no trouble. It was only a 5km walk up the Machhupuchhre Basse Camp - Shankar Tea House, where we had 2 rooms of 3, so I shared with Karen and Hester.
After lunch in the sun, Valerie set off towards Annapurna Base Camp (ABC) and I followed 10 minutes later, though we had promised not to go all the way. I pushed quite hard, kicking steps and passed quite a few people including Valerie, and we agreed to stop and turn around after an hour, with ABC visible in the distance. The mountain scenery was good, but clouds were building up. We raced back down in 30 minutes, just before the clouds came down and it started to rain and then snow. MBC was cold, though the dining room where we spent most of our time was warmer.
Monday April 1st - to ABC (4130m) and back to MBC
The alarm went at 4:30am, as we planned to set off at 5 in order to see the sunrise on Annapurna I etc. As usual, I left about 5 minutes after the group. It had snowed in the night and was crisp and hard, so easy to walk on, and there was some light in the sky so we didn't need head torches for long. The group were strung out each going at their own pace, so I passed them one by one eager to get higher for good sunrise photos and a video of the mountains as they were briefly pink with the first rays of the sun. Turning around Machhupuchhre (Fishtail) was accompanied by a thin crescent moon. I continued on alone to the Annapurna Base Camp welcome sign reaching it in 1 hr 45 and joining a group of 4 excited Chinese, so we took photos for each other. Valerie arrived 10 minutes later (2 hrs), then Anne and Jane. A helicopter flew in with 4 affluent (lazy) tourists who just sat around the remnants of the ABC tea houses which had been destroyed by snow and avalanches in the last few months. There has been a lot more snow than usual up here this year.
I climbed up the slope to the tea houses where Bishal (our lead man) sat, left my day-pack there and went for a wander around the base camp area where there were numerous memorials to climbers who had died on Annapurna I. I found it quite emotional - Annapurna South Face by Chris Bonington was the first mountaineering book I read 1971 or 2 and was part of the inspiration to go on the Hippy Trail with Nick in 1972 and Nick had died 15 years ago almost to the day. I couldn't find Ian Clough's memorial - he died in an avalanche coming down to ABC at the end of the successful Annapurna South Face expedition - though there was a m memorial for the amazing Korean Park Young Seok, who climbed all 14 8000 metre peaks, plus the highest mountain in each continent, and reached both North and South poles between 1993 and 2002, but died in 2011 (aged 47) from rockfall trying a new route on Annapurna South Face.
We had group photos at the top overlooking the glacier (much receded) with Annapurna I behind us, then Amrit produced hot chocolate from his pack, which was a saviour. On the slope back down from the ABC tea houses I got my foot caught in a wire and went head first into the snow - dramatic, but no problem. It only took an hour to get back to MBC, though Hester was a bit slower, and we were ready for breakfast!
We then had most of the day in the MBC dining room as the weather deteriorated with quite a lot of snow, though there were still some groups going up and down, who would have had mediocre views. It would have been possible to go down to Dovan or Bamboo, but we were booked into MBC and it would have been a cold wet trek.
Overall, it had been a very good early morning, but a fairly boring day at MBC.
Tuesday Apr 2nd - down to Bamboo (2340m)
Overnight I was up a few times with a bad stomach, so took some Russian Imodium I'd bought in Turkmenistan and had very little breakfast. Anne was in a similar delicate state. At 7:30, when the group left, I was in the toilet again, so last to leave again, but catching up on the crisp snow was okay. However, it was a slow tricky descent in places with numerous groups coming up and some of the girls sliding around. I found that with good foot placement and heavy heal digging it was okay and even fun.
Below Deurali there was only thin snow and muddy tracks and some stone steps mostly through the bamboo and rhododendron forest. We had lemon & ginger tea at Himalaya, then continued down, now mostly on stone steps - quite challenging for my old knees. At Bamboo Tea House I shared with Jane and Anne and the showers were good. I had mixed fried rice for dinner as the safest option but was not sufficiently recovered to have a beer.
Wednesday April 3rd - to Jhinna Danda (1800m)
I wasn't looking forward to this tough day of quite steep undulations almost entirely on stone steps - down 1230 metres and up 690 metres. In addition to knee bandages, I now had both trek poles which I used almost like a cross-country skier on the uphills to take some pressure off my knees and get up there quite fast, like a hill training session, so it became a challenge!!
There were frequent calls from Black-capped Sibia, and then the lower tone of the Great Hill Barbet. I got behind taking photos and videos of birds and didn't catch the group until tea break at Sinuwa, where we also saw orchids and some small blue/turquoise birds.
On the downhill steps to the river a Golden Eagle flew over, then came the big uphill push on steps to Chhomrong reminding me of hill training sessions from years gone by. We had a good leisurely lunch at the Mountain View Guest House and the Golden Eagle returned. Another 10 minutes uphill, some flat then about 25 minutes of downhill took us to our final tea house at Jhinnu Danda - very pretty and busy. I shared with Valerie.
The whole group including porters took the long but fairly easy walk down to river level where we wallowed in the hot springs for about half an hour with the porters including Barbatti (our lady porter) using the showers for a serious clean after the trek. It started to rain as we got out and became quite heavy during the 15 minute ascent back to the tea house.
This was the final evening for the whole group, so we made a kitty to supply the crew and porters with drinks and they received their tips. It was good to spend some time with the porters who had carried our big bags around but not been seen much during the trek. The UK girls then joined other groups for some dancing on the terrace.
Thursday April 4th - Final trek then to Pokhara
The final day of trekking was the most gentle, but still undulating. We crossed a spectacular new suspension bridge, then stayed fairly high above the river in lush vegetation with lots of birds singing and some views back to Annapurna South and Hiunchuli. There were little settlements on the way with terraced fields and the whole scene was delightful and quite peaceful. We stopped at a tea house with cliffs on the far side of the valley where bees nests could be seen - with binoculars. Next we passed a bridge to the village of Landruk, which was the starting point of an interesting ridge trek to Mardi Himalaya, which Pramess had done. The last mile was a winding track to the roadhead, where a local bus was filling up and our jeeps were waiting.
On the drive down we stopped for a good lunch at Kimche, then continued down to Nayapul. In the other jeep, Amrit and the porters stopped at the checkpoint in Birethanti to get our trekking permits stamped. At Nayapul, we said 'goodbye' to the porters who would make their own way home, while we continued in the minibus. There had been lots of rain overnight and fairly high up on a ridge, we came to a halt and joined a long queue. It took about an hour for the jam to clear, as there was a section of road which was just a sea of mud with a JCB taking the heavy lorries and buses through it. Later our driver took a right fork at Naudanda onto a very good but quite narrow and twisty road along a ridge through scenic villages. But for the cloud, there would have been super views down to Pokhara.
Down in Pokhara, it was overcast with no visible mountains, so I put things in the laundry and changed some money. Later, we had drinks, then a meal in Moon Dance restaurant, which was good but it rained heavily on the way back, so we all got wet.
Friday April 5th - Pokhara
Pokhara is Nepal's 2nd city, but with the stunning scenery of the Annapurna Range & Phewa Tal lake, it is much prettier than Kathmandu. I had planned to take a boat across the lake and go up to the Peace Pagoda (Japanese) for the amazing view of the mountains reflected in the lake, as seen in every Nepalese Restaurant in the UK and also on a poster on my wall at home. However, it was a very dull cloudy day with no mountains in sight, so Valerie, Jane and I opted to take a taxi to the International Mountain Museum and haggled the fare down to 800 rupees return including waiting for us to go around it. It's quite a smart museum in a big new hall with lots of pictures and info about the 14 8000 metre peaks (all in the Himalayas and Karakoram) and their first assents, most of which I knew. There was also lots on the ethnic groups and languages of Nepal, including their typical dress, and their regions. The most shocking photos were of the effects of climate change over the last 100 years, with photos from 1921 showing big glaciers and lots of snow which have receded massively over the century.
Back in Pokhara, I wandered down to the lake via shops and tried the local fried fish while I watched men cutting girders on the football field next to Phewa Thal lake. The fish tasted fine but was very boney. I then went for a haircut which evolved into a head, neck and back massage, then picked up my laundry. In the evening the 6 of us went Indian, though the place we chose did everything.
Saturday April 6th - Kathmandu
We left Hotel Pokhara Batika at 7:30 with Karen feeling a little delicate again. Amrit and Bishal had departed for Kathmandu the day before, so only Kunjang and Pramess were with us. Kunjang lives with his mother, while his wife and sister live in New York where they will migrate to in the next few months. Pramess spent several years in the USA and has a PhD, so speaks very good clear English, but returned home to Nepal as the only boy in the family. Saturday is much quieter on the roads of Nepal with fewer heavy lorries, so progress was good, though the pass into the Kathmandu Valley was still quite busy, and we were back at the Ambassador in 7 hours.
Wifi in my room was a problem, but I found that it worked in the lobby. Back in my room, I connected to the router in the next room, which did work, so problem solved, and I could catch up with emails and news and try to contact friends in Kathmandu.
In the evening, our group including Kunjang, but without a sick Jane, went to the Revolution Cafe, New Road, Tamil in the rain for our final meal and drinks.
Sunday April 7th - Kathmandu
The rest of the group left to fly home in the morning and I emailed Ricky to try to meet up. He has developed a new trek in Eastern Nepal which with be run on an 'Exploratory' basis in Spring 2020, so I was keen to find out more. I then packed and left my big bag in storage at the hotel, and went for a gift buying stroll down to Tamil, leaving my day-pack in the shop with Chameli. Dipak, who is director of a children's home in a village near Pokhara had arranged for 12 children to come to Kathmandu for a few days, so was at a fun park with them, but they had invited me to stay with them in the evening.
Later, with the shop closed, Chameli and I walked the 20 minutes to their home in Balaju along the rather dusty busy road, stopping to buy 1000 rupees of chicken chopped into pieces. Dipak's mother now lives with them as his father died last year, and although she is only 73, she looks about 80 and just shuffles around (no English). Chameli set to work in the kitchen and an hour or so later Dipak arrived with 12 children and several helpers, including a Kathmandu friend and his son who spoke good English, so was keen to talk to me. Dipak, mother and Chameli are vegetarians for a year from his dad's dead, but all of us visitors were given a plate of boiled chicken and rice flakes. Later Dipak escorted the children and helpers to their hostal and Chameli cooked their veggie meal, which I received a small portion of.
Monday April 8th - Kathmandu
I had no wifi connection from mid- afternoon on Sunday until about 10am this morning, so when I saw an email reply from Ricky with his phone number, I called him to find that he had just left on a new trek, but had been free the evening before, but at least we had a chat! I'd also emailed Val, my trek leader in Huayhuash, Peru, but she was on a trek and would arrive back as I flew out, so missed again!
I booked into the Fuji Hotel in central Tamil (G Adventures use it) for my last night - only $40 per night with breakfast compared to $100 for the last room in the Ambassador. I bought a few more things then found a super carpet in a window, so went to have a good look at it. It was very fine and very expensive, but I think it would be super in my lounge. However, being colourblind, I needed to check and get the opinion of friends, so took a photo and sent it off for comments.
This took time and in the end I didn't get back to the shop to buy it, as I had little time left to pack, eat and do online check-in and was unsure about the cost with no time to think or haggle.
In the morning, there was a huge thunderstorm, but it cleared before I took a taxi to the airport. Qatar Airways online check-in had not worked, so I went early and got good seats for the long flight home.
Overall, it was a nice little break with a good group to a quite spectacular mountain location, but there were a lot of stone steps.
Introduction
Madagascar is a big island 500 miles off the east coast of Mozambique, and about the same size as the UK. It was formed about 88 million years ago as it split away from the Indian Subcontinent and Antarctica in the prehistoric breakup of the supercontinent Gondwana. As a result of this early split from other continents, the native plants and animals have evolved in relative isolation. Madagascar is a biodiversity hotspot, with over 90% of its wildlife found nowhere else on earth. This has led recently to a big increase in tourism - wildlife, trekking and beaches, which contributes to 25% of the income of this otherwise poor country.
July 26 & 27 2019 - London to Tana
There are no direct flights from the UK to Madagascar and the KE group flight via Addis Ababa was full, so I booked with Air Mauritius, which involved a long night flight to the paradise island of Mauritius, which is just east of Madagascar. I had a very good aisle seat near the front (of economy), next to Gina, a Mauritian lady (with her mother) who lives in Beverly, Yorks. I explained that I was going to Madagascar, but having a few days in Mauritius on the way back. Gina goes trekking with a group of Wednesdays and has invited me along. We took off an hour late with very good service and food. As it was the start of summer holidays, there were quite a lot of children on board.
At Mauritius airport it had rained and was cloudy and I had about 6 hours to wait for my connection, so I found a comfortable seat and dozed. The flight to Antananarivo (Tana) took 100 mins against the wind with a snack and drink provided. There is a €35 tourist entry fee into Madagascar and I was met by a KE rep. The driver said 'Welcome to Mada' and the drive to the Tana hotel took about 45 mins on a good road over a flat area of lakes, then past squalid shacks and into the more congested and hilly Tana. I had a room at the top of 'Les 3 Metis' with double bed & mosquito netting - not really necessary as it is winter, though I did not remember to get malaria pills!
Our briefing was at 6pm where we met our leader Niry, who had been with KE for several years. There were 6 of us on the trip - Jane (68) and her daughter Fran, Paul and Leeann (50s) from Pensylvania and Katie (44), a biology teacher from Aviemore, who was asthmatic, vegetarian and had allergies, especially peanuts. We were all experienced travellers, trekkers (and runners). All meals on this KE trip (except drinks) were included. The little hotel was busy and crowded, so we ate outside in a large tent, and it was cool. I had cheval (horseburger!).
Sunday July 28 - Tana to Tulear
I found the group inside at breakfast - omelette with a viciously hot chilli! Our itinerary had been changed as our internal flight was now in the afternoon. A minibus with all of our gear took us up the main Tana hill to the Cathedral and the start of a very good morning walking tour. (An)tana(nativo) is built around a high north/south ridge with the Queens Palace, Presidents Palace and important historic buildings along the top and narrow congested streets around the bottom. West Tana is the main admin centre with a heart shaped lake, parliament, stadiums and main shops while E. Tana is more commercial and domestic. We had a lovely lunch at a cafe on the slope entertained by a group of 7 ageing men playing traditional music.
We checked in at the domestic airport for the 1600 flight to Tulear, on the south-west coast, but were soon told it was delayed until 2015, so some people left to come back later. An hour later this was changed to 1815 and we were on the plane by 1830, but then had to wait for latecomers, so took off at 1915. Hotel Victoria in Tulear was near the airport and very nice, mostly ground floor rooms around a concourse and pool. As it was late, we ordered our meal, then found our rooms.
Monday Jul 29 - Tulear to Isalo National Park
I paid my bar bill in Euros, giving me small change in Ariary (for tips etc). We did a quick drive down and around Tulear to see the French style layout of wide streets and a quick look at the sea. There were lots of rickshaws and it was busy. There were several police check points on the outskirts of the city as we headed west on RN7 to the Arboretum d'Antsokay, a botanic garden established 25 years ago by a Swiss botanist to conserve the plants and animals of SW Madagascar. We had a good guided walk seeing lots of trees, bushes and plants, a few birds, several warty chameleons, lizards and (small) snakes before continuing on the RN7 though a region of (sapphire) gem towns - dodgy & corrupt, before stopping at Zanbitse NP for a lunch.
The RN7 is one of the few metalled roads across Madagascar, having been built in the era of a progressive president around 2002, but it is not well maintained, so there are poor patches and some potholes. We had been climbing gradually for most of the day, passing several large tombs. The Malagasy have numerous taboos (fady) and believe that their ancestors continue to control their affairs, so large elaborate tombs are built for the dead, near their own squalid houses. Rocky hills rise up as we near Ranohira, the main base for Isalo National Park. Here we picked up our local guide Roxy, and Jane and I bought beers. Out of town, we took a rough track north to a campsite below the hills of Isalo NP, walking the last 30 minutes as the sun was setting. We had a good meal with local rum at camp and the starlit sky was amazingly clear with the Milky Way, Jupiter, Saturn etc.
Tuesday Jul 30 - Isalo National Park
In the morning, there was a tiny waning crescent moon in the east and Orion on the northern horizon before sunrise. After breakfast, we set off on a day long trek, first to the Canyon de Maki (Lemurs), a dramatic deep canyon with a sacred waterfall at its entrance. Roxy was very informative about the birds etc on the walk in. We walked/scrambled up the canyon as far as was reasonable, but the lemurs move to other areas in the winter. However, there were ring-tailed lemurs as we progressed through the forest to the next canyon. We had a picnic lunch near the entrance to the Canyon de Rats, then had a scramble into the canyon where Fran and Sanda, our trainee guide, had a swim. At this point we also met a group of school children (from Suffolk).
Returning to the forest, we found a good group of Red-fronted Brown Lemurs, and nearby a pair of Verreaux's Sifakas dozing high in a tree. Back at the campsite, we found that the Suffolk kids had moved into our campsite, rather close to Paul and Leeann, who decided to move. The kids were rather noisy in the early evening. We had a good meal, but I accidentally had too much very hot chilli, and beer and local rum. I did not have a good night, with several visits to the dodgy toilets.
Wed Jul 31 - Isalo NP
I took some Imodium (bought in Turkmenistan!) and felt delicate, so just had 1 piece of toast and hot water for breakfast. Fran and Jane were not good either. For the first hour of the trek, I ambled along at the back listening to birds and nature, away from the rambling voices of Katie and Sanda and saw a cuckoo-shrike. We turned south at the sacred waterfall and soon started a good climb up onto the top for great view of the plateau, canyons and rocky terrain and saw a local indigenous Benson's Rock Thrush. We crossed a group of school kids from Reading on our great undulating walk through Isalo NP then down into a gorge to a swim area, where Fran, Leeann and Sanda went in and Paul dived in. The route from here down the gorge was busy with tourists coming up, as we were heading for a picnic area which was an easy walk from a car park.
We had masses of food at the picnic area, and I was feeling much better. There were ring-tailed lemurs there, hoping to pick up scraps from the tourists, a Madagascan Bulbul, Oustalet's Chameleon and quails and on the walk to the van, we saw Mada. Paradise Flycatcher, Mada. Scops Owl and a Lantern Bug.
We dropped Roxy back in Ranohira, then had a 10 minute drive back west to a nice Eco Lodge with big huts in open grounds, where I did a lot of washing. The evening meal was very good, but wifi was weak, and electricity went off at 10pm leaving me rummaging around in the dark for a torch.
Thu Aug 1 - To Ambadavao & Ambalamanandray
We had a long drive day, so I was out of room 107 by 6:30 ready for breakfast, also having sorted heavier items not needed on the next trek (to Pk Boby) into my small grey bag. Fran and Jane were still not 100%.
RN7 is generally good to Ihosy where we stopped for fuel, ATM and spare torch batteries. On the next section, we had a photo stop for the 'Pope's Hat' near Besoa, and a Hamerkop and African Openbill were seen on the way. Ambadavao was our main stop, where we had a walk around the market, then a good (too much) lunch in a French style restaurant. We then switched to 2 four-wheel drive vehicles for the long track south to Andringitra National Park, with numerous stops to check and strengthen wooden bridges on the way. It was quite a rough track and I was lucky to have a front seat. The sun was getting low when we reached the park office, and we walked 2 miles from there with the campsite owner, while Niry went ahead to the village of Ambalamanandray to sort out tents. The next 3 days would be trekking in the mountains of the park, so the heavy items in my grey bag would be left behind.
Fri Aug 2 - Trekking in Andringitra National Park
We met our local guide Jean-Claude van Damme at breakfast - baguette toasted etc, fruit (banana, pineapple, papaya, orange) and tea. We walked from camp in the village towards the mountains via villages full of children - the average family in the countryside has about 6! It was a super trek up over the ridge of mountains into an area that was like the moon with granite in various interesting shapes often with lots of channels in it. We could see the 'Popes Hat' from our lunch stop - a whole baguette filled with egg, cheese and tomato. After a rest, we continued east through the moonscape and back over the ridge into a more grassy area with Stonechats, eventually reaching our campsite just below granite cliffs. This was Boby Base Camp.
A live chicken had been brought up by a porter for our meal, though we had 2 vegetarians. I had a large breast with spaghetti and sauce then fruit and rum and an early night setting my alarm to 2:45am.
Saturday Aug 3 - Ascent of Mt Boby (Imarivolanitra)
Mt Boby was named when 2 Frenchmen had a race to the top of the mountain, but their dog won, so the peak was named after the dog! It is the 2nd highest mountain in Madagascar, and the highest one which can be climbed, the highest being sacred. The Malagasy have given it a new name - Imarivolanitra, which means 'Close to the sky'. It is 8720ft (2658m) above sea level.
After a cup of black tea, we sat off at 3:15am, walking east towards the base of the granite cliffs. Soon we were climbing up steps and getting hot and sweaty from being overdressed for the not-so-cold night, so we stopped to strip off. JC took the walk up at a nice pace (for me), and I stayed at the back. The path turned right along a narrow ledge, but we couldn't see the drop in the dark. Then we were through to a flatter area with some downhill and vegetation. JC continued at the same pace downhill, which now felt slow, then there ahead of us, in the slightly lighter sky, was the big rounded dome of Mt Boby. A French group of 4 camped near us, passed us at the beginning of the final climb, which was similar to going up a hill in the Lake District - about 25 minutes and not difficult, and now it was light enough to see without head torches. We were at the top several minutes before a really picturesque sunrise and stayed for half an hour. The descent was actually harder than coming up, especially on the knees going down steps.
Back at camp, we had breakfast and rested. In mid afternoon, we had a stroll over fields and stepping stones to a swim area, though only Fran and Sanda were brave enough to go in. Several birds were seen and heard on route.
Sun Aug 4 - Back to Ambalamanandray via rain forest
A group of schoolchildren with World Expeditions had set up camp near me, so I heard them walk past (quietly) at about 3:15am. I then missed my 6am alarm and had to pack in a rush, so was last to breakfast.
Today was an extensive trek in the east of the National Park, which is mostly rain forest, so very different from the granite of the mountains. We saw several butterflies and birds and later walked past beautifully laid out terracing of farms with numerous children. Again we crossed several rivers, including one which was a challenging single tree trunk.
Back at the village camp, we had a party of music, drinking and dancing with the local porters and their families, which was good fun.
The country folk of Madagascar
1. To build a house and farm out in the country, you just need approval from local government - there is nothing to pay. They build their own houses of bricks, mud and zebu poo, which are usually very neat. Their terraced fields for growing rice, papaya etc are often a lovely work of art. Most of them cannot read or write, except for basic numbers and letters.
2. They have an average of 5 or 6 children. However, this means that they will need more land when the children grow up, so they slash and burn more forest to create more usable land, though the National Park areas are protected.
3. 100 years ado, 80% of Madagascar was forest. Now this number is down to 15%.
4. Madagascar was almost virgin land 200 years ago, though there is evidence of ancient tribes. Immigrants have come from Indonesia and SE Asia, from Arab lands (Middle East) and from Africa, so there is a mix of origins and colours.
5. The written language was in Arabic script originally, until the arrival of European missionaries around 1830, when the switch to Latin script was ordered by the Queen of Madagascar.
Mon Aug 5 - Drive to Ranomafana
It was a beautiful clear morning and a very picturesque walk until the cars picked us up for the long bumpy ride to Ambadavao, though we did have a stop and walk through Sandrisoa as it was market day. In Ambadavao, we visited a paper factory and then had a good lunch in the French restaurant. We continued north on the RN7 through the 2nd city of Fianarantsoa, then turned of along a winding road to Ranomafana National Park. We had a stop just before the park to see waterfalls and frogs. The hotel we were at was busy with tourists and the food was only average. The wifi was weak and overloaded, and when I went back at 10 when I hoped it would be quieter and useable, the whole area was in darkness.
Tue Aug 6 - Exploring Ranomafana National Park
I was awake early and down to breakfast by 6:30 when they were just setting up. I put my laundry into reception, as I had a bite problem from dog flees, and wanted everything used to be washed.
We met our local guide Elisay and were then off on a very long day of exploring, as we were way from the hotel for 12 hours! On the main walk in the morning, the main paths were busy, but Elisay soon found smaller quieter tracks. He was a super guide - we saw Red-fronted Brown Lemurs, Grey Gentle Bamboo Lemurs, Red-bellied Lemurs (high up only), Black & White Ruffed Lemurs (and heard them), Golden Bamboo Lemurs, Milne-Edward's Sifakas and birds - M.Coucal, Lesser Vasa Parrot, M. Blue Pigeon, Red-throated Coua, Red-tailed Vanga, M.White-Eye (heard) and also saw a Satanic leaf-tailed gecko.
We then had a nice lunch in a little cafe near the entrance, and I bought a Madagascar Lemur t-shirt. In the afternoon, we drive further up the road, an explored the other side, but it was rather quieter as everything seemed to be having a siesta, but we did see a Giraffe-necked Weevil, which sent Katy into raptures, as well as a Blue Coua, a tiny frog and some more Milne-Edward's Sifakas.
After a bit if a break, we took a walk down the road as the sun went down and with the aid of torches saw more tiny frogs and chameleons then eventually a Mouse Lemur. What a massive day of wildlife. Back at the hotel, we tried out the flavoured rums.
Wed Aug 7 - Drive to Antsirabe via Ambositra
Today was a long drive day back onto the RN7, but with a good long stop in Ambositra, where we went to a super wood carving and marquetry centre and we all bought souvenirs. Lunch was a banquet in a restaurant with a country-style singer/guitarist. There was enough food for twice as many people, and the crew of 3 (Niry, Sanda & Saeed) also had a big table of food.
On the next section,we stopped to see a bridge which had been unsuccessfully blown up, and container GESU634665-4 went passed.
Antsirabe is the highest town in Madagascar and is quite western. It is a spa town with thermal baths etc, and the streets are straight with walls. I was developed when a Norwegian chemist came to the area and developed a vacine for polio, and people came here to get cured. Our hotel was a lovely place with ponds, plants and flowers and accommodation for about 25. I would have been good to stay 2 nights and see more of the town.
Thu Aug 8 - Drive to Andasibe
After a lovely breakfast in the loveliest place we stayed and some more T-shirt buying in the car park, we wer in the van for a long long day of driving - north on the RN7 towards Tana past neat fields and villages with a mid morning stop for fuel, then around Tana to the east and onto the RN2. This is the main road to the coast and the ports, so it is very busy with lorries. It is smooth in parts but with very bad potholes in many places, especially past the house of the president who improved the roads about 15 years ago. Eventually we stopped for a nice picnic lunch, though by now I was getting fed up with being stuck in the van with limited leg room. Eventually we reached Perinet National Park, where we had cabins. It was very busy with tourists, as it is the closest and easiest place to get to to see wildlife in Madagascar, mainly for the Indri Indri, despite the awful RN2. I was getting grumpy after the long drive, so went for a walk. My cabin was fine, but it was a busy touristy place with average food and slow service and a big party of about 30 Germans!
Fri Aug 9 - Perinet NP and back to Tana
Perinet National Park is also known as Andasibe-Mantadia National Park and is the main reserve for seeing the Indri Indri, the largest of the lemur species, and the only ones without a tail.
After an average breakfast with slow service, we met our guide Gervais and after a short drive to the park entrance, took Route Indri 1. The paths were busy, but okay, and soon we were deep in the forest where we soon found lemurs in the trees - Common Brown Lemur, Golden Lemur and Diademed Sifaka. Gervais shows us various plants like Travellers Palm, and a large ants nest up a tree and termite nest on the ground. We could hear the call of the Indri Indri long before we reached them, and spent over half an hour watching them eating, jumping and calling.
After an early lunch, we were on the road back to Tana, picking up Saeed from his mothers on the way. I'd moved to a seat by the door for leg room, and we had an ATM stop. At the RN2/RN7 junction near Tana, the traffic was solid, so Saeed took the RN7 to come into Tana from the south. It was Friday rush-hour and traffic was bad, including a diversion, but eventually we were over the top of the ridge and into Les-3-Metis. We said our goodbyes to Saeed ad Sanda who had to get ready for new work the next day, then had our final meal -good zebu steak. Paul and Leeann had to leave before 10 as their flight to Paris left at 0050 with connections to Detroit and Philadelphia!
Sat Aug 10 - Flight to Mauritius
Niry picked us up at 10, so that we could go to the shops on the way to the airport. Jane, Fran and Katy were on an Ethiopian Airlines flight 2 hours before my little hop over to Mauritius, so I found a cafe with charge sockets and had lunch. On the flight, I sat next to a South African guy who lived in Mauritius but often worked in Madagascar, and he gave me very good info about the island. My taxi was waiting at the airport to take me the short distance to Mahebourg.
Aug 11 to 15 - Mauritius
Mahebourg was not the best place to stay in Mauritius in the winter. Although Chill Pill Guest House was fine with the sea just below my room, it was windy and wet from the South-East trade winds for 3 days and only improved at the end. I just had a local walk around town on Sunday, with a dodgy fish kebab meal in the evening, so had a bad night being sick until 2am, then a day of recovery on Monday, though I did get admin and blog up to date.
On Tuesday, Manoj, a local taxi driver took me around the south of the island, seeing Black River Gorges area and the south-west and south coast, finishing in Blue Bay, where I had a paddle in the sea before the rain came again.
On Wednesday, Manoj took me to a rendezvous with Gina and husband Bernard to join her walking group for the day. 11 of us walked from Roches Noire to Poudre d'Or along the north-east coast, which was a good scramble in parts and included a river crossing. In Mauritius, everyone speaks French and Creole first, but they nearly all speak English too. Gina's children and nephew, who were on the walk too, are at universities in Glasgow, Vancouver and mainland China. My lift back to Quatre Bornes was with Gerard, who is looking at retiring soon and is interested in trekking in Nepal. I was stunned when we eventually arrived at his restaurant - the biggest and best Chinese restaurant I've ever seen.
On my last day, I took a bus a few miles around the coast to Bois des Amourettes and walked most of the way back. There are amazing little mountains in the north part of Mauritius, steep lumps in an otherwise fairly flat landscape, then a central high plateau, where the main towns are with the highest land of forests, lakes, rivers and Black River Gorges National Park in the south. Most tourists are there for the sandy beaches along the west coast. Most people said that Rodrigues, an island 150 miles east of Mauritius was a lovely peaceful place to go, and Reunion, a French colony and volcanic island to the west is a great place to trek - maybe someday.
Reg dropped me at Acton Town Station at 5am, and I took the first train and changed to get the first tube to Terminal 4. I thought it would be fairly quiet, but there was an enormous and growing queue of hundreds of people for Qatar Air check-in and bag drop. There were 2 QR flights to Doha at 08:25 and mine at 09:00 and both were giant A380 planes, so that means more than 1000 people trying to queue to use awkward self check-in systems with most people needing help, so that means over 2 hours just to drop bags. We'd all done on-line check in at home first too! In this long check-in queue, the young lady behind me lived in Calcot and worked in Pangbourne, where I was brought up. Those around me were going to Zimbabwe, Pakistan and Melbourne, Australia. Doha is a big flight hub. Then come more queues for passports and hand luggage/security, so I was through to airside at 0900. No time to get anything else, though I should have realised that there were hundreds of people behind me, so no real rush. We eventually took off over 90 minutes late and apart from the plane being huge, and I assume business class was upstairs, there was no significant difference to planes half the size.
The flight was pleasant enough, but I was concerned that I'd miss my connection to Kathmandu, which indeed I did along with about 7 others. However, there were young staff ready to guide transferring passengers, which for Kathmandu meant being given new tickets for a flight at 0130, then being guided to the food hall, quite a walk away and given vouchers to use there.
Our little group were all together on the flight and I slept most of the way until we landed at about 8am local time - 03:45UK time.
I was near the back of the queue at Passport Control and had not mastered the new technique of taking mobile phone snapshots of documents like Covid jabs, so the lady at the counter helped, setting up a wifi link etc. This mean I was last to the next task of filling in details on a screen for a visa - in my case for 90 days, followed by another queue to pay for the visa, then finally to getting passport stamped. Baggage was already on the floor ready for me to pick up, and as I walked out, I realised that it was a completely new Arrivals building, built during the pandemic. However, Departures is still a big old shed! I had not organised a pick up with KE as I was 6 days early for the first organised trek, with rough plans to do an acclimatisation trek on my own in Shivapuri National Park about 15 miles north of Kathmandu and 1000 metres higher. I
found a taxi, and was soon at Yellow Pagoda Hotel, which I'd booked on the web. After a shower and a rest, I went for a stroll to Thamel - the tourist district - got local money from an ATM, then to Shona's, the trekking shop which most UK tourists use and where KE organise hire gear from. A few moments after entering Shona's to look for a pair of thin gloves, There a shout from the back of the shop - "Look whose here". It was Claire from Dulwich Runners, followed a few seconds later by Di. I'd trekked with Claire to Everest Base Camp in 2010, but it was Di's first trip to Nepal. I agreed to show them around Thamel, to the better shops and eateries, though many have changed during Covid. We had pizzas (too large) in the Road House Cafe - nice place and agreed to meet in the evening to find a place to eat. In the afternoon, I went to Depak and Chameli's shop to catch up with them and was invited to stay with them on Friday night.
Next morning Claire and Di were to be off early on an Explore trip to Annapurna Circuit. I did some shopping in town including getting a new map of Shivapuri National Park in the hills to the north of the city, then went for a talk with Depak. He helped me to plan a 3 day walk to and around the park using local buses to get there, as opposed to using an agent, who would work out a more expensive guided option. I had lunch in the Avocado Cafe near their shop, which is smart and new. My old rooftop favourite in the centre of Thamel has been taken over and changed for the worse. I then returned to the hotel to start packing for my 3 day acclimatisation trek.
I left big bags at the hotel, but my day pack was still rather heavy, and getting a bus would be difficult. They all had lots of people on them and the locations where only in Nepali, so I took a taxi to Budhanilkante, the last village and the start of the walk up into Shivapuri NP. The driver had never been there before and tried to find a way up to the check point before I said to drop me near the bus stop. It was a slog walking up quite a steep road, so I found a tea and toilet stop. At the National Park check point, I paid for entry and agreed to take Kedar as a guide for 2 days. He would help carry my pack some of the time, and knew the way and the options. Kedar was a young guide of 29, with wife and 5 year old son. There were many steps up to Bagdwar (Sadhu Baba's house), so we swapped packs on the way. There were a few other people on the trail. There were Laughing Thrushes and butterflies and much evidence of wild boar and we saw a small snake .There are few places to stay in or near the park though Chisapani at the eastern end has several small hotels. The walk along the southern ridge - Shivapuri Lek,was gently undulating though slippery in places. There were still showers most days, as the monsoon had not quite finished (global warming). The last part down to Chisapani had lots of steps which I found easy and fun from my running days. We went to Backpackers Paradise, a little hotel which Kedar knew. There were no other guests, and I had a room at the top hoping for a view in the morning. In the evening after dinner, including beers, I checked the trip notes for GLT on the web and found that I would be in Chisapani again in about 4 weeks, so decided to change plans to avoid duplication for the next day. It had been a tough day walking mostly with a heavy pack.
I needed to look after my knees, so decided to go back along the ridge, but start with the lower mixed use track (jeepable) which Kedar did not know. Apart from some muddy patches and many streams to cross, it was really nice with many flowers and birds including a Yellow billed long tailed Magpie with a yellow breast - not in the bird book. It was good for birds which Kedar knew a bit about but wanted to learn more. Laughing Thrushes were common and noisy.
At about 5 km, we turned up the hill to join the ridge track. The weather was cloudy with poor views, so K suggested we stop at Bagdwar where the Shivapuri Baba lives and who he knows well, then go up to Shivapuri Mountain in the morning when it would probably be clear.
The Baba is a holy man dressed all in white who has lived there for 25 years. Prior to building the temple and ashram at Bagdwar, he had lived in caves and hollow trees on the slopes of Shivapuri Mountain for 5 years. He is originally from the Madras region of India. All donations from visitors are used to help build the ashram and feed the visiting poor. A group of local (builders) brought supplies for the renovation of the ashram. Two talkative ladies live at the ashram with Baba, who does all of the cooking sitting cross legged in front of the stove. Noodles and Dahl Baht for me. We stayed at the ashram. My room was slightly larger than a double bed..
In the morning, Kedar (next door) was up at 6 and there was a clear blue sky, so by 6:30 we were off to see the views from Tinchuli and Shivapuri peaks about 20 minutes walk away. We had super views of the Himalayas from Annapurna to Langtang, and also parts of Kathmandu below.
Back at the ashram, we had breakfast (noodles), then soon left to descend to the park check point via Nagi Gumba Monastery. Kedar then gave me a lift on the back of his motorbike down into Budhanilkanthe and a cash machine, so I could pay him in NPR. I also gave him my Birds of Nepal book as he is keen to extend his skills to include bird guide. He negotiated a taxi for me back to my hotel.
Back at the Yellow Pagoda, I sorted out my packing, laundry and things to go to Dipak & Chameli for one night. I had a bit of a cold, probably from the long flight. After spending part of the afternoon in the Avocado Cafe, charging phones etc, Dipak & I took a taxi to his home where Chameli was cooking and a local couple joined us. My cold got a lot worse, with lots of sneezing, so I was soon given pills and shown to a bedroom. I slept well.
Chameli and I took a local bus into town mid morning, then it was a catch up day, sorting out what I would need on the big trek to Mera La, and what would be stored at a hotel. My cold was nearly gone, but my stomach was delicate.
On Sunday, I had an easy start, and moved to the Shankar Hotel before noon. The Yellow Pagoda had been quite good, but a bit of a walk from Thamel and was very quiet during the week. Nepal has had a tough time during Covid, and tourist numbers are still down on normal. After lunch in Thamel, I was strolling towards Dipak & Chameli's shop thinking there would be no travellers here now who had come in 1972. Then I arrived at the shop to find a Swiss guy (Caspar) sitting with them who suddenly made a comment about 1972! The two of us then just sat there talking for 20 minutes about Kathmandu then and now, then exchanged email addresses.
Back at the Shanker, I met my room mate Tony, from Boston, USA. He does voluntary work teaching Chemistry in a school in Bhaktapur, so knows KTM well, and he's done lots of treks in Nepal.
In the evening, Tony F and I went to the Shanker restaurant and were joined by Tony S and Ursula, cavers from Richmond, Nth Yorks, who have a mobile caving equipment shop. Anna (40's), dentist, Polish but has lived in Ipswich for 17 years would be the youngster of the group and Bhim, our trek leader. Others were due to arrive later in the evening or overnight, and most had been affected by missed connections in Doha.
We set alarms for 5:30, having packed the night before. At breakfast we met Andrew and Sue from Luton near Dawlish, who live 2 doors away from the Elizabethan pub which I visited a few weeks ago! Richard, a retired (senior) civil servant from Brighton, who has done 4 of the 7 summits - Denali, Aconcagua, Kilimanjaro & Erbrus, and was a good runner. He used to sit in on Cobra Meetings. Graham, a Scot who lives in Beckenham and is a banker in the city. The last 2, Chris & Pam arrived in the night, and were on the bus first. They are from Solihull and have done lots of serious Nepalese treks. All in all, we were a very experienced group.
The coach to the Domestic Airport left at 7, with only light traffic, and we checked in promptly. It was all very smooth. The domestic airport has improved greatly since I was last there. However, our flight to Tumlingtar was delayed as the airport was not yet open due to the weather. The delay was short, so we were soon in the plane of 90 seats. I had a left sided window seat with a good view of a partly cloudy Himalayas. The flight was only 35 minutes to a good flat runway at Tumlingtar, where we met Padam, our Sirdar. We had more Dahl baht in a local cafe, where I must have left my Dulwich Runners track suit top, then we were soon off in 2 jeeps, designed for small Nepali people, so not much room for legs. The road to Num soon became a rutted dirt track which deteriorated the further we went. From Tumlingtar to Num was only about 31 miles, but it took about 5 hours of what was like being tossed around in a washing machine. This did include a few short stops and one long holdup of a very difficult section where lorries were stuck. It really was the most awful journey I can remember. In Num, the tents were up waiting for us and we had a meal (chicken, veg, rice) in the little hotel.
I slept well, as I hardly noticed barking dogs etc, and was awake and up at 5:30. It was a lovely clear blue-sky day with a few snowy peaks showing on the horizon. Tony F was up early too, but the others were all recovering from UK to KTM flights, followed by the terrible jeep ride to get here. Our destination for the day was a village visible at a similar altitude on the other side of the deep Arun River valley. Most of the 35 porters set off before us, some carrying huge loads of 40 kilos or more.
From the back of the hotel & campsite, we descended immediately and steeply on stone steps. I had a single pole for occasional support, while the rest of the group plodded down slowly with 2 poles, which I cannot do. I have excellent foot/eye coordination from many years of running, including fell races & steeplechase, but poor hand/eye coordination, so jogging downs steps is how I like to descend steps, and it's fun and less stress on the old knees. It was nearly 800 m vertically down to the Arun River bridge, which the rest of the group hated. After a short break at the river, and waiting for Tony F, we were then climbing mostly on stone steps up through the lush forest with butterflies in abundance. We had lunch about half way up on a tarpaulin laid out by a small settlement. As a group, we were getting on very well. Except for Tony F, we were all from the UK. All of us had considerable trekking experience in Nepal and most of them had booked this trip for 2000 before it was cancelled by Covid. I was the last to book.
Andy & Sue are into horticulture, so they are the experts on plants and flowers, and Sue is keen on birds too, though I had the book. Richard is 6' tall but only 9 stone and very fit. The last mile upwards was steep and quite tough, through Seduwa village and the Makalu NP check point (helicopter out $3000) to a nice flat field above the village at 1650m. We'd seen a large raptor which the guides said was a Lammergeier (doesn't match the book,). We were the first group to use the camp field for 6 years. In the evening, the sky was full of stars, and Jupiter.
At breakfast, we had a good view of a Himalayan Buzzard in a nearby tree. It was a lovely stroll of a day gently increasing by 500 m, although again, we had a steep climb to a flat field overlooking the village of Tashigaon at the end. We had a nice stop at a little village, where the local children and old men were fun. There were lots of butterflies, bugs and birds to see today. It was warm, but the high mountains were in cloud, so not much to see.
I slept well but after breakfast, as we were ready to go, I had a dizzy spell, which was worrying. The group left and after about 10 minutes, I could cope with a gentle walk, so set off with Bhim and Padam. I generally walk a bit faster than the lead guide, so caught them up at a dodgy river crossing, where we had to cross a raging torrent on big stones. At the next little settlement, Andy was struggling with angina, so stopped for a rest in the house, and after a break, we left him there with Padam, hoping that he would be okay. We were climbing on stone steps for most of the walk to Dhara Kharka (tea house), where we stopped for lunch. We had news that Andy was okay and on his way - at his own pace, and cheered when he arrived for lunch. The afternoon was more up through the forest to a pass, then flat for a while, then up quite steeply again. At a brief stop, I tried picking some wild strawberries. But they were too small and squashy to collect, but I ate 6.
It had been cloudy for most of the day, so not much sun to warm us up. The tents at Khongma Danda were on narrow terraces, and in the evening the cloud dropped into the valley, so we had a clear sky and the temperature dropped. Tent zips were staring to freeze, so getting out for evening meal was a struggle, and it was time to get thermals out.
I was up early and walked up to the top of the local hill to see the sunrise. The Swiss guy, who was going to Makalu Base Camp, then around to Mera La was there. He said "You can't see Kanch as it is straight into the sun". It was a day to do washing with sunshine all day. Later, we all walked up the next hill to see the views - about 200 metres straight up on uneven stone steps. The views were excellent, especially of Kanchenjunga, far away to the east. There was some confusion as to which was Makalu. Many of the mountains to the north-west were in China, but Kanchenjunga with Jannu was superb - probably over 50 miles away.
Today, I just plodded up with the group, then later tried jogging back down (in 16 minutes), but it was too steep and rough to go fast.
Food on this trip has not been exciting, but okay. Variations on Dahl Baht, sometimes pieces of chicken or tuna, rice, noodles, black tea.
I seem to be sleeping from 9pm to 5am (with pee breaks), so my bag was packed and outside my tent by 6, an hour early! After breakfast, we set off about 8:15, up to the top of yesterday's hill. I just plodded along at the back and was fine. It was a good clear day as we then had a downward section. This was followed by a long steep climb up to Shipton's Pass, when I started to get chest pains when out of breathe, so had to keep stopping. I was dropping back behind the group and struggling, then Padam took my pack. We had a break at the pass, then carried on down to the lake, where lunch was taken, and it was time for me to make a decision. It was clear that I was feeling weak and wobbly and the afternoon was to be about 4 hours of mostly steep uphill - clearly visible up the track towards Makalu Base Camp, then a steep turnoff onto the new 'reconnaissance' section. It would be at least 5 hours of pain for me. Sadly, a helicopter rescue back to Kathmandu was my only real option. The leaders had suggested could go back with me, as he had already had angina problems, but he was keen to go on. With hugs and tears, the group left for their tough afternoon leaving Padam with me.The little hut nearby had no food, so going back up the fairly gentle slope to the little guest house at Pass was the best option. Padam had contacted Kathmandu to arrange a helicopter rescue, which would arrive in the morning. He'd also contacted a porter/guide to being my big bag up to the pass and the tent which could go back to Kathmandu.
From the hut at the pass we could see the group progressing up the new steep track for a long time, silhouetted on the skyline. I've since heard that the main group did not get into camp until 7pm, with Andy and Tony F struggling in at 8pm exhausted, so my decision was clearly correct.
I slept okay, but was weak and wobbly. I did get some breakfast, then stumbled outside to the helicopter landing area - a flattish patch of ground nearby. After a while, we heard it, but it was searching the area down by the lake. Padam made a little fire to create some smoke, and eventually they found us.
The helicopter trip was the most amazing possible, but I was feeling too weak and disorganised to really enjoy it and did not get my camera out. The pilot and co-pilot both had their phones on video, as we progressed north-west past Makalu Base Camp, veering west passed Baruntse and Island Peak and joining the main route from Everest at Dingboche, and so down to Lukla, where there is a new helicopter area. A video of the flight would have been so good as a momento!
I changed helicopters at Lukla for the more straightforward flight to Kathmandu, looking out the trails below, one of which I'd walked in 2013 - from Lukla to Jiri. At Kathmandu Airport, the helicopters now have a big new area on the far side of the runway from the terminal, with a long drive around the perimeter and straight out into the domestic car park, where Sushan, the KE/Himalayan Expeditions rep was waiting. I was taken straight to the CIWEC hospital and into a room overlooking the British Embassy.
The nurses were soon checking me over thoroughly - temperature over 39 ! - I had a fever. Blood pressure okay. Pulse okay, but high for me. Bloods etc. Within an hour the doctor came in to say I had Dengue Fever which lasts from 2 to 7 days, so I would be in at least 2 nights. They also started me on a Nebuliser containing Salbutamol, which they would come around to give me every few hours.
So, I was unknowingly bitten by an infected mosquito probably on Thursday. Perhaps, when I was trying to collect wild strawberries at a short afternoon break. They were too small and squashy to collect, but tasted fine - I ate 6.
Amazingly, the medical division of UK Insurance emailed me an hour after my admission, so Sushan must have been busy contacting KE in the UK, who also called me. I replied to the email to explain my circumstances and later updated them on the Dengue Fever. In less than 24 hours, I had confirmation that my hospital expenses were covered. I assume that Sushan or KE have sorted out the insurance for the helicopter, and I've been told to keep all receipts for the next 2 weeks when trek 2 starts. Chameli dropped in to see me on her way home, but otherwise life in hospital was boring.
Three days and nights in hospital was rather boring with frequent checks on temperature, pulse, heart, chest and the nebuliser to try to clear my lungs of the Dengue infection. However, around Monday lunchtime, Andrew suddenly appeared at my door. He and Tony F had been struggling along at the back on the vicious Saturday afternoon climb, and didn't arrive into camp until 8pm, an hour after the rest of the group. They had then struggled on Sunday on more of the new reconnaissance section and decided to get rescued on Monday morning. Andy had to be careful with his angina issue, and Tony was just not fit enough. So, I suddenly had a mate to go and talk to, though he was released next morning. Tony had gone back to his school in Bhaktapur.
I was moved from 2nd to 1st floor for my 3rd night, with hope that I could then get out. I did sleep well in hospital, drinking lots of water and tolerating the bland boring food.
I was discharged from CIWEC Hospital mid morning and strolled back to the Shanker, feeling about 90% fine, slightly light headed and weaker for being stuck in hospital for 3 nights. Andy and I had a stroll around Thamel, which was rather quiet with many shops closed, as it was the day before a big festival, where sisters visit their brothers. Chameli had taken a bus to the family home in Gorkha, so Dipak was alone in the shop and would be closed next day. Andy and I spent some time by the pool in the afternoon then ate in the hotel restaurant in the evening, as there was little choice - quite a good buffet.
Thursday was a very quiet day in Kathmandu with most shops closed and very quiet roads. It took Andy & I some time to find somewhere open for lunch. In the afternoon, I got a message that Di and Claire had returned from their Annapurna Circuit trek and were keen to meet up somewhere to eat in the evening, having had their group meal in Pokhara on Wednesday. With so little open, I suggested that they come over to the best hotel in Kathmandu - The Shanker - and join Andy & I in our restaurant, where we had a very nice evening.
I went back to the CIWEC hospital in the morning in order to have a check-up of temperature, pulse, chest, blood etc, and was told I was clear, but to come back on Sunday morning at7am for a final check up. I was told I would be 'Fit to Fly' , so could organise a trip to Chitwan. The hospital bill was to be paid direct by the Medical section of UK Insurance, under my Nationwide Flex Plus Account, but their seems to be no easy means of contacting their 'Claims' Department to get the helicopter rescue bill paid, there being just an 0800 help line to try to contact them.I asked Sushan to organise a 3 day trip to Chitwan National Park for me, starting on Monday - being stuck in KTM was getting a bit boring, and I had often thought of seeing Chitwan for a few days when it suited.Andrew's daughter Alison and boyfriend Adam, arrived from London, having decided to come out to 'support' him. This meant that we now had a foursome for meals and for some strolling in Thamel. However, they also went on excursions to otheir sites in the area.
Saturday October 29th - KathmanduThe highlight of another day strolling in Kathmandu was a reunion with Tony, who came over from Bhaktapur to join us in the Road House Cafe, which does excellent pizzas.
Sunday October 30th - KathmanduI went to the CIWEC Hospital for 7am in order to have my final checks with the doctor who declared that I was now good and 'Fit to Fly' and added a section to my existing letter accordingly. I also asked about Malaria risk in Malaysia and Indonesia and he gave me instructions and a supply of Doxycycline. Helen had managed to contact UK Insurance for me, though it was still only the Medical Team, but I then got a letter back to confirm that my insurance was fine to continue with my trips, and they would pass on a copy of my Helicopter Rescue invoice of $5995 to Claims Department.I was keen to get stronger again after a week of being in hospital or taking it easy as I recovered, so I loaded up my backpack, so it was quite heavy and set off to walk through Thamel and to Swayambhu, the Monkey temple. I'd been there in 1972 and again in 1998 and had photos of me at the bottom of the long steps up sitting at the feet of a Buddha statue, and wanted to create a new photo of the same scene. However, there were now even more Buddha statues and lots of people there. I went about 2/3 of the way to the top, but it was very crowded, so didn't bother going further. I found a cafe for cake, coffee and wifi, then walked back to Thamel by a longer quieter route.Andy and family had gone off to Nagarkot for a days walking in the country, so I just sat by the pool for a while in the afternoon, then sorted out my packing for my trip to Chitwan.
I was up early for breakfast as I had a 7:30 pickup to the Domestic Airport. I took just one small black bag and my tiny blue backpack and just wore trainers. At the airport, the computer system was down, so checks were being done against lists on paper, but there was not much of a delay. We did sit in the bus for about 30 minutes, then drove to a little 18 seater prop plane parked at the far end of the airport. I chose a right hand seat with a view near the back for the flight to Bharatpur. I had good views of mountains for the short flight. At the airport, I was met by Binod, the owner of 'Into the Wild' resort, about 25 minutes drive south on the banks of a fairly big East/West River opposite the National Park. I was given room 108. After lunch, my guide Suresh and a 2nd guy took me on a jeep ride for a mile, then we walked in the forest near the river. There was quite a lot to see on the far bank and in the water. Ruddy Shelducks, Black Ibis, Crocodiles, Great Egrets, Indian Pond Heron, Little Cormorant, small deer, white throated kingfisherand Himalayan Bulbul. We then walked all the way to the resort as the sun was going down. Then in the fading light a one- horned rhino appeared in the middle of the river. Later it was joined by a 2nd rhino.
Back at the resort, there were 9 Germans (2 groups) and me, so I sat alone to eat. Later, there was stick dancing by local girls, which we all joined in with.
After breakfast, Suresh, Guide 2 and I went down to the river and took a long narrow boat made from a single tree trunk downstream. There were Storks (Lesser Adjutant), River Lapwing, more kingfishers, more crocs etc. as we made our way downstream for a mile or so, where we got out on the National Park side of the river. After registering at a check point, we then strolled along paths looking for wildlife in the trees and on the ponds, with occasional interruptions from safari jeeps, usually with a dozen people on board, which would frighten the animals away, so they saw nothing. We saw lots of monkeys and birds including a Honey Buzzard, Jungle Babblers, Purple Swamphen, Indian Pond Heron. We ascended a tower with good views and saw White-rumped Munia, then suddenly Suresh noticed a large Monitor Lizard walking along the main path. I did get a good photo, but just as I was about to start a video, a jeep came along and it was gone. We continued on and turned left towards the river and came out almost opposite the resort, with our boat not far away.
After a good lunch - the food at the resort was fairly European and good, so I was getting my appetite and strength back - Suresh and I with a driver went on a jeep safari in a rather old squeaky jeep. It was about a 15 minute drive to the bridge over the river, where there was an army base. First stop was at a Gharial breeding centre. Gharials are a form of fish-eating crocodile with a long narrow snout. We then roamed the tracks within the forest, trying to avoid other jeeps and scanning the horizon, primarily for tigers. We saw a few monkeys and barking deer, but the chances of seeing anything exciting in a squeaky old jeep with lots of other jeeps around too was minuscule. However, we did see a Rock Python curled up in the undergrowth.
On the way back, there was a good sunset and good views of the Manaslu region shimmering on the horizon. Back at camp, there were some good birds in the garden - Oriental Magpie-Robin, Greater Yellownape, Rose-ringed Parakeet.
I had breakfast with the last 2 Germans, then Binod drove me to the airport. A new big road was being built for the last mile to the airport, so there were lumpy detours around in typical Nepalese fashion. I checked in within minutes for the 0955, but the flight before mine was going to be at least an hour late and included one of the German groups. My 50 seater plane took off an hour late, and again I had good mountain views. Bag collection at the Domestic Terminal was unexpectedly smooth and I was soon back in the Shanker.
Kathmandu Airport terminals, both International and Domestic have been improved greatly during the Covid period, and now work quite smoothly, but the car parks and taxi areas are still a contested mess. Traffic in Kathmandu generally flows more smoothly than it used to, as most roads and footpaths are now in good condition after the damage caused by the 2015 earthquake. However, except for major junctions which are policed, it is all rather a free for all mix of buses, cars, lots of motorbikes and pedestrians. They all push, give way and I've never seen an accident!
In the afternoon, I had a stroll in Thamel, as usual, visiting Dipak and Chameli and the Avocado Cafe, then spent some time by the Shanker pool with Andy.
After the usual rather lavish breakfast in the Shanker's marvellous banqueting hall, I prepared for a good walk to the top of Jamacho - a local hill beyond Swayambhu at over 2000m. I had a fairly heavy backpack to help me get some strength back after my days in hospital. I walked via Thamel, then out to Balaju, where Dipak and Chameli live as the start of the walk up the ridge was a mile or so beyond that. I walked around to their house to check that I knew where it was and was surprised to see Chameli up on the roof hanging out washing. I waved and she invited me in for tea and a chat. The main part of Balaju was about a mile further up the hill, where I stopped for some lunch - a not very good pizza - before continuing up further to the army check point and the start of the National Park. I was told that all foreigners had to have a guide 350NRP, and that we could only go up to the top (Jamacho) and back. I did have ideas of going down the other side to Swayambhu, but this would not be practical with a guide. It was tough walking up steep steps for the first 30 minutes, but did get easier. We had a break at an open flatter area where the top was now visible, then continued with more steep steps towards the top. At Jamacho, there was a Buddhist shrine and a tower which provides a big view over Kathmandu. There were quite a few people up there selling candles to light and other Buddhist items, bananas etc. We stayed for about 15 minutes, then returned at a rather brisker pace.
Overall, the walk from upper Balaju to the top and back took 4 hours with 800m of up and down, 14km.
I then walked all the way back to the Shanker, with a brief drink stop, and via Dipak's shop. They had invited me to stay at their house, so Chameli went home to cook, while Dipak and I followed later by bus. Chameli's brother Utan was also staying with them and of course we had Dahl Baht.
I spent the morning with Chameli and Utan, then we got the bus into Thamel. Local buses into Kathmandu and very cheap and usually packed, especially in the rush hour. The conductor stands in the doorway controlling people getting and off and collecting fares. In the afternoon, I had a swim in the Shanker pool with Andy. I tried to ring UK Insurance Claims Dept, but missed a call back. Contacting them from Nepal really is very difficult. I then went for a stroll to the Garden of Dreams - a lovely peaceful area in Thamel where I had never been before.
The trekking group returned to the Shanker in late afternoon and reported that the 'reconnaissance' part of the trek had been very tough and poorly planned. There were very long days, the two rest days were swallowed up because it was so tough. There were lost porters etc. Pam's report of the issues are included here:-
Below are our reflections on the Makalu to Mera Reconnaissance Trek 2022 for your consideration.
• The route was not adequately assessed and planned. It was assessed by Padom in 2016, from the opposite direction and possibly not in it's entirety. With passage of time not all was familiar to him, understandably. Also paths wash away watercourses shift, dry up etc. A current season recce should have been undertaken, or at absolute worst the season before. It was suggested to us that from Bhim and Padom's point of view that the trek was the toughest thing undertaken in 25 years experience that it was inappropriate and should not be repeated, and was only ever envisioned for a very small group of a maximum of five clients in any case.
•Partially due to the above, the trek notes were totally inaccurate in relation to our experience on the ground. Days were consistently longer than billed, and ascent/descent stats were largely incorrect. While this being a reconnaissance trek we were "prepared for considerable innaccuracy" as you suggested, we were not prepared for it to be beyond all recognition. It is particularly unacceptable that on days 18 and 19 near the end of the trek on known routes, details were incorrect. The "5-6 treking hours" for each day are billed in your Mera Peak details as 7-9 treking hours, which is what we experienced. You had these details at your fingertips and still got it wrong! This data is what we as clients assess in our judgement as to whether the trip is within our capabilities and the level to which we wish to push ourselves. We have been badly let down in your presentation to us.
•From 22/10-30/10 we were continually behind the schedule. We came in in the dark on dangerous terrain on three occasions(22/10, 25/10 and29/10). We lost two rest/contingency days to the problems of the itinery, and coupled with the fact that we walked on the first contingencey day for acclimatisation purposes meant that we walked for 17 continuous days. This is not conducive to healthy bodies or indeed a focused mental state and increases the risk of slips trips and accidents and illustrates a lack of consideration to client safety.
•There were many incidences of spending considerable periods of time walking in one direction then having to turn around and walk back past where we came from, coupled with lots of sitting getting cold and wet on the hillside while crew and porters scouted around for routes and indeed actually checking where we were. We seemed to be frequently completely lost. On one occasion Bhim and Padom went out with machetes to cut a new route through the rhododendron forest for our next days trek, as there was no route at all. With days slipping and the difficulties of the route, as a group we were at pains to impress on Bhim that safety of both ourselves and also the crew came first, and not a mentality of making the Mera La at any cost and that we knew he was doing an incredible job in impossible conditions. It transpired, though, that there was precious little choice. There was no exit strategy, extraction plan, or alternative route out, with no opportunity even for helicopter extraction. This would suggest a lack of due diligence and no duty of care to clients on what is after all a commercial trip.
•The trek felt too big an ask for the crew and especially the porters. We were frequently ahead of the porters, and often held back in an attempt to let them get ahead and set camp. They all worked so very hard for us but an overly long day for us is an even longer day for them, starting before we left our beds and continuing after we were sat down drinking tea. They seemed sometimes tired and dispirited and refused some parts of the route as too dangerous. On 22/10 a porter lost his load and it tumbled hundreds of feet down the mountain, doubtless due to tiredness of the porters. My bag was one affected with damage to the contents, but I was enormously grateful for its return. Unfortunately our guide at this point, Mani, subsequently needed to support the porters and this left 8 of us cold and wet on the mountainside in the dark without a guide ( other guides were with other clients). Fortunately Ursula and Tony who had considerable such experience were able to guide us to continue along towards camp to avoid us sitting and risking hypothermia. On one night some porters did not make it to our camp resulting in us being short of tents. Single clients had to share and Bhim gave up his tent to us. He then spent several hours into the night searching for the missing porters and then came back and slept in the dining tent.
• The weather was not ideal and was not the bright clear days that might be hoped for post monsoon, but this has to be expected and factored in with climate change. We had a little rain, a little snow, though more on higher paths, but the main problem the misty, clagginess which made visibility so poor. Conditions were enough to make us cold and wet and increase slipperiness, but it could have been so much worse. We had no massive downpours of rain or snow blizzards whilst walking. We have walked in such conditions on previous treks and can only imagine how this would have translated to this trek, with its route and conditions.
•A small point and very much the least of our worries, but on three of the four nights in lodges there were no showers, hot or otherwise. Trivial compared to other challenges of this trip but just another example of the inaccurate picture presented to us.
•Some aspects are worthy of note for positive reasons. Airport transfers, internal flights and the Shanker were all good. Hygiene measures implemented on trek were excellent. The cook and kitchen crew are deserving of praise. The food was probably the very best we have ever had on trek and this despite those responsible having endured difficult terrain, long walking days and frequent difficulty in sourcing water as detailed above. The porters likewise did an excellent job in these difficult circumstances. Bhim, Padom and the other guides worked so hard and went above and beyond to get us through and keep us safe. The impossible was asked of them it seemed and yet they delivered. No blame should be attached to them for the situation we found ourselves in. The problems of this trek were inbuilt before we ever set foot on the route due to poor planning and a lack of due diligence. We would seek reassurance from yourselves that they will not be scapegoated for the inadequacies of this trip.
In conclusion we can only say that this is not what we have come to expect from KE. We are repeat KE customers of many years standing, Chris since 1993, and myself since 2005 and we felt confident in the quality and standards we could expect. We have been left shocked and horrified by our experience and what we would see as negligence on KE's part. We did not have the "great treking adventure" we were promised indeed we count ourselves lucky to emerge fom the experience unharmed. As such we believe the only honourable response from KE would be a full refund to all clients, this was no holiday but a brutal and unsatisfactory ordeal for which nobody should be expected to pay good money.
The trip ultimately was ill conceived and did not work as a route or an experience. It involved a lot of relentless trudging looking at your feet for only modest reward. As such we would suggest that this trip should be immediately removed from KE's offering and that next years trip be urgently cancelled. This trek cannot be conducted safely and you may not get away without serious incident a second time. Out of consideration to clients already booked on to next years trip we will avoid posting any reviews at this time in order to avoid alarming them and to give you the opportunity to investigate the situation and directly communicate your ongoing plans to these clients.
We await your assessment and comments
This was a day of being back with the group and hearing their stories about the reconnaissance trek.
In the morning, we went to Bodnath Stupa then to Pashupatinath, both of which I had been to several times before, but they are scenic and photogenic. They are both on the eastern edge of the city, not far from the airport. Bodnath suffered some damage in the 2015 earthquake, but has now been restored and was colourful and quite busy. Pashupatinath Temple is an extensive collection of Hindu Temples and World Heritage Site built around the Bagmati River. This is the site where puja rituals are performed on the Hindu dead (of Nepalese and Indian origin only), before they are taken by their families to the burning ghats about 100 metres downstream. Their ashes are subsequently tipped into the river.
After returning to the Shanker, we walked, en masse, down through Thamel to the Yin Yang Thai Restaurant for a nice open-air meal. In the afternoon, most of the group were busy packing for late evening or early morning flights. We returned to Thamel for our final group meal in the Third Eye Restaurant (next door to Yin Yang).
Ursula and Tony joined me at breakfast in the Shanker, while all of the others in the group had left for the airport since the final dinner. During the day, I packed and moved to the Aloft hotel, the tallest building in Thamel and Kathmandu. It is all rather American and impersonal and though I had a lovely room on Floor 7 with big views to the south, I didn't really like it, especially later in the evening when we found out that beers were very expensive.
Later in the afternoon, I phoned Arthur to ask him to contact UK Insurance Claims Dept, as it is really difficult to do outside of the UK. The rest of the new group arrived in late afternoon, when we also met Raja, our new leader, and Cliff (from Torquay) moved in to share my room. We had a group meal in the Aloft.
The start point for this trek was Sundarijal on the north east outskirts of the city beyond Boudhanath. For a first day it was quite a tough uphill day through lovely hillside villages and up onto the ridge I'd been to nearly 4 weeks before. There are 10 in the group, all English and aged 50 to 75. There were 3 doctors, and all others were well qualified with most of us retired. I shared a room with Max, a Micro-biology professor and ex-climber from Norwich.
Stats for the day - 11km in 5 hours of walking, up 1080m, down 300m.
A day of quite big downs and then knee testing .big steps going up, but the scenery of the countryside and the wildlife was good. Stats for the day - 18km in 7 hours of walking, up 1200m, down 950m. High of 2570m.
Today we climbed up to nearly 3500m, so no more beers with Les for a few days! However, I was finding it easier with the steps being gentler than the previous day, so was usually at the front with Graham, on his first trip to Nepal? The end of the day finished on a ridge with potentially good views and the dining room had a good fire. Linda was struggling at the back with headache and vision problems, but with husband and doctor Rob, was intent on continuing. Stats for the day - 10km in 5.5 hrs walking. Up 1200m, Down 180m
For the second day, clouds moved up from the deep valleys below, so there few mountains to see, but it was still a good day. However, there was far more downhill than the KE scriptwriter had imagined, so consequently more uphill and it also took much longer than the notes said. However, the last mile was quite dramatic. Graham had gone ahead with the porters, so was standing way up on a ledge, where the tea house was as we battled the steps and bridges over a raging river below.
Stats for day:- 9km in 5 hours trekking, Up 827m, down 720m. High point 2760m
At 4610 metres above sea level, Laurebina La was a serious challenge, which I was concerned about after a helicopter rescue from 4000m (with Dengue Fever) a few weeks before. At the first coffee stop, Graham, a seriously fit cyclist, pushed on ahead with the porters and reached the pass an hour ahead of the main group. The usual pattern was that Graham, Martin, Anna, Caroline, Max and myself would be in the front group following our leader Raj or sometimes one of the guides (Bupal, Singi). Cliff preferred to hang back a bit, as he was keen to spot animals and birds, except when there was a coffee spot approaching as he would then dictate where we should stop. Rob, Linda and Les were usually some way behind. Raja's pace going uphill (at altitude) was a slow plod perfect for this toughest of days, which I was very grateful for. It was a slog. At the top, we took photos of the first lake and mountains with clouds threatening to roll in and spoil the view. We couldn't see peaks in the main Himalayan chain. Graham only waited a few minutes before continuing onwards. Anna and I stayed about 10 minutes then started down. The walk down through the Upper Gosainkund Lakes and mountains was delightful, but soon the path down was getting steeper, so I broke into a jog down for half a mile to a tricky section with prayer flags and little waterfalls. Graham was sitting by the lake further along, so I joined him. We watched the rest of the main group descend, then when Cliff arrived, he stripped off and had a quick swim in the lake. We moved on to the nearby tea houses where we could get coffee and snacks with good views of the track where Rob, Linda & Les would eventually appear. When they arrived, it was Rob who was suffering from the effects of the altitude, so Bupal was given the task of escorting Rob down our night stop in Laurebina village as quickly as possible. The track down was now quite busy, as lots of locals walk up to Gosainkund as it is a sacred sight to them and many people also walk the trail in the opposite direction to us. I soon got into a fast walk/jog passing Rob and catching Graham at a shrine overlooking Laurebina village.
Our guest house was perched on a ridge with good views of the Himalayas from Langtang right around to Annapurna.
I could see the snow on Langtang shining in the full moon all night through the bedroom window, and I was up at 5am to try to take shots of the mountains in the moonlight. Sunrise was excellent with big views across the Himalayas with each mountain changing colour as the sun caught it. It was a very special site. After breakfast, which was quite a standard menu throughout all of the tea houses (Black tea, then porridge, meusli, omelettes, chapati (optionally with my Marmite) etc), I told Raja that I would like to stay longer and would jog down and catch the group within an hour.This enabled me to observe the mountains for longer and take more photos, then jog down at my own pace. Today was nearly all downhill and I caught up before the tea stop at Chandan Bari, where we sat in the sun outside a nice hotel. Nearby was the local Buddhist monastery Sing Gompa which was originally built with wood a few hundred years ago but has been rebuild in stone/concrete after a fire. We had a quick look inside. The next section up to our lunch stop was gently downhill through a forest of very tall pine trees. At the lunch stop, a group of languor monkeys were visible in the distance, moving in our direction. The afternoon was a steep descent through woods with views down to the Langtang Valley and our destination village. Thulo Syabru is a lovely village build on a ridge with neat farmsteads in the valley to the south and good mountain views to the north. Our hotel was the smartest and cleanest of the trip with hot showers and nice food. As we were below 3000m again, Les and I shared a beer and I joined in with the card games.
We could see much of today's route from the hotel, dropping steeply first to reach a bridge across a gorge and the Chopche Khola river about a mile away. Views back to the neat village with mountains in the background were very good. Beyond the bridge, we continued on down to the raging Langtang Khola river, turning right and gently uphill through woods with plenty of flowers and birds. We stopped at Bamboo for lunch sitting very close to the thundering river. The route continued up sometimes steeply and we had to take evasive action frequently when trains of mules appeared. In mid afternoon, we reached a collection of small tea houses known as Lama Hotel, where we stopped for the night. Max and I had a fairly small room, with a toilet at the far end of the corridor. The mattresses were very thin and there were gaps around the windows. This was on the upper floor which was reached by a flight of big concrete steps, then a small set of rickety wooden steps. The dining room was warm, the food was fine and a sweet 3 year old girl was helping. However, it was a cool uncomfortable night.
Leaving Lama Hotel, we get glimpses of Langtang Lirung (7227m) ahead as the valley widens and the trees thin out. The track is undulating and mule trains are frequent. There are quite a lot of trekkers around now including a French group of 15, who we keep seeing and passing. I dropped back for a while to see morel of the flora and fauna, including 2 pheasant type birds, then a group of fantails, then Cliff saw a pair of languor monkeys. After a coffee stop with Cliff and Les, the terrain become rockier. We were now approaching Langtang, where the original village was completely destroyed by the 2015 earthquake killing everyone there except one woman. The scene of devastation was a large boulder field with a river running through it below a mountainside which had been scraped clean as the mass of rocks came down from above. The death toll was about 350. Many of the children were at school in Kathmandu. We crossed the boulder field, then continued to the new village, built since the earthquake. There are lots of mani walls and prayer flags, many of them new. We stayed in the tallest hotel in the village with reception and dining room at the top - 4 flights of large concrete steps. Our original room sprung a leak, so Max and I had to move to a larger room.
Stats for the day - 12.5km in 6 hrs, Up 1200m, Down 170m.
Today was just a 4 hour stroll, but with lots of mani walls, water driven prayer wheels, the Gompa (monastery) a mile before the village and a hydro-electric plant, it felt as though we had arrived at a special place. Kyanjin Gompa is the last village. After checking in at the hotel next to it's own bakery, then lunch, some of us went on an acclimatisation walk with Raja, up a nearby valley with good views of the Langtang group and citing of a lammergeier. We then went up a steep zigzag path to a camp with a good view of a glacier. I jogged most of the way back. Food and company was good, but it was our highest hotel, so sleeping bag and extra blanket were needed.
Stats:- 7km in 4 hours. Up 450m, Down 60m
Big day - Could I get to nearly 5000m after the disappointment of not getting to Mera La (5415m) because of dengue fever? We'd been able to see our objective from the trail for a few days and the top part looked challenging. Rob and Linda had decided to walk up the valley, and Les was going for the alternative lower peak closer to the village.
Tsergo Ri was further up the valley, so we walked on fairly flat ground for a mile, crossed a little river on a plank, then started to climb onto a ridge, with the views gradually opening out, and we were now having more breaks, as the ridge got steeper and we were over 4000m. After a flatter section, it became more of a scramble and Cliff took it slower. Turning right, we could now see that the final steep section was snow and ice with a bit of a muddy track leading through it. I found this to be interesting and almost fun initially, but it got tougher though we could clearly see the flags and ribbons we were aiming for.
It was a joy to be at the top, except that we would have liked it to be 14 metres higher. There was a 360 degree view of high snowy mountains with Langtang Lirung to the left (west) and Gangchenpo (north) the closest and most impressive. We stayed on the northern, sheltered site of the summit ridge, taking photos of the scene and each other. Raja was concerned about going back down the snow and ice section, and decided that a longer route starting NE then turning right into the next valley was the best option. The path down was steep near the top, then at junctions, we went right to stay high to descend fairly gently. Graham and I went down faster, with thoughts of coffee and chocolate cake in the bakery at the end. Apart from lots of choughs high up and on the slopes and top of Tsergo Ri and a brief citing of a lammergeier, we saw no other wildlife.
Stats for the day - 12km in 8 hours, up 1200m, down 1200m. High 4986, Low 3867.
My stomach was rather delicate in the morning, so I just strolled down gently with Les and picked up later. It was quite a long day of mostly downhill, back over the boulders where Langtang Village used to be, and a little further and more undulating than KE's notes. We did see a colony of Languor monkeys in the afternoon and a few birds. Our Lama Hotel guest house on the way up was poor, so Raja had moved us to a better one.
Stats for the day:- 10.8 km in 7 hours, up 181m, down 1540m, High 3867, Low 2498.
Most trekking groups just go straight down the valley to Syabru Besi, but we took a route which clings to the north slope of the valley and is much more undulating than KE predicted, but nevertheless is delightful and quiet.We took a right at Ramche onto a smaller undulating track clinging to the hill, which kept going up for 4 times the KE forecast, so nobody had ever walked AND measured it. We stopped for lunch in the lovely village of Sherpagaon with great views of the Ganesh Himals and down to the valley below. Our afternoon coffee stop was at a beautifully kept guest house in Khangjung, where we also met a lone Portuguese lady traveller from Geneva. The final section into the main valley and road head at Syabru Besi was a long series of steep zigzags. Our little hotel did have hot showers, which was good. After the evening meal, the porters and guides were presented with their tips after an amusing interrogation from Les.
Stats for the day:- 16.2km in 6.5 hours, Up 600m, Down 1620m. High 2774m, Low 1454m
[KE figures - 13km in 5hrs, Up 150m, Down 1170m]
Syabru Besi is on the main road to China, though fortunately the border is closed, otherwise the 7 hour journey would probably take 10 hours. We start next to the Trisuli River and eventually join the Pokhara to Kathmandu road where the river meets it. However, the Trisuli gorge is so steep and deep that the road has to twist and turn up to and along a high ridge then eventually down. It is part metalled and part dirt with passing places, and fairly busy mostly with lorries and coaches. The views are quite dramatic, and there are numerous army check points too. We dropped the porters off at their villages and had lunch when we were down on the flat. As usual, the traffic over the Kakani Pass then down into Kathmandu was fairly solid and slow. In the evening, we just had a final meal together in the boring ALoft restaurant.
The Aloft is the tallest building in Kathmandu and is very American, especially with respect to prices, so after one extra night there, which Raja somehow included in the trip, I moved out to Hotel Thamel, just off the main Thamel tourist street and opposite my favourite Avacado Cafe. I spent time catching up with photos, blog, reading and strolling in my favourite city, including going down to Darbar Square and Indra Chowk when Nick and I had stayed 50 years before. Raja had gone home to Gorkha, leaving instructions to contact him by local phone to organise a taxi to the airport for Thursday evening, so Depak was very helpful in arranging this. I was booked into business class, so check in and using the complementary lounge with free food and drink were a nice experience.
Photos from Kuala Lumpur.
Photos from Cameron Highlands
Photos from Taman Negara
Photos from Sepilok Orang-Utan Sanctuary, Labuk Bay Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary and the Sunbear Conservation Centre.
Night photos from Flying Squirrel evening
Pictures from the big trek to the top of Kinabalu (4095m)
The worst finish to any trip in my life. To be described!
The start of our trip to the greenest country on the planet. There were 15 of us on this up market 2 week Explore tour of Costa Rica - Coast to Coast.
Here are the best photos - mostly of wild life. Click on a photo to see the title.
17 photos, mostly from CATIE. Click on photo to see description
Long drive today, then a fast boat ride on a long canal just inside the Caribbean coast.
Super day exploring the wildlife and birds in this watery National Park on the Caribbean coast.
An early morning walk at Tortuguero to see the wildlife at its best including Howler Monkeys, followed by a return boat trip to Cano Blanco, then our minibus to Sarapiqui via a couple of stops, which included good views of Sloth, then a chocolate tour. At Sarapiqui, we enjoyed the infinity pool, then a night walk.
Good walk in National Park
A gentle morning exploring Volcano Lodge facilities & gardens, then a super afternoon seeing lots of good wildlife (birds, sloths etc) in the Arenal area, followed by a visit to a local organic farm to see sugar cane being milled, then making our own Costa Rican meal.
We then had a free day to relax at Volcano Lodge, with other options to explore. I went to see a local waterfall, which was 500 steps down (and back).
The Laguna de Arenal is a very large reservoir created in 1973 by the building of a dam at the eastern end. We travelled around it to Santa Elena & the Monteverde Cloud Forest.
The presence of this large lake and the mountains to the south has resulted in a permanent 'Cloud Forest', where the humidity is always 100%. Rain drops are effectively 'hanging in the air', and it is a wonderful place to see unusual wildlife.
Unfortunately, on this rather up-market Explore Trip, there was no getting up at 6am to see the best of the wildlife, so no chance of seeing the 'Resplendant Quetzal', though we did hear it.
From the Cloud Forest it was a long downhill with good views of the Gulf of Nicoya to the Pan-American Highway, which runs from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego. Just past Puntarenas, the main port of Costa Rica, we turned south to Carara National Park - trees and reptiles. We eventually reached a very nice hotel 25 miles beyond Dominical, with a huge pool and nice gardens.
We had one day to relax before the drive back to San Jose and home. Half the group decided to drive nearly 2 hours back to a crowded beach resort we'd passed the day before!
If booked the day before, it was possible to go snorkelling, whale watching etc from Dominical, even though it was 25 miles away. We found a local empty beach and National Park just a 1 mile walk down the hill which was lovely.
On the last day, we had the morning to swim in the pool and see the gardens, before the long drive back to San Jose.
Namibia has been on my list of places to go to for a while, and this 2 week KE trip fitted perfectly into a 3 week gap between other commitments. It will also be my 100th country, with 2 nights in Cape Town, where I ran the 2 Oceans (Ultra) Marathon in 1999. It was also amazing that my son Arthur was landing at LHR from Cape Town before I flew out in the evening. I flew with Ethiopian who I'd flown with several times before via Addis as it was much cheaper than direct with BA.
I packed light for the trip - just 2 small day packs, as most of the trip was overland truck in Namibia including accommodation. If I hadn't packed penknife and scissors,it could have been just hand luguage. The overnight flight to Addis Ababa was busy and a bit too much being woken up for meals, but was not at all late.
Addis Ababa is a major hub for travel between Europe and Southern Africa and has got much busier with transit passengers since I was last there. I'd chatted with Denise (going to Madagascar) on the flight, so we had a coffee at the airport together. The flight from ADD to CPT was less than half full, so those of us near the back had 3 seats each, so could get some sleep.
At CPT airport, customs and bagage were quick, but there was nobody to meet me. However, I found Simon with his KE bag and a driver, so joined them. The group hotel was full, so I had a room in the Signature Lux Hotel opposite. With a map from reception, I walked to the V&A mall (Victoria & Alfred!) by the waterfront and bought a few items. Cape Town has been transformed since 1999. It is amazing. I had an excellent Seafood Platter in my hotel.
I joined the group at 8am, with more confusion as I was not on the list, until a new list was produced! No wonder there was nobody to meet me at the airport. Sunways (the local agent) does not seem to be well organised, but the guides are fine. There are 12 of us on the trip, which is 2 weeks to Windhoek for some of us with others continuing to Botswana (Okavango etc) and Victoria Falls.
Our little truck only takes 12 plus the driver/guides and today was a Cape excursion, mostly to places I'd seen in 1999. We had a break at Hout Bay, then found that Chapman's Peak Drive was closed due to rockfall, so had to detour up over Konstantia Nek - a reminder of the hill I'd run up in 1999 after passing the 'marathon' mark. We then turned south to Simonstown and Penguins on Boulders Beach. Big changes in 24 years again - now very touristy, lots of people, lots more penguins, pay booths, gift shop. Onwards south to Cape Point - again more parking, shops and people, but still a good scenic walk to Cape Point. After a 'take away' lunch with Steve and Betina from Conwy, I joined Jurgen, Juta & Gabby on a lovely walk to Cape of Good Hope - lovely views, ostriches, wild flowers. On the drive back we saw a caracal (cat family with pointed ears).
We were back in Cape Town in time for me to walk to the V&A shops, where I got some help sorting out my corrupted gmail account and changed some money. However, there are few places in Cape Town which take cash at all.
In the evening, we had a group meal in a popular local restaurant which included a local percussion band. I was busy, noisy and very slow. Steve & Betina walked out early - wish I'd done the same, although talking to newly-weds Hannah & Tobias was fun.
Our group consists on 7 Germans (2 couples, Toby & Hannah, Jurgen & Juta, 2 ladies from Berlin (Nora & Regina & Gabby from the south), Steve & Betina, Kathy from Ireland, but living in Corfu and 2 old Englishmen (Simon & I). Why so many Germans? Namibia was once a German colony (South West Africa) as was Tanganyika (now mainland Tanzania).
I had breakfast at 6:45 then joined the group & truck to leave at 7:45. We took the N7 - the direct route towards Namibia with a stop at Piketburg for provisions - beer, wine & snacks as the driver (Sfiso) and guide (Tewanda) would be planning and cooking all of the meals. We just help set up, wash up, clear up.
Near the Cederberge Mountains, we turned onto a minor hilly scenic road to Algeria Camp near Clanwilliam, but there was a problem so we couldn't stay the night. We found a place nearby to have lunch from the truck, then returned to Algeria Camp for a walk into the hills. The Berlinners did not walk and a few of the others including Sfiso struggled and turned back after about 30 minutes. It was a hot afternoon for walking, but not difficult. We then had to. Drive on to the next camp site - Highlands near Trawal was about 30 minutes further and was a lovely place with a pool and big views. In the early evening we all took part in a wine tasting session, except Simon who watched. It was great fun and a good ice-breaker, and cheap too - South Africa is rather cheaper than UK. Dinner followed as the moon rose over the hills and 2 local dogs vied for our attention.
I had my own room, as Simon had booked single supplement and I was the only other single male.
The scene for breakfast was lovely - dry, warm and with the end of the Cederberges in the distance, but i could feel the after effects of the night before and was feeling delicate. We had a long drive up the N7, fairly straight and with light traffic. The scenery varied from fairly green to scrub to semi desert, usuallu with hills in the distance. We had a r efuel and provisions stop mid-morning, and had a stop at Garies, then lunch in a picnic pull-off 30 minutes before Springbok, where we also detaoured for more fuel. A few miles before the border, we had a short stop in the hills before a convoy section where part of the road had been washed away.
The border crossing (over the Orange River) into Namibia was uneventful, and soon we were at a super site with cabins overlooking the river. I was now in my 100th country! Sfiso and Tewanda produced another good meal, then spent much of the eveningin discussion with us about Southern Africa v Europe, after we'd all introduced ourselves. Tewanda is very good on geology and is generally very knowledgable.
There was time in the morning for kayaking, but the minimum number was 4, so I had a little jog around the site before breakfast. It was a lovely location on the banks of the Orange River.
We set off on a minor road NW passed grape fields and poor townships made from thatch. Soon we were on quiet roads but with some animals in view and Tewanda shouting what was ahead - Mountain Zebra, Kudu, Springbok. The highlight of the day was Fish River Canyon, which is about 100 miles long, but we just saw a small part of it at the end of the Fish River Canyon Trek. It is similar to the Grand Canyon - up to 550 metres deep with amazing rock formations & ravines. The truck took us to the edge of the canyon, then parked up at the tourist centre. This really was a major reason for chosing to go to Namibia, and we took lots of photos.
Another 3 hours drive north on empty roads and including nearly running over a Cape Cobra took us to an extensive farm site at Seeheim for the night. It was the night of the Rugby World Cup Final, which they had projected.
We had an early start heading west and north, stopping at Bethanie for fuel. This little town has lots of churches. It was a long day on good roads but not much wildlife. The Sesriem camp has luxurious cabins, pool and bar and is the base for going to the biggest sand dunes in the Namibian Desert.
An early start was essential as we were about 30 minutes drive from the biggest sand dunes in the Namib Desert, and some of us would be walking up them before it got too hot. In the early morning light, the landscape of dunes creates really good shapes and shadows. At Dune 45 the car park was already busy and a line of walkers dotted the ridge up to the top. 8 of us started the walk up Dune 45, but it was quite steep and hard work, so 4 turned back. Jurgen was first up - a climbing trainer a few years younger than me with Toby and Jutta following up behind me. There were great view of the local scenery then we walked/jogged down the steep side, which was great fun. The truck then took us a few miles to Sossusvlei car park, where Hannah joined us 4 dune 45ers for the 4km walk to the base of Big Daddy and Dead Vlei as the temperature rose! The others took 4WD transport there. Dead Vlei is an area of dead trees standing in the desert below Big Daddy, the biggest dune in the Namib Desert - now too hot to go up.
Returning to Sesriem camp, we then had a short visit to the local canyon, though the Germans all rejected the idea, preferring to slump by the pool.
Breakfast was at 7am in order to get much of the driving done before it was very hot. First stop was Solitaire, the only place on the long drive to Walvis Bay with fuel, bakery and a cafe. The land was bought by a Dutchman in 1948 and has grown into a small village. There were meerkats there. Sfiso and Tewanda bought provisions for lunch which we tried the apple pie - good but not outstanding. The next section up to mid morning break near Kuiseb Pass was mostly fairly good 'salt' road, but the road to Walvis Bay became very bumpy and noisy, with only sandy hills to look at.
Walvis Bay was first noticed as a safe haven by Bartolomeu Dias in 1487, but not developed by the Dutch East India Company as a stopover until 1790. It has been colonised by Dutch, British and Germans and is a major source of salt and was the capital of German South West Africa. When Namibia gained its independence in 1990, Walvis Bay remained under South African control until 1994. The are flamingos in the bay where we stopped for lunch.
Swakopmund is a small port and seaside town about 20 drive north of Walvis Bay. It was founded in 1892 and is very German. We went to the Activity Centre, where the newlyweds (Toby & Hannah) booked to go sky-diving. We stayed at the Prost Hotel, which is quite smart and has very good wifi. In the evening, we had a group meal down by the harbour - Oryx burger, but as usual it took about an hour to get the bill!
Wednesday was a rest day to catch up on photos and blog and to stroll around the little town, which is actually the main port for goods to/from Namibia, Botswana and Zambia.
From Swakopmund, we drove north close to the coast passing some small waterside 'retirement' villages. This was the 'Skeleton' Coast and we stopped to see a Portuguese ship wreck from a previous century, before proceeding to Cape Cross where we had an hour to walk among the largest colony of Cape Fur seals in the world.
2 hours of good salt road NE took us to Brandberg (village) & mobile lunch under a small tree in baking heat. A short drive NW towards the Brandberg Massif, then a good walk followed. The 'White Lady' rock paintings created by the San people a few thousand years go were protected by overhanging rock. Discovered by a Frenchman over 100 years ago, who misinterpretted the figures believing the 'white' figure must be European and female. Our guide explained how the San created such colouful and long lasting paint.
This section of the trip from the sea to Etosha was mostly driving on good salt roads across semi-desert of small trees and termite mounds with few animals to the odd places of interest, camps and villages that existed. Traffic was light and mostly other tourist trucks & cars. It was hot.
In the morning, we took a detour west to visit a 'Petrified Forest' where wood from millions of years ago had been turned to stone. Our accommodation for the next 2 nights was a good site about 12 minutes drive south of Etosha Park gates, so we stopped there briefly, then continued on.
Etosha National Park is enormous - about 8,850 Sq Miles or 200 miles from west to east by 44 miles south to north. It was originally about 3 times the size stretching to the Atlantic in 1907, but western sections were reserved as native homelands in 1958 and 1970.
In the afternoon and the next day, we had 3 game drives of 2 to 3 hours based around the Okaukuejo parking and services camp covering a 10 mile radius from there. We saw a good range of animals and some birds, but did not see a leopard and only saw 1 black rhino with it's head behind a bush. The Red Elephant (our truck) was ideal for viewing wildlife with all around windows and its height. Nobody is allowed to get out of vehicles, except in the parking/service areas. On our 1 trip north to Okondeka at the edge of the Etosha Salt Pan, we did get a distant view of several different animals, and no doubt the long southern edge of the Etosha Pan would have been good given more time.
Back at our camp, it was Sfiso & Tewanda's last chance to cook for us leaving at Windhoek and they excelled with fried kudu, springbok and oryx, with some help from Toby.
It was a lovely morning with a little bird singing at the top of a tree. This would be my last day on the truck - the last day of moving around the truck in our pairs - Gabi and I into the less popular middle row. 400 km of smooth strait road to Windhoek with no wildlife, lunch (wild game rolls) under a small tree, then a fuel and shop stop.
Windhoek is the capital of Namibia with a population of 431,000. The centre is quite modern and smart with industries around the edge, and is fairly hilly. We did a 30 minute walk around the central churches & parliament area, then went to our nice little hotel with good views. In the evening, we had our final group meal at Joe's Beer House - a popular spot with touring groups, and very efficiently run. Five of us were leaving - Newly-weds Toby & Hannah and Berliners Nora & Regina were staying on a few days, and I would leave next morning. The remaining 7 (now only 3 Germans) were continuing with Sfiso and Tewanda to Botswana (Okavango Delta, Chobe NP) and Victoria Falls.
This has been a very good trip and our guides were excellent. Sfiso, who did all of the driving and much of the cooking, is a big friendly Zulu, while Zimbabwean Tewanda did most of the talking and organising.
I left Reg's before 6 am after a lovely evening catching up and eating up Christmas food. I slipped an apple in my bag for the journey, caught a 65 bus to South Ealing then a fairly busy tube to LHR T2. On-line checkin did not work for connecting flights, so I went to a check-in desk where there was no queue. My big bag was a little too big to be cabin luggage, so I had to check it in and was told that it would go straight through to San Salvador. This is an improvement, as transfers in the US used to include having to collect luggage there and checking it in again! Getting through bag check was quick. My seat on the United Airlines flight was an aisle on the back row (near the toilets) - fine by me. It was a 10 hour flight to Houston and I slept for the last hour.
In the USA, there are no transit lounges and all passengers have to go through customs, where there are quite long queues and dire warnings about importing fruit etc but it did not take long to get to the customs officer and when I showed my onward boarding pass to San Salvador, he said he didn't want to see my ESTA and my bag would go straight through. I progressed to gate C30, which was quite a walk, but had lots of time, so had a starter meal in a Korean place on the way.
While waiting at the gate, Sonja came up to me having diagnosed that we were on the same KE trip. She had walked passed me on the flight from London and seen boots and an El Salvador book! I was called to the desk and given a change of seat to 10A - near the front with a window seat - I slept most of the way (about 3 hours). Our guide Francis met us at the airport, then 2 others joined - Ellen and Angus. The airport is about 90 minutes drive from our hotel on the edge of the city. My room-mate Mark was already in bed, and it had been a long day (6 hour time difference), so I just unpacked what I needed.
I slept fairly well and Mark was 'quiet' but I was awake at 4:30. I unpacked my daypack and found the apple from Reg's ! I was a criminal - I had evaded US Customs & El Salvador entry by taking fruit into the countries. I just laughed. Mark had been in San Salvador for a few days, having travelled via relatives in Mexico. We met the rest of the group at breakfast. Today was just a tour of the city, then a drive & short walk up to the local volcano. The crater was huge but the traffic was slow and congested with locals as it was Sunday. The centre of the city is quite art-deco and the San Salvador volcano crater is huge.
In the afternoon, we visited Joya de Ceren, a UNESCO site containing the excavated remains of an ancient Mayan town buried by eruptions from the volcano. Finally, we had a 2 hour drive west to Ataco (National Park El Impossible) and the mountains near the Guatemala border. We stayed in a little hotel and walked a few blocks to a good restaurant.
There were 8 of us in the group and our guide Francis - at 29, much younger than all of us. Sonya (Isle of Dogs) and Ellen (Kendall) were the only ones still working, and we'd all had good jobs. Jim, a civil engineer from Glasgow was sharing with John, a solicitor from near Blackpool.
We had an interesting visit to a local Finca El Carmen coffee plantation and processing plant where the 'Gourmet' coffee bushes grow at 1200 to 1750 metres. We saw a lot of old machinery for drying, processing and packing the coffee beans with bags and sacks labelled up for beans or ground coffee of different high qualities. In the afternoon, we went to local thermal baths & hot springs, which would have been more suitable at the end of the trip. I got chatting to Matilda who was born in Poland, then the family moved to Norway when she was young. She is a retired Nuclear Physicist who was a consultant on Nuclear Power Stations. In the evening we returned to the local the local restaurant to eat and drink.
The roads in El Salvador are generally of quite good quality compared to neighbouring countries, so it took about 2 hours to get up to the car park high above Lago de Coatepeque which was actually above the height of our 2nd volcano - Izalco. The walk there was a big downhill on steps through woods to the bottom followed by a steep clamber up the ash slopes to the top which was challenging. The views were good and we walked around the crater rim before having our packed lunch. Our guide Francis set up his drone to take pictures of the group. It was trickier going down and John was behind and out of site, so I waited for him. I then slipped on a smooth step and landed badly with my lower back on the edge of the step (ouch), then also noticed that my right index finger was sticking up at 45 degrees - it was dislocated ! The group were waiting at the beginning of the woods. They said I needed to pull my finger to get it back in place, and after 1 weak go, I pulled harder and it was back in place but sore - Wow, result said someone. My back was painful and we now had a big climb to do on steps, so I borrowed a pole from Angus so that I could use my left arm to ease the pressure on my back. We had a well earned beer at the top.
The bus then took around the hill and down to the glamping site in the woods with a good view of Izalco. I’d booked single tents for my recent KE bookings, though this glamping may not have been included, but I pushed to get single anyway - I was in pain and needed space. It was a lovely site with hummingbirds around.
Our 3rd volcano was Santa Anna. It is El Salvador’s highest volcano at 2381metres, but it is a gentler but longer climb than Izalco. We walked from the campsite after an early breakfast. It is a lovely walk through dwarf forest with big views of Izalco and the huge Laguna Coatepeque, where the El Salvador rich live on its banks. The crater rim is huge with a small aquamarine crater lake at the bottom and the views are superb. It was very busy and popular with locals, but as we started early, we saw the crowds coming up as we were going down. We then had a nice lunch high above the side of the Laguna before a longish drive north to a hostel near the border with Honduras. The hostel was being run by two 18 year old girls with limited experience of cooking etc, but they tried.
From the hostel, we had a short drive, then a fairly straightforward walk up a track to El Pital, the highest point in El Salvador (2730m) which was also the border with Honduras. This counted as volcano no 4, but it is not a volcano. We had good views of the mountains in Guatemala and Honduras. We stopped for lunch in the pretty town of La Palma with murals by local artist Fernando Llort. A 2 hour drive then took us to the lovely colonial town of Suchitoto, where we would be for the next 3 nights. Our hotel was not ready to take us when we arrived, so we upgraded to a very smart hotel with swimming pool and good views over the lake/reservoir. The town square was very attractive and we soon found a good bar for food and drink.
The KE trip notes for this day are wildly inaccurate. We had a good guide to tell us about the local agriculture and crops and the effects of climate change - the reliable 6 months of sun, 6 months of rain is no longer the case! We strolled through woods on the lower slopes of Volcan Guazapa (Volcano No 5 !!) up to about 800m (not 1200m), with lots of information about the El Salvador Civil War of 1979-1992. It is only in the last few years that the gang and gun culture which made El Salvador a ‘no go’ area for tourists has been crushed as the new government has rounded up and imprisoned many thousands of them and built new large prisons to keep them in. After a nice lunch at the guide’s house in the woods, we returned to Suchitoto and although we’d now moved to our little hotel near the town square, we went to the good hotel for swim and lunch.
A day for small excursions around the charming town of Suchitoto. In the morning 4 of us walked about 2 miles to the site of a waterfall formed from hexagonal basalt columns - like Giant’s Causeway and Fingal’s Cave, Staffa. It was dry and quite easy to climb down to the bottom to see it properly. In the afternoon, most of us took a boat ride on the nearby lake/reservoir, which was good for seeing birds. For the third evening in Suchitoto, we went to the same bar for food and drink, but this time the square was very lively with music etc.
We had an early start (6am) and took packed breakfast and lunch with us, then stopped on the way for more provisions on Route 1 (Pan-American Highway). Turning south, we could see the double peaked San Vicente volcano, and soon stopped at a village south of Guadelupe. We had a gentle 2 mile walk initially to an area of steaming fumeroles, then a further 10 minutes to the main track up. This was wide and cobbly and I followed the 2nd guide at a fast pace up to a tea hut. The path to the top was quite long and gradually steeper through woods, but still only a walk to the top of our 6th volcano with arials on a concrete platform which we sat on for lunch.
Returning to Route 1, we drove about 30 miles east, then south to Alegria, where it was very busy with a carnival, and our driver was brilliant in getting us through to our hotel. We had a group meal in a good restaurant, where our guide Francis coordinated with the staff so well that we were in and out in 30 minutes, so had time to stroll around the market stalls.
Another early breakfast - I don't think the staff were happy! Another 30 miles east then south took us to the start of the walk to Volcan San Miguel. After about 30 minutes of gentle uphill including a cobbled track, we turned up a steep narrow track through bushes where pulling on the local folliage was necessary to get up big steps. We then hit loose scree, which I found hard work without poles - I use poles so rarely that I didn't bother taking one this time, as I packed light with a smaller bag. At a 6 foot step up, our local porter had positioned himself, so that we could step up on his leg to scramble up, and from there it was fairly basic rock climbing. However, I was getting tired and struggling, then Mark gave me his stick of wood, which helped me get to the top.
The San Miguel Crater is huge and deep and we spent over half an hour up there and had our lunch. The descent after the initial rock climb in reverse was a fairly steep scree slope which I could have run down (digging heels in) if I wasn't at the back. This was the toughest climb, but is such a good volcano to go up.
The KE trip notes are very misleading again, we were back in the van less than 6 hours after leaving it (not 9 !!).
We then drove south and east on Route 2 which was quiet and fast to a hotel outside La Union.
We had an easy day taking a boat trip around the lovely islands in the Gulf of Fonseca, the most easterly part of this little country. We stopped for a swim in the sea then had lunch on Isla Zacatillo for lunch.
We did not go to Isla Meanguera and climb Volcan Evaristo - Trip notes are wrong again !
Volcan Conchagua had been clearly visible to us from La Union and the Gulf of Fonseca yesterday and the van took us about half way up to the start of our walk. It was actually cobbled road all the way to the top and a few vehicles passed us. Views from the top were excellent including the whole of our boat trip from La Union, all of the Gulf of Fonseca and mountains in Honduras and Nicaragua. We finished the day at El Cuco, in a small hotel up on a cliff with 180 steps down to a private beach - accessible from our row of hotels only.
After a breakfast with views 4 of us took a stroll down through he road works into town, where I bought flip-flops and we had a stroll on the town beach, separated from our private beach by a headland and rocks. It was a relaxing day with another beach visit later. There was no mention at all about surfing lessons (wrong KE notes again !). We had a last night dinner overlooking the beach and the sunset and watched the full moom rise.
I was up early to get our last sunrise over the Pacific Ocean before breakfast. My boots were wearing out, so I donated them to Francis, who would find a home for them. The drive to San Salvador Airport was quite smooth on Route 2 and I had an aisle seat booked near the back. Angus, Ellen, Sonya and I were all on the same flights back to Heathrow, which I would be very grateful for.
We did not have a lot of time for the transfer at Houston and fortunately the customs queue was quite short and quick. However, we had quite a long race walk terminal E, and arrived as boarding was already in progress. About 20 minutes after the doors closed and checks were being done, the pilot anounced that there was a problem with fuel or fuel guage and an engineer would be coming on board to investigate. Over the next 3 hours announcements went from bad to good and we taxied off the gate. However more checks were done and we were told that the plane was not fit to take off and we returned to the airport. By now, it was after 11pm and most of the airport was closed with few facilities. We had only had breakfast at the hotel and a snack on the short flight from San Salvador expecting a main meal on the flight to London! At one point, another aircraft was lined up to take us and our original crew marched through, but soon came back when they had calculated that getting to London would take them beyond their maximum working time!
The United Airlines website was trying to issue vouchers for food ($15) and hotels for the night, but it was so chaotic that I couldn't get it to work on my phone, so just piggy-backed off the other 3. We did eventually get a cab to a hotel arriving about 1am and they did order us some food in, and we actually had a comfortable night.
We had a very good breakfast at the Marriot Travel Hotel and there was no rush as our new flight was not until 4:25 pm and would be a night flight to Heathrow.
At Houston Airport, we had plenty of time for coffee and shops and to watch oversized Americans ambling along or being pushed in wheelchairs. I had a browse around a shop of cowboy equipment and clothes and found a shirt marked S (small) which was too big for me! In 'Americanised' El Salvador and in Houston Airport most small shops contain large quantities of snacks and chocolate and very little else. When we got off the plane in Houston, there were about 20 wheelchairs waiting for passengers, but there was only one at Heathrow. Snacks and chocolate are addictive and it shows.
On the flight, I had an aisle seat at the back again (by choice) and slept for a few hours. Good and interest trip for country No 101.