Interesting Times in Addis Ababa

March 12th, 2011 | By Lee | 6 Comments »

My fourth time in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in the last 4 years was easily the best and certainly the most interesting. Addis Ababa is the fourth largest city in Africa and is also one of the nicest. It has nice and welcoming people; it is relatively clean, orderly and has much less traffic than some other giant African cities. Addis is also home to many of Africa’s biggest meetings between African heads of state, African organizations and International Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO’s) and the United Nations. All of these meetings generally take place at the Sheraton Hotel in Addis, which is where we based ourselves for our two nights in the city.
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The Sudan

March 10th, 2011 | By Lee | 7 Comments »

After a long journey, including a 12 hour layover at the Istanbul airport where we were stuck because of snow; my Uncle David and I arrived for a few days in Khartoum, Sudan. It is my 11th different trip to Africa. Jet lag was unusually pretty bad. Plus, I was really unlucky and somehow got really bad food poisoning from something I ate in Istanbul. Not the best way to start out an African trip. However, we trudged ahead anyway and saw what this ancient capital had to offer.
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A Loop Around Asmara, Eritrea

October 22nd, 2010 | By Lee | 6 Comments »

When most people think of Eritrea, they think of negative things-that is if they’ve heard of Eritrea in the first place! It is true that Eritrea has gone through several wars and disputes with neighboring countries-most notably and currently Ethiopia, whom it broke away from in the 1990’s. However, what people who think this don’t know is that Eritrea is the cleanest country in Africa. The capital sparkles in the hot, dry afternoon sun without the usual African eyesores of trash piles and other crap everywhere. It doesn’t have the usual thousands of stray dogs running around, eating trash and sullying up the sidewalks. Asmara has a rich European culture and heritage spawned from years of Italian occupation and influence. The evidence is everywhere on the streets of Asmara from the Italian style buildings to the abundance of Italian restaurants and the café culture. Eritrea is in a word, pleasant.
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Walk Like An Egyptian

October 21st, 2010 | By Lee | 3 Comments »

“Man fears time…but time fears the Pyramids”

A great quote I believe and one that captures the essence and the presence of the Pyramids. Nobody knows when and how they were built, there are theories, some good and some are out there, but it’s one of life’s great mysteries-that’s still a mystery. They’re the definition of what a wonder should be. The Pyramids are the only remaining wonder of the original seven wonders of the ancient world and are perhaps the most amazing and impressive thing to see in this world. This was the second time I have been in the presence of the Pyramids at Giza and it was as awe inspiring as the first time. I could barely take my eyes off the millenniums old structures. Different viewing angles and the different angles of the sun tell a different story every minute but the one thing that remains the same is simply, the Pyramids are timeless.
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Madagascar

January 12th, 2010 | By Lee | 9 Comments »

There are few, if any, countries in the world more exotic sounding than Madagascar. The truth is it may be the most exotic country on Earth. It is touted by the Malagasy people as the 8th continent as it separated from Africa 100 million years ago (give or take a few million years). Not much is known to most Westerners about Madagascar aside from the fact that it’s that big island off the coast of Africa with the funny name you see on the map and it was a recent animated movie. Madagascar is the last country actually in Africa I am visiting this trip and after a solid month on the continent, I am reminded of a quote from Ernest Hemingway, “I cannot remember a morning in Africa when I woke up and I was not happy”. Truer words have never been spoken.
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Chobe National Park

January 9th, 2010 | By Lee | 11 Comments »

I had always wanted to get to the great game parks of Botswana which include the Kalahari, Okavango Delta and Chobe (pronounced Cho-Bee) but the only legitimately easy, albeit expensive way to get there was flying from Johannesburg. From Livingstone, Zambia however, it is only an hour drive or so and a day trip will run you $135 and that’s a steal for what you get! I jumped on the opportunity I didn’t think I would have this trip and Chobe National Park and its unreal stock of elephants and beautiful waterways didn’t disappoint.
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The Smoke That Thunders

January 7th, 2010 | By Lee | 6 Comments »

Today I saw the most beautiful thing I think I’ve ever seen. I’ve been to Victoria Falls before, in fact it was 6 years ago today I was there, but today I got to the perfect spot at the exact right time, place, wind, mist, rainbow and everything. The picture above, while not possibly justified to how amazing it was to see in person was the best scene I’ve ever witnessed. It was a dream scenario with nobody around to ruin it. It was the reason you travel. It’s like a surfer searching for the perfect wave, today was my perfect vista.
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Burundi, Malawi and Zambia

January 6th, 2010 | By Lee | 9 Comments »

The last several days have been wonderful, relaxing and hectic with little food and a lot of travel. I have come from Bujumbura, Burundi through Lilongwe, Malawi to Senga Bay on Lake Malawi all the way through Lusaka, Zambia to Livingstone, Zambia where I am now. I have ridden busses, dilapidated minibuses, flatbed pickups with 38 people plus luggage at once, motorbikes, airplanes, boats, bicycle taxis, regular taxis and the one thing that I realize once again after all of this nonsense is how much I love Africa. I haven’t had any access to Internet the last several days and have covered about 2000 kilometers or more in that time so I will give a short summary of each country I visited as time is short and I am excited to get to Victoria Falls as day is breaking in Livingstone.
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Gorillas in the Mist

January 2nd, 2010 | By Lee | 18 Comments »

As Charles Dickens once wrote, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” I think that aptly describes my experience tracking the Susa silverback gorillas in Parc National des Volcans in Northern Rwanda. It was great fun and it was miserable. It was memorable and there’s much I’d like to forget. It was gorgeous and it was ugly. There was OK weather and there was a lot of cold and rain. But the experience for better or worse was well worth it because most of all there were the amazing gorillas and babies in their natural habitat which is something I will certainly not forget.
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Kigali 15 Years Later

December 31st, 2009 | By Lee | 5 Comments »

I’m not really sure how I want write about Kigali because it is a very beautiful city. It’s quite possibly the cleanest city in all of Africa and certainly the cleanest and safest capital city on the Continent. It is called “le ville des mille collines” or the city of 1000 hills and it is very hilly which adds to the aesthetic allure of the city. However, Kigali has a dark past that is inescapable. The city is haunted by memories of a cataclysmic genocide that took place just 15 short years ago. While the people seem to have tried to move on and put the pieces back together; as a visitor, there is nothing else you can think about as the city brings you face to face with the true evil of man.
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