Lee Abbamonte
Try to become the youngest person to travel to every country in the world
Mauritius is Just an Island
By Lee | January 18th, 2010 | 
5 Comments » 
I really wanted to love Mauritius. You think of it as so exotic and want to be in awe. I had heard mixed, mostly indifferent or negative, things about it coming in but I came in with an open and excited attitude about the island nation. I had heard that it was just a big and touristy island that is indistinguishable from many others. I had also heard it was expensive and the type of place you stay at your hotel and don’t really leave. I wish I could disagree with those comments in total but I have to agree with many of them. However, Mauritius is a beautiful place and a nice place to spend a few days relaxing if you are the type of person that likes big hotel resorts-unfortunately I am not that type of person.
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Rodrigues Island
By Lee | January 16th, 2010 | 11 Comments » 
Rodrigues Island is without a doubt one of the most unknown places on Earth. It is located about 500km northeast of Mauritius and basically functions as an independent country to Mauritius. The island itself is pretty small but it is also a very beautiful and a fun place to be. While it is a major pain both getting a plane ticket out there and then having it leave remotely on time as mine was nine plus hours late, it is worth coming out for a day or two. Besides, the night sky here is so clear that you can almost see every star in the galaxy I swear.
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It’s a Good Life on Reunion Island
By Lee | January 15th, 2010 | 8 Comments » 
Reunion Island is simply a little paradise in the middle of nowhere. It is not the idyllic beach tropical island that many of its neighbors are but it is a like a mini Hawaii. It has good beaches but the true draw is its awesome natural landscape along with adventure and eco-sports. Throw in the fact that it is French, really French, with all that that brings such as amazing meats, fish, cheese, breads and all other gastronomic delights. After a long time in Africa, this makes for a refreshing and welcome change.
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Comoros and Mayotte
By Lee | January 14th, 2010 | 13 Comments » 
Haphazardly scattered across the Indian Ocean, the Comoros Islands are a very mysterious and isolated place. The devoutly Muslim island lacks much of the infrastructure that has made some of its neighbor’s mega-tourist, high-end destinations. The Comore people come from a stock of Arab traders, Persian Sultans, African slaves and Portuguese pirates. The four main islands offer everything from relaxing on nearly deserted beaches, to rain forest hiking, to hiking the world’s largest active volcano. The islands of Grande Comore, Anjouan and Moheli make up the Comoros Islands. Mayotte has since broken off and joined the mother ship of France. I based myself in Grande Comore in the capital city of Moroni.
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Madagascar
By Lee | January 12th, 2010 | 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
By Lee | January 9th, 2010 | 9 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
By Lee | January 7th, 2010 | 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
By Lee | January 6th, 2010 | 7 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
By Lee | January 2nd, 2010 | 15 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
By Lee | December 31st, 2009 | 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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Lee Abbamonte is a published travel writer, global adventurer and worldwide travel expert based in New York City. Lee is attempting to become the youngest person to travel to every country in the world. He has currently been to 253 countries and is only 31 years old. From this site you can relive his past travels, read his current trip blog and interract with him, while following his adventures in pursuit of the record. The record is visiting all 319 countries and unique destinations in the world per the Travelers Century Club list. The current record is 37 years, 9 months, 17 days and Lee hopes to beat it.- Africa
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- Lee on Rotorua, New Zealand
Hi Samantha, the pictures are from the sulphur pit ... [read more] - Lee on Acacia Tree
Thanks Bella and good luck with your project! - Bella on Acacia Tree
Hey lee, i'm a school girl and i am a huge fan. I ... [read more] - Samantha on Rotorua, New Zealand
Hey I like the information but I would like to kno ... [read more] - Lee on Where Am I?
It was the same trip that I did both Carnivals and ... [read more] - Ryan on Where Am I?
Salvador is awesome, I didn't know you went to the ... [read more] - Sara on Africa/Indian Ocean Slideshow
Its like that dancing guy without the dancing! - Philip on Africa/Indian Ocean Slideshow
Awesome slideshow man. - Kenny on Africa/Indian Ocean Slideshow
Amazing pictures and great slideshow with the cool ... [read more] - Jemma on Africa/Indian Ocean Slideshow
I love the music!
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