Travel Journal

Live the adventures of Dan Walker's travels through reading his travel journal. The travel journals are listed below in descending order of date. To search the travel journals, use the keyword search at the bottom of the page.

Journal Entry:

Trips | Istanbul to Bombay by ship 2000

Monday, November 20, 2000 05:44:05
Istanbul to Bombay by ship 2000: 5 The following three days at sea passed quickly I got caught up on various things. We arrived in the port city of Mombassa at 7:00 AM, then caught the first shuttle bus into town at 9:30 to explore the city on foot and arranged a car and driver to take Tim and I to Tanzania. After lunch at the ship we took the organized city bus tour. Marilynn was in her glory, as alongside the ship were many vendors with their wares spread out over about 600 feet of the pier. The following morning we set off early for Tsavo East Park in vans with the roof cut out, then rigged so the metal top could be raised, giving about a foot and a half of open visibility all the way around for viewing and photographing the wild life. There were seven people to a van. The road was horrendous for the first few miles heading inland from Mombassa, but improved for the rest of the approximately three-hour drive to the park entrance. Inside the park are hundreds of kilometres of dirt tracks. Rain had dampened the roads, holding down the dust. Each time animals were spotted the driver would stop to give everyone the opportunity to study and photograph them. In this way we were able to get reasonably close to impalas, harte beests, gazelles, black bellied bustards, warthogs, ibex, hippopotamus, baboons, antelopes, zebras, giraffe, elephants, waterboks, lions and giraffe gazelles. We drove almost 100 km. into the park to a beautiful lodge where a big buffet lunch was laid on. After lunch we retraced our steps in a blinding rainstorm. We were a tired but happy group! On our third and final day Tim and I were picked up by the driver we had arranged and headed for the Tanzanian frontier. We cleared Kenyan immigration, then the driver was permitted to take the car through the five km. distance between border posts. It would have cost $125 to insure the vehicle for Tanzania, much more than the rental amount. The officials were very friendly and helpful. One went to find a Tanzanian driver and car, then they provided an office for us to negotiate price. This agreed, we headed into Northern Tanzania, stopping at the first town to explore the market and walk around. We were quite a curiosity for the locals! Back at the border, once again everyone was very friendly, but our car and driver were not there. After walking around and stopping for a cold drink we decided to take a mini-bus to the Kenyan border post. We had just got underway when along came our car, with a passenger. It seems our driver had been using the free time to earn a few shillings hauling passengers between the border posts! On the way back to Mombassa we stopped to look at some spectacular beach resorts. Since the bombing of the US embassy in Nairobi a couple of years ago the tourist business in Kenya has been down, so great deals were available in first class resorts. After lunch we went to the city to use email at $2 per hour, and to go to a couple of the big super markets to buy wine and mixer to take with us. We were back on board an hour before setting sail for Zanzibar. I was on deck early to watch our approach to this legendary island. Once cleared by customs Marilynn, Jens and I walked ashore and made a deal for a car and driver for $45. We explored a number of the historical sites in the city, then just walked through the narrow streets with our driver guiding, giving Marilynn her shopping opportunity. The city was right out of my fantasies with its narrow twisting maze of streets and all sorts of exotic spices, cloth and jewellery being offered for sale from tiny shops. We returned to the boat to pick up bathing suits, then headed into the country to visit a spice farm, where we saw, smelled and tasted many of the spices found in the spice section of supermarkets around the world. After a visit to a cave in which slaves were said to have been held in the days when the Arabs had a major slave trade going in the area we went to a beautiful beach for a couple of beer and a swim. When we looked for our car and driver to take us back to the ship, he was nowhere to be found. The Kenyan fellow who was running the bar at the beach went off in search for him on his motor cycle. He returned to say he had found him and that he would be right back. He had been picking up a few shillings ferrying people to the football field where prayers were being held! The run back to the ship was uneventful, and we are now at sea for a day. Tomorrow we will be spent at Mayotte, in the Comoro Islands, then the day after that we visit the Madagascar.

Monday, November 20, 2000 05:44:05

Istanbul to Bombay by ship 2000: 5

The following three days at sea passed quickly I got caught up on various things. We arrived in the port city of Mombassa at 7:00 AM, then caught the first shuttle bus into town at 9:30 to explore the city on foot and arranged a car and driver to take Tim and I to Tanzania. After lunch at the ship we took the organized city bus tour. Marilynn was in her glory, as alongside the ship were many vendors with their wares spread out over about 600 feet of the pier.

The following morning we set off early for Tsavo East Park in vans with the roof cut out, then rigged so the metal top could be raised, giving about a foot and a half of open visibility all the way around for viewing and photographing the wild life. There were seven people to a van. The road was horrendous for the first few miles heading inland from Mombassa, but improved for the rest of the approximately three-hour drive to the park entrance.

Inside the park are hundreds of kilometres of dirt tracks. Rain had dampened the roads, holding down the dust. Each time animals were spotted the driver would stop to give everyone the opportunity to study and photograph them. In this way we were able to get reasonably close to impalas, harte beests, gazelles, black bellied bustards, warthogs, ibex, hippopotamus, baboons, antelopes, zebras, giraffe, elephants, waterboks, lions and giraffe gazelles.

We drove almost 100 km. into the park to a beautiful lodge where a big buffet lunch was laid on. After lunch we retraced our steps in a blinding rainstorm. We were a tired but happy group!

On our third and final day Tim and I were picked up by the driver we had arranged and headed for the Tanzanian frontier. We cleared Kenyan immigration, then the driver was permitted to take the car through the five km. distance between border posts. It would have cost $125 to insure the vehicle for Tanzania, much more than the rental amount. The officials were very friendly and helpful. One went to find a Tanzanian driver and car, then they provided an office for us to negotiate price. This agreed, we headed into Northern Tanzania, stopping at the first town to explore the market and walk around. We were quite a curiosity for the locals!

Back at the border, once again everyone was very friendly, but our car and driver were not there. After walking around and stopping for a cold drink we decided to take a mini-bus to the Kenyan border post. We had just got underway when along came our car, with a passenger. It seems our driver had been using the free time to earn a few shillings hauling passengers between the border posts!

On the way back to Mombassa we stopped to look at some spectacular beach resorts. Since the bombing of the US embassy in Nairobi a couple of years ago the tourist business in Kenya has been down, so great deals were available in first class resorts. After lunch we went to the city to use email at $2 per hour, and to go to a couple of the big super markets to buy wine and mixer to take with us. We were back on board an hour before setting sail for Zanzibar.

I was on deck early to watch our approach to this legendary island. Once cleared by customs Marilynn, Jens and I walked ashore and made a deal for a car and driver for $45. We explored a number of the historical sites in the city, then just walked through the narrow streets with our driver guiding, giving Marilynn her shopping opportunity. The city was right out of my fantasies with its narrow twisting maze of streets and all sorts of exotic spices, cloth and jewellery being offered for sale from tiny shops.

We returned to the boat to pick up bathing suits, then headed into the country to visit a spice farm, where we saw, smelled and tasted many of the spices found in the spice section of supermarkets around the world. After a visit to a cave in which slaves were said to have been held in the days when the Arabs had a major slave trade going in the area we went to a beautiful beach for a couple of beer and a swim.

When we looked for our car and driver to take us back to the ship, he was nowhere to be found. The Kenyan fellow who was running the bar at the beach went off in search for him on his motor cycle. He returned to say he had found him and that he would be right back. He had been picking up a few shillings ferrying people to the football field where prayers were being held!

The run back to the ship was uneventful, and we are now at sea for a day. Tomorrow we will be spent at Mayotte, in the Comoro Islands, then the day after that we visit the Madagascar.