Monsoon in Mumbai

We arrived in Mumbai fairly shattered, as our journey there had taken a long time…a matatu/matatu/ferry/matatu journey from Diani beach to Mombasa to arrive there before dark, then a four hour wait for our overnight bus, then an overnight bus ride that dropped us at Nairobi airport at 7am for a 3pm checkin, then a…

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Staying in a treehouse

We decided that a fun accompaniment to our trip to Masai Mara would be a trip to one of Kenya’s beaches.  To get there from Nairobi we took an overnight bus to Mombasa, then a matatu (minivan going along a set route) to a free ferry, then another matatu, then another matatu.  It sounds a…

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On safari in Masai Mara – part two

On our second day we did a whole day game drive, leaving in the morning, driving across the plains towards the river, picnicing under a tree (where I asked obsessively about snakes) and arriving back at our camp in the late afternoon. One of the highlights was midmorning when we stopped away from all the…

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On Safari in Masai Mara – part one

Reuben and I decided that being so close to Kenya, it was a great opportunity to go on safari. I had been once before but was very keen to go again. We flew from Addis Ababa to Nairobi – en route we learned that on Ethiopian Airlines you must have the credit card that you…

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Back in Addis Ababa

We had a week in Addis Ababa after returning from our Northern tour and spent a lot of the time catching up with more friends.  We visited the house where I used to volunteer and spent time talking with the girls and house mother there.  We visited more friends and ate more good food.  …

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Monasteries and hippos

We took a minibus on a four hour drive from Gonder to Bahir Dar, which is a little town next to Lake Tana.  That afternoon we watched the pelicans down at Mango Bar by the lakefront – the pelicans congregate outside the bar and it’s a popular place for a juice or a coffee.  …

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The castles of Gondar

We discovered when we reached the airport to fly from Axum to Gondar that our flight had been moved an hour earlier. Luckily we were there in plenty of time – we had been calling to confirm our other flights and had even been told before going to Lalibela that all flights were confirmed! We…

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The Kingdom of Axum

We took a short flight from Lalibela to Axum (also known as Aksum), where we arrived around midday.  Axum was a historic capital of Ethiopia – allegedly the past empire of Queen Sheba and the present home of the Ark of the Covenant.  We went for a walk in the afternoon to explore – our…

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The churches of Lalibela

We flew from Addis Ababa to Lalibela, a little town perched on the hills in the north of Ethiopia.  We decided to do our “Northern Tour” independently rather than on a tour as we wanted to be able to do things in our own time. Our first stop was the town of Lalibela, known largely…

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Our first few days in Addis Ababa

In 2006 I (Karen) spent a year living in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.  It was one of the best and most challenging years of my life, and I had talked ever since about Ethiopia so Reuben was keen to come and explore it.  We arrived at Bole airport at the unfortunate time of 3am (thanks, Egypt…

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