Here’s the time-frame, broadly speaking. Any of you readers out there with any holidays coming up – drop us a line and come for a visit. We know we will meet many new friendly faces on this journey, but old friends in new places can’t be beat! The timings below can be interpreted with the route map further below. But probably best to email ahead in case anything goes awry ;-) Company most welcome!!
1-7 May in South Africa. The journey north will really start only after we dip our toes in the two oceans at Cape Argulhas, the southernmost tip of Africa. Add to that a few days in Cape Town, because it is always worth a visit - and because you can't do CT2C without the CT part.
8-21 May in Namibia. Sandboarding and dune-climbing both sound good, not to mention an up-close-and-personal exploration of the second law of thermodynamics, as so brilliantly explained in Namibia by Brian Cox in Wonders of the Universe. If you have never seen it, do yourself a major favour …http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00zdhtg.
22 May - 1 June in Zambia. Looking forward to a canoe safari on the Zambezi River in Lower Zambezia National Park, and a visit to what some friends have called the best game park in southern Africa – South Luangwa, site of another great BBC documentary series called Countdown to the Rains http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03hdklt.
2-8 June in Malawi. Come kayaking with us at Cape Maclear in Lake Malawi National Park, the first freshwater national park in the world. Of course, to those of us in Mozambique it is actually in Lago Niassa.
9-24 June in Tanzania. From 10-16 or thereabouts we should be chillaxing in and around Dar and Zanzibar, then hitting the high points of the north: Moshi, Kilimanjaro, Ngorongoro and the Serengeti – we don’t have time to climb the mountain but we are happy to celebrate with you before or after if you do!
25 June – 7 July Kenya. First 4-5 days in Nairobi, for visas, visits and car repairs, then going back in time into the Rift Valley (including where Morag's parents were married) and points north to the finds of some of the oldest human remains. Haven’t you always wanted to see Lake Turkana, the world’s largest permanent desert lake, and the site of those haunting images at the end of the film of the Constant Gardener?
8-23 July in Ethiopia. Including time between 11-14 or so in Addis Ababa, but feel free to join us instead to track the Ethiopian wolf or visit the rock-hewn churches in Lalibela.
25 July – 5 August in North Sudan. More pyramids in Sudan than in Egypt, in case you didn't know. Looking forward to the vastness and the ferry up the Aswan dam from Wadi Halfa.
6-20 August in Egypt. Come spend time on a boat on the Nile; explore Luxor and the Valley of the Kings; snorkel in the Red Sea; watch the ships in the Suez Canal; and explore Alexandria and Cairo.
Not in Africa you say? Pity!
21 August: on a plane to Canada!! If you haven’t made it by then, we’ll see you on the other side people! 89 Helena Street here we come.
21 August: on a plane to Canada!! If you haven’t made it by then, we’ll see you on the other side people! 89 Helena Street here we come.