Tips and Trips around Africa

Countries visited:

Jordan (yes, we know it’s not in Africa) – Amman and Petra

Egypt – Cario and Giza

South Africa – Cape Town

Zambia – Livingstone

Zimbabwe – Victoria Falls

Botswana – Chobe

Tanzania – Dar es Salaam

Zanzibar – Stone Town

Togo – Lome

Benin – Ouidah

Senegal – Dakar

Africa was a challenge, in fact the planning is the hardest we have ever done due to restrictions on countries we can enter, distances between places involving a lot of air travel and visa stipulations. Unlike previous journeys where we could move on at will Africa had to be prebooked to ensure we could enter the countries with the correct visa’s, this led to quite a number of flights being cancelled by the airlines and having to be rebooked to keep us on the visa schedule.

Our original plan had always involved Jordan, Gisa, Cape Town and Dakar and it looked easy enough to work the rest of the continent around these destinations. Ethiopia was there but when it came to booking flights we realised the cost to get there was half of our whole budget so out that option went, we also had Ghana in the mix which went only a week or so prior to us leaving when we realised that we couldn’t get the visa through as we would already be traveling, Mammoth tip: check your government travel advice website for what countries you require visas for –Foreign Office Travel Advice.  Many of the countries we could access didn’t have much to do from our perspective other than game reserves and we knew that we didn’t want to do more than two of those, from our original plan that looked quite logical we ended up with a travel route that took us all over the place.

With nearly everything booked and visa’s still pending we headed to the travel clinic to update our jabs and yellow fever certs.  Travel Vaccines is great for checking what you need.

With everything packed and our last visa in we were ready to go, until the airline cancelled our first flight! Its an expensive game booking a last minute flight and having spoken to the airline to ensure we would get the difference in cost refunded we finally headed to the first airport.

Jordan

Amman – Downtown Amman isn’t the prettiest of places, but it holds an incredible amount of history, we loved the amphitheatre and citadel and found the city fairly easy to navigate round on foot although very busy.

Petra – Booked as a day trip from Amman which included our transport there and tickets into the site, a place not to be missed, even better, we managed to avoid the huge crowds and felt as though we had the place to ourselves. Paying the equivalent of £3 for a soft drink right next to the Treasury didn’t seem to bad given our location.

Accommodation – We stayed in the Jawal Hotel which was basic but clean with amazing staff and a brilliant breakfast included in the price.

Money – Jordanian dinar, Cash and card accepted in most places.

Egypt

Cario and Giza – Having visited Egypt previously this trip was to see one of the wonders of the world and to visit the Egyptian Museum with a few other things.

We stayed in Giza with a view of the pyramids which was wonderful, getting into central Cairo however is crazy so be prepared for a lot of sitting in traffic to get there if you stay out of the main city area. The Cairo Tower was great, and the museum was amazing, we also enjoyed the bazaar. Be prepared to be ripped off for taxi journeys and DON’T USE Uber as the drivers accept your booking and then message to tell you a ridiculous fare in dollars.

The Pyramids are stunning at any time of the day or night, the roads leading to them have a new take on rush hour traffic as its all camels and horses which is great fun to watch in the evening. Plan your visit pyramids and decide which of the open ones you want to visit, try not to be ripped off by the locals on getting to them. There are a number of options that can be used including walking round the huge site, this however means a long trek in very hot conditions, you can bus to them, use the local camels and horses or a horse and carriage. We opted for the last of the options and tried to get the best deal possible which worked out at about £30 GBP for two of us to be taken to two of the pyramids and the Sphynx.

Accommodation – Having left our booked accommodation as it was so grim we found the Tut Pyramids View Hotel a few hundred yards down the road which proved to be incredibly clean, with amazing staff, an included breakfast and fantastic views of the pyramids for £17 GBP for two people for four nights, a bargain.

Money – Egyptian Pounds, cash is mainly used including paying for hotels, cards are in use but not everywhere.

South Africa

Cape Town – A modern clean city with a vast amount to do and see. The Cape Town Tour was a brilliant way to see a lot in a short space of time including Table Mountain, Cape Point and Boulders beach. Ubers were easy to use so a cheap way of getting around, lunch in the Time Out Market is highly recommended when visiting the V&A Waterfront. We also loved the tour of Robben’s Island and its history.

AccommodationVilla Viva Hostel was in a good location with clean bunks and facilities,  the included breakfast was amazing. Sadly, they don’t do food other than breakfast, but you can order through uber eats, its not recommended to go out at night.

Money – South African Rand, cash and card widely used.

Zambia

Livingstone – A small town with a central street and a couple of roads leading off it made it easy to navigate and it was well worth visiting the Livingstone Museum to find out more about the country and area. It is also a convenient place to stay to access other countries.

AccommodationThe Victoria Falls Hostel was brilliant, with good sized bunks and a pool area by the bar. Food can be ordered but its mainly British breakfasts however a local eatery does deliver for a more authentic cuisine. Power is limited after 6pm by the government so Wi-Fi isn’t the best in the evenings, its not recommended to go out at night.

Money – Zambian Kwacha, cash only in most places

Zimbabwe

Victoria Falls – An interesting day trip which we booked with Get your Guide which took us over the border to see the falls and to see something of the local townships nearby. Mammoth Tip: Don’t get into a vehicle you don’t know!

Botswana

Chobe Game Reserve – A brilliant day which we highly recommend which took us on a land and water safari at Chobe National Park.

Tanzania

Dar es Salaam – The dustiest and craziest roads that we visited. The city lives under a layer of dust and traffic is insane, walking is very tricky and crossing roads involves life changing decisions.  The city is interesting, but we defiantly needed guides as you would struggle to get around on local transport. We loved the Traditional Village Museum and local supermarkets which were full to bursting of Cadbury’s dairy milk chocolate.

Accommodation – The apartment we stayed in was clean and well serviced with someone coming in to cook a basic breakfast each day for the guests (times did vary quite a lot on this), it wasn’t easy to find by drivers but was out of the chaos of the centre of the city so peaceful at night.

Zanzibar – We had to head to Zanzibar for the Legend that was Freddie Mercury, the ferry ride wasn’t the best and required a sturdy stomach but it was worth it to reach the fabulous town of Stone town.  Much smaller than we thought it was fascinating to wander through the small lanes of the town keeping an eye out for the incredible doors. The Freddie Mercury Museum is very small but we enjoyed it nonetheless. Mammoth Tip: Check the day before you go to a new country as we nearly got caught out by the new insurance that had been introduced two days previously, (Insurance for Zanzibar), costing $50 dollars, we didn’t actually pay it as I refused to write down my email address on the form and they didn’t know how to deal with this so let us through.

Money – Both Tanzania and Zanzibar use the Tanzanian Shilling, cash is king, but cards do work in hotels and supermarkets.

Togo

Lome – Togo was a problem from early in the planning and it took three attempts and nearly three months to get our visas sorted out. Once finally issued they had the wrong date on them, and we couldn’t change that, so we ended up staying in Dar es Salaam longer than planned. Arriving in the country proved to be equally difficult with immigration officials wanting bribes to let us in and once through that a military police officer trying to take our passports asking for money to give them back, it didn’t leave a great taste for the country at that point. The centre of Lome is literally one big market area crammed with people which was fascinating to watch but difficult to be in physically. We did attempt to do some self-guided walking but ended up using tuk tuks and taxi’s as it was too difficult to find places on foot.

We enjoyed the Akodessawa Fetish Market even if it was a bit macabre. Eating out was a problem as there is nowhere that we could find other than ordering through the hotel. Poverty is everywhere with children running up to you and following you around for a few coins, the problem being is if you give to one another ten arrive, every evening when the market closed we would watch the stall holders get there beds out and settle down for sleep on the streets, it made for sad viewing.

AccommodationThe Hotel Merville was brilliant, immaculately clean with brilliant staff. Once you know where it is its easy to find and is just at the end of the market area so you can avoid the market crowds to some extent.

Money – West African CFA Franc (XOF), Cash everywhere, we managed to find one ATM but no card usage anywhere.

Benin

Ouidah – We did this as a day trip booking our own taxi for £90 GBP from the hotel in Lome for as long as we wanted it. Benin was glorious and so green after so much sand and dust in the other countries, the Pythons Temple was interesting even for snake phobists like myself, it’s the countries biggest tourist attraction attracting close to 1100 tourists a year! Even better however was the Door of No Return which was very emotive and an incredible memorial to those that had no choice but to pass through it. Eateries are few and far between and Wi-Fi doesn’t exist.

 MoneyWest African CFA Franc (XOF), cash is king, we didn’t see a single ATM or bank.

Senegal

Dakar – Its always interesting to arrive in a country and feel that you have already been there, Dakar reminded us of Turkey with the same types of architecture and apartment buildings that looked identical to those in Alanya. A huge city there was a lot to see some of which we managed on foot, we loved the Museum of Black Civilisations, sadly the IFAN museum was closed. We took two day trips whilst in the city to see as much as we could, the first included the huge African Renaissance Monument which was incredible as well as other well-known buildings and monuments in the city with most of the day spent on Goree Island which was a real treat even with the gruesome history the island has.

Our second trip was out of the city which made for a sharp contrast, visiting the Turtle Village was brilliant and we learnt a lot about their rehabilitation programme. The Pink Lake wasn’t pink, but we didn’t expect it to be, the dune ride however proved to be a highlight once you realise that you are on the final leg of the course for the Race to Dakar which was a huge hit with us. The guide doing this tour was brilliant and is underselling what he offers for the day.

Money – West African CFA Franc (XOF), cash and card accepted everywhere.

Mammoth Top Tip for the Trip: Due to issues on our previous trips with getting cash out of the machines and cards being cancelled we popped into our nearest HSBC branch to see how we could do multiple countries without the bank freezing your assests on you, especially when you are going into cash countries . We were given some excellent advice which was to use our main cash producing card at every airport we travelled in and out of so the bank could track our movements and realise that we were indeed in transit. It worked a treat and by buying a bottle of water in every airport we went through our card held strong and cash was there when we needed it.

So what did we think of the whole trip, we loved it. Africa had its moments but the incredible places we saw was well worth any of the issues we encountered. More than anything though we take away not the buildings and fabulous structures but the people and their smiles. Everywhere we went we were greeted warmly, and everyone smiles at you, the citizens of these countries have very little in comparison to us but have the biggest of hearts and the widest of grins, what more could you want from a continent.

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