"I'd like to be, under the sea in an Octopus's.........."

3 nights in Cape Town was enough. I've migrated south to the ( Chill & Surf back packers) down the coast in a small village near Kommetjie, on the west coast of the Cape's peninsula.

I'm learning to scuba dive, so I don't mind the rain we're currently having (Seth - that's because you get wet under water my friend, but don't you worry about that!). The underwater visibility's a little poor mind It's limited to just (3m) due to the bottom being churned by the storms but it's still great fun.

You'll also be glad to hear that the ginger minge that is photographed on my face has disappeared ! Yes sad I know

Happy Birthday in South Africa

30C & beautiful sunshine - what a fantastic place to enjoy Chocolate cake !! Karina surprised me by having a scrumpcious cake delivered to my back packer's hostel.

Franco & family very kindly invited me around to their house for dinner & we toasted my 34th with his tasty own label Red, a few SA lagers & a Guinness.

A big thank you to all those who sent well wishes, a big thank you to Franco, Sue, Daniella & Micheal fro their kind hospitality & a huge hug to Karina for making my day with my favorite flavoured cake !!!! :)

Kilimanjaro adventure - The Shira 8 day route

I'll let a picture or two speak a hundred words

2 groups of 12 Trekkers assembled & set off from Arusha's Ilburu Lodge, a surprisingly luxury launch point in a sea of shanty type buildings. Convoying East in 8 landrovers for 3 hours along firstly national (a one lane highways), then tracks & finally logging tracks we arrived at the far Western gate of Kilimanjaro National park; The Shira gate.

At the gate we had our packs weighed in, as you aren't allowed to have a porter carry more than 15kgs kit (sounds very colonial doesn't it!). A bureaucratic form filling exercise was mandatory for everyone & the AK47 carrying guard shortened any piss taking of jobs-worth


We spent 6 days trekking to acclimatise to the altitude. At +10,000ft most of us felt either headaches, dizziness or suffered sleeping problems. The scenery changed daily as we climbed firstly tropical rain forest then grasslands, tundra & finally rock desert. By day the sun was scorchingly fierce & I had to cover my skin to stop UV burn. Night time saw the ground freeze & the temperature hit -15C with wind chill.

The final day's Trek..... sorry 24 hour marathon was ..... "emotional."

Without doubt the physically hardest thing I've attempted doing in many many years. We set off at 12am & slogged up hill for 7 hours, breaking momentarily for 5 minutes just to snack (it was too cold to break longer). The effort was rewarded by the dawn lighting up the curvature of the earth & a panoramic picture that photographs just can't pay justice to.


I'd love to say I enjoyed the final push but it was a really painful, draining achievement. I think in reflection, that as the pain subsides the images & memories of the stunning scene remain. It was an amazing experience.

Greetings from Africa !

Kenya acted as a landing point en route to Tanzania & I’m now in Arusha, a town that lies in the shadow of My Meru, Kili’s little sister. An entertaining bus trip from Nairobi had me mixing with locals & tourists alike. The Riverside Shuttle bus had approximately 20 passengers in total & sped over very pot hole it could find en route to the border. We bounced about for 5 hours once Nairobi’s morning rush hour had let us from it’s grasps. A jack knifed truck on one of the arterial roundabouts had Major confusion reeking chaos & added a good hour to the journey.

The border between Kenya & Tanzania was an expectedly chaotic affair with lots of paperwork all requiring masses of stamping, signing & counter checking ! I hope my passport has enough clean pages to cope! A fellow passenger had is mobile nicked as he returned to our bus, everyone (locals included) watched on as he took off after him robber, nailed him 200 yrds down the road with a rugby tackle & return to everyone’s applause!

Arusha, an hour on from the border sprawls out under Mt Meru, with Ilboru Lodge, the party’s accommodation located 30 minutes walk up a dusty trail from the town
centre. The hotel’s clean & far above what anyone had prepared themselves before arriving. A huge thunderstorm dropped buckets of wet stuff yesterday lunchtime & the local electricity pylon decided to put on a physics display on how electricity can jump through air! The charge jumped into a local tree, setting light to each numerous times before the same thunderstorm then responsible extinguished the
smoldering branches.

We meet is evening to run through our kit. Tomorrow we set off at 7am. Q 2 hour trip will have us at the park gates & the trek commences. 8 day s & 4900 metres vertical ascent will have us at 5,8909 metres; 100 metre above Everest base camp ! but hey who’s bragging….. I’ve got to get there first!

More to follow once I’m back ………. All the best, Ches

ma'assalama morac

& so it is Goodbye Morocco

A quick journey back from the breezy clear coast into the smoggy blanket that covers Marrakech brings with it an end to our first port of call.

Tomorrow Ems & I fly back to the UK & go our separate ways until the end of March, when she'll join me in Cape Town. Before we do though we found some time to run around the old town medina & harass some shop keepers in the Blacksmiths' Souq - well Ems did, & just look at what she did to this kid & his store after not landing a deal from the light salesman!!!




Here comes Mt Kilimanjaro & an 8 day Trek to the top........ let's hope it doesn't take camel RIDE to cross any other 6" torrants!


we leave you with a couple of new pictures from Ems; err well when she sends them to me.......... !

The road is long

with 550 kms of winding turns...... so we used the Peage & saved ourselves about a day of flat dull landscape. Even so we still had ourselves a full 6 hours of driving & were just about at the end of our tethers when Essaouria hit the horizon.

En route we've seen some really poor, poor areas of the country, as well as the opulent flip side (such as the $0.5 BLN mosque of Casablanca). Halfway down the coast we dropped via the "St Tropez of Morocco" for a relaxing spot of lunch. Errr, either the writer hadn't been to the said destination or I must have blinked when the token Ferrari shot, by but we have started to take our guidebook descriptions with a larger pinch of salt than before. L'Ourila was full of French caravans, mussel selling touts & pink fishing boats. We could have stopped for the night but decided to snap teh pretty boats & press on as the place was dead.


With no radio or music of any description we'd started making up games, singing songs & then fining each other for trivial stuff like swearing & putting annoying 80's tunes in our heads that then wouldn't leave. We've all but had enough of traveling through Morocco now. It's been great fun but are in need of a change of scene, culture & cuisine; There is after all only so lunch Targine & couscous one can eat!!!

We've compiled a list of mementos & images that sum up Morocco for us

1. Pictures of the King in every establishment - some with stubble, some without, some posed for others "action" shots.
2. The Flag - in even more places than the king's face.
3. Cafes full of just men.
4. Men seemingly sat watching the world go by, even in the middle of nowhere.
The pointed hoods of the affectionately termed "Moroccan sleeping bag." (hooded all-in-one overcoat)
5. Disheveled looking Donkeys out numbering men.
6. Being called my friend by nearly everyone I don't know
7. Lines of Medina bazaars selling absolutely the same stuff all at a very special price to you.... my friend
8. Targine & Couscous on every menu.
9. Awakening to the call to prayer every morning.


Anyway, we're now within the high sided harbour walls of Essaouria's medina. We've been sheltering from the weather over the past 2 days, catching up on sleep & reading up on UK news, courtesy of the day late Telegraph that is sold here. We are out of season & many of the hotels & restaurants are closed. Those that remain open are clean & friendly (a novelty factor) & naturally, as this is a fishing town the fish here is superb. There has been an arty influence of a few European Bohemia which gives the the town an individual vibe that feels really good.

We head back to Marrakech tomorrow & fly home briefly on Friday, glad to know be are on flying on Easyjet not BA!! Next stop - Kenya & Kilimanjaro !!!

Casablanca by train

After a day of the worst feeling in a long time, that being homesickness of which Chester was extremely patient, we awoke with a revitalised air of positivity.  Based on it's reputation within books and word of mouth, we decided to treat ourselves to a day trip and take the train from Rabat.

The back straight - Heading for the coast

Wet & cold it maybe here but nowhere near that that we saw back home on chicken noodle news (CNN).

The turning mountain roads changed to dull flat agriculture & the car was sprayed a Moroccan shade of dirty red/brown by the trucks that we passed en route for the capitol - Rabat. The poor subsistence agriculture pictured below turned to full scale production & lost the charm of village communities that work the land.



The city character echoed those of the road conditions. We'd plied ourselves with some delicious peanut & caramel chocolate and began to feel slightly brighter & more upbeat. As we explored the streets some more our impressions of the city sweetened; it's a low hassle, cosmopolitan place full of young locals trying to emulate their Europeans counterparts.



We day trip it by train it to Casablanca next then explore the coastal road to Essaouira with the possibility of some surfing along the way depending on both temperature & nerve.

Chefchaouen & Treking in the cold

We cut cross country to Chefchaouen through rural communities along one seemingly continuous winding section of bends. 4 hours of bends & a disorientated feeling of direction later we arrived in the pretty hillside town painted in indigo & pastel blue.

The weather has turned for the first time since we left but looking at the UK forecast we can hardly complain of poor conditions!! Ems hasn't felt too good so decided to stay put in town & recover some strength whilst I went hiking in the mountains with a guide & a travelling acquaintance, Rob who we quite randomly bumped into the day before in Fes & again here in the hills.

The attached pictures show just how rural life is here. Life is very close to subsistance & whilst the Kefa plant only grows between march & august there's precious little work here outside the season.


At times I was uneasy as to how welcome tourists were. It could well have been my own zenophobic fears being fightened by the shear iolation