Travels off the Beaten Path

In this episode I am now on my own in Nairobi, Kenya. I needed a job so I turned to my riding career. Kenya is a former British colony so there are many British residents and expatriates. I knew the British love their horses and the wealthier groups often own horses as a hobby but not always have time to ride them. I had to get in contact with them to see if there was any job opportunities and i did not know anyone. Remember this was the time when there was no mobile phones, no email, no internet.......I went looking for hoofprints in the dirt on the outskirts of Nairobi. I saw some from the local bus (matatu). I then left a note in the local shop looking for work as a rider and to leave me a message through my backpackers accommodation. I was contacted within that day. I was invited to spend a weekend at a horse event being introduced to potential employers. I readily accepted but I did not look the part as an equestrian rider and so was immediately judged. However, two families were willing to give me a trial on their horses and after one ride, I suddenly had a full-time job riding horses and training people to ride their own horses. 

There were two life lessons from this period of my life. 1) I needed a job and I managed to get one in a foreign country within 24 hours. This was with no digital technology to help me. Where there is a will, there is a way. Using my initiative and perseverance, I came up with an idea and did not give up on it until I was successful. Having that drive to see things through has got me a long way in life and I have used it continually in my travels and other aspects of my life. Have a vision, set some goals and don't give up, even if you have to ride some setbacks along the way.   2) I mention I was judged by my looks when I was looking for horse employment. I did not look the part as a professional rider neat and tidy in the "right" clothes. However, some people took a chance with me and let me ride their horses. Once I got on the horse, I was able to prove my worth by the way I was able to train the horse. If no one took a chance with me because of the way I dressed, I would have been out of a job but also I would not have been able to help these people. I had recently come from an Austrian barn where I as riding up to 15 horses a day, so I was a good rider and there were very few horse trainers/coaches in Nairobi at the time. So be careful how you judge someone by their looks, the way they dress, their background and associations. They may just be a diamond in the rough waiting for a chance to shine. Give them that chance to help them be the person they are meant to be. On the flip side of the coin, you do not have to act, dress or be like anyone else just to try and fit in. You are unique. Given the right opportunities, even if you have to make those opportunities happen, you can shine your own light and be yourself. 

This episode describes our trip to the Masai Mara Games Reserve in Kenya. We found a safari company in Nairobi and booked a four-day, three-night package for a reasonable price. My fellow travellers were from the overland truck. It was my last adventure with them before they headed south and I stayed behind. Knowing this was my last time I would see these people I had spent nearly every waking moment for the last few months was scary. We were travelling in a minivan, which had a roof that lifted up so we had better viewing of the animals. We stayed in budget accommodation, which was not bad at all considering how we had been sleeping on the truck. The accommodation was a permanent tented site with a pair of real beds and an adjoining toilet and shower. This was luxury. It was April and we had the short rains occurring so the grass was green and high. Still, we saw lots of wildlife. Because of the rainy season, there was not as many tour groups and often we would have a wildlife sighting to ourselves for long periods.

We spent two whole days in the minivan driving around the reserve. However, knowing everyone well and being used to travelling for long periods of time, we did not mind it at all. The highlight was seeing the lionesses and their cubs winding their way past us with no real concern. However, I felt we did intrude too closely to the wildlife, affecting their behaviour. It is wonderful to view this wildlife from the safety of a vehicle but I wonder on the intrusiveness of what we do with the self-righteousness of humans detaching ourselves from the animal world as observers.

The Masai Mara is a must-see but pick your time to visit wisely. During the migration, the park is packed and it is difficult to see the animals for the people. We chose the rainy season and it was less crowded. The Masai Mara village visit was staged with the only purpose to buy jewellery. They were also ruined by tourists flaunting their dollars around. I was not impressed. I vowed I would never willing attend another of these staged "village visits" but go searching for the real experiences myself. However, you have to tune into my future episodes for those stories.

Photo source: Craig Stevenson on Unsplash

This episode discusses the potential dangers of travelling not just off the beaten path, but really anywhere. We had spent the last few months travelling through West and Central Africa. We tried to immerse into each culture and were often invited to share meals, and refusing was considered an insult. When we came into East Africa, we had not changed the way we interacted with the locals and we had to learn quickly to bring our guard back. This was brought home when a friend of mine was drugged on an overnight bus from Kampala to Nairobi and her money and cards were stolen. There was three of us so she sat by herself. A man sat beside her, befriended her, they chatted for a long time and he eventually offered her a sweet. The sweet was drugged. We were oblivious to the event until we reached Nairobi and we could not wake her up. The man was long gone. We took her to Nairobi Hospital and she recovered there for a couple of days. This event made me more cautious. We were now in east Africa, where there were more tourists and more opportunities for thefts. Not every one could be trusted.

I ended up staying six months in Kenya, mainly Nairobi, and I did not have another incident. However, I became more vigilant of who was around me. I let my own intuition decide on my actions. I still accepted offers of hospitality but only when it felt safe. My intuition never let me down. If I ignored it, I usually did to my detriment. Travelling solo really meant no night life as it was too risky. I made friends with the local boys, with friendly banter each time I passed,  and I think as a result, they looked out for me. 

Travelling in any country can be dangerous but if you keep your wits about you (whether you are solo or in a group), trust your intuition, and be respectful and friendly to the locals without encouraging too much familiarity, you should be fine. I also avoid any areas that are current hotspots or any war zones. No point asking for trouble.......

This episode I give tips on how to support yourself when you do not want your travel experiences to end. When I left Australia, I had $1000 in cash, a one-way ticket and a Eurail pass. I hoped to be gone for one year. I came home seven years later. I ended working in the Greek islands at a restaurant and getting jobs riding horses in England, Austria and in Africa. I found if you have a specialised skill, it was much easier to find work for a longer period of time than weeks or a few months. I discuss the advantages and disadvantages of working legally and illegally (I mean without a work visa - not dealing with any illegal stuff :-) ). 

These days it is much easier to work anywhere in the world if you have a computer, a reliable internet and an online business. Covid has slowed it down but we will get back to globetrotting one day and now may be a good time to build an online business that makes work/travel easy for the future.

This episode describes the historic train ride from Kasese to Kampala in Uganda. We meet two young lads that show us their bullet wounds on their bodies and I reflect on the crazy history of Uganda, especially the far-reaching repercussions from the Idi Armin era. 

We meet the overland truck again in Kampala then travel down to Lake Victoria for a trip over to Sese Islands. These islands were beautiful and not much tourism development at the time. I was worried about my cut toe in the water, where they often gutted fish, but I was carried to the boat. 

Watching the fishermen for a day on the shore of Lake Victoria made me realise just how much Nile Perch was being caught and loaded onto refrigerated trucks waiting nearby. The fishermen kept coming ALL day with their catch of fingerlings, to mostly ~30-40 cms (12 - 16 inches) in length, but a few times a huge fish, greater than one metre, were hauled in. I began to be concerned that there did not seem to be any thought as to the sustainability of the Nile Perch population. The sheer volume of fish on the shore was staggering. All sizes were being caught and processed and this was just a snapshot in time with me sitting on the beach that day. I assumed this was a daily practice. I mentioned it to the fishermen and they got angry at me. I found out later overfishing in Lake Victoria became a major issue with a number of species declining. The number of fishing boast rose from around 10, 000 in the 1980s to over 60, 000 at the start of the millennium, and fish factories had increased significantly as well. Illegal fishing was also rampant. Eventually authorities from Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya had to step in and control the situation, but it was many years before this happened.

The image of this day stuck in my mind and eventually led me back to Australia and university to eventually work as an ecologist. The overfishing, the destruction of forests with the daily search for fuelwood and clearing for crops that also leads to erosion. This is evident in many of the African countries I visited. It was seeing the effects on no conservation effort in Uganda (from the violent history and exploitation of its natural resources) that inspired me to become knowledgeable in the topic so I could influence others in sustainable practice with natural resources that are all finite in quantity. 

Cover: Large Nile perch being carried by a fisherman. (Source - Nation Media Group)

This episode covers the last days Jacqui and I spent in eastern Zaire on our way from visiting the mountain gorillas in Virunga Mountains National Park to the Ugandan border post at Mpandwe on the foothills of the Rwenzori Mountains (Mountains of the Moon). We travelled by truck, ute, minivan and boat. We spent nine hours one day sitting at a corner waiting for some transport to arrive, surrounded by children repeatedly reciting the four French phrases they knew. It tested our patience. We made it to Butembo and decided to take a shortcut to the border post via the fishing village Kyavinyonge on Lake Edward. The trip down to the village was a nightmare. Very drunk fishermen loaded up the only vehicle with their empty fish baskets and about twenty people on the back of the ute. I was perched on the side edge with only one handhold as we negotiated a track off the side of the mountain down to the floodplain, full of hairpin bends and steep drops. I thought I was was going to my doom. However, we made it down to the village on the edge of Lake Edward, where we were put on immediate house arrest until they decided what to do with us. After a couple of days, they let us continue our journey catching a minivan. We crossed the Semliki River via a makeshift vehicle ferry poling across while looking out for hippos and made it to the Congo/Ugandan border post. From there we travelled via more minivans through Queen Elizabeth National Park to Kasese. At one stage, we spent the night at a rustic camp site with a sleeping platform above a large entertainment area. I fell up the roughly hewn stairs and sliced my toe open at the base. I then had to manage treating the wound without adequate medical facilities and the real risk of picking up all sorts of bacteria and parasites, such as bilharzia (a parasitic flatworm that spends some of its lifecycle in freshwater snails and then infects humans through mainly contact through the water).  

Life lessons include learning patience as everything works on African time (i.e. no schedules), and questioning some of my life choices when my life comes at risk, putting it into the hands of inebriated drivers on a suicide drive down a mountain side while perched on the side hanging on with one hand. I made it down but anything could have happened. I also discuss the issues with becoming injured when you are travelling off the beaten path, too far from medical facilities. A first aid kit is an essential travel item with enough supplies to see you out until you reach suitable medical facilities.   

Cover: The fishing village of Kyavinyonge on Lake Edward, Democratic Republic of Congo. (Source: MNCTV Congo)

This episode discusses the political unrest and the humanitarian crisis that was occurring around the time we travelled through eastern Zaire. Burundi was in a civil war as a result of their Hutu president being assassinated in 1993. The next president was shot down on a plane with the Rwandan president in April 1994. This sparked the Rwandan genocide for 100 days when up to a million Tutsi were massacred. The Rwandan Patriotic Front of mainly Tutsi, retaliated to stop the genocide. The Hutu, and some Tutsi, fled into neighbouring countries. Around two million Hutu fled into Zaire in a matter of days. This was only a few months after we had passed through the area and we noted the lack of food in the area. There was stories of refugees roaming the hillsides and eating tree roots. I was concerned about the survival of the mountain gorillas when food was a huge issue. The refugees arriving in Goma ended up with four large refugee camps of around 800,000 people in each. However, Hutu were also controlling the camps so many humanitarian organisations pulled out. Cholera, typhoid and other outbreaks were common.  

Having been through this area and experienced the hardships people were having in trying to survive in a densely populated area, it was hard to imagine the increased pressure when the two million refugees hit that area. The humanitarian disaster started from ethnic intolerance between two tribal clans, the Hutu and the Tutsi. This is common in Africa and many other places around the globe, where people are afraid of differences and show hostility. We need to stop intolerance for other races, colour, religion, and other differences. One of the best steps is educating our children to be tolerant of differences and stopping the hostility. We can all do our part.   

This episode describes the journey from Bukavu on the southern tip of Lake Kivu by boat to Goma, then our truck ride than hike up to the slopes of Mt Mikeno and Mt Karisimbi in the Virunga Mountains to the ranger headquarters to see the mountain gorillas on the Congolese side. We enjoyed a lovely chicken dinner that night from a very fit chicken, which was a pleasant change from our recent diet of chilli sardines and dough balls. The next morning we were up early to search for the night nests from a gorilla group. We were very lucky and found them within an hour instead of having to trek for hours. We watched them for an hour. It was one of the highlights of my life when a juvenile came up to me and grabbed my leg and started pulling me along. It was an amazing experience to watch these beautiful animals, just as much as they interacted with us. Too soon we had to leave them but you could not wipe the smile off my face for days. My photos did not work but I got some film. If only I had a digital camera then........

My life lessons here were living in the now instead of thinking of what to do when things go wrong. Visiting the mountain gorillas in their natural habitat was such an amazing experience and will never be forgotten. Being witness to the encroaching farmers chipping their way into the forest of the gorillas made me understand the impacts of human populations and the pressing need to protect and conserve this species and its habitat. The US$100 park fee we paid helps conserve the species but we heard from the rangers that they only get to keep ~$5 of that for gorilla conservation, and the rest went to corrupt officials. It was such a shame. I am not sure of the status now. I was so privileged to visit this family group with the silverback Rafiki and interact with them for an hour. If you ever get the chance to visit, do not hesitate. 

Photo: Porco Rosso on Unsplash

I am so excited on this episode to introduce a fellow traveller and friend, Kim Schutzhofer for my first interview. Kim is a South African that has been based in Austria for nearly three decades. I met Kim in Austria in the early 1990's and we hit it off straight away. In this episode, Kim describes her best travel experience volunteering in a kibbutz in Israel. Kim elaborates "I have seen beautiful places and I have had amazing experiences, but I have never felt such a sense of community in any other country. I still have a huge connection to Israel. I am a very emotional traveller who always tries to find an emotional connection to the places I visit and the people who live there. I have seen many beautiful places I wasn’t always able to connect to emotionally."

Kim has two websites to connect with her:

www.isnotso.com - This is her blog that concentrates on her perspectives to life and matters that matter to her, her poetry, her photography, her book, and an online bookshop that will be built up at and promoted at some point in the future.

www.satnightcitybeat.com - This is the website that concentrates on the youth, her #No2Drugs! and #No2Alcohol! Events, her blog section with interviews with former drug addicts/lost youth, and info around new technologies that are rapidly bringing mainstream into the digital era.

Photo: Kim on a tractor in the avocado orchard on an Israeli kibbutz.

This episode continues the story of my African adventure. I leave Kisangani in central Zaire and travel with a friend down to Kabare on the edge of Lake Kivu in eastern Zaire. We hitchhike and end up on a flatbed truck with sides crowded with people and their belongings. We are stopped by soldiers, who target us as we are the only Europeans on the truck. Bubonic plague has erupted in the area we are traversing and I internally question a family that hops on and are covered with black spots. During a heavy storm, the drivers pull a tarpaulin over the truck to keep us dry. However, when they lash it down, only a small square of fresh air is left. I have discovered a new word as I do not have claustrophobia but have cleithrophobia, which is the fear of being trapped. I tried to fight but my body had other ideas and I had to dive to that little square of air at the back of the truck to stop being nauseous and fighting rising panic. 

The life lessons I learnt is "not to read a book by its cover". The soldiers' irritating constant demands for money and items of worth were brought on because they had no been paid for two years as a result of the government corruption. Assessing information on bubonic plague in the middle of central Africa was challenging when there is no Google and the only reliable source of information was BBC radio. I was immediately sceptical of the family that joined us with possible symptoms. It correlates well with our current covid situation except for scale. Lastly, after trying to conquer my phobia and failing, I have increased understanding and tolerance for people with phobias. They are difficult to overcome and we need to give the people time and the space to achieve it. It does not happen in one sitting. 

In my next episode, I have my first interview with a friend and avid traveller as well as a writer, blogger, business owner and sole parent. I look forward to catching up with you there.

Cover photo: Flatbed truck similar to what we travelled in. (Sam Mann on Unsplash)