The Plan

We are going to be gone for a month. We'll be backpacking. The goal, to climb Kilimanjaro, and to witness the Serengeti migration, incorporating whatever else we can fit in between. The plan is to arrive in Johannesburg by air, and make our way to and/or from Kilimanjaro by ground transport. The route is still a little uncertain.

Originally we were thinking of going south to Cape Town by coach, then continue north through Namibia, Livingstone in Zambia, and finally Tanzania. All this to avoid taking the more direct route via Zimbabwe, a country currently not of very pleasant disposition from what we hear. Najam was also fantasizing about the beautiful Namib, the oldest desert in the world, home of some of the most breathtaking views, and unique flora and fauna (see also this). He's got a thing for deserts. But, that track side tracks us quite a bit, and we are afraid we won't have enough time to do what we really want to do.


So, the new plan is to go through Botswana instead. I don't know why we didn't think of that before. We got very enthusiastic about it once we learned that it is the only blue rated country in that region on the world peace index, almost twice as peaceful as USA! There's got to be something special about the place, and we hope to sample some of its peace in our journey.

The Dream

We have our plane ticket, the majority of our gear and a loose plan for trekking through the southern region of Africa. Like many adventures, this one started as a dream. Well actually, it didn't start out with some grand vision of traveling the world -- although that is where we're at now. Najam literally awoke to the Toto song "Africa" ringing in his head. You know, the one that goes "I bless the rains down in Africa" often misconstrued to say either "I guess it rains down in Africa" and "I wrestled Marines down in Africa."

He's not sure where or why he awoke to this song but the unconscious works in funny ways.

I hear the drums echoing tonight
But she hears only whispers of some quiet conversation
She's coming in twelve-thirty flight
Her moonlit wings reflect the stars that guide me towards salvation
I stopped an old man along the way
Hoping to find some old forgotten words or ancient melodies
He turned to me as if to say: "Hurry boy, it's waiting there for you"

It's gonna take a lot to drag me away from you
There's nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do
I bless the rains down in Africa
Gonna take some time to do the things we never had

The wild dogs cry out in the night
As they grow restless longing for some solitary company
I know that I must do what's right
Sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti
I seek to cure what's deep inside, frightened of this thing that I've become

Hurry boy, she's waiting there for you

The words had a strange ambient relevance to the time and place we were at, and suggestions of new times and new places we could be. So, tallest peak in Africa, here we come!