The Continuation

A week from now, I will be taking off again to continue the 2nd part of my Round The World trip. The 1st part covered Japan, Central America and South America in 10 months till I got robbed in Buenos Aires. I missed Brazil. That was 6 months ago, I got back to restore my identity and worked for couple of months. Now it is time to go again.

The 2nd part of my trip will be shorter, only 3.5 months. I will travel in Nepal for a month, hike the Annapurna Circuit and some other routes nearby. While in Nepal, I will find out the possibility to travel to Tibet, if it is not too expensive and visa is not a problem, I might do it as well.

Next is to fly to Africa and spend 2.5 months there. I know it is short but Africa is a much more expensive continent to travel then Central or South America, so my budget doesn't allow me to stay much longer. In Africa, I hope to cover Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique and South Africa and maybe Madagascar. Will see how long I can last and how far I can go with the budget I have left for these expensive countries.

Getting from Kathmandu to Nairobi there are several options, Qatar Airways fly thru Doha, Emirates fly thru Dubai and Air India fly thru Delhi. They cost from USD570 and above. 

Once in Africa, the mode of transport will be bus/car/van. As a Malaysian, we do not need visa for Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa, Visa is only required for Mozambique and Madagascar. I read that travelling overland from Tanzania to Mozambique will have a problem as visa is not issued at the border. I might need to apply it in Dar and it will take 5 days to process :-( a big waste of time! Something I have to think about along the way.

What I want to achieve this time? I want to hike to Annapurna Base Camp in Nepal, visit the Maasai Mara people in Kenya, I would also like to hike Mt Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa tallest peak, standing at 5,895 metres (19,336 feet). The only problem with this is the price - US$1200 for a 6 days trek. That will blow up part of my budget. Maybe I will just settle with looking at the peak from Serengeti National Park and enjoy the big five.:-) 

Moving downwards to Mozambique hoping to see Africa’s submarine version of the ‘big five’- whale sharks, mantas, hammerheads, reef sharks and sea turtles. Lastly finish with another Safari in South Africa or make a short trip to Madagascar. All these will fill up my calendar till December.

So being been there and done that, preparation for this trip is much easier this time. Most of the stuff I need is still sitting in my backpack. Just need to replenish and replace some over used and stolen stuff. I just need to add on some extra cold wear for the high mountain. You may refer to this link http://mynudi.blogspot.com/2012/03/travel-tips-what-i-have-learnt.html for more info. 

Till then, stay tune for the next destination blog update. :-)