Big Beaver Diaries

How To Live Like a Rockstar When You are Not One...

Author: The Beave

Victoria Falls: Zambezi Horse Trails

Life is Crazy / Zimbabwe 2016

Victoria Falls: Zambezi Horse Trails

Zambezi Horse Trails Victoria Falls Zambezi Horse Trails Email: info@vicfallshorsetrails.com  Skype: alisonhorses  Tel: +263 13 42847 Facebook Zambezi Horse Trails March 12 I had a morning, but my day really began at 15:30 when a man named Joseph arrived at Shoestring Lodge Backpackers Hostel to pick me up and take me to Zambezi Horse Trails.  We stopped to pick up a Gail and Faye, a really nice American mother and daughter team, and then pulled into the Zambezi Horse Trails, one...

Visit Victoria Falls Zimbabwe

Zambia 2016 / Zimbabwe 2016

Visit Victoria Falls Zimbabwe: Peeing Rainbows

March 11 Visit Victoria Falls Zimbabwe.  It is an interesting town for the fact that there are warthogs running through the street like stray dogs.  There are elephants that come to town in the night to eat because the watered grass is better in town.  That is pretty cool… [su_note note_color=”#b0b1b6″ text_color=”#030303″ radius=”6″]I went to the Rose of Charity Orphanage today to see if they wanted me to volunteer for a couple of days.  Tomorrow is Saturday and they said...

Visit Victoria Falls Zambia

Zambia 2016 / Zimbabwe 2016

Visit Victoria Falls Zambia: Anti-Rain Going Up

March 10 Visit Victoria Falls Zambia.  It was one of my main reasons for travelling through Zambia southbound.  I have traveled a lot of miles to get here.  So, that today turned out to be such a m@therf*ker of a day is pretty disappointing.  I do not like to swear in this blog because I think it is tasteless to write with swear words, but I can not think of another word that I want to describe the day as...

Livingstone: Zambian Tina Turner

Zambia 2016

Livingstone: Zambian Tina Turner

            Livingstone: Zambian Tina Turner. March 9. Zambia is a country full of really nice people.  Avoid Lusaka, the capital, if you can though. The other towns and the people I have met on the road have made for a really good experience.  Livingstone is great.  It is a safe city where you can walk anywhere, even at night, even as a foreigner.  They try to keep it safe here so that the reputation stays...

Livingstone: Advanced Zambia

Zambia 2016

Livingstone: Advanced Zambia

Livingstone: Advanced Zambia. March 8 Today was a maintenance day.  I spent too much of it working on geek things, but I need to do those things too.  When I left the hotel, it was for supplies to keep me alive in my hotel cave. It is National Women’s Day and a business holiday.  There were many women out in the town today wearing similar dresses.  The colors everywhere were great. I have realized how developed and Advanced Zambia is...

Kazungala: A Town Tied to Four Countries

Zambia 2016

Kazungala: A Town Tied to Four Countries

Kazungala: A Town Tied to Four Countries March 7. My wonderful mother turns 70 today. I have a phone call to make tonight! So, there is a big difference between beer that is 5% alcohol and beer that is 4.2% alcohol.  I had no idea that a small 0.8% could make such a big difference, but the difference is between getting smashed and being hungover or having fun and waking up feeling good. I have been consuming crazy amounts of...

Livingstone: Sweet Beautiful

Zambia 2016

Livingstone: Sweet Beautiful

Livingstone: Sweet Beautiful. March 6 Life.  Mine.  The zoo.  The chaos. I really meant to take a day off today to work on about eight major things that need to be addressed.  It was my full intention. Nope. It was not meant to be. I met up with Emmanuel for lunch.  I have been in a backpacker hostel around white people so I have wanted white things.  It is amazing how that works.  I never crave a hamburger when I...

Hitchhiking Zambia: Kariba Dam to Livingstone

Zambia 2016

Hitchhiking Zambia: Kariba Dam to Livingstone

Hitchhiking Zambia: Kariba Dam to Livingstone. March 5 I decided that I wanted to escape from my 19 year old lady-friend so I packed my goods and checked out of my fantastic guesthouse.  Girls who spend all of their time on their telephone when you are hanging out drive me nuts.  It is probably her thoughtless and careless youth.  Oh well, life carries on. [su_pullquote] The crying had taken place for about seven seconds when I could hear talking and...

Siavonga: Maize Beer Challenge

Zambia 2016

Siavonga: Maize Beer Challenge

Siavonga: Maize Beer Challenge. March 4 I am very powerful in this wonderful little town of Siavonga.  It is a wonderful place to me so far. My friend left at 09:00.  I showered and went to collect some breakfast.  The locals could not be friendlier and there are three very beautiful girls here eating out of the palm of my hand.  However, I have started something with one of them, so I will stay away from the other two to...

Siavonga: Gifts I Seemed to Need From a Lake Kariba Village

Zambia 2016

Siavonga: Gifts I Seemed to Need From a Lake Kariba Village

Siavonga: Gifts I Seemed to Need From a Lake Kariba Village. March 3 I had some backpack mechanics to deal with this morning.  The clip for the waist belt on the bottom of the 9.5 year old $14 North Face knock-off Chinese backpack broke on me.  Three nights ago, when it was dark on the bus through Tanzania, I took my jackknife and I cut fabric of a seatbelt that no one ever uses to take the clips.  It was...

Lusaka: The Lusaka National Museum

Zambia 2016

Lusaka: The Lusaka National Museum

Lusaka: The Lusaka National Museum. March 2 I got moving sometime in the early afternoon.  I wanted the sleep, but not at a cost of giving up a day.  I wanted some education and history on Zambia so I walked about 200 meters from my guesthouse to the Lusaka National Museum.  It turned out that the museum was actually fantastic.  Go and spend the 25 Zambian Kwacha ($2.50). [su_note note_color=”#b0b1b6″ text_color=”#030303″ radius=”6″]This is one of the first things I found...

Mbeya to Lusaka: Bus Boy

Tanzania 2015/16 / Zambia 2016

Mbeya to Lusaka: Bus Boy

Mbeya to Lusaka: Bus Boy. March 1 I wanted to get on the move from Tanzania to Zambia, so I got going at about 08:00.  The hot water shower I was promised lasted for about 90 seconds.  Well, that will help save water from shower abuser like myself… 😡 I went downstairs in the hotel for the free breakfast of chapati (African pancake things) at the hotel and then packed my bags.  The guy who checked me into the hotel last...

Arusha to Mbeya: Leap Year Country Crossing

Tanzania 2015/16

Arusha to Mbeya: Leap Year Country Crossing

Arusha to Mbeya: Leap Year Country Crossing. Feb 29 [su_note note_color=”#b0b1b6″ text_color=”#030303″ radius=”6″]I should make a series of my leap year blogs together to see how much I have changed every four years.  It might be an interesting activity…[/su_note] Up at 04:48, showered, checked out of my dungeon hotel room and rushed off to the bus station.  Found a ticket from Arusha to Mbeya for 56,000 ($25.50). Likely paid too much but it was too early to think. Found out...

Nairobi to Arusha: Blagging Immigration

Kenya 2016 / Tanzania 2015/16

Nairobi to Arusha: Blagging Immigration

Nairobi to Arusha: Blagging Immigration. Feb 28 So I realize that it is a leap year and that means tomorrow is a fancy day. I feel like I need an explanation as to why some months have 30 days and some have 31. What is the reason that February normally only has 28 for ¾ of the time?  Who came up with this nonsensical number system…and now that I think about it, why 24 hours?  Why did they not base...

Nairobi Mardi Gras

Kenya 2016

Nairobi Mardi Gras

Nairobi Mardi Gras. Feb 27 I started the day by making a fake plane ticket that will fly from Lusaka, Zambia to Johannesburg, South Africa on March 10th.  Tanzania is in my way heading south and I cannot go around it because I cannot get into Congo.  So, the only way to get to Zambia is to pass through Tanzania. A regular visa is $50, which I bought last time, but a transit visa (good for 14 days) is only...

Nairobi Matatu Culture

Kenya 2016

Nairobi Matatu Culture

Nairobi Matatu Culture. Feb 26 It was 09:00 when I woke up.  Juliette woke up as well.  She told me that she had, “…so much fun last night.”  Awesome! Juliette asked me if I went to church.  I told her I am an atheist.  She asked me if I pray to God.  I told her that I do not believe in God.  The extremely confused look that she gave me was pretty incredible.  She just looked at me with really...

Nakuru: Juliette Meets Romeo

Kenya 2016

Nakuru: Juliette Meets Romeo

Nakuru: Juliette Meets Romeo. Feb 25 I accidentally hitchhiked from the Korando Education Center back into Kisumu.  I was just standing on the side of the road waiting for a bus when a man pulled up and gave me a ride into town. He left me at a Kisumu bus station at a mall where I waited for an hour for a bus to haul me to Nakuru. There are some major differences in Kenya to everywhere else I have...

Kisumu: Cheap Impact, the Korando Education Center and Orphanage

Kenya 2016

Kisumu: Cheap Impact, Korando Education Center and Orphanage

Kisumu: Cheap Impact, the Korando Education Center and Orphanage. Feb 24 When I woke up, I decided to head on down the road towards Nairobi. Before I left, I took a look at a website called www.cheapimpact.org.  When I was at Bery’s Place, he had mentioned them to me, so I wanted to see where they were on the road and if I would get a chance to stop in to see what they do.  I went on the website....

Kisumu: A Tow-Truckin’ Son-of-a-gun

Kenya 2016

Kisumu: A Tow-Truckin’ Son-of-a-gun

Kisumu: A Tow-Truckin’ Son-of-a-gun. Feb 23 Getting used to a new currency is terrible.  It takes a couple of days of use until you start feeling comfortable with the money you are handing out. “Wait?  Was that too much?  Ah, I don’t know…” Anne and I went for a walk around Kisumu this morning and we ended up in a supermarket that had a delicatessen.  They had salamis and cheeses behind the glass.  Anne and I were nearly frothing at...

Uganda to Kenya: Hitchhiking with a German and Sniffing Tobacco

Kenya 2016 / Uganda 2016

Uganda to Kenya: Hitchhiking with a German and Sniffing Tobacco

Uganda to Kenya: Hitchhiking with a German and Sniffing Tobacco. Feb 22 I ate breakfast and went for a venture around Jinja.  The “Source of the Nile” is here, as this is where Lake Victoria channels into what is the River Nile that goes all of the way to the Mediterranean Sea. The longest river in the world starts here! I decided that I needed to go and have a look at something that is such a big deal. It...

Whitewater rafting the Nile River through Nalubale

Sports / Uganda 2016

Whitewater Rafting the Nile with Nalubale

Whitewater Rafting the Nile River.   Feb 21 – Kampala, Uganda. My telephone rang at 05:51.  It was my Ronald from Nalubale Rafting.  He was looking for the hotel in Kampala where I was staying.  Ronald arrived at the hotel at 06:10.  06:10!  They had told me last night that he would be there at 06:15.  Five minutes early?  In Africa?  Wow!  A professionalism seldom experienced on this continent…! Ronald helped me to get my backpack in the car and we drove...

Uganda Elections 2016 - Three Days of Grand Corruption

Education / Uganda 2016

Uganda Elections 2016 – Three Days of Grand Corruption

Feb 18, 2016 Uganda Elections. Kampala, Uganda. Today is a big day for Uganda.  One of the biggest in recent history. Holy!  I just looked up at the television showing elections taking place as I started writing this and across the screen it says, “Besigye Arrested.”  Kizza Besigye is the opposition leader to the current president Yoweri Museveni of Uganda. President Museveni, has been in office from January 1986 to now.  Actually, I just looked the dates up on Wikipedia...

Uganda Elections 2016 - Three Days of Grand Corruption

Uganda 2016

Kampala: Uganda 2016 Election Day 3

Kampala: Uganda 2016 Election Day 3. Feb 20, 2016 Uganda Elections. Kampala, Uganda. The suspense has built until today, though it was clear that the incumbent Yoweri Museveni would win the 2016 Ugandan election for presidency over Kizza Besigye. [su_pullquote] Everyone can smell the skunk. [/su_pullquote] Also, obvious to everyone who has paid even the slightest amount of attention to the past two days is that corruption has prevailed and has been in control of the election.  Today, a European...

Uganda Elections 2016 - Three Days of Grand Corruption

Uganda 2016

Kampala: Uganda 2016 Election Day 2

Kampala: Uganda 2016 Election Day 2. Feb 19 Uganda Elections 2016 Kampala, Uganda. Well, today was relatively quiet as provisional results for the polls began coming in for the Ugandan election.  The 30 year dictator, Yoweri Museveni, is in the voting lead, but his position is not with accusations of scandals and corruption.  Opposition leader, Kizza Besigye, the only other real competitor in the election, has been arrested again today by local authorities.  He has now been arrested two times...

Uganda Elections 2016 - Three Days of Grand Corruption

Uganda 2016

Kampala: Ugandan 2016 Election Day 1

Kampala: Ugandan 2016 Election Day 1. Feb 18, 2016 Uganda Election Day. Kampala, Uganda. Today is a big day for Uganda.  One of the biggest in recent history. Holy!  I just looked up at the television showing elections taking place as I started writing this and across the screen it says, “Besigye Arrested.”  Kizza Besigye is the opposition leader to the current president Yoweri Museveni of Uganda. President Museveni, has been in office from January 1986 to now.  Actually, I...

Kampala: Ugandan 2016 Election - Day 1

Uganda 2016

Kampala: A Gorgeous Translation of Ugly Voices and Smacking Locals

Kampala: A Gorgeous Translation of Ugly Voices and Smacking Locals. Feb 17 I left the guesthouse in Entebbe at about 14:00 and went to a restaurant to meet Stella, who wants to accompany me to Kampala.  I figured that would be fun and a pretty lady companion for a couple of days would probably be a good time. Stella and I caught a mini-van to Kampala, and went to check in a day early for the hotel room I had...

Masindi to Entebbe: Smooth Ridin' Boring Timin'

Uganda 2016

Masindi to Entebbe: Smooth Ridin’ Boring Timin’

Masindi to Entebbe: Smooth Ridin’ Boring Timin’. Feb 16 My hotel cleaning ladies seem to have a thing for me.  Both of them were in my room this morning.  One of them was on my bed and asked me to take her with me when I leave.  I asked her if she wanted to fall in love and if I was looking at my future right now.  She told me she wants to see Europe and North America.  She asked...

Fair Museum in Masindi

Uganda 2016

The Fair Museum in Masindi

The Fair Museum in Masindi. Feb 15 I took a maintenance day today.  Being up until 06:00 to try to catch up on life is generally just borrowing most of tomorrow for more of today.  But, when you are on a roll, it is hard to stop to reset for the following day. Masindi is stifling hot.  I walked around and checked out the town in the afternoon, though being in the sun was like being a turkey in an...

Butiaba to Masindi: Scrap-Heap Car Adventures

Uganda 2016

Butiaba to Masindi: Scrap-Heap Car Adventures

Butiaba to Masindi: Scrap-Heap Car Adventures. Feb 14 Happy Valentine’s Day!  The closest I got to romance was this: I walked into a cheap hotel in a town called Masindi in Uganda.  While I was waiting for a receptionist to appear, I noticed on the wall was a glass cabinet that said “Free Condoms” on the outside of it.  I wondered what kind of a hotel this was.  Free condoms is a bargain price. I went to take a handful,...

Fort Portal to Butiaba: Cheats, Near Collisions, and Jerry Can Showers

Uganda 2016

Fort Portal to Butiaba: Cheats, Near Collisions, and Jerry Can Showers

Fort Portal to Butiaba: Cheats, Near Collisions, and Jerry Can Showers. Feb 13. To get from Fort Portal to Butiabam, I got up and found a mini-van leaving Fort Portal and heading north to a town called Hoima.  30,000 shillings ($8.80).  When I asked, they told me it was going to take about three hours to get to Hoima.  One always needs to double that number to mentally prepare for the actual arrival time… As I was sitting and waiting...