Hello world, hello Africa!

Hi everybody out there in the *whole wide world* ... or should I say *whole wild world* :-D ... maybe the second one fits better on Africa and it's wildlife ... nice to see you here on my blog and I am glad to share my experiences and adventures with you!

So where should I start with my story about Africa. Hmm ... the idea for a trip through Africa arose already in summer 2009, when two friends of mine moved to Mozambique for approximatly two years ... and now they are still there ... somewhere in Beira ;-) ... so visiting Iris and Andi in Mozambique was one of the best opportunity for my next trip. Moreover my last trip to Cambodia and Vietnam is also almost 4 years ago, and so I thought it's time for a new challenge. However, this should not only be a short visit to Mozambique rather than a very long trip through Southern Africa ... for about 14 weeks (so this is my longest trip so far).

The decision was not that easy, because there are a lot of risks and dangers one has to take into account (eg Malaria, Dengue fever and so on). However, Africa has a really beautiful countryside, an untouched nature with a lot of wild animals, plants and natural highlights like Kilimandscharo, Victoria falls, Okavango delta, Etosha national park, Sossuvlei / Namib desert, Table mountains in Cape town and so on, which overwhelms most of these negaive things ... no risk, no fun ;-) ... nevertheless you have to be aware for all that risks, so that you can protect and prevent yourself for all these things. However you are never safe for 100% and so you should keep the risks in mind all the time.

I have never been to Africa before and so I am already very exciting on what I will experience there and how I would manage all the challenges which faces me. The first challenge is that I have only booked the flight to Johannesburg and back from Cape Town (as it should be for a *real* backpacker like me) ... the rest I have to organize on site in Africa. Otherwise it would be too easy for me :-D ... as one can see, I am looking for a real challenge!!

I have already planned my trip in very coarse steps, which you can see on the map below ;-) ... I know that the distance I have to manage with some kind of *african* public transportation would be another challenge ;-) ... so I will see, if it is possible, otherwise I have to change my plan on the fly!!

Größere Kartenansicht

So I am looking forward for an awesome trip through Africa, a lot of new impressions on the different countries and the people who are living there ...  and I hope I meet and greet ;-) a lot of backpackers and travellers there. And of course I will try to capture as much impressions as possible with my camera ;-)

So let's the journey begin!!