Sailing and Sea Kayaking

After a quick stop at Tiwi beach Mark and I headed to Kilifi, where we met up with Mark and Markus Savage, Camilo, Kris and Bender (the dog). Mark Savage, owner of Savage Wilderness Safaris, has a beautiful 42 foot sailboat which we were going to sail up the Kenyan coast to Lamu.

Loading up the sailboat

Once the boat was loaded we were ready to go. Mark S. had devised a rack that would enable us to tow seven sea kayaks behind the boat. Unfortunately about six hours into the journey the rack broke and we had to haul all the sea kayaks onto the boat. At about this point in the journey I started to feel sea sick and I would not feel better until the next day when we dropped anchor just off of Lamu Island.

Once we reached Lamu we spent four days sea kayaking before heading back to Kilifi. We were joined in Lamu by James and Liam.

James and Bender

Camping on a sandy beach

Dinner in Shela

Camilo sailing back to Kilifi

After returning to Kilifi, we got back into our car and headed to Nairobi. Within four days we managed to sell our car, change our plane tickets and convince BA to take our kayaks home. So on March 14 we were on our way to Zurich. After a brief stopover in Switzerland we flew back to Canada. We will spend about a month here visiting friends and family before continuing on with our adventures.

Marathon to Kenya

So the end of February was in sight and Mark and I were still in South Africa. But after a call from James in Kenya asking us to join him and a few friends on a sailing and sea kayaking trip we decided to pack up the car and head North. We had less then a week to make it up to the coast of Kenya, so the driving marathon began… 4000 km to go.

Elephant in Botswana

The drive through northern South Africa was uneventful. We hit Botswana in the evening and continued driving into the night. A flat tire at four in the morning slowed us down a bit but we reached Zambia later that afternoon. Another flat tire close to Livingstone forced us to stop and get a couple used tires so we could make it back to Kenya. The drive through Zambia was beautiful, although we arrived the border just as it was closing. We made it out of Zambia but did not get into Tanzania. So we had to spend the night in a hotel before continuing on the next morning.Tanzania was stunning. Lots of animals, friendly people and gorgeous scenery.

Flipped truck - a common sight

Catching a ride

Baboon - evident in every country we visited in Africa

Selling baskets on the side of the road

We crossed over into Kenya with a day to spare. Five days for us to travel from South Africa to Kenya. We were a little worn out from the driving so the best way to recuperate was to spend some time on a beach. Tiwi beach was just the place. A cute little cabin with an ocean view, warm sun, snorkeling, and an awesome fish dinner… paradise.

The view from our cottage