100 and Done! (Countries that is...)

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We are back! This last trip brought the total countries visited to 100! It is a crazy milestone. It is difficult, time-consuming and can be (IS) expensive. After I got back from Antarctica in 2007, I started thinking about it. After 2010 I was thinking about it more (as I moved from NY to Georgia) and in 2014 it had become a real goal. Between Angie and I we have been to 109 Countries. We are tied at 100 countries each. We have 9 countries different in our lists. For example, I have been to San Marino. She has not. She has been to Israel. I have not, yet. There has been some fun competition in this area. That's why we had to establish rules. 1.) Must be listed (as a country) with the US State Department 2.) Being in an airport doesn't count. You have to get through immigration somehow and not in a DMZ or a no-mans-land 3.) A passport stamp is not required. I have been to Canada, Paraguay, and Uruguay without getting my passport stamped. There are friendly borders in many places...
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Southern Africa!

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I was successful getting to all 8 countries I planned.

South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Mozambique, Eswatini (Swaziland), Lesotho, and Namibia.

The trip was 14 days with 13 flight segments. The shortest flight was 15 minutes in an ultralight and the longest flight 16+ hours. I rented a 4x4 in Lesotho and another in Namibia.

Among many other things in my travels, I walked across the Victoria Falls bridge between Zambia and Zimbabwe and took an ultralight aircraft ride over the same bridge and falls.

Namib Desert from the air. Look for my 4x4.

Skeleton Coast

Heart of Namid desert near uranium mine


Maputo, Mozambique-- City Hall and Samora Machel statue

Maseru, Lesotho-- I was delayed at the airport leaving Lethoto by about three hours. I had to find a nother hotel in Namibia since I wasn't going to drive after dark. The delay was caused by the Airport being shut down because of an expired battery in the airport fire truck. We had to wait to get a new battery. After the battery was installed, the fire truck drove around the airport and you could feel the sighs of relief of the airport reopening. There are only three flights to/from Masuru a day. All from Jo'burg. No concessions to speak of and no soap or toilet paper in the restroom.

Maseru, Lesotho-- View from the best hotel in the city during the golden hour. Great scenery in Lesotho.

Zambia-- checkpoint around National Park

Zambia

Eswatini

Eswatini

Eswatini

South Africa

Namibia-- Namib Desert

Namibia-- Namib Desert

Zambia

Zambia

Zambia

Zambia









































Comments

David Schinsing said…
I think some of those places are the "shithole" countries, right?
10:56 AM
Don Bridges said…
No "shithole" countries, just "shithole" people.

Welcome back - glad you made it home safely.
7:50 PM
Don Bridges said…
No "shithole" countries, just "shithole" people.

Glad you had a great adventure and made it back safely.

Let me know when we can trade stories (Finland and Estonia were amazing).
7:52 PM
Charles said…
I had some great take-aways after meeting with different folks across the eight countries. Generally, these eight countries are declining in most of the of indices associated with a good civilization. (See CORRUPTION PERCEPTIONS INDEX, for example). I had several people indicate to me that racism is not an issue. It certainly was. Now it has much less to do with race and much more to do with class and caste issues. With all the languages spoken, 11 official languages in South Africa. Language can be better tied with a social class or caste than race. Fascinating stuff. I realize that "caste" is generally reserved for use with hindis, but the concepts are observed in sub-Saharan Africa with multigenerational occupations.
6:35 AM
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