Hi Everyone,

Zambia is off to a stunning start.
I have been playing with Chimpanzees again, hiking into beautiful waterfalls, exploring wilderness areas and ancient caves, and I even managed to run the Jeep out of gas!
FAIL!

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To read those stories, checkout these two pages:
Chimfunshi Chimp Orphanage | The Road Chose Me

Mutinondo Wilderness, Caves & Waterfalls | The Road Chose Me

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Also the latest edition of the FREE JPFreek Adventure Magazine just came out!
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JPFreek Adventure Magazine Summer 2018

There is a big update from me, and the Editor Eric has built a wicked offroad trailer that has me drooling.
I've never been a trailer guy, but he has me seriously thinking about it for the future!
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You can read all about his trailer build here: JPFreek Adventure Magazine Summer 2018 Page 14

-Dan

Hi Everyone,

Just for the fun of it, I'm running a prize pack giveaway !

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Up for grabs are:

• A Traditional Tinga Tinga oil on canvas painting from East Africa (18″ x 12″)
• The Road Chose Me Vol. 1 (Signed) book
• The Road Chose Me Africa Embroidered Patch
• The Road Chose Me Africa Sticker

For your chance to win, just follow The Road Chose Me on Facebook and Instagram.

The Road Chose Me on Instagram: http://instagram.com/theroadchoseme/

The Road Chose Me on Facebook: http://facebook.com/theroadchoseme/

I'll draw a winner at random on September 13th

Good luck!

-Dan

Hi Everyone,

I've been exploring remote parts of Zambia and absolutely loving it!

This ferry across a hippo and croc infested river was a highlight - it's a bunch of barrels lashed together, and it's pulled across the fast-flowing river by hand!

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More on that here: Splitting North and South Luangwa National Parks | The Road Chose Me

Since then we've treated ourselves to some affordable luxury at Marula Lodge on the banks of the Luangwa River, where we go into the National Park every day at sunrise and sunet.
We keep bumping into large critters like this:

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And we even saw this lion chased off the river by hippos! So much for king of the jungle!
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And finally! A leopard!
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You can see a ton more animal pics in the two posts:
Marula Lodge & South Luangwa National Park Pt. 1 | The Road Chose Me
Marula Lodge & South Luangwa National Park Pt. 2 | The Road Chose Me

Zambia is wild!

-Dan

Man, hippos get my attention. When I was in SA a few years back, we were in an area near the Limpopo River. We got a report of a guy bitten in half by a hippo when he went out at night to urinate. They said he never knew what hit him. Lots of respect for that beast!

I have crossed into Malawi - a painless border crossing.

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Story about the crossing here: Into Malawi | The Road Chose Me

I have been camping lakeside and enjoying paradise - Lake Malawi is hard to beat!

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Tons more photos here: Cape Maclear, Lake Malawi | The Road Chose Me

and here: North along Lake Malawi | The Road Chose Me

..and now after driving up a mountain, I'm camping at a place called Mushroom Farm overlooking the lake. It's fantastic.
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More: Mushroom Farm & Livingstonia | The Road Chose Me

Malawi has been great, though a little difficult. With the language barrier and extreme wealth disparity I found it virtually impossible to connect with the local people - a first on the continent for me.

Tanzania is up next!

-Dan

Hi All,

I have driven into Tanzania, which turned out to be the hardest border crossing of my life.
I don't have a "Carnet De Passage" which is an international customs document for the Jeep, and so far I have managed every country without one. Tanzania didn't want a bar of it.
Officially their Temporary Import Permit is only for vehicles registered in nearby African countries, and so technically I MUST have a CDP.
After lots and lots and lots and lots of discussion and me basically begging, the guy finally let me use their Temp. Import Permit system!

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Read the full story here: Into Tanzania | The Road Chose Me

After a week of R&R and fun on Zanzibar, I have now cut across Tanzania, and I'm checking out Kilimanjaro. Wild camping in the shadow of a big glacier-capped mountain feels just like being back in South America.

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More: Around Kilimanjaro | The Road Chose Me

Tanzania is enormous, I'm cutting inland now to checkout a couple of tiny countries in the very heart of Africa!

-Dan

Hi All,

I roamed across Tanzania, finding remote places and friendly locals

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Tons more pics here : Across Wild Tanzania | The Road Chose Me


And now I have driven into Burundi, the tiny country that labels itself "The Heart Of Africa". I had to swap back to driving on the right after 10 countries driving on the left, and it feels exactly like West Africa.
Ebola check at the border, totally French speaking, a lot less development, humidity, rain, mud and really raw.

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Border crossing story here: Into Burundi | The Road Chose Me

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More Burundi here: Wandering Burundi | The Road Chose Me

It's a blast from the past to drop back into what feels like West Africa - A really good one!

-Dan

Hi All,

Burundi turned out to be nostalgia in the best possible way. Fully French speaking, much less developed than nearby countries, really friendly and down to earth people and some great wilderness spots to explore.


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Here's a great wilderness hot spring I managed to locate:
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And Burundi even has a claim to the source of the nile river! From this point all the water that flows off one side of the mountain goes into the Congo River, from the other it all goes into the Nile... all the way to the Mediterranean in Egypt

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Now I have driven into African country number 29, Rwanda.
Immediately I can see it's very different than other countires. Since the genocide 25 years ago they have bonded together to form a very strong and unified country. There is absolutely ZERO trash to be seen - everything is extremely neat and organized.
It's vibrant, fast and really friendly!

The mountains the background here are in the mighty Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) - I miss that place!
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Read the full story of the border crossing here: Into Rwanda | The Road Chose Me

-Dan

Hi All,

Rwanda was great, I found some fantastic camping on the side of Lake Kivu:
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and then went looking for mountain Gorillas near volcanoes
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Read More: Volcanoes National Park | The Road Chose Me

It's a little mind-bending, but after almost 45,000 miles I have just driven into country number 30 in Africa.
I have no idea when that number got so high, it honestly feels like it's been about 6 months on the road (it's been 2 and a half years...)

The border crossing was extremely simple and straightforward, everyone is really friendly. I had to yet again swap driving sides of the road.
I'm back to driving on the left for Uganda and Kenya, then I'll swap back to the right side for the rest of Africa.

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Read about the border and my first impressions of Uganda here: [URL="http://theroadchoseme.com/into-uganda"]http://theroadchoseme.com/into-uganda[/URL

Soon I'll have to start planning and thinking about the final push North to Egypt.

-Dan

Hi Everyone,

After 45,000 miles through 35 countries in Africa, the plan has gone a bit sideways.

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You can read the whole story and see more photos of the accident here: Disaster | The Road Chose Me

-Dan