We have officially finished the first major chapter of our nomadic life: AFRICA
We chose Africa as our opening act because we suspected it would be the most physically and logistically challenging region on our itinerary, and we wanted to tackle it while we still had plenty of stamina and tolerance for chaos. We expected difficult travel days, rough roads, unpredictable logistics, and plenty of moments that would test us. Some places were exactly as hard as we imagined. Others surprised us with comfort, beauty, kindness, and moments of pure magic.
Looking back, we feel like we got a real taste of life across many different African countries — different landscapes, cultures, rhythms, foods, wildlife, challenges, and ways of moving through the world.
So, in classic yearbook fashion, we decided to hand out a few awards.
Proudest Moment
Mike: Summiting Mt. Kenya — 18 hours of hiking, technical pitch rock-climbing, and braving cold, windy, high-altitude conditions.
Kate: Summiting Mt. Kilimanjaro. I didn’t summit the highest peak of Mt. Kenya because I don’t have the technical rock-climbing skills required, but I did make it to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro at 19,341 feet. The hike itself wasn’t technically difficult for me, but the altitude hit hard on summit day. My body felt awful, and I had to push through that fog of discomfort to keep going. It was also my first time leaving in the middle of the night to summit a mountain, which added a whole new layer of surreal determination to the experience.
Hardest Moment
Mike: Summiting Mt. Kenya.
Kate: Rock climbing barefoot to reach an Ethiopian cave church carved into a rock spire. I was prepared for the climbing, even though the harnesses and ropes looked like they had lived several long lives already. What I was not prepared for was having to do it barefoot because it was a sacred site. My feet are tender, and I generally do not step onto sharp rocks without shoes. But if I wanted to see the church, I had to get my head around it. It went fine, though there were definitely a few painful little “why am I doing this?” steps along the way.
Most Worried Moment
Mike: Crazy taxi drivers passing within inches of pedestrians, cars, trucks, bicycles, goats, and anything else unlucky enough to be on the road.
Kate: Mike being gone for 18 hours climbing Mt. Kenya when I thought it would be closer to an 8-hour ascent. There was no communication, no way to check in, and no way to know how he and his guide were doing. Late that night, I finally saw headlamp lights bobbing down toward camp and felt instant, overwhelming relief.
Scariest Moment
Mike & Kate: A five-hour drive in Uganda with an aggressive, careless driver. Driving on many African roads is terrifying because there is constant chaos swirling around you — vehicles passing blindly, pedestrians inches away, motorcycles darting through gaps, and very little respect for lanes or safe following distance. This drive took first prize for sheer white-knuckle fear. I could barely watch the road and occasionally said a prayer that we would survive. We did have a small fender-bender, but luckily both our van and the other vehicle were moving slowly, so we barely felt the impact.
Kate: Our first day driving the camper van in Namibia, with Mike at the wheel. We were on small dirt roads in the middle of nowhere, and that first day threw everything at us: rain, mud, potholes, and stream crossings. I was convinced we were either going to get stuck or be swept down a stream in our rental camper. My anxiety was less about getting hurt and more about destroying the camper van and being liable for the full cost. Mike handled every obstacle beautifully. He was calm, steady, and impressively unfazed, which made me only slightly less panicked.
Most Joyous Moment
Mike & Kate: Having our kids fly to Kenya and join us for a safari. We had missed them terribly, and we loved every minute of being together.
Mike: Petting an 18-month-old male lion named Commander. He was all muscle and radiated strength, but somehow he was also, in that moment, just a very large pussycat.
Kate: Having lemurs jump and climb on us in both Uganda and Madagascar. If lemurs think you have food they want, they have absolutely no restraint. They leap onto your shoulders, arms, head, and back, searching for treats with complete confidence. They are curious, gentle, furry, and impossible not to adore.
Most Gory Moment
Mike: Watching two hyenas chase and kill a young wildebeest. As soon as they brought it down, they immediately began tearing into its flesh. It was brutal and visceral — very different from the big cats, who generally suffocate their prey before feeding. This was nature at its rawest.
Kate: Coming upon the scene of a motorcycle accident in Madagascar, where two bloody sheets covered the bodies of two people who had been alive less than 15 minutes earlier. We didn’t see the accident happen, but we arrived just afterward. It was a sobering reminder of how dangerous the roads are in many parts of Africa.
Most Disgusting Moment
Mike & Kate: Our overnight train trip in Tanzania. The train was filthy, and the shared bathroom was basically a hole in the floor with a sink that didn’t work and a pail of water that sloshed around as the train lurched along. The food offered to us looked entirely inedible.
Mike: His hammam experience in Morocco. Think cold tiled floors, drips from the ceiling, questionable hygiene, and being left almost naked for 30 minutes with no explanation. Mike blames getting sick afterward on that hammam. My women’s hammam was similarly unpleasant, though not quite as grim as Mike’s.
Kate: The bathroom situation in Ethiopia’s Danakil Depression. During this desert tour, the conditions were beyond basic. There were no bathrooms on the driving routes or even at the places where we slept outside. There seemed to be informal “bathroom areas” beside the road or around the campsites where everyone did their business. There was almost no cover, and often there were other tourists or local people nearby, including curious kids. Without privacy, it is hard to do what you gotta do. And the ground was littered with used toilet paper and feces. Yuck.
Most “Should We Be Doing This?” Moment
Mike: Staying in a few truly awful Airbnbs. Two were so bad that he rejected them immediately upon arrival.
Kate: White-water rafting on the Nile River in Uganda. The two river guides assigned to us were smaller than we were, and one was 11 years old. I thought we were going to run multiple Class 4 rapids and maybe even a Class 5, so I was more than a little concerned when I saw our tiny guides and the wooden paddles we were given. As it turned out, we portaged around the Class 5 rapid, and although we flipped on the Class 4, it wasn’t overly rocky and we both got out from under the raft easily. In fact, I ended up really enjoying that part.
Most Annoying Moment
Mike & Kate: A safari guide and driver taking us to a curio shop so he could be entered into a prize giveaway. We had to stay there for 10 minutes for him to qualify. He knew we didn’t want to go because we had already told him no curio shops and explained that we were not buying anything because we had no home and lived only out of our suitcases. It annoyed us because he knew better, and it made us feel bad for the merchants, who thought they might get a sale. As we became more seasoned travelers, we got better at avoiding those awkward, uncomfortable stops.
Most Enraged Moment
Mike: During our Mt. Kilimanjaro climb, the guides allowed one client to come along even though he struggled just with the steps at the hotel. He should never have been allowed anywhere near the mountain. Because of him, nearly the entire climb moved at an excruciatingly slow pace. Add to that the fact that the mountain was crowded, trashed, not very scenic, and packed with about 500 people, and it became the worst climb Mike has ever done — out of roughly one hundred climbs.
Kate: Having our binoculars confiscated when we landed in Ethiopia. We discovered, only upon arrival, that we were not allowed to travel in the country with binoculars. They were taken from me and put into a giant airport warehouse. I was told we could retrieve them when we left the country. At first, due to poor communication, I thought there might be some way to appeal, so we waited at the airport for three hours and spoke to several different people. Finally, someone with better English made it clear: there was absolutely nothing we could do to leave the airport with the binoculars. Then, to add insult to injury, we were charged a storage fee when we picked them up on our way out of Ethiopia.
Most Disappointing Moment
Mike & Kate: The constant barrage of people begging for money or trying to sell trinkets, services, or souvenirs. In many places, the sellers invaded your space and were incredibly persistent. You want to be polite and keep saying “No, thank you,” but continued interaction only seems to encourage more pressure. Even when you know to expect it, the endless gauntlet wears you down. Every time you try to walk somewhere or enjoy a sight in plain view, someone is asking, selling, following, or pleading.
Mike: A few kids came over and hit Mike while we were walking in their village. If guides don’t put a stop to that kind of behavior, their tip goes right down.
Most Unexpected Friendliness
Mike: Most customs agents are officious and unfriendly, so it was a wonderful surprise when Mike encountered a genuinely friendly customs agent in Botswana. She cracked jokes, laughed at Mike’s humor, and created a rare moment of warmth in the tiring day-to-day grind of travel. If only more airport officials were like her, we would all be smiling more in immigration lines.
Kate: In South Africa, at a park entrance gate, the camper truck in front of us started backing up because they didn’t see our rental car behind them. They hit us, causing minor damage. The couple in the camper turned out to be Monica and Berndt from Switzerland. They were very apologetic and immediately offered to pay for the damage. We explained that because we were in a rental car, we needed a police report, which meant all four of us had to drive to the nearest police station. It was getting dark, and we all wanted to get to our accommodations, but they readily agreed. The whole process ended up being filled with laughter and friendly banter. They even offered to feed us that night, though we already had plans. The next day we saw them at their campsite and took a photo together. We call them our “friends by accident.”
Funniest Moment
Mike: During the Mt. Kilimanjaro climb, we were in our tent getting it on as quietly as possible. In the middle of our frenzied activity, an arm suddenly reached under the rain cover right where we could see it, grabbing the tent’s stuff sack. We were stunned — and then we burst into giggles, wondering whether they had any idea what they had interrupted.
Kate: In a similar vein, we were parked at a watering hole in Etosha National Park, getting a little frisky. We couldn’t see anyone nearby, and there was no animal activity at the watering hole. Then, out of nowhere, another vehicle pulled up beside us, rolled down the window, and asked if we had seen a rhino. We saw them just in time and managed to cover up. The answer was “No,” so they drove away. We dissolved into giggles afterward and then entertained ourselves with every “horny” rhino joke imaginable.
Most Unexpected Wildlife Moments
In Uganda, a baby gorilla ran right past our legs — and through the legs of one of our fellow tourists — to rejoin the rest of the gorilla family.
In Kenya, we saw nocturnal bushbabies jumping between trees and bouncing along the ground from trunk to trunk. They were adorable, wide-eyed, and surprisingly close to us.
Also in Kenya, a male lion was lying peacefully until a crowd of jeeps began to irritate him. Eventually, he stood up, sauntered toward the closest jeep, and urinated on the front of it. Then he marked the jeep carrying our kids. Then he came toward us and, yes, urinated on our jeep too. I think he hit one more vehicle before he was satisfied that everyone understood the message: he was king, and he did not appreciate being disturbed.
In South Africa, we visited Monkeyland, a wonderful primate conservation area where visitors wander through the forest and see monkeys and lemurs up close. Signs everywhere warn people to guard their belongings because vervet monkeys love to steal eyeglasses, phones, and anything else they can grab. After our visit, we were in the parking lot when I took a bag of cookies out of the trunk and placed it on top of the car while I reached for something else. No monkeys were in sight. But in those few seconds, a vervet monkey swooped down from a nearby tree, snatched the cookie bag, and leapt back into the branches above the car. He was clearly taunting me. I never saw those cookies again.
Worst Roads
Madagascar. The main roads are unbelievably bad — washboard surfaces, giant bumps, deep ruts, potholes, sharp drop-offs, and barely enough room for vehicles, pedestrians, carts, bicycles, and animals to coexist.
Worst Walking Surfaces in Towns and Cities
Tanzania. In cities with sidewalks, it often felt more dangerous to walk on the sidewalk than on the side of the road. There were gaping holes, uneven pavement, random rocks, broken concrete, and low-hanging signs waiting to smack you at corners.
Coldest Weather
Besides Mt. Kilimanjaro and Mt. Kenya, where we rented heavy down jackets, the coldest weather we experienced was in Egypt in January. Our hotel served breakfast only on the rooftop because most of the year the weather is hot. But while we were there, it was extremely windy and cold. We had to hold everything down while eating so it wouldn’t blow away. The breakfast itself was pretty bad, but since it was free, we endured the discomfort.
Hottest Weather
The Danakil Depression (a desert and salt flat area) in Ethiopia was fiercely hot. Even sleeping outside at night was hot. Mauritius, an island in the Indian Ocean, was also extremely hot and muggy.
Rainiest Stretch
We were in South Africa in April and May, and the rainy season started a month early that year. While we were driving the Garden Route, several days brought torrential rain. At one point, our Airbnb hosts suggested we leave early to avoid the storm. We were in a good Airbnb, but the power went out for a day. Luckily, there was a nearby café that stayed open, so we spent the day there on the internet, staying dry and being productive. We felt terrible for the people living in the shantytowns, where the rain turned roads and yards into flooded, muddy messes.
Grossest Food
In Namibia, we bought what we thought were hamburger patties to grill. They looked vaguely like beef, but the package gave no clear indication of what kind of meat they contained. We were in a rush, and I decided they must be beef because they were called hamburgers, after all. As they grilled, they became oddly dense. We took one bite and immediately knew something was wrong. They were awful. We gave the other two patties to the campground staff. To this day, we still don’t know whether they were mystery meat or some kind of strange veggie burger.
In Italy, Mike ordered swordfish at a restaurant. He was craving a nice piece of fish, and we were in Italy, so it seemed like a safe bet. When the plate arrived, even I could tell from the look of it that things were not going to go well. It was a lumpy, partially cooked-looking substance sitting in a fetid-looking liquid. Mike took one bite and his face instantly fell. Yuck.
On Mt. Kilimanjaro, we were served soup every night. Each night, the soup was supposedly named after a different vegetable, but somehow every bowl tasted exactly the same. Still, during the trek we needed calories and warm food, so we usually slurped it down.
Most Surprising Food or Drink
Kenya: Ostrich leg. It was surprisingly tasty and not tough.
Ethiopia: Ice cream. It had the strangest texture and somehow didn’t taste cold at all.
South Africa: A cocktail called a Mermaid’s Orgasm. Despite the ridiculous name, it was especially tasty.
Final Award: Best Opening Chapter
Africa was thrilling, frustrating, beautiful, uncomfortable, hilarious, and unforgettable. It gave us some of the hardest travel days we have ever had, along with some of the most spectacular wildlife, warmest people, strangest meals, worst roads, and best stories.
As a first chapter in our nomadic life, it was a lot. But it was also exactly what we had hoped for: an adventure big enough to test us, surprise us, and give us memories we will be talking about for the rest of our lives.