Zimbabwe - Botswana - Namibia - Zambia

Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

Tour has continued on a research on Zambezi - river and Victoria Falls area. I flew from Johannesburg to Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe and started mini-tour of travelling by minibus / combi / taxi in Zimbabwe - Botswana - Namibia - Zambia. The timetables of transportation are not available anywhere.

Sunset at Chobe - river, Kasane, Botswana

But in every village someone knows where minibuses stop or leave to next villages. You just have to go there and wait 2-4 hours in an unbearable heat until minibus, which is full of people will arrive and you realize that everyone who is waiting will be squashed in. Now you can relax and enjoy the bumpy ride tightly squashed side by side the others and sweating like in hell, cause there's no air condition in the bus. This is Africa !!!!

Evening at Zambezi - river, Katima Mulilo, Namibia

You just need to get rid of the clock and just let things happen... Everything is going to be alright finally.

Picking Peri Peri chili

I just fell in love with Botswana. It has incredible nature, vast natural parks, friendly people and great weather. What else could you ask for ?

Moon over Zambezi - river, Katima Mulilo, Namibia

My favorite countries so far from southern part of Africa are Swaziland and Botswana. Hopefully I'll have a chance to relive the hospitality of these two countries many times in the future.

South Africa, Mozambique and Swaziland

Berlin Falls at Blyde River

It has been warm and exciting 10 days so far on a travel through South Africa, Mozambique and Swaziland. All of those three countries are so different from each others, which surprised me totally and I couldn't imagine it at all beforehand.

Zebras at Kruger national park

I have been travelling with other two partners and we have been doing a research on the southern part of Africa to find travel destinations, which we could put on our offering in Finland. Kruger national park is a huge park, where you can spot e.g. big five, i.e. lion, elephant, buffalo, rhino and leopard.

South Africa is enormous country and we have covered only northern and northeastern part of it by driving 2700 kilometers on long and straight roads through the savanna, forest, jungle and fields...

Local traffic jam at Kruger

Blyde River Canyon had stunning views on viewpoints and the milder climate with pine trees and South Africa's heaviest rainfall per year. 

View from the terrace of the lodge at Ant's Hill

Swaziland offered hospitality I have not encountered elsewhere. I must admit I lost my heart to Swaziland totally. It reminded me about Belize, which is a country in Central America and which made similar impact to me when I was travelling there.

Paying for the gazoline

Our trip will continue still one week before returning back to snowy and cold Finland...

P.S. Swaziland was my 100th country

Comparison of Worldloppet ski events

Finlandiahiihto was 6th and last Worldloppet ski race this winter for me. Now I'm feeling totally exhausted and need a good rest. Based on my subjective opinion and experience from the different Worldloppet events I composed a comparison of 7 different Worldloppet ski race.

	Birkebeinerrennet	Dolomitenlauf	Marcialonga	König Ludwig Lauf
Distance	54 km CL	42 km CL	70 km CL	50 km CL*
When (week)	11	3	4	5
Total ascent (m)	1010	745	757	272*
Start	Rena	Obertilliach	Moena	Ettal
Finish	Lillehammer	Obertilliach	Canazei	Oberammergau
Track condition	10	10	9	1*
Route	10	8	9	8*
Fluency (no jam at track)	8	8	6	7
Washing facilities	9	6	4	-
Transportation	-	-	9	9
Comments	Scenic route over the mountains. Physically tough.	At high altitude. Steep and long climbs.	Through tiny villages at Val di Fiemme valley.	*Due to exceptionally warm weather and lack of snow, route was shortened to 42 km.
Tips	Start slowly, demanding climb at the beginning.	Travel 2-3 days before to acclimatize to higher altitude.	The start place is crucial. Lots of waiting and standing in queues if start place is in the last groups.	Original 50 km route would have been more scenic.

	La Transjurassienne	Tartu maraton	Finlandiahiihto
Distance	50 km CL	63 km CL	50 km CL
When (week)	6	7	8
Total ascent (m)	648	695	527
Start	Les Rousses	Otepää	Lahti
Finish	Mouthe	Elva	Lahti
Track condition	10	10+	5
Route	10	10	6
Fluency (no jam at track)	8	9	7
Washing facilities	8	-	9
Transportation	5	8	-
Comments	Very scenic route. Lots of snow.	Well organised. Easy and good route. Tracks in excellent condition.	Overpriced. Tracks always in poor condition.
Tips	Rent a car from Geneva airport, don't take transportation from the organiser. Get accommodation from Mouthe.	Tampere maja accommodation in center of Tartu is excellent. Buses to start leave very close.	Never again…

As requested I added similar comparison table from three well-known ski events in Finland...

	Pirkanhiihto	Pogostan hiihto	Vuokattihiihto
Distance	90 km CL	51 km CL	60 km CL
When (week)	9	11	12
Total ascent (m)	749	447	777
Start	Niinisalo	Ilomantsi	Vuokatti
Finish	Tampere	Ilomantsi	Vuokatti
Track condition	8	8	9
Route	7	8	9
Fluency (no jam at track)	8	9	9
Washing facilities	-	9	9
Transportation	9	-	-
Comments	Early start at 7 AM. Typically dark and cold at the beginning.	Hospitality and nice atmosphere. Beautiful route in wilderness up to Petkeljärvi national park.	Scenic climb to Vuokattivaara.
Tips

Weekend in Estonia

Town hall

It was time to ski again on this weekend. Actually it was a fifth weekend in a row. 63 km Tartu maraton was waiting on Southern part of Estonia. The race office was located in a beautiful and cozy town of Tartu. Tartu and Tampere are sister cities and therefore the most evident place to stay in Tartu were Tampere maja. Real gem in the heart of the city and conveniently located. I can recommend it for anybody looking a friendly, cozy and inexpensive accommodation in Tartu.

Tampere maja lodging

The race on Sunday was a pleasant one, though physical energy wasn't at best this time. Tracks were in excellent condition and race arrangement were in good shape. All in all nice and well organised event. The last ski event of this winter will be on next Saturday at Lahti...

University of Tartu

La Transjurassienne

Through the mountain range

La Transjurassienne 50 km ski event was a scenic one. The ski track climbed through the mountain range after the first 10 km on the valley. The start was 10AM at Les Rousses and finish line at Mouthe village. 

Climbing from the valley

The altitude of the race was above 1000 meters, but somehow it felt remarkably easy to ski, Total ascent of 665 meters was a bit short of Marcialonga and Dolomitenlauf, but the weather and scenery were beautiful.

Finish line

The organisation had some hick-ups and it seems French are not that systematic and prompt as German and Swiss :) However the dinner at the school accommodation at Les Rousses was overwhelming with loads of food to digest during the night just before the race...

Dinner

König Ludwig Lauf

41. König Ludwig Lauf

The race was shortened from 50 km to 42 km due to extremely warm weather and bad snow conditions. Fortunately the classic style race was not cancelled like the free style race one day before. It started to snow during Saturday and the temperature dropped below zero, which saved the race on Sunday.

Along the valley

During the race it was snowing and the ski tracks were in awful condition, which was totally acceptable and expected due to the challenging weather conditions before the race. However I was happy to successfully complete this ski event, which was third one for this season. There are still three ski events to go, next one being in France...

Finish line

Marcialonga

First 18 km uphill behind, arriving to Canazei

The second Worldloppet ski race was famous Marcialonga in Val di Fassa and Val di Fiemme valleys. Marcialonga celebrated this year it's 40-year anniversary. The start from Moena (at 1100 m) was after 9AM and the weather was bit cold, when waiting with 500 hundred other skiers permit to start the ski. Forecast for the day was perfect, sunshine and partly sunny with temperature raising near zero.

Skiing through villages and backyards

The first part of 18 km uphill to Canazei was tough start, but then the track moved towards the lower altitudes of the valley and nearly 45 km downhill section up to Molina. The track swirled through small villages like Predazzo and Lago di Fiemme, which is hosting Nordic World Ski Championships this year.

Finish line, at last after 70 km and 775 m total ascent