African Expedition
New Member
I was wondering whether this 21 day trip planned for 2018, would interest any Seadoo enthusiasts in the USA and elsewhere around the world...
It involves jet skiing up the length of all the fresh water Lakes located along the East African Rift Valley...
Before I begin I'd like to First mention one very important fact..."it's safe"! In fact it's safer than most towns and cities around the world that I've visited. I know this part of the world like the back of my hand having travelled extensively throughout this region, including having spent a considerable amount of time fishing and spearfishing on these lakes over the years.
We would start at the Southern tip of Lake Malawi and move North up the Rift Valley from there, in this order...
Lake Malawi (584 kms),
Lake Rukwa (130kms),
Lake Tanganyika (660kms)
Lake Kivu (90kms),
Lake Edward (77kms),
Lake Albert (160kms),
Lake Turkana (248kms).
A total distance of +/- 1949 kms (1211 miles), although I would prefer to put it at 2400 kms, assuming we hug the shoreline, in order to make the trip more interesting.
We'd do no more than 5 hours a day, setting off at sunrise each morning when these lakes are generally calm, giving ample time from mid day onwards to relax, go fishing or spear fishing, meet and chat to the locals, go diving / snorkeling and visit various sites close to these lakes.
The fishing in all these lakes is excellent, with L Malawi and L Tanganyika offering fantastic diving opportunities with 100 foot visibility, and upwards of 360 species of fish...the majority being Cyclids. A few of the lakes have, what is deemed to be, one of the finest freshwater fighting fish species in the world..the "Tiger Fish". The majority of these lakes have Tilapia, a great eating fish, and L Tanganyika has the Nile Perch...one of the best eating fresh water fish there is. There are obviously a number of other good eating species that I've not mentioned for now, although if you're interested you can google these lakes...
Included in this trip and in no particular order, would be...
A day trek to see the Eastern Lowland Gorillas in the Kahuzi-Biega National Park, a few kms North of Bukavu which is located on the shores of Lake Kivu.
A visit to a Chimpanzee sanctuary on the shores of L Tanganyika.
A climb up Mount Nyiragongo, an active Volcano with the worlds largest Lava Lake, located in the Virunga National Park, giving you a look over the edge into the mass of bubbling lava.
A helicopter will accompany us for the entire trip offering flips every day to 4 people at a time on all the lakes...everyone will get to go up.
A pro, world renowned, cameraman / cinematographer will accompany us for the entire trip.
Re the logistics...fortunately I know this area really well, as I was born in the region and over a thirty year period have travelled extensively along this lake system either by boat or on my Jet Ski, looking for good fishing and spear fishing spots...so putting it all together ain't a problem.
Fuel points will be established at various spots along the way on each one of the lakes, prior to the trip commencing. Fuel in this region is like gold, hard to get hold of and very expensive. We don't want anyone running out along the way.
Food, although basic, it will be nutritious and healthy, especially when we are in the middle of nowhere...plenty of fish!!!Vegetables will be purchased from local villagers, fish will be caught by ourselves and also purchased off the fishermen along the way.
The aim / objective of this trip...to raise funds to establish a large scale commercial "insect breeding farm" in Southern Africa, concentrating on the "Gonimbrasia" of which there are 39 species, all of which are edible. +/- 250 million people in sub Saharan Africa include insects in their daily diet as their main source of protein....no one really knows this fact as it's considered taboo in Western culture to eat insects. The Gonimbrasia sits at the top of the charts in terms of its nutritional value, and generates in the region of a billion Dollars per annum in sales throughout sub Saharan Africa. It's one way of providing an alternative source of "animal protein" other than seeing the locals poach wild animals in the game parks in this region.
My aim is to get 100 Jetski enthusiasts who are passionate about fishing and who enjoy visiting places they've never been to,or can only dream about, together to make this trip worth while...it would also be really nice to encourage a concoction of different nationalities from around the world, to join us on this trip. So far there are 7 of us...
If you're interested and have any questions about the trip that you'd like me to answer, please feel free to contact me by email at davewood1960@yahoo.com
I hope I've posted this in the right place, having never done this before. You are also welcome to share this Expedition on other forums or with other folk who you believe might be interested...
Food for thought...
Regards
Dave
It involves jet skiing up the length of all the fresh water Lakes located along the East African Rift Valley...
Before I begin I'd like to First mention one very important fact..."it's safe"! In fact it's safer than most towns and cities around the world that I've visited. I know this part of the world like the back of my hand having travelled extensively throughout this region, including having spent a considerable amount of time fishing and spearfishing on these lakes over the years.
We would start at the Southern tip of Lake Malawi and move North up the Rift Valley from there, in this order...
Lake Malawi (584 kms),
Lake Rukwa (130kms),
Lake Tanganyika (660kms)
Lake Kivu (90kms),
Lake Edward (77kms),
Lake Albert (160kms),
Lake Turkana (248kms).
A total distance of +/- 1949 kms (1211 miles), although I would prefer to put it at 2400 kms, assuming we hug the shoreline, in order to make the trip more interesting.
We'd do no more than 5 hours a day, setting off at sunrise each morning when these lakes are generally calm, giving ample time from mid day onwards to relax, go fishing or spear fishing, meet and chat to the locals, go diving / snorkeling and visit various sites close to these lakes.
The fishing in all these lakes is excellent, with L Malawi and L Tanganyika offering fantastic diving opportunities with 100 foot visibility, and upwards of 360 species of fish...the majority being Cyclids. A few of the lakes have, what is deemed to be, one of the finest freshwater fighting fish species in the world..the "Tiger Fish". The majority of these lakes have Tilapia, a great eating fish, and L Tanganyika has the Nile Perch...one of the best eating fresh water fish there is. There are obviously a number of other good eating species that I've not mentioned for now, although if you're interested you can google these lakes...
Included in this trip and in no particular order, would be...
A day trek to see the Eastern Lowland Gorillas in the Kahuzi-Biega National Park, a few kms North of Bukavu which is located on the shores of Lake Kivu.
A visit to a Chimpanzee sanctuary on the shores of L Tanganyika.
A climb up Mount Nyiragongo, an active Volcano with the worlds largest Lava Lake, located in the Virunga National Park, giving you a look over the edge into the mass of bubbling lava.
A helicopter will accompany us for the entire trip offering flips every day to 4 people at a time on all the lakes...everyone will get to go up.
A pro, world renowned, cameraman / cinematographer will accompany us for the entire trip.
Re the logistics...fortunately I know this area really well, as I was born in the region and over a thirty year period have travelled extensively along this lake system either by boat or on my Jet Ski, looking for good fishing and spear fishing spots...so putting it all together ain't a problem.
Fuel points will be established at various spots along the way on each one of the lakes, prior to the trip commencing. Fuel in this region is like gold, hard to get hold of and very expensive. We don't want anyone running out along the way.
Food, although basic, it will be nutritious and healthy, especially when we are in the middle of nowhere...plenty of fish!!!Vegetables will be purchased from local villagers, fish will be caught by ourselves and also purchased off the fishermen along the way.
The aim / objective of this trip...to raise funds to establish a large scale commercial "insect breeding farm" in Southern Africa, concentrating on the "Gonimbrasia" of which there are 39 species, all of which are edible. +/- 250 million people in sub Saharan Africa include insects in their daily diet as their main source of protein....no one really knows this fact as it's considered taboo in Western culture to eat insects. The Gonimbrasia sits at the top of the charts in terms of its nutritional value, and generates in the region of a billion Dollars per annum in sales throughout sub Saharan Africa. It's one way of providing an alternative source of "animal protein" other than seeing the locals poach wild animals in the game parks in this region.
My aim is to get 100 Jetski enthusiasts who are passionate about fishing and who enjoy visiting places they've never been to,or can only dream about, together to make this trip worth while...it would also be really nice to encourage a concoction of different nationalities from around the world, to join us on this trip. So far there are 7 of us...
If you're interested and have any questions about the trip that you'd like me to answer, please feel free to contact me by email at davewood1960@yahoo.com
I hope I've posted this in the right place, having never done this before. You are also welcome to share this Expedition on other forums or with other folk who you believe might be interested...
Food for thought...
Regards
Dave
