GetSetJetSet

Mine is set to private, so you need to be logged in and following me to see mine.

ironmanjt

Thanks for sharing - great report and really enjoying reading!

As one of about 200 people in the "every country club" I saw you had a 10 countries in 9 days report. I definitely wish I'd slowed down and spent a little more time seeing them. Lately there are so many people racing around to finish that it's a pity they often spend hours in some countries. Of course, you can always go back

swingaling

A lot of my choices were dictated by transport availability and minimizing time away from home. As such, I had to make certain compromises.

Basically just an in and out for Maseru. If you have more time, I'd drive in and out of Lesotho and skip Maseru entirely. Stay somewhere like Maliba Lodge and enjoy the scenery.

Swaziland was worth a short visit. I liked the area I stayed. The other option would be staying in a national park or timing your visit to coincide with the annual festival of virgins (Umhlanga).

For Malawi, leave the city if you have the time. I believe Blantyre is a bit more interesting than Lilongwe, but people mostly go to Malawi to visit the lake or the parks.

Just Maputo. I investigated Inhaca Island and considered staying at Machangulo Beach Lodge or Anvil Bay, but I couldn't get it to work with all the other moving pieces. The inability to bring a rental car into Mozambique was really the biggest impediment. In restrospect, I'm glad I didn't drive there given my lack of Portuguese and police corruption.

Thanks! I've read a bunch of your reports, as they often provide some really useful info for getting around. Especially in less touristy locales.

That 10 countries in 9 days trip was one of my earliest trips, and I've definitely tried to slow down a bit as a direct result of that trip (with mixed success). Particularly when there's something I want to see. However, the impulse to keep moving is something I try to fight (again, not always successfully). I'll be the first to admit there are absolutely many things that I've already missed due to (self-imposed) time constraints. And I definitely plan to revisit many places. The hard part is finding the time.

I also struggle with spending a worthwhile amount of time in a place without wasting time (or being bored). With some places, I feel like one should spend a day or a week but anything in between makes less sense. For instance, Tajikistan was either a day trip to Dushanbe or a week on the Pamir Highway. PNG and East Timor were similar in that regard.

That said, I haven't imposed any timeline for hitting 196 countries and I know that I certainly won't be able to (or want to) keep up this pace for certain places. I assume I'll hit 196 within 10 years (by age 45 or so), but who knows. The way things are going, I'm not going to be visiting N Korea, Yemen or Libya any time soon.

GetSetJetSet

Did you do any further digging into staying along the lake in Malawi? It looks beautiful, but I also read about bilharzria, crocs and hippos.

an_asker

To be honest, I had a similar feeling - but as someone who's been on the receiving end of the same statement (been there done that), I didn't feel like putting that down in words.

That said, I am curious - not having followed all your trips - what has/have been the countries where you spent the least amount of time? And how less was it? A few hours or a few days?

ironmanjt

I don't want to hijack the OP's thread, but I have five countries I feel I didn't even begin to do justice to that I really need to return to: FS Micronesia, Marshall Islands, Liechtenstein, Syria, and Sudan.

I try and follow the rule of "one night, one meal out, and one story" to have a minimally meaningful experience.

I'd recommend the OP to get back to Lesotho when he's finished them all - it's a beautiful country with quite a bit to explore ^

GetSetJetSet

There’s absolutely no need to spend more time in Liechtenstein.

swingaling

I did no meaningful research on staying at Lake Malawi, so I really can’t tell you much about it. Bilharzia is certainly a concern, but it can be avoided if you don’t go in the water. I’m more afraid of the candiru, though it’s not present in Africa.

Also, definitely agree about Liechtenstein. A few hours in Vaduz was enough for me.

GetSetJetSet

Not going in the water takes a lot of the fun out of going to a lake away! I just googled candiru...on the plus side, from the wiki "even if a person were to urinate while "submerged in a stream where candiru live," the odds of that person being attacked by candiru are "(a)bout the same as being struck by lightning while simultaneously being eaten by a shark.""

I like those odds.