Thirsty Traveller – sampling the local drinks

Sampling the local beverages has always been part of my travelling activity. Following images are some of those frozen moments when I was drinking local.

Pako on Safari while I am doing Kilimanjaro on the MV Liemba vessel sailing through Lake Tanganyika from Mpulungu, Zambia to Kigoma Tanzania

Kuchekuche with ladies on the beach of Lake Malawi at Nkhata Bay

Phafana in Rasesa, Son of the Soil Cultural Festival with Lame and Mpho, Botswana

Snow with a Chinese girl inside Club Phebe in Shanghai, China

Tsingtao at a restaurant in Shanghai, China

2M (pronounced ‘dosh M’) at Tofo Beach, Inhambane in Mozambique

Mosi at Jollyboys Backpackers in Livingstone, Zambia

Homemade beer in Nieu-Bethesda, Eastern Cape, South Africa

Maluti, at Sani Top Chalet, the highest pub in Africa, Lesotho

Tusker at Moi Airport in Mombasa, Kenya

Cheers to Kilimanjaro, Safri and Ndlovu next to Lake Tanganyika in Kigoma, Tanzania

Carlsberg on the boat in Nkhata Bay Malawi

Budwiser at Soccer City Stadium during the 2010 World Cup

Windhoek in Ondangwa Namibia

Kuchekuche in Cape Maclear in Malawi

Kilimanjaro in Stone Town, Zanzibar Tanzania

Officers with Pk in a train from Dar-es-Salam to Kapiri Mposhi, Zambia

Zambezi, Pilsner HIFA, Harare, Zimbabwe

La Rochelle wine in Stellenbosch, South Africa

Sibebe with Sonny at Lidwala Backpackers in Mbabane, Swaziland

Castle Lite draught at the World of Beer in Johannesburg, South Africa

St Louis Export draught in Gaborone, Botswana

Botswana light beer, perfect to quench the harsh Kalahari thirst

Do you know the feeling of opening your first foreign beer, with a name that you battle to pronounce? Sometimes nervously excited because you just walked into a low lit pub with men and women watching you like you are prey. Like they are pride of lions lurking and watching an energetic springbok arriving at the drinking hole. After pulling your wad of cash and carefully scrutinising the notes before you give the bartender who normally looks at you in the eye because you just gave him the biggest note, announcing yourself as a tourist.

First sip… after animated exchange with the bartender because you could not say whether you prefer it cold or from the shelf and ended up pointing to the bottle that looks like is everyone’s favourite.

Following one or two mouthful gulps of your new beer you turn around slowly as swallow and scan the pub, grinning like a Moupo at Botswana’s London Embassy to every stranger that you get an eye contact with.

Visiting a local pub, bar, or whatever they call it – drinking hole – is very important because it might earn you free accommodation, free tour guide/advice or even free ride to your next destination.