Advertisement
Published: December 13th 2006
Edit Blog Post
Whoops, seems to have been an eternity since the last blog update but for the select few that have sampled the Sydney nightlife i'm sure u'll understand why!!
Ok, where were we ....................................Namibia.
Namibia was a 6 hour journey from the Okavango Delta where we camped for one night next to the Zambezi river.
The only reason Namibia was included in the itinery of the Truck trip was that it was easier to travel to Chobe in Botswana going via Namibia. The only sight seeing we indulged ourselves in was the 'floating bar' and the inside of our tents.
The 'floating bar' as you can see from the photo was a bar situated in the middle of the Zambezi river and to gain access was a 'floating walkway' which was no wider than two feet.
On entering the bar we were admiring how much of a masterpiece the bar was but after sinking a few beers whilst watching the sunset and being eaten alive by 16 billion mossies (maybe a bit over the top, more like 15 billion) it was time to head back to camp for grub; easier said than done, the 'floating walkway' now seemed to
Floating Bar
How the hell we made it back we'll never know!! be two inches wide as it was pitch black and knowing to well that Crocs and Hippos were lurking beneath waiting for one slip-up, it was interesting to say the least.
Next morning it was pack up your tent time (AGAIN!!), we got allocated a job for the entire trip as we probably stood out as being the most physically fit (no laughing) which involved the packing and unpacking of the Truck every time we pulled up to camp the night. The tents weighed a tonne, add that to 40degree heat and minging hangovers the tents seemed to weigh an extra 5tonnes. We couldn't help thinking maybe they picked the wrong men for the job!!!
It was time to head to Chobe which involved another 'head-doing' waiting around for no reason border crossing ,where the authorities made you stand in a foot and mouth troff to stop the spread of the disease, but lets face it, we think Africa has far more killer disease's to worry about other than a couple of Cows dying.
Only a short drive compared to what we had experienced earlier in the week so a couple of meatloaf albums on the Mp3
Swimmers on River Cruise
"Err lads, do you realise there's Crocs in the water???" players and we'd arrived at our destination, which was a campsite just outside Chobe National Park.
The plan for our one night stopover was a Chobe River Cruise the first day, followed by a Chobe National Park game drive the following morning, 5am might we add.
The Cruise lasted about four hours but was not until later in the afternoon so we spent the day chilling by the pool and bar in the middle of nowhere. Must be the most chilled out, peaceful place in the world, perfect for our lifestyles i'm sure you'll agree.
We all boarded the boat which to be honest, was more of a floating platform the size of a tennis court with a hairdryer motor attached to the back. It had the aerodynamics of a Brick.
However, speed wasn't an issue here as the faster you go, the more you scare off the wildlife so it was time to kick back, relax and have a few tinnies whilst admiring the views.
We'd seen some amazing views throughout our time in Africa but these were absloutely unforgetable. We never thought we'd be the type that would really
appreciate the sunsets and all that malarky but i'm sure you'll agree by looking at the photos, the sunset over East Anglia doesn't quite compare.
Along the route we were fortunate enough to see a herd of maybe six or seven elephants crossing the river. They started off on the bank but obviously the deeper they got the more of the elephant dissapeared under the water, all that was left halfway accross was the tips of their trunks that were acting as a snorkel. Wow, imagine scuba diving around there and seeing one of those big bad boys in front of ya!!!!
Some more sightings including, Monitor Lizards, Crocs, Buffalo, Wilderbeast and Hippos out of the water!!! Trust us, seeing anything more than eyes and nostrils is a rare thing. Unless of course your on a nature walk in St Lucia with a 'mad' guide and about to be charged.
That evening back on dry land we all continued with a few tinnies around the camp fire. As the night closed in more and more people dissapeared to their tents for a good nights kip as we had an early start of having to be ready at 5am
to go on the game drive.
Daz dissapeared to bed 'suprisingly' at 1030pm and left myself and the krazy alcoholic aussie bird chilling around the fire. Not keeping track of time, we were still sitting there at 2am. My god do i wish i went to bed when Daz did as i encountered the scariest moment of my life to date.
I interrupted Kim in full conversation as i could hear something abnormal that sounded quite close. The only light around the camp was the light that the fire was giving off and without a torch in hand it was pitch black. Kim convinced me that it was probably someone just fidgeting in their tent, although i wasn't totally comfortable with her theory i decided another swig of lager would take my mind off it. Just about to take the swig when out of nowhere the Camps security ran from the bushes with a huge floodlight in hand which lit up the campsite like White hart Lane. OH MY GOD...............SHIT................SHIT......................SHIT, just a few feet from us was a Hippo having a late night snack on some grass, i didn't even have time to shit meself as the Hippo shat itself
first at the sight of the light and thankfully for us decided to charge back to the water for safety and not towards me and Kim continuing his supper. Enough was enough, we both ran inside our tents and fastened the zips securely, thinking about it, the security of a cloth tent wouldn't of stopped a Hippo but it was better than nothing!!!!!
2 1/2 hours kip then awoken for the game drive. Hmm, Pro-Plus and Red Bull please.
After filling everyone in on our dice with death and with Daz preaching on how fresh he felt we set off on the drive.
After exploring Kruger we thought it was a bit of a waste of time experiencing another game park. We were wrong, now we have something to compare it to, Kruger is more like a massive Woburn Safari park with the tarmaced roads making it lose its sense of wilderness.
Chobe was far from it, with dusty sandy roads and needing a 4x4 to get through the sand traps it really felt like we were extras in 'Big Cat Week'.
Chobe is famous for its Elephants which didn't take us long to find
Big Flaming Croc
Thank god we were on the Boat at this point out why. We encountered a huge herd in Kruger but compared to here there must of been more Elephants than sand particles. They actually outnumbered the Impalas which was a relief!!
We had a sighting of Lions in Kruger from a distance, add that to a vast amount of vegitation and tall grass it was hard to snap a decent photo. We weren't dissapointed in Chobe, a huge Lioness was posing for us right beside our vehicle, luckily for us, it had just finished its breakfast that was lying mangled underneath a tree next to her, so she was quite content in laying in the morning sun licking her lips. WHAT A SIGHT.
A sight of different sorts was our 'Baboon Porn' experience. You can surely get the gist of our next sighting, check out da photo. Err, hang on a moment, that may sound a bit perverted but we were trying to photo the plants next to them so not our fault they got in the way........ honest!!
Game drive over and a time to return to camp to pack the bloody thing up and get on our way. Yet another workout with hangover
and 40degree heat slowing us down. It may sound that's all we did at nights on this trip was get drunk, well, that's because we did!
Next stop, ...................Zambia
Advertisement
Tot: 0.112s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 8; qc: 44; dbt: 0.0611s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
anonymous
non-member comment
Darren.... in bed at 10.30pm? Feeling fresh?? Mad. Wicked pics, wicked stories, I reckon you could make money from the baboon porn pics, there are plenty of weirdo's about. Have you heard Ipswich has a serial killer?? Bet you didn't think anything would change that much..... Ipswich has its own Jack the Ripper, Bish has moved out and The Haywain...... well ok that hasn't changed.