Livingstone

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Livingstone is hot, and I mean HOT! Every day we were there it got hotter. It was easily in the mid forties. The heat made it hard to do anything between 11am and 2pm except put your feet in the bar swimming pool and sup ice cold Fantas.
On the first night at the Waterfront campsite we took our sunset/booze cruise down the Zambezi, great food, free drinks, just gotta make sure you don’t all into the river as the crocs follow the boat waiting for snacks. We all carried on the motion at the campsite bar, much craziness followed as is evident by the dodgy photos.
On the 10th we went to visit Victoria Falls, it wasn’t really there (dry season you see) so we went to the curio market instead and bought a wooden elephant and a copper bracelet. That evening was spent at a local restaurant eating more food than some of the smaller African nations see in a year, we felt quite sick!
On the 11th we had a lazy morning followed by one of the best afternoons of our lives, we went elephant riding! The elephant sanctuary was in the local National Park, this would be our and the elephants’ playground for the afternoon. We were met off the minibus by fresh orange juice presented on a silver platter. We were then told about the elephants and what we would be doing with them, and then we met them. It was amazing, their size when you are up close is something to behold. Our elephant for the ride would be Bob, the largest bull and therefore the largest elephant there. Bob had a mind of his own during the ride, not following the route, stopping when he felt like, eating when he wanted; after all, nobody was going to argue with him! Bob came into his own though when we came across a herd of wild elephant, a bull in this herd was quite aggressive and was looking for a fight; Bob was called to the front, not forgetting we were on Bob too! Bob was made to talk (a low, loud rumble) and use his bulk in this stand-off of giants. It all ended in stalemate as the smaller, yet more feisty wild male would not back down. After this excitement we headed back to talk to and feed the elephants whilst our snacks were prepared. The elephants would listen to us speaking, and even follow simple instructions in English like talk, open your mouth, trunk up etc. It was a strange but amazing experience.
After our drinks and snacks we watched the DVD of our experience which was for sale for US$40. Unfortunately we featured very little on this and I therefore tried to get it for a discounted price, just like the wild bull elephant, they wouldn’t budge. Luckily a nice guy and his wife from South Africa, that we were talking to earlier offered to make a copy and give it to me if I got in touch with him in Cape Town. This we will certainly do.
The 12th was spent doing, well, nothing really, during the daytime, but the early evening was spent at possibly the most dangerous go-kart circuit ever, but it was so cheap and so much fun, even watching the crazy locals hurtling around it and crashing head on into each other. Go-kart seats were provided by those people that make sun loungers for grannies.
The 13th was spent stocking up on water and at a lovely little café in Livingstone before hitting the road again, but this time with a full truck after losing Koen, Brad, Tasha, Darren and Kellie, Kelly and Christine and gaining 17 other reprobates. Our truck was now full, in fact we had one person too many, this’ll be fun

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