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Published: July 25th 2008
So I got out of Jo'burg and hit the road with a group of great people and headed to Kruger National Park where we kept our eyes peeled for wildlife....and let me tell you I didn't spot much. Kruger is bushveld and even though it is winter and the trees are not lush it still makes it super hard to spot anything not right on the road. The landscape is breathtaking and we did manage to see some animals....hippos, elephants, vervet monkeys, baboons, zebras, giraffes. Then we went on a night game drive and during dusk we saw 2 lions and a leopard!!!! It was so exciting, leopards are very shy, hard to spot and nocturnal so it was amazing to try and follow it through the bush until it ran across the road in front of us and disappeared. After it got dark the spot lights went on and we saw elephants (super scary at night - they are the most unpredictable animal) and another cool thing were the springhares (sort of look like the lovechild of a rabbit and a wallaby). After Kruger the number of people in the van went down making it more comfortable for the 2
solid days of driving. We crossed into Botswana and spent the night at Elephant Sands campground where a couple of elephants came to the swimming pool after dinner for a drink. They were unbelievably close...10 maybe 15m away!!! The crossing into Zambia was organized chaos but we made it through the Botswanan side in about 15min then were able to get on the first ferry after we pulled up and then 1.5hours to get through the Zambian side. From there we went straight to see Victoria Falls.....SPECTACULAR and BEAUTIFUL is all I can say. I chose to do a couple of activities here the best being a microlight flight over the falls! I also jumped off a 54m cliff to do the gorge swing! Then this morning I was invited to tag along on a canoe trip, the trip was for 2 but only one could go. This is the scariest thing I have done here. So the canoeing took place on the Zambezi River above the falls and we went through a couple of small rapids but the scariest part is paddling along a river filled with Nile Crocodiles and Hippos (Africas biggest killer of humans even though they
Kruger National Park, South Africa
Cape Buffalo staring us down. The most unpredictable of the Big Five!are vegetarian)....let me tell you when the guide said paddle hard and fast there were no questions asked! And thank goodness we didn't tip the boat....who knew your heart could beat so fast on a tranquil canoe ride. So Sunday I hop on a new overland tour that will take me back to Botswana, into Namibia and finally ending in Cape Town.
For photos, stay tuned still.....it really doesn't take much to crash a computer in Africa. I'll keep trying everytime I get to a different computer.
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David
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Looks Great !!! Sounds Even Better !!!
well some good stories , and great shots , sounds all around like a great trip !!!