Tsitsikama was one of the trip highlights! It's only too bad we didn't have more time here. Unfortunately the trail to the famous Storms River Mouth was closed due to unsafe conditions. It's supposed to be the one thing not to miss here; oh well, gotta save something for next time. Instead we hiked the first 3km of the famous Otter trail. A beautiful hike along the rugged coastline with amazing views. One day we will have to come back and complete the full 5 day hike. It's hard to get tired of watching the surf roll in and crash against [View Full Entry]

---

---

Addo was a replacement for a game drive that we were supposed to do in Zimbabwe. As the last game drive on this section before we hit Cape Town it was the last chance for most people on the truck to see lions. It's a good thing we've got many more parks to go on our trip because the lions were nowhere to be found. We did see loads of elephants and the highlight was sitting in the underground hide by the water hole at night and watching the elephants come to drink. At one time there was at least a [View Full Entry]

---

---

Lesotho, is a gorgeous country! Known as the "Kingdom in the Sky" because it is the "highest" country in the world (measured from the lowest point if that makes any sense at all). Again, very different from other places we've been to in Africa and even better that we were here for three nights at the same place (yay, no driving). The highlight here (besides upgrading from our tent to a nice cabin - which we haven't done since Nairobi) was the pony trekking. These are the most stable ponys we've ever seen and it's amazing how effortlessly they can go [View Full Entry]

---

---

Don't ask us how to pronounce this one, we just call it the rhino park because that's the main animal you come to this park to see. It was great because until now we really hadn't seen many rhinos at the other parks and we were looking for some better photos. Well we had may opportunities to see rhino and other wildlife, but again no cats as the grass is just too high at this time of year. We really were lucky to see cats up close when we did at Nakuru and Ngorongoro because we haven't seen any since. [View Full Entry]

---

---

Mozambique is a beautiful country. After several weeks travelling through the relatively civilized southern African nations it was nice to encounter some real markets again and bring back some of the feeling we were missing from West Africa. Also the sea food was to die for. While the rest of the group headed out for a dhow trip from Vilanculos, we decided to opt out and stay behind. I think it was a bit of a group travel overload feeling again and we had fun eating the glorious sea food on offer at the restaurants in town. After Vilanculos we spent [View Full Entry]

---

---

Swaziland is a beautiful country and one of the few remaining true Kingdoms in the World. We had a relaxing 2 nights at Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary. It's very different scenery than what we've been through recently and in many ways it reminded us a little of home with the mountains and all. Since there are no predators in the park we were allowed to roam freely and enjoy the wildlife on foot. It was just a nice relaxing time and we were able to have a little time off the truck to ourselves. [View Full Entry]

---

---

Since we missed a game park in Zimbabwe, we had the opportunity to go to Kruger National Park, renowned as one of the best game parks in Africa. Unfortunately what was supposed to be a 2 night stay in the park turned into a day trip because all of the camp sites had been long booked for the May day long weekend. Within a few minutes of entering the park we spotted some African wild dogs which are one of the rarest animals in Africa. Shortly after that we saw a rhino in the bush. The rest of the day didn't [View Full Entry]

---

---

After a brief 2 night stay in Namibia along the Caprivi Strip we crossed back into Botswana and set out on our 2 night Mokoro trip on the Okavango Delta. We stayed at a tented camp on an island in the delta and went out on Mokoros (traditional dug-out canoes) for day trips. We also went on a walking safari on an island in search of big game. We didn't see much more than a couple elephants and some Zebras, but we ran into some others that had seen lions. So our guide decided to start tracking the lions to try [View Full Entry]

---

---

Since our stay in Zimbabwe was cut short, we drove straight to Botswana and Chobe National Park. We had a full day there of non-stop game viewing. We went for an early morning game drive followed by a boat cruise on the Chobe river and finished with an evening game drive. We saw a large assortment of animals and even saw a leopard crossing the road on the way out (no time for pictures unfortunately). We also discovered that wine is very cheap in Botswana (and the rest of Southern Africa) and now have a favorite evening ritual that consists of [View Full Entry]

---

---

Zimbabwe was probably one of the more interesting countries we've been to economically. It's really hard to describe the experience. When we arrived, the street rate for US dollars was 50,000,000 to one. However the bank rate was only 30,000 to one. So we were either forced to change on the street or use US dollars exclusively. Luckily we had a contact that could change the money for us so that we wouldn't get scammed. We changed $40 and instantly became billionaires! Although our $1 billion bar tab was a little scary... The political situation has been very damaging for the [View Full Entry]

---

---