Lost Baggage - Almost All that one needs after a red-eye special is for the airline to deliver your bag on a completely different carousel to the one they are using for the rest of the flight! Waited for ages before going across to the lost baggage counter, only to be told 'some bags' were on a different conveyer. Great start. The day got gradually worse. Was now a few minutes late to make the designated pickup, and I was worried that I would miss it. I needn't have been. They had a new timetable, and were picking up an hour [View Full Entry]

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Another Truck Arranged to travel on a truck re-locating from Vic Falls to Jo'berg. Arrived at the pickup point at the appointed time, 0600. Truck was there, but it was a very quiet stay. First sign of movement about 0700 and finally got away at 0800. I was really glad to have been up since 0430 to get there! Saw a new bird on the way out of Vic Falls, a ground hornbill. Quite unexpected, as we were travelling at speed and not paying too much attention. Overnight at Palapye Arrived at our overnight campsite, and the three pax were allocated [View Full Entry]

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Zambian Lobster Knees My knees are the delightful pinkish-red of a well cooked lobster. Today four of us from the group went rafting with a group of five from another Kumuka trip that has also just ended here in Victoria Falls. We went with a Zambian company who do an 'all day' raft down 25 rapids over 28 km. In reality, they only do 23, because they enter downstream from the first rapid, and just pick up the tail of it, and they walk one rapid that is classed as Grade 6, and would not be suitable for inexperienced rafters. The [View Full Entry]

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Victora Falls The end of this leg of overlanding with Kumuka is just about over. We have arrived in Victoria Falls, and have done all the the administration of upgrading rooms, changing money, etc, etc. We are what must qualify as the worst backpacker hostel that I have seen for several years. There is dog-shit all over the place, and three Great Dane cross something and a few cats to contend with. But there is plenty to do provided you have hard foreign currency. Nothing is cheap, but doing the deal in USD, GBP, ZAR, etc will ensure that you have [View Full Entry]

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Game Drive Set out early this morning into Chobe National Park. Were only inside the park boundary for a matter of minutes and had spotted a herd of elephant walking along the ridgeline. Impala, puku, turtle, warthog, hippo, banded mongoose, and crocodile were also spotted on the way, as well as a variety of birds. River Cruise At 1530 we loaded up with other guests at the hotel on the river cruise boat, and spent about two and a half hours looking at the animals close to the river banks. Initially, it was just large animals. As we went further upstream, [View Full Entry]

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Mark turned 30! Oh to be so young! [View Full Entry]

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Sand Madness This was one of those great days where the unprofessionalism and incompetence of the activity operator cannot mask what is at its heart a really great, fun day. Despite their best efforts to convince all and sundry they were incompetent nincompoops by forgetting to collect two passengers, and having to turn around an already full Kombi and pick them up so that all eight of us were sharing just six seats, and then having a nightmare drive where every 'STOP' sign appeared to mean go faster and the difference between sealed and and unsealed road was so infintesimal as [View Full Entry]

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Swakopmund Arrival We went out for the first evening meal we hadn't cooked ourselves for several days. [View Full Entry]

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Dune 45 and other things Great day today - arrived at Sesrim and explored the canyon, set up camp, went out to the National Park and then onto Dune 45 for a brilliant sunset. Walked along the length of Dune 45 - tough going but well worth the effort. Martina is promising to be the guide from hell. This is the fourth day in a row that she has said something about my being slow, in the road, etc, etc. She will shortly rival the airhead Lisa from last years South America trip. Kumuka do know how to pick them. [View Full Entry]

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Orange River Last night was our first real camp. Felix Unite is well set up, and we were allocated one of the lawn areas close to the amenities. Everything worked reasonably smoothly, although I suspect that we will get much better at the routine things like setting up and knocking down the campsites as the trip progresses. Feed the man meat Had a BBQ meal last night and again tonight. Big servings of meat on the menu - far more than we really need, especially while we are travelling and not exercising that much. Canoeing Had a good long walk this [View Full Entry]

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