Well, I just wanted to let everyone know that I arrived safely in Johannesburg. The 18 hour flight wasn't all that bad... I survived. Tomorrow I head to Namibia where much is planned, so don't expect to hear from me again for like 1-2 weeks... sorry... time flys when you are having fun. The trip back to the States was good. It was good to catch up and my mom really enjoyed her birthday. I thought I would the top 10 questions I was asked while home. Mostly no particular order 1) When are you coming back for good 2) Where [View Full Entry]

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So I've been traveling in Botswana now for two weeks. I've come across some interesting travel methods. I left Lusaka on an overnight bus. I must say that the Lusaka bus station was much friendlier at 10PM than it was at 7AM. At 7AM everyone wants to direct me to a Livingstone bound bus, whether that is where I'm going or not. I'm white, I must be going to Livingstone. If they don't want to do that, they want to change money for you. At night, I got asked for a few cabs and one guy asked if I knew where [View Full Entry]

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I have returned to Maun after my sojourn into the Okavango Delta. After learning and seeing pictures of the Okavango Delta it became one of those places I just had to visit. The Delta is created where the Okavango River decides to battle the Kalahari Desert. The desert wins. The river dies a sandy grave. But in the process, it creates this magnificent wetland area in the middle of a desert. Inside the delta there are areas of permant swamp and annual swamp. Right now is the rainy season so the delta is slowly filling up with water. In April/June time [View Full Entry]

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D: Hi, I’m Danielle. I’m Mike’s newly acquired Zambian-Adventure Buddy, via way of a mutual friend. Not to confuse folks, I’m actually from Virginia and just moved to Lusaka from Boston to do HIV research. I will be periodically interjecting to add spice to this blog. Hope you don’t mind! We have returned to Lusaka having survived the four-day canoeing safari on the lower Zambezi River. Yes, I said “WE.” In some strange twist of fate Danielle decided that having never been camping or canoeing before she should blow off work and try [View Full Entry]

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It is the Friday before Christmas and I am on a bus to Lusaka. I’m going to spend Christmas with Danielle Dang. No I don’t know who she is. She is a Laura’s co-worker. Laura is a girl I met in Livingstone. They are both Americans and work for the Zambia Emory HIV Research Project. Well sort of, Laura has finished her contract and is heading home. So no, she isn’t in Lusaka either. It is just Danielle and myself for Christmas. Yes, I think that is strange. It just happened that Laura and I were talking about the holidays. I [View Full Entry]

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Kayaking has allowed me to do, see, and just be in some really spectacular places. Today is one of those days. I’m laying on a rock in a pool at the base of Victoria Falls. As I look up I see nothing but water cascading down this magnificent waterfall. It is amazing. The only reason I’m here is because we put-in, ferried over to Zim, portaged and then paddled up under the falls. Only kayakers get to do this. Today I’m very lucky. Today was also my last day on the river. I decided that days of paddling is enough. My [View Full Entry]

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Not sure where to start this TR. I guess I’ll start with the bad --- 4 swims in 2 days. I swam rapid 13 twice, rapid 3, and rapid 4. Ok, got that out of the way, now onto the Zambezi River. The Zambezi Gorge is amazing. It is big water as big as water can get. You think the Mash Brothers and Keeney are large waves… those waves are the small waves that don’t even get mentioned when you paddle the Zambezi. This water is big, fast, exploding and boiling. One minute you might be cresting the top of a [View Full Entry]

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Yesterday, I got up and caught the mini-bus to the ferry. Then across the border into Zambia... piece of cake. Spent the day at Victoria Falls. Words really can't describe the majesty of Vic falls. So I'll let the pictures do it. Here is the link to them I can say there was water on the Zambian side. The falls make Nicargura look like a small potatoes. I apologize that some pictures are fuzzy, it is hard to take a good picture when you are covered in mist from the falls. It didn't take us long to look a [View Full Entry]

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That means Hi from Botswana. I'm really just passing through Botswana at the time. I spent the better part of the last 3 days on busses getting up here from Jo-burg and tomorrow I head over to Livingstone, Zambia. There wasn't much to see during most of the trip. Mostly I was driving through parts of the Kalahari desert. It wasn't barren, just lots of little scrub trees and bush. I did see lots of cattle grazing and crossing the road. Which I found very strange because all throughout, what I've seen of Africa, nobody eats beef. They all eat chicken. [View Full Entry]

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Yes I really did leave Sydney, barely. I went to check in and Thai Air said I couldn't fly without an onward ticket from S. Africa. I had to go over to Quantas and buy a fully refundable (minus fees) ticket back to Sydney. But I made the plane and I am currently in Johannesburg, S. Africa. I've been here since Thursday morning. Amazingly I'm still jetlagged. I don't have any trouble staying up until 10 or 11 at night, but I keep waking up at 2AM and am ready to be out of bed by 4AM. That is ok, I'll [View Full Entry]

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