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Published: June 26th 2008
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Hello Peeps!
So, it's time for another entry into the blog. We're currently in Johannesburg after travelling down from Zambia, through Botswana on a 6 day overland tour. More of that later.
So, where did we leave you last? I think we were in Botswana, just before we travelled over into Zambia. We'd travelled to a place called Muan so we could pick up a two day tour on small boats called mokero's which take you into the Eastern part of the Okavango Delta. We were still with David and Sabrina, are American travelling buddies. Another early start we had a 2 hour drive to pick up our local polers and guide for the two days and to our horror, this was in an open 4x4 truck. It was freezing....Afrioca should be this bloody cold. Full of chivalry the boys put me and Sabrina at the front to act as a wind break and away we went. The mokero canoe's are hollowed out sausage trees and the cruise was very relaxing, although could have been longer. Our guide, Heaven, chose a campsite where we would pitch our tents, dig a loo and build a fire. This was literally in the
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Crammed in with a bunch of locals middle of a few trees, surrounded by wildlife. Elephant dung was everywhere and by night we could hear lion and hippo's all around. BIT SCARY! Next day the guides showed us hyena tracks that were all around the camp.....leading inwards. Tp save a bit of money (Rich's budget obsession lol) we cooked for ourselves and rustled up a lovely.....pasta and sauce. Rich is behind me shouting "hey, hang on.....there were saugages and yellow pepper in there too...and onion!!" Credit to Rich, we did save USD600 doing in this way....well done! Whilst there we did two game walks, getting up close and personal to Hippo's at last, which was the whole point of the trip. Second day we managed to upset an Elephant and lone Buffalo (which the guide mistakenly thought was a Kudo...nice one) and almost got charged....but enough of that! Was a good trip. With the African Buffalo we have now completed our BIG 5 which we were pretty chuffed about. We can move on happy now. Back to Muan....onto Livingstone, Zambia.
This was not as straight forward as we thought. The guide books made it sound easy. Early start from Muan, catch a 6.30am bus to Nata
Local Kids
We picked up a few of the fathers for polers and then connect onto Kasane. So, all started to plan....early bus, packed with locals got us to Nata within 3 hours....good good! So, we waited for the connection....and waiting....and waited.... By 1pm we were sick of waiting, being constantly hassled by a bushman so we decided to try and hitch a ride. After about an hour of begging we found an empty overland truck which was going our way so we jumped on, armed with a few 6 packs and got settled for our 4 hour ride.....feeling pretty smug and leaving the other travellers behind waiting. Our driver, god love him, also treated himself to a 6 pack and the only time he stopped was along the way was to break the seal and grab another can. Ontop of this, we had to travel along one of the worse roads in southern africa. Cue alot of swerving, breaking and loo stops. But, we got there in one peice although we missed the border crossing so the kind, slightly tipsy driver let us kip in the bus over night. Damn Rich's Budget....egged on by David! Not much sleep had by any of us, apart from Rich who slept on the floor
and nicked the whole blanket! But hey, we saved about USD100 between us.
At first we toyed with not going into Zambia as the visa was going to cost us USD190 but we decided to swallow the cost and go for it....and we're both really pleased we did. The boat across the Zambezi was an experience in itself as was pretty rickity and slow however it floated and this is Africa after all. TIA (this is Africa).
Victoria Falls was absolutly amazing!! The noise as you moved close was so loud as thousands of gallons of water cascaded over the top. You could see the spray from about a kilometre away and you can understand why they call it "the smoke that thunders"! We got absolutly soaked whilst crossing devils bridge to Livingstone island but it was well worth it as you got really close to the falls, which was breath taking. Even if me and Sabrina were in jeans....whoops. All day Sabrina had said she was going to do the Bunjee jump from the Zim/Zam border bridge, which I have never fancied before but once the challenge faced me (competitive Carol), I went for it. Holy Mary Mother
Sunrise over the Zambeze
Waiting for the ferry at the Zambia border crossing of God!! It was so good....but a terrfying 111m drop down into the Zambezi Gorge. We will be posting video when we can get a decent connection, see facebook for pictures.
Time to say our goodbyes to David and Sabrina (boohoo), we left the next morning and picked up another overland tour (paid this time, not hitched) and travel back down to Kasane (we were sick of it by this time) and through Botswana to Jo'berg. Our tour guides were brilliant, a couple called Frik and Sonja who looked after us well. This tour took in a Chobe National Park sunset river cruise where we saw elephant swimming, more hippos and Crocs. All very cool and chilled. This also included some of the best camps we've stayed in so far, including Elephant Sands, which is exactly what it says on the tin. Elephants everywhere, drinking from the swimming pool and walking past our tents. The owner, a friend of Frik's took us out at night (free, much to Rich's delight hee hee) to see a game kill, a bull elephant which was pretty harrowing but actually gave us an insite into the way of Africa and hunting there. Hunting
Elephant
Swimming in the Chobe river in Africa is a controversial subject but there is so much more to it than meets the eye and it serves a purpose at the end of the day by generating huge amounts of money that are pumped back into conservation scemes. The carcas was a horrible sight and we still don't understand hunting but it was interesting hearing another side of it. From here we over landed down to Kruger National Park for a night drive and full day safari. Good day. We hoped for the Big 5 but got 3...Lion, Buffalo and Elephant...plus Giraffe and a bunch of antelope (BORED). The campsite was lovely, a bohemian bush camp called Bushmans where we stayed for two whole nights....what a treat. Still no lay ins though. Frik kept us entertained at night with his stories of elephants and lions round the camp fire. We're trying to convince him to write a book.
So, now we're back in civilisation again at a hostel called The Ritz....erm, not quite. We have another day here before flying to Hong Kong, which we;re pretty excited about now. We went to the cinema the other day which was such a treat that we're going
Hippo's
Check out the yawn back this afternoon to see Indiana Jones. It costs GBP2.00. Anyone who hasn't seen Forgetting Sarah Marshall yet.....go see it....very funny!!
So, we'll be in touch again soon. Sorry for the lack of photo's again but we have about 800 so far so we need to have a sort. Don't worry though...we'll have a full slide show for you all when we return! YAY!!
Love loads and missing you all.
Carol and Rich xxxx
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Sonia van der Linde
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SOUTH AFRICA
It's just right that you will have a South African travel guide called Sonja!!! Sounds like you had an amazing time and seen the best of my country so far. Enjoy. I'm sooooo jelous! Love Songe and Co.