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Published: April 6th 2006
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Cats in Captivity
botswana - cheetah park Botswana, Namibia to Capetown....
Heya Guys,
I cant believe it but I've just arrived in Beijing and missing Africa too much.
Sorry have been out of touch forever, mostly because I'm in the middle of nowhere or no time to digest whats happening. The last few months I have been in Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia & South Africa.... I skydived, sand boarded, shark dived....and I'm still in one piece!!!
Anyway, some short ramblings of things that have been happening...
Camping in the Wind... I had the freakest bush camp the other night just on the boarder between Namibia & South Africa. We set up tent in this dry rocky type valley next to a big highway...(it is still in the middle of nowhere, just next to a big highway!!). In the 72 days of camping i have only ever pegged my tent once!!! I am so lazy!!! My thinking is that I can just stick a bag in there and my sleeping gear and that will be enough to hold my tent down...which is quite true until that night!! I swear i have never heard such loud wind it was terrible. I woke up in the middle
Cats in Captivity
botswana - cheetah park of the night because it felt like i was in a plastic bag or somefink!! And the first thing I thought was "My TENT PEGS where are they!!!!!!!!!!!" I got out with my equally lazy tent partner n tried to tent peg it but the ground was too hard anyway!! We had to move my tent behind another persons to use it as a wind barrier!! Some ppl's tents were falling apart as well and one girl didnt get any sleep at all. It was a crazy night.
My new arse I just have to tell you that right now at this point in time I am completely nackered!! I must have the best bum to date because I have done so much trekking in the last 2 weeks I have really shocked myself!! From climbing sand dunes, n walking aimlessly across deserts to climbing Table Mountain in Capetown. The views were spectacular, Capetown is such a beautiful coastal city.
Botswana n Namibia...being in the middle of nowhere Well I dont know where to start to tell you about the last few weeks... I have had the most amazing time. I have stayed on the overland
truck to explore Botswana & Namibia which I have to say are the most breathtaking countries I have been to in Africa ( I know I say this about every country!!)!
In Botswana I went to the Okavanga Delta which is like a massive massive wetland. We travel on water on these wooden type canoes made out of branches and we each had a pola driver one each canoe. We travel on these small canoes with EVERYTHING in it...our tents, cooking pots and pans, water geree cans, food, matches, backpacks...it was amazing that no one sunk. We travel through these water canals with reeds on each side and we are litterally in the middle of nowhere. Its an amazing feeling to know that you are really in an isolated place in the middle of nowhere. Hippos are in the canals as well which made it a bit adventurous considering they are the no.1 killers of man in Africa!!! We camped on these islands made out of termite mould from hundreds of years ago and set up tents. Elephants and Giraffs are in the area and we're told very seriously never to intimidate an elephant because they are also very
Cats in Captivity
botswana - cheetah feed dangerous in the wild. The 2 nights we spent there I saw things like ouit of National Geographic and it rained heavily the whole time. The most challenging part was cooking in the rain and trying to stop our tents from flooding!
But the biggest highlight for me is being in Namibia, on the west coast of Africa!!!
It is a desert country, and everywhere you look is endless red and gold deserts as far as the eyes can see. The sand dunes are beautiful, it looks like staring into forever. When we bushcamp at night the stars are littered with millions of stars, i've never seen anything like it.
Now the best thing is that I went sandboarding in the sand dunes which is something I never thought i'd do!!! It was a bit scarey at first but after a few dunes we all got the hang of it! The fastest I travelled down a big massive dune was 73km/ hour!!! I ate alot of sand that day.
Skydiving...Yes u can Scream Yourself to Deaf Silly Ida decides to go skydiving when her no. 1 fear is jumping of a 10m dive board... Well
skydiving is the most unbelievable experience!!! I decided to go because I would never do it on my own, and there were about 6 of us from the truck that decided to go! So i was all up for it and didnt think much for it. Until the morning I woke up and my first thought was..."Today is the day.....AHHHH". Everyone was nervous and it was all our first dive ever. Considering i have a fear of heights I knew I was in serious trouble when I arrived at the site and had to put on the jumpsuit and all the safety equipment!!!!!!
By the time I got on the plane I was ready to wet myself...especially when one of the staff went up to do a free dive. He literally just opened the plane door, looked at me and said "See you later dudes!", waved and fell out the plane backwards! I watched him drop getting smaller and smaller and i was like "No way!! I am really screwed!!".
Surprisingly, when I actually made the jump it was the most amazing sensation!! I started screaming my lungs off but within the first 10 seconds i was like "Hey,
Etosha National Park
botswana - lion spotting this is pretty cool!!" and stoped screaming. I was expecting to get the feeling of eating my stomach when i was plummeting into earth but i didnt get that at all, it was seriously like i was flying and the landscape was soooo spectacular! The worst part was actually when the parachute was released and my tandem guide did all these twists and turns left and right and I was sooooooooooooooo motion sick. It took forever for me to reach the bottom coz i was so light!!! My fall took twice as long as everyone else.
The End in Capetown Anyway Africa has been the best experience ever and Capetown is an amazing City.
Have said goodbye to friends now and thats been the hardest part!
There is so much history in capetown with the apartheid. Its hard to believe all this happened in my lifetime. Its a reminder that Africa has come along way but still has a long way to go...
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Stu
non-member comment
Miss you all!
Thanks for ther photos. They wrere great but made me feel sad that I never completed the trip with you guys. Take care and see you soon, Stux