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Published: August 15th 2006
Hey everyone, hope you're all doing well and enjoying the summertime.
Welcome to the penultimate blog before we touch down in Heathrow on August 31st. Sorry it's long one but we've been very busy....
Our African adventure started in Port Elizabeth, South Africa where we began the 1000km trip along the Garden Route to Cape Town. There were many beautiful spots on the way including the spectacular coastlines of Plettenburg Bay and Knysna, the whale watches at Witsand and Hermanus, the Wine Routes of Stellenbosch and Franshoek and finally the Waterfront and Table Mountain of Cape Town itself.
After a gentle introduction, and before departing on our 20 day tour of Southern Africa, we had time enough to squeeze in two more trips. The first was the ferry out to Robben Island where Nelson Mandela (among others) was held as a political prisoner. The second was a horseback game safari where we were lucky enough to get up close to rhino, hippo, buffalo, zebra and many, many springbok. This was our first ever experience in the wild and we were now ready for some more....
Having left Cape Town behind, our big tour bus headed for the
fabulous scenery of Namibia. The countrys major highlights were the Fish River Canyon, the Sand Dunes of the Namib Desert and Etosha National Park.
Whilst staying at the Red Dunes we were able to partake in a few of the many activities on offer. We decided on Sandboarding, Quad-Biking and......wait for it......Sky-diving. Yes, we threw ourselves out of a plane 10,000ft above the desert, free-falling for 5,000 at 220km/hour and then landing on safe ground 10 mins later still screaming and shaking. It was truly "Awesome" as our tandom instructions would say.
At Etosha we did 3 game drives were we saw some amazing close-up action of elephants, giraffes, lions, rhino, various anteloppe and more bleedin' springbok.
Moving onwards to Botswana our first highlight was to take a micro-plane into the Okavanga Delta for 2 nights of camping. Here we were able to take a Mokoro (canoe) through the water channels to a hippo pool and take a guided walk through the Park to creep up on elephants, wart-hogs, giraffes, baboons and empalas.
Our next stop was Chobe National Park where we took a cruise along the Chobe River. Here we had the breath-taking experience of
watching several elephants cross the water in front of our very eyes and then watched the sunset behind them. We also pulled up alongside buffalo, crocodiles and hippos - sometimes a bit too close for comfort.
After one last, early and very cold game drive in Chobe we headed for our final destination: Victoria Falls. On the first night we sailed down the Zambezi River and watched the sunset as Africa drums beat in the background. The following day we took to the skies in a helicopter and rode over the waterfalls looking down in amazement. A fitting end to a superb 20 days.
We now wait patiently in Johannesburg for the flight to our last country, Uganda.
Until then, take care and catch up with you all very soon.
Lots of Love Nathan & Anna XXXXXXX
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Rita S.
non-member comment
Beautiful Photos
Hello Nate and Anna, All the photos look amazing! You guys look like you are having a wonderful time with the locals (people and animals). I especially love Victoria Falls. Enjoy! much love to you, Rita.