Are you from Singapore??

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We set out on our journey 5 days ago... although it seems much longer than that... it was hard to say goodbye to a few people at the hostel, people that make us laugh every day with their insane personalities... but we will see them again, so after a few hugs we took off... our friend Jama, who is babysitting our things, drove us to the station on his day off- which was great. We found our way through the busy Joburg bus station and joined the line- thinking that we would need to be up there right then and there- we were wrong. Africa time struck again... we sat in line for ages, feeling the weight of our bags slicing into our backs and shoulders. Finally it was time to board the bus. Intercape. Joburg to Gaborone. the thing was , the correct bus wasnt there yet so this bus drove us about 45 minutes outside of Joburg where we got off the bus and then re-boarded another bus... it was annoying but really not that bad... We didnt arrive in Gaborone until 10pm, an hour after we told the guy to pick us up. I was actually worried he wouldnt be waiting for us.. thankfully he was. Nice guy. Expensive lift, as we discovered later on. The place we stayed was decent. the owner was friendly but I got a strange vibe from him, I think it is just living in the middle of nowhere on a farm pretending it is South Africa circa 1960 that will do that to some one. After two nights there, we took a very friendly guy named Hannes up on his offer to drive us to Mochudi, a nearby village. We saw a historic Dutch Reformed Church there, took some photos of this amazing bell displayed up on a small koppie hill... decided not to stay in the village as it would be very difficult to get transport back to the main road. So Hannes, being a really nice guy, let us stay at his place. what a beautiful home. nice pool, beautiful dogs. So this guy, known him for a day takes us all around, buys us food, gives us a place to sleep and then apologises for not having renewed his license for his other bakkie (truck) otherwise we could just take that on our trip. I love the friendliness of Africa.

So the next day, Hannes took us to the bus station and again, helped us out, by contacting the son of the owner of the bus company and getting us a free ride to Francistown. Amazing. So after a long and rough ride, we made it and took a taxi to a small motel in town. it was more than our normal budget but it was the only option. the next day we walked to the bus stop and waited for a looong time, wondering whether or not the bus would come at all- it did. So we were off to Kasane, on the border with Zambia and Zimbabwe.On the way we saw wild animals- no game reserve- just wild elephants and giraffes gorgeous in nature amongst trees. some people didnt seem to care, I am sure they see them all the time...but it was great. Once in Kasane, we jumped off at a camp site in the middle of nowhere. It was great though, met some cool Brits and had a nice night... accompanied by the sounds of some crazy kids throwing a mini-rave in the camp site. This morning, we hit the road again for the ferry that took us across the Zambezi River. the taxi owner was a very talkative guy, funny and full of stories about why crime doesnt pay in Botswana. we will take his word for it. So we crossed the mighty river, it was amazing- so beautiful. Once in Zambia, there was a small hassle of trying to get a decent price for a lift to the backpackers in Livingstone. we negotiated and hopped in. it was a longer drive than I thought. We are here. In Livingstone, Zambia. it is a nice little town, friendly people trying to sell or buy anything. We have had to excchange Rand and Pula back into Dollars for the Victoria Falls trip tomorrow. It is kinda disheartening- but we will be ok. O-A-K. but sure if you want to donate money to broke kids in Africa- let me know... some guy on the road in Livingstone randomly asked us "Are you from Singapore?" No- we are not. Sorry.
So tomorrow is Vic Falls. one of the wonders of the world. the smoke that thunders. we will let you know!!
Take care...

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