Kande Beach

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HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello everyone, here's a quick update on where I am and what I've been up to... enjoy:

25/12/09 - Fri - Christmas Day

Singing 12 days of christmas several times on the truck was a good way to pass several hours today (the longest carol we could think of) on the drive to Ghanzi, crossing the border into Botswana. At Ghanzi we went on a walk with local bushmen dressed only in Gemsbock skins. I tried with difficulty to see if I could copy them and walk barefoot through the bush. They showed us lots of plants with medicinal properties - the root of one could abort an unwanted pregnancy if eaten!! They showed us how to light a fire which they then used to light their cigarettes. Went back to our awesome campsite for a swim in a disused quarry and had a brai (barbecue) for dinner. Then we went to watch (and join in with) the bushmen's dancing performance round the campfire - a very special christmas although missing everyone enormously.

26/12

jumped into the quarry at 0500 am screaming BOTSWANA!!!! drove to Maun and went on a flight over the Okovango delta - amazing!!!! and spotting our waterbuffallo - "high five for the big five"

27/12

set off for our 2 night bush camping trip into the Okovango delta! Traspot to ou island was by Mokoro - a canoe carved out from a 400 year old tree trunk (or in my case a fibreglass replica) propelled by a friendly poler like a punt. Got to the campsite and spent the afternoon swimming in a pool which apparently was free from crocs and hippo and learning how to pole a mokoro. went on a walk through the bush in the evening when we saw hippo prints.

28/12

Went on game WALK and spotted a herd of giraffe, a wildebeast, a leopard tortoise. Had an argument at bruch over whether french toast should be eaten with tomato ketchup or syrup and then went on an evening mokoro trip to a hippo pool where we found ... a hippo! spent the evening watching the polers singing and we returned fire with bohemian rhapsody etc.

29/12

Took mokoros back to mainland and drove through torrential rain to planet baobab - a campsite with many baobab trees. On the way we saw a lioness and her two cubs eating a cow they had killed beside the road.

Drove to a campsite in Chobe NP spotting many elephant on the road. Took a game cruise on the CHobe river and saw a whole herd of elephant coming down for a drink, several hippo and a big bull elephant attacking some hippo.

31/12

Drove to Livingston Zambia and had lots of fun trying to exchange dollars into kwache. Went on the last helicopter flght of 2009 over vic falls - one of the most incredible experiences ever! Party in the campsite to countdown to New years with huge numbers of other overland truck groups.

1/1/10

Spent the day looking at Vic falls from ground level from both the Zambian and the Zimbabwe side (better but wetter from Zimbabwe! My passport nearly got drenched!) Also watched some people bungee jumpping off the bridge.

2/1

Said goodbyes this morning to everyone leaving us including raymond and mia who were amazing guides. Then we joined the white water rafting day trip. This was incredibly awesome but also very scary - flipping the raft twice and getting sucked under and coming up underneath the raft on the 1st rapid!! (pictures when i get back!)

3/1

Driving in our new truck to Lusaka - much more bouncy - played cricket at campsite

4/1

Drove to Chipata - checked balance at ATM (over 150000Kwache!)

5/1

Drove to croc valley campsite in s luanga. we camped next to the river and could see hippo from our tent door.

6/1

Went on 8hrs worth of game drives today!! Saw leopard with 2 cubs in the morning and an impala that she had killed and put up in a tree! Another leopard sighting at night (in the dark - scary!)

7/1

Drove to Chipata to refuel and then to Malawi border. There is no burea de change at the border so had to get rid of last of Zambian kwache using the black market guys at the border (there were loads of them) I did this without a hitch but when i turned around after getting my exit stamp Helen was sitting with a bleeding wrist - a security guard had turned up and the money changers had pushed her over in their rush to get away! - the most sketchy border crossing ever!

8/1

Drove to Kande beach and went sailing in the afternoon on one of the catamarans which had a golf club shaft for a tiller! Sailed to islad just off the beach where we went snorkellong anf jumping into the sea.

9/1

Wow, I've reached today! I've yet to see how much this internet session is going to cost! this morning we went on a town tour with Mel Gibson, Sweet Like Chocolate, Cheese on Toast - and many others. We were able to look around the local school and the hospital where 1 doctor looks after 35000 people. Had lunch with the locals (ate kasavi the local produce - sort of like sweet potato).

Hope you enjoyed this and are having a great start to the new year. I will try not to leave it so long till the next update because its a lot of typing. Going to try to upload some pics too.

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