Windoek, Namibia, 29 August 2012 We arrived in Windoek at lunch time and booked into our rooms. We then had a pizza for lunch and caught the hotels bus into the city. Tom had a haircut and I found a card and present for Tom. Cards are certainly not a thing that the Namibians do as I had a difficult time finding a card. I also had worse trouble finding a get well card for my little granddaughter, Gemma, who is having her little bent ear corrected on 7 September. I found a DVD with African images and music on it and post cards with African animals for a get well card. We were too late to post the card for Gemma because we got there just after 4.30pm even though the locals said the Post ... read more

Gweta 22 and 23 August, Okovango Delta & Maun 24 - 26 August We arrived in Gweta in the afternoon after driving over good roads. Even the roads are improving!! Gweta is a small village in Botswana. It lies about 205 kilometres away from Maun and about 100 kilometres from Nata. Generally considered the gateway to the Makgadikgadi Pans Gweta derived its name from the sound of croaking bullfrogs which bury themselves in the sand until the rainy season arrives and they emerge to mate. The huge expanse of the Makgadikgadi Pans is bigger than Switzerland. Once a large river-fed lake, the Makgadikgadi Pans now lie saline and empty. The pans are littered with stone tools and artefacts dated from between 2,000 to 500,000 years old! During the wet season 35-75,000 zebra and wildebeest migrate into ... read more

Livingstone – 18 – 21 August 2012: is to Zambia what the town of Victoria Falls is to Zimbabwe. Also known as Maramba, it was once the capital of Zambia before it was moved to Lusaka. Livingstone is in the Southern Province of Zambia. We arrived at 1.00pm. It was our plan to arrive as early as possible as there were 4 people leaving the tour, so this gave them 1 ½ days to look around and be involved in some of the activities associated with the Falls.....and there was plenty to do – helicopter and ultra light plane rides over the falls, bungy jumping, flying fox rides and swings, canoeing, white-water rafting, game and rino walks, elephant back rides etc etc. and of course not forgetting to actually walk around the Falls. What did we ... read more

Lilongwe, Malawi, 15 August We arrived at the Mabuya Camp at 5.00pm which was well appointed with pool (too cold today), bar, WiFi, plenty of showers and toilets and shade trees. The camp was 5 minutes out of Lilongwe city CBD. In the city we went to the ATM which ‘ate’ Tom’s card. Fortunately the bank was opened so we could retrieve it. We stocked up on snacks and drinks. We went to 4 shops and all the shelves where wine was, were empty. We didn’t find out what has happened. We have, however, read in the newspapers that there is a real shortage of Kwacha notes, the local money so banks are offering 36% interest for investers and charge 40% interest for loans. Some economists are saying that businesses are suffering badly and the whole ... read more

Sorry for the frequency of the Travel Blogs but I am in Cape Town with great internet service!!!! Zanzibar and Driving to the Ruaha River & Iringa 10 – 11 August: After getting up at 5.15am, having breakfast in our room, we were picked up at 6.00am as we had to catch the 8.00am ferry back to Dar es Salaam. We had to go out through immigration on the Island but there was no need to show our visa when we got onto the mainland. The ferry was very fast and the waves were BIG! 5 of our group were sea sick during the trip. I was sitting in the outside section looking backward and I was doing my blog on the computer. When the computer (which was on my lap) nearly ... read more