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Hi All,
What an amazing past few days!! We have seen and done soo much in the past week that it has blown us away!!
We flew out of Adelaide to Perth where after almost a sleeplessness due to packing we wandered around Perth in a daze. We did however get to the Perth Mint where we saw gold being poured and numerous coins that have been minted for special events in Australia and around the world.
We flew out of Perth at around midnight and landed in Jo'burg at 5am. Everything went smoothly until we got to the baggage collection and mark's didn't come out!! Apparently from Adelaide the bag went to some indian country and then had to be sent back and flown overnight to Jo'burg so mark basically had just the clothes on my back!! Anyway at the Airport while waiting for our transfer to the backpackers we met two girls from england (kate and emma) and one guy from Australia (peter). We ended spending the day with them walking to the shops (getting mark some clothes!) and buying food for the trip.
That night we meet our tour guides. The were a male and female partnership, a big burly bloke called Frik and his fiancee Sonja. Although quite in your face they turned out to be the nicest people and has an absolute shame that we haven't been able to do the whole trip with them. They briefed us in on what we are going to do and we inturn paid up all the rest of the expenses and gave details of passports and the like.
The backpackers was quite nice, standard room with toilet facilities and breakfast provided. Quite safe until Kate broke the key in the lock in the wrong door so bad luck to that person!! One thing that is very noticable in jo'burg is that there are so many high brick fences with electric wire circling the top and many houses actually have guard dogs patrolling the area!! We didn't have any trouble there, where we were if you were sensible then nothing would happen.
The next morning we got up at 5:30 to get to the truck for departure at 7. We scoffed some breakfast and loaded up our luggage and then began driving. In our group there was 2 canadians, 3 americans, 2 kiwis, us and 7 english. There was also two South Africans but they were on a training trip not a holiday like us. Most being girls which does have its bonus's and downsides... We drove quite a way that day out from joburg and all the way to a campsite called bushmans lodge in the greater Kruger area. It was a nice campsite where we pitched tents and that night went on a game drive.
The driver was a pyscho!! Nothing would stop him in this truck as he literally drove over trees and anything that got in his way. We started an elephant stampede, mark got smashed in the face with a branch, kate lost her arm on the trees and to top it all off we blew a tire. It was exciting though and we did see the animals in the wild including elephant, buffalo, lions, wildebeast and babboons.
When we got back to camp mark was hoping that his bag had arrived, unfortunately the driver couriering the bag to me had an accident and had so another courier had to go to him get my bag drop him back and then drive the bag out to our campsite!! Finally mark got his bag back at 2 in the morning and then proceeded to stumble around because he forgot where the tent was but eventually made it to bed by 2:30!!
The next morning we had an early start 4am! But it was well worth it! We went to Kruger national park. Here we saw the highlight of the trip so far. We were driving around looking at all the animals when the driver got a call that the pride of lions had just caught a zebra! He slammed the accelerator down and mark's hat blew off (lost), we beeped a massive jumbo elephant to get off the road and zoomed to thios pride of lions which had literally killed this zebra a minute before we got there!! They were tearing it and we have some great photos which are attached. Also in the park we saw giraffe, elephant, buffalo, jackel, wildebeast, impala, birds and lions but no leopards or cheetahs.
From there we travelled again up to Botswana. In botswana we were actually the first ever group of foreigners to be allowed into the local Nant Village and we were welcomed by the chiefs to learn about how they live and we were invited onto a compound by one of the ladys and she made us fat cakes - basically donoughts but without any sugar. We also got tour of the village hopsital and aids clinic. They were very fortunate by African standads to have a pressure cooker to be able to steralise some medical supplies. 5000 people live in Nata village, divided into 7 wards (like suburbs). Some of the village children came to say hello and they were happy for us to take some photos, and they laughed when we showed them their pictures on the LCD screens on the back of our cameras. That night we camped at Elephant Sands campsite where some local bushmen danced for us. We got up early again the next morning for the bushmen to take us on a bush walk. We followed elephant tracks but were not able to catch up to them. We also saw lion tracks. But one of the most amazing things about that was watching the sun rise. It was blood red and totally mesmorising. We went on a river cruise that night on the Chobe river (and we turned it into a bit of a booze cruise and there were a few casualties - bloody yanks can't hold their liquor. Mental note - the tents of your guides re not for peeing on, even if you think it looks like a bush!)
The next day we drove to the border of Zambia where luckily our visa waiver was accepted so we didn't have to pay. Our truck went on the ferry but we were not allowed to travel in it so we walked on and travelled beside it. We were then crossing the Zambezi river and were at the only place in the world where 4 countries meet - Zambia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Namibia. We then set up camp in Livingstone (where we are now). We had another booze cruise on our first night here - Mark even mooned passing boats with one of the training tour guides with us!
Livingstone is like the Queenstown of New Zealand. It's the adventure capital. On our first full day (after waking up rough after the boze cruise) we went and saw the amazing Victoria Falls. They are truley amazing. We got absolutley saturated by the spray. And from there we walked around the corner to the bridge which crosses the gorge into Zimbabwe, and just on the Zambian half of the bridge Mark threw himself off, attached by the ankles. Yep, he bungyed! Oh my god. He has never shaken that much, but with the crowd of girls from our truck who cam to watch him, he certainly didn't disappoint. It was back to the waterfront resort where we are staying for a nice meal and some drinks to celebrate!
Yesterday was an incredibly amazing day. W spent the day facing our fears at the Batoka gorge. We zip lined, cable lined, abseiled, into and over it! We got a dvd of the group of us there, so when we get to london and our parents have seen it we'll tell you all about it! But it was a long day, and walking up out of the gorge 5 times in one day has called for a day of R&R today.
This morning we got up early and again some of our english friends from our trip came to watch as Kate took a Microglide flight over the Victoria Falls. It's basically a hang glider with a small propellor. They took photos from the wing and we will get them back tonight and they are amazing. She saw hippos in the water, elephants, zebras and buffalo in the game reserve next to the falls, and she saw the areal views of the gorge we went to yesterday and where Mark Bungy jumped. Wow.
So that brings us to now. We're about to go back to the falls one last time to sit on Livingstone island which is actually at the top on the ende of the falls - the water will rush around the island to rush over the edge. We'll tell you all about it on our next installment.
And a huge appology, but we can not insert any photos at the moment - not all computers here have USB ports! Hopefully next time! We have heaps to share!
We hope you are all well, and goodbye from Africa for now.
Love Kate and Mark
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Rich
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Dr Livingston I presume
Sounds like it's a total blast guys - I am sooo jealous!! Can't wait to see some pics, expecially of the lions and the sunrise!! HAVE FUN