Swokopmond to Vic Falls

ok, done lots and seen loads.

Bush camped at a place called Spitzkoppe and saw weird Oz style rock formations. Stroked a baby Giraffe and also a Cheetah again. Went to a Namibian National Park called Etosha and saw lots more wild stuff.

Then moved on to Botswana and camped out in the Okavango Delta for a few nights,
to get to our campsite we had to be punted through the Delta (closely passing hippos) on a small dug out canoe called a Mokoro made from a sausage tree, unfortunately ours leaked a little bit :-( . Whilst there we did a few game walks and saw lots of elephants and giraffe. On one of the walks early one morning I started to feel a bit sick and wobbly and was a bit ill for a couple of days, not a bad thing as been eating far to much of the food from the excellent tour chef. When feeling better on our return we did a scenic flight, it was very spectacular seeing the Delta and all the animals from above, in particular seeing Giraffe and Elephant wading through the water.

Next was Chobe National Park, for me the best safari since Kruger. I saw new things like a rare sighting of a pack of wild dogs, even luckier they were chasing a large warthog that managed to escape into a large burrow. Saw a Leopard resting in a tree with a dead Impala kill in another branch and a large rare antelope/deer thing called a Sable.

Then Victoria Falls for 2 weeks, seemed like a long time to start with but enjoyed not sleeping in tents and enjoyed lounging around the pool. The falls themselves are very spectacular, despite not being a full flow at the moment. Spent a day white water rafting the Zambezi river (as good as NZ rafting but much longer grade 5 sections). Did a walk through the bush with two 13 month old lions, really spectacular to get so close to such a powerfull animal.

Just returned from the pre-departure meeting for the next part of the tour that will take us through Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania and Kenya. New guide seems nice which is good as the last one from the first part was a miserable…

Have loads of photos ready to upload but not had chance or fast enough internet access yet.

more......

Just arrived in capital of Malawi after a couple of very rainy days in Zambia. Still slow net, so no pics.

Left Cape Town on the 12th and spent most of the last week in Namibia. First couple of days were just getting us used to things on the tour like setting up tents and things, but did a bit more wine tasting and saw the last few bits of South Africa. Namibia only has a population of about 2 million so it is very empty and we don’t see many people or cars along the dirt tracks but lots of animals and finally I saw desert (as despite Australia’s claims, I only found deserts there with trees in them, which to me is not a desert).

From this bit I have kind of stolen and edited some of Ali’s blog, oh well!

We passed loads of wildlife on our way to Sesriem, goats, cows, horses, and ostriches. There were also huge nests in some of the tree branches that looked like thatched roofs. One of the highlights of this trip so far was a desert walk to see Sossusvlei, an area cut off in the middle of the desert where dead trees over 900 years old are still standing. The dunes are the largest in the world, with one being over 400 metres high! The trip there, 28 of us standing up in the back of a truck was a great start! The information the guide had about the dunes was so interesting! The area so rarely gets water, but when it does life springs up inside it, shrimp eggs can go 30 years dried up but still populate with water! He showed us a dead flower that opened with water, caught a lizard and black beetle, then teased a trap door spider out of it’s home! Got great pictures by the trees and then we ran down a sand dune before being herded back onto the truck, where we saw loads of Springbok and Oryx beside the ‘road’ on the way back. We then climbed up Dune 45 to see the sunset over the desert. Had game meat for tea ‘Kudu’, which was a huge block of red meat, only ate about half as it was so big.

Crossed the Tropic of Capricorn for the 4th time in the last year, the landscape had changed dramatically again, totally flat. Arrived into the seaside resort of Swakopmund, the town, apparently being more German than Germany is nothing like Africa I have seen so far and more like Europe.

Wanted to upload some photos but think it will take forever from here, so will try next time.

New Photos!

Just uploading some new photos, see link on right

More stuff

have 3 minutes to write this, might be dribble, sorrrryy.


Travelled mainly to nice coastal places (did some surfing in Jeffreys Bay) over the last couple of weeks until a few days ago when we went to Outdshoorn in the mountains to cycle a crazy 53km (gave up after 40k in the pooring rain), visited caves, ostrich farm and stroked a baby Cheetah. Today I have been cage diving with a Great White Shark, was good fun, did not think it was too scary at first until the shark came straight for me and had to take a step back in the cage. In Hermanus now to view Whales from the shore, very close to us at the bottom of cliffs. Got a few photos, hopefully will upload them before my overland trip to Vic Falls via Namibia and Botswana on the 12th.

Flight home and all tours are booked now, fly home on the 22nd December from Kenya in time for Christmas.

scary stuff

Having fun!!! Been on Safari, seen Lions, Leopards, Elephants, Rhino and lots more. Been to Swaziland and am currently in Mozambique, its scary here. Heading back to Swazi tomorrow, then St Lucia in SA on Thursday.

***edit***
In St Lucia now, just uploading a few pictures...