Day 8

Thursday we went to Chobe, Botswana. We had a quick breakfast at 7 before our 7.30 pickup. It took us about an hour to get to the Zambia border. After being stamped out of the country, we took a speed boat across the Zambezi River and got stamped into Botswana (our 10^th stamp btw).

We were then driven to a hotel in Kasane where we started our cruise through the Chobe River. We saw heaps of Birds, too many Birds. We also saw some Hippos, Crocs, Water Monitor Lizards and Elephants.

After the cruise we had a buffet lunch and the food was delicious!

After lunch we went to the Chobe Game Park. We saw soooo many animals! Lots and lots of Elephants and Impala, including day/week old babies. We also saw a Spotted Hyena, Baboons, Hippos, Kudu, Mongooses, Squirrels, Buffalo, Cebu (watch this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gQXa9SgrtE) and a pride of lions. We spent about 2 and a half hours at the game park then we were driven back to the Botswana border, then back over to the Zambian border via boat.

On our way back to Waterfront our driver stopped next to a safari truck. It turns out there was a couple of white rhinos a couple a few hundred meters off the road and they said they would take us to see them. That was special considering there are only 7 white rhinos in Zambia.

We got back to the Waterfront at 5 and after dinner went straight to bed.

Day 7

Wednesday was a very busy day. We started of the day with a 15 minute flight, in a micro-light, over the Victoria Falls. The view was stunning! I also got to steer the micro-light for a bit which was awesome. After we had all finished our flights, we went back to the Waterfront for breakfast.

At 9.30 Herbert picked us and took us to the school that he and his wife had started in 2008 for preschool and lower primary school kids. The kids put on a show for us, showing dances from different provinces of Zambia, and then we all played together.

To start off with the kids were shy, but by the end of the 2 hours we spent there, they wouldn’t let go of us! They were all so cute and we didn’t want to go but they finish school at 12.30 and they still had some things to do so we went back to the Waterfront again for lunch.

After lunch we went for a horse ride. My horse was playing up so I didn’t enjoy it.

From the horse ride we went to the gorge swing. Jayne and I did a tandem swing and that was insane! We had to hold on to each other, as well as the rope attached to our harnesses, and shuffle backward of the platform. Then we fell!! Down, backwards, 50 metres in less than 3.5 seconds. Then the rope caught us and we swang.

I’m glad I did it with Jayne because I don’t think I would have done it by myself. Once we were on the ground and had taken our harnesses off, we started our walk up and out of the gorge. It took us about 15 minutes of steep climbing up rough stairs to get back to the top. When we got to the top, we found dad playing mancala with one of the guys there. He let dad win.

We got back to the Waterfront around 4.30 had a swim, ate and went to bed.

Day 6

I’ve been really tired the last few days, so I’ll this one tonight and catch up on the rest on the plane tomorrow.

On Tuesday we got picked up at 6.15 to go to Thorn Tree Lodge to go on an Elephant Back Tour. We we’re with 8 other people; 2 guys from Germany, a group of 5 from England and another lady from England. It was raining when we got there but it stopped before we started, plus they gave us all ponchos.

Jayne and I were on the same elephant. We went through water and we saw some crocs. The tour was for about an hour. They had been filming the whole ride and showed us the film they had made from it and it was really good, so we brought a copy.

We got back to waterfront just in time for the end of breakfast. Actually we were late, but they made breakfast for us anyway.  T

he activities centre organised a private driver for us and Herbert picked us up at about midday and drove us right to the Zimbabwe border, where we gained a few more stamps in our passports. We had to walk about 100 metres between the border and Victoria Falls.

The falls were amazing!! The water was pounding down the 94 metre cliff and the spray was wonderful. We spent about an hour walking around the falls before we went back to the entry to have a small lunch after a late breakfast.

 We then took a taxi to a market. It was really intense. Every guy there was trying to sell you the exact same stuff, plus or minus some things, saying it was their own art. Dad brought a chair which he had been talking about trying to find and Jayne and I found this guy, Simba, that was really nice and we got a good deal of him. Once we had all the things we wanted and it was time to go, everyone came to us with a last chance deal to try and sell something, they were even trying to convince us through the taxi window.

We got back to the border, where we got a few more stamps in our passport,and Herbert met us on the other side and took us back to waterfront.

Well I’m buggered so I’ll do all the photo’s tomorrow aswell.

Day 5 - Zambia

I didn’t want to stay up really late again last night after our cruise, so I’m doing yesterday’s post now and I’ll do todays later tonight.

Yesterday morning we were up at around 6 so we could be at the airport about two hours before our 10.10 flight. We had a small-ish breakfast before taking everything down to the car and leaving. It’ only took us about 25 minutes to get to the Europcar rental drop-off at the airport.

We walked up and down the airport a couple of times before we found our check-in gate because we thought it would be at the international end, seeing as we were flying to a different country, but it was at the domestic end because it was a budget airline and didn’t have many flights.

Our flight ended up taking off 30 minutes late. We were in a small plane and it had nothing, not even a radio. We ended up landing only 5 minutes later than our original time, so that was good.

We were then driving here, to the Waterfront Lodge, where we are staying until Friday. We had lunch, finished organising the rest of the activities we are doing this week and then Jayne and I went for a swim.

At 4.30 we went for a cruise on the Zambezi River. On board was three other people from Scotland and Canada, and we all got along well. We saw hippos, crocs and an elephant, and we also watched the sunset.

Well we’re off to now Zimbabwe so i don't have time to add photos, so I'll do that later.

BEC

Day 4

I was practically asleep when I posted Day 3, so I decided to do Day 4 (Sunday) today.

Well, at 6.30 in the morning we went for a game drive, in the back of a safari land rover, before breakfast. The first thing we saw was a worthog. Hakuna Matata! We also saw some impala, blesbok, zebra, buffalo and lots and lots of guinea fowl!

It was a really rough drive so my knees got a bit battered, but it was heaps of fun so I didn't mind.

Breakfast was in a room with heaps of "animals" in it. Jayne and I felt a little uncomfortable because of the hunting trophies, but breakfast was good. Just outside the breakfast room, a nyala was there with her baby. It was really cute!

We had to start taking our maleria tablets on Saturday because we have to take them 2 days before we go to Zambia, while we are there and for 4 weeks afterwards!!

Once we left Ingwe, we went back to the lion park to buy some more things and to have lunch. We had to take a detour because of a big bike race going on in Johannesburg. We shared a plate of chips for lunch because we were still full from breakfast. We also introduced our waiter to spiders, the drink kind. :)

From the lion park we took an other detour to Jen's house where I meet Jaylin for the first time. We had heaps of fun playing South Africa Trivial Pursuit. Jaylin knew a lot of the answers to the African related questions, but somehow Jayne won. We also jumped in the pool after the braai (BBQ).

When we left Jen's we came to the 9inObservatory where we stayed the night.

Off to Zambia today
BEC

Day 3

Saturday morning we had a massive breakfast!! I tried some chicken liver which tasted ok, but the texture was horrible! It was that bad that I don't even know how to describe it.

After my big 5 course breakfast, we went down to the little market thing they had there. I brought a couple of things for friends which I'm not going to mention. :P

Once we left Lesedi, we drove to Sterkfantein Caves. There we did a one hour tour through the caves and we had a really funny guide called Collen. The caves were really big, but to get out we had to slide on our bums at one stage. That was pretty fun.

From the caves, we went to Maropang. It was kinda a mini Science works/A-maze-n-things for fossils.
There was a mini water raft ride in there as well. Some of the thing at Maropang were really interesting.

After we finished lunch at Maropang we drove to Ingwe Bush Camp where we stayed the night.

Now to today
BEC

Our "tent"

Lesedi Pics



Yes, that is bull shit

Day 2

Sorry about not posting for the last couple of days, but I had no internet access so I'll do a couple of posts. I'll start with Friday.

We went to the airport in the morning to pick up our hire car. We also brought a new sim card for dad's phone. After he got his phone working, he rang Jen who told us that our luggage was there to be picked up. Turns out it missed our connection in Sydney and went via Perth to get here. Dad was pretty happy about that.

From the airport we drove to the Lion Park where we drove around to see the animals. We saw some zebras, lions, cheetah and African wild dogs. Once we finished driving around we went into the cub world where we got to pat lion cub! We also got to hug a giraffe.

Then we drove to Lesedi Cultural Village where we spent the night. At about 4.30 we were taken on a tour around the villages. It was very interesting. After the tour we were giving a show with heaps of different dances from different tribes. Then we had a feast!! I tried some croc meat and ostrich meat. They both tasted pretty good.

Now to Saturday.
BEC

We have decided to takea picture like this every where we stay.

We're finally here

Hi everyone,I'm now sitting at an amazing guest lodge in Johannesburg, waiting for my sweet and sour chicken.
We got of the plane at about 3.20 South Africa time, which is almost midnight Melbourne time. We went to pick up our bags at the conveyor belts and our big suitcase was out pretty much straight away, but we waited and waited for our bag with most of dad's clothes in it, but it didn't come. Basicaly they lost our bag, but it should be here within the next couple of days....hopefully!
Anyway, we came out of the terminal and there was a really nice guy waiting for us and he drove us to this guest lodge. Jayne and I practicly got straight in the pool.
It's now 7pm and as soon as we finish dinner, I'm going to crash!
Talk to you later
BEC

Jayne Crashing :P

Last night in australia.

Hey,
I'm now at the hotel for my last night in Australia for 3 weeks.
Took us about 45 minutes to find some where to have dinner that wasn't macca's, which led to me missing out on all but the last 5 minutes of Glee! Grrrr.
We have to be up by 6 tomorrow so we can get the 6.30 bus to the air port. Easy as pie.
One thing I'm intrested about is how good is the food going to be tomorrow. We're probably going to get about 4 planes meals, and aparently we get a menu. :P
Well next time I post, I'll be in Johannesburg, South Africa!
Signing off.
BEC

Science

Science,
My last subject today before leaving for Africa, well then we have this beacon thing.
Going to finally get my new iPod tonight after bugging the poor lady from Retravision, almost every night for the past 2 weeks, about when they new stocks coming in. Man, if they haven't come in i'm going to be so annoyed!
I'm getting really excited about the trip now. I've even decided that the first movie i'm going to watch tomorrow will be 'The Help'. :P
I'll probably post again tonight, if i have internet access.
BEC

2 nights till the flight

Hi again,
I'm getting really excited about our trip now. Tomorrow night we're driving up to Melbourne to stay there overnight so we can catch our 7.30 flight and not have to wake up at 4.00.
We are completely packed having debugged our Zambia clothes on Saturday. I'm surprised how little i'm taking.See usually i fill my suitcase myself for a 10 day trip to Sydney, but for Africa we have my clothes plus Jayne's, with space left, and that's including 3 pairs of sandals!
Tonight is our last night with Mum before we leave, so we're going to have a mini party with pavlova. mmmmm yummy.
That's it for now
BEC

Not Long To Go

Hey everyone
The reality of the fact that we're going to Africa is really starting to excite me.
We're starting to work out what we're going to pack now, especially what we're taking to Zambia. Because of all the mosquito's in Zambia, the clothes we're going to wear there has to be soaked in this stuff called Debugger before we go. I hope it doesn't stink.
I'm not sure what to take to wear when  I'm on the elephant back tour (we ride elephants) because i can't wear skirts or short shorts which is what I'm wear for most of the trip, but it's going to be too hot to wear jeans or thin trackies and i need to figure it out soon because we need to Debugger it.
I brought my new, and first, camera on Friday. It's a Fujifilm Finepix s4000. It has a massive zoom so it's going to great for getting the lions in the distance. It's got so many settings it's not funny. It's even got a baby mode. It's awesome! :P
Chat soon.

10 days to go till we fly.

Intro

Hello everyone,
I'm going for a trip to Africa soon and i thought it would be fun to make a blog about it.
at the moment it's a bit plain but as i get photo's and do some more work, it'll really come to life(hopefully)!
so 15 day's till we fly.
talk soon.