The trip from Windhoek to The Victoria Falls took 8 days and I can honestly say that by the end of it I really loved this part of Africa. It was an organised trip and I usually hate those sort of things but I loved this!

We left Windhoek early in the morning, when I say 'we' I mean I was on the trip with a German woman, a couple from London who were Greek and Italian and the guide (from South Africa) and the assistant (from Botswana).

I was so lucky to have a small group of people in the trip and as we set off we all got to know each other and they were a great bunch of people. The first day was mainly just driving but even so we saw Warthogs, a Zazu bird (from the lion king! I think its real name is a yellow tailed horn bill or a yellow billed horn tail or something) and we also saw donkeys and vervet monkeys. Patric the guide told us that a lot of people in Botswana live mostly on donkey meat! The male vervet monkey has EXTREMELY bright blue balls - its so funny as they are such a bright blue ie bubblegum blue!

We crossed the border into Botswana (country 22) with no problems, there are as many people in Botswana as there is in Glasgow - so we saw very few people and little or no civilisation - was lovely! We set up camp in a lovely lodge that had lions and cheetahs there - they had been rescued and were now in captivity and it was nice to see them up close. In the camp we also saw eland and the usual baboons and in the morning we also saw giraffe.

Botswana:
This country is one of the most successful, stable and peaceful of all the African Countries, and one of the most beautiful as far as I am concerned as it is home to the Okavango Delta, and the Chobe National Park.

The second day of our trip we arrived at the Okavango Delta and again put up camp. The really nice thing about this trip was, although we were camping in tents we stayed in the grounds of some fabulous lodges with thatched roofs and could use their pools, lovely showers and bars.
The camp in the Okavango delta was one of my favourite as they actually had open air showers with bamboo plants around to protect your modesty (slightly) and it was one thing i really wanted to do in Africa was have a shower outside (dunno why, just seemed part of the African 'experience')
The next morning the vervet monkeys decided to sit in the tree above the toilet I was in (same place as the showers) and throw things at me! Hardly fair when I was a sitting target!

The Okavango delta is breathtaking - I have already emailed pics of this. It is the largest inland Delta in the world, (another thing to add to the list). The water is crystal clear, and we navigated into the delta by traditional mekoro (dug-out canoes), many of which are now made of fibre glass, to preserve the sausage trees in the Delta, that were traditionally used.

The next day we had Mekoro drivers (kind of like punting on the Thames) and they took us deep into the Ocavango Delta. The Mekoros are very low in the water though and there is only room for 2 people and if you move around you end up in the crocodile infested water (as almost happened to us!)

That day was lovely as we moved through the Okavango Delta through narrow channels of water with grasses all around and water lillys seeing hippos and crocodiles and elephants! We saw the elephants when we went for a walk on one of the islands and it was a VERY different experience seeing them on foot as opposed to being in a truck where I felt safe! Seeing them on foot was a bit nerve wracking!

Hippos are really funny animals. Actually it was hippos that caused me to nearly fall in the water and get eaten by crocodiles............

Yannis (the Greek guy from London) was in the boat in front of me and asked me what I thought the Latin for hippo. He then told me it was 'hippopotamus amphibious' which made both me and the German girl laugh and in doing so nearly upset the boat. Hippos kill more people in Africa than any other animal and when males fight they will fight to the death every time. They are very bad tempered and lone females with calves are dangerous as if males find male calves they will kill them as they will be a threat to the dominant males later so females are very protective of their young. They also make the weirdest noise and Yannis could imitate it perfectly - which unfortunately gave rise to silly games of creeping around each others tents making animal noises at 3am after a few too many drinks at the bar!

In the Okavango Delta we also saw a huge monitor lizard - which Patric tried to pick up - with the result it ran straight towards us and had us running in all directions!

From the Okavango Delta we headed into the Caprivi strip (the little strip of Namibia that runs between Botswana and Angola) and we stopped at a huge group of elephants and climbed on the roof of the minibus to take pictures. Our guide Patric was a lot of fun and it was mainly him that instigated a lot of the 'fun but not really part of the itinerary and don't tell the boss'!!

From the Caprivi Strip we went back into Botswana and spent some time in the Chobe National Park, which was amazing again. We saw loads and loads of wildlife and Patric took us to see a dead elephant that had been killed by 2 rangers as it had attacked them. One of the tusks had been stolen by poachers and you could see the wire they used to pull it out with a truck as the spin marks were in the ground. Anti poaching squads are fearsome things in Africa, they are nearly always black guys and they drive around the parks with 5+ men in the back with capes and guns and balaclavas - they look pretty menacing!

The dead elephant was so big you could actually stand inside the ribcage of it. Patric told us that every time elephants pass here they will stop and cry over the elephant and that's why when they cull elephants (as there are too many) they have to cull the whole heard or the rest of them will be upset and angry and destroy villages and attack people.

This brings me to the ivory trade in Africa, there are a lot of articles in the newspapers about the ivory trade as it is forbidden to trade in it yet people still do it through poaching (as we saw in Chobe). However due to elephant culling there is a lot of stockpile of ivory and some people argue that it should be sold/floated on the stock markets as there is so much of it that the world price of ivory would then drop and it would stop people poaching as they wouldn't get any money for the ivory. However other people argue that this is only short term solution and it would not eradicate poaching and there would be no way to tell which ivory was poached and which wasn't.

The other great thing we did in Chobe was go on a river cruise (not to be confused with the booze cruise we did in Zambia)

It was stunning, simply that, I kind of ran out of words to describe it! We floated down the Chobe river?? and saw wildebeest and giraffes and crocodiles and elephants SWIMMING!!! that bit was amazing. The animals in Chobe simply behaved as if we weren't there which in some ways is good as you can get close to them and you know that these animals have never feared humans but on the other hand i question the extent to which humans have taken over Africa and animals are pocketed into these reserves or parks where they are fenced in.

The next morning we headed across the Zambezi river to Zambia! It took a long time at the border but we were allowed to go after several bribes. Patric explained to us that it was getting near to the end of the month so the police and customs officials collect lots of bribes so that they can pay their staff wages at the end of the month. Welcome to Zambia!

We set up camp for the last time in Livingstone after going to see the Victoria Falls or Mosi-oa-Tunya that means 'the smoke that thunders' and it really does thunder! We could see the 'smoke' rising from the falls when we were still 10k away! The walk around it on the Zambian side was amazing - the falls are at their highest right now and it was so hard to take pictures because of all the spray and the fact that I was drenched through immediately i got there.

The fact that the falls were so high though was lovely as there was rainbows everywhere!

When we arrived in Zambia that was the end of the trip so we all went on the infamous 'booze cruise' that was an all you can eat and drink cruise down the Zambezi and we saw crocodiles and hippos and the inside of lots of beer glasses.

After that we were so drunk that Patric did his party piece and made a noise like a lion grunting using the camping kettle - pictures to follow!! That was a bit of a crazy night with lots of Amarula!

On Sunday we all did our own thing and then went out for a 'last supper' in the town. The next day I was dropped at the hostel and I made plans for my next stop off! We all had t-shirts made showing the route that we took across southern Africa and it also has our names on it, the border stamps and the flags!

I went to Zimbabwe for the day before I left here so that I could see the falls from that side and I would very much recommend it. You are not as close to the falls so you can take some good pictures and its fun. Its also perfectly safe to go into Zimbabwe to do this as it is an established part of the Victoria Falls experience.

From here I will go to Malawi and then up to Tanzania and Kenya! I am running out of time and money and I am actually looking forward to some home comforts! I can safely say that I have no idea what my 'favourite' continent or country or even part of this trip has been but this last 8 days from Namibia to Zambia is definitely up there somewhere among the best!

Namibia



I arrived in Windhoek after a 24 hour bus ride from Johannesburg which was 12 hours after i returned from a 4 day safari so I was a little shell shocked on arrival!

The hostel I stayed in was called the Cardboard Box and it was from there I booked a 3 day trip to Etosha National Park. The one thing I noticed instantly in Namibia was although there was still the traditional villages around there was much fewer poor people. I liked Windhoek, ok its just another city but the people were friendly and there was enough to do to keep me occupied (as well as lots and lots of biltong)



When I travelled with Matt from Capetown to Johannesburg the first comment he made about me was on day two when we were clearing out the car and he said 'you and your eating habits'!!

We had a few drinks one night and Matt was talking about me to some girls he was chatting up and gestured towards me and said (quite seriously) 'all she needs is 2 cows and a gallon of tea a day to keep her happy' - referring to the biltong of course but the girls looked a little puzzled!



Etosha National Park was quite simply WONDERFUL!!

We arrived late in the evening and went for a game drive and saw giraffe and warthogs (who always look so indignant!) and then we set up camp by a water hole that was floodlit and watched the comings and goings of the animals.

The next day was another game drive and we arrived at a huge waterhole to see literally hundreds of animals, giraffes drinking at the edge, antelope chasing each other, zebras walking in the waterhole next to the giraffes and the whole image was mirrored perfectly on the water.

In total that day we saw over 100 giraffes and 50 or more elephants. The best elephant sighting we had was when we stopped for lunch at a huge water hole and saw a huge heard drinking. Its interesting to see how much animals play in the wild - something you simply don't see in a zoo! There is also a very strict pecking order at the water hole, most small animals will drink at the same time but the zebras and giraffes are above that in pecking order and everyone moves out of the water and waits when the elephants come to drink.

Another interesting fact was the rhinos. In Kruger we saw a white rhino with a baby (who was having great fun chasing impala much to the annoyance of the impala and the mother rhino as every time she turned around he was off again). Unfortunately him chasing impala was as about effective as dogs that chase seagulls and it looked similar to that - as well as being very funny as he rushed after them on his little wrinkled legs!

The baby white rhino walks in front of the mother and in Etosha we saw black rhino and the baby was following mother. It was explained to us that the black rhino leads by example whereas the white rhino lets the baby learn from its mistakes.

After we left the water hole in Etosha we drove next to the salt pans that cover 25% of Etosha Park and we narrowly escaped being squished by an elephant who charged us as we got too close without realising it!
As soon as I can I will upload my pictures from Etosha, there was literally hundreds of animals all over the place!

The guide we had was really good (as in Kruger) and he told us some interesting stories.
The impala are known as the local fast food as they are on every corner in the park, they are the main food of the predators - AND they have an M shape on their bum - not quite the golden arches but close enough!

The water buck has a curious marking on its back end that looks like it has sat on a freshly painted toilet seat. The guide Tim told us that it was because when Noah let the water buck into the ark he forgot to put a 'wet paint' sign on the toilet door and the water buck sat on the toilet and got that mark!

As for the wildebeest I was told that it was put together from the remains that god was left with once he had finished making all the other animals - as it really is a really ugly animal!



I spent a morning riding in the Namibian desert hills outside Windhoek and spotted dassie and dic dic and impala and eland before I headed off on another trip! The problem with Namibia and Botswana is that it is difficult to get around independently and when I added up the cost it was going to be more than going on an organised trip and as much as I HATE being organised I gritted my teeth and booked an 8 day delta and falls trip and it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life!!

I will post that trip in a separate blog as in 8 days we did so much, from Namibia to Botswana and the Ocavango Delta and then back into Namibia and along the Caprivi strip and then back into Botswana and the Chobe National Park and then across to Zambia and the mighty 'smoke that thunders' or in English 'The Victoria falls'

Africa

I arrived in Cape Town and was very unwell. Both times i have left India I have been unwell yet I was never ill when I was there!

Cape Town had some interesting sights including table mountain, Robben Island (where Nelson Mandela was held captive) and Cape Point. Cape point was fun as I went on a day trip and we took mountain bikes and rode through the national park - was great! Also saw the hospital where the worlds fist successful heart transplant was carried out (will add this to my growing list from the last blog!)

Table Mountain looks extremely odd to the untrained eye as it really is totally flat when you look at it. Once I had road tripped all the way to Johannesburg though I realised that ALL the mountains in South Africa are of a similar shape!! I never expected Africa to be so mountainous and it was beautiful.

I had decided to spend 3 weeks in South Africa and after a few days in Cape Town I headed up the coast with an Australian guy and a lovely little blue VW golf! Was lovely to be driving again!
We headed up along the garden route and then headed inland to Lesotho! We hired a guide and 4 of us went into Lesotho for an overnight and I can honestly say it was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to. The guide told us that Lesotho was known as the Kingdom in the Sky and I can well believe it as there was snow and ice everywhere and the route up to the border was up an ice covered track with 29 hairpin bends!!

Entering Lesotho was like entering another world not just another country (am now on my 20th country!) We stayed in an orphanage that takes in kids with no parents and there was about 6 kids there. We also visited the school and went riding on Basoto ponies through the villages. It was very cold though as we were very high up in the mountains and there are special blankets that the basoto people wear and these blankets are actually part of their traditional dress! Even the school teacher was wearing one! On leaving Lesotho we went to the highest pub in Africa (another thing to add to the list!)

From Lesotho we headed up to the Northern Drakensburg and had a couple of days hiking. The altitude is lower here and the hiking very easy for day walking. The view of the amphitheatre at the top of the hill we climbed was stunning as well and you could see the flat topped mountains for miles around.

From the Drakensburg we dropped the car off in Johannesburg and then went on Safari the next morning. Unfortunately my first safari was not too good. Mainly it was bad luck but also I have been told since I left South Africa that the Kruger park has very few roads compared to the other parks and so it is hard to spot the animals. In 3 days we saw very little unfortunately but one evening we followed a pride of lions. We were told that there are a lot of people who jump the border from Zimbabwe and head through the park following the telegraph poles to reach a village in South Africa. However the lions have learnt that if they wait by the telegraph poles then food will appear. The guide told us they often find pairs of shoes under the telegraph poles and hear the screams in the night. However the situation in Zimbabwe is so bad that people will continue to risk it!



From Johannesburg I took a 24 hour bus to Namibia. Although I spent very little time in South Africa I have come away with a few impressions.


Firstly: South Africa is a very difficult country to travel in if you don't have a car. There are buses that go to the touristy spots but if you want to go and explore it is impossible without a car. As we drove there was plenty of black people hitchhiking but no white people at all.

Most of the white people I spoke to in the buses and shops etc all seemed to be extremely racist towards black people - in a quite open manner as well!
Mind you I also found that travelling in a predominantly black country meant I spent more time with white people and some of the black people I spent time with were also pretty racist as well.



I discovered that I have developed a real hard shell whilst travelling - especially towards people less fortunate than myself. People tell me that the Cape Flats or shanty towns outside Cape Town as the most horrifying thing they have ever seen. When I arrived I was amazed to see that most of the tin houses had electricity, running water and some people had cars.

I guess that by comparing it to India the black people living in poverty here have a lot compared to in India. However in India everyone is poor and everything is dirty and grotty - you don't ever really see nice cars or rich people in India. In South Africa the rich-poor divide is very obvious and I couldn't live the way white people do in South Africa knowing that the shanty towns were nearby.

I also could not live in a place or town or country where I had to have high security fences and security guards and I cannot walk anywhere for fear of my life. The guy who ran the hostel I stayed at in Johannesburg told me that 'well its much better here as I have a huge house and pool and garden, in the UK i could only afford a little flat' As far as I am concerned the payoff is not worth it. I want to be able to walk to friends houses and enjoy a sense of community with others. This was possible (in one street) in Cape Town but only as there was 24 hour surveillance cameras and security guards in the street.

I also heard rumblings in the press and among people in South Africa that there was still huge problems following Apartheid and that Nelson Mandela is getting very old. Some people even say that there will need to be a civil war to sort it out and there will be a lot of problems when Nelson Mandela dies.


My next blog will be from Namibia. I decided on Namibia rather than Mozambique as there is a quote in South Africa among travellers that is 'Mozambique is very nice, Namibia is another world'

It turned out that quote was very true!