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Hey all! (this will be a long one)
We have spent the last two days struggling to get photos up so hopefully we will get some up by end of the day as they are superb! So starting back to two weeks ago we left Johannesburg on a horrible rainy day but that was definitely not to continue. We had endured a few days of almost 40C with very high humidity and a million mosquitos trying to suck as much blood out of us as possible. But don't worry Granny and Mum, Ryan made me do nightly a "mosquito sweep" in tent before we were allowed to go to sleep.
We got a bit of a shock when we met our tour guides as it turned out it was only us two on the tour for the first 7 days. We headed first to Blyde River Canyon which is the third biggest canyon in the world (Grand Canyon 1st, somewhere in Namibia 2nd). But this canyon was so different to other two which are desert like as this was completely green and to be honest so much prettier than the Grand Canyon. We then headed onto a Cheetah Reserve up north where they are trying to increase the numbers of cheetahs! We hate poachers! That night we stayed along the Oliphants River which runs alongside Kruger National Park. This was are first look at wild Africa and what to expect for the rest of the tour. We camped alone right beside the river where hippos and crocodiles came up to rest on the bank! The manager kept warning us away from river edge as on New Years Day a local girl was taken by a crocodile (although they were drunk and idiots swimming in the river where you could actually see all the hippos/crocs right there!!!).
On Friday morning we took a 3 hour river cruise along the Oliphants River experiencing our first views of elephants, giraffes, crocodiles and hippos. We had an angry hippo run at us from the banks and through the water as we were on its territory- they do try and knock boats over but we were in a big one so it was fine! We then did our first game drive into Kruger and within 5 minutes saw an massive elephant on the roadside but that was not all! When were watching the elephant suddenly a giraffe appeared along with antelope, baboons, zebra and buffalo. I thought to myself I can't believe how much we have seen in the first 5 minutes...it can't all be like this.... and it wasn't. After that we saw the same animals all the time and unfortunately did not get to see lions, leopards or rhinos (which along with buffalo and elephant make up the "Big 5"). We went to the 'Magnifient 7' museum in Kruger which is a collection of 7 of the biggest elephants tusks that ever lived in Kruger-you can see the unbelievable size in the photos. That night we stayed in a deserted campsite with plenty of bugs and massive scary spiders!
On Saturday morning we got up at sunrise for a early morning game drive and spotted Africa's most feared snake- the black mamba. We sat and watched it for about 15 minutes as it was creeping up on a small rabbit. However the rabbit ran away but then the mamba decided to look up right beside our van and we quickly closed th window! haha! It is too hot in the middle of the day to do game drives and all the animals shelter away from the sun. We did another game drive in the late afternoon and saw lots of herds of buffalo. That night at the campsite a herd of buffalo decided to take mudbaths beside just beside us and all we could see were their eyes in the dark and hear their grunts.
On the Sunday we didn't get to see anything unfortunately on our way out of Kruger. We spent the day heading towards the South African/Botswana border staying at Polokwane. We did a short game drive in a private game reserve there where we had a very close encounter with a family of white rhino-did a nice walk for us but then turned around and blocked the road! Monday was a long drive to Nata in Botswana and filling in all the necessary border requirements. But that night we stayed in my favourite place yet- Elephant Sands. We were treated all night to elephants coming to a waterhole just in front of the bar to wash and drink. But even better than this was the elephants coming to the swimming pool and drinking! It was unbelievable - by the next morning they had emptied almost two-thirds of the water! We could have literally reached out and touched them and our tent was about 10m from the pool! They are the beautiful gentle giants of the wild!
Tuesday we left early to get to the Botswana/Zambia border. In the bit between the border ('No mans land') you have to get a ferry over the Zambezi River and when you get to the other side we had to actually walk into the river to get into Zambia-crazy- an international border! We then headed onto the adventure capital of Africa-Livingstone. We took a sunset cruise that night along the Zambezi River - met a couple of Northern Irish people on other Acacia tours on the boat too. Apparentlyt someone heard my accent so they shouted out "whose the person from Belfast?" haha! On Wednesday morning I got to do a microlite flight over Victoria Falls which was amazing and definitely the best way to see the enormity of the Falls! The rest of the day we spent chilling at the restaurant and bar with people from the other tours as this was our only free day on the tour.
Thursday morning we got absolutely soaked walking around Victoria Falls. When we saw raincoats for hire we thought there is no way it is that bad but we really were soaked. As it is wet season at the moment the water level is high so the falls are even more violent and misty than the rest of the year. The rainbows over the falls were beautiful! We also then had a look at the many souvenirs for sale at the entrance but got over powered by "my sister can I just show you?"! At this point we had 4 new faces join the tour. A New York Orthopaedic Surgeon, an Australian international student and two Australian Environmental Consultants. We then headed back across the border to Botswana and stayed just outside Chobe National Park. The next morning we did a game drive in Chobe and 2km from the exit of the park we finally got to see 2 female lions who were clearly on the hunt! We spent the rest of the day driving to Maun which is just outside the Okavango Delta.
So Saturday morning we packed as small day sack for the next 3 days of bush camping with absolutely no facilities in the Okavango Delta. We had to get a 3 hour truck (what I can only describe as an old cattle lorry) to the station in the delta. Two hours of the journey was spent off road going through up to 1.5m of water and being thrown all over the place. People actually lived away out these roads which are totally impassable by car. We then took a 90 minute ride in a mokoro (basically dug out canoe pushed along by a poler). It was literally the hottest I had ever been in my life but was so pretty going through the reeds and lillies as you can see the photos. We set up camp along with digging out new toilet for the next couple of days! In late afternoon we did a 3 hour safari walk through one of the islands in the delta. To be honest I spent the whole time being terrified of the fact that we were walking in grass sometimes up to our heads in the wild! We walked alongside some elephants, giraffe and zebra. The next day we spent the day chilling at the campsite as it was so hot. We were allowed to swim in the shallow parts of the delta that apparently the hippos and crocodiles couldn't get to! It was so refreshing we didn't care anyway! Around sunset we went for a cruise in the mokoro where our poler, Otis, made us necklaces out of the lillies. But when we were in a more open area we came face to face with two hippos who were not at all happy that we were in their territory and loudly growled at us to leave. We sat still for 10 minutes and had to return and go back. I was terrified especially when one of them started coming closer to us. That night by the campfire we were treated to the polers singing some traditional African songs to us. We went to sleep with the baboons fighting with each other in the trees above us and lions roaring in the background!
On Monday morning we made our way back to Maun absolutely exhausted on the long 3 hour truck journey back. The monkeys were all over the campsite just as we poled away trying to find any food we had left behind. We spent the rest of the day at the swimming pool on the campsite in Maun as it was so hot and had a BBQ. Tuesday morning we did a 600km drive to a Rhino Sanctuary where we did another game drive. We saw at least 12 rhino and loads of baby zebra and wildebeest. That night we thought we deserved an upgrade to a room which was nice with an ensuite but later when I pulled the quilt back and lay on bed out of the corner of my eye I saw something! My bed was covered in hundreds of ants which were all making their way to food which was somehow under the mattress. So late at night we had to put up our tent again! Yuk!
Wednesday was spent then doing the last 600km back across the border to Johannesburg. We said our goodbyes and managed to get an early night along with some good old BBC on the TV! So tonight we leave for Bangkok (via Doha) and then by Saturday we will be on the next tour through South East Asia. Sorry blog was so long but so much has happened in last two weeks especially as the days were so long. Exhausted but excited to enter another new culture. Hope you enjoy the photos when I finally get them on.
Love Kimberly xox
- comments
Lois Hiya! In the dispensary just now - we are all jealous reading your fab blog. Sounds absolutely amazing! You have been so lucky with the wildflife spotting. Hope you and Ryan are getting on ok - would be hard not to with such adventures going on. Gossip from here: Iam Preggers! Due on the 25th July so am now 15 weeks and over the boaky / nausea stage (thank the good lord, was awful retching at the disp bench!). Take care and hope you love every second of S.E Asia, wish I was there! Lots of love, Lois x