Vic Falls - Zimbabwe - New Years Eve

This morning Lisa had a massive sleep in while I caught up on writing some journal articles. It's nice to have a day of rest.
We have been trying to organise our accommodation in Nairobi for the past few days with no luck at all! We have sent emails, called a billion different numbers that we have found to try contact the hotel,- but they are either not answering or cannot help us. We wish to book transfers from the airport to our hotel, as we land quite late at night, and Nairobi is not really the place I want to be after dark.

Finding 'air time' to have the ability to actually make the calls was probably the most stressful part of the day. Again, everyone wants your business which means that people are extremely helpful when trying to sell you something but also will tell you anything you want to hear to make the sale meaning that you may or may not be getting the correct information! We were dragged from place to place trying to buy these stupid 'air time' cards. The hotel told us we could use their phones if we bought the air cards, but everywhere we went they were simply just trying to sell us an entire Zimbabwe phone kit because 'landlines don't exist in Zimbabwe'…. Well they do. You have one right there. :/ ugh. Anyway, we eventually bought some airtime tickets that he he didn't want us to buy for $3US and it turned out to be exactly what we needed! We went back to the hotel and an incredible receptionist 'Rejoice' helped us make a few calls. Again with not much luck. She continued to call people all throughout the day for us! Even sending emails- I wish we had been able to give her a massive tip for everything she did to help- even if it didn't work! However, it was difficult to do it when she was always with other staff and we didn't know if it was acceptable or not. During this time I had got to my most stressful point and used my Australian phone to call the Australian office for booking.com, which is the website we booked through. I explained my situation how I had called the hotel many times with no response or answer and I was almost settled that what I had booked was a fake. She wanted me to hold the line while she made a few phone calls- but I politely told her I had waited on phones enough and that if she could organise my transfers and confirm my booking from her end and call me back I would be extremely grateful!

Meanwhile, Lisa and I had done some research and contacted Tim and Andrew with an accommodation back up plan when this all fell through. Annoying!

I returned back to the Chalet after my stressful phone calls to find Lisa still asleep! Very jealous- but also understanding since she is a little bit of a sick girl! I hope I don't get it!

We got up, had some showers and then sat by the pool with Callum. We organised to go to the 'Victoria Falls Hotel' with our new found South African friends camping on our yard, which is this extremely fancy hotel with a great view of the Falls 'smoke' rising and the bridge that joins the borders between Zimbabwe and Zambia where the falls begin. It was very 'Colonial' according to the boys, which I have found out means very fancy with dead animal heads all over the walls and a man constantly playing the piano in the corner of the bar. Very 'Colonial'! So many old rich ladies sitting in their overly classy leather chairs tapping their fingers away to the piano notes while a lion skin lies on the floor, and a zebra skin on the wall! We had a few ciders but then decided we were not dressed well enough to look like we belonged there!

Back to the hotel for a sleep to prepare for New Years!

Got dressed- put makeup for the first time since I arrived in Africa and sat around at the boys camp for a few pre-drinks. By 7.30 we made our way to the bus and hit the carnival!

It was fairly quiet when we first arrived but the South African's wanted to get there to watch the band 'Short Straw' who played at 8. So glad we did! I loved them! So much fun dancing to their music! During this time I also ran into Nick Coots- a boy I went to uni with in Ballarat! He is a PE teacher now working at Assumption College and he was there with his partner Ally and 5 other friends- from Ballarat! Random! It was nice to have a bit of home here! Trust the Carroll's to find someone they know in some other random part of the world!

The next artist was Jeremy Loops. He was a bit of a mixture between Xavier Rudd and John Butler trio- good relaxing music! He started something and looped it over and over adding more and more to each loop- it sounded awesome! We met so many great people here and I loved every minute of spending so much time with Lisa and Callum- it was nice to have our little group even if we missed the others. I took so many great photos of us this night- I'm so sad I can't share them with anyone or keep them. :( Unfortunately, my poor little worldly travelled digi camera fell victim to the craziness of Vic Falls Carnival and is now lost forever. Shattered.

One of the best parts of the night is when booking.com called to say our hotel had been confirmed and there would be a driver waiting for us at the airport! Finally!

Vic Falls, Zimbabwe - end of tour

Today Lisa, Callum and I had to wave goodbye to our wonderful tour group.
We stayed in our own chalet last night as technically we are no longer part of the tour, although I don't think Tsepo would have minded if we stayed in the tents for one extra night- but, when you have paid for an actual bed- you might as well use it! We got up in the morning and walked over to help everyone pack up their things. Having lost Coops and Brooke yesterday we had to work on how to pack the truck without them! They were the most organised, productive couple I have ever met! Usually, by the time our bags are packs and our tent is down, Coops and Brooke had already packed most of the truck on their own. Today was a challenge.

It's going to be so lonely without our large family! Eventually the tents were packed and everyone was ready to hit the road. There were a few tears, I think Belinda started us off! The tour bus left singing our famous 'Beautiful Botswana' song to a very sad Lisa and I.
I'm really glad Callum is still with us. At least we are not completely on our own. We spent the day relaxing by the pool, Callum met a few local friends, and we walked into the markets.

The markets were an interesting experience. As soon as you get close to the stores you suddenly feel the store owners pounce! They just walk beside you, constantly talking to you, trying to convince you to come look at their shop, or trade something with you! Sometimes you have 4 or 5 people trying to get your attention. Callum got a ridiculous amount of offers to trade something for his t-shirt and hat. There is just so much desperation for even a dollar- or new clothes! In most of the shops and outside stalls they are all mostly occupied by men, however as we walked into one of the tin sheds, it was very confronting to see a gauntlet of women with cramped together stalls willing to sell you anything they had! This is where Lisa and I got most of the attention “Beautiful skirt” “beautiful eyes” “come look at my art” “ this necklace is perfect for you,” they had so much fabric and beads and wooden bowls and spoons for sale. Wooden and stone carvings- everything! Although most stalls had very similar or the same items, even though they all told us they were the 'artist' and we should come to admire and support 'their' work.

Back to the pool for a swim and a relax before the start of the festival tonight. The Vic Falls music festival is a big event held every year that plays a variety of different African bands and music. There is a shuttle bus that constantly runs back and forth from the primary school (where it is held) to our campsite. Convenient! Callum convinced us to get tickets, and I am so glad we did! There are so many people if our campsite specifically here for the festival- I'm so glad we booked our accommodation here so early, as we probably would have missed out! It's packed! Mainly with South African's on uni holidays here for the festival. We have a group of South African boys camped on our chalet's front yard. There is about 6 of them all together- and they seem really awesome! They have a good set up with eskies and a BBQ, so we are planning to try join them for New Years before the concert tomorrow night.

The power has been on and off all day, so it has been very difficult to get Internet reception here. There seems to be a lot of storms over the past few nights- lots of rain and lighting, even though it is still warm! I was able to get a text message home to the family as I have been out of contact for a few days.

Unfortunately Lisa has been feeling unwell in the stomach for a little while after eating some local beef stew. When you order a local dish, always look at it first. She was expecting was a vegetable casserole with beef pieces in it. No. It seems like they get an entire cow, and chop it up into small pieces to put in the stew, bones, organs, arteries and all- waste nothing! Although disgusting, she was determined to experience all of the African culture, although I think she might be regretting that choice now.
It was a challenge to get her on the bus to the festival, but I'm so glad she came because she picked up so much when we got there! She decided not to drink, but when we hit the atmosphere at the festival, it was hard not to enjoy yourself! We both loved it! It was incredible! There were a lot of people there, but it was not crowded. You never felt as if you didn't have any space.
The set up was great. Barely any line to get in, and you were given a wristband to now simply enter. Rather than dealing with cash- which is extremely difficult to do (they use US Dollars over here which all look the same from a glance, unless you read them), you bought coloured tokens which are used for your money. This made me feel much safer. Everything is so much cheaper, even with the expensive festival prices. $1 for soft drink $2 for beer and cider $3 for spirits. There were so many workers behind a long table taking tokens that you never had to wait for drink. It will be interesting to see if it will be much busier tomorrow since it is New Year's Eve.

We visited all the tents, some much more random than others. One tent was a 'green tent' where you sat in furniture made on completely recycled products, eg beer cans or water bottles. One tent had blow up couches with some under water movie playing. One tent sold coloured eye contacts?! One tent sold food, pop corn and fairy floss, as well as colourful lit up toys. One tent sold detoll sanitary wash items and durex condoms?? They must all be the festival sponsors- but it was very random!

We had a few drinks and lots of dancing listening to the bands! It was surprising when we actually knew a few songs! Callum was completely in his element-loving life. Lisa and I left him there to party the night away, while we went home to have a good night sleep. We would rather prepare ourselves for the bigger New Years event.

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Victoria Falls- Zimbabwe

This morning we had to be on a bus at 7am for whitewater rafting! A tough ask when we had partied well into the night! We had to say a quick goodbye to Rebecca and Rhiannon (as they fly back to Abu Dhabi this morning) and sadly also to Coops and Brooke. :( We have become quite close to Coops and Brooke and although technically our tour finishes today also, Lisa, Callum and I had already booked another night in the same campsite so we get another night with the others.
The bus trip on the way to the falls was rough! Very bumpy, dusty roads. Lisa had to sit on use edge- just in case! When we arrived we were out in an open aired room overlooking the gorge-beautiful! We were fed tea/ coffee and Marie biscuits for breakfast, and listened to our safety guide, Colgate! I love all their strange English names, there was a justice, blessed, sunrise, the list goes on!
What I got out of the safety message was don't let go of the end t-bar of the paddle because you will hit someone in the head, don't stress about hippos- the water is too rough for them, and only swim in the water that is constantly moving- there are too many crocs in the still water…what have I got myself into!?
Luckily there were 7 of us in our group so we had an entire boat to ourselves with our guide, James, which the boys playfully renamed Jimmy. We all grabbed our oars and life jackets and started our way down to the boats. 1 hour later we were still walking down the steep, one person wide path, tripping and spilling on the loose gravel and at times walking down makeshift dodgy ladders- nothing about this track would have passed Australian safety standards- but it was definitely a great way to wake us up and walk off the hangovers!.. And it was incredibly beautiful. There was another of other rafters struggling to make their way down the path- there was no warning of these walks when we all booked- probably for good reason! If you were not reasonably fit or did not have good balance- you would be in a fair bit of trouble!
Eventually we made our way to our boat and went through the safety precautions and learning how to paddle properly in the calm pool of water before the rapids. There were am number of times where we had to abandon the boats and then learn how to drag each other back in again- the whole duck and pull. It was only later when I thought about it that I asked about the crocs in that calm water….the only response was?.. we were not in the water for very long! It made me question whether there were crocs even in there, and maybe it was just a scare tactic! Nope…sure enough, soon James had pointed out 3 crocs sitting in the banks. Whoa. Only little ones though! :/
The rafting was Incredible! I loved every second when we hit the rapids- some which were massive but we were able to keep our ground and no one fell out. I was very nervous about the big whirl pools we kept seeing. If we were to fall out and be sucked down by a whirlpool, we had to count to ten before it spat us out again. If we counted to 10 and it hadn't released us- count to 10 again! Luckily none of us had to experience this.
There were a few rapids that James allowed us to swim down without the boat- all we had to do was to keep hold of each other and try not to let go - I was having the time of my life! Towards the end of the rapids their were a few long paddles between and you could feel the energy levels in the group die down. Every time James told us to paddle you could see the exhaustion in everyone's faces. When we saw the end point though- we all didn't want to stop! We wanted to keep going through the rapids!
It was done… But oh no it wasn't! The same kind of walk we did on the way down- we now had to do that- up hill! The people that struggled before… were really struggling now! Belinda found it very difficult, as did Lisa- so they took their time to come up together with the help of James. It was so hard! Zea had poor knees, so also found it difficult. Callum and I powered to the top. I was afraid to stop in case I couldn't start again! I think for both if us, it was nice to get in some exercise again! Reminded me if hiking- although much steeper in some parts! On our way up we passes many poor tourists upset about the walk- secretly again- I loved it! We also passed these incredibly fit men- some of which could have been well into their 70's racing up and down the paths carrying the boats!! We were struggling just to walk it and they had a boat over each shoulder! It was nuts! Later we found out that these poor workers get paid $1 per boat they drag up the hill! And…. To qualify for the job they must be able to walk the hill (without a boat) in 6 minutes! A climb that took Callum and I 45 minutes to do and about an hour for the others! It was absolutely insane to think about! James,our guide, had been a boat carrier for 10 years before he was able to complete his qualification of becoming an actual rafting guide. Whoa! Talk about tough!
At the top of the hill we were rewarded with rice, chicken and salads for lunch along with ice cold beers and soft drinks. On the bumpy ride back to the campsite, we all began to notice how incredibly sunburnt we were. We had sunscreen on- but the sun must have been strong coming off that water! Being wet and sunburnt made the ride back actually feel freezing!
Back at the campsite we had showers and then Lisa and I went for a one hour massage, manicure and pedicure! I fell asleep during my massage- and for the first time in a few weeks my fingernails and toes were actually shiny and clean! I don't think this will last for long!
We had this done at a backpackers down the road from our campsite- called Shoestrings- and it's here where the others met us for dinner. We all had pizza and cider for dinner- although some of us were still waiting for our pizzas 3 hours later! Again… No one is in a rush over here….Over the course of the night, people slowly retired off to bed until there was only Lisa, Callum, Tsepo and I left along with a new found friend Sunrise, and Blessed, which we called B, who was a guide for us on the rafting boats that day! We had a few drinks, watched some fire dancers perform and then eventually made our way back to the dance nightclub next to our campsite! There was a market place where we could buy souvineers and Lisa bought a drum from a Bob Marley look-a-like who took 20 minutes to carefully wrap the precious drum, of course taking a quick break to search for his weed stash in the garden!?
We ended the night with a Millers promoter following Callum around and giving him free drinks so he could keep taking photos of him! Such a model! ;) a really good night!

Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya

Leaving Botswana into Zimbabwe

2.45am sucked- and it was raining and thunder storming all night.
We packed up our tents in the rain in record time and was on the bus! Because we were went and it was so early it was a bit of a chilly ride, so we sheltered under towels, as I had not thought about keeping out a jumper! It had been too hot for that!
We slept most the way until we reached the border. We didn't have to be up this early- but none of us wanted to experience what we did at the Botswana crossing again!

Tsepo got so excited when we got to the post around 7am- no lines- 1st bus! We got through the exit checkpoint almost immediately! The next checkpoint is always the worry though. No one there- good sign. We filled out the paperwork and Tsepo took our passports and completed the process while we went back to the bus. Much different to Botswana- still had to wait about an hour though! At least we could sit in the shade and out of a crowd though! We entertained ourselves by watching the crazy baboons that are everywhere and trying to scare them away from getting in our bus. They are absolute menaces! We saw one come in the building once and grab a lady's shopping bag full of 2L soft drinks!
Eventually we got our passports back with Visa's inside. We are now extremely early into Vic Falls and arrive at our campsite by 9am. We set up our tents and have breakfast around the bus.

Tonight the new tour members join the party - so it's going to be strange! We go from having 16 of us to 23 of us for one night. 7 of us started in Johannesburg and finish in Vic Falls (me)- 7 started with us in Johannesburg and finish back in Johannesburg on another route through Botswana- 7 new ones start in Vic Falls and finish in Johannesburg. It will be incredibly sad to watch half our group continue the tour tomorrow without us- and with replacements!

We left our campsite to organise our last few days together. Dave, Belinda, Zea, Ben, Callum, Lisa and I all booked a half day white water rafting experience, while others booked helicopter rides, elephant tours, adrenalin packages etc- we all booked a booze cruise along the Zambezi river as our final goodbye as a group. After booking tomorrow's adventures, we all went to check out the famous Victoria Falls- one of the seven natural wonders of the world!

Wow- awe-inspiring. Victoria falls is one of the biggest waterfalls in the world with more than five hundred million cubic meters of water per minute plummeting off the edge of the Zambia border, with over a width of nearly two km into a gorge 108 meters below! It's an incredible sight- and as you stand on the edge of Zimbabwe looking over to the falls it's almost like you are literally standing under the shower- you get saturated! We all had plastic zip lock bags to try and keep our cameras dry and safe. We were prepared an d had rain coats- but it was such a hot day we just embraced the cool water!
You can see the spray from the falls from kilometers away which looks like smoke rising into the sky. Local tribes named this place 'Mosi-oa-Tunya’ meaning ‘The Smoke that Thunders’. It's an incredible sight.

There is a path wrapping around the cliff edge- but no safety barriers or anything. It made me very nervous to watch people getting extremely close to the edge to take their epic photographs. As some of the spray cleared we were even able to see a across to the Zambia side and watch people swimming in the Devils pools. People actually pay money to go swim in the pools where the water goes straight off the edge! It was absolutely insane! People climbing on slippery rocks and having to hold onto anything they can grab as to not be swept over the edge by the current! You would hate to be a weak swimmer! We all watched in horror as we were certain someone was going to be swept off the edge to their death below! Never.ever.ever! I would love to know the statistics of how many people have been killed going over the edge.

After our incredible view of the falls- we went back to camp for a snooze before preparing for our cruise.
By 4 o'clock we were in our way to the boat- 2 hrs, unlimited alcohol! Oh dear! It was a big night to finish on all together- the best part? The family of hippos that were swimming less than 10 meters from our boat! A little baby one too! We went to dinner at a place called Mamma Africa and then some of us joined the dance party at the club next to our campsite- even in bed the music continued until about 3.30 at night making it difficult to sleep!

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Elephant Sands - Botswana

This morning we got up, packed up our tents and got on the road towards Elephant sands. A big 8 hour day of driving.
I spent most of the trip reading my swahili book and trying to catch up on some learning of the language. It's difficult to practice it down here- because. I have met no one that speaks it yet!

A lot of our drive was through the national park, which meant that at times we had to slow down for the bamboons to get off the road, and even wait for the elephants to cross! The first elephant we saw was the most exciting! It was so close and just trying to hide behind this tiny little tree- he wasn't fooling anyone, poor little buddy! He was just gorgeous!
When we arrived at our new campsite there were people everywhere- mainly other tour groups. It so funny to see how territorial everyone became when we saw another tour group, as it it was 'them' and 'us'- and of course we were always the better group! What we have noticed for most of our campsites is that we never camped with fences, we were in with the animals for the night! When I mean with the animals for the night, I mean they literally set up a pool, a bar, a restaurant and a campsite right next to the waterhole! Which meant that when you sit down to have a drink at the bar- there is a very real elephant having a drink 20 meters away from you! Very surreal!

We went of a game park drive through the park that afternoon, however we were not as lucky as our first game drive. We saw a few birds and a few Elephants- but still no lion or leopard! It just seemed there was not a great deal of animals around, unfortunately.
That night we had another buffet dinner at the restaurant where we had the choices of chicken casserole, ox tail casserole, Pep, rice and salad. Callum and I challenged each other that we had to eat at least a little bit of everything! I tried everything- but I think he was the clear winner as he even went back for seconds! The food is very filling and rich here. Ox tail was interesting, but actually just tasted like tough beef! I think the trick is to mainly avoid the meat and try and scavenge out the veggies!

While we were eating, Elephants were constantly making their way down to the waterhole for a drink. It was amazing to just sit there and watch them so close!
All night we were dodging dung beetles that seem to fly around with seriously no direction or purpose- it's as if they have no control and they constantly run into you! It's a good little thump too when they hit- they are fairly massive for beetles- and everywhere! You had to just move them out of the way when you try to wash your hands or brush your teeth in the bathroom- they seem to be in every sink! As if they had somehow flown in there and now can't get out! Strange little creatures- Tsepo tried to make Lisa hold one and I've never seen her scream so much!

Tomorrow we have to cross the Botswana border into Zimbabwe. We never want to experience the Botswana border crossing incident again, so as a group we decided to have an extremely early start. 2.45 wake up call! Wish me luck!

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Boxing Day - Okavango Delta, Botswana

Today we woke up and packed up all our tents and luggage. We loaded all our our gear back in the mokoros and set off back to the poling station. The trip felt so much quicker on the way back. It was very peaceful. Lisa and I organised some tips for the polers. I don't think they get paid very much- even though they do a phenomenal amount of work. I will never understand the tipping process- it's really difficult to figure out how much to give!

When we arrived back at the station, we loaded all our things back to the truck and went for a walk into the village. We took all our toys that we had handed to each other in Christmas morning and donated them to the kids in the village. It was amazing to see all the kids run out to us, just wanting to see what was going on and then reluctantly taking their new toys. Again, I wish I had so many more gifts and things to hand out! At one stage, Dave handed his toy Tonka truck to a little boy sitting along side his little brother in the shade. He slowly put his arms out to accept the truck and then picked up his brother, moved him to another tree out if the craziness and sat down to teach him how to push it along, making little noises as they played. We watched them from a distance for ages! It was gorgeous! Even though we didn't have things to give to everyone, it was amazing how well they all shared their new gifts.

Back at the hotel in Maun, we set up our tents again and had a day to relax. We did some hand washing and I was able to skype my family from the Lobby. They were all at the Hooper's Boxing Day Christmas lunch and it was amazing for me to see them all there together in their Christmas hats! Mum, dad, Erin, Sharni, Ben, hoops, Leigh and Jude. I couldn't help but start bawling my eyes out wishing I was home, just for that moment! It was the best Christmas Skype ever!

Lisa decided to head into town with a few of the others to do some shopping and grab some snacks for the trip tomorrow, but I stayed with Zea, Ben, Belinda and Dave to share some wine and pizza around the pool for the afternoon. It was just what I needed!

At 4, Simon, Zea, Ben, Belinda, Dave, Lisa and I were driven to the Maun International airport for a scenic flight over the Okavango Delta. I got to sit in the front seat with Pilot Ted, who was a German guy who had been living in Africa for two years. This was one of the most incredible experiences! We were in a tiny airplane, which meant that you felt every turn and every bump- but I loved it! As yet, we had not seen a single elephant, crocodile or buffalo, but on this flight we saw heaps! I am so glad we had been camping in the Delta prior to this flight, as it seems that crocodiles and Hippos are much more common that perhaps we were led to believe! We saw herds of elephants, monkeys, giraffes, hippos, buffalos, antelopes, zebras, wilder beats- so much! We even think we may have seen a lion walking to a waterhole, but it was hard to tell from the height we were at at the time.

We all exited the flight on such a high! This group in particular are the people that I have bonded with the most- I never want to leave them!

That night we had a buffet dinner at the hotel and sat around for a few drinks. It was the best! To make it even better- Judge (one of our polers) and even pilot Ted showed up to share a few drinks with us!! We sang songs around the table and shared stories and jokes as a group- great night!

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Christmas Day - Okavango Delta

Early start at 5.45 for a morning walk through the island. Coops, Brooke, Belinda and Dave were in a group with Lisa and I among with a new poler that arrived last night. His name is Judge, and he is probably one of the funniest men I have met over here yet.
He took us walking through the bush explaining things on the way, although it was very similar to our walk with oracle the night before. Judge is a deep thinker sometimes he just zones out thinking or listening to the sounds around him. He spent a lot of the walk talking about how animals assist each other through symbiotic relationships,as if he had some sort of science degree! Later, we learnt that he learns a lot simply from reading. He seems to soak up everything around him. During the walk. Coops was fascinated by the termites, we saw a herd of zebras, some springboks, a couple of wilder beasts a small wild dog, a honey badger, and a large variety of African bird life. No lions or leopards. It was such a hot day, and being such an early start, we started dragging out feet a little towards he end. Judge was adamant to walk back through the long grass, even after we saw a black mamba snake skin! This is the African snake that can kill up to 40 grown men with one bite! I was very nervous about walking through the grass, but judge told not to worry- “snakes are everywhere-There is no way to avoid them! ”

When we got back to camp it was time for Christmas brunch. We had eggs on bread with venison and kuda (some type of antelope). One of the boys came up with an idea to have egg in a hole- cutting out the middle of the bread and cooking the egg in the middle of like an egg ring. We had some orange juice, tea and coffee.

Then, time for KK presents! I can't believe how organised people were! Out came some Christmas hats, flashing badges, more tinsel- it was awesome! Belinda tookt he role of Santa handing out each of the presents one by one. I wish we had known that the polers were camping with us so we could have organised presents for them also. They were sweet, sitting down watching us open the presents and laughing and smiling when we opened each gift. Some even helped us open the paper. I wish I had taken my pencils or bought some gifts for them.

We were given a 50pula budget to buy our presents, so there were lots of water guns, bags of lollies or chocolates, there were some stuffed toys, and dart guns, there was even a bottle of wine and toilet paper! I got a bright orange scarf, a face washer and a packet of Marie biscuits. It was so much fun to get everyone's toys out and try them out. We went swimming, we read books, we played an epic game of Uno, we had water gun fights- it was such a great day with amazing company, just relaxing in the sun and the shade. We are in Africa! So strange!

We finished the night with a 1 hour Mokoro ride to watch the sunset. The polers were making people bracelets and necklaces out of water reeds and hats made of lily pads. It was a peaceful ride, but At one stage, we all retreated quickly into the river reeds, while the polers were all speaking quietly in the Botswana language. I was nervous, but kept being reminded to out my trust in the locals. Oracle later translated to us that they were hiding as they thought there were some hippos up ahead. We didn't see the sunset that night- it was quite cloudy and we didn't see the beautiful colours in the sky as we have in previous nights.

That night we ate rice, chicken and pep with some sweet potato and pumpkin. Our polers put on a singing and dance show for us, showing us some of their local songs and dances. They were incredible- I loved every minute of their stamping, and chanting. Judge came completely out of his shell singing in the deepest voice and jumping around as if he was a frog wishing for rain. We tried to give a performance back to them by singing some Christmas songs, but we were no where near as talented.

Such a fantastic Christmas. It was sad not being with my family for the day, but i was able to get a message out and felt calm being around such beautiful people. I really do love them!

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Christmas Eve - Okavango Delta, Botswana

We arrived at Maun last night, and went shopping for our KK presents. I drew Callum from the hat- so went around and bought him a water gun, a chocolate ( which had the corny phase “friends for life” written on it), and a bottle of men's shower gel. Yet another item that Callum had forgotten to bring on his safari adventure!

We shopped for about an hour, bought 6 litres of water each to last us almost 3 days in the African bush, and snacks. I was quite frightened when I first arrived in Maun. There were people everywhere and so many queues and lines. I think it was the initial shock of walking into a community that doesn't receive that that many tourists. After 10 minutes I felt right at home- and there seemed to be security on every corner. Lisa and I queued for about 20 minutes just to use the ATM! Everywhere else was the same also. When at last we had all our snacks we went into the bottle hop and lined up behind about 15 customers waiting to be served. Everyone seems to be on Botswana time- no one is in a rush. Slow and steady. When the cashier seemed to be having difficulty when providing someone with change- she simply got up and left the shop! Had a chat, swapped some notes with the supermarket next door and then came back again in her own time. …and everyone just waited! There was a security guard at the door, but no one seemed too fussed.

Eventually, we were back in the road for a quick 10 minute trip to our hotel.

We met our driver, Otie, who gave us a brief run down on what to expect in the Delta and how to dress before a quick swim, viber message to the family and a shower. Our campsite is at a hotel. This means we have access to the swimming pool, restaurant, and wifi etc- however we camp out in its grounds in our tents. Again, lots of massive creepy crawly bugs- although have not seen any scorpions yet and I definitely don't wish to! We were also warned about spitting cobras- havnt seen any of those either- touch wood! Eeeeek!

For dinner, Fitz cooked us fried chicken, rice and vegetables. We had a few quiet drinks together as a group and went to bed.

This morning, we woke up and had an early start to the delta. We loaded all our packs back on Diana (our tour bus) and just took our essentials with us for two nights in the African bush.

We all loaded onto two open aired trucks for our journey to the Mokoro dock. It took us about 40 minutes to get to our destination. There were so many cool things to see along the way. Traditional houses, lots of little communities scattered in random places in the bush- and of course all the local kids screaming out and waving to us on the truck! Too cute! Again, lots of people walking around seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Dave tried to greet a local man walking near the road as we passed him and just got glared at! Oops. A big way of life out this way is definitely farming. We saw quite a few men hearding cattle, lots of handmade fences keeping in baby goats, and also men ploughing their fields with the assistance of donkeys. The huts all seem to be made of mud- with possibly aluminium drink cans?! ( I will need to find out about this) and straw cones for the roof. Many houses are also just simply tin blocks. When I spoke to a few locals, they told us the cans help make their houses strong.

As we got closer to the dock, the community seemed to get more populated with houses much closer together. There was a lot of movement on the dock- locals and tourists everywhere. I can only imagine how many tourists are taken out daily- most of which are simply day trips. The Mokoro boats traditionally were hollowed out tree trunks, which sit low in the water, while the 'polers' stand towards the back of the boat and use a really long stick to push themselves along the river using the pushing force of the stick on the river bed below. It's hard to for to understand how they keep their balance! Now, you need a special permit to make your own Mokoro since the decline of all the trees- so most boats are fibre glass.

We met our polers along with our lead poler who will be forever known as 'Oracle'. We are unsure how he received the name oracle, and have no idea who started this name, but he didn't seem to mind. His African name was extremely difficult to pronounce, but. I will try and track it down because I would like to have a record of it. The polers helped us load up the mokoros with all our luggage and used our sleeping mattresses to make comfortable seats for us. I felt bad! I wanted to help load the boats or even paddle or something! However our personal poler, James, loaded our entire boat and just wanted Lisa and I to sit! He did not speak any English and was very difficult to communicate with. He was extremely tall, extremely skinny and had one blind eye. We loved him! Huge cheeky smile!

When we had paddled past some sort of animal- he just kinda many noises at us and pointed. I was so nervous when we first got in the boat. It's very low to the water and seemed very unstable- James seemed to have in in control though! The second reason I was nervous of course- crocodiles and hippos are quite common in these waters. :/

Our boat trip took an hour until our first break. The poor polers looked exhausted! Tough job pushing the boats along the river. At our stop we saw a herd of zebras grazing on the other side of the river! Amazing!

The second leg took another hour. We had only a few spiders crawl into our boat- I was very proud of Lisa and I for keeping very calm and simply removing the spiders as to not get us unbalanced and tip us and all our luggage in!

Our campsite is incredibly beautiful! 10 meters from the rivers edge, it's an enclosed sandy floored campsite with a beautiful canopy of green trees to make the entire area shaded. Which is incredible- since the sun is so hot I feel like it dries out my skin within seconds! It's so warm- all the time! I can't wait to show you all photos of our campsites.

We set up our campsites and then settled in for a day of 'siesta'! We went for a quick dip in the river- apparently the water is too shallow for crocodiles and hippos to come into this area, although I never stayed in too long-just in case! I was nervous at times, as usually a local poler would accompany us to the water hole and sit up in one of the fallen trees- perhaps he was on lookout?! I was always too afraid to ask. Such a relief to jump into the water to cool off though, even if only for a few minutes. The 'swimming hole' was closed by 6 each night. This is when it was more likely for the hippos and crocs to move around between the rivers.

During the day we sat around reading books, having snoozes under the trees, playing cards and coming up with new outdoor ed games to play. It was so great to just have the opportunity to stop and enjoy each other's company rather than being on the move so much. Our polers are camped with us- they loved joining in our games- and we loved joining in theirs! Lisa and I got lessons of how to sail the mokoros all by ourselves, and the ladies taught us how to make baskets and bracelets out of the river reeds. I bought one of their baskets. So amazingly talented. I only hope I can now get it accepted by Australian customs!!

As it got towards the night, we were all put into groups of 6 and went out of a dusk safari walk in search for a glimpse of a leopard. No luck. However we did see two hippos wallowing in a nearby water hole! They are so massive!! We watched them for ages, and at one point they looked to be fighting. We were about 200 meters away- and I was happy not to get any closer as Oracle told us they can run up to 40km/hr! We followed our strict rules from the oracle- always walk in a single line to not look like a threat to others, keep our voices low, tread carefully and if he tells you to stop and slowly walk backwards- just do it. Never run! It gives them something to chase. Oracle pointed out many birds to us, and showed us all the faeces and animal tracks teaching us how to read the evidence that animals have left behind for us. He was very knowledgable.

That night, we ate traditional choka laka (a carrot and bean dish) with maise/ Pep (floury corn mixture that is like powdery Clagg consistency), a 'farmers sausage' (let's never ask what is in these), and incredibly tender steak. Everything was Cooked over the coals of the camp fire, as have most of our meals. Tsepo is such a good cook!

After a few ciders, we retired to bed. The closest boa tree is covered in tinsel with our presents underneath ready to open on Christmas morning!

The Game Park

First night out in the tent. It took us a while to get to sleep last night as Lisa had the giggles. We had braved the dark and scarey run to the bathroom and brushed our teeth, luckily avoiding being eaten by a leopard. Unfortunately though Lisa was not so lucky with the killer moths!

It started with the biggest moth we have ever seen tormenting her in the bathroom at night, meaning she was unable to pee. Then, as we eventually climbed into our safe tent, she let out a scream that caused Tsepoto run to us to check we were not being eaten alive. Somehow a moth has made its way into her sleeping bag and started crawling up her leg. It's ok though. She killed it. That's when we got the giggles.

We eventually found sleep, only to be woken up at 4am with a desperate need to pee! I woke my bodyguard Lisa up and we poked our head and torches out to check for eyes. None. Phew.. Only a few MASSIVE creepy crawly bugs. I mean the bugs in Africa are huge!! And freaky looking!

We braved the night, not seeing any leopards or rhino's and safely made it back in time to be woken up at 40 minutes later- yep another early start - 4.45am.

We packed up our tents, drank some tea and had some African rusk biscuits before being picked up for our game drive we missed the night before. Today I have completely fallen in love with my new camera!

The Game drive was incredible! Everything I imagined it to be and better! We saw giraffes, zebras, warthogs, heart beasts, wilderbeasts, springboks, ostriches, white storks, white rhinos- incredible! I have the most amazing photos to show everyone! I can't wait to share them. Unfortunately we did not see a Leopard - but we were so close! On the way out our driver saw leopard tracks, and then tracks indicating it had caught a springbok and dragged it through the sand- we didn't find it though. Then, as we were coming back to camp, there were fresh leopard tracks over our car tracks, another struggle and a poor springbok mum hanging around the area looking for its baby! A kill had just happened! We followed the track marks, but they eventually disappeared into the shrubs. Our guide believe it would be there in the shrubs hiding from us. So close! Hopefully we see one another day.

Today is about driving. An 8 hour drive to Maun. We must be close now. We have passed many houses and communities. Stopped for lots of cattle crossing, goats crossing and even a herd of wild horses. So many people walking in random deserted areas. Organised a group Kris Krigle for Christmas morning- and again. Just hanging out on the bus. :) so hot! Oh and passed the kalahari desert!

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Day 3 - Crossing the border into Botswana

Emotionally, physically and psychologically- today many of our group met their breaking points.

It was early start, waking at 4.30 and crawling onto a bus with 17 strangers. By 4.45 we were on the road, barely knowing a thing about the people next to us. We had spent a little time the night before talking to each person in the bar over a drink.

There is a lovely couple from Sydney - Zea and Ben. Mid 20's and so far probably two of my favourites in the group. Zia is studying to be a school psychologist and has been in Africa volunteering at a children's orphanage for the past 3 weeks. Ben has just flown over to complete the final tour with Her, he has a PHD in statistics and works for the Commonwealth Bank.

Brooke and Wade and another couple from Canberra. Brooke is a PE/ Science teacher, while Wade is with the Australian Army. Wade doesn't speak much about his job, but he has mentioned a few tours to Afghanistan and East Timor. He wears a silver cuff with a names and dates on it. I think these are the names of friends he may have lost in the war, but difficult to ask him about it. They are moving to Darwin when they return from Africa as he has been re-positioned to another post. Again, late 20's, maybe early 30's.

Our third couple is Belinda and Dave from Adelaide. I love these two! Belinda is a speech pathologist and Dave is our third Pe/ Science teacher! Everything about Belinda reminds me of a mixture between Emma Leeson and Anne Hathaway - sweetest couple.

Next, we have Rhiannon and Rebecca. Rhiannon is a primary teacher from England, however is living and teaching in Abu Dhabi. Rebecca is a primary teacher from America who is working at the same international school with Rhiannon. They both started in Abu Dhabi in August and a have 2 year contracts at their school. This is their Christmas holiday break.

Neva and Allison, who I introduced you to yesterday are the aged care worker and ICU nurse. Neva is from Perth and Allison, Tasmania. They have already been in Africa for a while with their church group. I think we have now covered every capital in Australian except Brisbane!

Simon is the oldest of our group. He is a Swiss IT manager who seems to have travelled to every country in the world. He travels a lot with his work, but also in his free time. After he leaves Africa, he is heading to Uruguay for work, and then back to Africa to see Madagascar and Tanzania.

Monica is also from Switzerland. I don't know a lot about Monica at this stage, her English is limited and she keeps to herself a lot. Hopefully I can get to know her better over the next week.

Laura is our next soldier and next Brit to join our group. She is possibly in her early 30's and has just returned from a tour in Afghanistan. She has the most amazing accent- almost like Honey from Notting Hill! She is very excited about everything and really sweet. She is on a break for 8 weeks before she returns to her duty back in England.

Callum is our final group member. He is a late 20's lawyer from New Zealand- although he looks a lot younger than what I think he actually is, as he graduated from his law degree in 2006. I'm still trying to figure out if he is pulling my leg on this one. The date and the job. He has piercing blue eyes and is probably the most unorganised, under prepared person I have met in Africa. On the first day, he had to buy sunglasses, a head torch and borrow a sleeping bag, and last night, he wore his tight skinny jeans around the fire. He is really great value and lots of fun- but I think he thought this tour may have been more drinking and partying than camping and hard work!

Finally our tour guides, Fitz and Tsepo.
Fitz is our driver and speaks very little. He is either really quiet, or struggles with English. Perhaps a little bit of both. Tsepo is the guy that runs the place. He is our tour guide and has incredible energy and hype. Everyone absolutely adores him! He is very funny and extremely helpful. Amazingly Tsepo has told us his name also means Hope. I'm loving language lessons with Tsepo, learning new words and sayings.

Now, I talked about how I got in the bus with complete strangers- I did. However today, today formed us into a family.

This morning we drove 8 hours to reach the border of Botswana and South Africa. 8 hours of sitting in our beloved truck, Diana, and get to know each other. However, this is not what united us. As we reached the border we were warned there was going to be a wait. We piled off the bus, passports in hand and lined up to get our stamps to exit South Africa. 20 minutes- tops! Woo hoo - just before a 50 seater bus pulled up and about 80 people piled out. Sheer joy- we are about to cross the border!

Back in the truck, cross the small creek… Oh, now we have to line up and get our entry stamps into Botswana. Hmm..

As we turned the corner, we saw the line. Long, but not too bad. We were hurried off the bus, many of us just grabbing a pen and our passports. We didn't want the people in the bus behind us to beat us to that line. When Tsepo had parked the truck and sussed out the situation, he came back and told us there could be up to a two hour wait! It the blistering sun! At this stage, we decided to settle in and get organised. Some of the girls went back to the truck to gather essentials, hats, glasses, sunscreen and bottles of water.

One hour passed and we probably moved 5 meters max. By the second hour, some of us begin to feel a little faint, so we started alternating standing in the line and sitting in the shade. Tsepo had raced off to get us more water. By the third hour, we had finally reached a bit of shade under the building, but there was no longer a line and people had just bunched up into a crowd, all trying to reach that air conditioned door, still 10 meters away. A few of us had made friends with some if the adorable children also squished in the crowed. Belinda in particular had made friends with a kid called Kingsley - he was “five” and he was “fine”. Such an adorable kid, jumping, dancing and blowing kisses. By the fourth hour the children started to quiet down, the weather was unbelievably warm and people were beginning to run out of water and energy. There was a man in front of us carrying a 2 yr old daughter. She looked limp in his arms. It was way to hot and she obviously was not coping with the heat. We tried to offer him water, but he ignored us getting more and more impatient with the officials. I was very worried about her health! So many families, young children, pregnant mothers, all squished in together.

By this stage, people were constantly moving past us explaining that they had family up ahead. Too many people were pushing in front and we were simply stuck in the middle, skin to skin with other people in the crowd. There was no space to move or even breathe. Everyone's patience began to get tested. People began to hold their ground and not let anyone past, locals began pushed their way through using their bags as battering rams, spot fire arguments were flaring up all over the place. One of our group members simply couldn't cope and and a Botswana police officer ran her straight into the office and then she waited on the bus with our driver. There were children collapsing in the heat, and older women and men simply leaning on others for support. There was a point when the door was open and people began stampeding from behind pushing as hard as they could towards the door. The situation began to get out of control. Panic set in and by this stage there were some of us in tears, some of us force feeding water and sugar into others so they didn't collapse, and others holding their arms out trying to brace each of our group members against the pushing and shoving. It was then that I actually felt afraid. The police eventually came out to the crowd and tried to tell the crowd to line up in a single file. That was never going to happen when we were 10 people wide trying to get through one door. They started shouting and trying to get people to listen- but the crowd was almost uncontrollable. I was honestly afraid of a full riot.

The police were so weak! I was angry and upset at a clear failed system that seems to be unbelievably corrupted and obviously not respected. There was barely any authority. The police then retreated inside and hide behind the glass doors, letting in a person every 5 minutes or so! There were so many people trying to get in and it seemed to be no one coming out. The situation became too much, and too unpredictable. One minute you were peacefully squished together, the next, you were being shoved and pushed and pulled. People began to get violent. Tsepo instructed us to push our way to the side of the crowd as a group and then we helped each other climb over the brick fence to get out of the chaos. It was just too much!

I still don't know how he did it-  but we saw him in a heated discussion with the authorities before he took all our passports, and had them stamped without immigration even seeing our faces. Dodgy? Bribery? Common sense setting in? We will never know!

10 minutes later we were on the bus and on our way into Botswana - strengthened by our 5 hour ordeal at the border gate. Never. Again.

Due to our clear delay our schedule for the day had to change. We missed our game drive, and had to complete our final 3 hour drive in the dark. As we sat on the bus, we looked around at each other with extreme relief and joy. Such an emotional roller coaster. We got through, we made it, we were all fine, and we were all so much closer. I love my group. Every single one of them is amazing. We listened to Bob Marley and just sat and enjoyed each other's company in silence. It was peaceful and gave us a good opportunity to individually reflect on the day.

By the time we got to the game park/ camp site it was pitch black. We set up our tents, and all pitched in to help everyone get organsied. We then started preparing dinner. Some of us cut up salads, while others made spaghetti bolagnase. There was no electricity, but there was a powered toilet and shower block 200 meters away. We were in a game park of rhinos, leopards, giraffes, warthogs and many others, including the black adder snake we saw on our way into camp! Needless to say we were petrified for what we might meet in the dark in our way to the toilet block.

South Africa

Johannesburg City

A heart racing start to the day - let me explain.

Lisa and I woke up around 8.30am, not bad for two jet lagged girls from Melbourne! The timezone is about 9 hours behind, but surprisingly with our crazy sleeping patterns over the past few days- sleep seemed to be on our side!

We headed down for breakfast, and on our way in the elevator we met Allison and Neva, a ICU nurse and aged care worker from Canberra. Coincidently they were apart of the intrepid group also and were trying to decided what to do for the day. Both Lisa, I and the girls wanted to see the Apartheid museum - in particular the memorial for the late Nelson Mandela. After only a few minutes of meeting them, we had organised a driver and were sitting in the hotel driveway waiting to depart - 4 was always safer than 2 right?

The driver left us in the car to grab some business cards so we had a phone number to call him at the end of our museum tour. Suddenly, Lisa was like 'guys, I think we are moving!' Sure enough the car started rolling down the driveway gathering speed! Lisa, in the front seat, was searching for a hand break- funny thing about South African cars…their hand breaks are not in the same place as ours! It was all happening so quickly, and we couldn't find the pull to stop the car! The only thing I could think to do was jump out of the car and try get in the driver seat to press the foot break myself. I had the door open and my first foot out the ground, the same time as Lisa had managed to manoeuvre her own body around the gear stick and had pressed her hand heavy on the break. My leg got caught with the jolt and suddenly I was army rolling out of the car!

There was sunscreen all over the interior (we were all applying cream as the car began rolling), one hotel guest was on the ground outside of the car with a broken shoe, another was pretzeled around the gear stick with her arms firmly pressing the break too afraid to move and the two Canberra girls were white with shock in the back as the concierge and hotel driver ran around the corner looking for us thinking we had stolen their car!! It was such a surreal start to the day! I have never seen someone apologise so much in their life before!

Anyway, it was definitely a bonding session for us, and a great way to meet the girls. I would love to tell you the name our driver, however I honestly would have no idea how to pronounce it let alone spell it. What I can tell you is he told us the English translation for his name, was Hope. I'm not sure whether it was out of guilt from this mornings incident- or whether he simply loved getting into our conversations with us, but our driver to decided to stay with us all day- and he became an incredible tour guide. He took us for a drive through the city into Pretoria to see the community life and the city (I can't help but think of the blade runner when driving along these streets). He took us to the smaller suburb of Soweto, where we visited Nelson Mandela's house and saw the residence of Arch Bishop Desmond Tutu. Johannesburg and Pretoria are much more developed than I ever imaged them to be. A real city with skyscrapers and the same types of shops and malls, not too unlike Melbourne! Soweto, however was a less developed community, with lots of housing estates and people living in close quarters with one another. I was glad to have our driver with us, just an extra safety precaution, not that I felt truly unsafe in any of the areas we were, but I was in edge since it is my first day exploring the streets of Johannesburg. I also found a new appreciation for Mandela. An incredible man who had access to the wealthiest places in South Africa, however chose to spend most of his time in a house in Soweto with his people.

Our first stop was the Hector Pieterson Museum. In 1974 the Transvaal Regional Director of education passed a law to change the language spoken from English to Afrikaans when teaching Mathematics and Social studies in South African Schools. Their reasoning was that direct taxes paid by the black population of SA went to various homelands to pay for education, however in urban areas, black children's education was being paid for by white English and Afrikaans- speaking payers. Therefore to satisfy these groups, schools were to be divided on a 50-50 basis between the two languages, rather than remaining in English. This medium of instruction caused conflict amongst the school children, with many of the kids finding it difficult to understand the Afrikaans language and many of the schools struggling to find teachers qualified to teach it! This resulted in one school after another taking strike action. On May 27, an Afrikaans teacher was stabbed with a screwdriver by a frustrated student and the police were stoned as they came to make an arrest. Over June, more school student were vandalising school property, and many arrests were being made, all the while students are continuing to strike from their education. In one instance the police were stoned while making and arrest an their car was burned but upset students. Violence was erupting. There was a meeting held by all school representatives on June 13, reporting to officials that things could become chaotic if they keep in enforcing Afrikaans in schools. On June 15, students from all schools in the Soweto area organised a peaceful march with banners explaining why they wanted to keep English in schools. On the day of this march, 15,000 children walked the streets in their full school uniforms, protesting for their rights to choose their language and to release the arrested students. Their destination was the Orlando police station to present a memorandum. At the police station, the children were confronted with armed police officers and met with gunfire. Over 600 students were killed, thousands were injured, thousands more were detained, tortured, charged and imprisoned and upto 12,000 fled the country. This became a major turning point in the struggle for freedom and Democracy in South Africa.

Hector Pieterson was one of the youngest students shot that day. A photo of Mbuyisa Makhubu carrying Hectors dead body with Hectors screaming sister (Antoinette Sithole) at his side was an image that was spread around the world. An image that became an important symbol for the people fighting for freedom in their own country.

It was really emotional spending time at the museum. It upset me to hear of these stories which could so easily be related to as not only a young student, but also as a teacher. It was hard to imagine such chaos, and terror happening in the very street I was standing on years later. Mbuyisa Makhubu is one the students that fled the country in fear of his freedom and his life. Even after his image became famous, he has never come forward to share his identity, and no one knows what happened to him, or where he may be. It's just so crazy to think about all the helpless children being rained with bullets simply for wanting a language choice for their education.

Our next stop was the Aparthied museum. The basic principal behind apartheid was simple - segregate everything. Cut a clean line through a nation and divide black from white and keep them separate. Even when buying our tickets into the museum we had to look in the back of our cards to see if we were 'white' or 'non-white'. There were separate entrances for both, some with greater perks than the other! Eventually both paths met up- but it was an effective introduction into the apartheid law. As you walk through the museum you are taken on a journey of stories and images of oppression, detention and clear divides between the human rights of black and white people living in South Africa during its darkest times. We read stories about race classification, the rise of black consciousness, the armed struggle, the life of Nelson Mandela and his work towards freedom for his people, his 27 years of imprisonment, right up until his release and his negotiations for peace. It was a museum that filled me with hate and anger. Frustration as how people actually thought what were doing was right, sadness for the complete helplessness, but also upliftment and liberation with the changes that the country has made. The story of Nelson Mandela's life inspired me with everything he did for his people, and how he seemed to live forwards with his life, unburdened by the ills of the past and the wrong that was forced apon him. He beat his enemy with kindness and understanding. Again, a really emotional experience.

When we arrived back to the hotel, we went for a walk to the Nelson Mandala Square to look at the large Mandela statue and to try to get our hands on some international SIM cards- but no such luck! It was almost emotional walking through the mall. If I let my mind wander it was almost as though I was walking the busy halls of highpoint. Really- no different! Same kind of shops, same kind of people, same coffee shops, restaurants, it's as if we were back in Australia. Then to think about the terror of the mall massacre in Nairobi. I imagine the mall there to be very similar to that here in Johannesburg. I think people sometimes justify it in their minds that this type of thing happens in Africa- because it's Africa. It doesn't. Yes, Africa is much more dangerous that Australia, but this mall is almost identical to Highpoint- it's horrible,but this kind of tragedy could have easily happened in Melbourne.

We returned to the hotel, decided against a swim (due to the completely naked man sunbathing on the pool deck), had a shower and went downstairs at 6 to meet the rest of our tour group.

They all seem lovely, all in their late 20's - early 30's. I am very much looking forward to getting to know them more.

Early start in the morning. 4.30 wake up and 4.45 on the road towards Botswana!

South Africa

Africa!

Second leg of our Africa travel journey - complete. We are currently sitting in the Nairobi airport - waiting the long 5 hours until our next transfer flight onto Johannesburg. This airport is like a ghost town. They were not kidding - the airport actually burnt down! There is a lot of construction going on - men all over buildings in hard hats, but no safety nets and barely any scaffolding. Almost comical to see. There seems to be lots going on - but also lots of people just sitting around resting too.

Let's start from our departure from Melbourne. Dad and Jude drove me to the airport where we met Lisa, and her mum Marline and her partner, Grahame. We checked our bags in a went for a drink at the bar. With all Deb's pencil gifts and mum's Run Ballarat caps - my luggage only weighed 17kg, not a bad effort!

The famous walking through the international gates was hard- only a couple of small tears, and I managed not to look back at Dad once - even though it's always hard not to! Before leaving Melbourne, Lisa already had her larger-than-100ml bottle of sunscreen confiscated from her, and been 'randomly selected' for an explosives test! Oh Lisa… Now your the dodgy looking traveller!

We spent our time on the plane challenging each other to epic tournaments of Tetris (I think we can safely say Lisa is the clear winner here), watching movies and catching up on the newest episodes of Grey's anatomy! We also made friends with a lovely Greek lady and her daughter who gave us numerous travel advice warnings of Africa and kindly shared her gigantic block of Toblerone with us! We were able to catch a few hours of sleep, although difficult with the constant changing timezones!

Our stop over in Abu Dhabi was fine - we got lost to start with, walking down the wrong corridor and having to walk the entire distance again to go backwards. The exact same mistake I made with Nicole on our stop over to Greek Islands- oops! I still maintain that clearly the signs are not as easy to understand as they should be! This is probably the moment when we realised that being two young white girls on our way to Africa definitely put us in the minority group!

During our flight to Nairobi we sat next to a lovely Kenyan man (Robart) who gave us a run down of the history of Kenya, showing us beautiful photos of the places we should visit. He was on his way back to Kenya to surprise his family after a year of working abroad. He works in poultry farming and loving described Lisa and my job as 'teaching the children' and his job as 'feeding the children'. Before disembarking the plane he pointed out areas on a map that we were to promise him we would not visit. He says that Kenya is a beautiful country, but the Kenyan people are not always so kind in some areas.

The weather and how green the area was surprised us most. Green and lush - not the dry grassland that I expected, and the weather? Overcast, raining and 17 degrees. Getting off the plane in Nairobi we were directed onto a bus, quite a confronting experience when everyone was squished together and Lisa and I were 2 of about 5 people that's clearly looked out of place. We were relieved to see Robart at the back of the bus who directed us to two empty seats. It was difficult to see where the bus was going to take us- there were a few tin sheds, some new construction buildings going up, and a fair bit if rubble, high fences and barbed wire. Sure enough we found ourselves in one of the tin sheds. Not where we needed to be- but soon enough a kind air hostess had us back on another bus to the airport gate terminals. This area is still under construction, but must be a small part of the airport that did not burn down in the fire. There are a few duty free shops, one restaurant/cafe and a few coffee stalls. There is also one ATM (but this was out-of-order). This is also where we saw our first soldier with a machine gun.

……..

We spent our 8 hour stop over in the deserted section of the Nairobi airport, talking AFL and rugby with a local white South African man and a British rugby fanatic at the only bar in the place. They were great value, and loads of tips and tricks to watch out for. 8 hours is a long time to wait!! It sucked! We ordered some toasted sandwiches for tea. Our flight was delayed, which made lots of people angry- but mainly just made Lisa and I stress out! We had booked transfers to our hotel, however the booking sheet informed us that if we were over an hour late after our scheduled arrival time- we would have to make our own way to our hotel! Eek! Lucky we were able to get in contact with our driver who said he would sort something out for us… However it all sounded very unsure! A nice business man overheard our stressed phone calls and afterwards approached us with an offer of sharing his business driver- explaining that it was dangerous to catch taxis late at night in Johannesburg. He said he would wait with us to make sure our driver turned up. It was very lovely of him. We actually thought he was an Aussie man, but it turns out he was a local also!
We met another lovely local Johanesburg man (Keith) on the plane who told us places to eat and explore- again, warning us about keeping indoors at night, avoiding certain areas and how to avoid the many many con men! He gave us his business card and told us to call him if we ever found ourselves in difficulty. It's been nice to have complete strangers looking out for us.

When we arrived in J'burg we were instantly relieved seeing our bags on the conveyor belt. The airport was ver fancy- much nicer than Nairobi- however again, hard to tell what Nairobi must have looked like before the fire. We headed with our new-found friend to the exits and sure enough our driver was standing there with a big Intrepid sign. His 160km/hr driving and him running a few sneaky red lights scared the crap out of us- but when we saw our gated impressive looking hotel, we began to feel relaxed. Our business man that offered us his driver told us that Johannesburg was like having Europe in Africa. I think he is right- our short drive through the city showed a much more developed city than what we saw of Nairobi.

Checked in- had a shower- ready for a much needed sleep after a big few days!

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