Tuesday 3 July 2007

Back to Botswana!

Monday 30th - Got up early today as we needed to get on so was putting the tent down in the dark. this however was not a good thing as i managed to find a hole and fall down it n bust my ankle again. nice one lyndsey. it meant laura had to put the tent down by herself and i was well prud of her cos it was the first time she had done it by herself!! i ended up getting a lift out of the campsite (as we had left the truck outside) in a pick up thing cos i couldnt walk. lol. We crossed the border back into botswana and headed to swampstop. We waded in again and got a speedboat down the river. After we had got to our stop and were waiting for our next lift a wedding procession came down to the river which was pretty snazzy to watch. We were taken to our campsite in the okavango delta. I didnt do the walk in the afternoon so stayed behind with zoe to cook the tea and then we went in the mokoros to watch the sunset.
Tuesday 1st May - We spent the day going throught the delta on the mokoros. it was pretty cool but there were loads of bugs n stuff all over you cos of going through the reeds. There were some well pretty pools which were covered in water lilys. We had a walk round and island and got boots soaked through due to lots of rian and floods again. We headed back to out campsite and went for a play in the water and to have a go on the mokoros in the afternoon. We had a traditional meal in the evening and a fairly early night. our tents were really cool - we were able to stand up in them n things.
Wednesday 2nd - We left the delta today and had loads of loading and unloading and loading and unloading of our things in getting back to the truck. We drove through botswana today with a quick stop in maun and then had a spice girls session on the way to the campsite. were so engorossed tht we missed the ardvark model on the side of the road. spent evening round fire chatting. Stayed at planet baobab.
Thursday 3rd - Me laura steve n cliff left at 7.30 for our day at the makgadikgadi pans. We had a little drive around and then got to the quad bike place. We were given blanket things to make head dresses from and then we got on the bikes. i was sharing with laura and she drove first. The landscape of the salt pans was so awesome, it was so vast - stretched and stretched as far as you could see. It also had the illusion of being able to see water (which you couldnt) which was so wierd! me n laura swapped driving and it was so fun! well different perspective too! Kept catching steve up when i was driving which was a giggle. After we finished with the quad biking we went for a drive and came to a water hole where cows, horses and zebra were all mixed up which was so cool! We went to see a Boabab tree which is said to be the 2nd oldest tree in Africa at 5 1/2 thousand years old. Had lunch sitting around it and i tried climbing it! Went to see some more trees and then headed back. we came across a huge herd of zebra running across the road and they seemed to go on forever! On getting back to the site i jumped in the pool with steve and it was actually baltic! I found a step in the pool with my shin as well which hurt a fair bit! Sat round fire in evening.

Namibia!!!!

Saturday 28th - We did a pyjama border crossing day into namibia today and spent all day in them. Drove down the Caprivi Strip and headed to the Ngepi campsite. Couldnt take the truck in due to the area having had a lot of rain so had to wade in. Found the star bath and decided we would have to get in at some point in the next couple of days! Spent evening in the bar - it had loads of awesome signs and a really cool shooters list. Taught some guys the dance to the springbok and made up dances to the other ones. spent evening dancing in bar. good fun.
Sunday 29th - Got up at 11.30 and me and laura went for a shower which was a mistake. it was so cold it was baltic. Sat sunning ourselves on the deck and then went in the swimming pool (basically a cage in the river so you had the rivers current to swim against, well strong!). After spending the afternoon sunning ourselves and reading we went on a tour of the loos. they were so cool, it was wicked! toilets were: *garden of eden *today *tomorrow *loo with a view *5 star *Kings and Queens *His and Hers, as well as numerous baths and also the kitchen sink!! We did loads of poses in our newly bought ngepi tops and then me zoe and laura got in the bath and had an awesome girly chat!

Botswana!!

Thursay 26th April - Had a really easy border crossing into Botswana and after spending 3 hours in town (an hour of tht spent trying to change travellers cheques) we headed to the campsite. There were a couple of other trucks around which was cool, came across a guy and a girl doing a vodka shot competition which was well amusing, they were well competitive!
Friday 27th - Lazy day today, washing, reading and lying in sun. had a sunset cruise at 3 and as usual took far too many photos! Did marshmellows round fire which was a giggle!

Friday 15 June 2007

2nd Trip - Zim!

Sunday 22nd - Officially today was Toms last day on the trip n we were getting new people joining us for the second stage of the trip. We got 3 new recruits, steve, laura n cliff. Had a relatively relaxing day, joined the guys n atc girls in the pool where tom n harry had us in hysterics. We did a sunset cruise and then onto shoestrings. me n laura managed to convince one of the bar guys tht we were from greenland n we spoke greenish n our national colour was purple for over an hour. this failed when another one turned up and didnt think greenland was a country so we were unable to convince hime. we were remover from the 'cool scale' for tht littel stunt. lol.
Monday 23rd - Had to get up for 6 as was doing an ultralight flight over the falls this morning. It was well awesome cos i got to do it just as the sun was rising so it looked amazing. had a tomato craving in the afternoon so went n bought a tomato. lol. shoestrings again in evening and then on to another bar when it closed n then back to shoestrings to help one of the guys close up as we were wasting the evening as tom had a well early bus in the morning so we planned not to go to sleep! Read Toms evaluation form, highly amusin! We sed good bye *sob* and then we headed back to go to sleep at 5.30.
Tuesday 24th - We headed off th Hwange again today and after seeing Harrys upgrade i promptly decided to get one myself which was the best decision i have ever made! it was amazing!!! it was a kind of log tree house cabin thing with a 4 poster double bed with so many pillows, a bath and a view over the floodlit water hole! I sat in bed tht night and fell asleep watching elephants at the water hole. so amazing!
Wednesday 25th - Had to get up at 4 this morning to do breakfast before our morning game drive. it was so cold and i just wanted to be in my bed! lol. The jeep was open sided so on the drive to the park it was freezing and we were all huddles under blankets to keep warm. on arriving we did a walking safari. On our drive safari we finally got to see some cheatas which was sooo cool!!! Had a chilled afternoon, playing cards and in the pool - which was baltic. i had a bath whilst watching the elephants (so surreal but awesome!) and the guys came and sat in my room cos i had the best view!

Tuesday 12 June 2007

Zimbabwe!!!!

Wednesday 18th - Crossed border into zimbabwe and headed to hwange national park. we got to our campsite which was so cool. we slept on a platform in our mosi nets which was so cool! the campsite had a waterhole which was spotlit so you could watch the animals drinking throughout the night. it was really amazing. we sat up in the view place for ages and saw so many elephants!
Thursday 19th - We were asked to leave the campsite today cos some people had complained about us being too nosiy bla bla so we headed to another campsite. was a cool place but the pool was well baltic. Had a chilled afternoon reading.
Friday 20th - Had an aweosme shower this morning and then we headed to vic falls via a local town. We had a presentation form the shear water company about the activities and then had our last officail meal off the truck of this section. We had a big truck cleanout and then a swim. elton changed us some money, the rate was 17000 ratehr than the bank rate of 250. We went to shoestrings in the evening n got pizza. I fell down a hole on my way to the toilet and sprained my ankle. man it hurt so much. i went for a swim with zoe to see if it would help - it didnt - and ended up hobbling home to the campsite.
Saturday 21st - Mags strapped up my ankle for me as it had swollen over night. At just gone 10 we headed to the bridge to do the bungi jump. it was quite a long walk down so tht hurt quite a bit. we saw a video and then got our harnesses on. harry was the first to jump n didnt quite make it on the first countdown. i was 2nd of us 3 to jump and didnt really feel too nervous. however, then i got strapped in. and the guy put all his weight on my bad ankle to pull the strap tight and man i can not actually describe how much it hurt. i really wouldnt reccoment doing a bungi with a sprained ankle! It came to my time to jump and i jumped off straight away. It was an amazing experience. it was so cool. i jumped and i was thinking, cripes im actually falling through the air. the 4 seconds of free fall were awesome. seriously amazing. eeh!! the view was quite nice too!!! i actually looked! lol. HEHE. I DID A BUNGI!!!!! When i got up off the bungi i felt quite ill and actually found it hard to walk in a straight line. lol. we headed back to the campsite and i took the entire afternoon to recover form the jump! how pathetic! lol. we sat dangling our feet in the pool with some girls we had met in the morning and then joined them for pizza in the evening. Went to shoestrings again i nthe evening.

Zambia!!!

Yes yes, i know im a tad behind but.... means will be brief and to the point!!!!
Wednesday 11th - Crossed the border into Zambia. Went to a market and saw some locals doing and making stuff with tin. Roads were bad, didnt get as far as originally planned and put up tents in dark.
Thur 12th - Headed to the capital today and had an interesting lunch stop with the guys lunch taking an age to come. so much for fast food! Cut my thumb quite spectacularly with my knife.
Fri 13th - We visited the Kariba dam today which ws quite impressive. there was a massive croc at the bottom. had some amazing views of the lake at our lunch stop and then headed to our campsite. the sunset was amazingly gorgeous over the zambezi.
Sat 14th - We started our canoing safari today and i was sharing with zoe. we realised after about half an hour tht our canoe was the one where the alcohol had been loaded onto. nice! lol. Ha, me and zoe got mock charged by a hippo. our guide nearly wet himself! we found it quite amusing though! Had a swim after lunch and i managed to rip my shorts very spectacularly. Me n zoe were having such a laugh tht at points we couldnt paddle cos were laughing too hard. mucho fun. We did a bush camp on an island and me n zoe cooked - everyone was very complimentary of it!
Sunday 15th - It was so cool to get so close to the hippos and also had an awesome view of loads of elephants. amazing experience. again, had quite a giggle! swam more in the river, played lots, lots of mud throwing and shrieking! We sat in the river for ageees after lunch to cool down. saw massive group of elephants drinkking. all good! we cooked again in the evening and harry had a convo with a hyena!
Monday 16th - Watched the sun rise and took lots of photos. we canoed to our finishing spot and then got driven back to the campsite. spent the rest of the day driving to Livingstone and arrived quite late at campsite.
Tuesday 17th - Headed into Livingstone in the morning but didnt really need to do much so me tom n harry sat in the pub until were picked up at 1.30. lol. had a relaxing afternoon, a girly chat with zoe and sat in the bar in the evening. it was quite spectaular - i dropped my drink, caught it with my legs and didnt actually spill much at all!

Monday 23 April 2007

Malawi!!!!

Thursday 5th April - The bed that i slept in last night was so good. the most comfortable one ie been in since being in Africa. Had another early start as another drive day ahead so i just sayed in my pjs as i new i would just sleep on the truck. whilst driving we passed anothr drago truck and so we stopped, jumped out (me still in my pjs) and had a bit of a chat, much to the locals amusement. its so funny, whenever we stop for lunch or something we always draw crowds of curious people. they must think were crazy, especially when we start our flapping (our effective method of drying plates etc, highly amusing!)! Anyway we stopped for lunch, changed some money and then went to the border. We completed the border (me still in my pjs!!) and headed to chitimba beach. The first thing i did after set up was head to the showers. it was so good to get in there cos it was so hot. i finally changed into some clothes for the evening, granted they were dirty, but it felt so good. We met another truck at the beach and it was one of their guys bdays so they had an interesting night. The moonlight on the beach was so pretty!
Friday 6th - We drove in Mzuzu today and then headed on to Kande beach. First thing i did on arriving was gather my clothes and give them to some laundry person. Met some peeps who were working in Malawi with VSO and spent evening chatting with them and playing table football. Buffalo steak for dinner - so good!
Saturday 7th - Borrowed a tshirt off Elton today as had put all mine in for washing. spent morning lying on beach reading and chatting to some peeps from the other truck and VSO. Went swimming in the lake after lunch, felt so wierd to be calling it a lake. We dressed each other up and headed to the bar. Changed again (into normal clothes) and then played some more table football. was good, me n hill won at pool, with me doing the most flukey shot ever to pot the black! Was the most amazing lightening stom and so we sat on the beach watching tht for ages. so lovely.
Sunday 8th - Went to the loo at 7 and then straight back to sleep, only to be woken rather rudely at 9 by the heat. man it was hot. chatted to liz for a while and then joined the other truck swimming in the lake. was great fun as it had amazingly large waves today. Lay in the sun and then went riding with zoe in the afternoon. was well funny - she had had a bit of a heavy night the night before and was quite hungover. The ride was awesome, however my shoes were pants to ride in so i went barefoot. It was the funniest thing ive seen in so long, but zoe, bless her, as we passed some strongly smelling thing ended up throwing up over the side of her hose. so so so funny. giggled so much. We took the horses into the sea after the ride and went swimming with them. i got pushed off by a wave which was highly amusing. Chatted ith Peter in the bar and had an early night.
Monday 9th - Left Kande beach today without any of us having taking any photos of the area. good one. lol. We got to our campsite and were shown where abouts on the ;lawn not to put our tents due to the tarantula (chris) living there. Managed to update my blog to the end of Chagaik today. go me! lol.
Tuesday 10th - We spent the day in Lilongwe today n me tom n harry decided to play golf. was so amusing. the guys had to borrow shoes off random people before they were allowed onto the course and the prices was were amusing cos they kept saying its this for this, plus this for this plus this plus this ... etc. lol. Went to the supermarket and headed back to campsite. When i went to bed i saw the largest spider in my tent ( i had stupidly left my tent open during the day) and so i went and fetched some peeps to remove it for me. such a girl. lol.