Month: March 2020

As I’m writing this, if everything had gone according to plan we would be in South Africa right now. However, as we’re all aware the actions taken against covid-19 globally have had an effect on pretty much everyone’s lives, including ours. So instead I’m writing this at home in Finland, self-quarantined. But let’s go back to Botswana for now, to a time when we were blissfully unaware of things to come…

After crossing the border from Zimbabwe to Botswana we stopped for shops and thrn proceeded to our first campsite in Botswana, in a small town called Kasane that was only a short drive from the border post. It was so close to the border in fact, that you could see Zambia from our campsite, it was just across the river! The check-in process (first ever, actually) took some time as everyone had to write down their details and pay for the activities that they wanted to do the next day. The options were a game drive and a game cruise, I opted to do only the game drive as I didn’t have very high expectations for the cruise.

After the whole group had finally checked in we were shown to our camping spot. This campsite called Thebe River Camping was clearly serving mainly overlanding groups, as we could see loads ov overlanding trucks from different companies parked up there, although nearly all of them were empty and had just been left there for storage. At the moment there was only one other truck with passengers, I imagine this place gets very busy during the high season! We were lucky to be nearly the only ones there, as we got to set our tents right between the pool and the bathrooms, and had all the facilities pretty much just to ourselves.

After setting up the tents I went to examine the bathrooms. I was very pleasantly surprised when I saw the showers, the bathroom was beautifully done with a tree trunk inside, and a row of brand new sinks with mirrors in front of each. Very much western standard, something you don’t expect to see on a campsite anywhere, let alone in rural Africa! The showers didn’t disappoint either. The waterpressure was great and the temperature stayed constantly hot, this was a better shower than the one I have at home! I was going to shower every chance I’d get on this campsite…

In the morning we set off early to the game park when it was still dark. Luckily Chobe National Park was literally just around the corner from the campsite, so it was not a long drive. Same as in all the other parks that we had been to, the vegetation here was very lush and thick thanks to an ample amount of rain in the last few months. As we drove around we could see the usual impalas everywhere, went down to the river to watch some hippos and baboons. The river was very pretty indeed, but I was starting to suspect we wouldn’t see much on this drive. This proved to be very true in the next couple of hours as we drove around looking mainly at bush.

It was getting close to the time when we were supposed to start heading back (it was only a half-day game drive) when our driver got a tip from a lion a little further up. We started heading that way at full speed, then he heard on his radio that they had been spotted again now further down, and we did a u-turn and headed back at full speed. We then found the lion. It was a male, finally! Unfortunately we only got a small peek of it before it disappeared into the bush. But, a total legend as he was, our driver turned the car around and started heading down towards the river, saying that he could hear the lion’s low growls as he was communicating to another lion. We stopped down near the river, and waited. And soon enough a lion appeared from the bush right behind us! And then the other one! One of the brothers was not in the mood to pose for us for very long and soon went back into the bus, but the other one was more of a show-off and stuck around our trucks for a long time displaying his big teeth and beautiful mane, and proceeded to walk right past our truck on one occasion. I couldn’t have been happier!

By now we had completely forgotten about the boredom of the last few hours and now deemed this game drive totally worth every penny, and we started driving towards the exit, already behind the schedule. But it was not over yet! On our way we spotted a couple of elephants by the side of the road. Our driver, the legend, recognised them as belonging to a big friendly group, did a u-turn and headed right into the bush. And then we waited. After a minute or so, elephants started appearing. One, that I assumed to be the matriarch, appeared right in front of the truck, did a couple of warning gestures and then proceeded on her way. It seemed to me that she was letting us know that the family was under her protection, and we would be allowed to stay as long as we didn’t cause any trouble. After this more and more elephants appeared, and we were soon surrounded from all sides by this family group of thirty or so elephants, biggest group we’d seen!

They were very calm, and clearly very curious! The older ones didn’t care about us much and barely gave us any notice as they were having their breakfast. The younger ones seemed fascinated by us, and a couple of them could barely resist the urge to touch the truck with their trunks! There were a few babies also, who were curiously watching us from behind the safety of their mother’s legs, too shy to approach. We stuck around for maybe 15-20 minutes, which were definitely some of the most magical moments of my life. Such amazing and beautiful creatures! The other truck pulled in just as we were leaving, and I felt sorry for them having missed out on this experience!

We then returned back to the camp more than an hour late, hopefully our driver didn’t get in trouble! We did thank him with a handsome tip, that he seemed genuinely surprised to receive. Excited about our morning drive I went back to the reception to book the game cruise as well. This proved to be a mistake, as the cruise was very boring and we mainly saw reeds and water, apart from a couple of crocodiles, one elephant and one buffalo. Not to mention that it was marketed as a “sunset cruise” but it finished a whole 1,5 hours before sunset, as the park closed at 6pm.

A surprising thing that we noticed when we drove to the national park was that there were female drivers there, the first that we had seen anywhere! I was intrigued by this and googled it later, and found out that this was the first national park where female drivers started to appear, after a lodge in the park employed’ first just one, then a few more until all their drivers were female. Apparently they found out women were better drivers, took better care of the cars, had fewer accidents and were much better at customer service! The lodge now employs more than thirty female drivers, and in total in the park there are about fifty of them now. According to what I could find out in the internet, in Masai Mara in Kenya there is only one female driver. Way to go Botswana!

On day 57 we started our longest journey in terms of distance, 666km to Maun, that would be the starting point for our Okavango Delta experience. Botswana is very, very flat, and the roads are good, so covering this distance was actually a piece of cake and went surprisingly quickly! We left the camp at 6am and arrived in Maun at 3pm. Funny how at this point a 9-hour drive seems short! In Tanzania it would take three days to cover this distance… As we had had to get rid of all of our fresh food on arrival to Maun we had a ton of shopping to do, so we didn’t arrive on the campsite until at 5pm. The campsite was at a nice hotel that had a pool and a really nice bar. It was my group’s turn to cook and I had suggested we make chili con carne, which we did and it was very well received!

We were going to be spending the next few days in the Okavango Delta, away from our truck and away from any facilities, so we had to bring along everything we needed, including tents, mattresses, food and cooking equipment. In the morning we packed our stuff and loaded everything onto a safari truck that would take us to the delta. The drive there took about an hour and a half. When we got there we were greeted by our pollars, who expertedly started loading our stuff into the mokoros, the traditional dug-out canoes that would be used to get us to our campsite.

The ride to the campsite through the delta was super relaxing. The weather was beautiful, and as we were gliding through the thousandsof water lillies, it was completely quiet apart from occasional bird sounds. Guiding the mokoros through the narrow waterways kept open by hippos making their way to mainland every night did not seem easy, but our pollars managed it with expertese. And after we arrived to our campsite, they had already set their tents and started the fire before we had even managed to carry all our stuff from the boats to the campsite!

The day in the delta was special indeed. Our meals were cooked on bonfire, and our toilet was a hole in the ground. The use of soap was forbidden, so the only options for cleaning yourself were either swimming in the river, or using wet wipes. I hope everyone showered beforehand! After our arrival it soon started raining very heavily, and I spent a few hours in my tent, a perfect chance to do some writing for the blog. When the rain subsided a bit we went for an evening walk.

We walked a bit around the delta, found a very smelly hippo carcass, and a group of giraffe. Unlike in Lake Naivasha where there are no predators and thus the animals allow you to come very close, here we could only see game from a distance. It was nice anyway just to enjoy the views and the silence of the delta, and by the time the sun was setting and we returned to the camp, we were pretty happy and relaxed. Our guide had prepared a nice roasted chicken dinner on the campfire, and we sat around until late having drinks and chatting and singing.

Early the next morning we had another walking safari. Before going on the delta we had asked if we should bring hiking boots with us. No, was the answer, they would not be needed. However, after the heavy rain in the afternoon, the ground was very wet as we did our evening walk, and all of our shoes got soaked. We did our best drying them by the fire in the evening, but nevertheless our shoes were still a bit damp, and as the grass had some dew they were soon wet again. So here’s a tip to anyone going to the delta: whatever you’re told, bring your hiking shoes, or anything that’s waterproof, otherwise you’ll end up with blisters in your feet!

The walk was quite nice, apart from being left behind my group because I couldn’t walk fast enough because of the blisters in my feet resulting me to having join with another group, that were walking slower. Also when we spotted some lions, we were going much closer to them than I was comfortable with when being on foot – especially since it was right after this that my group left me behind, and I did not feel very safe walking alone fifty meters behind all the others right next to a pack of lions! Also there was an instance, when we were walking in some very long grass along a path, when I suddenly realised I was just about to put my foot on a snake. Luckily I was looking at my feet at that moment! I quickly pulled my foot back up, jumped a meter sideways and yelled “SNAKE! SNAKE! SNAKE!” to alarm the people walking behind me. We gathered around to look at it, and finally our pollar also noticed that something was going on. We pointed at the snake sitting right in the middle of the path, hiding under some grass. I was the third on line walking, the guide and Caitlin had stepped right over the snake without noticing it. The snake was just sitting there quietly without making any attampt to escape. We asked what kind of snake it was, and the guide told us it was a Puff Adder, and that we were very lucky to have seen it, as it was rare to stop one. Somehow I felt lucky for an entirely different reason… I later found out that Puff Adders are the number one cause of deaths by a snakebite in Africa! They are very venomous indeed, and what makes them dangerous is their habit of not moving away when they feel footsteps approaching, but instead sitting still and then attacking when a foot comes too close. Their bite isn’t instantly lethal, but left untreated will eventually lead to loss of limb and eventually death from blood poisoning – unless if you are one of the unlucky ones and die within thirty minutes from an allergic reaction to the venom. I’m going to repeat this now: WEAR HIKING BOOTS ON THE DELTA! And watch your step!! I probably would have survived the snake bite, but getting from the delta to the nearest hospital would’ve taken hours, certainly an extremely painful and uncomfortable experience. Getting bit by a snake on the delta (or anywhere) is definitely not on my bucket list.

At this point we decided we had experienced enough and wanted to go back to camp, as it was also starting to get hot. Upon our return to the camp we were already sweating profusely, and I must say I’ve never been so happy to see a watermelon! It was delish! Mwangi had prepared a wonderful breakfast for us, which we enjoyed with gusto. We then had a free afternoon which we spent relaxing, and drying our shoes again.

In the evening we did a sunset cruise in the mokoros. It was really nice and relaxing, and we could hear the lions calling in the bushes. Towards the end we went on this bit of open water, where we could see a pack of hippos preparing to start their journey toward the mainland to graze overnight. It soon became clear that we were blocking their way. They started becoming uneasy, and were moving closer and the big bulls started displaying some threating behaviour. I was extremely uncomfortable with this and wanted to leave, but the pollars didn’t seem too concerned. Finally we left and went back to camp.

At this point I was starting to feel quite anxious, having had so many frightening experiences in one day. I sit quietly around the campfire until dinner time, ate quickly and retreated back to the tent. I was anxious as hell and went to sleep, only to be awaken by the sound of singing as the pollars were performing songs to our group. It sounded beautiful, but I put on my earplugs as it was just too much for me to handle at that point. They played some games and apparently had a very nice time, too bad I missed out on it, but that’s just how it is sometimes when you live with an anxiety disorder.

Sunday was the 61st day of our tour, and it was time to leave the delta and go back to the real world. We packed our things, loaded the mokoros and went back to Maun. Upon arrival to the campsite we hurried to get to the showers, and did our laundry. Then we proceeded to relax by the pool bar.

It was at this point that we started hearing some worrying reports. There was an overlanding group that had just started from Cape Town and were going to the Delta, and they’d just found out their entire tour had been cancelled. What on earth!? Then there was another group that had just arrived from Victoria Falls, and were now going to go back there. Then came a report, that all Intrepid tours had been suspended. There were news coming in that countries that we had just traveled through were preparing to close their borders. Until now we had been aware about the corona epidemic, but it hadn’t affected us in anyway as there was no corona in Africa. Suddenly it seemed that the rest of the world had caught up with us. Nevertheless, as there were no reports of Namibia closing their borders as of yet, we were told that we would keep going as usual, and kept with our plan crossing the border the next day. I went to bed feeling calm and not giving too much thought about it, blissfully unaware what the next morning would bring. But that’s a topic for the next post…

Day 46 was also the first day of March, and the day we crossed the border to Zimbabwe. Another border crossing again, wow it seemed that we are going through countries very quickly! The border was very efficient, and the houseboat was only a few minutes drive away. The houseboat was a little further down the shore than we anticipated, and it took a couple of trips to carry all the stuff from the truck to the boat – luckily it would be a lot less on the way back when all the food has been eaten and the drinks have been drunk! Lake Kariba is a large man-made lake that is partly in Zambia, partly in Zimbabwe. We crossed over a very impressive dam just before the border.

The houseboat was basic but very fit for purpose and we had a bunch of twin rooms downstairs with open sides and obviously a lake view from every room. There was a drinking/eating area upstairs, and a sundeck with a little pool. We headed out to the lake enjoying our cold drinks at the deck, went out on a little sunset cruise to see some hippos and then it was time to get into our party costumes. As we are the only source of light in the middle of a lake, soon after sunset there are thousands of bugs hovering around lights, and the toilets are a real bug fest. Eww!

The party costumes were picked with a secret santa basis, so no one knew their costume or who has picked it beforehand. There were quite a few laughs as people started emerging from their rooms. Most of the guys have been dressed into ladies undergarments and there were plenty of glitter and feathers around aswell. Mine was a weird one-piece with a sparkly top seen into some very loose trousers, and the combo reminded me very much of MC Hammer, and it was quite cofortable except that the fabric didn’t breathe at all! The night was great fun and we catwalked the hell out of those costumes. The chefs at the boat had prepared us dinner, and it was absolutely delicious! At some point it started raining very lightly, so me and Marie went downstairs to close the tarp in our room. A little later when we were back upstairs, the rain suddenly started pounding down very heavily and a strong wind started knocking glasses to the floor and bringing a lot of water in. We frantically started closing the tarps upstairs in the bar, and it took a while before someone realised (we were pretty drink already at this point) that it might be a good idea to close all the tarps in the rooms as well. By then some of the rooms onghe windy side had become completely flooded. Luckily our room was on the other side, and because we had anticipated the rain and closed our tarp early, our stuff stayed dry. This episode doesn’t hinder our spirits though, and the party went on inside closed tarps.

We did a little two-hour game cruise in the morning, we saw an elephant and a bunch of hippos, and despite putting on sunscreen I managed to burn my back a bit, I guess I missed some spots. Now I also know that if I burn, I get a fabulous tan very quickly, whereas the sunscreened areas seem to stay white forever. Skin cancer or tan, tough choice! We spent the afternoon chilling, and when there was another game cruise I decide to stay behind as I was already tired of seeing hippos and didn’t want to get sunburnt furthermore. In the evening we have drinks and cake as it’s Rachelle’s birthday. On the previous day one person had been sick with some fever and diarrhea, and today five person were sick already. Seemed that we had some type of traveller’s diarrhea going around, and as I wasn’t keen of catching it, I decided it was best to head early to bed rather than stay around people and risk contamination. Seemed to be a wise choice, as on the next day there were more sick people, but I never got sick.

We headed back to shore the next morning, and it was a bit of a rocky ride crossing the lake. There was a hippo in the port right between the boats, and I took a risk of sunburn to go see it for a few minutes after I’ve just showered and washed off all the sunscreen. It only took ten minutes for me to get a sunburn on my arm, which proved that I definitely need sunscreen every time! We spent the night in a very basic government campsite in Chinhoyi that had no hot water, or even lights in the toilet, and the wi-fi in the nearby hotel was very slow.

The plan for the next day was to drive to Great Zimbabwe Ruins in the morning to see the ruins and spend the night in the campsite nearby. Our plans were changed drastically as a tragedy hit us shortly after passing Shurugwi. We were going downhill and there was a curve on the road to the right, and right after the curve the truck suddenly swerved right and we heard a thimp, then the truck stopped. It was immediately clear that we hit something. My first thought was that we hit a dog or a goat, but as we looked outside and could see the horrified faces of passerbys, it quickly became clear that we’d hit a person. Most of were frozen in disbelief, but luckily we had a few people onboard that sprang into action and went outside to help, including a woman working as an er/trauma nurse, who grabbed the first aid kit and went to help.

Turned out we had hit a woman crossing a road, who saw the truck coming but unfortunately made the decision to try to run across rather than wait or go back, with tragic consequences. She was seriously hurt. She had a fractured skull, and the skin in her leg had peeled completely off as she was run over by the wheel of the truck. We tried to stop cars to get her to the hospital, but people refused to stop. One police car came around, stopped, and drove away. Our phones were not working, and anyway we were told that an ambulance, if we could even get one, might take hours to arrive. Finally a car stopped and the lady was loaded onto the back seat, and the nurse and one other accompanied her to the hospital.

The truck was turned around and the rest of us also headed towards the hospital. The hospital was in Shirugwi, and it was very basic and they didn’t even have power when we arrived. The nurse asked for a neck brace for the lady before getting her out of the car, but they didn’t have one. We spent the next hours anxiously waiting for any news, while our driver and tour guide were with the police making a report of the incident. The husband of the lady was at the hospital, and we are glad to hear that he does not blame us for the accudent, but instead is very grateful that we stopped to help, as apparently that is not always the case, but hit and runs are common. After some hours we were told that the lady had been taken to a bigger hospital for x-rays. The police gave us clearance to go, but we were required to go back to Gweru to have our truck inspected. We did that, and as it was getting quite late, we decided to skip driving to the ruins that day and opt for plan b, which was to stay at a campsite in Gweru.

No one was in the mood for cooking that night, so we headed to town to Nando’s for some comfort food. I had chicken for lunch so I walked over to a nearby Pizza Inn to get a pizza and milkshake, before we headed to a campsite called Antelope Park, which was near and familiar to Absolute Africa. The camp site was gorgeous, and we were secretly thankful that we didn’t have to spend the night in another government campsite, but instead got a treat after a very rough day. I had a look in the shop and found that they had some very cool original artwork from local artists, and I happily spent 40$ on two small paintings of painted dogs and elephants. I could’ve happily bought everything they had, as I absolutely loved the style, but had to be careful with my money. Hopefully they’ll be available to buy online if I want to get some more later!

I spent the evening drinking cider in the lovely bar by the river, and nearly manage to forget the trauma we’d all endured that day. As I’m writing this nearly two weeks later, the update we have is that the lady is still alive and recovering slowly, which is nothing short of a miracle condidering her injury and the lack of adequate care. We hope that these reports are correct, and wish for her full recovery.

Day 50 saw us saying goodbye to this beautiful campsite and heading towards The Great Zimbabwe Ruins. The drive there took four hours, and we spent a couple of hours on a guided tour exploring the remains of where kings used to live with their hundreds of wives. We had lunch and stopped for shopping in Masvingo, before arriving to a very lovely campsite called Burke’s Paradise in Bulawayo. The campsite is run by a lovely couple and their cute yet chubby jack russell. This was our home for two nights as we explored Matopos National Park, and I do have to say I enjoyed the campsite more than the park. On the next day we had a morning game drive with an option to make it a full day trip, but as I was really craving for some downtime in a comfortable environment, so I decided to do only a half day. We drove out to the park, were lectured about rhino conservation (our guide has some interesting views about allowing the sale of rhino horns to stop poaching and save rhinos), before trekking through the bush to see some rhinos. It was a nice experience but not as mindblowing as it could’ve been had we not have such epic encounters with rhinos before. Back at the campsite I relaxed in the lounge and then helped our tour leader prepare dinner as the entire cooking team was out doing the full day tour.

As the next morning arrived we were eager to get going as the next stop would be one of the biggest highlights of the entire trip, Victoria Falls. Upon arrival to our campsite, Shoestrings, we were briefed about all the different activities available to do around the area, and although I wasn’t interested in any of the adrenaline stuff such as gorge swings, whitewater rafting or bungee jumping, I was very keen on going horseriding as I didn’t get to do it back in Lake Malawi. I enquired about the full day horseriding trips to the national park which were priced at 155$, but I was told that it required a minimum of two people, so I would have to find someone else as well. I asked around in the group but no one was interested. I was then offered to do a 2-hour horseriding trip, but the price was 100$ and I thought it too expensive, so I ended up booking no activities at all.

As I was going to be spending a lot of time hanging around the campsite I was keen to upgrade to a room so that I would have a nice, private place to chill or nap in the afternoons. I was shown to a double with ensuite, but it was old and very basic and not at all the standard that I would expect for 40$ per night. I told the reception that I didn’t really like the room and I would look around and maybe get a room from one of the other hostels nearby, which had much better reviews than this place. However, the wi-fi at the campsite was not working and as it was Saturday, the shop selling sim-cards was not going to be open until Monday, I had no access to internet so I couldn’t research what other options were available. The hostel had dorms but they were in the main building where it was quite noisy as people were around all the time, so I wasn’t really keen on those. But then, luckily, one of the receptionists mentioned that there is another, older dorm at the back of the property and no one was currently staying there. I asked to see it, and I was taken to this small building at the back, that had four bunk beds and three floor fans inside. It was basic but clean and quiet, and I was very eager to have my own fan next to my bed. Also I would be the only one there, so it would pretty much be a private room! I agreed to take it ad proceeded to the reception to pay for it, and was pleasantly surprised to hear that the price was only 5$ per night! Absolute bargain! I was a happy camper now. I ended up getting a roommste, but that was Caitlin from our group that I had shared a room with before and who I knew to be a nice and quiet roomie, so I didn’t mind at all.

I napped in my room next to a lovely breeze from the fan, then proceeded to the bar to celebrate another birthday, this time it was Alex who was turning 26. We had cake and drinks and then spent the evening in the campsite’s bar, which was a popular spot also for locals to hang out. At some point a bunch of musicians started playing drums and singing, and I just sat there hypnotised watching them, it was all very relaxed and nice. I also ordered a delicious thai chicken pizza, and went to bed around midnight feeling very good about our stay there, and excited about going to see the falls the next day.

As our meals were not included during our stay at Victoria Falls, a bunch of as headed towards Shearwater Cafe to have breakfast. It was a very nice, western style cafe in the centre of town. I ordered an iced latte and eggs florentine (poached eggs with spinach) with a side of smoked salmon, and everything was absolutely delicious. In Victoria Falls all the prices are pretty much western, so much more expensive than elsewhere in Africa, but the quality of food is also very good, so worth the money in my opinion. When we left the restaurant we did a bit of a shopping spree around the souvenir shops in town, but I didn’t buy anything. Afterwards we went to the supermarket and we got another taste of payment difficulties so common in Zimbabwe, when our cards didn’t work and they didn’t accept US dollars, so we had to leave our shopping at the till and leave. We had been told before arriving in Zimbabwe, that we wouldn’t need to change money into Zim dollars as we could swipe everywhere, but this turned out to be only partly due. They were always using two different card machines depending on if you were paying with a local card or an international card, and even big supermarkets usually had only one machine between all the tills, so paying for shopping takes a long time as they run the machine from one mzungu to another.

After breakfast I napped for a couple of hours, as late afternoon would be the best time to visit the falls. Then we walked to the falls, and arrived there at about 4pm. You could fell the water vapor falling down from the falls hundreds of meters before arriving to the location! Entrance was 30$, and after a short walk from the gate you could already hear the rumbling of the water. Turned the corner to the right, and there they were. Impressive walls of water falling down to the Zambesi river below, and rainbows decorating the whole scene. Very impressive indeed, no pictures or videos can quite capture how breathtaking they are! Reports from social media a couple months back that Victoria Falls had run dry turned out to be fake news, and just a normal part of the cycle where there is less water during dry season, and more during wet. As it was now high water season, it was actually a little difficult to see or photograph the falls as there was so much vapor in the air. I walked to the end, got absolutely drenched and stayed to watch the bungee jumpers from the far end of the path, where the bridge was visible.

After the falls me and a couple of others walked to the Lookout Cafe, which was nearby overlooking the gorge. The views were amazing, and I ordered a drink called Don Pedro, which was vanilla ice cream, cream and Kahlua blended together which was absolutely delicious! Caitlin ordered a snack plate that had crocodile skewers on it and I tried a bit out of curiosity. It was very good, somewhere between fish and chicken in terms of chewiness! We had originally planned to go back to town for dinner, but when the others came back they decided they wanted to stay there for dinner. I couldn’t find anything on the menu that I really liked, so I decided to walk back to town to have dinner at the hostel. I ordered another pizza, had a couple of ciders and chatted with a local guy called Tony, who was living in a campervan at the back of the hostel and was doing some consulting work for the business. He told me about a path that you could take to the bottom of the gorge, where you could walk to the falls to view them from below. I said I was keen to see them, and we agreed that if I decided to go there in the morning he could show me the way.

I did indeed decide to take the walk in the morning, and Tony was eager to go with me as he was saying that the path wouldn’t be accessible much longer as the water level was rising. He was a well-traveled and well-educated person, and during the next four hours I had the best conversations I’ve had during the whole trip! He’d lived all around the world and we talked a lot about life in London, climate change, his experiences with psychedelic drugs and our favourite books and writers. Something different from the endless conversations about everyone’s favourite chocolate bars or what happened during drunken escapades that are usually had in the truck!

The walk to the gorge was interesting as we were basically entering no-man’s land without going through immigration, and when I was wondering why there were people appearing to and fromthe bushes, Tony said they are smuggling stuff over the border. He said they’d normally do it at night, but now the leaves were so thick that the border patrol couldn’t spot them, so they were confidently moving stuff in bright daylight!

At the end of the path there was a little hut where a jet boating company was keeping helmets and life jackets that they were using in their jet boating trips. We said hello and asked for permission to go down to the river where the boats where, as we were going to be using their stairs, and he said it would be ok. We then proceeded to go down the very steep steel stairs, and the views over the gorge were just amazing. Further down the steel stairs ended and turned into stone steps. It was pretty steep, and I was already anticipating that coming back up would be a challenge… We got all the way down to the river and hopped from rock to rock to the dock where they were keeping the jet boat. Upon arrival we unfortunately discovered, that the water had risen and the path to go around the corner to see the falls was no underwater. Not wanting to risk falling over in the strong current we decided not to try to proceed any further, and just sat there under the bridge chatting for a bit. I was hoping that someone had come to do a bungee jump from the bridge as it was directly above and it would’ve been a great place to view it, but unfortunately no one was jumping that morning. It was getting hot and I was starting to feel sunburn developing so we left to go back. The climb was indeed tedious and I had to use my hands to climb, and take a few stops on the way. Walk back to town was pretty sweaty as well as I was wearing cargo pants, and upon arrival to town I awarded myself and Tony with iced coffees from the shearwater cafe. If I ever come back to Victoria Falls when the water level is a bit lower, I will definately attempt to do that walk again!

In the afternoon me and some others walked to the Lookout Cafe to watch Alex, Caitlin and Matt doing zip lines and gorge swings. Kudos for their bravery, I could never! I had a strawberry margarita and a chicken avocado salad, which was massive and very tasty! In the evening we went for dinner in the Carnivore restaurant. Others seemed to be pretty happy with it, but my food was cold and the service was terrible, and we sent at least three or four dishes back to the kitchen because they were undercooked. I had hoped we would’ve gone to Three Monkeys instead as others in our group had said it was very good, but people wanted to try game meat so that’s why we went to the Carnivore, as they served zebra, impala and giraffe. Giraffe rib certainly looked impressive, but I did not want to try it.

Day 55, and our final morning in Victoria Falls. I could’ve easily stayed at least a few more days, as I really liked the vibe of the town! We walked over to the bridge where Magnus, Alex and Chloe were doing bungee jumps. To get to the bridge you had to go through immigration to be allowed to enter no-man’s land, and you were given a pass that would allow you back to enter Zimbabwe. I was too scared to even peer over the edge of the railing, I have no idea how people come up with the guts to jump down! It was a very special place to do a bungee jump from though, as you basically jumped through a rainbow! Something extra to the pictures and videos!

It was then time to say goodbye to those whose trip ended at Victoria Falls. Three of them had been with us since Nairobi, and it was definately sad to see them go! Magnus, Andrea and Peter, you’re wonderful people and I wish you all the best! Also Nikola and Michelle were going their own ways, all the best to them also! We then did a thorough cleaning of the truck where we took all the stuff out of the seating area, and threw out everything that no one claimed as theirs. In this small truck storage space is scarce so we have no space to keep extra stuff. We also had to throw away any fresh fruits and veg and unprocessed meats, as those are not allowed to be imported to Botswana.

The drive to the border took about an hour, and we were through very quickly. Our shoes and the trucks tires had to be sterilised against foot and mouth disease. We did a quick shopping stop and changed some dollars to pula, before heading to the campsite that had the best showers in Africa, but that’s already a topic for the next post!

Day 39 came and after a good night’s sleep I was up as the sun was rising. I walked down to the beach and was soon surrounded by curious local young men and boys, with whom I chatted for a while. They were selling bracelets and other small souvenirs and I told them I promised one of them who seemed nicest and was least pushy that I would visit his shop outside the campsite after breakfast. I kept my promise and bought three bracelets for a few dollars later on.

We then packed up our truck again and headed towards Mzuzu, where we did our shopping, had lunch in an Indian restaurant where it took nearly an hour to get our food and bought costumes for a dress party that would be held at the houseboat in Zimbabwe.

Our main destination in Malawi was Kande Beach on the shore of Lake Malawi. As we were staying for three nights and it was a very lovely beachfront location, I enquired about upgrade options and ended up sharing a twin beach chalet with Caitlin. The chalet was a simple but lovely little cottage right on the beach with a little terrace overlooking the lake. Definitely worth 10$ a night! The weather at Kande Beach was hot and humid, but I got a good night’s sleep as there was a fan in the chalet to keep us cool.

For the next morning’s activities I’d decided to do another village walk. As soon as we exited the gates a whole bunch of young men joined us and after the initial shock of all the questions raining down I settled to chat with a few of them, and they followed us all the way to the village and I enjoyed the conversations we were having. The village walk again included a visit to some clay huts, before proceeding on to a school, and then a health centre. We were told that there is no doctor at the health centre, only a practicing nurse. They have a maternity ward, but they only accept deliveries from the mother’s second child onwards. For their first borns the mothers have to travel to a hospital 85km away in a bigger town, as the village health centre is not equipped to help if there is any difficulty in the labor. The health centre was full of people and we were told that most people go there to test for malaria, as it is very common in this area and while we visited the school our guide actually picked up his nephew to be tested because he had fever. Both the school and the health centre talked to us about their difficulties with getting enough funding for supplies, and for the first time we were actually presented with boxes for donations, and as I know Malawi to be one of the poorest countries in the world, I donated 5$ in each location.

The day was again very hot and the sun was harsh, and I was thankful for the umbrella provided by our young friends from the village. As we arrived back to the camp they invited us to visit their shops, and seemed disappointed when I didn’t buy anything. I felt a bit guilty, but I’m not very keen on souvenirs and don’t want to buy stuff I don’t need. I spent the rest of the day mainly enjoying the breeze from the fan in our room, and after dinner we had a little party in the bar.

The next day it was raining. It rained and rained and rained, and I was disappointed to hear that the horse riding I had booked for the afternoon was cancelled because of the weather. We spent a rather dull, rainy day at the camp. Some locals had been cooking a whole pig for us and my cooking group only needed to prepare the sides.

The next morning we were up early as there were 400km to cover before the border. Day 42 and another country to go to! It felt weird to be leaving Malawi already, and it almost seemed like we didn’t see much of it at all, as we mainly stayed at the campsite the whole time. I must say I liked it very much, and actually enjoyed Kande Beach more than Kendwa in Zanzibar, as the beach in Lake Malawi was very beautiful and also peaceful as our group was the only one staying there. Also there were no touts bothering you on the beach.

It felt a bit confusing that we were already going to be in Zambia, we had barely realised we were in Malawi! It was definately too quick, I would’ve loved to spend a few more days and seen a few more places! Border crossing went smoothly and we stopped for shops in Chipati. It was still quite a long way to go to the camp, and it was already getting dark when we arrived to the campsite.

The campsite was a bit of a shock. We were supposed to be staying in this really great campsite called Crocolide Camp right next to South Luangwa National Park. That one is situated right next to the river, and they regularly get all kinds of wildlife from hippos to crocs at the campsite, but unfortunately the river had flooded more than usual so the whole campsite was underwater. For this reason we had to go to another campsite about half an hour drive from the park. This alternative campsite was quite awful. It was also filled with wildlife, but not the kind we like. There were bugs crawling everywhere, I’ve never seen so many and such a variety of bugs in one place! After setting our tents among the ants, spiders, millipedes, frogs and beetles we went to take a look at the pool and found the water too dirty for swimming. The bar served neither cider or wine, and the showers were cold. We’d be staying here for two nights, great! Somehow it seems that everytime we have a nice campsite it’s only an overnight stop and we barely see them in daylight, and when we stay longer it’s often a very basic one.

Early in the morning we got on our truck to go to the national park. When the river had flooded some time earlier it had washed away a bridge leading to the park, so we drove the truck to the place where the road had broken, crossed the bridge by walking and continued on safari vehicles to the park. The game drive itself was quite uneventful, we had three cars and one of them broke off quite early on. When we caught up with them on the way back, we were surprised to hear that they had had a close encounter with a leopard! So while the other two cars were driving aimlessly around the park looking mostly at bush, they had beelined straight to a leopard! It was quite disappointing that the drivers hadn’t communicated to each other about the leopard sighting, as all of us in the other two cars would’ve been very eager to see a leopard! As we were returning to the truck to get back to the campsite, we were surprised to find our truck sideways on the road, stuck in the ditch! Luckily there was a forklift truck on site, and it easily lifted our truck enough to get it out of trouble, and only after a few minutes wait we were on our way back to the camp.

In the afternoon I took a nap on the sofa at the campsite, as there was not much else to do. Later it was time to go on another game drive to see if we could spot some nocturnal animals. After some driving we passed a group of baboons that were sounding very alarmed, and our driver said they’ve spotted a predator, probably a leopard. After a few more meters of driving we could see what they were seeing, and that was one very pleasant surprise! It was not a leopard at all, but something even better, a pack of painted dogs! I had not expected to see these elusive canines anywhere, so this was very exciting! The car in front of us told is that they had killed an impala just moments before we arrived, and were now frantically tearing it apart. They were yelping with joy and having a bit of a food frenzy, it was great to watch them! You could hear the bones cracking as they were crushing the poor impalas bones with their powerful jaws. Apparently they eat every bit of their pre, bones and all, except the horns. I wouldn’t want to run into a pack of these in the bush, no matter how cute they are!

While we were watching the dogs Charlotte suddenly shouts out ”Oh my god, there’s a crocodile crossing the road!” I looked to the left and indeed, a crocodile has just emerged from the grass behind the dogs and is heading towards the water. Right, I’m never going bush toilet ever again! We go on and have a little picnic by a big baobab tree, which, depending on which driver you ask, is either 500 or 1000 years old. Whatever the truth, it is definately big and the sunset is beautiful. We then proceeded to do a night drive, and a spotter joined our truck with a big floodlight to look for nocturnal animals. We spotted a couple of owls, some hares and a bunch of hippos. Still no sight of leopards, but as I shone my tiny head torch into the bush I could see a lot of glowing eyes. Seems that the best way to find animals in the bush at night is to have a small light to finfd their eyes, then a big light to see them properly. At one point when I’m shining the little light into a field, hundreds of glowing eyes light up in the distance. I could only assume they are impalas, it’s a pretty cool sight to see just the eyes glowing in the darkness!

The next day was just a long driving day as we made our way towards the houseboats. We spent one night at a boring excecutive hotel’s campsite, where they have an emu for some reason. The next day we drove to Lusaka, where we shop for food and drinks for the houseboat, have lunch in Nando’s and somehow a two hour stop turned into three and a half hours. This time our overnight campsite was really nice, again it’s a shame that we are there only for a very short time! The campsite was nearly in the center of town and it surprised us that right outside we could see zebras and impalas. We cooked wraps for dinner and although I didn’t agree with the recipe at all (there was no salsa, rice or guacamole, just beans, chicken, onions and salad) I got to play music from my playlist during cooking for a change, and people seemed to enjoy it very much as they asked to leave the music on while we were eating! This completed our time in Zambia, and also marks the end of this blog post, that’s been long due!

Now that we had a new truck, s new guide and a bunch of new people joining us, it felt like one trip had finished and now a new one was beginning.

In the morning of the 29th day of our 77-day trip we said a sad farewell to our guide Wawero and our beloved truck Makako and took a group photo. We then crammed into the truck and started our journey towards Kilimanjaro. In the new truck we are now rotating seats everyday, as the last two rows are so close together that it’s very uncomfortable to sit there, so everyone has to take a turn. Luckily we are only going to be 28 people until Zanzibar, after that we can use a couple of seats in the bag for storage, as the storage lockers in this truck are much smaller than in the previous one and there’s no space between seats for backpacks, pillows and food bags. There also was a cooler box on the corridor blocking the way to the back rows, but we swapped it for a smaller box from the old truck that we could cram in the space next to the fridge.

In the old truck I had plenty of space as I had two seats just for myself, from now on I would be sitting next to my tent mate Marie, luckily we are both small people as it was our turn to sit in the back seats. In addition to it being very crammed back there, you also can’t really see outside if you are sitting on the aisle seat. It was clear we would miss our old truck a lot!

On the way to Maranga we stopped in town to do some shopping in the supermarket and then proceeded onto a local market to buy some fruit and veg. It was an interesting experience, previously our guide used to do all the fruit and veg shopping, so it was a nice change to have the group involved in it. I bought some mangos and avocados and paid way more than our guide did when he bought the same stuff, ha ha. Mzungu prices…

We arrived in our camp site in Maranga that was supposed to have a view over to Kilimanjaro, but the sky was completely overcast and it soon started raining very heavily. I handwashed my laundry and hung it onto the line while it was still pouring rain, at least they got rinsed properly. It was then time to start cooking as it was my team’s turn to do the cooking. We had bought stuff to make carbonara, but as we couldn’t agree on the recipe (cream or no cream) we decided to make pasta with bacon and tomato sauce instead. It turned out to be absolutely delicious, easily the best meal we’ve had so far! Unfortunately we underestimated the amount of food needed and we ran out before everyone got to eat and had to make more. Our previous guide was a very good cook and was always helping us in the kitchen, telling us excactly what to do and how much of each ingredient we would need. Now we are pretty much left to our own devices, which takes some getting used to as none of us have never cooked for thirty people before!

The next day was quite uneventful. A bunch of people took the hike to the base camp of Kilimanjaro, but it was quite expensive so I opted for a guided walk to a nearby waterfall instead. However, as the day was very hot and a bunch of us walked into the village to kill some time, afterwards I felt so hot that I decided to skip the walk in the afternoon and instead sit in the shade and write my blog. I managed to finish it but the wi-fi was not working properly so I could not publish it. This was now becomming a recurring theme, every time I finish writing my blog it takes from three days to a week to find a wi-fi connection strong enough to upload the photos. T.I.A. – This Is Africa!

The next morning we left early for an 11 hour drive towards Bagamoyo, and eventually Zanzibar. At the start of our drive the clouds parted for a few minutes and we finally got a sneak peek of the peak of the highest mountain in Africa. It was my turn to sit on the aisle seat and I spent the day staring at the ceiling. It was indeed a very long drive… Soon it becomes clear we are getting close to the coast as it starts getting very humid, and coconut palms start appearing everywhere. At least at the end we were rewarded with a really nice camp site in Bagamoyo, complete with a lovely bar area with a small pool in the middle. I comforted myself after the uncomfortable bus ride with a passion fruit mojito and a rum and cola, before we were served a candle light dinner of chicken and rice in the garden. It was hot and very, very humid, and we spent a very sweaty night, eager to get to Zanzibar the next day!

It’s a couple of hours drive to the ferry terminal in Dar es Salaam in the morning, and then we have to carry our bags for a few blocks to reach the terminal. We buy the cheapest economy class tickets available and are surprised when after lugging our bags through security when we are escorted to the first class lounge. White privilege I suppose…

I didn’t get much sleep the night before because of the heat and humidity so I sleep most of the ferry ride to Zanzibar, which is a win for me as I usually can’t sleep sitting upright! On shore we clamper onto a minibus and are delighted to find it has air-condition! Most of us sleep the whole way through to Kendwa, a village in the north of the island where we’ll be spending three nights. The resort is really nice and located right on the beach. We are put in twin rooms, although the ond that me and Marie get is actually a triple. It has air-conditioning and a big bathroom with a hot water boiler for each room, and when I notice that there is no fridge in the room I go back to the reception and soon one is installed. We get dinner in a local restaurant called Fisherman’s. Service is slow and the fish is dry, but it’s cheap and we have a good time anyway. I mean, how could you be unhappy on a paradise island?!

In the morning I head down to the beach for breakfast and frustrate over trying to get an iced latte. After three different waiters and two wrong orders later I finally get an espresso and a glass with ice and milk. I still need to walk to the bar to get a bigger glass though as there is not enough room in the glass to put the coffee in. I’m convinced the staff there hates me there by now. It’s then time for my optional activity, dolphine cruise. Me and a few others get in a small boat and head out into the ocean. The sea is a bit rough and we go pretty fast and it’s all a good fun! We find the dolphines after a while, and it’s quite hilarious as we try to guess where they are going, speed up to get in front of them and then our spotter yells ”JUMP IN NOW NOW NOW” when the dolphins are coming our way. I don’t go in as I can’t swim and the sea is quite rough, but others report to me that there are about 30 dolphins below the surface, and the water is full of something dlimy which we assume to be plankton. There are also jellyfish that keep stinging us, I get stung as well when I dangle my feet in the water. It only burns slightly for a few minutes, but is an annoyance anyhow. We leave the dolphins to go near a small island to snorkle and eat some fruit, but I can’t eat as I’m feeling quite seasight at this point. We then go back to look for the dolphins and I soend the next hours staring at the horizon, which helps with the nausea.

After the dolphin cruise we have a few free hours, and at four thirty it’s time for booze cruise! We hop on board a really cool wooden sailboat, and spend the next few hours lounging on the sun deck, while some locals entertain us by playing drums. It’s so much more awesome than our last booze cruise in Uganda! Afterwards I’m so tired after the long day that I just eat an avocado salad in the bar and go to bed.

The next morning some of us opt for a visit in a local turtle sanctuary. We spend a few hours in a pool with about thirty sea turtles, feeding them seaweed. A worker in the sanctuary tells us they’re all going to be released in the ocean in a few days, and I hope that it is true. After the sanctuary visit it’s time for lunch, I’m eager to go for a restaurant nearby called Essence, which has great reviews online. Unfortunately everyone else is in mood for Italian, but I’m stubborn and decide to go to Essence even if I have to go by myself. John decides to ho with me, and when we find it we are surprised to see that the rest of the group is heading there as well! Apparently the Itsluan place only served pizzas, and we end up having a nice group meal, and the paneer makhani with rice with fried onion and garlic naan bread I order is the best Indian meal I’ve ever had! Big thumbs up to this place!

I spend the rest of the afternoon hiding in my room being anxious out my mind. I’m bipolar so sometimes this just happens. I guess you can be unhappy on a paradise island! Later I go to the bar as I really need to back up some pictures, although I’m really not in the mood to talk to anyone. The wi-fi is slow and I sit there until midnight, but at least I manage to upload all my photos to the cloud.

Day 35 arrives and it’s time to say goodbye to the tourqoise waters and our paradise beach. We’re a bit sad to leave, it would be easy to spend a few more days, or weeks, or years in here! We head on a nearby spice farm for a spice tour. It starts raining and rains pretty much all the way through our tour, but at least it’s warm and the tour is informative snd interesting. I also buy a small bottle of locally made perfume called Zanzibar Mix for five dollars. We then head to Stone Town for our final night’s accommodation in a guest house in the old town. The options fir optional activities are either a visit to Prison Island for snorkling and to see giant tortoises, or a guided walk in the Old Town. I opt for the latter as we’ve just been spending three days on the beach, and tortoises are not that different from turtles, which I’ve already seen. The tour us really interesting I enjoy it a lot despite it being a very hot day, and I sweat more than I’ve ever sweat before! We visit a local market and a site where slave auctions used to take place. In the evening I go to a nearby restaurant and order a meal, and after a 45 minute wait I inquire about my order and it turns out they forgot to pass the order to the kitchen and that the thing I ordered is actually not available. I’m too tired at this point to order more food so I go back to the guest house and have a pack of biscuits for dinner.

We gather our things and carry our bags to the ferry terminal the next day. It’s a very hot day as usual and our white privilege doesn’t work this time and are one of the last ones to board the ferry, but manage to find seats in the air conditioned area anyway, whew! We have another 11 hour drive ahead of us today, and the first 30km takes us 1,5 hours as the traffic in Dar es Salaam is bad. It’s really hot, the air doesn’t move inside the truck as we are going so slow and the windows are small, and the sun is shining directly to my seat I’m pretty much 99% sweat at this point. It’s already late when we arrive at our overnight stop. I can’t remember the name of the village or the campsite, but I remember the names of the four very friendly dogs resident to the camp, they were Lucky, Whisky, Rusty and Chewy. I’m sitting in the bar and nearly have a heart attack when a gigantic falls on my chest from the ceiling. After the initial shock I decide it’s very cute and we sit side by side on the couch in peace.

The next day is just a driving day, after 9 hour drive we arrive in a campsite in the pouring rain and rent a cabin for 20$ per person. My bed is absolutely amazing and I have the best sleep in Africa and I’m gutted to wake up at 4.30am. We leave at 6am and only after a 30min drive we have to stop because there has been a four truck collision just minutes before and the wreckages are blocking the road. We watch as a petrol truck helps to clear one of the trucks away and one of our group members gives some medical assistance to the injured, as she is a nurse and has a first aid kit. We thank our lucky stars that we weren’t there a few minutes earlier when we could’ve been one of the trucks affected, and that the petrol truck also wasn’t one of them! We later find out that one of drivers died, but that’s no surprise after seeing how badly mangled the cabin of that truck was.

We continue to the border. Getting out of Tanzania is a breeze, getting in to Malawi takes a few hours. We arrive to the camp site 15 hours later and I don’t hesitate a second when I hear that a single cabin upgrade is only five dollars. I go to sleep feeling a bit sad that as the day 38 comes to an end, half of our 77-day trip is already behind us.