Hi Everyone,
Sorry this has been so long, I got caried away with being home and all that means, catchin up with business, family and sorting out "things"! So here we go , back to last days in Africa.
Luckily I kept my diary up to date,So we were on our houseboat on the river bordering the Chobe National Park, "The Pride of Zambezi" I thought we were on the Zambezi river but we weren't, on an offshoot. It felt like we could have been on the Okavanga delta, it had lots of broad places with tons of water growing plants including acres of waterlilies, The boat was very comfortable, I had my own cabin, and ensuite, window lookingout oveer the water. The upper decks had the dining room and bar and outdoor living with lovely comfortable seating to lounge on. tere was a spa, but we didn't utilise it, it wasn't hot enough for us.
After boarding and haveing a quick unpack, we were taken out in the largeish outboard boats for a game viewing cuise. this was the equivalent to the land rover game drives at Inyati. It was most interesting seeing the animals from the water side. Victor our boat man was very knowledgeable, there were only Rob and Carol and I and an english couple who were bird watchers. I think the boat was capable of 12 people, not positive, but I think there were 8 cabins, some were singles. So we saw all the animals we had seen already but in bigger numbers, as they came to the river to drink, there were lots of babies again, and being on the water we were able to get really close to the hippos, there babies were really cute, very pink skinned, which I hadn't expected. On the second day, the house boat moved at a very leisurely pace along the river and off we went again in the small boat , we turned off down an off shoot and there were herds of cape buffalo, elephants, Giraffes, all with young ones, and they were doing a mini migration, across the river, complete with crocodiles watching. The giraffes were very cautious and one was obviously in charge , you could almost hear him saying ," come on, this is the way" and back and forth he went herding the nervous ons across, and looking out over the grasslands for some latecomer. The elephants were washing themselves and then they rolled in the dirt. It was fascinating.
There were a few lodges along the banks, with picturesque thatched roofs (rooves?), they all had these huge tall "aerials" on them. They are lightning conductors!!I thought it wass strange all these aerials!! I think we had the best of it on the river, I highly recommend it to anyone, 3 days are about right. The biggest hassle is changing countries, and all the imigration posts. The river meet at a 3 way point and that is 3 different countries! Passport in hand for ages as we hopped in out of 3 countries over abou an hour!very confusing.
Finally that part of our trip was over and we were picked up by vehicle to go on another game drive in Chobe Park, really felt sorry for the driver as we had already seen all the animals he could find for us, in greater numbers at Inyati and from the river, he did get us some lovely shots of very close up Giraffe. They are so elegant! I am turning into an africaphile, is that a word/, but you know what I mean. So the poor man drove us a round for 3 hours and we would just nod and say yes, when he found us a sighting. If we hadn't seen the others first it probably would hav been very exciting, but alas we had already seen more animals than he could show us, so I wouldn,t recommend paying for a game drive there if you had already done sabisands and the river, this was included in our houseboat package. After the drive we were taken to a depot and transferred to a coaster bus and drove to Zimbabwe and Victoria Falls , another passport post!
The hotel was very old world and victorian!, I had a room to myself again, huge with mosquito netting etc, they do the ambience very well.! One felt like you would see an old game hunter with topee walking through!The lawns have resident warthogs grazing the grass, I don't know whether they have to mow or not! Next morning we walked up to the township, Carol and I, and then about 11am we got a cab to the Falls themselves. We were advised to hire a raincoat, there are 15 scenic spots, and from 9 onwards it was too wet to take good photographs, I actually used mine to keep the camera dry. I got soaked at scenic spot 4. I thought it was raining bu t it was the spray, as the river was very full it was " full spate" I know the meaning of the word! you couldn't identify any of the divisions in the falls as the water was roaring over at full depth. fascinating!! I loved it. I got the cab back to the hotel, my walking limit was up, but Carol and Rob walked over the bridge to Zambia, put their toes over the border! After 2 nights there it was off to the airport for the flight to Johannesburg and then a 6 hour wait for our flight to Perth. There endeth the African Odyssey. wonderful, now when someone asks where is the best place I have been , it is a tie between Antarctica and Africa!
So back to Wa, stayed the night at Rob and Carols then they took me to a camera place who managed to ressurrect my photos, well some of them anyway. I could have kissed him, (dreadlocks and all), so I have some photos . They are coming!! Then I flew back to SA to pick up doigs donga version 2 and set off on Anzac day for WA. 2550 kms I think, I made really good time no wind to worry me, stayed first night at Port Augusta, next Ceduna, then freedom camped between Mundrabilla and Madura pass, then Norseman. Some friends of Carol and Rob said are you Vicki? they were on the lookout for me, they were heading east. small world!! Next stop was Merredin, then to sister Jeans. So that was quick, and I had no problems again, the Nullabor crossiing is reallythe easiest thing to do.
spent a night with jean then headed north for my patchwork retreat at Jurien bay. Important things first!!So I will stop there and finish up to date in a couple of days by that time I should have some photos to post to you all!! It will be worth it!!
love to you all
Vicki
