Round The World Adventures "The rewards of the journey far outweigh the risk of leaving the harbour"

Hi Everybody

I've just lost an email I spent 1/2 an hr typing so here goes again!

After leaving Victoria Falls, we visited Matabos National Park near
Bulawayo looking for rhinos.  It took till 4pm but we eventually
followed a white rhino cow and her calf on foot.  The adrenaline
started pumping a little after our guide Norman said "If I say run,
run"!  Thankfully we didn't need to but they did pass about 20m away
from us and our armed tracker KK (had a 303 rifle) put himself between
us and the rhinos.  Got a couple of good photos but they were elusive
as the calf was quite skittish.  Our last activity for the day was a
fast-paced hike up to a cave to view bushmen paintings.  It was
fast-paced as it was just on sunset.  We had to walk back down in the
dark without torches which was actually fun for me, and luckily no-one
injured themselves.  Our tour leader, Renee, was a little worried tho'
as we were 1 1/2 hrs late returning.

Another highlight of my trip was our 2 nts in Antelope Park near Gweru
in Zimbabwe.  It's a lion breeding programme based in a privately
owned game park.  We got to pat a couple of 3 mth old lion cubs and we
also did a walk with four 12mth old lionesses.  They'd just been fed
so they were pretty lazy.  It was surreal patting these wild animals
as they are still exactly that.  You had to carry a stick to distract
them, and you were acutely aware of their sharp claws and teeth.  It
was a truly awesome experience being that close to them that you could
touch them.  We also got to see a lion feeding; watching them sprint
into the enclosure and rip into some tasty piece of animal carcass
made you feel very relieved they were in captivity.

Zimbabwe was a sobering experience when it came to visiting
supermarkets in particular.  Many of the shelves were empty of food
and people are limited to buying 1 or 2 loaves of bread per person.
We never experienced any problems tho' and it makes you appreciate how
much we take for granted.  Power and water cuts are also a major
problem.  People are resigned to them but the feeling is they've had
enough.  It will be interesting to see what happens in the next 12
months.  You really feel for the people and hope there is some change
very soon.

Jules