Lil & Bren's Africa Adventure

Days 11 - 14

lillian_butler — Wed, 2 Jan 2013 19:39:00 GMT

Day 11 - Today we are up 05:00am to pack our belongings and travel to the Okavango Delta. We jump on an 8 seater jeep with our tents and bags and drive what we thought would be a 20 minute drive, which was actually 1.5 hours long. It was ok because we got to see more of the town of Maun and drive past some small villages. We eventually arrive at the swamps of the Okavango Delta and are met by the gorgeous locals. They straight away start unloading our stuff and packing the dug out canoes which they call Mokoro's. Mokoro's are similar to Gondolas and you have a person standing at the back of the canoe with a large pole directing you through the swamps. Our "director" was named Joyce and she would have been about 18. We were told to wear long sleeves and pants and thank god I did because the only parts of my body that was exposed - hands and ankles - got burnt to the shit house. It was painful for about 3 days after as well - I blame the malaria tablets for making my skin so sensitive to the sun grrrrrrr (and Mum don't worry I did lather the sunscreen on). Our Mokoro's eventually took off and we were directed right through the Delta (3 hours of canoeing) and it was so beautiful. I fell asleep for a bit and woke up to find no-one else around. I had a mini freak out thinking either Brendon has secretly organised to sneak us off somewhere so he could propose OR that we were being taken somewhere to be mugged. Thank god Joyce informed me that we would meet up with everyone else very shortly.

Day 6 to 10

lillian_butler — Sun, 30 Dec 2012 00:29:00 GMT

Hi all,

We are finally in Maun.

This has to be a quick one, as I\m about to go and buy some Food and drinks for a night in the Okavango Delta.

Christmas Day was AMAZING! We made it to Livingstone and celebrated Christmas by going on a Gorge Swing (Friggen crazy!) and going on a sunset cruise. It was so beautiful. We were lucky enough to see hippo and crocs.

Boxing Day we got up at 5:30am to go to a lion conservation park where we got to walk with the lions. WOW I sat with two lions, can't wait to show you the photo's.

Later that day I went on an Elephant safari (which consists of riding an elephant through the bush and basically seeing what they see). My elephant was a young mum and her 2 year old baby was close by at all time. It was just me and the handler riding the elephant so it was extra special.

Bren got to go white water rafting in Victoria Falls. The boat capsized once and luckily he came out unscathed. He said it was an amzing experience.

After camping for over a week we decided to get a room with a shower and had a night chilling.

The day after we went to Vic Falls in the morning and was met by some crazy baboons, god those things are scarey. One girl got in a tug of war with one and unfortunatley lost. it ran off with her bag and everything in it.

The Falls themselves were amazing, there is constantly a rainbow going over them. As you can imagine there was A LOT of spray from the falls so we got drenched.

We then drove back to Chobe National Park and did a safari (saw lots of baboons, mongoose, empalla, water buck, elephants etc.) In the evening we did a sunset cruise and I can't tell you how many hippos we saw. They are some wild beasts, I don't know how they\re little legs hold their massive bodies up.

We drove 600km today to Maun in Botswana and we will stay here tonight before going to the Okavango Delta to spend tomorrow night. We'll be back in Maun for New Years Eve, we have no plans so hping to paryty with some locals.

I\m in such a rush that Ive probably missed things but have been keeping track of most things and am excited to show you the photos when we return.

Sorry for the poor spelling. lol. gotta run.

Love always Lil and Bren xoxo

Day 3 t 5

lillian_butler — Sun, 30 Dec 2012 00:25:00 GMT

Hi Guys,

I wrote this a little while ago but didn't get to the net in time. Hope everyone had a great Christmas. miss you all oxo

Day 3, we travelled from South Africa to Botswana. We had to leave at 6am to try to get to the boarder at a reasonable time, as it can take a few hours. It was a long day in the truck & we eventually got there by 3:30pm. The line was 4 hours long and it was so disorganised that we were made to stand (with what felt like the rest of south Africa). I guess growing up in Aus we're spolit for this kind of thing. There were lots of children running around and people jumping the line so it was a long wait. We eventually got through at 8pm and it was still about 30 degrees at that time of night. Once through we set up camp and made dinner and went to bed. We had some left overs from dinner and gave them to some of the workers at the camp, I've never seen someone so grateful when they returned the plates.

Day 4 we travelled to Elephant Sands, which is a privately owned game park, 16000 hectares. We arrived to find a bar right next to a water hole. There was no fence in between us and the 20 elephants that were drinking and yet I felt completely safe. We went on a game drive & saw giraffes, elephants, cudu and vultures. Where we camped there were no fences so any animals such as lion, elephant, leopard etc could walk through the campsite. Our guides assured us this would never happen - the animals apparently walk around te tents haha. I managed to have a good chat with the ranger at the park and he explained the history of the park and what they're plans for the future. They don't have a hunting park however the government owned land is allowing hunters through to "cull" the elephants as they are pests. Each elephant goes for anywhere between $60-70k. So you can see why the government allows it. They are however stopping the hunting in 2014.

Sleeping on this night was a little difficult as every noise I heard I would jump. Bren had to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, so I was a little apprehensive but he returned unscathed.

Day 5, we drove to our next campsite in Kasane. On the way we stopped at markets and met some locals - I successfully bartered, well we hope so. Unfortunately the poverty is quite high in this area. I bought a few toys for the children for Christmas, they and they're parents were very thankful. We were the only Caucasians at the markets so received many stares. The weird thing is I felt more safe here then I did on America.

We are now at the campsite sitting in a bar aka a hut. It is raining now and the thunder is so loud that it sounds like it is right above us. Fingers crossed our tents are ok.

We won't get near a phone for Christmas so unfortunately can't call. We hope you have an amazing day, we'll be in Vic Falls celebrating Christmas African style.

Miss you all and will be thinking of you tomorrow.

Day 1 to 2

lillian_butler — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 03:24:00 GMT

We arrived in Joburg at 8:30pm on Wednesday 19th of Dec. We were a little apprehensive getting out of the airport, however our driver was waiting right out of the baggage claim with a big sign with our names on it. We got to the hostel and checked in straight away and went to bed. The drive from the airport was a little surreal - seeing houses with fences (and barbed wire) stretching atleast 2 metres to keep out whatever danger is lurking.

We got up at 06:00am on Thursday the 20th and quickly got up and ready to meet our fellow travellers and left at 07:00am. We drove from Joburg to Kruger National Park and arrived around 04:00pm. We set up at the campsite and then went swimming in a rock pool and Bren had a go at the zip line over the lake. The campsite is sooo beautiful, our view is overlooking a stunning lake and we can see banana plantations. There are outdoor showers (which are much more glamoures than they sound) and we experienced it in what they call "Romantic lighting" - which really means limited lighting lol.

Today we got up at 04:15am to get ready and have breakfast to leave at 05:00am for our first game drive. Wow today was amazing, by 07:00am we had seen zebra and buffalo. As the day went on we saw lion, lots and lots of elephants (all bulls, roaming on their own), rhino's,, giraffes, hippos, turtles, and chamelions.

The actual national park spans 2million hectares - as big as israel. Just before you enter the park, there are lots of houses (poorly built), and the communities are living in poverty. There is a small fence around the park and apparently the animals never escape.

Well that's it for now. I've had a few beers at the outdoor bar with my little fox terrier friend sitting on my lap. We're about to have dinner and then tomorrow morning we leave for Botswana to go to the next national park Chobe, where we'll hopefully see leopard and much more.

If I don't get a chance to get on here before xmas, hope you have the best day and relax together, eating and drinking.

Lots and lots of love

Lily & Brenno

Twas the night before our trip, when all through the house not a creature was stirring!

lillian_butler — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 11:43:00 GMT

We're all packed and ready to go.

Very excited, I don't think we'll sleep tonight.

The aim is to keep you posted throughout the trip (wherever possible).

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and we'll see you in the new year WOOHOO!!!!

Lots of love

Lily & Brenno

xoxo

p.s click on our photo to get a snippet of our itinerary.