So once in Botswana we drove to our campsite and after dinner we went to the bar and had some traditional tribal dancing by the local San Bushmen Community. It was really good fun, and we all got up and joined in for the last few songs. There were two groups there, the GAP group which were another tour like us doing pretty much the same route as we saw them everywhere, and us, Nomad. We went back to clear away after dinner and Jo-Jo gave us a little briefing about the next day, and then we all went to the bar. We all had a little to drink, especially Bradley who was absolutely hammered. He had Gaby, Owen and I in hysterics when he was telling us that the bar was in fact the mini bar and there was a big bar over there... (over where??) He didn't live it down for a few days after that as we all found it hilarious. The next day we were up early, put our tents down just as it became light and set off for Maun. We stopped in Maun to get supplies and Owen did some shopping and we used the internet, then we went to Maun Airport and stopped there for lunch on the car park, and a few people went on a scenic flight over the Okavango Delta. The rest off us got dropped off at the next campsite where we put up our tents and then went to the pool area which was nice. Jo-Jo had gone with Ella to pick the others up so as we had no swimming gear we swam in our clothes, and we opened a tab at the bar as all our money was in Ella too. Tut tut haha! It was fun though. Then we went back for a briefing from the guide about the next 2 days which we were spending in the Okavango Delta. That night we were all pretty tired and we all got ready for bed after dinner and had showers, and then I was like oh it's so early we should go to the bar, so I went and woke up Cecilia, who wasn't actually asleep but she was in her pj's and in her sleeping bag about to go to sleep haha, then on the way to the bar we grabbed Karim who had just been to brush his teeth ready for bed haha, oh well, so we went and sat in the bar for a couple of hours and chatted, and Marcin came with his laundry, and Owen came over after his shower, then we all went to bed around 11ish. The next morning we were up early, suprise suprise, and we loaded all our stuff into the 4x4 and drove to the delta. We all got assigned our Poler, me and Cecilia were with Best, quite aptly named really as I think he was one of the main guys although he was quiet except for occasionally shouting out snake or croc or bird haah, but it was nice. Mokoros are like canoes, but longer and you can fit all your things into them, some are carved from wood from the trees and some are now made from fibreglass, which is the better option as they are water proof haha. It was suprisingly comfortable apart from the insects attacking you as you are almost at water level as you travel along the channel of the delta. After a 3 hour mokoro ride we reached our campsite and most of us just wanted to jump in the river. We all pitched our tents wherever we could find a space, and then we had lunch. After lunch we all went and jumped in the river, and had a go at poling, I had Ed as my driver, it was rocky to say the least haha! Sorry Ed! After that most people went on a guided walk, Cecila, Jorge and I stayed on the riverbank and chilled out, wrote in our diaries and just relaxed. Then we went back and had dinner. The next morning we went on a 4 hour bush walk and we saw loads of Elephants, and Giraffes, some lion footprints, and a buffalo skull, someone had a tasty treat last night. Then we went back and had breakfast, spent the day sleeping on the riverbank and Song listened to Romeo and Juliet on his dictionary, which actually kept everyone amused for an hour or so. After that we had lunch, then I think we had another game walk, I can't remember that afternoon. After dinner that night we all watched the polers perform some traditional dancing, it was really good fun and Pilot (one of the polers) put a cushion up his top and although I don't think we understood the point of it it was still hilarious. After they had danced for us we all did a little performance for each country. Fabian started off brilliantly! We thought he was going to do a little song, but instead he got everyone involved shouting give me an N.. and spelt out Nomad but with such unexpected aggression in his face, we were in stitches. It was brilliant! Gaby and me kind of tried to hide at the back but they remembered England and so we tried and failed to get everyone learning Saturday Night by Whigfield and doing the dance, but to no avail haha. Then we played some games and then off to bed. The next morning another early bush walk, we woke up to one of the polers shouting us awake, Morning Glory! The sun is on shine! Re-Re-Re-loaded! Come on! There are only two people up! Morning glory! We didn't like being woken up although by now we should have been used to it! We got back, had breakfast, and then packed up and set off on the Mokoros and made our way back. We got back and then hopped on the truck and were driven back to the camp site. We had lunch and went for showers (Good work with the plan Gaby!) and then we packed everything up and set off for Gweta and the Planet Boabab Campsite. What an awesome campsite. We got there, pitched our tents (you will getbored of hearing this soon), then we went and jumped in the pool, which was freezing but so refreshing as it had been such a hot couple of days, and we stayed there until it was too dark and then we went to the bar, then had dinner and then some of us went back to the bar. Owen taught me how to play a game which they had there, which to be honest was really fun, until I emptied my storage and lost round 3! Oh well. It was a great night though, Owen, Jo-Jo, Bradley, Karim and I just hung around the bar and talked for hours, and then we went to bed, ready for the next early start haha. The next day we set off for Chobe NP. We went on a river cruise and saw Crocs, Hippos, Elephants, Baboons, and lots of birdlife, and saw the sun set behind the elephants silouhettes which was amazing, lots of Kodak moments, and then we got back and had dinner. The next day up early again and we left and set off for Zimbabwe. We only drove for about an hour to the border, and then it took about an hours to cross the border here as we had to pay visas, for UK it was 55USD, I think 390ZAR which is how I paid as it worked out cheaper, everyone else was 30USD but the Canadians had the short straw as they thought it was 65USD but it had gone up again to 75USD. So we were lucky with the 55! Then everything was done manually so it took onger than all the other border crossings we did. When we entered Zimbabwe we went to Vic Falls and spent about 3 hours there. Victoria Falls is the most amazing place I have ever been to, the Falls itself is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen, and Zimbabwe (well the small part we saw) I fell in love with! I will definately go back there, if only I could have stayed there! We stayed at the Savannah Lodge for these two nights. When we arrived we had lunch and then watched a presentation by Saf Par Excellence who were going to give us our optional activities to choose from. Everyone sorted out their activites, and I obviously chose the sky dive, but the plane was out of action for the week, so once again I couldn't do the sky-dive so I was gutted. Africa just didn't want me to sky-dive! So I then spent ages deciding what else I fancied doing and in the end I decided I would do the white water rafting on the Zambezi as a lot of people were doing that and I thought it would be nice to spend the last day with the group. So once I had sorted that I went to get my stuff from Ella and find out where my room was (everyone else had already done this while I was trying to sort the sky-dive for hours!) only to find Ella had gone :-( with all my clothes, towels, everything. So I went and had a manicure and pedicure in the lovely little outdoor salon they had at the lodge and we had a lovely girly afternoon. Then I went to see if Ella had returned as we had seen her pull up, but she had gone again, so time was running out as we had to meet for dinner at 6:45 in the reception. So I got myself a beer and found my room, and then just sat in the bar. Everyone started coming back from the market and from town, and the girls finished off their pamper sessions, then everyone went to get showered and ready for dinner while I drowned my sorrows haha. In the end I went and had a shower with all of Gaby's stuff and then by the time I had finished my towel and everything was outside ready and waiting (Thanks' girlies!). Everyone had already gone because dinner had been booked for 7pm, Jo-Jo felt bad but it wasn't his fault! It was mineif anything, but Gaby and Marieke waited for me and we got a taxi down together. As we walked in we were dressed in a robe and had a little mark painted on our face, and then we walked in, we all were like oh my god this is brilliant! There were drummers, and face painting and hair braiding, a fortune teller, we could all join in with the drumming, it was brilliant. The food was delicious, more game meats to try, buffalo, warthog, ostrich kebabs, all delicious. Soup was served in a kind of mini cauldron and was delicious. It was a great atmosphere. A guy came around and painted all our faces, I had a lion, Marieka a Zebra, and Gaby had a pretty Zebra style design, and we all danced and giggled the night away, then had our hair braided, then we went homein Ella and went into the bar for a while then we all went to sleep. The next day was the white water rafting day... oh dear! We met at 8am in the bar, set off to Vic Falls, got fitted with our gear, then got into teams of 6, then we walked down the cliffside which was so steep, and so high, I swearI have vertigo haha. Once we reached the bottom we did a practise run on the flat water and practised paddling and following our guide, Hippo's orders. Then we all set off. It was great the first few rapids, then we came to Rapid No. 5 - The Stairway to Heaven (or the Highway to Hell). This was the first Grade 5 rapid and as we approached it we were thinking ohhhh shiiiit! To be honest I wasn't too worried at this point and I was enjoying myself! s we hit the rapid the water just enveloped the raft, I flew forwards and then was thrown backwards and out of the raft. I swam to the surface and panicked didn't I - idiot! So I was swirling around, couldn't breathe, swallowing water, and I remember at one point thinking oh god I am going to die haha! I finally remembered the safety position and got into it and then I was washed through the rest of the rapid and grabbed onto the kayak of the wonderful safety guy (I wish I could remember his name!) who shouted at me to calm down, which I did quickly then. Then my fellows rafters came to collect me, and I then realised Karim had been on the Highway to Hell too! Apparently he had been shouting Nat are you ok? and I hadn't answered, he said he thought oh oh! Which was true, I was panicking haha! Wimp! Anyhow, after that I was terrified about falling back in the water, so I held on everytime we went into the rapids! We had lunch and a couple of people left as they didn't like the rafting and I almost did myself, but I thought well I have paid for it now and I have survived that so I'll stick it out. I hated it though, I just was scared about falling back in or the boat tipping over. I really did enjoy the smaller rapids though, they were great! There were also 2 rapids which you could swim through, I swam through the first one whilst holding onto one of the guys from Saf Par's lifejacket haha, then I asked Hippo which was the worst rapid and he said that the worst rapid is the one where you fall in, so I fell in at number 5, there were 20 more to go, so I was annoyed that I fell in so early haha. I am proud that I stuck it out though, no matter how afraid I was it was a good experience, but I don't think I will ever do it again, but I am glad I have done it. That's one thing I can check off my things to do before I am 30 list! After the rafting we had to climb up the steepest cliff ever with no steps, just logs to aid your step. Then when we reached the top we had ice cold water and beer. It was good. When we arrived back at the lodge we watched the rafting dvd and saw the photos and I felt fear all over again haha, but we had such a laugh, Costa's team flipped on almost every rapid, it looked amazing on DVD, although I am glad I wasn't in that raft haha.
I went and had a facial and then we went and had showers and got ready as we were all meeting in the bar at 7pm for our last night together. We ordered pizza and just sat in the bar laughing and joking and writing in each others books, then we met the new guide for the 2 day transfer which is another story. Owen and his brother came for a while, and Owen filled people in on what was happening the next day with all the other transfers. Then we all went to bed and the next day we got up early, Daddy Jo-Jo came to see us off which was so nice but sad to say goodbye to him, and then the 8 of us that were leaving on the transfer, plus one new addition Francis from France, and we all jumped on Ella after saying our goodbyes (tearful ones by now), then we waved as we left. The next two days were long, hard drives,hardly any stops, only to grab food at garages and supermarkets, and then back on the road. We camped for the last night with 4 of us in the tent, Me, Gaby, Ed and Bradley, and we all stayed nice and warm. Then we were up early for the last leg of the journey. We arrived in Jo'Burg at around 2:30pm and I said my goodbyes to Gaby and Ed, and Team Holland and then me and Erika went to drop our bags in the baggage hold and we went and had a coffee and an iced tea and then we went shopping. Then we went and checked in and shopped some more, we used the internet cafe, and then I went to catch my flight. Luckily I didn't wait long to board the plane and we took off early. I slept nearly all the 11 hours home, apart from breakfast and dinner. I wasn't glad to land in London, I felt sad and like my big adventure had now come to an end.
I can safely say that I am hooked on Africa! It is the most amazing country I have ever visited and my only regret is that I had to leave. I will definately be visiting Africa again in the near future, as well as all the other countries of all the new friends I have made. Looks like we will have to plan a Nomad Tours North Africa Reunion in a couple of years! Until then, it's back to work to pay off all my debts and then I am going around the world!!!!!
There is just so much to see out there! x
