Wow, it’s been a while since I’ve been online! I’m in Livingstone, Zambia, the home of
Victoria Falls and apparent American Tourism Central in Africa. It’s funny, we’d gone almost a month
without hearing an American accent besides our own, and when we arrived here
the first guy I hear talking asks, “Have y’all done any activities yet?” And walking around Victoria
Falls, every other tourist there had an American accent. But I digress…
Well, since my last entry I’ve hung out with some Kalahari
Bushmen (and Bushwomen…and a Bushbaby…); chilled on a mokoro (the African
equivalent of a gondola); swam in the world’s largest inland delta; had a
‘musical cultural exchange’ around a campfire on an island with a group of
young Botswanians; was proposed to by Tubs, the owner of the biggest night club
in Maun, Botswana; watched a lion sniff a dead elephant on a game drive through
Chobe National Park; took a sunset cruise on the Chobe River; took a sunset
cruise with free unlimited alcohol on the Zambezi River; and jumped into the
Devil’s Pool, which is the last bit of water before you go hurtling over the
edge of Victoria Falls. Oh, I’ve
also become jaded by the site of huge herds of elephants and pods of
hippos. Too much amazing wildlife will do that to
you, mind-blowing the first time, boring the 10th time (see
photos). And finally, I said
goodbye to most of my fellow tour mates who have traveled with me from Capetown
to here, and met my new tour mates who will travel with me from here to
Nairobi. It’s funny, I was pretty
wary about booking an organized tour, but in the end (although I guess it’s
only half over…) it’s been an amazing experience and I’m going to miss everyone
a whole lot. It’s been great
having a group of “like-minded individuals” to hang out with, cook meals with
(Go Lions, best cooking team ever!), explore towns with, campout under the
stars with, and share the most incredible experiences with. Continuing on to Nairobi, 5 of us from
the original start remain (me, Michelle, Helen from England and her Scottish
beau Nick, and my Aussie mo Warren), and we’re being joined by Alyson (Warren’s
housemate from Australia), 3 girls who started their tour in Johannesburg
(Danielle from Canada (but her accent sounds Irish to me…I guess Calgary is a
funny place…), Megan from Australia, and India from the UK), and two sisters
from the UK, Harriet and Amy.
Apparently we’re also picking up someone in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, but
the details of this mysterious person are unclear. In any case, it seems like a great group again, heavy on the
estrogen, but of the kick-ass-independent-woman-who-camps-out-in-Africa
variety.
I should probably go into more depth about the various
things I’ve done over the past week or so, but I don’t really feel like it and
instead I’m going to post videos and slideshows with detailed information for
your viewing enjoyment, which hopefully I'll be able to do because I just paid 50,000 Zambian kwatchas for a whole day of wireless! Actually, it's only about 12 U.S. dollars, but still, it sounds like a lot.
