This chapter takes place in Botswana and South Africa between the 2nd and 8th of December. It involves our new truck and a few new truck mates. Our new tour leaders were Biggy and Lucas. We had to sadly say goodbye to; Amy, Bernard, Emily, Jade, Liz, Perry, Polly and Rodney who remained on Shashe and also goodbye to the lovely Andrew and Cara. So the remaining troops were ; Bec, Daisy, Dan, Frances, Jana, Jason, Lucy, Rob, Sophie, Vicky and I. The new people who joined we didn't really get to bond with in such a short period of time.
Our first day involved a short drive to our first campsite in Botswana - Thebe river lodge. We then went on a river safari along the Chobe and saw more hippo's then you can shake a stick at (i've never really understood that phrase!!). A few crocs and birds but then one of my highlights of the trip!!! We saw a breeding herd of elephants emerge from the trees and as they saw the water they all suddenly ran towards the river and proceeded t play happily for a good while. It was incredible to watch - therapeutic almost. There were about 13 in total including a wee baby who could be no more then 2 weeks old!! Cute!!!! We eventually dragged ourselves away and went back to camp where Shahse was also spending the night. The night in the bar was spent saying sad goodbyes to some great people!!
The next day we drove to our next camp - Elephant sands. Only a few notable occurrences today. Due to stringent roadside checks in Botswana to protect there cattle industry we were stopped occasionally to clean all our shoes. They also searched our truck and told us we had to eat all the food so we had an impromptu roadside picnic.
Then at our campsite an elephant walked very nearby to us to get to the watering hole for a drink - lightened what was an otherwise very wet grey day. Dinner was one hell of an experience. A beautiful spread was prepared for us and we sat down to what looked like a wonderful meal. However the lights above us attracted hundreds of flying termites and we spent the meal being dive bombed by termites and picking them out of our food!! Lots of shrieking girls made it highly amusing but i'd hate to think how many termites i ended up eating!!
the next 2 days were long drive days through to South Africa staying firstly at the bushman's camp where we witnessed a very impressive lighting storm. Vicky also got dive bombed by a very large bug which was very amusing and I'm not sure I've seen here move that fast before!!!
Our final campsite for 2 nights was the lovely Mikhwahte lodge. Beautiful campsite with a wonderful host but it constantly rained whilst we were there!!!On the second of our 2 days here we went on our final full day game drive in the Kruger National park (apparently as big as Switzerland - there's a fact for you!!!) First game drive in wet conditions but still saw plenty - 4 of the big 5 this time.Our final evening camping ended with some amazing food and marshmallows toasted on a fire. The 7th was our final day on tour and we drove to Johannesburg and the Backpackers lodge. The original Shahse members all got dressed up and went out for a last night of beers and a beautiful Chinese meal. The 8th was a very sad day as we said goodbye to everyone. Sophie and I then got on our 16hr overnight sleeper bus ride to Port Elizabeth for the next chapter of our journey.
