The mighty Zambezi

So while we were on our chilled out wildlife walk, other members of our trip were braving the mighty Zambezi. When we met up with them that evening they'd got rather more up close and personal than they had in mind. The Zambezi had claimed one of the girls trousers, given another severe rope burns and the raft had capsized twice. Scary stuff.

Talking of scary, we seem to have some very aggressive monkeys on the campsite. On the first day they took a shining to my porch. They seemed cute at the time, but then we heard about a group of them attacking a girl here. So we now walk last them somewhat nervously I'm doing the whole ' just walk confidently thing, don't show fear' - happy to report it's working so far.

We went to the falls this morning, i'd been told to head there early so you get to see the rainbows. $20 entrance fee later and there we were. We went to the Zambia side - to get the full soaking wet experience. Wow it's spectacular, it doesn't have the swooping swallows that Iguazu has, but man it makes up for it in Rainbows. Beautiful and soaking. A Belgian girl and I headed over into Zimbabwe to see the crazy people doing a bungy jump off the bridge.

I'm still not even slightly tempted.....

On the 4th day post Christmas

So here we are...Africa baby. I love this place - it has a very special feel about it and I'm chuffed to bits to be back.

So quick recap of the last few days. I left stuffed full of Christmas Day turkey, had red wine spilt on me by a very apologetic seat neighbour and BA failed to get the entertainment system working. So happy days when I hear a cheery 'gem' from behind the immigration desk at Johannesburg. A welcoming party for me - this never happens. To celebrate the gang being together we go and spend a bit of time with the bored looking guy giving out free shots of belvedere vodka. It was the only booze we were going to get that morning ' lady we may serve alcohol from 10am' was the response from the bar when I tried to get us a Christmas lager. Oh well. Probably for the best - we'd already failed to realise we were actually on different flights to Livingstone - which resulted in a jodie and em sprinting to their gate. It worked out well for me - I got another welcoming committee in Zambia.

So back to the here and now - I'm sat here in Zambia , the mighty Zambezi is to my left, a bottle of Zambias finest lager is straight in front of me ( best name ever, Mosi) and Em is looking after my sun lounger next to the pool. Our campsite -the Zambezi waterfront is fabulous. I'd really, really like to see what the rooms alike - alas it's tents only for the next 20 days.

One of the tricky things about being near Victoria Falls is choosing which of the many activities to actually do. Fate played a hand though and all trips to Livingstone island are full all week - so after debating visiting a school, or doing a cookery class - em and I decided to go to a nearby national park for a walking safari. Jodie is currently experiencing Victoria falls up close in a raft - I'm a little scared for her....

We woke bright and breezy, and within 5 minutes had been greeted by 3 hippo, about 20 impala and lots of naughty vervet monkeys. This was starting well. Within the hour a family of giraffe, a herd of Wildebeest and lots of birds who'se names escape me had sauntered past. We hadn't even started the walk yet! The saved the best til last though , on our walk we came across a herd of White Rhino - beautiful creatures. My highlight though was learning that dung beetles fly, and that the sausage tree plant can be used to enlarge male genitalia. Curious.

It's enough to bring the David attenborough out in us all....

Happy holidays,

X

The packing trauma

I've always been pretty confident in my good traveller status. I'm pretty rugged, can work out bus timetables, can haggle with the best of them etc. My ability to pack the morning of the flight is well renowned.

It came in pretty lucky the morning of my 30th birthday when due to excessive drinking the night before I woke up with a friend of a friend in my bed ( sorry mum), an irate taxi driver ringing the bell and a stinking hangover, I'd not packed and I was off to Kenya for 2 weeks, flight in 2.5 hours. Eeek.

But hey 10 minutes later I was on my way to Heathrow - happy days.

So I was going through life pretty happy with my travelling swagger. That is until I met two new friends in Belize. Clearly confident travellers, they gave good snorkel, had funny stories etc etc - perfect companions. I was sad to say goodbye to them after our sailing trip in Belize. As luck would have it a couple of days later we saw them walking past us in Flores. In true flashpacker style Philippa and I were drinking cocktails in the finest Italian restaurant Guatemala had to offer ( while not indigenous cuisine, I would really recommend you try it - it's called Il Terraza). What was curious was that the two girls appeared to be walking at pace with only their day packs with them. Must have dropped their bags at the first place and are looking for a room somewhere else I confidently told Philippa. Moments later our intrepid duo were swimming out in the glorious Lake Petén Itzá - they found that room quickly. They joined us for drinks on the balcony later. So where were your bags earlier i casually enquired? Oh right, gulp, they were your bags.....

I ponder this as I look at my bursting full 75l backpack - but then I realise even though I might not wear it - you never know who might turn up. A girl always needs a party dress and some lipstick right?

Intrepid traveller my *rse

X

Jambo Livingstone...

So once the small matter of Christmas is out of the way, I'm heading off to Livingstone for a few days getting wet before heading off into Botswana and Namibia. It's going to be a month of adventure with two amazing friends, and I'm very, very happy.

Preparation for this trip has been pretty minimal - I've got toothpaste and Malaria tablets sorted and that's about the extent of it. J Crew posted me some pretty gorgeous shorts - so I'll be clothed, clean and malaria free.

What's the worse that can happen......

With this view I'm not going to need anything else...

Africa I'm ready to be amazed......