Mandla has been talking a lot about African experiences and says that if he sees something interesting, such as a woman carrying a heavy bucket of water on her head, he'll stop so we can take pictures (after he's checked its ok and maybe paid a small tip) and, if we're lucky, even have a go! His favourite saying, which I can tell already will get very annoying before the tour is over, is "learning and discovery". He says it every time he points something out ...

Waking up this morning we had an unwelcome piece of information from Mandla. We have a LOT more ground to cover in East Africa in the same amount of time as the previous tour which means many more long days driving and very early starts! We jumped in the truck and I was feeling a bit low as this truck (I forgot to introduce him but his name's Makheba) isn't as nice as Sonny so there is little chance of getting much sleep. Especially with the bumpier road s...

This morning Vincent came back! We were very happy to see him and he hugged us all but he didn't really seem like his usual jolly self. Not surprising really! We also met our new guide Mandla. We've seen him previously as he has been running the accommodated tour alongside our camping tour all the way from Cape Town. The rest of his group have all finished and none of them are going further into East Africa. Because this particular tour always has small...

Despite the late night we were hassled into getting up early to say goodbye to everyone that would be leaving at 8.30am! Christina fancied a bit of luxury and spent the night at the really nice hotel we went to on our first night in town. Johannes and Wing had also moved to the hotel we went to last night. The other Cristina left yesterday and crossed to Zambia where she did a micro light flight over the Falls before making her own way to Zanzibar. She will...

Today is our last day as a group as many will be going home tomorrow. That includes Thekla who has had news of a job interview for a cruise ship and will be returning to Cape Town. Adam and I spent a while wondering a local market which sells tourist products mostly made from wood or stone, some of which were pretty nice, if expensive! We didn't stay too long though as we were being hassled so badly by the locals that it really got on our nerves and we walke...