ACACIA SAFARI. SEA31.

31 DAYS NAIROBI TO JOHANNESBURG.

JUNE 17th TO JULY 17th 2007.

It's impossible to even begin to describe to you everything that we crammed in to the last 31 days on safari. We covered so much that I could probably write a book just on the safari! We camped our way down from Nairobi to Johannesburg in just 31 days, covering some 6500km, visiting 6 different countries, & racking up endless hours on the truck.This is gonna be long I'm afraid, but there's a lot to mention, so here goes.....

The Group

Our group was an interesting mix of different nationalities:

The Crew:

Sara - our tour leader from NewZealand

Wessel - "Wess", our driver, from South Africa.

Pangani - our "truck" (bus)

The Group:

Nat & Jay - From Canada, & on their honeymoon.

Anneka & Sean - From Canada, & friends of Nat & Jay.

Olga & Carolina- sisters from Mexico

Mike - from the U.S.

Kelly, Carl, Sam, Conor & Sarah - All from the UK

Peter & Lorraine - an older couple from Australia, who left us in Zanzibar to go on to climb Mt. Kilimajaro.

Jenny - From Finland, who left us in Zanzibar to begin volunteering.

Paula & Karen - Uni. friends from Ireland, who joined us in Zambia.

Katie - From Australia, she joined us in Zambia.

Kenya

• One of my most distinct memories was the terrible bumpy roads - they were awful!
• We stayed in Narok on the edge of the Masai Mara. The landscape of the Mara was rolling hills with sparse bushes dotted across the landscape. We saw lots of wildlife, including close encounters with lions, elephant & buffalo, as well as LOTS of different types of deer (too many!). We also saw warthogs, baboons, wildebeest, & zebra.
• Village tour of a traditional Masai village - we experienced the traditional dancing & how they compete to jump the highest from a static position; the dance & sound they make was fascinating. We learnt about Masai culture & traditions, took a look around the small village, went inside one of the houses, & learnt how to throw spears & clubs!

Tanzania

• We had a stop over in a nice campsite in Arusha. Olga & I had already had enough of the truck & the cold weather, & hung out in the cool little camp site bar drinking shots (just "to keep warm", of course) chosen by their appropriate names: "Overland Overdose", "Acacia Animal" etc.
• Serengeti - the name Serengeti derives from the Masai word 'Siringitu' - 'the place where the land moves on forever'. The Serengeti is much larger & flatter than the Mara, & it was amazing to just look out at the horizon in the distance across the vast area of flat land before us, which at some points had hundreds of animals dotted across it in the distance. It was just how I had imagined the Serengeti to look like from images I have seen in the past, & it didn't disappoint. We were lucky again with animal sightings, & also saw hippos, hyenas, a leopard (from a small distance), & lions devouring a buffalo just after a kill. This brought our total to 4 of the Big 5 - lion, elephant, leopard & buffalo. We just had to catch a glimpse of a rhino now to complete the list.
• Ngorongoro crater - For some reason, Conor & I had got it into our heads that we didn't want to put the roof back on the 4x4 & we would stand up for the whole journey from Serengeti to the crater - even though we were warned it would be cold. So, Conor, Wess & I stood up for the whole journey - none of us wanted to give in to the cold, but it was bloody freezing, & very dusty! Things didn't improve at the campsite, because it was even colder! The campsite itself was nice though, & it was pretty cool (although slightly worrying) that animals could freely roam around. Sat around the campfire in the evening we noticed some buffalo & zebra near to us; & during the night they apparently also went for a wander around our tents!The game drive in the crater itself was lovely; we saw large numbers of zebra & wildebeest, but unfortunately none of the Big 5. We did see a baby hippo though, & lots of flamingos. The view from the top of the crater was really impressive once the mist had cleared, but it was impossible to capture in a photograph.

We headed back to Arusha for a stopover before beginning the long drive down through Tanzania to Dar es Salaam for another stopover, before beginning the palaver of getting the ferry across to Zanzibar.

Zanzibar -

• We had one night in Stone Town, where we did a tour with 'Ali G', who was hilarious & I couldn't take him seriously.Stone Town was interesting, & the narrow, cobbled streets were like a maze. We were also shown the house that Freddie Mercury grew up in, which was a personal highlight of mine (sad, I know!). We then went on a spice tour, appropriate seeing as Zanzibar is the 'Spice Island', which was very interesting & we got to see, smell & taste lots of different things.
• The next 2 nights were spent at the beach - the gorgeous white sand & turquoise blue water was truly amazing. Conor & I challenged ourselves to swim out to some boats just offshore, which was great because the sea was just divine.I tried volleyball for the first time too. On the first day it started raining really heavily but we kept on playing regardless. Then afterwards everyone jumped into the lovely warm sea; I wasn't wearing my swim suit, but jumped in fully clothed seeing as I was already soaked through - it was so lovely & chilled out on Zanzibar! Volleyball turned out to be a bit of a disaster for me though because I bruised my hand & wrist quite badly, but I still enjoyed playing!
• The seafood on Zanzibar was superb, & I tried lobster for the first time ever (it won't be the last time that's for sure!)
• Zanzibar was picturesque; the beaches & crystal clear waters were a dream. I would definitely like to return & spend more time exploring the island.

Malawi

• Malawi has the reputation for having 'the friendliest people in Africa'.
• Chitimba beach - a few of us went on the 'mushroom tour', which was a nice walk to see a waterfall, followed by lunch at the guide's house. We stopped at a little 'mushroom guesthouse & bar', though I didn't really understand the mushroom connection, but the bar provided fantastic views over Lake Malawi.I bought a Malawi chair from one of the curio shops, as did some of the others, & the ordeal of how we were to get them back home then started!
• Kande Beach - this was our chill out time for a few days after a lot of moving on & hours on the truck. We became friends with Steve, Mike & Jay from another tour group, who we hung out with as well.Malawi Lake was good fun because the waves & current were so strong; I felt like I'd been beaten up, but I kept going back for more!We went on a tour of the village & then to the Chief's house for dinner, before heading back to camp for cake & punch to celebrate Sarah's Birthday, followed by a couple of drinking games; though I wasn't feeling 100% & sloped off for an early night. Having said that, I made up for it the following day when I ended up on an all day session with Mikey, for absolutely no reason! It all started with a coffee & Amarula at breakfast. Dangerous!

Zambia

• We had a stopover in Lusaka before reaching Livingstone, the "adrenaline city".
• I wasn't very well, but went along for the sunset "booze cruise" anyway (even though I wasn't drinking), & also went along with the fancy dress theme (I was made up as 'Princess Weetabix' by Anneka - I think I needed a drink to be wearing that outfit!). I think I was the only one who saw & enjoyed the sunset, which was lovely as we were cruising down the Zambezi.
• Once recovered, I managed to do some of the activities available in Livingstone. I was pleased that my ear ache put me off going white water rafting because the others put me off ever going in the future because they had so many horrible stories!
• Microlighting - 15 minutes hovering above Vic Falls was spectacular; the best views were definitely from the air to fully appreciate the size & scale of the Falls, & to fully take them in.Bungee jump, bridge swing, & gorge slide package - this was absolutely AWESOME!! The slide was really tame, but still enjoyable. Next, I bungeed - the 2nd highest bungee jump in the WORLD! Naturally, I was a bit nervous, but excited as well. It was a total buzz, & I would've gone again! Then I did the bridge swing, but I didn't do it properly, so it hurt a bit & I didn't fully enjoy it... so I got another go for free! The second time was much more fun!
• For our last night in Livingstone we all went out for dinner for Nat's Birthday, & also celebrated our day's achievements!
• On leaving Livingstone, we stopped off to view the Falls close up one last time. They are known locally as 'the smoke that thunders' because of all the spray which creates a lot of mist & the incredible sound of all the water crashing. The Falls really did look & sound impressive close up; though the best views were definitely from the air. There was so much spray it looked like it was raining upwards & then it rained back down again on to us - we got absolutely soaking wet!

Botswana

• We only stayed briefly in Botswana. We went on a sunset river cruise down the Chobe, which was really chilled out & we were lucky enough to see elephants swimming as well as several hippo, some crocodiles, & lots of birds, before returning to camp for a braai (BBQ) & an early night.

We then made the huge journey down through Botswana, with one stopover, where Nat, Jay & I had a bit of a fun drinking session, & before we knew it we were crossing over into South Africa to complete the last leg of our trip. Aw.

South Africa

• Our last couple of nights were spent in the Kruger National Park at a lovely campsite - although it was still freezing cold!
• We had a very memorable evening game drive, which was my favourite game drive for several reasons. We were all on a high & having a good laugh together, & laughing at Johann (our mad driver) & "Tom" (our tracker), who just kept disappearing off for walks in the bush looking for animals! It then got even better when we saw a rhino, which we were all excited about because it completed sightings of all of the Big 5. So, imagine how surprised we were when Johann backed up & pulled off the track to go offroading to get closer to the rhinos. This was good until we were blocked by a tree, so we thought we'd blown it?. instead, he stopped briefly, revved his engine, & then drove over the tree! (saying that he was driving in a way that didn't damage any of the trees - we were just 'riding over them'). The drive was just manic, & we had to be careful we weren't taken out by any branches in the process! It was also freezing cold, & we sat in the open jeep inside our sleeping bags, wrapped up in layers of clothing, like it was a British winter! The main highlight was that in that one evening, we saw 4 of the Big 5 up close - so close to the rhinos that at one point one looked like charging at us (a little scary!), & so close to lions I could've stretched outside the jeep & petted them on the head! Close encounters with elephant & buffalo were also impressive & they looked pretty mean up close too. Seeing as the Big 5 are classified as such on the basis of how dangerous they are, from our close encounters with elephant, rhino, lion & buffalo, I can appreciate why they are included as members of the Big 5!
• Our last evening together was fun & very drunken! A few of us stayed up late doing shots. I was so cold (& intoxicated) that I fell asleep spooning the camp fire. When I was woken up I insisted that we didn't go to bed yet, & that we carried on drinking (why?!). My alarm went off at 5.30am, after I had crawled in to my tent at 2am & must have just passed out; I wasn't sure where I was at first when I woke up, & I hadn't even gotten into my sleeping bag but slept on top of it - even though the night was freezing cold! I definitely had my "alcohol jacket" on by that point!

The long drive to Jo'burg was broken up by sleeping on the truck to overcome my terrible hangover! Then before we knew it, we were saying our first goodbyes at the airport, & the group disseminated. It was so sad after spending the last 31 days together, 24/7. The rest of us then headed for our hostel where we chilled out & I "organised" my stuff, before I flew out the next day & said my goodbyes to the remainder of the group, & goodbye to Africa which had been my home for the last 4 months.

....blog to be continued....