Now, to summarise eight days in the time I can buy with the 16,500 kwacha remaining in my wallet? at about 3000 kwacha to the dollar, it's pretty much lose change but I won't be able to use it anywhere but Zambia.

Okay, so cast your mind back to last Thursday (12 July).What were you doing?Me?I was getting on a truck with 23 others (plus Zak and Amy, our driver and tour leader) and getting out of Johannesburg as fast as Wami (the truck) could take us.This group of 23 (mostly Brits, with a smattering of Aussies, us 2 kiwis and a solitary Belgian) were together for the first week, from Jo'burg to Livingstone, after which 13 of us are going up to Nairobi (with a different truck, driver, guide, and extras who started in Cape Town) and the others are going through Namibia and down to Cape Town.

This first day we drove about 500kms to Bushman's Camp, which is about 30kms from the entrance to the Kruger National Park (South Africa's biggest).The camp itself was a surprise, a good one.It had all the facilities and had a cool vibe.Meals were prepared for us (including authentic African cuisine like impala stew and pup [cracked maize]), and we were waited on like it was a five star hotel (with canvas walls in the bedrooms).Not quite the roughing-it African experience I'd envisioned but we all appreciated being eased in to overlanding.

On that first night we got into two open game-viewing 4WDs for a night drive in the private Thornybush Game Reserve.This was where we had a lot of firsts: first elephant, first impala, first buffalo? and we saw some things we haven't seen since like secretary bird and grey-tailed mongoose, but the real highlight was when we encountered a group of about six young male lions who had gathered around a new male in quarantine which the park had purchased to refresh the gene pool.Luckily, the lions were more interested in each other than us, and we got with arms reach of them at times.The sound of a young male lion running past you at full speed is something I hadn't bargained on experiencing on my first night on tour? it was such a rush.

The next day was our full day game drive at Kruger, leaving at 6am and returning to camp at 5pm.It was freezing to begin with, and although it warmed up during the day, it was still pretty cool on the back of the 4WD (and there were a lot of chapped lips at camp afterwards from the wind).Here's a list of things we saw: giraffe, impala, kudu, waterbuck, steenbok, elephants (lots), zebra, warthog, buffalo, blue wildebeest, ostrich, yellow-billed hornbill, saddle bill, terrapin, crocodile, hippos, hyenas, lion, guinea fowl, baboons, bakela eagle, fish eagle, spotted eagle owl, water iguana, vulture and a few more types of birds I didn't catch the name of.

After the day animal spotting, the children of the staff at camp danced for us.They ranged in age from three to about twelve.They did some traditional dancing, then at the end busted out there new moves.Seeing the two three years olds bust out a kind of robot dance for the new generation was a highlight.So so cute.(See the photo!).

On Saturday we left Bushmans and drove North, eventually crossing into Botswana.My memories of driving through Botswana involve a lot of donkeys, goats and little round houses.

The highlight of Sunday (another 400kms travel) was a visit to the village of Nata.We were shown around by a volunteer (his real profession is accountant) who showed us the hautla (village court) and explained how it operated.Then we went to visit Mama Jota's compound, where she made us 'fat cakes' (I've forgotten the local word for them, kinda like donuts), and we also got to sample traditional fruits and berries.

That night we arrived at our camp called Elephant Sands and were treated to some more culture, this time an evening with some Kalahari Bushmen (the one's with clicks in their language).They showed us how they make rope, trap birds and dance.In the morning two of the bushmen took us for a nature walk.We saw lots of tracks (elephant, lion, impala, kudu) and droppings (including giraffe) but there were too many of us to quietly sneak up on any animals.

Monday night we went on a cruise on the Chobe River.It was awesome.Saw so many elephants, hippos and crocs (as well as other animals) and took 150 photos.The sunset was spectacular.

Tuesday we left Botswana and, after a dodgy ferry ride across the Zambezi, entered Zambia.We arrived in Livingstone at 11am and went straight to the Victoria Falls.Spent hour and a half there and was blown away.They are just so massive, and there's so much water going over the 1.7km long edge it's hard to fathom.

In the evening our whole truck went on the "booze cruise", a sunset cruise on the Zambezi (upriver from the falls) with all the food and drink provided.Proved the perfect way to end this part of the tour and say goodbye and good luck to those in our party splitting off to go elsewhere.After the cruise we danced back at the campground.The power kept going out, so we had to do with Bushman's dance to summon it back on (with the help of Amy, our tour leader, and Jaime who works at Elephant Sands but came to Livingstone with us for a few days).

The last three days in Livingstone have been spent doing adventure/adrenaline activities and doing washing and trying not to eat at the expensive and crappy restaurant at our camp.Wednesday was white water rafting on the Zambezi, but because it was high water, it only went to grade 4, and we skipped the first 10 rapids, so Meze and I found it tame.

Thursday was spent abseiling, zip-lining (flying fox) and gorge swinging at the Batoka Gorge.The abseiling was so-so.Done it all before.But the zip-line was hooked up so you were attached from your back and had to run up and leap out into the gorge and flew like Superman as far as you could across the gorge before they hauled you back.The gorge swing was the scariest.Did it tandem first, and had to go backwards and lean back until we fell off the edge and free fell about 50m until the swing kicked in.Then we did it solo and front on, meaning we had to actually jump off the cliff face.The fall was a lot scarier feet first but it was such a rush.I'd do it again.Still not fussed about bungy jumping though.

This morning we went in microlights over the Vic Falls.The 15 min flight felt a lot longer and the views were just awesome.The photos don't do it justice.

So that's the low down.I feel a bit spoilt so far, with the people we've been on tour with, the places we've stayed and the food, the things we've been able to see? and sure, Livingstone itself s***s me (touristy but inefficient, not a good mix) and you can never count on having electricity, and yesterday we were without our stuff for 9 hours coz our truck had to take another group to Kasane then couldn't get back across the boarder, but, as we've come to say: TIA (This Is Africa), and all in all, I don't want to be any where else right now.

Craig