14 March: Flight from Port Elizabeth to Jo'burg and then from Jo'burg to Windhoek. Arrived in our fab hotel at 5.30 and met my group before heading out to dinner. There were about 30 people at dinner so very hard to figure out whos who! Dinner was great - a lovely restaurant which specialised in game meat. I had to try game so had a Naminian bush fire special consisting of ostrich, springbok and orynx. All meats were lovely and would have them again.

15: March: Up early and packed up the truck for our drive into Botswana. Border crossing went smoothly enough. We stopped for lunch at the side of the road before arriving at Ghanzai trail blazers camp site at 3pm. Steve our driver immediately started on dinner. I don't know how he does it. Myself and Christina upgraded from our tents into a bushman hut for $5. It is an exact replica of where and how the bushmen live. It had a bed and a mossie net so all good.

Ghanzi is in the Kalahari desert and traditional bushmen still live in this area in the manner in which they lived thousands of years ago. We took a walk through the bush with some of the locals and they showed us how they survived in the bush. They were dressed in their traditional dress of leather and fur skins and some of the women were topless. They showed us the different use for plants including plants used for infertile couples, tummy upsets, muscular pain, plants used to give strength and energy and plants used to brush their teeth and keep them healthy. They also showed us how they light a fire with just wood and get water from local plants and food from wild watermelon. It was very interesting.

There are only 2000 approx bushmen living in the traditional way now a deduction of hundreds of thousands. The bushmen hunt wild animals and survive from the land. There are many reasons for the decline in the population some of them the subject of recent court cases relating to heritage areas and national parks.

Dinner was amazing - macaroni and cheese and then bread and butter pudding for dessert. We then all sat around the campfire chatting for a few hours before going to bed in our bushman hut.

16 March: We made our way to Maun, the gateway to the Okavango Delta and we spent a time in the town getting supplies for the Delta. There were lots of markets in the town also and I picked up a few things from the locals! We enjoyed the free internet and pool while some others took a flight over the delta. We enjoyed dinner at the campsite that night before bed.

17 March: Happy Saint Patricks Day. To mark the occasion I got green eyeliner and painted a green shamrock on everyone's face for Paddy's day! I had my green Irish rugby jersey on as well to mark the occasion. (Thanks Siobhan!) We packed up all our supplies and took a speedboat to the buffalo fence surrounding the Delta doing a bit of bird and cattle spotting along the way. At the Buffalo fence we transferred all our supplies and ourselves 2x2 in macoras - hollowed out tree logs that look like canoes. Each macora had a poler who poled us for two hours through the delta to our campsite on an island in the delta. We were wild bush camping and so set about setting up camp for the night, collecting sticks for our camp fire to cook dinner and digging a hole in the ground to act as our toilet for the next few days. We went swimming in the delta after checking for signs of hippos and crocs which was very refreshing given the heat. Voice one of the local polers and guides brought us on a bush walk before dinner showing us the different plants used by the locals as medicine. We also saw all the animal footprints, termite mounds and different birds. The sunset was amazing. Dinner was pork chops and a tomato sauce cooked over the open fire. Amazing! It was also Christine's birthday so GP made a fab apple cake for dessert. We chatted around the fire for a bit before heading to bed in our wild campsite. I would be lying if I said I had a good night's sleep. The sounds definitely scared me and I kept remembering the warnings given earlier by the guides saying eh elephants and hippos will just walk through the tent if its in its way! The sound of the hippo only yards from my tent didn't help the sleeping either but its all part of the experience!

18 March: Up early for our morning bush walk on a neighbouring island. We took the mancoras to the island and again Voice brought us through the bush, this time on a much longer walk. The cooler temperature and larger island allowed us greater sightings of the wild animals. We saw lots of Zebra, antelope, wilderbeast, giraffe, and the highlight of the walk - a mammy and daddy elephant with their little baby. So cute! We also saw a snake on the way back - very poisonous so I stayed well away! We stopped to view the hippos in the Delta on the way back. Brunch was omelette with sausage before spending the day relaxing in the pool and playing cards. We went out to see more hippos later in the evening before dinner of roasted lamb and spuds and toasted marshmallows over the open fire. Our guides then performed some local songs and dances for us and they were amazing with harmonies and animal sounds etc. We then sang for them - the hokey coakey!! Was a fun night though!

19 March: After packing up camp we made our way back to Maun by mancora and speedboat where Steve had lunch of vegetable fritters waiting for us. We then hit the road and headed for Gweta where we camped alongside the ancient Baobab trees. GP rustled up an amazing mango chutney chicken dish for dinner as Steve started with initial preparations for tomorrows dinner.

20 march: We made our way to Kasane along the elephant highway where we managed to spot some elephant. Kasane is the gateway to Chobe National Park and is situated on Chobe river where the Chobe and Zambezi rivers meet, creating a border area for four countries - Namibia, Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe. We all did the sunset cruise along the Chobe river that night and it was magical. We saw so many animals all coming to the water to drink. We saw baboons, antelope, guana, hippo, kudu, lots of elephant (Chobe National Park is known for its high elephant population), buffalo and crocodile. We got so close to the animals and even got stuck in the reeds a number of times which was scary given our proximity to these deadly animals. But the highlight of the cruise came at the end when we saw a herd of elephants big and small walk along the riverfront in line past our boat and line up to drink. We were so close and it was amazing. We enjoyed the amazing sunset before heading back to camp for our last camp dinner as a group. GP, Steve and Craig outdid themselves and prepared an amazing three course meal for us all with candles and decorations and a tablecloth. So special. Veg soup was for starters with a venison pie for mains which took two days to prepare. It contained kudu and pork and sherry and a freshly prepared pastry. Amazing. Dessert was jam tarts before spending the night drinking and chatting.

21 March: Up early for a game drive in Chobe National park. Was very cool but given the success of yesterdays river safari it was going to be hard to beat it! We saw lots of animals though including warthog, hippos, birds, guinea foul, kudu, giraffe, baboon (including mating baboons!), mongoose, and many herds of buffalo.

After the game drive we made our way across the border to Zambia without any incident thankfully. We arrived at our campsite the Zambezi waterfront at lunch and after our activity briefing had the day to ourselves. Campsite is located right on the zambezie river and lovely sunset views from the bar and pool.