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Wow time has flown. Haven't been on the internet in two weeks, so not got a clue what's going on in the world, how Preston are getting on etc etc! Absolutely loving it here, stuff is so cheap - currently paying around 20p for a bottle of beer... Not had any dodgy illnesses yet, though my tent buddy Roger got malaria a week or so ago... Not really a big deal though, few pills from the doctor and he was fine after a day.
Last time I wrote I was in Zanzibar, since then we have travelled down through Tanzania into Malawi, then Zambia and into Zimbabwe and we are now at Victoria Falls staying here for 5 nights on the Zimbabwean side of the river Zambezi.
Zanzibar was great although a little expensive and after 3 days of just relaxing on the beach I was ready to get going again. Had one day of snorkelling where a group of us went out on a boat, snorkelled in the most amazingly clear water with so many colourful fish then had a bbq on the boat with some big fish they had caught that morning!
After Zanzibar we went back to Dar Es Salaam for 1 night which involved a lot of drinking due to the sudden halving of the price of beer, and ended up in the campsite pool in the early hours of the morning! We then had a couple of long drive days (12 hours on the truck pretty much) and crossed into Malawi. Spent a few days at Lake Malawi. Really cool campsite but unfortunately not many other people there. Most places haven't really been very busy - off season - and so haven't met as many other people as I was hoping. Most sites there has only been 1 or maybe 2 other trucks but apparently at other times of the year there can be up to 7 or 8 trucks. Definitely think I picked the right company to do the trip with (thanks Hazel!) as all the others seem to rush the routes and/or cost a lot more. Went out on Lake Malawi in canoes with a few other guys from the truck. We paddled out to a little island in the middle and spent the afternoon jumping off some big rocks 6/7 metres high into the water and watched the sunset! Had a big of a shopping spree at the curio markets buying a few too many wood carvings - can't resist a bargain - which then cost me more to post back home than they did to buy! Got thing like a wooden chair with carvings of all sorts of animals in for about 7 pounds, traded my 5 year old flip flops for some other stuff. The people value our western things which we would probably just throw away so highly here. I wish I'd bought more old junk with me to trade to be honest! The sellers are constantly asking to trade for your tshirt/jeans/watch/sunglasses etc! The carvings are so impressive though, and it's embarrassing in a way when you think how much they would sell for back in the UK and how much the guy's here are selling them for.
After Malawi we spent a few days in Zambia, this was mainly just long drive days, not really any sight seeing, so having to pay $55 US dollars for a visa just to drive straight through the country was a bit annoying! We then crossed into Zimbabwe at Lake Kariba - huge man made lake - driving across the dam from Zambia in Zimbabwe. Everything is so cheap here due to the economy being totally out of control and inflation at 1000's%. I am a millionaire in Zim dollars a currency which apparently used to be stronger than the english pound! The rather cheap alcohol prices meant that everyone ended up saying up drinking round the pool at the campsite. And the following day we didnt leave till 10am which made a change from I think 3 days in a row of 6am starts!
We then had 2 night on a big houseboat on Lake Kariba and had out 'bad taste' party. At a market in Malawi we went and bought each other the most hideous clothes we could find - I ended up wearing a nice pair of shiny red trousers and matching waistcoat. Also hadn't shaved for about 3 weeks so had a nice moustache darkened with mascara or something. The photos will go up at some point! Will probably just wait till I get to Oz with decent pc's and faster internet. The bad taste party was hilarious, fuelled by bucket loads of bunch. Most of us ended up swimming in the (croc proof) cage at the back of the houseboat. On a more sophisticated note I also went on a few hours of walking safaris with a guide with a big elephant gun (half inch calibre!). This was really good as it was great to be walking near animals rather than roaring up to them in a truck in a cloud of dust. We sat at one point for about 20 minutes just watching about 10 elephants 50 metres away grazing and 2 tiny babies just playing. Could have sat there for hours to be honest! Also saw a few crocs and lots of hippos. So surreal just looking around to see a hippo grazing and then a herd of elephants etc etc. The rest of the time on the houseboat was spent relaxing - reading, playing poker ($100,000 buy in) and jumping off the top of the boat into the lake. I was quite happy with just going feet first, but some nutcases where doing flips etc etc off the 8/9 metre drop! We also had people cooking for us so had a right feast and even had a roast dinner which was fantastic! Have actually been eating better than I thought, plenty of fruit etc and the big communal meals and really good - sitting round a campfire.
After the houseboats we spent a couple of days at a big wildlife park called Antelope Parkin central Zimbabwe. They have a big lion breeding program so di a 'lion walk' which was pretty cool and made for some good photos. People did horse riding, elephant riding and swims - amusing to watch- but it was all quite expensive. The highlight though was going out at night taking some 2 year old lions out hunting and seeing them effortlessly take down an antelope all lit up with a couple of spotlights. Their power is even more impressive seen 10 metres away instead of on tv!
We then went to Bulawyo and did another safari attempting to find some rhinos except it absolutely tipped it down, we didn't see any and the guides actually got us lost so there was 20 of us soaked through trudging round some park with the light fading. Ended up ok in the end but was a little worrying as you just trust your guides to be organised with a radio/phone and to know where they are going!
So that was the last 2 weeks, i'm sure there's loads I have missed out. Truck life is great, every evening usually involves sitting round a fire of pool with a few beers, finally getting used to having a pile of clothes for a pillow! Next update will prob be Jo'burg and then a proper update with photo s etc in a week of so when i get to Cairns.
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