Route

This is the route. Several thousand kilometres over 5 countries. Some of the best time of my life.

Climbing Table Mountain

Arrived in Cape Town a couple of days ago. Its a great city - a real assualt on the senses - colourful, lively, arty and very european.

Today I went to climb up Table Mountain. It was a reasonable climb and I was a bit knackered towards the end, but it didnt take that long. The views from the top were great, and the guy I was climbing up with was a laugh too. It was good to be out of Zimbabwe, where the economy is so messed up they use flour and sugar as currency (no, really). Yesterday I went to the National Art Museum which was really cool too.

Flying over the falls

Decided to take a microlight flight over Victoria Falls yesterday. It was pretty cool, and a little scary. A microlight is basically a hangglider wing with a seat underneath it and a small propeller behind you. I was completely exposed to the air on all sides, just a small seat belt round my waist and my hands holding on the sides. The pilot sat right in front of me and told me all about the falls.

We saw people bathing in a small pool right at the summit, metres away from the edge, and lots of game. I was surprised how many elephanys and hippo you can see up there, and it explains the dead hippo I saw rafting at the base the other day.

Then afterwards had a final meal with the rest of the group before they press on, which was really nice. I was planning to go rafting and riverboarding today, but have developed food poisoning and am able to do very little atm including eating food, so I think the rapids will have to wait. I twisted my neck quite badly when I rafted the other day, and I feel achey all over.

Whitewater with crocodiles

I'm at Victoria Falls, the highest waterfall in the world, and decided to go whitewater rafting on the Zambezi. It was incredible, absolutely terrifying at times, but just amazing.

We started off by climbing down the 120 odd metres from the top of the gorge to the base, down an incredibly rickety staircase which had a broken bannister with huge sections missing, and very steep steps. Then we got in the boat, and paddled upstream to the falls proper. It was one of the most awe inspiring and dramatic sights I've ever seen. Great dark slabs of granite with water pouring over them and crashing down and a vast blue sky.

Then we made for the rapids. We were racing doen the river now, all paddling in time, the guide shouting instructions over the roar of the river. We saw the first rapids coming towards us and went straight for them. The raft rocks up and down as we get churned up, and water is blasted into our faces as we scream and laugh. It was great.

It can be quite demanding. There were more than twenty rapids, and five grade 5 rapids - the hardest rapids in the world. On of the grade fives the raft rocked so far and the water forced me off the boat. I was dragged under the boat and then deep doen underwater. The current pulls you and you feel it dragging you one way and then another like a marionette doll. All I could see was green light and bubbles all around me. I counted to 15 trying not to panic. Then I found myself above water gasping for breath with what looked like mountains of water all around me coming towards me. Way off in the distance I saw the boat, and in a blind panic I swam towards it.

The whole day was incredible. Unlike something like bungee jumping you feel like you have really put some effort in and it lasts all day with incredible scenary. We saw crocodiles along the river as well, and the guides teased us by claiming they were about to eat us all the time. It was great just larking about and having a good time pushing people in.

The day was so great as a whole that it made up for the moments of panic and terror.

Face to face with a lion

We went on a game drive this morning in an open sided four by four. As soon as we got out into the bush we saw a group of 4 elephants bathing, and it was much better than our previous safaris as we were able to get right in close.

About half an hour in we saw a female lion sitting under a tree. We stopped just three or four metres away from her, and she slowly turned to face us. I held eye contact with her for a good twenty seconds or so, and then turned away. There was a frisson of excitement from knowing that she could have bounded into the truck and eaten us if she had chosen to. It was the only game drive I've ever been on where we were so exposed to the animals.

The park we were in, Chobe National Park, has the highest concentration of elephants in the world. At one point we were waiting by the side of a small lake, and a number of elephants started walking towards us from a hill on our left. The small group bacame a larger one, then a few dozen, until there was over fifty elephants walking all around us towards the lake. They were bathing and drinking and making noises and some were even fighting. The view was incredible.

Pressing on

Another 650 kilometres over dirt road today, again starting at 5 after drinking till late yesterday. We've been playing cards on the truck so its all good, and was actually a bit of a laugh, as it can be a bit being wearing stuck on a truck at times. Have been reading my 5th book since starting this trip and my 74th this year about Livingstone meeting Stanley and it's no literary classic but it is a great page turner.

Leaving the Delta

Left the Okavango delta yesterday. It was pretty cool, lots of wildlife, and trekking. We finished off by going on a scenic flight over the river in a tiny biplane that looked like it had been left from WW2. We got the pilot to take our photo before going up, and saw quite a lot of elephants and giraffes as we felw over.

Charged by a Hippo

Hippos are the most dangerous animals in Africa in terms of the number of humans they kll every year. We decided to ho out in our boats to have a quick look at them one suset, yesterday.

We hung around for about half an hour or so, just wandering around. Then suddenly one hippo who has been relatively calm decided to charge at us. It bellowed and started to move towards us, and our polers started to get a bit frantic and poled our boats into the safety of the beds of reeds. It was pretty hairy for a while, and in the end we raced back to camp.

Truly in Africa

Africa obviously has many different sides, but being in Cape Town felt like I was in Europe, and most of Namibia felt like an Arabian desert. Only now in Botswana do I see the small village huts and colourful dress I would associate with Africa.

Okavango Delta

We next headed into Botswana, and straight into the delta of the Okavango river. There are all big game here - lions, elephants, buffaloes, rhino, giraffes and hippoe. We drove for several hours on a truck to get nearby, changed trucks and then went right up onto the shore. Then we changed to dug out canoe, and started to paddle out into a remote island.

We really were out in the middle of nowhere, hundreds of miles from the nearest city. All we could see were beds of reeds for miles around. After a few hours we stopped, and set up camp on a medium sized island - small enough to have no other people living on it, but large enough to have all the big game

Mad Max

We headed north, and stayed at a small town on the border with Angola. We went to a bar, and one slightly sleazy local started trying to chat up the girls in our group. When I spoke to him he started to get a bit mad.

"Ah facking hate the facking inglish" he said in a strong Boer accent. "But ah will tolerate you". He one arm - the other was cut below the elbow as a result of an incident with a crocodile, and he was ardent in his criticism of Britain because of the Anglo-Boer war. I chatted to him a while, and he kept trying to put his half arm round me and asking me if I was "a real man". I left after a while, but apparently he started showing knives to the other Brits.

Night Terror

Although it is very rare, lion have been known to come to tents and eat humans. There was one well documented incident in Kenya where just two lions came and ate hundreds of railway workers over seeveral months.

Etosha has lots of big game including lions and panthers. Our camp was seperated from the game by both a one metre stone wall and an electric fence. This being Africa however, the electricity supply was intermitent and the tour leader teased us saying the lions would come and eat us in the night. All good fun. Until I woke up at 2.40am with a growling noise outside my tent. In my half asleep state I was pretty scared, although it was just a jackal

Etosha National Park

Have just spent two days in Etosha National Park. To be honest, I could describe it in one of two ways - I mean it was cool to see lots of animals, but it also gets a little waring crammed in a truck with thirty other travellers for 11 hours.

We saw in total 16 lions, dozens of zebra and giraffes. And lots of other big game like wildebeest, haartbeest, oryx and countless others. Before I went to a nature reserve I didnt really expect such well known African wildlife like zebras and giraffes and elephants to all share the same habitat and live so close by, but of course I now know they do.


On the first night we saw a couple of elephants and five zebras all drinking from the same well, at sunset, which was pretty cool. You wouldn't believe how big an elephants penis is - its the same length as one of its legs!

It rained when we set up camp so it wasn't that nice camping. But the wildlife was incredible. The animals are all so graceful. As they have so many predators all the grazing animals, the gazelles, the oryx and so on, all have to be able to run fast so they all have very muscular athletic bodies.

Got up at quater to five again this morning and I'm off to the Okavango delta pretty soon.

Seal colony

We passed cape cross to see a colony of seals on the coast. They were pretty horrible to be perfectly honest. They basically lie around all day, and make the most awful noise and they smell like you wouldn't believe. And they fight in the most vicious way. We saw several seals really tearing away at each other, biting into each others flesh, leaving deep dark red gashes.

Cheetah Park

One of the most fun days in a while. We arrived mid afternoon and were taken off to see a cheetah breeding park. We drove in the back of a pick up truck, crammed in like cattle, which added to the excitement. We got to pet a cheetah that had been bred in captivity.

Then came the great part - we left the fenced off enclosure and went off out into the bush again in the back of the truck. There was a slight cage around us, but we were essentially open to the elements.

One girl was particularly worried about lightning striking us, as we could see storm clouds developing around us. A friend of hers had been killed by a lightning strike and she was genuinely scared the same fate would await her.

"Don't worry", said another girl, "ÿou are far more likely to be killed by the cheetahs"

And then, the ominous grey clouds that were hovering above us suddenly broke open and rain hammered down on top of us.

The truck sped back to the camp so that we could get away from the torrential rain, and we got rain blasted into out face. A few of us started laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation.

We got back to camp, changed and then headed back into the bush. Cheetahs are of course the fastest mammals on earth, and far faster than our truck. So you cant race after them as they'll beat you. We had to wait out until they slowly approached us.

They are amazing animals, very graceful, and to see them in the wild was pretty special.

Knackered

It is fairly exhausting doing this trip. We often get up at 4.30 or 5.30 (which is two hours earlier than the British time my body is still partly on), and then drive in a truck all day.

Not everyone is on the trip for the same length of time - some are on for as long as 8 weeks, and some as short as 9 days. It is surprising how close you can become to people in just a few days if you eat, sleep, and travel with them for literally 24 hours a day. So I felt a bit lost when two of the girls i had become particularly close to both left together on monday as they were only doing 9 day tours.

Apartheid

Apartheid ended in South Africa well over a decade ago, but its legacy is everywhere. In East Africa, I was working with local Africans and though there was a divide, it was not between blacks and white, but between the poor locals on the one hand and the students (both African and European) on the other. On this tour you can't really escape the divide. All the people on the truck are white, and the two drivers and the cook who all sit seperately at the front of the truck are black.

I think the biggest divide is economic. We are in a continent where 60% of the population earn a dollar a day or less, and you cant really escape the divide this creates as a westerner. We are staying in relatively basic accomodation - tents, and just eating local food, but still there is an ocean of difference in that for example we would think nothing of spending a dollar on a coffee.

Truly flying

I've been paragliding before, but with an instructor strapped to my back. The place I went to today claims to be the only place in the world where you can learn to paraglide in one day

It was pretty hard work as we basically had to repeatedly climb up a sand dune in the middle of a desert, but it was worth it. Once tyhe instructor had explained what to do, we had complete freedom in the air, and you were truly flying. Just me and a canopy in the sky. The dune was about 70 metres high, and we probably reached about 30 or 40 metres off the ground. It was amazing, and really easy to move around in the air. The landing was really soft too.

It reminded me a bit of Kitty Hawk, where I lived for a couple of months, and where the Wright Brothers first flew from. The landscape is very similar - just endless sand dunes and a sea. The views were great, although I unfortunately broke my camera - the second in 3 days.

Exhaustion

We get up generally about 5am when we are camping, and then quite often we go to bars till late in the night. Even in the most deserted campsite it is still pretty cool, as theres such a big group oif us. But it means I'm gradually losing the ability to function as we generally do activities during the day like trekking or canoeing or climbing up sand dunes.

Today is friday and we're going out to some bars in Swakopmund, a small coastal resort where Brad Pitt and Angelina Joelie recently visited. Its ok, but ythere is little to do besides extreme sports.

If you dream of sand dunes and salty air

We went right into the desert today. We went trekking and wandered through the dunes. It's one of the only places in the world where wind blows on average 50% in each direction which means that instead of moving slowly along as most sand dunes do, these ones stay in the same place and create huge mountainous peaks.

We went on a tour into the desert and it was incredible. There are small spiders that weave special webs in the ground, plants that we saw turn from shrivelled up lumps to coloutful flowers with a tiny drop of water and amazing views.

We climbed up to the top of one dune, which seemed to take forever. The sand blows in your face a bit, but the views are incredible. Then we ran back down, which was one of the best experiences so far. The sand is really soft like snow, and you can run and jump down without fear of injury. It is possible to snowboard down it, but when we all ran down as a group the experience was just amazing.

Fish River Canyon

Went to Fish river canyon -the second biggest canyon in the world, and it was amazing. Views were pretty cool, and I was a bit worried I'd fall of the edge! The days are pretty long though. We tend to stay up late fooling around and chatting, and we get up most mornings at 5.30 or 5am, which is around 3am British time. Sand tends to be blasted in your face a lot of the time, and at times it can be quite physically demanding. But its all good, and I feel like I'm having a bit of an adventure.

Into Namibia

Went canoeing on Orange river (which seperates South Africa and Namibia). It was absolutely superb. The views were incredible. The current was really strong which was a bit scary but it made canoeing a lot easier. It had a sense of unreality about it as the views were so great, but it was amazing.

Then we crossed over the border into Namibia. There is a good sense of group cohesion, and we pass a lot of time playing cards and chatting and stuff. Everyone is in the same boat which is cool, and even the couples are pretty outgoing and chatty.

Setting Off

I have started to get into the swing of things. Cape Town was beautiful, very European, and I got chatting to an English bloke called charlie at the airport who has given up work to play cricket here for 6 months. Sounds cool

Saw Table Mountain briefly and then we headed off into the bush. Theres 30 of us in the tour group, of which 4 are couples and 22 are travelling individually. I was surprised there weren't any groups of people travelling, but its cool to meet so many individuals from all over the world. Theres quite a few Germans a Finn, some English guys and some Dutch. We all get on quite well, and everyone of course speaks fluent english. I was surprised how many girls are travelling round on their own, but its all good. Loads of people are doing round the world trips which makes me quite jealous.

Anyway, its all going well.

Nerves

I haven't been to Africa for three years, and South Africa has one of the highest crime rates in the world, so I was beginning to panic abit before I went out here. My flight arrives into Cape Town at 6.30, and my tour leaves at 8.45 so I have no room for error.

So when my plane was delayed by an hour at the aiport I began to panic a bit.

Africa tomorrow

Right, I suppose I should be excited about going, but at the moment, Im just worried I've forgotten about stuff. I feel I should know a little bit about Africa now that I have read a couple of dozen books on the region, but really I know bugger all about it.

The few weeks have been a bit gruelling because I've been going out quite a bit, so tonight just quiet leaving drinks before I dash off first thing tommorrow. Train to Reading, then train to Manchester, then another train, then flight to Cape Town, then a mad dash from the airport to the truck that will be taking me out into the wilderness. Theres going to be a bit of a mad dash from the airport to central cape town to get on the truck, and hopefully it'll go smoothly. But knowing me, something will mess up somewhere along the line.