After a wonderful final few days in South Africa enjoying
the Drakensberg Mountains and venturing into Lesotho for a day, my next
destination was Livingstone, Zambia. Here I had a few days to enjoy Victoria
Falls and the surrounding area before joining the group I’d be travelling with
for the next three weeks up to Nairobi by overland truck.
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| Top of one of the chain-ladders in the Amphitheatre area of the Drakensberg |
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| At the top of Tugela falls in the Drakensberg Mountains, the world's second highest waterfall , though you wouldn't know it by the quite small amount of water spilling over the edge (being at the top of waterfalls becomes a bit of a theme...) |
Two days were filled up by a great trip over the border
into Botswana to visit Chobe National Park, which included camping out in the bush,
seeing some enormous herds of elephants, lots of baby impala, gorgeous lion
cubs and a fleeting glimpse of a leopard.
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| One reason to keep shoes on while camping in the bush |
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The tiniest baby elephant, only a few weeks old!
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Then it was back to Livingstone to explore the falls. Victoria Falls is an adrenaline junkie’s dream, and while bungee jumping definitely wasn’t on my to do-list, I did make a trip across the top of the falls to Livingstone Island and the Devil’s Pool, a small plunge pool precariously situated at the top of the falls from which the Zambezi waters plunge 110 metres down into the gorge. The walk across the top of the falls was scarily close to the edge, and can only be done in the dry season when there isn't so much water thundering over. Jumping in to the pool and then leaning over the edge looking down the waterfalls (I will add here that this was while someone was holding on to my feet quite tightly) was unforgettable. As was a rather more sedate trip to the Royal Livingstone Hotel to have a lunchtime cocktail sitting on the banks of the Zambezi watching the hippos in the water - one of those moments when I felt extremely fortunate to not be in the office!
After meeting up with my overland group in Livingstone, and being introduced to the truck we’d be spending a large part of the next three weeks in, we set off on the first leg of the journey to Malawi, via Lusaka, Zambia’s Capital, and Chipata, a town near the Zambia-Malawi border.
Into Malawi and we had a few days to enjoy the lake,
staying at two different campsites along the lake shore, and experience a bit
of village life too. Lake Malawi has the greatest number of fish species of any
lake in the world and it was amazing to be able to go snorkelling one day to
see this for myself – none of the spectacular corals or marine life of the
ocean, but a very unique experience seeing such a variety of colourful tropical
fish in fresh water, which was also beautifully calm and warm to swim in
(though I still have my fingers crossed that I don’t arrive home with bilharzia…).
Our second campsite was also by the beach, though swimming wasn’t quite so
relaxing when we found out about a recent crocodile sighting.
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| learning how to make wood carvings |
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| Shores of Lake Malawi |
After four nights in Malawi we had two very long days of
driving into Tanzania, including a frustrating wait at the border crossing and
a search for a new spare tire for the truck. Although the trip entails many
hours on the road, the travelling is enjoyable despite being on the move all
the time. There is so much to see and it’s interesting to observe the changes
in life and landscape as we drive along. The truck is also much higher up than
a car so we get a good view of the surroundings, including giraffes and
elephants when our route took us through a national park.
Now we’re enjoying a few days break from driving
and soaking up the island life on Zanzibar. Yesterday we went snorkelling and were lucky enough just
before we got back on the boat to be joined by a pod of dolphins that swam
around us for about 15 minutes – a beautiful sight and an unexpected bonus to
top off the trip. Today we’re back in Stone Town enjoying getting completely
lost in the small alleyways through the town, bargaining hard in the markets
and getting a good fill of curry and Zanzibar pizzas (not much like a regular pizza
but very tasty!). Tomorrow we head back to Dar Es Salaam and begin our journey
to the Serengeti and Ngorongoro crater
where we have a couple of days of game drives to look forward to. It’s hard to
believe I only have a week left before reacquainting myself with British
weather again!
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| Sunset boat trip from Nungwi |
