out of Africa 24

An absolutely freezing and uncomfortable night, we all suffered, but nothing like waking at dawn and the fire is already smouldering. Perfect place for the first cup of tea. It’s a bit of a travel day today. Many hours but I think that is mainly due to the dodgy road. First stop tho is at a rehabilitation center for the wild African painted dog (just 15 minutes away.) These are beautiful dogs with incredible markings on their coat. There are 2 dogs living there. One called Lucky due the fact she was attacked by a lion and survived. She will live there permanently because her injuries won’t allow her to survive in the wild. There is another who lost her pack as a puppy and they will gently release her to the wild. Back to the bus for the trek to Matsoba National Park. Stopped for lunch just outside Bulowayo. Second largest city in Zimbabwe. Made it to Big Cave Camping ground. Really, really lovely. Hot water, wifi and not as cold as last night.

Today is the day we officially join our new group. We met at a group meeting last night and gave our introductions. It is only a group of 13 and 10 have come from a 10 day tour from Johannesburg through Botswana to Victoria Falls. We are the intruders.  I don’t feel we will be developing the friendships with this new lot that we have with the previous but it’s early days yet. Our first stop today was at a wildlife conservation park supported by Intrepid. As we drove in we saw our old truck and all the crew, so pleased to see everyone( it’s been 24 hours) Really interesting presentation about the work this foundation does. And we met Judge Judy who is tame vulture who has been living at the foundation for well over a decade. She has a broken wing that hasn’t healed well so she can’t fly for mor than a meter or two. She continually grooms herself when boys are around and tends to ignore we females One of the ladies in our trip has a collapse as we are returning to the bus. This lady...

Woke not too early to a beautiful sunrise. Breakfast isn’t till 8am so decided to just sit outside and enjoy the peace and quiet.  Few others started emerging from their tents, so we decided to hunt down an early coffee, hoping somewhere open. A nice surprise for Stuart when he wakes. Last breakfast with most of our travelling crew, before packing up and moving to a new campground to meet with our new tour tonight. It was sad saying our farewells but I believe our paths will  cross again in the next couple of days as we journey to the same places. Arrived at our new campground, Shearwater Explorers Village. As seems to be the hiatus between 2 trips we have decided to upgrade to a room and have a proper shower and sort our packs. A lovely day spent doing a bit of life admin. Spoke with Harry in the UK and some text to and fro with James as he was at work. Heart full. Had lunch with a few of our travel mates at a superb restaurant called Lookout Cafe. Literally on the precipice...

Another day, another border crossing… Super early start so that we may get to the border of Botswana and Zimbabwe when it opens at 6am. Thankfully it’s only about 15 km away. First in line on arrival but the process still managed to take well over an hour. Official duties over, it’s only about a 70 km drive to Victoria Falls. This is where our trip with our current group ends. Our guide, chef and driver and about just under half our group will continue to Nairobi. About 8 will finish their trip completely here and fly home. 3 off us continue south to Johannesburg. The 3 of us will join an established group of 19 travellers as intruders. ( awkward) The relationships that were formed between us all in 3 short weeks is crazy but I know we have made lifelong friends after living so closely together essentially 24 hours a day. Weird couple of days….. Anyhoo, we are in Victoria Falls and are excited to make the most of it. After such a very early start we arrive at our camp ground and quick...

Today is the day we hope to have animal overload. (Apologies in advance for a lot of photos) We start with  dawn 4x4 safari drive through Chobe. Of course as always we are looking forward to seeing a lion or any of the other cats.  Our guide seems to think that is a real possibility This is not to say we aren’t absolutely loving seeing all the other critters. So while in pursuit of the cats, we have come across elephants, giraffe, zebras, warthogs, more impala, pregnant female great Kudu all before stopping for morning tea!! Yes, morning tea supplied by the Lodge.  Nice coffee and a muffin, welcome after such an early start. We started heading for the exit, still hopeful, when we get a call with the news we were keen for. Lions! Apparently in this corner of Chobe there are 2 prides present but there are signs that they are fragmenting due to the number of males growing up to develop their own pride. We came upon a pride of a couple of lionesses and their older cubs. With...