The Smoke that Thunders

 Hello Again! We have been having lots of fun at Victoria Falls. 

Friday morning we were up early and headed off to the Lion Encounter. At the lion encounter we spent an hour walking with two lion cubs, aged about 4 months and 6 months old. The cubs play together, climb trees and explore, and while they are relaxing and calm we are able to pet them. They were adorable and beautiful, and it was amazing to get to spend so much time with them. When these cubs reach 18 months, they will no longer be walked and will start to be reintroduced to the wild, where they will hopefully have cubs that will be free from human interaction. They are initially released into a 500 acre enclosure, where they will begin learning to hunt their own food and fend for themselves. After that stage they are released in to a larger environment, where they will have to compete with other predators such as hyena etc. From there they can be released into wildlife parks. 

(You might notice we have sticks, these are not for hitting the lions, rather they can be used if the lion is focusing on you, i.e. making eye contact, you can scratch your stick in the sand, which usually distracts them). 

We headed back to the hotel for a couple of hours to relax before heading out again. We caught a taxi to the Royal Livingstone Hotel, the fanciest hotel in town. From there we took a short boat ride across the Zambezi River to Livingstone Island. This is the area where David Livingstone first viewed the Victoria Falls on his expedition to Africa. We explored the island for a while, with some stunning views from the top of the falls. From there, we jumped in to the river, just a few meters upstream from the falls, and made a short swim out to another small island. I was very nervous for this swim. In the picture you can see some buoys and ropes on the left side of the photo, we swam across the river just slightly upstream from there. On the right hand side of the photo, you can see the water going over the falls. I made it across just fine, though there was a split second where I was hit by a really strong current, that I had a moment of panic, but other than that it was easier than I expected. Once on this small rocky island, we climbed down in to the Devil’s Pool. The Devil’s Pool is a small, natural pool created by the rock formation at the edge of the falls. The pool is about 5 meters deep in the middle, but right at the edge of the falls there is a rock ledge that creates an infinity pool effect. So you can sit on the edge of the falls, relatively safely. (There have been a few deaths reported). The pool is only open at low water, as during high water there is too much water coming over the falls. It was an amazing place to be! We got out of the pool and made the short swim back to Livingstone Island, and there we enjoyed a fabulous 3 course lunch and drinks. It was an amazing meal, especially as it was being prepared in a bush kitchen! After lunch, we did the short boat ride back (and saw a few hippos in the water) and returned to our hotel. We relaxed in the evening with our travel mates and shared stories of everyones days. 

This morning Cody headed off on a jet boating trip on the Zambezi River. I had done a jet boat trip in Brazil at the falls, and it is quite expensive here, so I decided not to join him. I’ve enjoyed a relaxing morning at the hotel. 

This afternoon we are going to venture to the curio market, and try and improve our bartering skills. 

Tonight we are having dinner with the new group that we will travel with for the next week. Tomorrow morning we leave to cross the border to Zimbabwe. You can also access Victoria Falls from the Zimbabwe side, so we will hopefully get another chance to view these beautiful falls tomorrow. 

We will try to send another update when we reach Johannesburg (the end of our journey!) on Friday or Saturday. I can’t believe we are already down to the last week of our trip, it doesn’t seem possible that four weeks have already gone by! 

Miss you all! 

The part of the river we had to swim across, on the left side of the photo.  

Delta and Chobe

Hi Everyone! We’ve arrived in Victoria Falls this afternoon, are are looking forward to spending three nights in the same place! We’ve also upgraded to a simple room, with luxuries such as lighting, a bathroom, a fan and beds! 

Last Saturday we left Windhoek and crossed the border in to Botswana, and spent that night near a small town called Ghanzi. 

On Sunday we continued on to Maun, and we arrived at our campsite early enough to enjoy the pool and bar. 

On Monday we left from our campsite at Maun in boats, and travelled up the river for about 45 minutes in motor boats. There we transferred in to mokoros (a traditional dugout canoe, paddled by a poler). We take our overnight bag, sleeping bags, and water in the mokoro with us, and sit on top of the mats that we use for sleeping. Our tents are taken in another mokoro along with additional gear and food. There are two people per mokoro, plus the poler who stands at the back and steers and pushes you through the water. It was about an hour by mokoro, to reach our remote campsite in the Okavango Delta. The mokoro ride was beautiful and in some ways peaceful, but also it felt very unstable, so it felt like you were going to tip over in to the water at any moment. Also, you are gliding though the reeds, and there are many spiders and insects in these reeds, so occasionally you will have a spider or large insect on you but you can squirm or panic, as that would surely tip the mokoro! So it was a bit stressful for both me and Cody, though other people must of enjoyed it as several other people said they had fallen asleep! Right before we arrived in to our basic bush camp, our poler did find us this cute little Long Reed Frog. He was quite enjoyable! We got in to our camp, where we set up our tents. There are no facilities here, so it is a very basic evening of camping. We spend the afternoon relaxing around camp, and in the late afternoon we headed out on a game walk. It was pretty uneventful, we had seen some elephants from our camp, and we saw some more on the game walk from a distance, but mostly the walk consisted of animal tracks and animal poop. We did see two zebra carcasses, which was interesting. They had apparently been killed by lions in the past couple of days. They were quite surreal looking. 

The next morning while packing up we discovered a baboon spider on our tent, which was unpleasant. We had breakfast at our basic bush camp, then loaded up back in the mokoros and headed back out of the delta. It was an interesting experience, but we were both a bit relieved to have the mokoros, and all the bugs behind us! We got back to our main camp, where we had left our main luggage and truck for the night. We headed out from there on to the town of Gweta. We spent the night there, in a beautiful campsite surrounded by huge baobab trees, and we had time for a much needed shower and drink at the bar. 

Wednesday morning we continued on to Chobe National Park, home to the largest elephant population in Souther Africa. We headed out on a sunset boat cruise on the Chobe River and spotted many elephants, hippos, crocodiles, buffaloes and other birdlife. We saw this elephant and hippo facing off on land, and then the hippo headed in to the water, and the elephant followed him, where they seemed to have a bit more of a showdown, but eventually the hippo disappeared under the water. 

This morning we had a bit of a sleep in, and left camp to cross the border in to Zambia. The border crossing took quite a while, but eventually we arrived in Zambia. We stopped in town to pick up water and some supplies, and then to our campsite area on the Zambezi River. 

As mentioned, we spend three nights here, so we are looking forward to exploring the falls and the activities in the area. Tonight we are heading out to a group dinner, and that will be our final dinner with the people we have been traveling with for the last 20 days or so. From here, there are 6 of us that will stay together and join up with another truck and group when we leave Victoria Falls. 

I will plan to post again on Saturday with an update from our days here in Livingstone. 

Miss everyone! 

the watering hole

On Monday we left Swakopmund and drove to Twyfelfontein, an area known for its prehistoric rock engravings from the early Stone Age. We went on a short walk to explore some of these rock engravings. Then to set up camp for the night. 

On Tuesday we drove to Eosha National Park, where we camped for two nights. It was nice to stay somewhere for two nights, which means we aren’t taking down and putting up the tent everyday. We went on some wonderful game drives though the parks, we saw several rhinos (which was exciting for me, as I didn’t see any rhinos on my last African trip) even a baby rhino, a couple of lions, zebra, giraffe, a hyena, elephants, jackals, springbok and a beautiful leopard.

The campsite that we stayed at had a watering hole within walking distance, so when we weren’t out on game drives or preparing meals, we spent time at the watering hole. There is a fence and sitting area, where you can sit as long as you want and watch the animals come and go from the watering hole. We saw several giraffes at the watering hole, and one evening we saw a group of lions drinking from the watering hole. They were amazing, and even after they left the watering hole and we were back in our tent, we could hear them roaring. 

We visited another watering hole while out on a game drive, and there a family of elephants visited and splashed water and mud on their bodies to cool off. 

We also saw this stunning leopard, laying right beside the road. She was simply amazing. I hoped to share a photo, but the internet here seems too slow. 

We left Etosha on Thursday and travelled to Waterberg Plateau. Most of the group did a hike up to the top of the plateau, but we choose to hang out back at the camp and relax. 

Today (Friday) we travelled to Windhoek, the capital of Namibia. Here we are staying in a hotel for one night, so another nice break from camping. We got in around 1pm, and spent the afternoon relaxing at the hotel pool. We are going out for a group dinner tonight, which will be nice. 

Tomorrow we leave Windhoek, and cross the border from Namibia in to Botswana. 

Hope all is well back at home, miss everyone! Next chance for an update will be in about a week or so when we reach Livingstone. 

68 km/hour

Hi again! This is my second post today, so make sure you check out my earlier post (scroll down). We had a great morning in the desert today sand boarding! The only bad part was the trek back up the dune carrying the boards!

There were two activities, stand up sand boarding, which is basically just snowboarding on sand.

(Briana sand boarding down the dune)  

And lie-down sand boarding, basically like riding a sort of crazy carpet head first, down the dunes. They had a speed gun at the bottom, and I was reaching speeds of 68 km/hour! It was super fun! 

(Briana trying out the lie-down sand boarding) 

That is me, heading down the dune! 

(Briana, lie down boarding. I will go all the way to where you can see two little black dots to the left of where I am in this photo, just by the start of a ridge to climb back up)  

(Cody sandboarding, he didn't hit the jump)

You may wonder why I am wearing long pants and a long shirt in the desert, unlike the other desert we were in a couple days ago where it was very hot, the area near Swakopmund can be very cold. It did warm up to be a nice day, and during the trek up the dune I was sweating, but at the top it was cold! 

Lots of fun! Cody is out now at his quading in the desert, so hopefully that is just as much fun (and it probably won't be as hard!). 

Dunes and Desert

Yesterday we arrived in Swakompund, which brings luxuries such as Internet, ATM’s, restaurants and we are even sleeping in a hostel for two nights to give us a break from camping. 

On Monday we left Cape Town and travelled north. We set up camp for the first time and then a few of us went for a wine tasting that consisted of tasting 6 wines from the local area. It was fun and most of the wines were very good. We headed back to our camp for dinner and then to bed for our first night in the tents. 

Tuesday we continued north to the Orange River, on the border of South Africa and Namibia. We set up camp there and had lunch, and then we had the rest of the afternoon free. I relaxed in the sun and read my book while Cody chatted to Whycliff, one of our tour guides. We had dinner at camp and headed to bed. 

Wednesday we crossed the border in to Namibia and travelled to our camp, near the Fish River Canyon. We set up camp there and had lunch. After lunch the group headed out to the Fish River Canyon. Unfortunately Cody wasn’t feeling too well, so he stayed at camp. Fish River Canyon is the largest canyon in Africa and one of the largest in the world. We went for a short walk along the rim of the canyon and then had drinks and dinner while watching the sun set at the canyon. We headed back to camp and headed to bed. 

Thursday we drove to the Namib Desert and set up camp. Then we went on a short walk, exploring Sesriem Canyon. Then it was time for dinner and cleanup and bed. 

Friday was a good day. We were up early and drove to Dune 45. We climbed along the crest of the dune, up and up and up. We climbed in bare feet, and at first the sand was really cold as it was still dark out. It was hard climbing through the sand, you took little steps and it felt like being on one of those exercise steppers where you keep climbing and climbing. Eventually we made it to the top of the dune as the sun rose in the desert. It was amazing and beautiful. After some photos, we began heading back down the dune, which was much funner. Some people ran down the side of the dune, but we headed back along the crest of the dune. At the bottom, our guide Whycliff had breakfast ready for us (eggs and bacon and beans). We had breakfast there and then headed off again for the next part of the day. 

We drove to Sossusvlei and then loaded up on to smaller 4x4 trucks that would take us deeper in to the dessert to the Dead Sossusvlei. They dropped us in the dessert, but from there we still had to hike about 20 minutes in the heat, though more sand to reach the Dead Sossusvlei. Finally we reached the area which is a dry clay pan, with dead trees and surrounded by huge dunes. It doesn’t sound very nice, but it was a stunning place. We wandered around, taking photos, and then it was time to hike back to the trucks. The walk out in the heat was even worse, but we made it. Cody enjoyed the 4x4 drives through the sand back to our waiting truck. From there we headed back to our campsite from the previous night, where we took down our tents and made lunch. 

Then we packed up and continued on to our next campsite. Along the way we stopped at a little ‘town’ called Sollitaire, which had several old cars, abandoned and rusty. 

When we arrived we set up our tents and had time for a quick drink in the bar before heading out in to the desert with a Boersman guide. He was a member of a traditional tribe and he was amazing fellow who told us about how they found water in the desert, showed us spider burrows, and told us of the time he was bitten by a cobra and sucked the venom out using a plant found in the area. The sun set and we headed back to our camp for dinner, clean up and bed. 

The days have been full and we have moved campsites every day so far, which means taking the tents down every morning and setting them up every night. There are 22 people (including us) in our group, plus our two guides. We all pitch in around camp to do things like unload the chairs and tables for mealtimes, help Whycliff with chopping food and preparation at mealtimes, dishes, and packing the tents and mattresses in to the truck. All of this work keeps us pretty busy, especially when we are moving every day. Most of the campsites have had bars and pools so far, but we have had little time to enjoy the facilities as we are so busy! It will be nice to have a short break here in Swakopmund where we get to sleep in real beds and eat at restaurants instead of preparing our own food. The accommodation in Swakopmund is in hostel dorm rooms, but Cody and I have upgraded to have our own room. 

When we arrived in Swakopmund we had time for a shower and then headed out for a township tour (essentially the poor area). It was really interesting, in total there are about 24000 people living in the township area. There are about 7000 people living in the poorest part of it, where the houses have no electricity and no water. About 10 people live in a house, and two houses will share a toilet. While we were there Cody was even brave enough to eat a caterpillar! 

Today we are heading out sandboarding this morning, and in the afternoon Cody is going quading while I will probably relax at the hotel, or wander through some shops. 

The next chance we will get to update will probably be in Windhoek (on Friday), but the internet is not great here, so don’t panic if you don’t hear from us! 

Miss you all! 

relaxing in Cape Town

(Cody at the V & A Waterfront with Table Mountain in the background)

Since our scheduled 2nd shark dive was cancelled due to bad weather, we’ve had two relaxing days in Cape Town, enjoying sunshine, shopping the food and craft markets, visiting the aquarium, and listening to the local musicians. 

We’ve just left our hotel at the waterfront and have checked in to the hotel where our tour begins. Our tour group will have an intro meeting tonight at 6pm where we will meet our tour guide and fellow travellers. Then we will probably go out for a group dinner. 

Tomorrow we are heading out at 6:20am and making our way north to Cederberg. Not sure when we will have internet again, but we look forward to updating again soon! 

Miss everyone! 

(Local Performers at the Waterfront) 

(Briana at the Penguin enclosure at the Aquarium) 

(Penguin at the aquarium) 

a day of sharks, penguins, and stunning views

(Cody on the boat, as a shark swims against the cage) 

Well we are back from our shark cage diving experience with all our limbs (amazingly)! 

We were picked up from our hotel at 5:15am and driven to Simon’s Town. From there we headed out on the boat with African Shark Eco Charters and headed to Seal Island, which was about a half hour boat ride from the harbour. Once there, we watched for natural predations (sharks hunting the seals on the surface), which mostly involved a lot of splashing, and was very difficult to photograph as it was incredibly quick, and you never knew where the next attack was going to happen. It was pretty amazing to watch though. 

Then we towed a decoy seal behind the boat, hoping for an attack which didn't  come. 

Then it was time to get suited up and into the cage. Getting suited up involves trying to cram your body in to a wetsuit, booties, and hood quickly, because while you are trying to wrestle the neoprene up around your thighs, everyone else (who isn’t getting ready yet, because it isn’t their turn) is shouting SHARK SHARK! It was a bit intense! So wetsuit, booties, hood, mask, weight belt…and GO! Into the cage! 

Inside the cage they pass you a regulator (a tube through which you breathe), and you are supposed to put your hands on a horizontal bar inside the cage, and hook your feet under another horizontal bar near the bottom of the cage to keep you from floating. And then you watch the bait for sharks. It sounds relatively simple. 

Well first of all, it turns out that I am more scared of being locked in a cage and trying to breathe through a regulator than I expected. So the first sixty seconds or so, I spent having a panic attack and trying to gasp for air at the surface of the cage. 

Ok, so then I’ve somewhat got my breathing under control, so I better get my hands and feet on these bars. The cage is tied up against the boat and is rocking in the swell, and banging against the boat, and your body is trying to float, despite the weight belt. And you are grabbing on to anything, trying to keep your body upright and then you realize that isn’t the bar inside the cage that you are supposed to be holding on to, that is the cage and a shark could pass by at any point and rip your arm off. Ok, so then you find the right bar inside the cage to hold on to, but the bar at the bottom of the cage is way below you and there is no way you can get your feet down there, but now your legs have floated up behind you and are sticking out of the back of the cage (the cage is up against the boat, but the boat has a very shallow bottom, so sharks can approach from all sides). So you pull your legs back in to the cage before they are severed from your body, and manage to hook them under that bar. Ok, now you are ready! 

Then you watch, and wait. The cage is rocking in the waves and banging up against the boat. You are gripping the bars with all your strength trying to stay in place, at the same time trying to watch 360 degrees around you. The water seems so dark, then all of a sudden, out of nowhere, there is a massive shark gliding past. Wow. We saw two sharks pass by the cage. They are amazing. Silent. Huge. Graceful. Stunning. 

The next batch of people to get in the cage had a great white swim right up against the cage. Cody of course was disappointed that we weren’t in the cage at that moment. I am sure that if it had come that close to me, it would of inevitably eaten one of my random limbs protruding from the cage. 

Cody went into the cage again for a second round, I had already ripped half my wetsuit off, and was exhausted from simply trying to be in the cage I opted not to go again. Cage diving is definitely harder than it looks on tv, but also much more amazing. He saw a beauty shark come right up and at the bait against the surface of the water.  

Finally, reluctantly, it was time to head in. On the way back we saw southern right whales breaching and slapping their fins on the water. 

From there, we headed to Boulders Beach where there is a colony of African Penguins. It is a stunning beach, with adorable little penguins running all over the place. Swimming, climbing on rocks, waddling around the beach. I could of spent all day there! 

We continued south from Cape Town to Cape of Good Hope. We stopped for lunch, and then did a bit of exploring. There were nice paths for walking, and beautiful scenic views. There were tons of walking trails, and I also wished I could spend all day exploring! It reminded me of Capri, Italy (partly because we took a funicular to get to the top) because of it’s beautiful windy trails over stunning rocky beach views. Really pretty place. 

We took the scenic route back to Cape Town, along the gorgeous coastline. We arrived back to our hotel exhausted, but it was a great day full of many amazing and beautiful things! 

We checked out our photos from the day, had dinner and celebratory margarita, and again discussed how amazing the sharks were. 

We were supposed to go cage diving again in another area the next day, however the tour has been cancelled due to ocean conditions. We have tentatively rebooked that for Sunday morning, however the conditions don't look much better, so that will likely be cancelled as well. We are being positive, and grateful that we were able to get out and see the sharks at all. 

Today we will do a bit of laundry, check out the aquarium and explore the V & A Waterfront, a lovely area of shops, markets and restaurants. 

(Penguin Colony at Boulders Beach)

(At Cape Point)

(At Cape of Good Hope)

Arrived in Africa

Well we have finally arrived in Cape Town. Yesterday was a long day. We checked out of our hotel, and tried hanging out by the pool at our hotel for a while in the shade, but that didn't last long. We staggered through the heat to grab a quick lunch, and then headed to Dubai Mall (the largest mall in the world) - mostly for some air conditioning! We wandered around there, had dinner, watched a movie, and watched the fountain show outside the mall - in front of the Burj Khalifa (which is currently the tallest building in the world). We headed back to our hotel and went to the airport. We were really early for our flight, but we were exhausted so we just hung around the airport until finally our flight left at 3:50am. We both slept most of the way, so that was good. We arrived into a sunny Cape Town, with a lovely, refreshing temperature of around 24. We made our way to our hotel by the waterfront in Cape Town, Protea Breakwater. We had a yummy lunch out by the waterfront, with a margarita to celebrate our arrival to Africa. We wandered through some shops at the waterfront, and I wished I was able to fill my suitcases with beautiful african goods.
We are just having a relaxing afternoon, and will get to bed early tonight, so we are ready to go for our early pick up tomorrow for a day of shark diving!

a day in Dubai

Thanks to the jet lag and time change we were up early. We had a delicious breakfast at our hotel, a huge variety of foods to try. From there we headed out to Jumeirah Beach to check out the Burj Al Arab (pictured above). It was still before 10am, but it was already sweltering and we waded in the water to cool off, but the ocean was already warm like a bathtub. That wasn't too refreshing so we headed to Wild Wadi Waterpark. We enjoyed the morning there, relaxing in the lazy river, riding watersides, and Cody had a blast on the flowrider.
In the afternoon we headed back to our hotel to get a break from the heat. Along the way Cody enjoyed pointing out all the high end cars. We were both exhausted from the heat and jetlag, so we had a lazy rest of the day.

Today we have to check out of our lovely (air conditioned) hotel, and we don't fly out until almost 4am, so we will be trying to stay cool today. We are planning to hang out by the pool for a while, and then head to the Dubai Mall.

I am looking forward to the cooler temperatures of Cape Town!

(Our toes from the Wild Wadi Wavepool, with the Burj Al Arab in the background) 

(Cody on the flow rider)

(At our hotel, ready to head out for the day) 

Our adventure has begun

Well we have made it to Dubai and our adventure has officially begun. On Saturday we did a lot of walking in Vancouver, checked out Granville Island, and picked up some last minute items. 

Sunday was the big day and we flew from Vancouver to Seattle, and then Seattle to Dubai. The flight was a long 14 hours, and it turns out that a lot of infants and toddlers travel to Dubai. So that was lovely. But several movies and naps later, we finally arrived. 

We've checked into our fancy hotel, Jumeirah Emirates Towers, and are just relaxing in the room. It is about 9pm local time, but we both slept quite a bit on the flight, so we'll see if we are able to sleep tonight. Tomorrow we are off to check out Dubai! 

(Briana at Granville Island) 

(Cody relaxing at Jumeirah Emirates Tower)