27th December 2010 (just a few more days till its a whole new year!) woke up nice and early to RAFT DOWN THE ZAMBEZI! at 8am we were fed a huge cooked brekkie (to give us strength for all the hard paddling!) then we got a safety briefing which was more scary then the rafting itself all about "what to do when you flip....and you WILL most likely flip..." i think at that point there was more then a few people willing to drop out! so we had our safety talk and then got our life jackets helmets and paddles everything needed for an adventure! then we all hopped into 4x4s and headed to the river we went in at the bottom of Victoria falls aptly named the boiling pot....when we arrived we got to watch a Zim company launch off the other bank at the top of the rapid and my oh my did it look FREAKY! all to soon it was our turn and we had it harder rather being on at the top of the rapid we were beside it and had to cross it we sat patiently whilst other boats lined up to tackle their way across and watched with a slight sense of horror as boat after boat flipped and its occupants flew threw the air like rag dolls (to be safely picked up by kayaks or other boats that made it across...) when it was our turn we paddled furiously to cross over our guide James yelling "FORWARD FORWARD"....and then someone...(we had 4 guys on the boat and none of them will admit it so I'm not sure who) yelled "DROP" so we all dropped to the floor of the raft mid rapid and just calmly floated back out....back out on the side we started....so take two commenced and this time we made it across we almost flipped but thankfully didn't and rode the rapid out feeling exhilarated!....Let me point out now that noone bar me and LP had ever white water rafted...and we got to start in the boiling pot... a class 5 rapid on the mighty Zambezi...we rafted for a half day and did pretty well we were unofficially the rescue boat picking up strays who fell out of their own boats and safely returning then including rescuing 2 guys as they (and our raft) were sucked into the next rapid! we managed to only flip once and afterwards found out our loving guide James did it on purpose (on a class 3 rapid) to test our abilities we passed with flying colors with 5 out of 6 managing to stay with the boat one was rescued by a kayaker and returned to us and we only lost one paddle...(retrieved from where it was calmly floating between rapids) then we had 3 peeps fall out of the boat LP was the first to go in the middle of a rapid just bumped off but he managed to hangonto the boat (the pictures are pure gold him falling off in freeze frame disappearing then reappearing a few frames later...) then it was Nick (a Portuguese/south African from cape town in Zambia on a long weekend) and finally Linda (an older American women on a prayer mission following in the footsteps of David Livingstone...yes the same David Livingstone who made one convert who later relapsed...)the day was so fun so exhasting so brilliant by mid day we had rafted 10 rapids (and walked around one massive class 6 that even most of the guides walked around and just sent the boats down unmanned) and so our journey was complete...almost...we then had to walk up a monster of a hill that just never seemed to end but at the top was refreshments and burgers for lunch! the rest of the afternoon we spent visiting (a new American term i have picked up from friends) with friends in the shade then sunshine the shade the sunshine depending on the mood!
28th December 2010 (even closer to the new year...)
not alot to report drove from 7am till about 4pm we drove through the capital Lusaka and it looks a very up and coming city lots of new buildings and building sites and lots of schools colleges hospitals and lots of happy healthy people...we got into camp and got dinner ready and enjoyed the rain that turned the dirt into a big blobby muddy mess (for future reference its not a good idea to wipe muddy feet on LPs white and blue towel...its hard to hand wash mud!...
29th December 2010 (new year 2 days and counting...)
So we got up and drove all day that's about it...camped in a busy busy campsite where we had to line up for showers... and then they were cold sad times....
30th December (blinking close to 2011)
drove into South Luangwa national park along the road that's not really a road mostly driving not much faster then a snail to avoid being stuck in the mud or potholes or both it was raining on and off which made the going a bit more fun! at one stage we stopped for lunch in the middle of the road and i not wanting to walk through wet long grass decided to round the corner and just pee on the "road" we hadn't seen another car for ages before....but as i squatted there with my arse out a Ute rounded the corner the flatbed full of guys...all terribly embarrassing and funny oh dear...
as we drove we passed a funeral procession heading down the road in the rain the songs they were singing were absolutely hauntingly beautiful....
the folks around these parts are so friendly almost every single house we passed the people would all wave and the kids would chase the truck along screaming and cheering and waving (and quite often falling down)...in one spot were we stopped to buy mango's through the window the whole village turned out to cheer and wave it was so cool!
we arrived into camp and set up swam and chillaxed for the rest of the day then it was early night to be bright eyed and bushy tailed for a morning game drive...
31st December 2010 (HAPPY NEW YEARS EVE!)
wow what a national park! today we spent 8 hours game driving! 4 this morning from 6am-10am and the 4 this arvo 4pm-8pm both drives we went with JJ a guy who has been guiding for about 12 years always in the area so he knew where game was likely to be and delivered well!! the park is 9050km2 but at this time of year (the rainy season) most of the park is inaccessible due to mud etc...in total we saw a shed load of game including a new antelope the Puku related to the water buck a giraffe found nowhere i else in the world but here... the Thornicroft giraffe and finally we have ticked off our last animal in the big five...WE SAW LEOPARD!! it was so amazing on the night drive we had JJ driving and Marlin spotting with a big spotlight shining up the eyes in the darkness and instantly knowing what was antelope zebra etc and what was a leopard! or spotted gennet or hyena! we also saw a load of lions,elephants,cape buffalo,hippo,impala and over 40 birds including some stunning hornbills and kingfishers! by far the best game viewing we have done and what a way to build up to the new year....when we arrived back at camp we had a spit roast goat and a feast of other food and copious amounts of punch (strictly non-alcoholic of course...) we were so tired though that after cheering in the new year we were in bed asleep by 12.15am!
1st January 2011 THE NEW YEAR!!!
after a huge brekkie (mostly to mop up alcohol...)the day has been spent doing nothing!!! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!
drove into South Luangwa national park along the road that's not really a road mostly driving not much faster then a snail to avoid being stuck in the mud or potholes or both it was raining on and off which made the going a bit more fun! at one stage we stopped for lunch in the middle of the road and i not wanting to walk through wet long grass decided to round the corner and just pee on the "road" we hadn't seen another car for ages before....but as i squatted there with my arse out a Ute rounded the corner the flatbed full of guys...all terribly embarrassing and funny oh dear...
as we drove we passed a funeral procession heading down the road in the rain the songs they were singing were absolutely hauntingly beautiful....
the folks around these parts are so friendly almost every single house we passed the people would all wave and the kids would chase the truck along screaming and cheering and waving (and quite often falling down)...in one spot were we stopped to buy mango's through the window the whole village turned out to cheer and wave it was so cool!
we arrived into camp and set up swam and chillaxed for the rest of the day then it was early night to be bright eyed and bushy tailed for a morning game drive...
31st December 2010 (HAPPY NEW YEARS EVE!)
wow what a national park! today we spent 8 hours game driving! 4 this morning from 6am-10am and the 4 this arvo 4pm-8pm both drives we went with JJ a guy who has been guiding for about 12 years always in the area so he knew where game was likely to be and delivered well!! the park is 9050km2 but at this time of year (the rainy season) most of the park is inaccessible due to mud etc...in total we saw a shed load of game including a new antelope the Puku related to the water buck a giraffe found nowhere i else in the world but here... the Thornicroft giraffe and finally we have ticked off our last animal in the big five...WE SAW LEOPARD!! it was so amazing on the night drive we had JJ driving and Marlin spotting with a big spotlight shining up the eyes in the darkness and instantly knowing what was antelope zebra etc and what was a leopard! or spotted gennet or hyena! we also saw a load of lions,elephants,cape buffalo,hippo,impala and over 40 birds including some stunning hornbills and kingfishers! by far the best game viewing we have done and what a way to build up to the new year....when we arrived back at camp we had a spit roast goat and a feast of other food and copious amounts of punch (strictly non-alcoholic of course...) we were so tired though that after cheering in the new year we were in bed asleep by 12.15am!
1st January 2011 THE NEW YEAR!!!
after a huge brekkie (mostly to mop up alcohol...)the day has been spent doing nothing!!! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!
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