On The Train

Back in South Africa now, we did a quick overnight in Joberg before driving up to Pretoria to catch the Pride of Africa, a luxury train that will take us on a two day journey across the country to Cape Town.


The only drawback is that one can't help feeling like dirt when you're on the third course of your meal and the train happens to go through an area that features shanty towns as far as the eye can see.

The main stop along the way is a city called Kimberly, where diamonds were first discovered in South Africa and birthplace of the De Beers diamond company. We disembarked the train to see Kimberly's claim to fame, "The Big Hole". We can now say that we are among the elite few who have seen the largest man-made hole in the world. Jealous? Yeah, you're jealous.


Outside the hole they also had a diamond museum and a recreation of how the mining town would have appeared during the boom times, allowing you to experience what it felt like to be completely bored during the 1800s.


The next morning we had the option of disembarking the train and walking the last 5km into a local village to work up an appetite for breakfast. Even by 8AM, the desert was hot enough that we were so hot and sweaty by the time we got into town that we skipped the sightseeing and just went straight back onto the train.


By tonight we should be in Cape Town for the last leg of our trip.

African Safari Animal Roundup

Elephant:

Impalas:

Lion:

Dung Beetle:

Domesticated North American Drunkard:

Leopard:

Giant Moth:

Zebras:

Chameleon:

Rhino:

Botswana - Eagle Island Camp

Our third and final stop in Botswana is the Eagle Island Camp. Situated on an island in a marshy river, this camp offers a different experience than the previous two: fewer land mammals (though lots of birds) but more unique activities. We started off with a speedboat ride to another island where we went on a walking safari through the bush. We only spotted groups of the various bucks and deer that we've come to know over the last few days; no large cats. Then again, considering that our guides don't carry guns it's not that much of a let down not to encounter predators when you don't have a truck to run back to.

After lunch we were off for our open-sided helicopter ride over the savanna.


As the evening approached we were treated to a canoe ride on the river.


We arrived back at camp just in time to enjoy sunset at the famous Eagle Island Bar.


And now the sun sets on the safari leg of this adventure, as we watch the crescent Moon peek out through the vibrant colours of an African sunset, feel the cool evening breeze idle its way across the savanna, and listen to the gentle splashing of a hippo taking a shit in the waters below.

Christmas in Africa

While everyone else was stressing over presents and cooking turkey, Christmas Day was a lazy day for us. We decided to skip out on our final jeep safari since we felt like we had seen most of the animals we wanted to see, or at least enough to not want to get up at 5:30AM for the fourth straight day. We had a lie in (HAR! "lion"!) then after a lazy lunch were meant to hop in a Cesna to hop over to Eagle Island Camp. However, some storms moved in (the first rain we've seen since we got here) and the plane was grounded for a few hours. We were forced to kill the afternoon getting buzzed in the lobby bar where we met this happy little fellow:


When the weather finally cleared we managed to get Eagle Island it was late enough that we just went straight to dinner and called it a night.

Not a bad way to spend Christmas day, if I do say so myself.

Christmas Eve on the Savanna.

As the previous post subtly alluded to, we finally got our lion fix. After over 25 hours in the jeep searching, we found three dozing males just before sunset. Then on the way home we came across two females hunting very near our camp:



After that it was xmas-eve dinner with the other guests: a French couple, a Swiss family and their personal pilot (somebody must be rich), and the South African couple who manage the camp.


Now we're off to Eagle Island Camp for the last leg of the safari before returning to South Africa.

Hello?

Hello Janet, Kevin, and Allison. As I write this we left you at Khwai River a few hours ago. Let us know in the comments if you found the blog and how you got on. (We've only just arrived at Eagle Island and it's all rain.)

LIIIIIIOOOONNNNSSSSS!!!!

It's a Festivus miracle!

Botswana - Khwai River Lodge.

We're now at the second of our three camps, the Khwai River Lodge. We were surprised with an upgrade to a suite, featuring our own private pool and an outdoor bathtub, both overlooking the river.

As it's low season, the camp is deserted; designed to house thirty people but the only other guests are a German couple who keep getting on our nerves because they smoke incessantly with no effort to blow the smoke away from the group, among other things - there's no need to point at every single impala you see; we've passed ten thousand of them this morning alone. (Yes, we're grumpy, judgmental bastards. We know.)

With lusher vegetation and more marsh, animals are less dense in this area than Savute, with the exception of hippos which are numerous.


We were optimistic about ending our lion drought here as there had been two great sitings in the previous 24 hours before we arrived (one group saw a pride make a kill, another group saw a pride in a feeding circle). Sadly, we've now managed 10+ hours of time on safari since getting to this camp and still have not seen any lions.

Here is what a lion would look like if we did see one:

We have two more outings to attempt to see lions before we move on to Eagle Island Lodge where we are very unlikely to see any. If we don't manage it, we will then plan to make the following trips next year:

* Antarctica, where we will fail to see penguins.
* New Zealand, where we will fail to see sheep.
* Australia, where we will fail to see kangaroos.

Botswana - Savute Elephant Camp.

In the first 24 hours of our safari we have ticked the box for elephants (LOTS of elephants), impalas (LOTS and LOTS of impalas), zebras (times infinity), warthogs, buffalo, foxes, wildebeests, & more, and have held giant moths and huge dung beetles. Africa does not disappoint. The highlight was a leopard that sauntered past us within 20 feet of our jeep.


Lions have remained elusive, and giraffes are not common in this area, so there's still some work to do.

(EDIT: Since doing a first draft of this post, we've since seen giraffes, plus jackals and various mongooses (mongeese?). My theory is that word has gotten out on the savanna that there are no lions around and so all the other animals are coming out to play.)

Victoria Falls.

One of the key motivations for this trip was to compare Victoria Falls to Iguassu Falls in Peru/Brazil, which we were fortunate to see earlier this year. While yesterday we saw the falls from the air, this morning we got to see them from the ground.

Victoria Falls' biggest advantage in the contest is its geography: it falls over one side of a very narrow gorge, so there are numerous lookout points from the other side. At first we thought Victoria Falls was going to be handicapped by the fact that we were there at the start of the rainy season, whereas we visited Iguassu Falls at the end. However, our guide said that he preferred this time of year because at high water there is so much mist you can barely see the falls.


The verdict: Iguassu Falls wins by a landslide. While Victoria falls is a spectacular waterfall, Iguassu Falls felt like we had teleported to Pandora. (Good grief how it pains me to make an "Avatar" reference - that movie was shit.)

P.S. In response to a question I'm sure we'll get: no, we didn't get to swim in the Devil's Pool. It's on the Zambian side of the falls and we didn't have enough time to cross the border.

Zimbabwe.

The safari portion of our trip started off with a day in Zimbabwe, mostly centred on seeing Victoria Falls. As we were only here overnight, our schedule was very full, beginning with a helicopter ride over the falls.


Next up was a sunset cruise on the Zambezi river upstream of the falls, where we saw various birds, crocodiles (including adorable day-old baby crocs), and hippos... lots and lots of hippos. The cruise also served us drinks... lots of lots of drinks.


Our home for the night is an old colonial hotel very reminiscent of the Overlook Hotel*, a labyrinth with various buildings, courtyards, and long spooky hallways. We were surprised every time we turned a corner to NOT encounter the ghosts of recently departed twin girls.

* Post-script by Andrew: Based on my past experience, fully two-thirds of those reading this will not understand "The Shining" reference in this post, with half of those not having even heard of the movie. To you I say: climb out from under your friggin' rock every once in a while! "I don't own a TV" doesn't impress anyone, doubly-so when it means you don't understand any of the major cultural references of the last century! (Here endeth the rant.)

Zimbabwe.

We're in Zimbabwe today but Internet access is dodgy, and expected to be so in Botswana for the next week. Don't be worried if there are no blog posts from us.

Johannesburg.

Johannesburg is mostly just serving as our launching point and this turned out to be a good thing since there isn't that much for tourists to do here. We did a half day tour but were underwhelmed. Fortunately, the weather was lovely for an afternoon swim.


Tomorrow we leave for Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe.

Mostly just letting loved ones know we got here okay.

The first couple days in Johannesburg were set aside for some down time before starting "scheduled fun" on Monday. The hotel is gorgeous and the weather is beautiful, so we've spent our time relaxing and recovering from jetlag. A trip to the mall killed a few hours and a few dollars. Tomorrow the real fun begins.

German Comedy Gold

The prologue to this adventure is a twelve hour layover in Frankfurt, Germany. Somewhat rested after scoring upgrades to business class (though somewhat headachy after enjoying too much business class spirits) we ventured into town despite the cold and wind to see the cathedral, some museums, and the old town square. Unfortunately, the town square was dominated by the annual Christmas markets selling all manner of sugary Bavarian delights.Cold weather + overpowering sugary smells + jetlag + tired + headache = Go back to the airport early and spend the evening resting in the lounge.

However, the one good thing to come of it was the best ad-libbed joke ever:

Jessica: I've got a cut on my finger. I need to find a drug store to get a bandage.
Andrew: We're heading to the train station; we'll find one there.
Jessica: That's right. In the train stations in London you can always find a Boots.
Andrew: It's the same here, except here they're called Das Boots!

That's comedy gold!

Hurry boy! It's waiting there for you!