This is Africa! Whenever I travel, there's always a little phrase that gets branded around.
Costa Rica was "Pura Vida", Vietnam was "Same same but different and Belize was "YOLO" You only live once.
Africa is absolutely TIA "This is Africa". This is all encompassing as Daddy would say "The good, the bad and the ugly".
I know I say this about every trip but this has been such an incredible experience. I truly am so blessed to travel to these amazing countries and witness all it has to offer, and also sadly see what is lacking.
I honestly don't take for granted the experiences that I have. It does make me sad that not everyone is as luckily as I am to see these things.
I've barely had any wifi so I haven't been able to do my blog this trip. Also I haven't done The Ducky Diaries- sorry. But it's actually been really nice being 'off the grid' so to speak.
The people in my tour group are amazing! I'm not just saying that (in case some read this) but they really are all so great. I really feel like I've made some good friends on this trip. And hopefully we'll have some more travel adventures together. Madagascar anyone?
I've seen the 'Big Five'. I first saw the rhino on our first game drive. That was am experience! We were watching a dominate male white rhino from about 10-15 meters away. He started making some noises to say he was getting agitated with us so we went to drive off and out land rover had a flat tyre- TIA.
Next I saw the elephants from quite far away initially when we went for a bush walk in the Deltas. But then we saw them just by the side of the road in our truck (it's not a bus, you know!).
We saw lots of buffalos along the river when we were on the Chobe river cruise. Some had white birds on their backs.
On another game drive we were lucky to see a Leppard hiding in the bushes. Our guide, Patrick, spotted him. Sadly he then radioed everyone and our quiet moment was spoilt with loads of other trucks around.
Finally we saw female lions playing. They were pretty shy but it was great to see them.
In the Deltas, our guide asked us to wade through Croc and snake infested waters... Ok I don't exactly know if there were crocs and snakes in there but I was still so scared.
Graeme kindly offered to give me a piggy back ride but I thought I'd be too heavy. Biggest regret saying no!
We did manage to get closer to the hippos. They were huge and just chilling in the water. I did expect it to jump up at us but luckily they kept a safe distance.
I loved seeing the Zebras. They are such incredible animals. They run just like horses.
The giraffes were really funny to watch run. They really are 'gangalies' as Mum calls them.
I was really lucky to see a bush baby in the bushes at dusk. It looked so adorable with its big eyes and tail longer than its body.
Sadly I think I saw one when I was returning from the bathroom in the dark, I freaked out and screamed. I felt so silly as everyone in the bar heard me.
After being incredibly ill in Livingstone (we've all sadly had some bug) I somehow managed to go horse riding with Graeme.
We were accompanied by the very own African Kardashians. I have never seen "waist so little but the ass is like woo" (So annoyed I can't remember the name of the song).
We luckily split into two groups as they have never been horse riding before. I really enjoyed the difficult terrain but we really wanted to cantor.
I've been to South Africa, Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The countries are all so different.
I know I'm incredibly ignorant but I didn't realise it was 80% blacks to 20% whites in South Africa.
Unemployment is a huge issue in all the countries. It's incredible but in Zimbabwe 91% of the population are literate yet unemployment is 95%. That is insane!
The political systems all seem full of corruption and there is sometimes a Robin Hood mentality.
Sadly food aid has been removed from Zimbabwe due to Mugabe.
We visited a remote village in Zimbabwe and there were lots of children so I gave them my biscuits. They seemed so happy.
I also bought a beautiful wooden sculpture from a vendor. Usually I'd barter but I figured they need the money.
However, I was so surprises when he asked me to be his Facebook friends. How can they be worried about not having enough food yet they have mobile phones with Internet?
I really feel like I want to help the people here but I just can't figure out what would be the best way.
Throwing money at problems don't help. I'm not religious but I do agree "give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day. Teach him to fish and he'll feed himself for a life time".
When I came back from Dubai, I was raving about it so much but that was so superficial. Yes the cocktails were amazing and the buildings luxurious but I actually think that's not me.
Yes I love my handbags and nice things but I have loved so much being in nature and seeing so much beauty.
I've met some incredibly genuine people that I feel so connected to. Our tour leader said something in out welcome meeting about us all being equal and it's true.
It doesn't matter what job someone does or how much money someone has, it's whether they are a good person or not. And I've been blessed to spend nearly two weeks with some very good people.
Doing things like this makes me realise how much I've changed as a person. I really did love Dean but I really wasn't a good person.
No one is perfect but I realise now how precious life is and we only get one shot at it. My saying would be 'do as much as you can of what makes you happy and ditch the negativity'. Definitely "Live, Laugh, Love". Not my saying (no copy writes sueing please) but live by it peeps.
