Bulawayo

Hi all,

First of all, happy new year! I thought of you all in Melbourne at 3pm because we are 9 hours behind. It's been a good year. Travel wise I got to go to Indonesia, China and now Africa. I had another  great year at school and I bought a new car and a house with Rob. Here's to 2018, teaching Year 12 for the first time and trips to New Zealand and Europe booked in!

Sleeping was much easier last night with an air conditioner. I still woke up all throughout the night though. 

Up at 5am and we saw lots of mongooses (mongeese?) and baboons outside screaming at each other. We had the packed breakfast included with our room and then met the campers on the bus. 

Our drive today was about 330km from Tshipse to Bulawayo. After about an hour we reached the border crossing from South Africa into Zimbabwe. I've really enjoyed the landscapes and particular Kruger National Park in South Africa, but I really feel I need to come back one day to see Cape Town, JoBurg and do the garden route along the coast. 

Justin had told us that sometimes the border crossing can take up to nine hours, and having crossed into the likes of Russia and Argentina, I knew how long and annoying the procedure could be. We prepared ourselves for the worst, but luck was on our side! Our visas were processed quickly, the queue wasn't too long, and we were on our way within the hour. "Happy days!" as Justin says frequently!!

Straight away you could see a change as soon as we crossed the border. He had told us that South Africa was the "Europe of Africa", with shopping malls, clean toilets and nice campsites. Immediately upon entry into Zimbabwe we saw two fights happening, and there was rubbish everywhere. 

Justin told us that 90% of people in Zimbabwe are unemployed which is very shocking. The government seized a lot of farms causing economic problems, and hyperinflation occurred here in 2005-2008 causing Zimbabwean money to be worth virtually nothing, so now US dollars are the preferred currency. 

We drove on and unfortunately for Rob and I, our seats were in the sun for hours which was really hot. What we noticed about the Zimbabwean landscape was that it was much drier and more arid than South Africa. I think that theme will continue as we head further north east. There are lots of goats and cattle near the road as well as burnt out cars, and we have already seen people living in little huts made of branches covered with garbage bags. It certainly makes you appreciate what we have back home. 

We stopped for a quick "bush toilet" break (aka peeing in the bushes because toilets here aren't nice) and poor Caitlin got bitten on the toe by a bull ant. I guess she's just lucky it didn't choose any other exposed areas while she was going to the toilet!!

Then we arrived at camp, near to the town of Bulawayo. Unfortunately we couldn't check out the town because it was Sunday and everything was closed, so instead we had an afternoon of relaxing. Rob and I set up our tent and then went for a long swim in the pool which helped to cool us down. 

Tonight we've had some guides for tomorrow's walking safari come and speak to us. I'm so excited, we get to be metres away from rhinos on foot. This tour is the reason I booked this section of the tour and didn't start at Victoria Falls, and 'The Amazing Race' did a similar walking safari once. 

My group was on dinner duty and me, Demi, Ash and Georgia did an awesome job cooking pasta and sauce from scratch with salad and more. Unfortunately one of our group members hardly contributes at all so the four of us pull most of the weight. But Rob is such a gem, I think he could sense I was grumpy and tired so he washed my dishes for me. I am very lucky to have him :) 

Some of the others seem pretty keen to drink tonight and celebrate New Years, but I think I'm going to go to bed. Any extra sleep I can get is a bonus here. 25 years old and I can't even stay up until midnight anymore - god I'm getting old!! Haha. 

Love to all

Claire

Xoxox

Tshipse

Hi all,

After I wrote yesterday, we had a really good time back at the bus with the group. There are 21 of us and everyone is really nice. Poor Tess ripped a tendon in her ankle yesterday at Kruger and our beautiful guide and driver made her a crutch to help her walk. She's on a 25 day tour and has a pretty bad limp at the moment but is making the best of it. 

Everyone came to the tables at the campsite and we had a couple of drinks and a good chat. Then Justin made us a beautiful stew for dinner and Rob and I went to bed at 8.30pmbecause we were so exhausted. I think I managed about 7-8 hours of sleep. I vaguely remember hearing Demi shout "it's raining - get your tent cover!" earlier, and Rob got out and put ours on. My bladder then woke me at 4.30. It hasn't quite adjusted to the time zone so annoyingly I had to traipse through the rain to the toilets about 100m away. Ah well! 

We got up at 6.15 and for the two hours since I woke it had been absolutely pelting rain. It was a mission packing up all of our things and the mattresses and tent. We got saturated, as did most of our stuff. Luckily the bus was still warm so most things dried on our journey. 

Then we were on the road to Tshipse, our last destination in South Africa. It's funny, because two days ago we were absolutely boiling. Today due to the rain and wet, we got hot chocolates at our first pit stop and put all our jumpers on!!

We stopped at a shopping centre later on and stocked up on drinks for New Year's Eve. I'm not planning on having more than a few, we will see if I can even manage to stay up until midnight!!!

Due to having arrived and gotten straight into it, as well as last night's rain, we have decided to treat ourselves and pay the little extra to upgrade to a room tonight. Hoping to get a proper comfortable sleep and feel a lot better. We can't afford to do this a lot, but I think we need to now and then to keep ourselves sane!

The journey today was about ten hours and I passed some of the time by watching 'The Crown' that I downloaded off Netflix. Justin also had us play some games. In one we were given an African animal card (mine was a Kudu) and we had to act out and explain the animal for the group to guess. We learned some interesting facts - elephants have a 660 day gestation period (poor elephants!) and baboons have longer teeth than lions. Justin said that stereotypically like black and white humans, black rhino's babies walk behind them and white rhino's babies walk in front of them (typically African women carry their babies on their back). We also played a quiz game, and thanks to having typed information up for the blog that Justin told us, I knew a few of the answers!

We stopped at a baobab tree which is one of the largest trees in Africa. Its roots can spread up to 200m underground in order to find water. Wouldn't want one of those near your house! Its trunk is very thick to hold a lot of water. Apparently indigenous people used to live in the trunks of the trees. The leaves are also used to make relish. 

We made it to camp and the upgrade was totally worth it. Our cabin is beautiful and is like a little but. We had a delicious dinner with garlic bread and pork cutlets. I'm looking forward to a great sleep in our room. I did some washing and we can't hang it outside in case the Vervet monkeys steal it - Africa life!

Love to all

Claire

Xoxox

Kruger National Park

Hello all,

What an incredible day!! One of the best I have ever had. 

It didn't start off great - our tent was boiling, then it poured with rain and I hardly got any sleep. I'm a little ashamed to admit it, but there were "why am I here" moments on my part. Hopefully I can sleep better tonight. 

We woke at 4.30am today and Rob wasn't feeling well. We had breakfast and then got in our 4 X 4 game drive vehicles for our day long game drive through Kruger National Park. 

The park was founded by Paul Kruger and was opened to the public in 1927. It is 25,000 square kilometres in area. Huge!! We had heard from people staying at our lodge in Johannesburg that they had only seen elephants and not had much luck, but we were about to find out that we were much luckier than them!!

After hardly any time at all we spotted a lone male elephant. We were all so excited. The rush you get seeing all these animals in the wild is hard to describe. It's so magical! Apparently though, Kruger is overpopulated with elephants. Up until 1996 the population of them was maintained at 7000, but since that stopped the population is now around 20000, and the trees have suffered as a result. The trees in the park are basically destroyed because the elephants rip them apart. 

Next we saw a rhino in the distance, then some giraffes and zebras. Giraffes only sleep for 20 minutes a day (I think we are going to be like giraffes on this trip due to camping!). Zebras have a 12 month gestation period, and apparently their offspring are able to run after being alive just half an hour. Very handy when you live alongside lions etc I suppose!

We were then on a mission to see the rest of the big five. The big five are the most dangerous animals and the ones that were most sought after by hunters - lion, buffalo, rhino, leopard and elephant. 

We stopped at a lake and saw hippos. Hippos are more dangerous to humans and kill more of us than lions and elephants combined. They were playing and wrestling and it was fun to watch. 

Then we saw monkeys in a tree, wildebeest and a couple of skittish hyenas who disappeared (but not before I snapped a photo!). Kruger was great, but our guide Matt described it as the 'Disneyland of game drives'. There were a lot of people around in the morning and so many trucks near one group of animals.  

Then we saw two more male elephants and we all burst out laughing when Matt told us an elephant's penis can weigh up to 18kg. Woah!! At this point our guide was radioed about a lion sighting so we set off at a fast pace. On the way we saw a warthog (Pumba from 'The Lion King'!). 

Once we saw about 15 trucks we knew we were in the right spot. Two by full male lions who must have killed and eaten recently were having a big nap by the side of the road. As we approached, he opened his big yellow eyes. They were beautiful, and Matt said we were very lucky to see them because in the hot weather they're usually out of sight. 

Then we saw some Buffaloes, who apparently are the second most dangerous animal to humans after hippos. They had little birds on their backs cleaning them. Next we came across some kudus, I think we have them at Melbourne zoo. They're a type of antelope who have white lines on their coat. The male's horns can grow to up to 1.7m. 

We saw a Marshall eagle, and Matt told us its talons are four times stronger than a Rottweiler. Yikes!

All together we went on three game drives (people here laugh if you call them a safari!) today. We had little breaks in between where we bought a snack and some souvenirs, then had lunch. We saw many more giraffes, zebras, hippos, elephants and various birds and antelopes. 

The last session of the day wasn't very successful as by this point it was quite hot, but the highlight of the day came for me in the second session. By chance we came across a family of elephants spraying each other. Once we stopped to watch them, more family members came and they all crossed the road right in front of us. Elephants are so beautiful, it was absolutely magical to watch. African elephants have always been my favourite zoo animal and I just about cried I was so overwhelmed and excited. An experience I will definitely never forget!!

Then we headed back to the camp site and to top it all off we saw a monkey!

On the road again tomorrow, wish us luck getting some more sleep tonight hopefully!

Love to all

Claire

Xoxox

Hazyview

Hello from Hazyview!

First of all - posting the blog on this trip is going to prove much more difficult than usual. I just walked through the pouring rain and what seems like mosquitoes with a small amount of air in order to get to reception. Ah well, it's cool in here! (Unlike our tent!)

This morning we had breakfast,, packed up and then set off on our bus, Tati. It's named after a river in Botswana and is really a truck. It's got built in lockers and has space for all of our things. 

We drove for a fair while, as we will be most days! The scenery today was beautiful because the weather was nice and clear. Justin told us that Hutan Provence (where JoBurg is) is famous for mining and gold. We saw a lot of mines and lots of huge piles of dirt. Also saw people farming in the fields, and at one point we drove through a really beautiful mountainous area. 

We saw a lot of government housing as well, and Justin told us the government have a plan to house as many poor people as possible, and these houses all have solar panels so the electricity bill covered by the government is lower. 

After 140km, our first stop of the day was at Alzu petrol station. Already Dad's binoculars came in handy because in the distance we could see buffalo and rhinos. Very cool!!

It really started to heat up after this. Our bus has "African air conditioning", which basically involves leaving the windows open and hoping that the wind blasts you in the face to cool you down! We made another stop at a shopping mall in Nelspruit, and after a nice lunch an ATM ate my debit card. Thank God the branch was open and they were able to give my card back. Not a good start though!!

For the rest of our drive I could hardly keep my eyes open. By this time jet lag was hitting me hard as it was late at night in Melbourne. Next time I came to, we were at a bottle shop and all went in to buy cool (and very cheap!) drinks. I got a six pack of lovely cider for $7 Aussie. 

Tonight we settled down into our camp. I really wasn't made for this I don't think, but I'm keeping an open mind. It's so fiddly keeping everything on the bus, madly setting up your tent and praying it's not too hot but that it also doesn't rain (didn't work - it's hot AND raining haha). But the group seem great and we got to watch a really cool tribal dancing show. The performers were really talented and they must have been exhausted in the heat. 

Tonight we had steaks for dinner. I'm about to go and sleep in the tent for the first time. I have a feeling I'm just going to be tired the entire trip, but as long as I see some animals I don't mind! Kruger National Park tomorrow, keep your fingers crossed we see the big five!

Love to all

Claire

Xoxox

Arrived Johannesburg

Hello all from Johannesburg, South Africa!

Our flight left Melbourne at 10.30pm on Tuesday. We took the "scenic" route to JoBurg, a 14 hour flight to Doha, Qatar, and then another 9 hour flight after that. Bloody hell Africa is big though. I kept looking at the map thinking "we are nearly there!" - nup, four hours to go haha. 

We both slept quite a bit on the first flight and I'm not entirely sure how. There was a baby that was literally screaming every time either of us were awake (its poor parents!!), and for some reason everyone had to absolutely slam their chair for it to go down - maybe a design flaw on the new planes. We were a little disappointed as our hostess on that flight was pretty rude, making us feel like she didn't give a crap. 

Luckily we struck a much nicer crew on our second flight after our three hour stopover in Doha. I always find Doha a bit nostalgic because it's where I had a nine hour stopover on my first ever flight by myself to Germany when I was 18. How far I've come since then!

The time on the stopover passed quickly, particularly after a little boy took a liking to my drink bottle and we had a great time making cool noises with it (it's metal). 

I watched a few movies across the two flights - 'The Big Sick', 'Everything, Everything' and 'Home Again' and then 'Mamma Mia' and 'Les Mis'. 

Finally after 28 ish hours we arrived in Johannesburg. Apart from Antarctica, I've now visited every continent! We were both very glad to get off the plane and be able to walk around again. 

We got through immigration quickly and got our bags, and then met our transfer to our hostel. It was a short 15 minute drive and on the way, I was reminded of South America by all of the barbed wire on top of people's fences. 

Just as we got to the hostel, our tour meeting started. There are 22 of us travelling (with some hopping on and off at various points). Our guide for the first leg is Justin, and all of us are Australian except for two Romanians! Everyone seems really lovely. 

Had a quick dinner (a delicious toasted sandwich) and then went to bed. I've had an ok sleep of about five hours in my last night in a proper bed for a while. We head off towards Kruger National Park today and I'm unsure when I will next have wifi. Looks like at worst I will every few days though. I wish we could have had maybe one day in JoBurg to see the apartheid museum and the townships, but not much we could do. 

Watch this space and I'll post whenever possible. 

Love to all

Claire

Xoxox

Africa Bound

Hi everyone!

Merry Christmas. Tonight we leave for Africa for a month and we are very excited. For the first time in a while I'm feeling a little nervous about travelling. I think that's because I am going to somewhere unlike anywhere I have ever been before. I really don't know what to expect, especially as we are overlanding and camping for a month. 

I don't know how much internet we will have along the way, but I will post the blog whenever I am able to. 

Our trip starts in Johannesburg and ends in Nairobi, and highlights include Kruger National Park, Victoria Falls, Zanzibar and the Serengeti. Can't wait!

Love to all

Claire

Xoxox