Full of Thanks

1. for my parents and what an amazing example they have been for me. for how supportive they have always been of me and my dreams no matter how outlandish they have seemed at the time.

2. for my sister who has provided me unending support (even though I know she would prefer I didn't live on a different continent!) and unfailingly shown me what it means to be a Godly woman.

3. for my precious neice, Hayden, whose never ending fits of laughter keep me smiling!

4. for my friends, both new and old, who make my life a little more fun

5. for the fact that I have a place to celebrate Thanksgiving tonight!

6. and most of all that my whole family will be in London in less than 12 hours!!

Africa - Victoria Falls...In the Lions Den!

Our last stop in Africa was Livingstone, Zambia. They say that your pockets "bleed US dollars" in Livingstone, and they aren't kidding! I was kind of prepared for this, and the rest of Africa had been pretty cheap...well not the really, I just mean I hadn't spent much on food, drinks or souviners up until this point, so I was prepared to spend! Livingstone is an adreline junkies heaven of sorts. They have the 2nd highest bungee jump in the world, a zip line over the gorge, a gorge swing (which looks terrifying!), micro-light flights over the falls, white-water rafting...you get the drift! Well it seems the prices to do anything start at around $100 and go upwards, quickly! Since I'm not much of an adreline junkie (I know you think I'm lying, but I really don't like stuff like that, I just do it usually b/c I say I will and I don't like to look like a scaredy cat!), anyways back on the subject, I opted for walking with lion cubs and an elephant back safari! Most of you are probably thinking, "and how do those activities not induce adrenaline coursing through your body?" Well you are right I guess, it isn't every day you walk side by side with the "King of the Jungle" (haha, sorry, I couldn't help myself!) or sit on top of the largest animal to walk the face of the earth. Yes, I'll admit, I was a little afraid at first...seeing as I we are talking about a girl whose parents had to send her to the "doggie psychologist" when she was young just to get over her fear of dogs! But the "doggie doctor" worked, I went from screaming fits on top of kitchen tables to wanting to be a veternarian all in a span of a few short weeks! That is until I found out that they had to put animals to sleep. So I was very excited to have a chance to interact with these animals on this level. Still, I was ever-mindful of the risks and I didn't want to become the latest YouTube celebrity, think "Girl gets mauled by lion"

Ok back on track, a month or so ago, I ran across the YouTube video of "Christian the Lion". I was in tears by the end and wanted to know more about the story, so I hit up my good friend Google. I found out they had taken Christian to a man named George Adamson in Africa who had a unique relationship with lions and had released other lions back into the wild previously. I was intrigued, needless to say, I had ordered both the Christian the Lion documentary and his wife's book Born Free from Amazon by the end of the day! So with my new found love for all things lion, when I found out that you could walk with lion cubs at Antelope Park in Zimbabwe I called and booked my place immediately. Then, I started to read some things on the internet about how many places breed these lions for the sport of hunting them when they are full grown. I was horrified at the thought that I could be a part of this, so I started doing research on Antelope Park. Luckily, I found out the organization I booked through, Lion Alert, is dedicated to the conservation of lions. They have a program set in place to introduce lions back to the wild as they estimate the lion population in Africa has decreased 80-90% in the last 30 years due to human encroachment and poaching. You can read more about their program here.

We got to walk with two lion cubs that were just 7 months old. Still they were a pretty good size! We walked with them for about an hour, just following them where ever they wanted to lead us. They were so playful and pounced all over each other. They play with each other pretty rough, which is safe to say why the people in the park didn't want us to be their playmates! If you remember from a few entries ago, when I was in the Delta, how our guides told us that if a lion approached us to stand our ground and stare it right in the eyes. Well at the time I thought they were setting us up or something, haha! But again, before we met up with our cubs, the guides at Antelope Park told us before we met the cubs we needed to get rid of any fear we had because they would be able to detect it instantly. We needed to stand tall, maintain eye contact with them, not back away from them and definitely NOT run! Lions prey on the weak and they are innately able to sense this. They told us they would seek out the weakling of the group and harrass them the rest of the day! Sure enough, when we first approached the cubs, they stared us down, one by one! I guess we all passed because they left us alone we had a great day with them! I also found out that they have volunteers at the park who help out with the lions, there was one with us on our walk and I talked to her for a bit about it. I defintely plan on making my way back there one day to volunteer with the lions!

The next day was our Elephant Back Safari, where we got to ride on the back of the elephants and play with them a little bit as well. This was such an amazing experience. You wouldn't believe how graceful these giants are! They are actually good swimmers and are able to climb straight out of steep riverbeds with ease. My elephant was Mashumbi, and she is the Matriarch of the herd. Elephants don't take these roles because of size or age, but more based on personality. So she just leads all of them around and they follow! She is also an elephant of loose morals, as a few years ago, she disappeared her enclosure to be found 10 months later with a herd of wild elephants...she was pregnant! Elephants are pregnant for 22 months and their newborn calves weigh over 200 lbs! Yikes!

Our last night in Africa, Amy and I stayed at this really cute lodge on the Zambezi called the Chundukwa Lodge. The had these little tree hut lodges along the river that we stayed in, it was great! They took us for a sunset cruise along the Zambezi that night and we had our last African sunset. So I guess this is a good place to end my blogs on Africa!

Africa - Chobe National Park

After the Delta we headed to Kasane, Botswana which is a really unique place. It marks the point where the Zambezi River joins up withe Chobe River and also where 4 countries come together. It is the corner of Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. There is a large national park just outside of Kasane, Chobe National Park. In the morning we took a long game drive around the park and later that afternoon we took a sunset cruise up the Chobe River to see what wildlife we could see coming down for a drink. Here are some of my favorite pics from my time there.

The Fish Eagle

While driving around the park we ran into a large herd of elephants. We pulled up and watched them for a bit, it didn't take long for them to take notice of us creeping closer. The Bull elephant made his way towards us and situated himself between our vehicle and his herd and gave us quite a stare down! He remained there while the rest of the herd crossed the road and then headed up the rear after they had all safely crossed. It was pretty cool to see. I have a video of them crossing below.

Bull Elephant protecting his herd

Video of Elephants crossing




Hippos sure have big mouths for all the grass they eat!
Some of the most beautiful landscape you'll ever see! That is Namibia on the other side of the Chobe River. The land along the river in Namibia is farmland and the farmers will shoot the animals if they come onto their land, since they tend to destroy the crops. The animals have learned this and stay off of the land during the day, and only cross at night!

The Cape Buffalo

One of my favorites! Can you find Michael Jackson??

Mokoro Video

Here is the video of the mokoro ride through the Delta, so you can see what it was like. Not quite like the real thing, but you get the drift! It truly was the most peaceful experience.

Westfield Mall...it's a great shopping place!

London has finally joined the rest of the world and opened....an indoor shopping mall! And it's glorious! I realized that I have been so wrapped up in trying to sort and post my Africa pictures and blogs that I have completely neglected my life in London here on the blogosphere. Things have been pretty low key since I got back, but I have decided that my trip to Westfields was blog worthy enough to break my silence! I had lunch and shopping plans this past Saturday with my friend Erin (that I studied abroad with in Italy, thanks Melissa for letting me know she was here!!). We were just going to do a typical shopping day on High Street Kensington, but last minute she sent a change of plans...we were going to do it "American style" at the new mall in Shepards Bush. I'll be honest, there has been a lot of hype over here in the media about this mall, but I wasn't expecting too much. After all, nobody knows malls like America. I'll have to print a retraction, they did this mall right! It is huge, very pretty, and has tons of great restaurants and even a Champagne Bar (cleverly located right outside of Tiffany's!). They had it all decorated for Christmas, which always gets me in the shopping spirit...as if it's really that hard! They even had a Playstation zone with these rooms that are decorated like living rooms that you could play all of the new Playstation games at. The best part about the mall, is it's like a whole new mall-experience for me! It's all stores that completely new to me, not like malls in the States where it's the same store in every mall you go to! So much un-charted territory...that assures I'll be back, it's my civic duty!

Song and Dance

It is too dark to see them, but you can hear their song:)

Africa - Okavango Delta

This was by far my favorite place I went in Africa. It's funny, the Delta wasn't anything that spectacular I guess, but it was such a unique experience that few people have had. Not only was the expereince unique, but the scenery was beautiful and the people...well, they made it! The delta is located a little ways outside of Maun in the northern part of Botswana. In the Delta live the BaYei people, they have a village of about 700 and live in a way surprisingly true to their roots. The Delta is an area of land spanning several thousand square meters and much of it is marsh. The BaYei have been using mokoros to get around this land for hundreds of years. A mokoro is basically a dug out canoe and they use a long pole to "pole" themselves around the area.

We took an hour long trip in an open truck to reach the Delta where we were met by our polers and a large group of villagers. I can only assume that it provides much excitement and probably a good laugh when a new group of tourists arrive each week with their clean clothes, fancy cameras, oversized hats and unabashed curiosity. If we only knew we would arrive back at the same site two days later filthy dirty, our cameras safely packed away and full of laughter, conversation and stories we share with our new friends.

Our trip started with a two hour mokoro ride to an island where we would set up camp for the next two nights. The mokoro ride is an incredibly peaceful and relaxing experience, for the person lucky enough to be riding in the mokoro. I can safely assume it is a much more tiring experience for the person at the helm. It is hard to explain the experience, but I can try. First off, the polers have skillfully crafted our bed rolls into chairs in the mokoro so we can lounge back in comfort while we glide through the reeds, creating a comforting swishing sound. All you can hear is the this noise coupled with the chirping of crickets and the songs of the many birds of the delta. There is an occasional grunting of a hippo. It truly was one of the most unique experiences of my life.

Once we set up camp and dug our toliet behind a well concealed bush, we set out for an evening game walk. Our polers served as our guides as they know this land like the back of their hands. There are no fire arms allowed in Botswana, so we were literally walking into bush completely unarmed. On the way out our guides gave us a few pointers about staying down wind, how close you could approach an animal and then they gave us some tips that might save our lives. If an elephant charges you, run zig-zag into the bush. If a buffalo charges you, run to a tree and climb up the opposite side. And finally if a lion approaches you, stand completely still and stare it straight in the eyes...awesome, I can do that, no problem. ha! Luckily, none of us had to put any of these tactics to the test. We ran into a few elephants right off the bat and spent a good deal of time watching them. We weren't able to pass them as they had found a tree that must have tasted like candy seeing as they were unwilling to leave the tree and move from our path. So when the sun started setting we headed back to camp and I experience my first true African sunset. That is one thing that Africa sure knows how to do! It is amazing how the colors can change from orange to red to purple all in a matter of minutes.

The next day we awoke for another game walk and spent the hottest part of the afternoon soaking in the swimming hole. I'm not sure how they can know or guarantee this, but our guides assured us there were no crocs or hippos in this area. If I wasn't so hot, I would have probably been more inclined to question them. Even so, I did have the sense not to go any deeper than my thighs, I just sat down close to the shore (for a quick escape) and watched all of those other fools swim out deeper! Later that afternoon we went on our mokoros to a hippo pool not too far away from camp and watched the hippos. It is crazy how big and noisy those animals are. They have a loud barking grunt and spend most of their time in the water. Did you know a hippo can stay under water for up to 6 minutes! At sunset we headed back to camp for our final night in the Delta.

We had a special treat that night as our polers, who were camping with us, performed some of their songs and dances for us by the light of the fire. It was amazing to hear their songs, and even though you couldn't understand, you couldn't help but be moved by the sincerity of the songs. We asked what the songs were about; nature, people, religion, love...same as us. I was amazed at how similar we were to these people, maybe I shouldn't have been, after all we are all still people. I spent a lot of time on the mokoro ride home thinking about this. We're all people, we all have families, we all love, we all have the same basic needs, what differs is want. I want a bigger flat closer to the city, they want a solid mud hut for their entire family with a fully thatched roof that keeps the sun and rain out. I want a pair of Louboutin's with their coveted red soles, they want a pair of shoes with any soles that don't have holes. I want to travel the world, they want to find a way to get into town to spend the 40 pula (roughly $5) we tipped them. I want to try a Gordon Ramsey restaurant, while they want to provide 3 meals a day for their family. It puts such a refreshing perspective on life and the things we focus on and begin to so easily lose perspective. The people we spent these days with had less physical belongings than I could imagine spending a life with, but they also had a re-assuring amount of joy. So like I said before, it is the people that made the Delta such a memorable experience.

As usual, the rest of my pics are on shutterfly

Africa - Khama Rhino Sanctuary

It is so hard to even know where to begin!  So I think I'll just break out my blogs into different sections, by place or activity, and hopefully I'll get through it all.  First off, I guess I will explain a little more about my trip.  Amy and I went with a tour company called Geckos (I know, the irony!)  it is an Australian company so there were tons of Aussies on the trip.  They gear towards a budget traveller, so we were roughing it!  Seriously...tents, sleeping bags, meals cooked over the open fire...roughing it! It was pure luxury if our camp sites had a shower and a toliet (that actually flushed!)  Needless to say myself and all of my belongings smelled of camp fire after the first night and continued to the remaining 12 days.  There were 18 people on our trip, ranging in age from 20 to lets say, 50ish.  We had people ranging from a personal chef on a yacht, to a vascular surgeon to a parachute packer!  We all met up in Pretoria, South Africa at the Twana Lodge (we didn't know the type of luxury it had to offer at the time!) and met our tour leaders, Dumi the driver, Mischek the chef and Innocent our fearless leader.  We also met what was to become our closest companion over the next week and a half...our big orange tour bus!  Little did we know how much time we would spend in this orange eye sore...Botswana is big, as big as Texas to be exact!

The next morning we set out on the road to the Backroads of Botswana at 6 am sharp!  Again, little did I know this would be the first of many sunrises I would see.  We arrived at the Khama Rhino Sanctuary late that afternoon and set up our camp for the first time.  It took a while, but by the end of the trip we were all pros at setting up and taking down our tents.  The next morning we woke for a 5:30 breakfast and then our first game drive at 6 am.  The Rhino Sanctuary is a protected area and is home to only "grazers" they are meant to help preserve the rhinos and create an environment where they are protected and can hopefully reproduce and increase the dwindling rhino population.  In the sanctuary we saw both black and white rhino, giraffes, zebras, wildebeest, warthogs, ostrich, antelope and many different birds.  We were able to get so close to the animals in the vehicles. You can see the rest of the pics on my shutterfly site. 

10 fingers 10 toes

I made it back safe and sound from Africa. I had the most amazing experiences and you safely could say I am hooked. I will return, hopefully sooner rather than later. Africa is one of the most beautiful places, both landscape and people. I could not have enjoyed myself more and I have over 1000 pictures to prove it! I am going to start working on getting everything loaded, with some heavy culling of course! Bear with me, I will start my blog updates and photos shortly.

One thing I can tell you is that none of my granola gear is as bright and shiny as it was in the picture below! Camping is dirty!