Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Adventures through Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Zambia!

After a long night of partying when Alex and Emily arrived in Cape Town, we flew to Windhoek in Namibia where we spent one of the last comfortable nights we would have in awhile. Beds, toilets, showers, pure luxury. The next day we started a lot of driving for the next 2 days. Our first major stop was the Okavango Delta in Botswana. To get to our campsite in the delta we had to load all of our stuff into these Mokoros (canoes carved out of tree trunks) and take a 1 hour journey through the beautiful delta. Below are some images of the Polers who are used to journeying through the Delta with a pole and a Mokoro.

This is Sarah, our poler.


Our guide in the Okavango taught Allegra how to brush teeth with the root of a plant. When the local Bushman don't have toothpaste or tooth brushes available they use these. Looks minty fresh!A morning game walk with our guide Chedric in the Okavango Delta. Absolutely phenomenal mornings.
A flower on the Okavango Delta
Some local dancing in BotswanaA hippo taking a dip in the Chobe river! I loved ths hippos
An Elephant in Chobe National Park (Botswana) coming out of the Chobe river.
Here is Morgan one of our guides. We would be out in the middle of nowhere with no showers or toilets, yet Morgan would whip up delicious meals for us after long hot afternoons of Safari walks
The sun rising over the Okavango Delta in Botswana. We were up at 4:45 to go looking for game in the Delta.


A shot of Vic Falls in Zimbabwe. Incredible.This was probably the highlight of our trip for me. We were at Vic Falls doing the tourist thing when we ran into this group of school kids. The kids proceeded to individually shake hands with each of us. Then their teachers had them perform a song and dance for us! Finally, the kids and the teachers then wanted to take individual pictures with each of us. Now I know how britney feels. Here is a pic of me with the kids climbing all over me :)
Here we are with some of the guys from our trip throwing down at a bar in Zimbabwe. With the current rate of inflation in Zim, 1 beer cost $1MM Zim Dollars.
Alex busting a move with the local dancers in Zimbabwe
This is Zimbabwe's official lager, named after the great Zambezi river. We had an awesome time white water rafting on the river through Class 5 rapids, but obviously cameras were not an option :(

After our rafting trip, I traded my shoes for a "yum-yum" necklace, the yum yum is the god of the Zambezi river. The situation in Zimbabwe is so bad that people are willing to barter for your old shoes, t-shirts, and pens. The stores are mostly empty, so people cant even get these basic goods. Yet as the guy who bartered with me said, "we suffer peacefully here in Zimbabwe." Its true, in the short time i was there, the people in Zim were by far the warmest even in their dire political/economic situation.

I head back to the States on Friday and I gotta say I'm pretty excited to get home. However the last few months has been incredible for me. Thanks for reading along!

Sunday, November 11, 2007

A Mad Rush to See it All!

So its now my last week in Cape Town. I can't believe it. Alex, Allegra, and Emily arrive at the end of the week and we are going to Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Zambia. So until then, I've been rushing around trying to see as much of Cape Town and doing all the tourist stuff I've been neglecting!



Below is a picture of me in the Malay quarter. S. Africa has a large Malay population that was originally brought over as slaves.



At Mangwanani, an African Day Spa. What $70 bucks gets you at a Spa in Africa: Driver to pick you up with Champagne, A 45 minute foot massage, 45 minute hot stone massage, Dinner, dessert, all you can drink wine, and African women singing to you! Best deal EVER.At Manna Epicure, a yummy brunch spot
This is from Spier, which is in the wine region. It's sort of a "African Experience" theme park with no rides? Me and my new Cheetah friend
At Spier we ate in this tree house and these singers came and seranaded us. The food was an African buffet. Delicious!

Penguins at Bolder Beach

We also went to Cape Point, and encountered this baboon family on the road
This is just a tree i liked at Cape Point
Zebra spotted at Cape Point
More Cheetah!

I'm off to see more of Africa at the end of this week, so not sure if I will post for awhile... Until next time!


Sunday, November 4, 2007

New House, Halloween, and Daphne's Birthday!!! (Video included!)

First piece of major news, we've moved houses! This house is a little further from the beach, but has much nicer views. We had a minor issue with the S. African welcome wagon at 4:30 am on Halloween morning (pretty much the scariest halloween of my life) at the old house so we decided to upgrade. Plus the old house had some pool issues so we couldn't swim.


Anyhoo, after we moved into our new fancy digs we decided to christen the place with a real American Halloween party! They can take our money, but never our spirit! :) Also, it was Daphne's birthday. Here is the birthday girl with Berta.

Pancho with Obelix and the Zombie!

The KING with some Swedish Super Heros

The French take on Native Americans, a boxer, and a cigarette girl

































The Swedes/Superheroes getting ready to bring Daphne her cakes.





Video of the Superheroes bringing out the cakes!


Breakfast the Morning After


Me and my bloody mary :)