Zimbabwe

Well, what can I say - we've had an awesome time. Ever since we arrived we've been looked after and pampered by Soph (and Beks when he's been around). We spent our first day in Vic Falls, where we visited the falls and got soaked by the spray. We then had a sunset (aka booze) cruise and spotted numerous hippos, the first of many game sightings. On the second day, we headed out to Somalisa, Soph and Beks' camp in Hwange national park. It is really amazing, in the middle of the bush with no electricity, water or the other luxuries of life, they've created a 5-star tented camp, complete with large teak beds, white fluffy bath robes and an outdoor bathroom with flushing toilets, from which we could observe the elephants in camp as we showered in the morning. The main area is just as spectacular, with a luxury colonial theme (cigars anyone?), and we spent many a night around the campfire. They even have a swimming pool! Needless to say we were totally spoilt.

But nomatter how great the camp is, the real highlight of Hwange is the game. What amazed Nick and I was the concentration of game in the park. We would drive for hours and every few minutes we'd see something, from elephants, rhino, giraffe, wildebeast, wild dogs, various types of antelope (impala, sable, oryx, kudu, steenbock and others), warthogs, zebra, brightly coloured birds, hyena, jackals, and lions (although much to my frustration only Nick saw the lions!). Nick went to Hwange 3 times and I went twice, and on two of the nights we had drinks overlooking a waterhole filled with herds of elephants at sunset. It was spectacular.

We went to two other camps during our time in Africa, Amalinda which is just out of Bulawayo, and Linyanti which is Soph and Beks' new camp in Botswana. Linyanti is also spectacular. It wasn't quite finished when we went there, but it will be just as luxurious as Somalisa. All the tents overlook an amazing plain - what was once a huge river bed. The scenery is really breathtaking - the kind of scenery you expect in africa - incredibly dramatic wide open spaces. Needless to say the sunsets were amazing, particularly when we had a herd of more than 100 buffalo between us and the setting sun. Again, the camp is surrounded by large amounts of wildlife, which didn't thrill us too much when the soft sand prevented us from towing in a 3-tonne trailor (full of the furniture for the camp) and we spent 1.5 hours in the bush at midnight trying to get the trailor to move. We weren't to move too far from the car just in case lions, leopards or other animals were nearby! But I can't rave enough about Linyanti, which is saying something given that it took us 19 hours to drive there from Bulawayo (I am definitely flying in next time!), we stayed 1 day and spent the whole of the next day driving back. We had our first traditional african meal of sadsa and nyama out in Botswana, and our first bush shower, complete with an audience of baboons!

Amalinda was also a very special camp, which I'm sure Nick will describe in his entry.

We spent the rest of our time in Zimbabwe in Bulawayo. While Soph worked, we wandered the streets, visited the art gallery, read books, cooked breakfast slept etc. We met a number of Soph and Beks' friends, one of whom (Steve) showed us his taxidermy shop, complete will a full sized stuffed giraffe! With Steve and Susie we also ate wildebeast and kudo, both of which were very nice!

Anyway, we had an amazing time, and I'm sure I've left so much out, but those are the highlights. We'll definitely be going back!