So after being home in Cape Town for a week now, I can finally reflect on my spring break. If I died tomorrow, I would die happy. I just had the best 10 days that I have ever had in my entire life and beating them will honestly be pretty difficult. For "spring break" (it is weird to call it that considering it is Fall back home but that means I get 2 spring breaks this year booya!) I went on a trip organized by a company which included all transportation and meals, etc. to travel through Botswana and Zimbabwe. At first I thought it seemed ridiculously expensive and stupid to have someone else plan something I could plan myself but after experiencing it, there is absolutely no way I would have been able to do nearly as much as I did in such a short amount of time and wouldn't have met any of the awesome people that I did along the way. This trip exceeded my expectations in every way possible. Also after seeing some of the marvels that this world has to offer it has made me realize how much more exploring I have to do in Cape Town and NOLA and everywhere else….
Now, let me take you through our days on the road and the memories created along the way.
Day 1: rise and shine! The first of many pre-sunrise wake ups. A group of 40 of us headed to the Cape Town airport where we flew to Johannesburg. Once in Joburg we separated into our two groups and quickly went through names with our leaders. My leader (unfortunately for him) was named Michael Jones and was strictly referred to as Mike Jones (who?) for the rest of the trip--side note: any of you who don't know who Mike Jones is, youtube him--we were then greeted by our lovely overland truck which became our "home" during our journey. With our truck we met our driver, Sam, and our cook, Ben…writing their names right now makes me miss them already. Once we were all loaded onto the truck, we began our 9 hour ride..yippee. We arrived at our first camp site that night in Palapye and after learning how to set up our tents we had a quick dinner and went to bed.
Day 2: Cock-a-doodle-doo, up and at em' I felt like I had been hit by a train. It was so cold the night before that I put on every layer of clothing that I had packed for the trip and taking down the tent that morning made my fingers feel as though they would shatter into a million pieces like icicles. I was happy to get on the bus and snuggle up in my seat for our second looonng travel day. We stopped half way through the day for a quick lunch break and a couple pee breaks along the way and tried to make our time on the bus as fun as possible as it was one girl, Liza's, birthday. Finally, we arrived at our second camp site in Maun, Botswana, where, after setting up camp, we repacked a small bag for our overnight trip to the Okavango Delta the next day. Ben and Sam cooked us up a delicious dinner and dessert and then we sat around a fire and celebrated for Liza.
Day 3: Early wake up. Tents down. Breakfast eaten…we loaded onto a smaller truck with open sides for a 1.5 hour ride, passing hundreds of cows, donkeys, goats and huts along the way. We then met our new guides and transferred our stuff in pairs onto these small carved out wood boats called mekoros. Looking back, this hour long ride in the mekoro, inches away from the water with beauty surrounding me, was one of the most peaceful and serene moments I have ever had. My "poler" (the guy who stood at the end of the mekoro and pushed it with a long stick) was named Toh and he filled our time on the boat with stories about his life and what to do if we came into a confrontation with an animal in the delta--if you are curious, you run behind a tree for a buffalo because if you climb it they will wait at the bottom for you, you stand still and slowly back away for a lion, you run as quickly as you can into the bush for an elephant and if you are attacked by a hippo you pray that you make it out alive--After this peaceful ride we arrived on our island "home" where we set up camp in a small opening among the trees. This was the first and only camp site with no access to running water and a hole in the ground as a toilet. Personally, I found peeing in the woods liberating but I'm sure it wasn't the same for everyone. In the couple of hours of free time that we had between our arrival and our first bush walk, our guides took us to a safe swimming spot where we happily relaxed under the hot sun. After a little down time we were ready for our first walking safari. We split into groups of 7 and my guide was Nico. Before heading into the delta, everyone we talked to said it was pretty rare to see any elephants….well within 10 minutes of walking away from camp, my group came into a face to face interaction with one, literally. As Nico was explaining some plant that we had just passed, an elephant came walking through the trees on our left, made eye contact with us and then by the time Nico had finished saying run it turned around and retreated to where it had come from. This was only the beginning of our elephant interactions for not only our time in the delta but throughout our entire trip, but I will get to that later. During the rest of the walk we watched an entire herd of elephants from afar and then saw some zebras, warthogs, water buffalo and a beautiful sunset. As we headed back to camp, I noticed that Nico was more on edge and alert when suddenly we heard some yelling and sticks clapping in the distance. Nico turned to our group and quickly explained that we must walk quickly as we were currently separating two groups of an elephant herd that would soon be heading in our direction. Within seconds we saw a stampede of elephants to our left and we then ran to our camp. My heart was racing with excitement and joy that I wasn't road kill. That night after dinner, the guides performed some traditional song and dance for us around the fire and I went to bed with a huge smile on my face and the sound of hippos mating in the distance
Day 4: Very early in the morning, my tent-mate and I woke up to the sound of rustling in the trees behind us followed by a growl. Once everyone was awake, we found out that we had heard a lion (crazy). We headed out for our second bush walk, with Nico again, but this time we took a mekoro across the river with the sunrise behind us. Once again, right after beginning our walk we saw elephants! Then later we hung out within jumping distance of 50-60 zebra. The entire time we were standing with them, testing how close we could get, I couldn't get the scene in Madagascar 2 where Marty the zebra is hanging out with all the other zebras and they all talk the same and dance…Anyway, back to reality, on this walk we also saw a giraffe skeleton and an alive giraffe. I was sad that our time in the delta with Nico had to end so quickly and even now wish that we had had one more night with them. After another mekoro ride (this time I had Nico and got to learn about his entire life) we met our truck and then drove to meet up with our bigger truck with Sam and Ben. From here we drove straight to our next camp site, Planet Baobab, which had a pool, showers and toilets. At this point I was so dirty that I didn't even need to shower but I'm sure everyone around me appreciated it.
Day 5: Back on the truck! We made our way to Chobe for a sunset cruise. We stopped at a camp site where Ben and Sam made us lunch and we were able to take a swim in the pool which was really refreshing before heading to the cruise. In my mind, I did not imagine seeing very many animals on something called a "sunset cruise"…instead it sounded more like a booze-cruise-esque thing. Well once again, my expectations were exceeded and we were literally within spitting distance of elephants, hippos, giraffe, crocodiles, kudu and baboons. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. After a gorgeous sunset, we headed for the Zimbabwe border and then to the town of Victoria Falls where we stayed for 2 nights in beds! at the Adventure Lodge. Upon arrival at the Lodge, there was a big dinner waiting for us and we all happily went to bed on the early side, excited for our day of white water rafting coming up!!!
Day 6: Rafing time!!!!! We all met in the bar/pool area of the lodge and were given safety instructions, etc by the rafting guides before heading to the gorge/Zambezzi River. Once arriving at the gorge we put on our gear (life vest, helmet and a paddle) and hiked down the steepest stairs I have ever seen in my entire life. It was more like a ladder that they called stairs and if you took one wrong step you were dead for sure. I was in a boat with some people from my truck who I had recently met and our guide's name was JB..aka the man. He talked us through what to do during the rapids and then we were off! Down the Zambezzi we were immediately met with our first rapid, and lucky for us it was a level 5 (the highest) Adrenaline pumping through my veins and my heart beating in my ears, we paddled into the rapid. Colliding with a huge rush of water we immediately flipped and everyone went flying into the water. Total yard sale; paddles and people everywhere. Since we were at the beginning of the rapid we got sucked under and tossed around like little jelly beans. I can now honestly say that I know what drowning feels like, and I don't like it. Writing about it is giving me PTSD. Anyway after what felt like years inhaling water, we finally got back on our boat and continued down the river. After 20 rapids, 3 flips and endless amounts of water gulped down…I can sit here and today it was one of the most exhilarating experiences I have ever had and by far one of my favorite moments of the trip. Unfortunately, during rapid #5, my foot got stuck in the boat weird and after getting x-rays/going to the dr yesterday I now know I pulled some tendants and chipped a bone in it. After making it to shore safely about 4 hours from when we began, we had to hike back up out of the gorge. My foot was already swelling and absolutely killed but there was no other way out so I dragged my tired body up. Had I been completely unharmed, I would have been sweating and tired after this hike up so just imagine how I looked one foot short. Super pretty obviously. Waiting at the top was lunch and a big cooler of beers and I happily guzzled one down and reflected on how funny humans are to pay someone to put themselves and near-death experiences. Once back at Adventure Lodge, I hung out with our guide JB and a couple other guides (Stuart and Vusa) and guys on my trip. JB and Vusa took us to the market/showed us around. At the market, JB told me that all of the little goods that I see being sold in Cape Town are mostly made by artists here and then resold at a higher price in Cape Town which made me decide that I would buy most of my gifts for people from the artists themselves. That night, I played cards with some people including JB and Stuart and Stuart made me rope bracelet that I had told him I liked during rafting. I miss Stuart.
Day 7: When I woke up my foot was hugeee and absolutely killing me so I decided to try to take it easy during the day. While everyone was at Devil's Pool jumping into the top of Victoria Falls (which I was supposed to do but somehow there was a miscommunication in booking so they didn't have room for me) I went to the market with my friend Rachel. Believe it or not, there is another little Rachel besides Rachel Suss which makes it difficult to determine who someone means because you can't even say little Rachel. At the market, I was able to trade some hair ties and bug spray (and money of course) for a tapestry, a bowl, salad tosser things, a hat, a bracelet and a bottle opener made of carved giraffe bone! I was happy to explore around the town and get a real feel for the locals and I even became friends with a rasta man named Felix! haha That afternoon I went with a group to the majestic Victoria Falls themselves. Absolutely breathtaking…..I have never seen anything like it. Literally don't even know how to describe it besides WOW. As we stood there taking it all in, we looked across at the top of the falls and there, to our amazement, were about 4 elephants walking around. Not only did I get to see elephants on a safari, up close from a boat and on the side of the road while driving…I now got to see them standing on the top of Victoria Falls. Absolutely unreal. I sat looking at this natural wonder and reflected on how grateful I am to be fortunate enough to even be in this position. In my many chats with our rafting guides, I was amazed that many of them had never left Zim. JB for instance was born and raised in the town of Victoria Falls and will most likely stay there for the rest of his life. And here I am, studying abroad in Cape Town, traveling around to Bots and Zim…really puts things in perspective.
Day 8: So sad to leave Vic Falls and say goodbye to my new friends there, we loaded back on our truck and started for Matopos. We arrived at our camp site with just enough time to eat a quick lunch before our rhino walk. We all split up into land rover safari trucks and headed to the rhino reserve where we went on a 2 hour excursion looking for rhinos by car and by foot. I wish I had more to report about this but my group unfortunately did not see any rhinos so the only thing I can reflect on is rocks and poop.
Day 9: Beginning our first of two travel days as we made our way back to Joburg, we headed for the Zim border where everyone anticipated some hard times because many of the people who went to Zambia (Devil's pool) didn't get a yellow fever vaccine and you never know if the border guards are going to check for it. Thankfully all was fine and we arrived at our final camp site in Tshipise, South Africa, "A Forever Resort." When we first pulled it in reminded me of a trailer park but then we saw the two giant pools (one of them being a hot spring) and any concerns disappeared. After setting up camp for the last night, Sam and Ben cooked us a meal suited for royalty and we all sat around a camp fire and made s'mores. Once we were digested we went to the hot springs and swam around until my entire body was a raisin. I couldn't believe the trip was coming to an end and I was dreading the long day of travel that awaited me the next day
Day 10: Not much to say about this day as we were on the truck for most of it, making our way to the airport. Once we got to the airport it was sad to say goodbye to Ben and Sam and Michael but I'll always remember them in making my spring break truly unbeatable.
