[VICTORIA FALLS, Zimbabwe]
Yesterday I have arrived in Vic Falls, and despite all the bad news about this country life seems very normal here, the people are very friendly and there is still food in the shops. The only noticeable problem here is that one has to queue for 3 hours (or more) for petrol, but hey, I dont drive anyways...

From Swakopmund we travelled north and arrived in the 'real' Africa.... small villages with mud houses and grass thatched roofs. The people in general are subservant farmers and literally own nothing more than the clothes on their back. The country side is quite flat but very green, and the malaria mosquitos love to dine on you as well.

My favourite highlights are-

*Talking to a friendly local Namibian girl, Jennifer, in her village. I took a walk with 2 other people to a local village. These villages are very brown; brown thatched fences and roofs, brown mud walls on the huts, brown dust and dirt floorings. Yet Jennifer had this amazing white top on with cream pants in such a stark contrast to her enviroment. Her english was excellent and as she said, her and her village enjoyed the visits from 'us'.

* Etosha National Park, Namibia- to see the animals in the wild, I saw lions, elephants, zebras, impala, hyenas, giraffe and wildebeast

* Okanvango Delta, Botswana- This was real camping, no eletricity, showers toilets or clean water...chlorine needed to be added. The delta is the largest in land delta in the world and is home to hundreds of bird species and wild life and as it is so remote, it is only reachable by cannoes. At night we could hear the hippos 'barking' and lions roaring outside our tent perimeter. In the day we spotted an elephant; it feels so fantastic to be able to see animals in their enviroment and not from a truck, I felt a great sense of appreciation for them. The elephant took a curious interest in our group and was walking towards us; I would have stayed if it was not for the local guides who got all excited and
insisted we take some distance...obviously not showering for the last 2 days was not offensive enougth
for this 2-3 tonne beast.

* On leaving the delta a local guide placed some pyras grass into some freshly caught fish, and threw it in the water, where it floated due to the grass . Upon a whistle from the guide and right on cue, a sea eagle perched nearby, flew across the lake towards the floating fish and in one, well timed swoop, clutched the fish in its talons and was gone to another tree across the lake. It was the most majestic thing I have ever seen. Apparently the guide has been feeding the same pair of eagles this way since 1995, a happy co-existence!

* Baboon on path, Zimbabwe- I am walking across a bridge from the Zambian side into Zimbabwe. The magnificent and roaring Vic Falls are behind me, and I can still feel the over spray from the falls. As I walk along a footpath I see a dog, no, its a male baboon running at neck break pace towards me on the same footpath. I falter a little in my walk as it literally passes me with inches to spare. I look back to him wondering "what the fuck are you doing" as he looks back at me running the other direction with the same look on its face!

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