Hello once again from Sunny Southern Africa. After leaving Fort maclear in Malawi, Maurice and I continued on to Lilongwe and then crossed the border into Zambia. I had heard that the Zambians a lot less friendly are than the Malawi and that's true. They are a lot more reserevd and more superficial. Of course being true africans they try to get money out of you all the time as well.

We passed straight through Zambia in two days staying first in Chipata and then in Lusaka. After leaving Lusaka we were caught speeding. How fast we were going was not evident but 'too fast' was all that the police officer repeatedly said. The fine would be 540 000 kwatcha! After stating that we did not require a receipt the amount dropped to 70 000 and after paying were wished a good journey onwards, withy the wize words of watch your speed! Whatever.

Unfortunately 25 minutes later Maurice decided to stand next to and not behind a truck at a customs check point and this thouroughly iritated the local policeman and so he was ordered into the police office to be presented with a fine of 560 000 kwatcha for dangerous driving??? He subsiquently pleaded poverty and more and again ended up paying 70 000 kwatcha (of course without a receipt) Zambia was starting to be a very expensive country!

We travelled on to Livingstone where some action was on the agenda. First we went Gorge swinging(see foto's) witch I can say really scared the hell out of me. 53m freefall than only do you start swinging. Of course there are three ways to do it, namely

1 the dead drop tandem: Here we both got tied together and then your feet get tied up and when your ready you fall over backwards into the gorge.

2 front facing: here you face the gorge and when you are ready you step off the gorge cliff face.

3 rear step: Same as before only stepping backwards.

So not to be outdone we did all three, one after the other, and I can tell you that every time I jumped it was just as scary as the time before. We were told that the record was 25 jumps in one day!!

Next on the list was absailing down a vertical cliff face of 64m first standard backwards then mission impossible style wich is facing forwards and running down the cliff face. (I actually really enjoyed this and went a third timeJ)

After a short lunch we went on the fire fox, a cable slide over the gorge, really boring compared to the first two activities.

So once all our adrenaline was spent we went to go and see the vic. Falls, unfortunately due to the extreme high water at the moment all we saw was mist. Better luck next time.

The following day we headed to the border of Botswansa. Seeing as it's only 60km's away we arrived at chobe River lodge nice and early and organised a sunset boat ride on the River for the same evening. Even though I've donei t before once again it was a great experiance seeing the elephants come down and drink in the late afternoon. Africa at it's best!

From here it was off to Maun which we reached in two days going via a campsite called planet Baobab. And no the owner is not Sylvester S. or Arnold Z. and there are no guitars hanging on the walls but lots of old posters of boxing matches. At the campsite we met a really friendly South Afreican couple who had just come from Maun and they recomended the scenic flight to us over the delta. This obviously piqued our interest!

Arriving in Maun the next day we decided to do the flight straight away and it was really worth it, we saw heards of elephant, zebra, giraffe and even lions walking over the delta.( Jude we must come back one day)

The campsite we were overnighting in was called the old bridge backpackers, and besides the extreme large amounts of alcohol being consumed hereb y the local patrons it was very vibey and a good laugh, and after repeatedly buying the manager drinks he offered us a free boat ride on the delta. So at three in the afternoon we hoppeds in the boat and heade3d into the delta, and only 100m's away from the campsite we came across a huge hippo grazing in the reeds. All I can say is that I now understand why it's the most dangerous animal in Africa!

We also saw a huge variety of birdlife and even a snake swiming in the water. All in all a great ride.

But as time is a factor we have to unfortunately move on once again and I'm writing this in the car on our way to Windhoek where we plan to spend the night and eat at Joe's restaurtant.( good Zebra steak apparently and of course german size beer glases)

So till the next time I write on the blog it's goodbye out of Sunny Botswana.