Safari Day 21 - The Big 5

Highlight of the day: completing the Big 5 and the cheetah

Today was an absolutely incredible day. It was another full day safari through Kruger National Park. We left camp by 5:30 a.m. and this is what we saw: rhino, crocodiles (19 in one place!), black-headed heron, steenbok (deer-thing), giraffes, lilac-breasted rollers (birds), buffalos (tons and tons and tons at a huge watering hole), hornbills, go-away birds (louries), elephants (including a tiny baby), vultures, zebras, duikers (deer-things), marshal eagle, bushbucks (deer-things), vervet monkeys, warthogs, wildebeest, kingfisher, long-tailed shrikes, crested barbet, kudus, goliath heron (largest heron in the world-beautiful!), baboons, brown snake eagle, and 2 shrews. We also saw a lion right outside our truck.

But the best part was seeing not one but 2 leopards and one cheetah! We saw the cheetah in the morning. He was about 40 feet from our truck, and appeared to be hunting. We sat there for at least 20 minutes watching him. He stood under a tree and peeked around it towards his prey (probably some impala in the distance). He also walked around a bit so we got to see him in his full glory. He was absolutely beautiful. We could have watched him all day. It was very lucky that we got to see it, especially so close up and for so long. We could have stayed all day watching him, but we decided to leave and let him hunt. The first leopard we saw was pretty far away, across a stream on the opposite banks. He was sitting in the shade and we thought it was a lioness. But Nige took a photo and we zoomed in on it, and could see clearly that it was a leopard. Although far away, it was still such a beautiful animal, just relaxing. The last of the Big 5 for us! The second leopard we saw was actually hunting a huge herd of impalas right in front of our truck. We saw the leopard and the impalas, but the impalas only saw us. The leopard was so sleek and stealthy snaking through the grass to catch his dinner. He was completely invisible when he lay down in the grass. With his shoulders hunched and head down, he snuck up on the herd. We only knew when he reached them when we heard the barking of the impalas and saw them all scatter away. Unfortunately for him, he didn't catch one. But it was so exciting to watch all of this happen right outside the truck.

To top the day off, we had a fantastic dinner. We had the hugest steaks I've ever seen, grilled perfectly on the open fire. They were about the size of a side of cattle (actully the size of a large pizza). And absolutely delicious. Toni had organised to get a cake as a special treat, knowing tomorrow is Nigel's birthday. Through dinner, all we could talk about was the excitement of the day, and how good the food was. Not only did we see the Big 5 (plus cheetah), but we also saw them all in one day too!

I don't think Nigel could have asked for a better way to spend his last day being 30.

Safari Day 20 - Back to Blyde River

Hightlight of the day: Seeing Blyde River Canyon again.

Today was spent mostly in the truck again, but we did get to stop at Blyde River Canyon again. It was great to see it a second time, especially since it was at a different time of day so it looked a little different than before. We had lunch here, then continued on to Hazyview and Kruger National Park again. While the others went on a night safari, Nigel and I hung out by the campfire with Benson and Jairos.

Safari Day 19 - Still on the road

Today was another long day in the truck. We crossed the border back into South Africa and headed to Pietersburg. That's about all I can say for this day. Oh,I can add that Kellianne is the truck's offical 'jackass.' Playing the card game 'shithead,' if you lose, you're the shithead. If you lose 3 times in a row (which doesn't happen too often), you become the 'jackass.'

Safari Day 18 - Waste of a drink

Highlight of the day: Seeing the Kalahari Desert

Today was an extremely early start (4:30) but nothing much happened other than sitting in the truck all day. We drove from Maun to Palapye on the Botswana/South Africa border. We got to drive through the northern edge of the Kalahari Desert, which covers 70% of Botswana and takes up 500,000 square kilometres of southern Africa. But we didn't see any bushmen.

We arrived in Palapye in time to set up camp and scrub some very grubby clothes. After dinner we headed to the campground bar for a few games of pool, and a few shots of 'Long Drops.' It starts with a layer of banana liquer, topped off with a layer of Amarula (a liquer made from cream and the distilled fruit of the African Marula tree). You then pour a tiny amount of chocolate liquer in the middle. The chocolate liquer slowly sinks to the bottom in one long strand, the whole thing looking very much like a long drop toilet. Not the most appealing name for a drink, but they taste awesome.

When we'd had enough of the annoyingly loud locals, we had one last shot and headed to bed.

Safari Day 17 - Tracking Lions

Highlight of the day: Tracking lions

This morning we were up before sunrise for another walk. It was another beautiful morning, and we ended up spending most of the time following some lion tracks that started just near our campsite. According to Seven, our guide, there were 2 lions and at least one cub, probably two. They had been hunting right around our camp that morning! We never did see the lions, but it was exciting all the same. It was so cool to interpret the tracks to figure out what they had been up to all night.

We arrived back at camp for a huge breakfast, then packed up all of our gear and headed out. The mokoro trip back was just as relaxing. We got back to the campground in Maun in time for lunch. A few of us then went with the truck into town to buy beer and check email, then we hung out at the campground for the rest of the day.

Safari Day 16 - Hanging out in the Okavango

Highlight of the day: Seeing a rare bat-eared fox

Last night we heard hippos and lions around camp. This morning we left just before the sunrise for a 4 hour hike around the island in the Delta. It was a gorgeous morning, and a great way to see what the land of the Okavango looks like before all of the water floods it in just a few days. We didn't see too many animals, but did see a mongoose, a group of about 12-16 giraffes (we sat and watched them from about 30 feet away) and a rare bat-eared fox, which was really cool.

We got back to camp just before noon and had a huge brunch. We spent the remainder of the day napping, relaxing in the camp, cooling off in the water, and playing 'shithead,' our new favourite card game. Around 4:00 p.m. we set off in the mokoros with our cameras and an esky of beer for a sunset cruise. The sunset was pretty, but the best part was seeing all of the different types of animal tracks in the sand. There were lions, hyenas, hippos, giraffes, zebras, small cats and heaps of others.

Back at camp, we had dinner and sat around the fire drinking beer, eating freshly popped popcorn, and listening to the Botswana polers sing their beautiful songs.

Safari Day 15 - The Hippo Pool

Highlight of the day: sneaking up on hippos

This morning we set out for two nights in the Okavango Delta. The Delta is a huge expanse of water, which has travelled from the Angolan highlands, spreading out to form the largest inland delta in the world. Millions of years ago the river flowed into a huge lake. But tectonic and fault movements caused the river to backup and form the delta. It takes nine months for the water to reach the delta and then stops at the edge of the Kalahari Desert, with almost 95% of it evaporating. It delta covers a range of 9,000-16,000 square kilometres, depending on the season.

We drove about 1.5 hours to reach part of the delta, where we loaded up into mokoros, traditional dugout canoes made from a single log of wood. The local guides, or 'polers', pushed us along for about 2 hours through narrow channels of water. Our young poler is called 'Salvation.' We were surrounded by reeds about 8 feet tall, and the guys were experts at winding us through the maze. It was so relaxing to just slowly wander along, listening to the birds and the sound of the water. We reached camp around noon, a random spot under some trees on a huge island in the delta. We set up our tents, ate lunch, then spent the afternoon relaxing in the shade (it was pretty hot). In our camp were huge elephant bones scattered around. We used 3 of the leg bones as benches around the fire. We napped, read our books, and played 'shithead' (our new favourite card game) before setting out on a walk around 4:00.

We were lead by our guide 'Seven.' He is an extremely smart man, who has spent his whole life out in the delta and knows how to 'read' the wildlife. He reminded me a bit of Jim from the Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn books. We set out and saw a huge bull elephant not far from camp. He was out in a grassy area, eating some leaves off of a tree. We did not get too close, but suddenly we found ourselves following the two guides trough the forest, over & under bushes and ducking through trees. The elephant was tracking us, and we had to be quiet so it wouldn't charge us. It was all very exciting, if not a bit scary. In the end we managed to lose him.

We then spotted a huge hippo coming out of the trees. He walked out into the open, and ran away after seeing us. The sound of his hooves stomping on the ground was so loud, we could almost feel it. It was amazing to see such a huge, fat animal take off so swiftly. After walking for a while longer, Seven told us to take off our shoes and roll up our pants. We weren't sure what we were doing, but followed him into the reeds. We trekked through 10 foot high grass and reeds, walking through water a few feet deep. We had to be careful not to step in the wrong place, as we would find ourselves up to our heads in water! All the while we had to be quiet, as we could hear the unmistakable sound of hippos grunting. It was kind of scary since we couldn't see around us, and we didn't know what we were doing. Suddenly Seven motioned for us to hunch down and approach quietly. He split some reeds apart and beyond wss a huge pool of water, full of hippos! Thew were all swimming around, chatting to each other and enjoying the coolness of the water. It was like peering through a secret window into the lives of hippos. We counted at least 16, if not more. Two very large males had a bit of a scuffle in the water not more than 15 feet from where we were standing. They all knew we were there, but didn't seem to mind us. I was nervous when they swam towards us, but they never got closer than about 15 feet. Still, they cause more deaths in Africa than all other animals combined. But it was one of the most amazing things. It was so cool to trek through the reeds, not knowing what we'd find, and then get a glimpse of the hippo world at it's wildest.

As the sun set, we hiked back to camp, full of adrenaline and excitement. We had dinner and spent the evening around the fire. As we lay in our tents to go to sleep, we could hear hippos out there not far from us.

Safari Day 14 -Missing Kyla

Highlight of the day: having a dog around camp

Today we set off early for Maun, stopping for lunch on the side of the road. We arrived in time to run some errands in town (buy beer, check email etc) and relax by the campground pool with a few cold beers. The campground, owned by some Kiwis, has a few dogs around. One is called 'Ugly' because he is so cute, one is called 'Kilo' although he used to be called 'Killer' because of his bad temper (we like him) and the girl is called 'Macy.' It was fun listening to all of the banter between Misha (from Holland) and Bearnt (from Germany) making many references to 'Fawlty Towers' by saying 'Don't mention the war' at any given opportunity. Not an eventful day, but enjoyable all the same.

Safari Day 13 - Nike gone walkabout

Highlight of the day: Hundreds of elephants in Chobe National Park.

Last night when we got back to camp, we discovered that our running shoes had gone missing. We had left them out to dry, as they were still drenched from the falls, and locked them up in the tent before going out for dinner. They weren't there when we got back. So we spent our last day in Victoria Falls filling out a police report and taking an officer to the 'scene of the crime.' We were not too surprised that the theives took only our shoes, since guys on the street had been offering to buy them since our arrival two days ago. I guess they are in high demand. And who could resist Nigel's bright orange and shiny silver ones? We were thankful that we'll be in London in a week or so where we can replace them. As we were giving the details to the man, he filled out the proper forms. I happened to glance over at the woman standing next to me, speaking to another officer. I looked at the form the officer was filling out, and under 'Type of Crime' she had written 'Rape.' But they were just speaking out in the open, and the victim appeared as if it has happened to her before. I felt awful wasting their time with our stolen shoes worth about $500 when serious, tragic crimes happen every day.

We made it back to camp in time to say goodbye to the people in our group, as everyone was going off on different safari routes from here. We left around 9:30 a.m. with our new, very small group. Joining the two of us, Toni, Jairos and Benson, we had Misha and Sophie, a couple (both doctors) from Holland & Belgium, respectively (on their honeymoon), Marilyn from Canada, Bearnt from Germany, and Neil from England. It was a very different group, since we were joined by another married couple, a young guy by himself (Neil), and two older people (Marilyn and Bearndt). We drove to the Botswana border, got our visas, and continued on to Kasane. After setting up camp, we headed off for an afternoon/evening game drive through Chobe National Park.

Chobe is Botswana's second largest game park and has one of the highest concentrations of animals in all of Africa. It is also home to one of the highest concentrations of elephants in the world. They are the largest elephants of of all. During the safari, we saw, in addition to hundreds of elephants: mongooses, lots of 'deer things,' fishing eagles, lots of guinea fowls, giraffes, crocodiles, hippos, dung beetles, a spoonbill, egrets, and a pride of lions-1 male, 3 females and 5 cubs. Chobe is absolutely beautiful. It was so fun watching the herds of elephants in their different activities: bathing in the mud, washing in the water holes, eating from the trees, and scratching up against tree trunks. We saw plenty of tiny elephants too, their trunks flopping around uncontrolled. One baby was cut off from part of his herd when our jeep drove along the road. The baby trumpeted his hardest and loudest and ran across the road in front of us, trying to catch up with mum. We also saw one baby completely tip over onto his head because he was so unbalanced tyring to lay down in the mud.

We were able to stay inside the park to watch the sunset, a beautiful sight. We were lucky to see the pride of lions on our way out, and stopped to watch the cubs playing, jumping on top of the male and one of the females. As we drove out of the park, the full moon rose before us, huge above the horizon and beautiful against the purple blue colours of the sky.

Safari Day 12 - The Falls

Highlight of the day: Getting drenched by the largest waterfall in the world.

We spent the entire morning walking around Victoria Falls. In the local language, the Falls are known as Mosi-oa-tunya, "the Smoke that Thunders". The total width of Victoria Falls is more than 1.5 kilometres. The height of the falls range between 100 and 116 metres. The amount of water that falls over is a mere 20,000 cubic metres a minute at its lowest, and an impressive 500,000 cubic metres a minute at its highest. Since it is the tail end of the wet season, we saw the falls in all of its thundering glory. Well, 'saw' is arguable. The mist from the water rises up out of the gorge and into the sky, making it nearly impossible to see all of the falls. There is so much water in the air that in some areas it was as if we were walking through a rain storm. We walked along the length of the gorge, getting glimpses here and there trough the mist when the wind shifted. They are absolutely stunning, and we were surprised at how they seemed to go on and on the further we walked. I had no idea they were so long. The morning sun meant that we had a few rainbows to see as well. By the time we walked the length and back, we were dripping from head to toe. We should have just worn our bathing suits. But, at least our clothes came out clean. It was fun to stand on the edge and feel the power of the water and the wind it creates, all the while trying to keep our eyes open wide enough to get a decent view.

We ate lunch at the local Wimpy Burger, sitting in the sun to dry ourselves out. We then headed to the markets to bargain for some local crafts before showering and meeting up with everyone for dinner. Since it was our last night with all 17 of us, we all headed to a pizza place for dinner and a few beers. We are lucky to have had such a fun group who all got along so well. I think our whole group had an excellent last night together.

Safari Day 11 - Nyaminyami

Highlight of the day: Cruising down the Mighty Zambezi

This morning we were up early to being a day of rafting the rapids of the Zabezi River. We had coffee and tea while we were given a brief introduction to the river, then set out for the drive upriver. The Zambezi is offically classified as a grade 5 river, the definition being "Extremely difficult, long and violent rapids, steep gradients, big drops, pressure areas." It is considered the wildest rafting river in the world. There are 24 rapids below the falls in Batoka Gorge, but since it is high water season, the first 10 rapids are not possible to ride. So our trip began at rapid number 11, the 'Overland Truck Eater.' Rapids 11-24 are all classified between levels 3 and 5 (out of 6).

We donned our helmets, life jackets and grabbed an oar before hiking down the 250 meter gorge. Our raft guide, Douggie, gave us a few lessons and we set out. It was the two of us as well as Alistair, Tvon, Alex, Nickie, Leeza and Colleen. After the cleverly named 'Overland Truck Eater', the remaining rapids all had similar names, like 'Terminator I and II', 'Creamy White Buttocks' (apparently people lose their pants here - Kel's biggest fear up until that point) and 'The Washing Machine.' During some 'calm' rapids, we all jumped out of the boat and floated through them. Nigel and I tried to hang on to each other but the water was too powerful for us, and ripped us apart. Of course I started laughing and drank up my fill of the Zambezi. At one deep calm section we all went ashore to climb a cliff and jump into the river from varying heights.

One rapid had a good time with our boat, knocking all but three of us into the river. Douggie later admitted that he meant to do it, calling that rapid 'The Douggie Special.' Somehow I flew across the boat and over the opposite edge. Whether Nigel was already in the water, or it was me who knocked him out, we are not too sure. But we did have suspiciously matching bruises on our knees the next day. Nigel tried to surface, only to find we was under the boat. He calmly waited and tried to surface a couple of times for the boat to pass over him before popping out of the other side and climbing back in. I managed to hold on to my oar during the whole ejection, and swam back to the boat. All of us were back in except for Colleen, who was floating along on her own. She was okay until she got sucked under the water into an eddy. It was a bit frightening to watch her struggle for air, but the kayak was right there to grab her and get her back to the boat. We were all careful to hold on tight for the remainder of the rapids. The rafting was awesome and exciting, and the scenery was gorgeous. We could have gone back upriver and done it all again.

After the climb back out of the gorge, we had lunch and beer before heading back to town. The raft guides treated us to their jokes and songs the whole drive back. After a quick shower, we went out to eat dinner as a group to an African restaurant. While we were eating BBQd eland, warthog (maybe our friend from earlier?) and buffalo, we were entertained by a group of traditional dancers, singing tribe songs. They were dressed in animal fur skirts, headresses and were barefooted and barechested. Their singing was a capella, ocasionally joined by some drumming, and sounded so beautiful. The dinner was fantastic as well. After dinner we headed back to Croc Rock. This time the place was so packed, we could hardly stand, and the band was jamming. It was an African reggae type band, and we all had an excellent evening drinking and dancing. Benson, our cook, was so wasted that he could barely stand up. Actually, he had been wasted when we saw him at 5:00 that afternoon, so we were shocked to see him not only still standing, but also dancing and drinking. Our group made up the only white people there, so it was a lot of fun to party with the locals, especially when the band played a popular song where everyone gets into a conga-type circle, first walking forwards, then practically running backwards during certain parts of the song. I think we all had pretty bruised toes afterwards. And I also had several offers of marriage. And one guy even tried to buy me. But it was all in good fun. The people here are beautiful, friendly, and have the most brilliant smiles. It was a great night partying with the locals after an amazing day.

* The Nyaminyami also known as the Zambezi River God, or Zambezi River Spirit is believed to control life on the Zambezi

Safari Day 10 - Warthogs, not visas

Highlight of the day: nearly being chased by a family of warthogs

This morning we packed up and left Bulawayo, in time to reach Victoria Falls in the afternoon. Victoria Falls is on the Zambezi river, bordering both Zimbabwe and Zambia, and is one of the seven Natural Wonders of the World, and the largest waterfalls on earth.

After an agonizingly long visit to an office for booking adrenaline activities, we headed to the campsite, set up our tents and had lunch. The rest of the afternoon was free to do whatever. Most of us had to extend our Zimbabwe visas, since the guys at the border only gave us 7 days. So we walked down to the border, and after a bit of a hassle, managed to convince the immigration guys to extend them. But we needed a paper we got with our original visas, and ours were still securely locked up in the truck safe. Nigel and I headed back to camp but Toni wasn't around to open the truck so we went and bought some beer and sat at the campsite drinking. When we were able to get the papers we needed, we headed back down to the border. We didn't want to get stuck walking back to camp in the dark, since we'd seen lots of police activity earlier in the day. This comprised bicycle cops chasing guys running on foot. Eventually they were apprehended, cuffed, and calmly walked to who knows where. We're not sure what these guys were wanted for, but no one looked too troubled by the whole thing, including the offenders! So we didn't waste any time contemplating the consequences of walking past some warthogs just outside the immigration building. The big huge dad with big huge tusks was on the left side of the road, and the mum and two kids were on the right side. We could have waited for the dad to join his family, but didn't. Instead we quickly walked by, getting some angry stares from big daddy since we got between him and his family. But in the end I think he was too lazy to do anything.

We got our visas extended and made it back to camp in time to have a shower before dinner. We went to Croc rock to see the local band but they wer not there so we had a few drinks before heading back to camp and to bed, exhausted.

Safari Day 9 - Tracking Rhinos

Highlight of the day: being about 30 feet from a huge white rhino

Today we spent a full day in Matobo National Park, just outside of Bulawayo. We loaded up into 2 open-sided jeeps and drove around the park (which is really just an area of land where the rhinos are protected from poachers) and started tracking rhinos. Luck was with us as our guide spotted prints (also called 'spores') and then the rhino off in the shade of some trees. We got out of the jeeps and walked up close to it. He didn't seem to mind us there at all, so we got even closer. We stood about 30 feet from him, just watching. White rhinos are not really white, they're gray. Just like black rhinos. The difference is that white rhinos are grazers, eating mainly grass, so they have a wide mouth. Black rhinos are browsers and eat trees, so they have a hooked mouth for pulling off leaves. White rhinos got their name as a misunderstanding of the Afrikaans term for "wide mouth." The Africans say that they're just like people, since the white rhinos keep their babies in the front of the mother, like a white woman pushing her baby in a pram, and black rhinos keep their babies in the back of the mother, like a black woman with her baby tied up in a blanket on her back. Black rhinos are extremely aggressive and will attack humans. White rhinos will attack too, but they'd rather just walk away. Rhinos have very poor eyesight, so if they attack you, they're likely to not see you if you stand behind a tree. We were all instructed to find our own trees nearby in case the rhino decided to have a go at us.

But as it was, we were able to just stand there and watch this huge, magnificent animal. They really are cute in their own way. After about 20 minutes, he had enough of us staring and started to move away. We got back in the jeeps and drove some more before finding another rhino in the shade of some trees. Same story with this one. We snuck up close to him and were able to watch him lounging for a while. After driving around more, looking for tracks, we stopped for lunch at a lake. There were hippos in it as well as a crocodile. This is thought to be the very crocodile that attacked a guy a year or so ago. There was a wedding held next to the lake, and two of the guests decided to take a little dip, after much alcohol was consumed. The crocodile attacked one of them. He didn't die but was mauled. At least it wasn't the groom.

After lunch we spent the rest of the day hiking around the sights of the park. It is filled with gorgeous rock formations as the weather and rain have eroded away huge chunks of granite over thousands and thousands of years. There are many ancient cave paintings, proving that people lived here 40,000 years ago. Cecil Rhodes is also buried here, which has bred some controversy since he kicked out all of the local tribes so he could mine diamonds (he founded De Beers in 1880). Before heading back to camp, we ended the day by climbing to the top of a massive granite mountain for a fantastic view of the entire park.

Safari Day 8 - More lions

Highlight of the day: Just the two of us playing with the lion cubs

This morning we had another sunrise walk with the lions. It was our last one for this trip to Antelope Park, and we walked with Arthur and Amber again. After seeing all of the others, and being with these two again, we decided that Amber and Arthur are our favorites. Towards the end of the walk, we watched them stalk a herd of zebras. One of them snuck up on the dominant male zebra. The zebra took on the lion, breaking away from the herd to put himself between them and the lion. As the rest of the herd slowly moved away, the male zebra stood his ground against Amber. Meanwhile, Arthur was sneaking around the back of the herd, so that the two cats had them surrounded. It was really exciting to watch, and since they are still cubs, it almost looked as if the lions were just playing a fun game.

After we said goodbye to them, we headed straight off to see the breeding lions. They keep these ones separate, and only a few of them have any human contact. These lions are absolutely massive. The biggest one, Max,is a Cape Lion with a huge mane of dark fur that runs all the way under his stomach. Seeing him you can tell how they got the name 'King of the Jungle.' And the lionesses are huge as well, their heads easily twice the size of the cubs we were walking with. They were all so beautiful, and we couldn't help but sneak a pat in through the fence.

Our last activity for the day was another visit with the small cubs. First we spent some time with the 5 a's. One even climbed up a small tree while we were playing with a stick. There were only a few of us there, so we had plenty of 'cuddles.' Then Nigel and I got to go in with the 3 K's by ourselves (and with Wean, the guide) for about 30 minutes or so. They had been playing with another group earlier, so they were all tuckered out. Which was fine with us, as we just sat there patting them on their bellies and under their chins. They were in heaven. It was nice to chat with Wean about the park and all the work they do. We could have easily stayed there the entire day.

After a quick lunch, everyone packed up their things and we said goodbye to Antelope Park. We then headed north to Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second largest 'city' after the capital, Harare. But it's not really a city, just a town really. We set up camp on the lawns of a homestyle hotel (some people upgraded to a room with a bed) and relaxed with an excellent dinner and beer.

Safari Day 7 - Lions and lions and lions

Highlight of the day: all of the lions!

We were up before the sun this morning, but we happily jumped out of bed as we had an early morning walk with more lions. At about 6:30, we drove to a different lion enclosure in the park to meet Mel, Mufasa, Leo and Luke. There were more of us human pride members this time, but we took all 4 lions out together, along with Wean and 2 lion trainers. Mel and Mufasa are brother and sister, and Leo and Luke are brothers. All are about 15 months old, and they all live together in the same enclosure. It was so much fun to learn the personalities of these 4, and compare them with those of Amber and Arthur. Luke is the dominant one in the group, and recently they had all been picking on Luke because he has 2 cysts on the backs of his front legs. This occurs normally in the wild, and since they were posing no threat to Leo's health (they were going away), the vets did not want to interfere (the park staff only interfere when it's absolutely necessary). Although Mel is the only girl in this pride, she seemed to do okay with the boys. It was a gorgeous morning as we walked around the land, the sun rising to give the dried grass a soft orange glow. The paths are so narrow (and sometimes there are no paths at all) that most places we had to walk single file. At one stage, Wean was leading the group, and 3 of the lions were behind us. Nigel was up chatting with Wean and suddenly Mufasa raced from the back, whizzed right past most of us, then pounced on Wean from behind. No one saw this coming, and it happened extremely fast. Of course Mufasa was just playing, but he is a lot bigger and a lot stronger than Wean. And his claws are sharp. Wean was able to slap him off and scold him, but not before sustaining quite a few scratches down his back and a torn shirt. Later during the walk, Wean was playing with Luke and all of a sudden Leo leapt up onto Wean, his paws on his shoulders. Mufasa was nearby and they both ganged up on Wean. It was really scary watching, even though we knew they just wanted to play. Wean was able to fend them off long enough for one of the trainers to rush over and help him get the lions off. Apparently Wean hadn't walked with these guys in over a week, so Luke was obviously testing Wean's dominance. Wean was fine, but I think a bit shaken up at the surprise of it all. Meanwhile Nigel and I spent heaps of time petting Leo on his tummy and scratching him under the chin, which he absolutely loved. He is such a sweet boy, and happily lay there. Lions don't purr, but if they did, he would definitely have been.

We arrived back in camp around 9:00 for a late breakfast, followed by a relaxing afternoon. We did some laundry, fished in the lake, went for a paddle in the canoes and soaked our feet in the pool. It was nice to relax and not do much for a few hours. After lunch, we went to feed the cubs. Huge slabs of meat (and by slabs we mean whole pieces of animal, like a cow's back leg or a neck--fur, bones and all) are chucked over the fence to the cubs. Each cub gets his/her own slab. Once they had hold of them, we were able to go into the enclosure for a closer view. Wean took a stick (more like the limb of a tree) and got as close to the cubs as he could, trying to prod the meat with the stick. Suddenly our cute little friends showed their true wild sides. They let out a deep, rumbling growl and snapped at the stick and Wean. The purpose in doing this is so that the cubs learn that their meat is theirs alone and they need to defend it so it will not be taken away. In the wild, lions must defend their catch from hyenas, other lions and sometimes leopards.

After the feeding we had our first cub viewing. We got to go into the enclosure of some of the smaller cubs, only about 5 months old. This time we were with the 3 Ks (all have names that start with K-mum has a name that starts with K-, but we can't remember them). These guys are so adorable. They're a bit smaller than our dog Kyla to those of you who know how small that is. We spent about 20 minutes playing with them and patting them. We were a bit braver with these guys since they're a lot smaller than the cubs we walked with. But they also have sharp claws and sharp teeth. Before we knew it, our time was up and we rushed off for another evening lion walk. We walked with Amy and Elsa this time. They are not sisters but get along. Elsa is actually a Kenyan lioness and we could tell the difference. She's a bit taller, lighter in colour, and has a longer face. She was cool. She also took a liking to both Nigel and I. At one stage I was crouched down patting her when she rolled over and grabbed my leg with her paw. It was wrapped around my calf so tightly, the claws slightly digging in, that I couldn't move. Then she decided to have a taste of my leg, and she put her mouth around my entire calf. I wasn't really scared until some other silly bitch in the group (from another overland company) gripped my arm and tried to pull me away. This was the wrong thing to do (as I knew), not to mention the fact that Elsa's claws and teeth would have shredded my calf! But I was calm, and just smacked her on the nose and said 'NO!' until Wean came over and pried her off of me. It was much more exciting than frightening, and for days afterwards I showed off my bruises from her teeth to anyone who cared to see. Not long after this, Elsa walked over to Nige. It looked like she was just going walk right by, but as she rubbed up against his leg, she turned her head and had a taste of his calf as well. He loudly said 'NO!' straight away and she let go. But, sadly, no bruises to show off. It was fun to be out with 'just the girls,' but they were a bit difficult to get back into their enclosure. They were having too much fun and had to be chased down by Wean and the trainers. We were all standing in the cage as it got pretty dark when they finally made an appearance. I guess they like to be fashionably late!

Another fantastic dinner and beers by a huge fire to end one of the best days we've ever had.

Safari Day 6 - Amber & Arthur

Highlight of the day: Walking with lions as they stalked a group of horses.

Another early start this morning. We packed up our tents and set out for a full day's drive northwest to Gweru, where we arrived in the late afternoon at Antelope Park. This is a 3000 acre game park outside of Gweru in the Zimbabwe midlands. Our tents were pitched on the grass right on the edge of a beautiful lake. In addition to the campsites, they also have lodge accommodation, a restaurant, volleyball court and a swimming pool overlooking the lake (also right next to our tents). It's a gorgeous place, and we were excited to learn we'd be spending 2 nights and almost 2 full days here.

Antelope Park's main function is to breed lions and introduce healthy ones into the wild. They have lions for breeding, which are closely monitored to prevent viruses, illnesses and familial breeding. Once their cubs are born, they are all moved into a semi-wild 'enclosure' of thousands of acres where the adults can raise the cubs with no human contact. At the right time, the cubs/young adults are taken away and released into various gameparks around Africa. They are also active in breeding the rare Cape Lion, of which there are supposedly only 18 left in the world. Despite there being tons of different activities available to do (including elephant riding, safaris, horse riding, boat cruises, canoeing, swimming with elephants, and game viewing) we decided to spend all of our time with the lions.

Our first encounter with any of the lions was on an evening walk with 2 of them, Amber and Arthur. The park has several lion cubs, from 3 to 15 months old, who go out on walks twice a day with humans. There are no leashes, and no collars. The cubs have been raised by humans, but are still wild animals. They see the humans as part of their pride, so usually have no problem when you're around...except of course if you start to lag behind! A group of about 6 people, plus the guide and a lion trainer gathered at the restaurant (free coffee, tea and juice any time!) for some preliminary 'rules.' Our guide, Wean (pronounce V-N), a cute South African guy, went through the basic rules. We were each given a stick, not to hit the lions with, but to use as a play toy. Being cubs, they like to play. We were also informed of the basic rules in regards to how to approach the lions and interact with them. Then, we set off.

The lions we walked with on this first excursion were Amber and Arthur, a brother and sister of about 15 months old who have an enclosure together. When we first set eyes on them, we could not believe how beautiful they are. Or how big they are for that matter. They were let out of the enclosure, and they passed by each member of the group before taking off in front of us. For the next 2+ hours, we walked around in the bush with the lions, stopping to pat them and play with them. It was so awesome to see these animals in their wild form, playing about in the grass, pouncing on each other, and even stalking a group of horses. Wean and the lion trainer had to go chasing after the lions to cut them off from the horses, so the cats wouldn't attack them. These two siblings are very sweet. Amber is gorgeous and Arthur has a lot of heart.They are mellow with the humans but very playful with each other, hiding in the grass for surprise pounces and rolling around together. Their fur is quite soft, and incredibly thick too. To crouch down and pat these huge cats on their bellies and under their chins and tease them with a stick is one of the most exciting things we've ever experienced. But the best part is to see them in their own environment, behaving just as they do in the wild.

Before we knew it, our walk was over and we had to take Amber and Arther back to their enclosure. We all entered so that they would follow us in and then closed them in for the night. By the time we got back to our campsite, we were full of excitement at what we'd just done. We had another fantastic dinner & beers by a huge campfire into the night before heading to bed with dreams of our new feline friends.

Safari Day 5 - in to Zimbabwe

It was another early morning as we packed up our tents and tried to beat the rush to the Zimbabwe border. It took over 2 hours here, since there was only one immigration officer able to issue visas (nearly all 17 of us needed them) and he had to hand write them, along with about 4 other forms. I didn't mind the wait too much, but I did mind the mosquitos hanging around. With the visas issued, it was an easy drive into Zimbabwe and on to Masivingo. Here we had the afternoon to explore the Great Zimbabwe Ruins. It is an ancient complex of ruins covering almost 1,800 acres. The complex was built between the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries by Shona cattlemen, and may have housed as many as 40,000 people at one time. The stone walls, up to 6 meters thick and 12 meters high, are built of granite blocks without the use of mortar. There is a complex situated on top of a hill, and is surrounded by other structures and walls below. The main hill complex housed the king and his 200 wives. It was all like a medeival fortress. Archaeologists have found ancient tools, weapons, jewelry and pottery here, indicating that this was the largest ancient civilisation south of the Sahara. It was unlike any of the other ruins we've ever been to or read about. I was amazed that I had never even heard of them, even though they're an important find in regards to the history of man.

Back at the campsite, Nige and a group of others played a game of soccer while I helped out Benson with dinner (I was on cook's help for the day). We enjoyed another great meal before sitting around the campfire with some beers...again.

Safari Day 4 - Can I buy you a drink?

Highlight of the day: the African disco bar

Today was mainly spent in the truck as we headed north to Messina, just on the border with Zimbabwe. After setting up our tents, we made a quick trip into town for some provisions (most importantly, beer). We walked back to the campsite with Nickie and Alex as we were all starving for a bit of physical activity. We arrived at the campsite in time for a swim and some poolside beverages before Nige & some of the others joined in a game of cricket before it got too dark.

After dinner, we all put on our fanciest clothes (i.e. cleanest t-shirt and pair of pants) and walked down to a local bar. It was truly one of the most interesting places I've ever been. The pub was circular in shape, with the centre of the roof rising up like a tent, but made of thatch supported by wooden beams (I guess maybe to look like a rondaval). The bar was set in the middle, with the tables, pool table and dance floor surrounding it. The dance floor was made of black and white zebra stripes, complete with coloured lights and disco balls above it. And they were playing the most awful music. It was seriously polka music. We asked them to please, for the love of God, change that music, but apparently there was a birthday party going on and the customers already had the 'right' to play their music. The birthday party was the sorriest group of people we'd ever seen. Finally, after we couldn't take it any more, someone asked again and they finally changed the dreadful music. All the while, I sat at the bar chatting with Leeza. The bartender kept coming over to us and telling us that 'the gentlemen across the bar would like to buy you a drink' and 'the gentlemen across the bar would like to dance with you.' I don't think they got the hint when we said thanks but no thanks because soon Leeza and I had a very drunk old man swaying next to our barstools, trying to get our attention. He was sent over to us by the 'gentlemen' to convince us to have a drink with them, but, charming as the old guy was, we were disinclined to accept the offer once again, and quickly joined the others at the pool table.

It was a great night out, and plenty to laugh at. Some of us stayed out late, a few others stayed even later before stumbling our way back to our tents.

Safari Day 3 - on to Graskop

Highlight of the day: Blyde River Canyon

We packed up our tents early this morning (really early, at like 5:00 a.m.) and set out on a full day's drive north to Graskop. After driving through miles of pine and eucalyptus tree plantations, we stopped at Blyde River Canyon. This is a huge canyon, once carved out of the earth by the Blyde River that runs through it. We stopped for some spectacular views of the cliffs 600-800 metres above the river. There are three huge rounded rock columns called the Three Rondavels because they look like little African huts (called rondavels). Some of the rock is very colourful as it's covered with lichen in various shades. We also stopped at Bourke's Potholes. Where the Blyde River (River of Joy) and the Treur River (River of Sorrow) meet, the swirling water has carved huge potholes into the rocks, making perfectly circular holes in the rock. Just as the sun set, we qickly had a few different views further up the canyon, one aptly named 'God's Window.'

We arrived at our campsite, put up our tents in the dark and then hung out with beers and good company well into the night.

Safari Day 2 - Animals everywhere!

Highlight of the day: Seeing lion cubs try to roar at the truck.

Today was a very full day driving around Kruger National Park. It's a huge park, covering an area of 21,497 square km (60km wide and over 350km long), and we only saw a small part of it. But we were not disappointed. This is what we saw:

First off, 2 lionesses and 4-5 tiny cubs, which tried to roar at the truck but only came out as a slight 'miaow'; 2 couples of lions having a rendezvous in the bushes; giraffes, buffalos, hippos, lots of 'deer things'-waterbucks, kudu, impala,duikers, rheboks; red-crested korhaun (bird); settle billed storks; sociable weavers and their nests; wildebeests, vervet monkeys, elephants, 4 white rhinos, warthogs, boomslang (venomous snake); ostriches; zebras; kingfishers; maribou storks (carrion eating birds); egrets; African fish eagles; baboons; white-fronted bee eaters (birds); crocodiles; long-tailed shrikes (birds); guinea fowl; egyptian geese.

And I think that's nearly it, save for a few different bird species I may have neglected to write down. We left the camp at 5:45 this morning and didn't arrive back until after 6:00 p.m. It was one of the most exciting days we've ever had. We had another delicious meal and drinks by the campfire to end the day.

Safari Day 1 - Off we Go!

Highlight of the day: seeing 2 white rhinos duke it out

We were up early this morning, had a quick shower and a delicious breakfast at a bakery/cafe down the street before boarding the truck at 9:00 a.m. Our vehicle for the next 22 days is a huge monstrosity of a truck, raised high off of the ground and built like a tank. Inside are bus-like bench seats, a few tables, and 2 benches at the front for extra room to stretch out for a snooze. The windows are made of a tough plastic, which are able to roll up to creat completely open sides. Here is a photo: The group is 17 people: a couple from Holland and the rest Aussies and Poms, plus our guide Toni, driver Jairos and cook Benson. Although this group is only together for 11 days up to Victoria Falls, we became great friends with them and couldn't have asked for a better bunch of fellow travellers to be with. They are: Sonja and Tom married couple from Holland; Alex and Nickie, couple from Sydney; Lynda and Bri, sisters from Adelaide :); Colleen from Coffs Harbour; Leeza from outside Melbourne; Alistair from Holbrook; Lola, Esme, Jos and Chris, friends from England; and Gareth and Lee, friends from England.

It was a full day's drive east to South Africa's Lowveld and Kruger National Park, our first destination. We arrived just in time to depart on a night drive through the park. Those of us who opted for the night safari transferred into an open jeep and set out into the park. We didn't know what to expect, and felt more than ecstatic at all we saw during the 3 hour drive through areas of the park. We saw huge spotted eagle owls, buffalo, zebras, a few different types of what we call 'deer things' (duiker, impala, kudu), a genet (small nocturnal cat), a HUGE bull elephant about 2 feet from the jeep, and a few other types of birds. But the highlight of this all were the two white rhinos having a go at each other about 20 feet from the jeep. They were both male, and one was defending his territory. They growled at each other and rammed with their horns until one of them (the intruder) left. It was so exciting and fascinating to watch. They didn't even seem to know we were there.

We arrived back at camp starving and freezing, but full of adrenalin, and were rewarded with a huge campfire and the first of many excellent meals cooked by our very own chef, Benson. Some of us stayed up around the fire, drinking beer and having a good time before retiring to our tents for the night.

Money Business

Our flight to Johannesburg was uneventful. We arrived this morning around 7:00 and easily made our way through immigration and customs. We barely managed to catch our free ride with the hostel bus, which left at 8:00. The hotel we booked into, the Backpacker Ritz, is north of central Johannesburg in a nice suburb. We had a shower and paid for our safari through the hotel's travel agent. We knew we needed US dollars to pay for part of the safari, since the company has to pay for certain things in US dollars. So, we proceeded to spend the entire remainder of the day trying to obtain these precious greenbacks. Had we known this would prove to be nearly impossible, we would have obtained the cash a few hours ago in Hong Kong.

We walked up the street to a shopping mall, all the while realising that Johannesburg is just like any city in the US or Oz. We had delcious salads for lunch, huge plates full of crisp, fresh lettuce and veggies. We then went to a bank to withdraw South African rand and then convert it into US dollars. We told the clerk our intentions and he seemed fine with it. So, with about 13,000 Rand in cash, we went to the bank's foreign exchange window, only to learn that you cannot 'buy' US dollars in South Africa. The guy tried to explain this convoluted law to us, but by the time he finished, we were so frustrated that we didn't really listen. Basically, because of the country's tight currency control, you cannot obtain strong currencies inside the country with their own currency. To make a long story short, nearly 7 hours and at least 6 different banks later, we finally managed to change some the rand into dollars. Apparently all we needed was our receipts showing we obtained the cash from a foreign account and all was dandy. But we wiped them out of US dollars and still had nearly half of our rand left. We attempted to go to another one of their branches, but it was closed by the time we got there. A few banks later, we did exchange the remainder of our cash into dollars at an American Express booth, after proving to the guy that we had already exchanged some of it at a bank. It was an extremely frustrating day, mainly because we could have very easily gotten the cash when we were in Hong Kong (we didn't think it would be a problem in Johannesburg, so decided not to carry it all with us on the plane). The safari company gave us no indication that it's nearly impossible to get US dollars within South Africa, but made damn sure you know you have to pay them with US dollars.

During this whole circus, we had to change our airline tickets out of Johannesburg. Luckily enough, the British Airways office was near one of the malls where we were visiting all of these banks. After a bit of confusion about our flights, the extremely helpful and friendly staff at BA changed our flights, no problems, and we left the tickets in their care to be reissued while we were on safari. It was here that we saw some of Johannesburgs finest security. Each visitor had to be signed in and there were security guards around in blue camo (very subtle), bullet proof vests, with machine guns, pistols, mace etc. They looked like they were straight out of a hollywood blockbuster.

By the time evening rolled around, we were exhausted. We stopped at the liquor store on the way back to the hotel to pick up a few beers, which we enjoyed during the pre-departure meeting for our trip. It was at the hotel, so we didn't have to go anywhere. We met our trip leader, Toni, and a few of the 15 other people. We found out what we'd be doing for the next few weeks, and were so excited we could barely contain ourselves. We were in such good moods that we laughed instead of cried when we found out that our first stop for the night would require us to have South African rand to pay for a few things...after all of that, we'd need to change some of our US dollars BACK into rand. We enjoyed a late pasta dinner at the restaurant down the street from the hotel, talking excitedly about all of the things we were to see over the next few weeks.

Bums

It was another rainy day today. We had hoped to go on a walk or two that Jarrod had suggested to us, but by the time we packed our bags, posted some items from the post office, and tried to finalise our plans for Africa, it was too late in the afternoon, and still raining. So we spent the rest of the day wandering around the mall and drinking beer. We tried to see a film but missed the afternoon shows and the others would have been too late for us to make our way to the airport for our midnight flight to Johannesburg. We rang our mums for Mother's Day, rang South Africa to try to confirm our safari booking (that leaves the day after we get to South Africa) and I think it was when we realised that we were sitting outside 7-11 drinking cheap beer out of cans that we decided to upgrade ourselves to the pub. We went to Murphy's, an Irish pub, for happy hour and usage of their internet services before making our way to the airport.

Just like old times

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ALL OF YOU MUMS.

We woke up to pissing down rain today. So we slept in.

We had a lunch of dumplings (like we ate in Shanghai every day) and soup, had our coffee and free internet at the coffee shop, then went to Harbour City shopping mall. This is a HUGE complex right on the water, full of over 700 shops...most (if not all) are way over our price range, but it was still fun to walk around. We then took the MTR across the harbour to HK Island and wandered around the Central area. We got some photo CDs burned and had a few beers at the Hong Kong Brewery while we waited. We found some cute small streets full of cool pubs and restaurants, a great place to hang out on a Friday or Saturday night I'm sure. We could definitely see ourselves living in Hong Kong! Later in the evening we met up with our friend Jarrod, an Aussie we met in Cambodia who lives here in Hong Kong. We spent the evening hanging out with him, just catching up, enjoying his photos of Angkor Wat and having a great time.

It was a school night for Jarrod, so we said our goodbyes and headed back to Kowloon on the MTR. We had a few things we wanted to buy cheaply, so we made a spontaneous decision to go back to the Temple Street markets to get them. It was another late night out in Hong Kong, but even being a Sunday night, we had plenty of company.

Bookworms

We had every intention of doing some sightseeing today, but it didn't quite work out. We slept in, had our usual coffee at the local coffee bar (and of course used the free internet), then took the MTR (underground railway) to Hong Kong Central Library. We thought it would be a good idea to figure out what we were going to do in Africa once we got there, seeing as how we would be arriving there in 2 days. So, most of the day was spent in the library using the free internet and reading through the Africa guide books. Before we knew it, it was after 5:00. We had soup and a sandwich at the cafe on the ground floor of the library and then took the train back to Kowloon to the Mong Kok area. This area was jam packed with people out enjoying the evening, shopping, eating dinner, and just wandering around like us. The streets were blocked off to traffic for entire blocks because so many people come here for weekend shopping. And the lights from the shop signs are so bright that it almost looks like daytime. After wandering around for a while, we headed back to our hotel and to bed. Another late night out in exciting Hong Kong.

THANK YOU

We just wanted to take a few minutes to thank everyone for reading our blog and staying interested in our adventures and mishaps. We're happy to share as much of our experiences as we can, and knowing that there are so many people reading makes it all worth it.

A special thank you goes out to a group of students at the University of Hawaii. We hear you've taken a particular interest in keeping track of us. Thanks guys, and we hope that we help to inspire you to take on the world.

Please feel free to send us your emails and comments. Comments can be made by clicking on the 'comments' link at the bottom of each blog entry. We love to hear from anyone and everyone.

Seis de Mayo

We had a good sleep in this morning, our first good night's sleep in a few weeks. We had a delicious, fresh lunch at Oliver's sandwich cafe, a coffee at Pacific Coffee Company (so we could use their free internet) and then took the ferry across the harbour to Hong Kong Island. We wandered around the huge, beautiful buildings and ended up at the Zoo & Botanical Gardens. These are right in the middle of the CBD, a lush, green haven among the chaos of the city. And it's FREE! There is an aviary and many mammals, and beautiful trees and flowers. There were a lot of nannies wandering around with their whitie kids. It's so cool how there is this huge zoo and park for anyone and everyone to be able to enjoy, right in the middle of the city.

It had been a bit cloudy all morning, but later in the afternoon it started to clear, so we took the tram up to The Peak, a mountain on Hong Kong island with a spectacular view of the whole harbour. Nigel had a good time remembering when he was here with his lacrosse team about 12 years ago. From the top of the tram, we continued walking up the mountain to the top of Victoria Peak, the highest point on Hong Kong Island. Along the way, we passed homes worth ridiculous amounts of money, and a bright yellow lambourgini even zoomed passed us. There is a lot of money in Hong Kong.

We stayed up on The Peak until well after the sun set, enjoying the views and watching the city lights go on. We took the tram back down the mountain and exited just in time to see the fireworks show begin from the tops of several highrise buildings...if we'd only known this would happen, we could have stayed up on the mountain! Oh well, it was still fun. From here we walked around Soho, an area on the island full of high-priced shopping, cool restaurants and lots of bars. There is an escalator along part of a hill in Soho, travelling for 800 metres. It travels down between 6:00 a.m. andn 10:00 a.m. and travels up the rest of the day. This is so commuters don't have to work up a sweat in the humid weather by trudging up and down the hill going to and from work. Very cool. We treated ourselves to a belated Cinco de Mayo dinner at El Taco Loco. We gorged ourselves on chips with guacamole and pico de gallow, burritos and Dos XX beer. Our bellies full, we made our way back down to the water and caught a late ferry back to Kowloon.

Hong Kong Heaven

We arrived in Hong Kong around 3:00 this afternoon. It was a long wait in the Bombay airport this morning waiting for our plane to depart. There is nothing in the airport except a few drinks stalls (we had to wake the workers up to buy a juice) and lots of mosquitos. But they do have comfortable reclining chairs. Our flight was uneventful.

We were totally excited to be in Hong Kong. The first thing I noticed was how clean the bathrooms are! And they have toilet paper! And soap to wash your hands! Clearing customs was no problem, and given the peak traffic hour, we decided to pay a bit extra and take the underground train from the airport to Kowloon where we'd be staying (cheapest). From the time we bought our tickets and got off of the train, it only took about 20 minutes. The public transport here is incredibly efficient, always on time, and immaculately clean. It was pure luxury to be in an air conditioned train, with no smelly people, no trash and no blaring Hindi music. We quickly found a clean place to stay (although it's the size of a small closet). Hong Kong is quite expensive, so we were happy to get a clean, air-conditioned room with an attached bathroom for only HK$180.

By this time it was nearly 6:00 p.m., and we spent the rest of the evening and night wandering around Kowloon and the Temple Street outdoor markets. Kowloon is just across the harbour from Hong Kong Island. It is heaven after being in India. Although we were horrified to see all of the Indian people out on Nathan Road (the main street in Kowloon) standing around trying to sell us cheap suits and watches. But, having just been in India, we were more than prepared to ignore.

Although not exactly representative of the mainland, Hong Kong is still part of China and we were excited to be back. And we'll never take 7-11, McDonald's or nice shopping malls for granted ever again!

Last day in India

In the middle of the night last night, I got a wonderful surprise: Erinn (my sister) and Hannah (her 10 month old daughter) rang to say hello. It was so great to speak to her, as it had been so long, and I got to hear Hannah giggling and chatting in the background.

After sleeping in a bit, we headed out to run a few errands and walk around. We had a coffee in the afternoon at Barista and read through the Hong Kong Lonely Planet we had bought earlier. Since our flight didn't leave until 4:50 a.m. tomorrow, we decided to pay for an extra night at the hotel so we wouldn't be street rats and we'd have a place to crash until leaving for the airport at the unGodly hour of 2:00 a.m. But the best part was that we got to watch another episode of The Amazing Race. They weren't in Mumbai, but we enjoyed it all the same. We basically spent all day just trying to kill some time.

Harbour cruise

After sleeping off the beer from last night, we had some toast for breakfast and decided to go to Elephanta Island. We walked down to the docks near the India Gate and got on a wooden ferry with about 60 others, 20 more than the maximum occupancy as stated right on the boat. It took about an hour to reach the island and we passed mainly military vessels, oil rigs and huge shipping boats. Mumbai Harbour is less than picturesque, which didn't help pass the time at all. Things were made worse for me as the woman near me wasn't so much as seated next to me as sitting ON me. I could go on about her, but I wouldn't want to offend anyone, so I won't.

Elephanta Island is one of the largest tourist attractions for the city, as proven by the many boats full of people arriving there (mostly Indian tourists). There are cave temples cut out of the rock, many of which have carvings inside. The main cave has carvings related to Shiva. I can't really say much more than this, because we didn't quite make it inside the caves. We got off of the ferry, passed by the many souvenier stalls as hiked up the hill, and when we arrived at the ticket booth, we decided that we really couldn't bother to see any more. Besides, it cost 10 rupees for Indians, and 250 rupees for foreigners. Since we were less than excited about the place, we turned around and headed back to the boats. We had to wait about 30 minutes for the next boat to leave, and had to pay an extra 40 rupees since this was a 'luxury' boat (we had arrived on the 'economy' boat), but well worth it to get out of there. I guess our quick agreement that we couldn't be bothered to see the place, even after being right there at the ticket booth, is one of the many reasons we make such a great couple.

It was nearly 3:30 by the time we returned to the city. We had a quick lunch, bought a few beers, and went back to the hotel to relax and do some laundry. We got a surprise phone call from Donna (Nigel's cousin) and my parents, which made our day. When it came time to think about dinner, it didn't take long for us to remember the delicious pizza we had last night, so it was an easy decision. Nige headed out for more beer, and it was a deja vu evening for us from the night before.

Almost Famous

We had to be up early this morning for our big day on the movie set. After a quick breakfast, we headed down to the cinema where we were to meet the recruiting lady. There was already a small group of about 9 or 10 other girls and one other guy. We were all put into taxis and driven across the city, down some dodgy back alleys, behind the Hyundai dealership to an old, abandoned-looking building that seems to be a pub or club. We chatted to the other guy, an Aussie named Lincoln from the Sunshine Coast while we waited for about 15 minutes before being told that the shooting had been cancelled for the day, as the actress's father had just passed away. We had the option to go to a different shoot, but really couldn't be bothered at this stage. We said goodbye to our future stardome and were driven in the taxis back through the city to Colaba and joined Lincoln for a coffee at the trendy Barista (the same javan oasis we had discovered in Jaipur). It was nice to just hang out and chat with a newfound friend, and for a day we felt normal. We ended up spending the rest of the day with Lincoln, who had been travelling around India for a few weeks by himself (sick half of the time it seems) and was desperate for company provided by someone NOT trying to rip him off, lie to him, or cheat him in any way...we definitely knew how he felt! After talking of our travels for a while we realised we had met Lincoln before on Phi Phi island in Thailand.

After some time on the internet, we headed to the Cathay Pacific office to change our flights, Lincoln headed to pick up a suit he had made, and we all met at a cinema to check out a Bollywood movie. We all agreed on seeing Kaal, a film being heavily advertised here. It looked to be a mystery/action type movie, and all we cared about was that it involved tigers. We bought our tickets (prices are based on seating, the most expensive tickets being the best seats) and headed inside. We got excited when we saw the Coke machines at the snack bar, thinking they would be frozen Cokes, a movie treat we love at home, but they weren't. After the national anthem and flag waving, the film opened up with a song and dance number in full Bollywood fashion: loud music, horrible singing, spastic dancing, and garish costumes. The first few lines of the movie were in English, but that was it for the rest of the film, other than a few stray words and phrases here and there. 'Cut the crap' was used quite a number of times. I guess it's a testament to how shithouse Bollywood movies are in that we didn't need for any of it to be in English to be able to follow the story. In fact, I think it was almost better. The movie turned out to be a cheesy horror-type flick with a crappy story & crappy actors, but the scenery was beautiful. It was set in 'Orbit' National Park, an obvious knockoff of Corbett National Park. We suffered through the film, but thankfully it was not the 3-4 hour marathon that a lot of Bollywood movies are.

We said goodbye to Lincoln, who was going south to Goa before heading to the U.K. (we'll hopefully catch up with him in London), bought a few beers at our local liquor store and went back to our hotel. The beer was going down very well, and we decided to stay in and order a pizza for dinner (we had seen ads for Domino's). Nige ran down to get more beer, and we had one of our best meals yet: ice cold beer and an awesome pizza delivered nice and hot that didn't taste like masala.

Maidans and more

After a good sleep in and a breakfast of tea and toast with vegemite, we were treated to a phone call from Mum and Dad, which made our day. After speaking to them, we were excited to get out and explore Bombay. Believe it or not, Bombay is actually an island, connected to the mainland by several bridges, and is flanked by the Arabian Sea to the west and the Mumbai Harbour to the east. We headed straight to the harbour side, a short walk from out hotel, and wandered along the docks to the Gateway of India. Yet another Arc de Triomphe type structure, it still 'celebrates' the arrival of the British to India. I guess it remains up as a reminder of India's past. We had every intention of catching a ferry to Elephanta Island, 9km northeast of the city inside Mumbai Harbour, but since it was Sunday and there were hoardes of people around, we decided to give it a miss until a weekday. Instead, we explored the main areas of the city on foot.

We passed the Navy dockyards as we entered the Fort area and headed to Horniman Circle (of course we call it Horny Man Circle). It's a nice little garden area set up in a round about, and is surrounded by the beautiful buildings of the Town Hall, State Library and St. Thomas's Cathedral. The Victorian style buildings of Bombay show much more evidence of the British and Portugese past than anywhere else we've been in India. Just outside the circle, a street was roped off and a film was being made. We stood and watched for a bit, and Nigel had hopes of being recruited as an extra in the cafe scene being shot. Bollywood at its finest.

We walked along the tree-lined streets to Flora Fountain, wandered through Sunday market stalls set up on the street and then walked south to Bombay University. The buildings are gorgous, old Victorian style, with a huge clock tower that used to play 'God Save the Queen.' The grounds are surrounded by the Oval Maidans, open grassed areas used as parks or parade grounds. Being Sunday, the parklands were filled with cricket matches in full swing. There were one or two official looking games, uniforms and all, but the rest of them appeared to be just groups of guys (and kids) out to have fun. The players all blended together into other games, so it was hard to tell the different matches apart. Of all the people in that huge area (about the size of 4 full soccer fields), I was the only woman, spectators included. Interesting. Nigel's quick reflexes saved me from being injured by a stray ball unseen to me, headed right for my temple but stopped by his elbow.

Back in Colaba, we decided to see a movie for a change. There are 2 or 3 cinemas around that show English films, and we opted for the best of the worst, XXX 2. Before the show started, we all had to stand while India's national anthem was played, images of the flag waving in the wind projected on the screen. A crap movie, but still nice to be in an air-conditioned cinema, eating popcorn and feeling like non-travellers. Of course I spent the first 30 minutes wondering when Vin Diesel would show up. About halfway through the movie, the film stopped and was followed by a slide indicating that this was the intermission. We had a good giggle over that one. Later, we were standing outside McDonald's having an ice cream when we were approaced by a woman recruiting extras for a movie shoot the next day. Apparently the Bollywood movies love to have westerners in the background. She asked if we'd do a film tomorrow, set in an air-conditioned pub, and we'd get 500 rupees each. Hell yeah, we'd do it! The details sorted out, we spent the rest of the afternoon trying to find a beer. Sadly, Sunday is dry day (you know, Sundays being extremely significant in a Hindu country)and, despite our Herculean effort, there would be no liquid amber for us.