One last hurrah!

Wednesday April 30, 2008

The overnight bus to Kasane was definitely an experience! We boarded at 7:30pm, left at 9pm and arrived just outside Kasane at approximately 9am the next morning. The ride was cramped and a bit cold at times, but definitely bearable, and a lot cheaper than flying! Once we got to Kasane, we took a cab to the Chobe Safari Lodge where many of our friends were already staying in the campground. The lodge itself was beautiful, with an expansive restaurant and bar area/pool and lounge area that overlooked the mighty Chobe River. Some of the girls in our group were supposed to stay in pre-erected tents, but their reservations were accidentally given away so they were put in some of the rooms (with tv, beds, a bathroom, etc.) at no extra cost! The rest of us had a single campsite where we all pitched our tents. Walking to the campsite alone, we encountered a giant warthog just lying in the path, a swarm of mongoose (mongeese?) and several baboons and other monkeys! It was truly amazing and despite the fact that our three-person tent was accommodating four people and most of us had only our two sheets from school and a pillow, I was quite happy with the set-up. In the morning we went over to a safari company who was willing to arrange our transport to Zimbabwe to see Victoria Falls for a lot less than the Chobe Lodge. Then we all grabbed our books, journals, snacks, water (and in some cases alcohol) and headed to the lounge chairs overlooking the water. It was a truly relaxing experience, lying on a chair, watching the safari boats whiz by and sipping ice cold water in the sun.

At 3pm we loaded up with about fifty other people into one of the large safari boats to take a river cruise along the Chobe River. My trip to Maun in February was amazing, but we saw more animals on our three-hour boat cruise than we did during the entire week in Maun! I added crocodiles, water buffalo, many many birds, and the sable antelope to my list of animals seen while in Botswana! Plus, we saw at least fifty elephants total (including lots of babies) and they were completely un-fazed by our presence. At one point, we were literally less than 10 meters from them on this island where they were licking the mineral rich soil to supplement their diets/strengthen their bones/etc. Elephants are truly amazing and so intelligent! The finale of the cruise was the most amazing sunset I have seen in a long time! We sat and watched the horizon as the sky went from blue to fiery orange, red and yellow, to pink and purple, and finally to a deep dark blue as the sun at last sank below the horizon. B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L!!

After the river cruise, we went back to our tent, had our first of many tuna and crackers meals and went to bed. Sleeping was not really an option between the hard ground and cold night air, but who needs to sleep on vacation anyway? :)

Thursday May 1, 2008

First of all, let me say holy cow! It's already May! I can't believe how fast this trip went! I am definitely ready to come home, but wow!

We got up quite early this morning to catch a ride to the Botswana-Zimbabwe border where we went through immigration, received a one-day visa and then met up with our guide on the Zimbabwe side. The whole process was pretty long, but I was glad we got there when we did because a whole bus load of people showed up after us and the line was super long I'm sure.

Our guide was very nice and took us in a minivan to Victoria Falls park for the first part of the day. To save time, our guide collected our money and went off to arrange all of our activities for the day while we were in the park. So we paid our entrance fee and walked into the beautiful forested park. We first approached the Falls from the side, and walked up to see the Livingstone statue and the top of the Falls (aka the Zambezi river). It was absolutely beautiful, and I got some great pictures of the water and the rainbows from the top. Then we started on the "rain forest trail" that led us along the front of the Falls. The vegetation here was as close to rain forest as I have ever been in real life, although I'm sure that the plant life is slightly different than the actual rain forest vegetation because of the unique climate of the Falls. I cannot describe the beauty of the Falls with words, but when I get home, my pictures will certainly speak for themselves. My favorite part other than the view was the fact that despite the fact that the sky was clear and blue, we were constantly deluged with water and spray from the Falls! It was lovely! Our final stop on the rain forest trail was at the observation deck that looked out on the Victoria Falls bridge where people were bungee jumping, swinging and zip-lining off the bridge and over the Zambezi river gorge! It was amazing yet terrifying!

We trekked back along another trail that led us through a less wet part of the rain forest to the entrance of the park. We ate lunch in the van as our guide drove us to see the giant baobab tree (we didn't have the heart to tell him we'd seen way bigger ones in the Nxai Pans in Maun), and then we started our afternoon activities. The first stop was about a mile down the gorge from the bridge where a girl in our group, Allison did the flying fox, which was basically a huge zip line across the gorge on your stomach! She was harnessed in and literally had to run of the edge of the gorge with the water and rocks more than 200 meters below her! It was pretty amazing!

Then, we went back to the main bridge because five other people in our group were going to bungee jump off the bridge. This entailed a 200meter free fall documented on both camera and video with several rebounds which from above looked terrifying! We all went up to the registration area but had to wait until their lunch break was over. In the meantime, we watched videos of other people who had jumped that day that were playing on a large tv. My stomach flipped just watching them. Once registration was over, we all went back to the bridge to watch the jumps. Alyssa went first, and then all of a sudden, it was my turn! Yes, I bungee jumped off the bridge! Ahh! I had been freaking out all day long about the jump because free falling head first is one of my biggest fears, but I was surprisingly calm when I stepped out on the platform to get strapped in. Alyssa was funny, because all day she kept saying how she wasn't scared, but when it was her turn to jump, she started hyperventilating and freaking out! She still went through with it and loved every minute, but her terror was quite evident! Me on the other hand, I was very careful not to look down before I jumped, but instead stared fixedly at the horizon until suddenly they were doing the countdown and I half jumped, was half pushed off the platform into the free fall. It took me about half a second to realize that I should scream, but then I stopped as I started to fall because the feeling was absolutely amazing! I felt completely safe (although I had to still my heart in brief moments of panic that overcame me at times) and well, I can't really describe the feeling, but it makes me really wish that I could fly! The water below rushed up very quickly, but suddenly I was rotating away from it and towards the sky as I rebounded for the first time. Apparently, from above it looks like you are going to hit the bottom of the bridge as you come up, but I couldn't see any of that because of my position, so I was blissfully ignorant! The rebounds were a bit scarier because there was a good deal more twisting and flopping that occurred, but in all it was a truly amazing experience and one that I wholeheartedly recommend and would do again in a heartbeat!

After bungee jumping and purchasing the photo CD of the jump, our guide took us back across the Zimbabwean border (you technically leave Zim but don't enter Namibia so you're in no-man's land) and drove us back to the Zim-Botswana border where our ride was waiting to take us home. It was a truly incredible experience, and I can't wait to come back (in a few years) with more friends and family!

The rest of the night we hung out with the entire ACM group that was in Kasane swapping stories and reveling in the bungee jumping experience. We slept a bit better, perhaps because of the exhaustion from the day or because the weather was a bit warmer, and woke up bright and early (aka five in the morning) to catch the bus back to Gaborone.

Friday May 2, 2008
We ended up catching a bus to Francistown, which is a very modern-looking city four hours North of Gaborone, with the intent to catch a bus from there to Gabs. The trip was 7 and 1/2 hours and not too uncomfortable although there were a lot of people standing in the aisles. We ate at a little Indian restaurant in Francistown and boarded a bus to Gabs. The bus was obviously a retired luxury bus because it had huge, cushy red velvet seats with plenty of leg room (hooray!) and tvs, although they didn't put anything on. That trip was five and a half hours, and we were very glad to see the welcome to Gaborone sign!

I can't believe our last vacation is already over and we leave for the U.S. in two days! Wow time flies! I may or may not have time to report on my activities for these last two days, but basically we will be packing, exchanging pictures and going out to eat for Alyssa's 20th birthday! I hope everyone has had a lovely spring. I can't wait to see you all! Thanks so much for reading my blog!! Lots of love!!
Jessica