Land in Harare on South African Airways 22, leaving 10:40 am, arriving 12:20 pm.

Monday October 11th.      Kanana. By far the greatest strip i have ever landed on. Happy to make some concessions like skipping the full english breakfast this morning to keep our W&B smiling. Our host sends out his people to water the airfield, yes this was necessary and took several hours. During this we went on our last boatsafari on the Delta, which was followed by a short jeepsafari to dropp us by the planes.  they said there was way less driftsand as this morning. The strip is ...m and we decide to backtrack, then turn followed by full power on to get as much speed as possible. This did the trick for all three planes and we head for Kasane (refueling) with end destination Livingstone.

flying victoria falls  

In Livingstone we stay at apartments close to a big hotel on this grand property surrounded by a fence to keep the tourists in. We come together at the hotelrestaurant for our daily flightpreparation-session and have an early diner. As the sun sets i go for a walk and find a bedding at the Zambezi river, i sit on the sand and listen to the hippo sounds at the other side of the river. After some time the noise starts getting closer and i hear moving of the plants on the river bed. A young man appeares. 'Excuse me miss' he chuckles 'did i frighten you?' Pfff, i would have stood up to slowly for a hippo... smiling I admit I mistook him for a hippo. 'No miss, look at my fireplace from yesterday, that keeps them away. You just enjoy the waterview. I'll leave you to it, if something's wrong just call out I'll be just around the corner.' We stayed talking a bit and enjoying the african night. Next morning it was early awakenings for the game drive. Later that day i found a little airstrip in the bush with hang gliders and a local on a bike (feels like home). Next morning i went for an amazing walk along the Zambezi River. I risked walking inlands but as i didn't want to get lost or stand eye to eye with a herd of elephants i went back to the riverside, to return to the hotel. Suddenly 3 man (or in dutch:straatschoffies) appeared from a side path. I called out a happy goodmorning,  but in no time all my belongings where theirs. My lipgloss, some pens, deet spray, candy, lollipops, mobile phone, prescribed sunglasses and normal glasses. Naturelly i needed my glasses to find my way back so i pointed this out to them. They returned both glasses back including the spectacles case. Even robberies are friendly in Africa!

If you are after some fun Shoestrings is the place to stay. When the overland trucks are in town, this is the place to party, with travellers and locals alike! However if you are after a quiet, early night on these nights.... it is hard to get it! However during the day the place is as relaxed as they come and there are always people about to chat to or offer some advice of what to do next! The rooms are fairly clean and simple. The staff are friendly and the location is great.

Air Botswana flight BP024 was our exit strategy for Gabs on Sunday May 25. The propeller machine that was awaiting us after check in left Gaborone in time at 9:30 AM and transported us and 40 other passengers safely to Kasane in the far northeast, where Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana meet at the mighty Zambezi river.

We got off at the tiny airport and the troubles seemed to begin. We had tried to contact our hotel on the Zimbabwe side to no avail. Our calls did not go through. My initial thinking was that we just grab a taxi to the border and then another taxi on the other side of the border. Well, it wasn’t that easy. We asked for transport and a friendly airline agent told us we should not follow the taxi idea because of the situation in Zimbabwe. He telephoned several people and finally found a carrier that would get us to the border and from there arranged for the future transfer to our hotel in Victoria Falls Town. In the meantime Alex was getting more and more nervous and started considering different options like not going to Zimbabwe but rather travel to Zambia to see the Falls. I tried to calm her and when we found someone to transport us she relaxed. For US-$110 (which fit the description for transportation in our travel guide) we were driven towards the border which is only a few km from Kasane.

We arrived there, filled our emigration form for Botswana and then moved on to the Zimbabwean border post. The flag was waving in the wind, the sky blue and it felt a bit awkward because we were not really sure what was expecting us over there. We heard loud music from the post and coming closer I realized that it was Michael Jackson’s song about slum inhabitants in South America with the ironically fitting theme “What about us?”. It was felt very cynical, having images of the atrocities in my mind and people starving because there is no food for them. The customs officers were extremely friendly. They joked, the visa fee was rather moderate (18 euros) and in no time we had entered Zimbabwe and were being picked up on the other side by a friendly driver. He explained that we’d be driving for an hour through a nature reserve all the way to Vic Falls Town. We were a few minutes on our way when he started complaining about Robert Mugabe and the state of affairs in his country. I was amazed by the openness and candidness with which he described the situation and his grief about what is happening. When he heard that my field of work was human rights and international law he inquired what international law did say to help them. I was ashamed I could not really help him or give him hope. He was extremely frustrated with the other Southern African states and their (non-)reaction.

A few minutes later, we saw elephants crossing the street. Just like this. It was my first elephant to see in Africa and I was taken away. It was so incredible to come so close…on the way, we saw about 10 more. A few km on, there were 5 giraffes munching away on an acacia tree. Unbelievable. The whole landscape was very pretty, slightly hilly. Our driver was proud of the beauty of his country and from what I was seeing I could only agree.

After about an hour we reached Victoria Falls Town and checked into our hotel, the first that ever opened in Zimbabwe, back then Rhodesia in 1906: The Victoria Falls Hotel. It is an incredibly nice place as you can tell from the pictures: very colonial, very upper-class. Normally, we wouldn’t be able to afford such a place, but Alex’ employer had provided her with free travel vouchers which we could apply here. The view from the terrace is spectacular: You see the spray of the Falls and you hear the thundering noise. Our room was very nice but we immediately started out to check out the surroundings. One thing was noticeable right away: Many, many signs informed us that foreigners were only allowed to pay in foreign currency. And in fact it was almost impossible to obtain Zimbabwe $. Only on the ride back I asked the driver whether he could give me a bill and he provided me with a Zim$ 250’000’000 bill which is currently about US-$0.50…

The next day we went to the Falls in the morning. It is so hard to describe. A private footpath that belongs to the hotel leads to the entrance to the park surrounding the falls. We had to pay about 15 euros entrance fee and then were free to enter and stay for the day. We could have taken raincoats but had decided against it…after all it was warm and the falls couldn’t really be that wet. After another 5 minutes walk the air grew moister. And then, all of a sudden, to our right we saw the Victoria Falls from the west. It was so beautiful. We just stood there and gazed. Then we descended the 70 steps to a lower level and from there, the view was much better. We were standing in quite some mist, the Devil’s Cataract was roaring to our left hand side and we saw Cataract Island as well as the Main Falls in the distance, partially hidden in spray…a gorgeous sight: 1700 metres of waterfalls.

We moved on to the statute of Dr. Livingstone, the first European to see the Falls and later name them. From there, we had a great view on Devil’s Cataract, basically staying on top of it. The sheer force of the water was breathtaking. At end of May, the falls have very high water which is further rising until mid-June and then lessening every week.

We continued our walk to opposite the Main Falls and there was so much water in the air that we literally got soaked to the bones. Everything got wet. We ventured on though to the furthest point on Zimbabwean soil, the Danger Point which was not at all secured and the stones were slippery and you could hardly see because of the spray. We were not able to take any pictures pretty much from the start of the Main Falls.

I think I have never in my life seen such a beautiful and forceful display of nature. I have been to Niagara Falls, but in my views this is much more impressive because at Victoria Falls you view the falls from the same level as they are. It is as if the earth simply had opened a rift and nothing happened to the other side. I got very emotional, thinking about my family and especially my dad who are not coming here. My dad would have enjoyed this so much. I could hear him shouting words of amazement, laughing at getting soaked, making fun about us being soaked. I missed him so much there that it brought tears to my eyes.

We then took 1 ½ hours to dry off in the sun and our clothes dried pretty well. My wallet however suffered a final blow and is now on the brink of collapsing. I had to dry all the money in the wallet and also my cell phone had acquired water under the display (which is now gone, thank goodness!). We continued walking around the premises and enjoying the falls as well as the semi-tropical forest surrounding it where we saw monkeys and a bushback. At 2 PM we left the park. Like I said, it was an incredible experience. Both Alex and I lacked words when talking about days later.

We changed clothes and went into town. This was quite an extreme shock. The city itself looks neat but if you enter the supermarkets, you will find empty shelves or shelves just filled with one line of maybe 10 products of which 4 are tea and the rest being soaps. No food, just a little candy. It was such a stark contrast to our 5 star hotel where we got everything, be it passion fruit in the morning or Zambezi fish in the evening. People were very friendly and we did not feel unsafe. But the poverty was striking. It was not easy to deal with this. When we talked to people they told us they were happy that we came to stay, no matter where, because this was at least giving them some opportunity to earn money. I do believe that Vic Falls Town is a rather safe and “blessed” place currently because the Mugabe men will not destroy this last hub of foreign currency acquisition.

At 4 PM we were being picked up for a Zambezi cruise which was very nice indeed. We got as close as about 2 km to the falls and could see the spray again. We saw hippos and a crocodile, different birds and an elephant trapped on a small island where he was munching away on what was available. Seems he had been swimming there. The cruise ended in an incredible sunset over the Zambezi and we returned to the hotel where we had light dinner.

The next morning we had to pack our things, settle our bills and then where brought back to Kasane. We exited Zimbabwe alright, a country of extremes, which once was blessed. And I do believe it is still blessed because of the people that I met and their sincerity, the love of their country and the beauty of the country and nature I witnessed. They deserve so much better than they have been treated in the last decade.

The run off is on June 27. I wonder what will happen. Grace Mugabe, Bob’s wife who is 40 years his junior, just told supporters that he will never step down. The director of DITSHWANELO told me it will be civil war if the rigging continues through June 27…and we were staying in a peaceful and extremely luxurious hotel. It was very surreal. But also very impressive.

The Lion and Cheetah Park is a must see stop if visiting Harare. It’s only a 15 min drive from the city centre and gives you the opportunity to see some great wildlife up close and not all behind fences and cages. Though when I visited, there were no cheetah apparently they had died and they decided not to reintroduce any more for the time being. There is 3 parts to park. 1.) A Lion enclosure which you can drive through, it's not so big so you are almost guaranteed to be just metres from the lions. 2.)The main zoo style are, which has lots of animal enclosures including lions, hyenas, baboons, crocodiles, turtles, emus, wild pigs and more. 3.)A large game drive in the open, where you can see wildebeast, springboks lots of birds and more though we ran out of time so that was all I got to see there. Entry is $10UD for non-residents or about $1US for locals, if you go with locals you can normally get in for local rates. The highlight is paying a little extra to the guides to take you into one of the lion enclosures where some of the younger lions are kept giving you the chance to really get up close to them and pet them while you get some great photos. The guides are very knowledgeable and have lots of interesting facts as you are shown round the various enclosures. Driving through the bigger park gives you the chance to see more animals in their more natural habitat, lots of interesting rock formations, flora and fauna. Beside the lion park there is also Snake World, but we didn't make it there in time cause I spent so much time playing with the lion cubs.

if you want to see impressive waterfalls you'd be better off going to Iguazzu falls on the border of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguy. If on the otherhand you want an adrenaline rush, whilst taking in some pretty impressive scenery then Vic falls is the place. Here you can swim at the top of the falls on livingstone island, jump off the gorge, bungee,zip line over the gorge, white water raft or go jet boating on the zambezi. The Zambian side seamed to be the place to stay with more to offer, but the Zim side affords better views of the falls themselves.

after an epic 3 day battle with the travel gods my journey proper could begin, and it started pretty well with a bonus view of the waterfalls from the plane just before landing in Zimbabwe. I was meant to spend 3 days here on the Zim side of the falls and meet the overland truck here, but after wandering around the town for an afternoon, and spending the night in a largely deserted campsite i was informed that due to the lack of food available (it's quite strange to see shops with people fighting over the last items on the shelves, and banks with no money, yet queues coming out of the door) that i had to head over to the Zambia side, and head into livingstone. Zimbabwe is a place where money has little to no value no matter what currency you have as there's nothing to spend it on, instead the currency appears to be clothes & accessories, which can be swapped with the locals for carved animals and other souviners. Hopefully the ecomic situation that blights the country will improve in the near future as the people here were friendly but largely without hope.

We finally made it to Zimbabwe...never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would spend time in Zimbabwe. Culture shock started out with our tour leader having to bribe border control because they were trying to scam the Canadian on our bus to make him pay again because his visa costs the most. Then it continued once we arrived and certain companies were illegally exchanging US dollars into Zim dollars for those on tour because the current exchange rate is 1 $US is worth 1.1mil zwd (zim dollars) and the banks exchange at $1 for 30,000zwd. Wimpy, a fast food place, was out of milk, one of the restaurants we went to had about 12 main dishes but didn't have food for 9 of them, the prices fluctuate each day or even from morning to afternoon, and I've never been heckled before like I was in Zim. After repeatedly saying no to buying crafts I finally asked a man how he could have the strength to keep pestering people once they said no ten times. He told me that this was his only way to earn money, had a family to feed, and explained how he was poor, he then asked me for my shirt (that I was wearing) to exchange for the wooden elephant. People are constantly trying to get you to exchange money on the streets, mind you there are signs all over that say "do not exchange money or you will go to jail," as I walked out of the Vic Falls park a security guard followed me for a minute until we were away from the crowd and asked if I would exchange my US cash for Zim dollars for the other security guard. One of the grocery stores my friend went into only had biscuits and milk, everything else was empty. They literally have nothing--you can exchange pens or socks at the market. I knew of all the turmoil going into Zim but it really didn't hit me until it was in my face.

When I was walking around Vic Falls national park there was a school group who became my friends for the next three hours. I met them on the first look out and they wanted to take a picture with me and kept touching my hair and asking me all these questions. It was adorable- the girls were asking me if they could have some of my hair and we were laughing and chatting. Other times I found myself sitting with a couple of younger kids on the rocks while waiting for my friends and more and more kids would gather around to listen and join in on the conversation. Some of the girls were telling my German guy friend that they always wanted a white boyfriend. Interacting with them topped seeing the waterfalls by far.

WHITE WATER RAFTING!!! Saturday morning rolled around and we were out the door before 7 to get ready for the 'Mighty Zambezi.' This was the best/ most exciting part of my holiday. He hiked down the mountain, loaded our boats into an eddy, and practiced a few maneuvers. There were 7 of us from the tour on a raft with our guide Colgate. The first time we flipped we are pretty sure our guide purposely steered us in the direction to flip to help people get over their nerves in the beginning. It definitely gave me a rush...I was under water thinking 'which way is up,' cause it is so dark and you are being tossed around you just lose all orientation but once you remember to hold your chest and quit moving you pop up. I am sure it seemed longer than it really was. There were 21 rapids on the all day trip that we did, only we walked around one because it was class 6. Class 5 is the highest that legally can be done commercially and most people don't do class 6 cause it is just too dangerous, after that they don’t rate the rapids. Most of the rapids we did were between 4 and 5....there were some that were class 4 but with a class 5 swim. Meaning if you fall out there is a whirlpool or something extremely difficult to handle. Or class 5 with class 5 swims....It was absolutely incredible.  The second time we flipped our guide no doubt did it on purpose...Before we got to the rapid (a class 5) he told us to all jump to the back and lean forward on the first wave and then if we were still on to lean back on the second wave. So we hit the first he yells "LEAN FORWARD," second one "LEAN BACK," so we all lean back and the next thing I know I am seeing my knees and above my knees is the sky and then bam water. I completely flipped upside down, got air, and then plunged into the rapid. It was such a fast rapid that I popped up pretty quickly and it is a good thing because I was laughing so hard...that was the best part of the rafting trip. We hit some pretty wild rapids one especially because it was a 10 ft drop, another called 'The Mother Load' the most difficult rapid where you can paddle to the left you have a 60% chance of flipping or down the middle where you have at least an 85% chance of flipping. We, of course, opted for the middle- we paddle as hard as we possibly could and this was after watching all the other rafts flip and throw their people out. We were the only raft that didn't flip or lose people...we ended up gaining a girl who had fallen out of her boat. We were yelling with so much excitement we nearly flipped after the rapid. haha.

Another American and I had a little trouble getting out of Zimbabwe...had to tell a few white lies at the border and then pray we didn't get caught at the airport in Zambia...it all worked out well and I am back safe and sound in South Africa!

Ok this will have to be quick cos I am running out of internet time.

I had a great time at Livinstone which is on the Zambia side of Victoria Falls.  I went up in a helicopter over the falls which was amazing....we also went into the gorge and right down to almost the water level and got to see so much.  Later that afternoon I went to Livinstone Island which is on the middle of the falls and you can only go there when the water is low like this time of the year.  Anyway you swim out to a pool called the devils pool and swim right there in the middle of the falls and can look out over the edge...v scary but great fun!

Then our whole your group did a dress up night for a sunset cruise on the zambezi.  We had to buy costumes for someone else and I was bought a really gross 80s cream blouse and light blue mc hammer trousers....totally gross but I managed to make myslef look like genie and looked ok in the end.  The Internet is still crap so I won't get any pics up anytime soon :-( sorry!

After the cruise though I got really sick :-(  all achey and tummy sick, yuk.  So I slept for the best part of 36 hours and although my stomach is still dodgy am feeling much better.  Got some antibiotics fromthe pharmacy today to sort me out.

Only other thing to report is that I went rafting yesterday.  It was AMAZING!  I loved it.  I know I said I would never go but I changed my mind, lol.  I have it all on video which looks way more scary that actually doing it.  But we had a really good crew, good co-ordination so we didn't flip all day, 21 rapids!

So all is good, and hopefully some good i internet soon so I can upload photos.

Love Fiona xx

Hi everyone,

I'm writing from Bulawayo in Zimbabwe. We left Jo'burg last Wednesday on our tour bus and the other 16 passengers, who are mostly Ozzies, a few Kiwis, a german girl, an irish girl and an english guy. Luckliy everyone is sound and we have been getting on brilliantly, there's 4 couples a father and son (the father being about 60 and snores like a trooper!)

We arrived at Kruger National Park later that night after a very long drive, of which there have been many). Realised that this trip is going to be all comfort as we have to get up extremely early a lot of the time and are sleeping in tents almost every night and the temperature drops considerably during the night.

We had to get up at 5 am! Which I have never done in my whole life. It was dark when we got up and got to the park at 6:30 and within about 10 metres of going through the gate we saw a buffalo and then within the first hour we had seen giraffes, antelope, zebra, warthog, elephant, wilderbeast and kudu. The most surprising of all is how close they are to the road. It was so amazing, loads better than I had expected. We were on the truck all day and by the end of the day we had also seen leopards, hyena, bush-bum, impala, mokey, hippo, crocodile, python, white-headed eagle and a pride of lions stalking some impalas. So amazing.

Next day up bright and earlya gain and went to Blyde River Canyon and had amazing views over South Africa. After this 10 hour drive we stopped in Musina before we headed to Zimbabwe border. Walked around the town   

The Stanley and Livingstone at Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. This hotel is beautiful!! I found this to be a little piece of Heaven on Earth. The hotel is located very close to the Zimbabwe side of Victoria falls and is also close to the Zambia border. The hotel has only 16 suites and 1 Honeymoon suite, which makes the hotel quite personal and private. It is located on a private reserve and is very safe. The food was great!! We were two of only 6 guests during our visit. We were greeted upon arrival with hot washcloths and a cold refreshing fruit juice. We were meant to stay at the better known Victoria Falls Hotel but as luck turned out much preferred the Stanley and Livingstone ( we had lunch at the Victoria Falls Hotel and were a bit disapointed). We had an escort from the hotel who took us to the markets, etc. Each staff member was very friendly and made us feel safe and welcomed. The suites are beautifully decorated and the beds were so comfortable. i would love to come back and stay at the Stanley and Livingstone and maybe bring some family and friend to enjoy it with me!!

We are now in Zimbabwe- We were thinking Vic Falls was a big town.... but there is really not much here. The exchange rate on money here is 350,000 to $1 usd.  The bills are 100,000 so you have to carry a huge bag around with you for all of the money!  It takes forever to buy anything because you have to count all of the money.  Beer here is 300,000.

Hello all from Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe, i've decided, is a good country to go to if you feel like turning mildly insane. hehe na just kidding. its just, if i could use one word to describe it, that word would be SLOW. everything is slow here. but its all good. a good cheap place to stop inbetween activities. i've finished with the tour group now which is kind of bitter sweet. on the one hand its good to be able to do what you feel like doing, rather than what someones organised for you... on the other I met some really cool people on this trip that i will really miss.

yesterday i had a walk around the falls, it was really cool. really beautiful. apparently its not the wet season so there's not much water, but its kind of good cos it means you don't get completely drenched (or any more so than you do just from standing opposite the main falls) and you get to walk right to the edge of what is called 'danger point' and you can do it without slipping and falling over cos its not so wet from the spray.

some of you know i saw niagara falls last year; my comments? well, niagara is more about sheer volume. its main part is just one clean sheet of water and its because its so immense is why its so awesome. victoria falls is spectacular in a different way. its just really beautiful. more beautiful than niagara i would say. theres one look out point where you can stand on a block and look down into the main falls - all you can see is steam and its just really cool. its actually quite pleasant walking around the falls. first of all, its more humid here in zimbabwe than its been anywhere else, which is the kind of heat i'm used to since i'm from the tropics. second the spray is really quite cool when you're walking around they have this lovely dense jungle type atmosphere along the top of the falls.

So this morning i went on a horse ride which was nice. you get a lot closer to the animals than you would in a vehicle, and because they can smell and see mostly horse, they don't act skittish or weird, they just behave like they usually would which is kind of cool. we saw a lot of new animals we haven't seen yet on the trip - waterbuck, bushbuck(?), bigger monitors, uh what else, i think the rest we had seen; impala, warthogs, etc. but it was good, we went out to a point sort of closer to the upper part of the falls/river and that was nice. we also got to get off the horse and walk out to the edge of the falls and stand at the top of them. that was pretty awesome.

what else have i done here... well yesterday i went and walked around town. i meant to have a rest in the afternoon but i got bored at the backpackers so iwent walking. i don't know why but it seems like every local has two main things on their agenda; one, to sell something to you and two, to marry you. its really quite funny. if they figure out you;re not going to buy anything, their next question is, what about an african boyfriend? sometimes i think it would be funny to see their reaction if we said 'ok'. haha. but the markets was interesting, you get hassled alot but i got someone to show me how they did the carvings and that was pretty interesting to see. it's been interesting talking to the locals, i had a chat with a girl working in one of the shops back in kasane for a good half hour and she told me about her family and stuff and asked where i was from. i also happened to meet the guy that runs the backpackers i'm at now, who is zimbabwean but has a really strong english accent. he sounds like a lot of the boys from school. apparently hes lived in london on and off for the past eight years or something. but anyway it was good to chat to him because hes told me that if he hears of any tour trucks (like the one i just hopped off) heading in the direction i want to go (Maun), then he'd let me know cos it'd be cheaper than what's currently my most feasible option which is getting an expensive transfer to the kosinsomethingoranother border and then taxi to kasane, then bus to nata, then bus to maun. anyhow. i have heaps of time so i'll see what comes up.

i haven't been over to zambia yet but i might go for a day some time when everyone has left. a few people are going on to nairobi on a tour but they're here til monday so i'm sort of trying to savour the time i have with them before i go! trying to, i'm really tired i think cos i walked around a lot in the sun yesterday and the day before. but anyway. so maybe zambia for a day, idon't know yet, apparently you can get a day visa for US$10 which isn't too bad. i've got a tight budget over here though. speaking of which, the hardest thing i've found about being in zimbabwe is money. you can't get it out of atms and banks because the official exchange rate is completely crap compared to the unofficial one (which everyone goes by, it'd be stupid if you didn't). its a huge difference. i changed my money to local zim dollars at US$1 to Z$1500, and at hotels and stuff its US$1 to Z$250 which is an absolutely huge difference.

there's a little bit to do here although u have to be careful not to throw all your money into adrenaline activities. i only did 2 (which i'll tell u about later) but yeah, the main reason i think i've deicded to stay here is i think it'd be nice to have a bit of a rest and just chill for a while, also its much cheaper for me to stay here than it is to stay in Maun in botswana (where i meet earthwatch) and theres a little bit more to do. i keep walking past an aquarium that looks alright. i must have seen more aquariums than anyone else on this planet but i've heard this one has good freshwater exhibits...

anyhow what was the other thing.. o yea my two activities; i did the lion walk (sorry mum) and the horse ride which i already told you about. the lion walk was really, really cool. when else would you get to go for a walk with a lion (like you would with a dog)?? it was just so cool to be around them. LIONS! the two girls were about 12months and the boy (called Amanzi) was abuot 10 and he was just adorable. they were pretty big. their paws were just massive but it was nice because you could touch them and everything, and walk behind them holding onto their tail. it was really nice. a few of us gave them our email addresses so they could contact us about volunteer information. heh heh.

the last thing i wanted to talk about with regards to zimbabwe so far is the backpacker place i'm staying at... everyone is complaining hahaha but its really not too bad. there's been worse, i dont think its actually too bad. there's a pool, although i think you'd have to be pretty game to swim in it since its bright green. but the main thing is none of the doors lock (but its fine because there's lockers), its a dodgy walk back if you go into town for dinner and have to walk back in the darkness - fine in a group but fernando has already told me not to walk home at night when i'm here at night (which i wasn't planning on... i was planning on being a night hermit and staying inside the gates) and probably the most intruiging thing is that our room is right behind the bar, which means it is noisy as all hell at night. i've been fine, i just fall asleep straight away, i don't know if its because i've stayed at college and therefore had ample training re falling asleep with noise. but its really funny the first night we went to brush our teeth and it was like brushing your teeth at a pub, really funny actually! i've been told to move to another place but i dont know if i can be bothered really, i like the people who work at the place and i haven't had trouble sleeping yet so i dont know if i can be bothered carrying my bags somewhere else. the most annoying thing actually was that last night there was a mosquito that kept biting me but i dont think anyone could have done anything about that.

what else, oh we got our trip tshirts made which turned out cool. i got to do the main designing (i can see those of you in australia who know me fairly well rolling ur eyes seeing its maybe the 5th tshirt i've made in the past year... haha, sorry!) but everybody else had input too and the tshirt guy suggested putting flags on the sleeve which really made it look nice.

k well i think thats all i have to report about zimbabwe so far, its a beautiful country, as soon as we crossed the border it got greener and slightly more hilly and the trees in the distance were sort of a bluey green. its nice. nice looking country. i'm going to see if i had anything to say about my trip before i got to zimbabwe since this is the first time i haven't been frantically using the internet in a rush!! other than that some time in the next few days im going to burn my pics on cd, hopefully i'll be able to put some on the internet, but no promises. i have a few on facebook that i put up in swakopmund i think most of you on facebook have seen them though. ok, ciao for now

After we had spend the night in Johannesburg we had a flight around 2.am to Vick falls in Zimbamwe, it took 2 hours.When we came to Vick falls we took a cab and the cabdriver was very helpful and fun. He showed us what we can do, and what we should avoid. Later that day we signed us to a trip named Sunset Cruise. There we drank much as we could and we met four new people and we had great fun together, there we saw a hypo and a crocodil. In the end we saw the sunset settling down and it took only 10 minutes and it was a great sight. The next day where going to travel with Dragoman which is a english travel company. The group was very small we met our guide Claire Smith, the driver Steve,and our cook Welsh. And the travelers was to Astralian Girls and one from Ireland, Nicole (29), Julian (26) and Rachel(26). We where 8 people with me and me boyfriend Ari, that is the hole group we where going to travel with the next mounth. The first three days as a group we where free to do whatever we wanted , Claire showed us a where we could asign us to fun stuff in Victora Falls. Me and Ari choose to look at Victoria Falls which was amasing. The same day we went to Adrenalin garden there we went on a flying Fox, where u jump from a bridge through line which is maybe 50 meters and there is 150 meter down scary. The next thing we where thight to gether and went down the cliffs in a line. The Biggest thing we did in the park was THE GORGES SWING, there we falled down backwords 150 meters, when i falled down me ongly thougt was IM GOING TO DIE but when the rope took over i was so relived. Im so proud of this becuse im afraid to hights and this park was a big deal. After that we went to the marked there where we crowded with people who was trying to sell u stuff, we ended buying a lot on cheap price. In the evening we met Elvis who was a poor boy  

The VFs is much more stunning from ZIM side. You could feel the cool air and "shower" from the Falls.