Why go to the zoo when you can go to Africa?

Cost, I guess. But if you can afford a trip to Africa, I can't imagine any of you being disappointed. It is wild driving around and having to slow down to wait for zebras and elephants to cross the street. So what animals have I seen so far?

Lion, elephant, zebra, ostrich, wildebeest, warthog, cheetah, leopard, hippo, rhino, cape buffalo, kuku, oryx, yellow hornbilled, rock dassies, garmer, skink, rori bustard, glossy starling, jackal, lilac breasted roller, chamelion, scorpion, snake, kudu, bats, baboon, hyena, antelope, impala, monitor lizard, crocodile, secretary bird, stork, blue crane, red billed ox picker, african pied wogtail, vulture, dik dik, sable, springbok, gemsbok, klipsringer, guinea fowl, african dartar, and tons of other bird species. All of these animals have been seen in the wild. Blows my mind at times the animals I have seen.

A bit difficult to catch people up on a blog after not posting for 2 weeks. I spent some time at the Okavango Delta which is this body of water in the middle of the Kalihari desert. Quite a unique thing. We camped out for a couple of nights on an island and did some game walks. Also participated and some native song and dance.
Chobe national Park was another destination for game sighting. Taking a boat cruise down a river that was lined with herds of elephant, giraffe, buffalo, and tons of hippos. One of the highlights was watching an elephant scratch his belly with his own penis. If it sounds impossible, then you have never seen an elephant with an erection.  Last couple of days I have been at Victoria Falls. The water is so abundant as it comes over the falls, that it creates mist which makes viewing the falls a bit difficult. I took a helicopter ride over the falls today to get a nice bird's eye view.

And...I went bungee jumping. 111 meters down. I spent all day yesterday summoning up the courage to take the jump, which wasn't easy given that some woman actually plunged into the river a couple of months ago when her rope broke. She lived, but it still made me slightly uneasy. It was a blast though. Not as much of an adrenaline rush as skydiving was, but still quite a thrill. And as I was dangling in the gorge, the mist and sun created a rainbow that formed a complete circle. Didn't know that such a thing was possible. It was enormous. I only wish I had my camera with me.

Have eaten some interesting foods. Kudu, warthog steaks, crocodile tail, antelope stew, smoked bream, bbq guinea fowl, mopani worms. All quite tasty, especially the warthog.

Cheers

Sand

I spent parts of 4 days trying to upload pics and these were all that managed to upload. At least it gives a little feel of the Great Wall. Also a random pic of the first campsite where we stayed in Namibia.

Anyway, I spent the last few days in Swakopmund, Namibia. It is this German town along the Atlantic Ocean coast of Namibia. Massive sand dunes arise almost as soon as the ocean ends and there are tons of adrenaline activities to do. I chose to do sand boarding and quad biking. Sand boarding is is snow boarding on sand. I don't really like the board when compared to skis, and this was also the first time I had ever used a board, so there were tons of wipeouts on this huge mountainous dune. Sand kept accumulating in places where sand doesn't belong. On the whole, it was a fun experience, but it would be more fun if I was proficient with my board skills. We also got to go down the dunes on 'sleds' (essentially a piece of pressed cardboard) and I reached speeds of 66km/h. Pretty fast, and since I didn't get to do any sledding on snow this year, this was a nice substitute. The following day I went quad biking which is taking a 4 wheel vehicle and driving all around the dunes. We did that for 2 hrs and the views were amazing yet again.

I can't believe the amount of things I have seen and done already and I am only 1 week in to this 4 month adventure. Not gonna have much chance over the next couple of months to update this blog. We are going to be doing alot of camping in bush camps and actual campsites and I don't think I will be in internet connected towns but for a couple more times on this entire trip. I wish all of you well and look forward to updating you whenever possible. Cheers.

Great Wall

The view from our first campsite in Namibia

This part of the world must become part of your future travel plans

Namibia needs to be seen by all of you. No questions asked. Words can't really describe what I have seen and done. Desert, red sand dunes, white sand dunes, canyons, gorges, rolling hills, mountains, and lots of animals only seen previously by me in the zoo. We have camped under the stars with campfires every night and the sounds of animals all around us. The orange sunsets and sunrises are stunning and this unique full moon has illuminated the campsite each night. The food has been adequate at camp. Rice, beans, pasta, vegetables, meats and cheeses when available. The people on the trip are lots of fun. Most are in the 18-33 range, which would make me one of the oldest of the younger crowd. A few older people are also traveling, but it really is a fun group of Brits, Germans, Dutch, Aussies, Kiwis, and a couple of other Americans. Lots of laughs and lots of learning of new English words. The Brits and Americans may speak the same language but we don't use the same words or pronunciations to describe many of the same things. Can you believe that almost no one outside of North America has ever heard of s'mores. How can you camp without s'mores. Grocery stores don't even sell graham crackers and the Euros have never heard of the graham cracker. Apparently us Americans bastardize the English language. At least we do according to the Brits. I know it's unfair to compare Africa to SE Asia because they really are totally different but aside from Angkor Wat and The Great Wall of China, everything I have seen in my first week on this trip absolutely blows the sights of SE Asia out of the water. I don't regret seeing SE Asia and I am glad I saw what I saw so that I could learn about their cultures, but this is more my style. Everything is just stunningly beautiful and so photographic. Let's hope I can upload some pics.

Soussusvlei Sand Dunes

Upload times suck. Will try to get more in the next few days.

Great White Sharks

These pics uploaded relatively quickly. So at least you can see sharks even though I owe you pics of the Great Wall.

Sexy

Scary

Jaws from a cage isn't so scary

Which is the More Dangerous Activity in Cape Town...

Swimming with Great White Sharks or walking down the street. I'll give you a hint. It rhymes with: stalking clown the feet. I might have thought the shark as well until I got held up at knife point while walking down the street in broad daylight.  Skinny black dude runs up behind me and asks me to give him all my Rand (currency in South Africa). I didn't have any because I have been fighting with my ATM card again, so telling him that I didn't have any was the truth. I did have $1200 USD on me as I had just left the bank, but didn't have the local currency. After repeatedly telling him I had no money, he then asked for my cell phone. Didn't have that with me either. After emptying my pockets, making sure to conceal my USD, I guess I convinced him that I really didn't have anything to give him, so he gave me a fist bump, told me to have a nice day, and walked away. He's not really good at his chosen craft because I had $1200 USD on me along with at least $5000 in camera equipment. Still have it all too.  Alot of things go through your head in situations like that, none of them good.

Shark diving was fun. Essentially  we were in a cage off the side of a boat. Spotters on the boat would yell where the sharks were. We would then dive under and try to spot them as they swam innocently by. It was fun and not dangerous in the least.

I leave on my 4 month trip through Africa tomorrow morning. Won't be able to blog all that consistently, but I will do my best to try and keep all of you updated.


But the good news for all of you as a result of street fiasco is that I have holed myself up in the hostel and spent the better part of the last 48 hours editing photos from my entire trip. Bad news is, this silly hostel has the slowest upload time and I have to pay for internet. As a result, these are the only pics I had time to upload. They are of the Forbidden City in Beijing

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