TravelStream™ news feed for member ccinafrica on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/ccinafrica en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sun, 14 Dec 2008 07:55:26 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ccinafrica/1/1227027600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ccinafrica/1/1227027600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ccinafrica/1/1227027600/tpod.html Sun, 14 Dec 2008 07:55:26 -0500 Around Africa in 4 months

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Sesriem, Namibia

Another highlight in Namibia was going to Dune 45. Dune 45 is a tall sand dune from which you watch the sunrise. There are lots of other sand dunes all around and also taller ones, but Dune 45 has for some reason become the one to climb.

We got up at 4am and scrambled into the truck and Julius drove us through the gates to the national park. It took about one hour to get to Dune 45 as it is the 45th dune from the gate and actualy also 45km from the gate. We then started climbing the dune, which probably took around 25-30 minutes. It was really hard walking up the dune, as you are walking along a ridge in soft sand and your feet keeps sinking in the sand.

Dune 45 is very popular for tourist and especially other overland tours and a lot of people were walking up the dune. Sammy and Julius knew this so that was the reason why we went up so early. We were the first people in the national park and the first up the dune and had the best view.

The sunrise was really spectacular as all the dunes around changes colour as the sun comes up. We sat there for a while following the sun and getting some good pictures.Once we had come down from the dunes Julius and Sammy had made delicous pancakes for breakfast - mmmm!

In the afternoon we went on another bushwalk with a guide who explained how the bushmen had lived in this area. He also showed us some of the animals, which lives in the desert: beetles, spiders, lizards. He told us that when a bushman wanted to marry, he asked the parents of the chosen girl. However if she had more than one bushman interested they would have to go into the dessert and try and find a gemsbok (oryx) and kill it. They would then have to brink back the tail as proof and lead the family to the kill. This could often takes weeks as the gemsbok is very elusive and difficult to kill. The first one to prove the kill would get the girl.

While waiting for our lift back to camp we spotted some owl chicks in a tree.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ccinafrica/1/1226854800/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ccinafrica/1/1226854800/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ccinafrica/1/1226854800/tpod.html Sun, 14 Dec 2008 06:51:39 -0500 Around Africa in 4 months

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Swakopmund, Namibia

After Spitzkoppe we went down along the coast to Swakopmund. On the way down we stopped at the Cape Cross Seal Colony which houses up to 80.000 seals. All along the coast of Namibia down to Cape Town you will find seal colonies and there are many hundreds of thousands seals on this stretch.

As soon as we got out of the truck the smell hit you straight in the face. It was a very foul smell and it took a few seconds to control yourself and your stomach. This time of year all the seals are having their calfs and there were thousands and thousands of new baby seals.

The seals were very noisy as they bark a lot of the time. There was also quite a lot of fighting and chasing going on between the big males. Some people from the group got a full video shot of a seal giving birth.

The little baby seals where very cute and sometimes they looked very abandoned, but hopefully the mother had just gone out to sea and catch some fish. But for Cecilie it was heartbreaking to see a baby seal desperately looking everywhere for its mother and was being chased and bitten by other seals as soon as it tried to ascertain whether the seal was its mother or not.

After this we continued to Swakopmund, which also has a very german influence. Many Namibian has German as their first language and it is clearly evident in building style and when going to restaurants.

Swakopmund is a little like Livinstone, Zambia, as it is mostly about the activities. Here you can quad bike, sky dive, sandboarding, paraglide, reef fish, and much more. Cecilie and I booked an afternoon quad bike drive on the dunes and sandboarding for the next day.

Quad biking is a lot of fun. We have seen these 4 wheel drive bikes several places in Africa, but haven't had an opportunity to ride one. We could choose between automatic, semi-automatic (no clutch - just gear up and down with one pedal) or fully manual. We chose semi-automatic once, which turned out to be a good choice. We followed our guide through the dunes and we rode up and down a lot of them. When you drive towards a dune you accellerate and gear up and drive as fast as you can up the dune, and once you get near the top you turn it around and drive down again. Awesome fun! The automatics did not have enough power to get you up real high on the dunes, but ours fortunately had more than power enough. We had a full two hours trip through the dunes next to the sea and the views were absolute spectacular.

The first evening we went out with group at an italian restaurant. The food here was really good and Christian had 2kgs of spareribs (2 massive racks). He only managed to eat a little over 1 and half kgs before he stopped... He needed to save a little room for the desert. After the dinner we went to a bar next dor and had a few drinks and a few games of pool.

We were staying in dorms at a backpackers called Dunes Lodge, which was nice as we did not have to put up or take down our tents, and even better got to sleep in a proper bed again.

The next day we going out sandboarding in the morning. Sandboarding is just snowboarding on sand dunes. The surface of the board is different though and needs waxing for each run down. It is a lot of fun, but also real hard work as it you have to walk up the dune again in snowboard boots. After five runs you are completely knackered and have sand everywhere. At the end of the trip we did a few runs of lie-down boarding, where you are lying down on a square board and we managed to do around 70 km/h. Very quick and a lot of fun.

In the afternoon we walked around town and looked at the shop, and in the evening we went to another restaurant "De Kelder". This was very German, but the food was excellent and so was the wine. We met up with some of the other people at the bar and had a few drinks before heading to bed.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ccinafrica/1/1226768400/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ccinafrica/1/1226768400/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ccinafrica/1/1226768400/tpod.html Fri, 12 Dec 2008 08:28:56 -0500 Around Africa in 4 months

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Spitzkoppe, Namibia

On the way to Spitzkoppe we stopped at a small marked with traditional African hand craft mad by the Himba tribe. The Himba people traditionally cover their bodies in red mud from top to toe. The females with their babies was selling some beautiful bracelets, which Cecilie just had to buy a few of.

Spitzkoppe is some really large rock formations in the middle of no where. When you looked closer at the surface of the rocks you could see tiny grains of sand and not a smooth surface as you expect. The rocks had actually been baked far underground for millions of years.

We only had one night here, but we did not have to put up tents as we were sleeping under the stars. We were to find a rock to our liking and climb up and sleep there, and watch the sunrise in the morning. Again it was a million degrees hot during the afternoon, but we still played a bit of football and climbed the rocks while drinking cold beer. Hmm not too bad, ehh?

After a nice braai (barbeque) that evening we sat around the camp fire until it was time to climb back on the rocks. We found a good spot, where we would sleep and watched the stars. The stars down here in Africa are bigger and clearer than in Scandinavia and they looked very clear that night.

In the morning we woke up just before sunrise and we got the camera ready for when then sun would rise over the horizon and the rocks. Very beautiful.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ccinafrica/1/1226595600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ccinafrica/1/1226595600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ccinafrica/1/1226595600/tpod.html Fri, 12 Dec 2008 08:19:51 -0500 Around Africa in 4 months

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Etosha National Park, Namibia

Etosha National Park is Namibias most famous national park. It used to cover an area of 80.000 sq km, but has been reduced several times to its current size of around 25.000 sq km.

It was around 1 million degrees when we got there, but the camp site fortunately had a nice pool area. It was quite a nice campsite with many expensive looking huts and a fancy restaurant. It also had a kiosk, post office and ranger office, where you could book early morning or night drives. The campsite also had a big waterhole, where lots of animals would come down to in the evening and at night time.

In the afternoons we spent most of the time in the pool as it was above 50 degrees and almost impossible to be anywhere else.

We had two game drives in Etosha; one on the morning and one in the late afternoon. The morning game was nice as we saw lots of plains animals e.g. lots of really nice zebras and a lot of different bucks. There were plenty of gemsbok (oryx), which are quite big bucks and they have a very majestic look over them. Gemsbok steak is also very delicious.

We also saw a couple lioness' walking across the plains. Lions belong on the savannah and not in private parks or zoos. They are very different animals in the wild and this goes for any of the cats. Fortunately from what we have seen in all the parks we have been to the cat population looks to be healthy. This is also what the rangers has told us. However the mountain gorilla (silverback) and the forest elephant (Central African Republic) and the giant forest hog are very threatened. We also heard that wild dogs are becoming more and more difficult to find.

The afternoon game drive was very hot, which meant that most of the animals had gone to find shade, but we did see the two lioness' again though this time they both lying under some bushes panting.

We went down to the waterhole on both evenings. This was very exciting as we saw a couple of black rhinos coming to drink. Rhinos have very bad eye sight, but do have a good sense of smell, which meant they could not see us but they could sense that they were not alone. They were very alert all the time and often turned their heads towards us to find out who was hiding out there. Very late on the first evening a lioness and her 5 cubs came down to drink. She had one bigger and four small cubs. There were drinking from one side of the waterhole while a black rhino drank from the other side. The lions did not stay long as they don't like staying out in the open when they have cubs. We got some night shots of both, but it was incredible difficult as you need a long exposure time and your target needs to be completely still. 1 out of 30 is probably usable; good thing we took several hundred pictures then...

You could easily spend several days in Etosha and do a lot more and better game drives than the ones we had. We would like to comeback someday and do everything on our own. 'Till next time....
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ccinafrica/1/1228917300/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ccinafrica/1/1228917300/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ccinafrica/1/1228917300/tpod.html Fri, 12 Dec 2008 08:07:36 -0500 Around Africa in 4 months

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Windhoek, Namibia

After Ganzi and the bushmen we went to Windhoek, which is the capital of Namibia. Here we had a few hours in the afternoon to walk around town and do a bit of internet if needed.

Namibia was occupied by South Africa until is independence in 1990. This means that Namibia is a very western country in terms of development and Windhoek especially could almost be any European city.

We were not camping in Windhoek, but instead stayed in dorms at a backpackers. This was a welcome change as we got to sleep in a real bed. In the evening we all went to restaurant which was known for its game meat. Cecilie had the "Namib Bush Fire", which consisted of Gemsbok, Springbok and Ostrich medallions. All the meat was real tender and cooked perfectly - a very delicious meal.

Windhoek was just a quick stop on the way to Etosha National Park so we did not do anything else here.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ccinafrica/1/1226325120/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ccinafrica/1/1226325120/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ccinafrica/1/1226325120/tpod.html Fri, 12 Dec 2008 07:41:27 -0500 Around Africa in 4 months

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Ghanzi, Botswana

After Okavango we came to Ganzi. Ganzi is on the way to Etosha National Park in Nambia. Here we camped and got to see how the bushmen in this area had once lived.

Due to the white man and modern amenities the bushmen people don't live in bush as they once did and their traditions will not last much longer. The bushmen showed how their people had lived for generations. We went around in the bush and dug up various plants and the bushmen explained how they were used. One in particular was very interesting. It was a little flower, but once it was dug up it had a massive oval root. The bushmen then cleaned it and used a knife to scrape of flakes of the root. They rolled all the flakes into a small ball, squeezed it and water came running out which they could drink. Then they added a little bit from another root into the centre of the ball and held the ball in one hand while using the other hand to clap down on top of the ball. Suddenly the water started foaming. This was used for washing and it looked quite effective.

Christian also had his haircut at the camp later that afternoon. It was really about time and Cecilie was kind enough to help and handled the scissors expertly. It was also our driver Julius' birthday and we had his favourite dish ugali for dinner. Very nice. We sat around the camp fire for most of evening talking over beers.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ccinafrica/1/1226163600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ccinafrica/1/1226163600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ccinafrica/1/1226163600/tpod.html Fri, 12 Dec 2008 07:16:52 -0500 Around Africa in 4 months

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Okavango Delta, Botswana

After Chobe we went to the famous Okavango Delta, which is the largest inland Delta in the world. Here we went on a canoe safari through the delta. We were taken to the edge of the delta, where several canoe polers (local people with a canoe) were waiting for us. We had packed just enough for one night and we were taken into the delta.

We were two people in each canoe in addition to the local, who had a long pole (hence the term polers), which he used to push the canoe through the delta. It was really hot as we went through the delta. Fortunately we could lean back and relax and Christian had a snooze as we drifted through the tall grass and water lillies.

We arrived a few hours later at an island in the delta. This was going to be our camp for the night. As we started unloading the canoe an elephant appeared. It was eating a lot but did not like the new company and therefore slowly moved out of the way. Another two canoes had been freighting our tents, cooking gear and food, and after the run in with the elephant we quickly set up camp.

Later we could have a go at poling a canoe ourselves and we took one out. We went to place where we could swim and parked the canoe on another island. Here lots of us jumped in the water and had a good time before going back to camp. In the evening when the temperature had gone down a bit we went for a walk on a larger island. Here we saw more elephants and some other plains animals. The walk was just an hour but we think it should have been much longer as there was so much more to see.

As we were just about to have dinner it started raining and everybody scrambled back inside their tents with their plates. After eating we fell a sleep almost immediately, but we woke up a few hours later. Only a few people was up at this time so we were standing around the camp fire for a while talking to one of the polers before we went back to bed.

The next morning we went for a morning walk on another island, but we did not see much on this walk. As we went back to camp and had breakfast we were told that the polers wanted to dance for us. They were supposed to have had done it the night before, but it had been raining and we were all sleeping.... After some really nice songs and a good laugh as we joined the dance, we packed up and got poled back to our truck.

After we got back to the camp we had a nice lunch and relaxed before doing the scenic flight, which we had booked before going into the delta. We were taken to the little airport, where a small 6 seater Cessna was waiting for us. We would fly over delta following the river and do a circle and follow the edge of the delta on the way back. The pilot warned us that there would be quite a bit of turbulence because of the heat that day. The take off was very fun and very bumpy; the plane jumped up and down in the air before finally lifting off. The trip was very interesting as we saw everything from a different angle. It was quite amazing how well you still could see animals especially the larger ones like wildebeest, elephants, zebra, and bucks. It was also fun to see birds of prey flying below you. Cecilie unfortunately did not enjoy the ride as much as she got very airsick. :(

The delta was really cool experience and we definately recommend to anyone interested. But it should be longer than just one night.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ccinafrica/1/1225990800/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ccinafrica/1/1225990800/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ccinafrica/1/1225990800/tpod.html Fri, 12 Dec 2008 06:46:45 -0500 Around Africa in 4 months

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Chobe National Park, Botswana

Our first stop on our overland trip was Chobe National Park, which is Botswanas most famous national park. We arrived at our camp site in the afternoon and after setting up camp we had time enough for a trip in the pool. Summer is coming to southern Africa, and we knew each day would only get hotter and hotter.

The next morning we went for a game drive with a local safari operator. This was not very good as we only saw a fraction of the park and furthermore the driver rushed through the bush following a pre-determined route. It all took just a couple of hours if even that. After lunch back at the camp site we did a river cruise up Chobe River. Here we saw elephants, hippos, and buffalos. It rained a lot and despite what we saw it was not a very interesting tour. The local operator packed two overland groups on the same boat, which again meant we were too many people and it felt very crowded.

A very disappointing first impression of Acacia Africa (our overland tour company) as they were responsible for putting the tour together. However we were starting to get to know the other people on our truck and all were real friendly. A good mix of people, and all between 19 and 42 years of age.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ccinafrica/1/1225731600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ccinafrica/1/1225731600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ccinafrica/1/1225731600/tpod.html Wed, 10 Dec 2008 11:17:01 -0500 Around Africa in 4 months

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Livingstone, Zambia

We checked in at the Jollyboys Backpackers in Livingstone, which was a really nice backpacker with a pool and a bar. We had a few days here before we had to meet up with our overland trip to Cape Town.

We spent most of the time updating our blog with some of our travels in Mozambique and also changing money. In Zimbabwe we had used quite a bit of US dollars as it is impossible to deal in Zimbabwean dollars, so we needed to get some more US dollars since the local payment for our overland trip had to be done in US dollars. We still had some US dollars travellers cheques (aka nightmare cheques), but we needed to change these into US dollars. We spent a lot of time in queues in a Barclays bank changing travellers cheques (can only change a maximum of $500 per day) and buying more US dollars with local Kwacha (withdrawn from ATMs)

This was also the time of the US election so the US exhange rate very volatile, but we were fortunate and got some decent rates. There were a few Americans on our backpackers, who were all volunteers in Africa and they all seemed very happy with the Obama win - and so did the rest Africa or at least everyone we have met so far.

We met up with our overland trip at the Zambezi Waterfront, which is a big hotel and camping ground on the edge of the Zambezi river. We had booked a 19 day trip with Acacia Africa from Livingstone to Cape Town through Botswana and Namibia. The overland tour had originally started from Nairobi, but some people were getting of at Livingstone and continuing to Johannesburg. We were 10 new people joining an existing crew of 12 continuing to Cape Town.

The next day, which was our first day of the tour, was spent in Livingstone. This was meant as an activity day, where you could bungee jump, take a scenic flight, gorge swing or do one of the million other activities. We took it easy as we ad already seen and done the thing we wanted to do and so instead sorted out a last few things.

Livinstone is not a very nice place if you are looking for an African experience or thinking of beginning your African adventure here. Everything in Livingstone revolves around activities and it has become one big theme park for adrenalin junkies and overland booze cruises. The Zimbabwean side is much nicer even though you can do exactly the same things. We just hope that once Zimbabwe comes around it does not get ruined as Livingstone has.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ccinafrica/1/1225296000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ccinafrica/1/1225296000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ccinafrica/1/1225296000/tpod.html Wed, 10 Dec 2008 11:04:28 -0500 Around Africa in 4 months

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Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe

After spending two fantastic days in Harare we got a flight to Victoria Falls. It had practically been impossible to get a flight as Zimbabwean Airlines are fairly unreliable and all flights were sold out. We got told various stories by the travel agents e.g. that ZANU-PF (Mugabe's party) where having a conference in Bulawayo so all planes had been redirected. Another travel agent said that flights schedule was normal, but they had had 40% overbookings two days earlier. All flights were actually full, however by coincidence we looked at business class tickets and it turned out that there were plenty of business class tickets available. Instead of paying $220 for a ticket we ended up paying $255, which was not too bad.

At the Victoria Falls airport we where met by Mike who was the chauffeur from "The Hide". He took all our bags and drove us to the Hwange National Park in a nice aircondioned minibus with plenty of cold drinks i.e. soft drinks, beers, and white-wine.

After just over an hours drive we arrived at Hwange National Park, where we met Daffy a ranger from "The Hide". He was there to pick us up in a 4x4 as we going through the national park to get to private concession "The Hide". This means besides having access to the whole of Hwange National Park they also have a private area inside the park, which no one has access to but them. It is a small but very exclusive place, which can only accommodate 16 guests at any one time.

"The Hide" consists of several A-framed huts all looking out towards a big waterhole. All the huts have a verandah and big bedroom and nice bathroom. For 2 of the 3 nights we were given the honeymoon suite, which in addition had a beautiful outdoor bathroom with a large bath which again overlooked the waterhole. This was absolutely stunning. The main hut was the tea and dining area, with a lovely big dining table and a very comfortable lounge and verandah. All of this with a view towards the waterhole as it was all open with no walls or glass windows - just plain open.

As we arrived we were welcomed by the manager Barry and the rest of the rangers. We were shown to our hut before joining the other guests for lunch. We had a delicious lunch before going on our first game drive with our ranger Daffy. On the first game drive we saw lots of plains animals like Impala, Gemsbok, Kudu, Steenbok, and Springbok. We also saw lots of beautiful birds like the yellow-billed hornbill and lilac breasted roler. We drove to a waterhole where lots of elephants had come to down to drink. This was at the very end of the dry season and rain could be expected any day. This meant that the animals were solely dependent on the waterholes as it had not rained for many many months. We saw a lot of elephants at this waterhole and we got real close to them; several of them mock-charged us to chase us away.

Hwange National Park has around 40.000 elephants, which is unfortunately twice as many as a park their size should have. Normally a culling programe would in place to control the population, but due to various reasons this has not been the case for quite a few years. Many national parks in southern Africa has this problem including Chobe National Park in Botswana, which borders Hwange. One of the problems with too many elephants is that destruction of trees and other vegetation. It is easy to see where a herd of elephants has passed through.

When we got home from the game drive we had a shower and a rest before being called to dinner at 8pm. The staff would use African drums to call the guests to the meals. You are reading your book on the verandah while enjoying the animals drinking at the waterhole and you suddenly hear the distant sound of bongo-drums and you know a fantastic meal is waiting for you.

The dinners at "The Hide" were exquisite. There was a big dining table where all the guests, Barry (manager) and the rangers all dines together. The staff is so good at making everyone feel like one big family and Barry and the rangers shared stories around the table. That gave us a very special feeling and they were also very interested in knowing how our travels had been and how we had ended up at "The Hide". The food was extraordinarily good. Every nights a 3 course meal prepared by a great chef and by the time you got to the delicious dessert you were full. Naturally you still managed to eat the dessert as it was just impossible to resist. Pure indulgence.

A typical day at the "The Hide" began with a 5.30am wake-up knock with tea, coffee, and biscuits served in our hut. The a 6.00am morning game drive or game walk with a ranger (typically Daffy or Nicholas). After the morning game drive we returned for superb breakfast and a rest. Then at 10am another game drive before returning for 2pm lunch. After lunch we usally rested until the 4pm tea and afternoon game drive. After dinner we often went on a night game drive for about 1 hour. On all of the game drives the ranger brought a cooler bag with whatever drinks we had requested.

On one of the night drives we tracked 4 male lions, which we had heard earlier in the evening. There was an older lion and some younger ones believed to be his offspring. They got right into the camp as they had been able to smell some food - probably meat of some sort. It was quite a crazy experience being in an open 4x4 just a few meters from 4 very hungry male lions. However we got some very cool shots of the lions in the night.

Another very special experience was to be inside one of the hides (hidden lookouts) very close to waterhole. Here we are talking just a few meters from the edge of the water. One late afternoon we were escorted to the hide by a ranger and we "collected" again for dinner. The hide was a concrete built structure covered by vegetation and it had a horizontal opening at front where we could see everything going on at the waterhole. Again we were provided with a cooler bag with drinks and wine; so no chance of dehydrating even though it was hot. Various animals came to drink including a giraf, which has a funny way of bending its legs to be able to reach the water. As it got darker other animals started coming down to the waterhole including a hole heard of buffalos, before eventually hundreds of elephants started coming. This was a very magical experience as we were just a few meters from several huge elephants and elephant babies - whole elephant herds. Unfortunately we had to go back to dinner.

The buffalos stayed around camp during that night and around 2am Cecilie was woken up by some snorting sounds (not Christian). They came from a buffalo on the verandah eating one of the plants. As the windows only consisted of netting, and the buffalo is one of the big five, and Cecilie was still half asleep she silently got out of bed and ran in to the bathroom to hide...... while Christian went out front and smacked the buffalo on its behind and sent it away. Ehhmm...

On an afternoon game drive we came across a male lion eating a baby elephant. The kill had happened some days earlier, but this lion still wanted what was left. This was just next to a waterhole and a giraf was very suspecious of the lion and us. It probably took the giraf 30 minutes to slowly make its way around us and the lion to get to the water.

After 3 nights and 4 days we had to leave this magical place and make our way to Victoria Falls. We had been pampered 24x7 by a team of people from manager, rangers, chefs, laundry staff, everyone really! They made us feel so welcome and gave us a once in a lifetime experience. I saw somewhere that it is on a famous list of things to see before you die - no wonder! We would like to extend our thanks to everyone at "The Hide" for a wonderful time.
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