Greetings from Victoria Falls! Part Three of the journey is complete. Only 20 more days to go.....
This leg of the journey started in Zanzibar, but the first two days after Dar es Salaam were crazily long travel days - the first was 13 hours with a 4:00am start, then 14 hours with a 3:45am start. So horrible but it had to be done! Thankfully things slowed down after that. Here are some of the highlights:
Lake Malawi, Malawi:
Malawi itself is such a beautiful country. It is home to some of the poorest people in Africa, but they are also some of the most friendly and happy. Whilst at the lake we went on a village tour and stopped in at a school that has an average class size of 150 students. They have an aim of getting 60% of their students to continue past Year 6 (there are not enough high schools so it's super competitive). I also got up early one morning to go for a run along the beach, which turned out to be more about photography than running. So special!
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| A morning run.... |
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| ...that turned into a photo session |
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| Local school visit |
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| Leaving Malawi as the sun rises |
South Luangwa National Park, Zambia:
We have done so many safaris on this trip that it's hard to imagine the next will be any different, but each time there is at least one special sighting that makes the whole experience worth it. This time it was a leopard up soooo close! They are one of the hardest to see, so we were super fortunate. I also got to have my birthday in Zambia and even got a special birthday cake :)
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| I have an abundance of sunrise pics, probably because we are always up at ridiculous o'clock! |
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| Leopards are not often out in the open.....so happy with this pic! |
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| 34 birthday balloons at breakfast :) |
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| CAAAAAKE!!!!!! |
Matopos National Park, Zimbabwe:
At this point I realised it was winter. Sleeping in a tent when it's 3 degrees outside is not much fun! I was wearing so much clothing and still freezing. Then getting up at 5am to go on a game drive in an open top jeep (with the guide happily wearing shorts) was ridiculously chilly! Thankfully getting within 2 metres of rhinos, scaling a mountain and seeing some impressive rock art made the frostbite worth it.
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| Now that it's getting colder: campfire dinner! |
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| Very cool (3 degrees overnight) campsite. I had my very own island! |
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| The verse on the tree next to my tent:) |
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| Great Zimbabwe ruins |
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| Safari time! Yep, I'm wearing a sleeping bag.. |
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| Cave paintings |
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| My fave rhino shot. We were within 2 metres! |
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| Take the photo before I get charged by angry rhino.... |
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| So close! |
Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
Three whole days to relax in a beautiful setting. I am discovering as we get further south that things are a bit more westernised and quite expensive. There are heaps of activity choices in Victoria Falls, but I went with just two: an included visit to the falls (the best bit anyway!) and a zip line canopy tour. It has been really nice to sleep in and just spend time wandering around town. It's a bit warmer here too which is super nice!
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My foreign currency collection so far including 100 billion note from Zimbabwe!
Their currency is now out of circulation so I'm not actually a billionaire :( |
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| Victoria Falls Gorge - just downstream of the falls |
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| Rocking the safety harness look |
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| An interesting path between zip lines |
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| One of nine zip lines across the gorge |
Tomorrow we spend the morning here then drive to Botswana. Should be fun! This leg of the trip is 20 days so I will try to do an update halfway through. God bless!
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