It was a great walk, not too hard going and we got to see a little wildlife, the highlight being a herd of hippo in an area around the other side of the island. These were wild hippo and we were not 15m from the edge of their water. They spotted us of course and most turned their beady eyes towards us and they started making aggressive grunting and throat noises. One of them yawned at us, which is their way of showing their teeth and that they better not be messed with. Well instead of reading between the lines and leaving these lethal animals, we stayed right there, still following West who was telling us softly how the mother hippos often hide their male offspring from the single (dominant) male of the herd to prevent the dominant male from killing it off. If the young one makes it to a certain age he will challenge the dominant male for the herd; hence it’s not uncommon to see solitary male hippos around. Shortly a few of them seemed to warm to us and one of them even swam right across our field of vision and emerged from the water on the other side of the water. It wagged its little tail rapidly side to side, which is cute but part of its defecating procedure, yawned at the world in our general direction and hung around for a while.
None of has brought cameras on the walk because of the rain, but boy were we sorry after this display. We headed back to camp and enjoyed a lovely couscous beef & veg dinner before falling asleep nervously to the grunting of a hippo that was considering grazing through our campsite.

The following morning we were woken early to go on another game walk. This was twice as long as the previous one, and lasted for about 3 hrs. We saw baboon, different types of bok and birds, and visited the same hippo hole with cameras this time, but they seemed tired from the previous night’s performance and were fairly reclusive and unthreatening. Tired, but on a high from the walk we returned to camp. It really was hitting home, the concept of being in the African bush, living in tents and visiting the local animals. The scenery was superb. The sky is always amazing (and that’s an understatement!). The water was drinkable (luckily because Nat forgot to pack the drinking water) and it was just a fantastic experience. After lunch I decided to give poling a go. West gave Abbey and I each a boat and a pole and some minor instruction, and off we went.I had a great time! After about 20mins not only had neither of us fallen in (much to the disappointment of the onlookers who’d gathered with cameras like vultures with cutlery), but I was already picking up the basics – mostly how to steer in either direction throughout the length of a single stroke. The sun was beating down on us so we retired to relax in the shade for a while.

Bryce left for Pretoria that evening and the next morning Daniel, Vicky and I were up early to get back over the other side of town where the tour left from.
Vicky and Daniel were wonderfully generous people. I had only met them at Christmas time when they were in Aus, and we spoke for a total of about five minutes and less than two weeks later I’m staying with them and they’re driving a mate and me around the countryside. It was also fascinating to talk with them about the state of the nation so to speak. Both of them are obviously compassionate towards the native Africans, and genuinely not in a pious pitiful way. They live simply (the only place I saw without a security fence!) and follow grand aspirations yet are warm, genuine and friendly.

Well on to the tour. The three ladies who started with us and I were all real sleepy on the first day’s drive so we kept to ourselves and slept for the most part. We stayed our first night in a cam called Camp Itamula, after crossing over into Botswana. None of us were hardcore campers or had even been at all in a while, so we took a while to set up our tents and stuff, before heading to the bar.
Next morning after a slow pack up it was back on the road towards Maun “the Gateway to the Okavango Delta” and camp Sitatunga. There we were met by the final “hot bitch” of the tour – Abbie, who had a cancelled flight keep her in Australia.
Camp Sitatunga was to be our base for a two night hop into the Okavango Delta. That trip wasn’t going to start until the next morning though so it was to the bar once again for cheapish drinks all round. Some of the girls had a big night, but it was going to be a cruisy morning. I didn’t have a big one myself, but had a few goes at calling my sister Emma for her 18th birthday. The phone just wouldn’t call out but late in the night I did get onto mum to pass on my greetings. See, it does work, you just have to spend hours at the bar while trying.

We were up fairly early, packing an absolute minimum of clothes and gear into a day back-pack before jumping into a safari truck for an hour and half drive out into the delta. The truck had free air (in your face at 80km/hr) and complimentary snacks (if you opened your mouth as they flew past). We drove through Maun and then out 4WDing for an hour or so before pulling up at a bit of a clearing surrounded by what looked like grass, but was actually like reeds growing in the water, and at the water’s edge was a couple of dozen mokoros – wooden dug out canoes (made from either the Marula or Sausage tree depending on who you ask).

In we hop with all our minimalist belongings, hoping that the boat won’t tip and destroy our cameras. Joining us for the two nights are polers – guides who have grown up in the delta and have studied to learn all about it. Using long poles they push the mokoros, not unlike gondolas, along the narrow water channels between the reeds. We sat two per mokoro and just lay back and enjoyed the view for a couple of hours. Nat (our tour leader) and I were in with West, the leader of our band of polers. The water was shallow and clear, the weather was warm and the theme was relaxation.
After a while the mokoro stopped and we jumped out at what was going to be home for a short time. We inspected our severe sunburns and set up camp. The polers also camped with us; we had a great time together. They started out by making a fire, setting up their tents and digging a toilet hole before most of the guys in the group disappeared leaving a young bloke and the lady. After a little while we guessed it was going to rain soon so we started making plans about putting up the big tarp we had brought along.

What a shemozzle. We only had a large tree, two solid broken off branches that were poorly shaped (cut for firewood) and some pieces of rope. As the young poler (I.T. was his name) watched on keenly we set about our plan for where to put the top and how to secure it. I climbed the large tree part way up, and we started to think about how we could “lean” the branches against other trees of else dig huge holes.
Before we were too far along West and the other guys returned with freshly cut narrow tree trunks and a plan. They got to digging holes and tying down the tarp and in no time they had set up a wonderful structure and also enjoyed the stories IT was telling them, no doubt of the dump tourist bloke scaling trees and plans to use the firewood as structural support. Not the last time they’d get a laugh on us; they must have a great job!

Sure enough it rained, and just as is the case with half the storms in Africa it only lasted a short while and was gone as though it was never there (the other type lasts for hours and floods everything even close to being out in the open). After the rain we went for a game walk around the island we were camped on. We walked single file through the bush, West leading and Frank & Johnny tailing. We were told to ask questions any time and it was taking this cue that Laura stopped to ask what a particular stalk-like plant was. Some of us looked at her a little strangely and West was at first perplexed but then stifled a chuckle as he answered “grass”.

On the Kumuka truck, Maun --> Gweta

We sat down to a lovely lunch, watched some of my holiday video footage and then went out shopping. We first went to a very large building the size of a small shopping centre that was one shop aptly named Makro that was like a Coles and a Target and a Bunnings all in one. It's supposedly hugely cheap, but to shopt there you need a (free) member card. I picked up a sleeping mat and head torch without the assistance of an amazingly unhelpful retail assistant and we headed for the checkout. I plonked my stuff on the counter, said G'day and the checkout dude ignored the stuff, smiled at me and made a funny symbol with his hands. I turned around for some cues from the locals and Vicky noticed he was asking for the member card. It soon triggered that he was a deaf mute (the lip-reading and silence gave it away). I thought this was a nice idea - haven't seen anyone in retail before who was a deaf mute. Anyway I paid and we headed off, but before we were even outside someone said "where's your stuff Tim?". I slapped my forehead and turned to go back and coming towards us was our checkout dude running and waving. It was really quite amusing, at this guy's expense unfortunately. We retold the story to eachother on the way to the car and Bryce sang some Three Stooges music and I felt bad at causing this guy some embaassment. He wasn't the slightest bit perterbed when we saw him though; he probably had a great chuckle at my expense. I still needed a mosquito net (or so I thought at the time) so we went 15mins up the road to a large shopping centre, to a camping shop. Vicky and I asked the help of one sales guy who said he'd meet us down the back where the mosquito nets were. By the time we ambled over Dan & Bryce had someone else there helping them. The first guy came up and said "thanks Andrew" wanting to score the sale I guess. He stood infront of the wall with the nets on them and looked around quizzically. He turned to ask Andrew where the nets were and Andrew pointed right over his shoulder and said there they were. The first guy grabbed one a little sheepishly and siad "it must be these pills I'm taking." Out of empathy I thought I'd follow the joke and with a big grin told him that if he wasn't on any then he should be. He looked at me with even more puzzlement than the wall and said that no, he w actually was taking pills. I felt like melting into a little puddle, apologised profusely and we left the shops as fast as possible before I raised all of Johannesburg's medically challenged against me. Daniel drove us far far away ("shame") to the ____ ___ Botanic Gardens. These gardens are lovely, with tiny manicured lawns, an open area with a stage where free concerts are held every Sunday, and right down the back, a waterfall. We huddled indoors over milkshakes and Appletisers for a brief "thunder shower" and then wandered down to the waterfall area. Beyond the "No picnicing allowed for the good of the environment" signs were some happy campers sitting in picnic chairs and drinking beer, perhaps thinking they'd get off on a technicallity because they didn't bring a picnic basket. The waterfall was lovely and it would have been nice to do the walk up it, but we had to get motoring. From the falls we drove to the opposite side of town to the backpackers where my African Tour's pre-tour briefing was held. I was surprised to hear that on the tour was myself, four girls, the tour leader and the driver. At first I gave off a whoop, but I soon got to thinking that there was an equal possibility that it could be heaven as it could be hell. We had the pre-tour briefing with only 2 of the girls and I; such a small group. After that Vicky, Daniel, Bryce and I were cruising back to Daniel and Vicky's place when we decided to stop off for dinner at a place called Monte Casino. This place is really cool. It's a massive fake Italian village entirely enclosed, where you can walk between recreated day, night and everything in between. Cafes and restaurants make up all the houses and wandering the streets are musicians, dancers and clowns, and in the middle is a casino. The whole place takes a little piece of reality away and replaces it with a good dose of fantasty: an escapists delight and an escapist gamblers bain. We headed over to Steers (?) a traditionally Saffa family restaurant, similar to Sizzlers but with top food and an American Indian theme. We enjoyed a great steak dinner with lovely wine.

While I was waiting for Bryce to try on his suit I realised that I'd lost my Australian sim-card the previous evening. I used my S.A. sim-card to ring the Vodafone number for overseas assistance and spend 20mins pushing buttons trying to find a way to get assistance or somehow cancel my card. All of the options I came across played a mesage saying that the office had closed at 8pm (I was barely 5mins late). Before I could try another number, I ran out of pre-paid credit so I tried with Bryce's phone, but had not further luck; the numbers I had didn't seem to be for 24hr assistance. So I rang Anrie and asked if she could look up online what the number was. She called back later with the number, but it wouldn't dial from Bryce's phone. I went to an ATM and got more money so as to buy more credit and tried, but again nothing came from it and again I wasted all my credit. In the meantime we'd reached Vicky & Daniel's place so I used Bryce's phone to call home, give Lara all my personal info and left it with them. Turns out now it's all taken care of and my sim-card will be waiting for mein Sydney. So at the time I took faith in my fam and enjoyed a great time with Daniel & Vicky. An island in the Okavango Delta, Botswana

The next day (6th Jan) Anrie's other sister and her boyfriend took us to the Lion Park. This place is great, there are pens with baby cheetas, jackals, warthogs and hyena and one pen with lion cubs in which you're allowed to pet them. It was near the middle of the day so the cubs were really sleepy, but we still went in and gave them a good pat. I didn't exactly use a delicate touch with them and my white cub was soon up and perky and suddenly swung around and snarled at me. I jumped a bit but thought he was just being mildly playful or perhaps burping. The second time he did it though there was no mistake and he then up and wandered away to plonk himself down again away from any disturbance. We fed giraffe, took a squiz at the ostrich and zebra and then went for a drive around the main park areas, spottng a few different bok and birds along the way before heading into the lion areas. In each of the 4 areas we drove past a pride of lions, some of them really close. I scored some great footage of a lioness 2m outside my window (the rest of the car starting to freak that I had my window all the way down). In another pride a male lion was even closer to Anrie and her window was half down so I could shoot out it. The lion decided to stand up and the self-preservation in Anrie reacted lightnng fast and her window shot up quick smart, amusing the rest of us somewhat, and passing unnoticed by the lion.

Leaving the lion park we drove past a sign to the Cradle of Humanking and thought we'd pop in. The first sign we followed ended up being to a restaurant with a mildly disgruntled guard who shooed us away down the road. We found out at our next sto that the cradle is actually a large area like a national part and we'd been driving through it already. This was good enough for us so we cruised on out and over to Hartebeespoortdam. Here we sat and enjoyed a drink (double-brandy and coke as is then SA standard) and garlic snails. The snails were really quite nice, though there was tonnes too much cheesy sauce.

That night was a bigish affair at one of the partyingest clubs in Pretoria. I moved out of Anrie's family's place and into Bryce's (my Aus mate from Brisbane) room at the Sheraton. Gee Pretoria's Sheraton in swanky! After dropping my gear off there and picking up Bryce we were off to Drop Zone just in time for Happy Hour. While we were getting into the swing of things we racked the balls up for a game of pool or few. A few hours later Bryce and I were 8 games up, with no losses against all comers! The theme of the night was "Aussies can't play pool". After that streak Anrie dragged us up onto the dance floor, and we all boogied the night away before we were dragged off and dropped at the Sheraton.

One fine but short night's sleep later I awoke to a stunning view of the Union buildings from Bryce's room's window. I'd stayed with him because he planned to drive to Jo'burg in the morning (and there was an influx of family at Arnie's place) and so we hopped it.

On our way into Jo'burg Bryce decided he should stop off to look at a suit he'd ordered. It was a bit out of the way and certainly not part of the instructions we were given on how to meet up with my friends Daniel & Vicky. To make matters more interesting the tourist map we were given was small and vastly inadequate, and we kept encountering amusing traffic along the way (eg lanes that suddenly become narrower than a car's width). So in no time we were jovially lost, though not for long, soon Bryce recognised something and were able to ask someone for specific directions.

Camp Itumila, Botswana