Adventure Activities in Africa (Oh, and a detour to Harare)

Sorry it has been so long in between travel updates
but email access has been very hard to come by in
Africa.

My first instalment was from Swakopmund in Namibia and
I was about to go quad biking and sky diving. Well, I
survived both and they were both fantastic.

The quad biking was a bit scarey at first, given that
it required zooming vertically up 100m high sand dunes
and then doing a sharp turn and zooming back down
again. However, once I realised the bike was not going
to roll, I relaxed and had a blast.

The sky diving was awesome. A 30 second free fall from
10,000 feet to 5,000 feet and then a peaceful float
back down over the desert dunes. The exit from the
plane was a backward somersault, which elicited a big
scream from my lungs and then it was just a rush of
air and exhiliration until the parachute opened. My
tandem instructor was singing "I believe I can fly" in
my ear on the free fall.

Also went on a township tour in Mondesa, just outside
of Swakopmund which was a great experience. We visited
and spoke with a Dhamara elder (lady), a Herero lady
who does work with aids patients and orphaned children
and an artist who has a zany house which he has made
entirely out of recycled material from the rubbish
tip. We then visited a shebeen and drank beer and
played pool, before going to an Ovambo hut and having
a traditional meal of mopane worms (very gritty and
dirty tasting), millett bread, wild spinach, wild
berries, sorghum beer, some type of bean etc. After
dinner, some local children ranging in age from about
5 to 15 performed some songs and dances for us around
the fire. It was a great experience.

After Swakopmund we drove north to a cheetah farm
where we were able to pat and play with a few tame
cheetahs and then go out in the back of a ute to watch
the wild (or semi wild) cheetahs being fed.

The next morning we visited a traditional Himba tribe
for a few hours, played with the children, wandered
around the village and went in to the chief's hut to
learn about how they paint themselves with red ochre
and have a sauna using fire and herbs. A great
experience.

After the Himba tribe, we drove on towards Etosha
National Park and saw our first wild game - mountain
zebras, gemsbok, springbok etc. We were all in awe and
running from side to side of the truck like little
children.

We spent 2 days in Etosha and saw loads of game,
including Giraffes (my favourite), elephants, loadads
of zebras and different types of antelope. At the
first campsite in Etosha there was a flood lit
waterhole which we went down to during the night and
saw a black rhino.

After Etosha, we went to the Okavango delta for a few
nights. We took makora canoes out into the delta and
camped out in the wild for a night. We did a game walk
in the delta and came within about 30m of a wild
elephant on foot!

Then onto Chobe and more game life. In addition to the
rest, we saw hippos, wild dog and sable antelope.

From Chobe, we drove to Vic Falls and more adrenalin
activities. We did a half day adrenalin day which
included abseiling, high wire and the gorge swing. The
gorge swing was one of the most scary experiences of
my life. A 54m free fall off a cliff before the slack
picks up and you start swinging across the gorge. The
free fall is twice the distance of a bungy jump and
you go head first! Certainly not the same experience
as the sky dive free fall. I did a solo jump and then
a tandem with Dad. Our combined weight meant we fell
at 180km per hour!

Next day we did an elephant walk, which was riding on
the back of elephants, feeding them and playing with a
baby elephant.

We also did a fixed wing flight over the falls.

I visited the falls from both the Zambian and Zimb
abwe side. They have had record rains this year and
the amount of water flowing over the falls is awesome.
We got soaked from all the spray from the falls which,
in places, was heavier than an average rain fall!.

We were due to leave Vic Falls on the morning of the
25th for Zambia. However, somewhere between the
campiste and the airport for the fixed wing flight the
afternoon before, Dad managed to lose his money belt
in which he had both our passports(despite me telling
him not to carry the passports around with him and to
put them in the safe on the truck!)

So, we have had to take an expensive detour from the
trip. We flew from Vic Falls to Harare where we will
be spending 3 nights to await emergency passports and
then fly onto Malawi to catch up with the truck.
Luckily, all we miss out on is a couple of long day
drives across Zambia.

So, here I am in Harare now, and I have found a great
internet cafe to finally email you all.

Hope everyone is well. Will try to email again but not
sure when that will be.

Dad & I are well and having a great time, despite this
little hiccup.

Take care

love Meagan