22/10/2002 Vic Falls, Zimbabwe (phill)
South Luanga, Zambia
We came to SL for another safari, this one was a bit different since it included a night safari. Not as famous as the Serenghetti but still special in it's own right this place sounded great. We were camping right on the edge of the national park and I had heard from other overlanders going the opposite direction about tents being attacked etc... The camp is right on the path of the Elephants and Hippo's who come here to graze at night, so that was a bit scary. Once again we all set our tents up VERY close to one another. I didn't get much sleep, we could hear hippo's and lion's roaring in the distance and I woke many times to see very large shadows just outside my tent. Bit to much of a wussie to check them out though, although we were supposed to remain totally still. I managed to fall back asleep for a couple of hours.
in the morning our trash had been destroyed by Hyena's and Elephants and there were massive footprints all around! We went on our day safari and saw the typical Giraffe's, Lion's etc.. no more leaopards which is what I wanted to see. The night safari was a bit of a dissapointment anyway, no leopards! Saw the same as the day safari except it was dark! We all loaded into open jeeps (nowhere to hide this time) and drove around with a massive flashlight looking for eye reflections. Anyway, it was worth the money but I was hoping for more.
Vic Falls 21/10
Arrived in Vic Falls today after getting through the shady border controls. Actually they've all been shady, always out to rip you of and lie continuously. Luckily Brett who's in charge know's exactly what hes doing (3 years of doin this trip now) and doesn't get pushed around easily. He's a good guy, kiwi though :)
My first task was to skip the booze cruise that all my truck mates went on and go find a way to cape town. There's tons of drinking on this trip and really it's not my scene. I've been feeling a bit chlostrophobic (sorry spelling..) but everyone's nice and fun to hang out with. I did do a big drinking night last week when Brett organized a fancy dress thing. Basically you had to go to the market and buy an outfit ($2 limit) for some other personn on the trip. All the guys got dresses of course, I ended up with a fetching green nightie. There were lots of people in the camp that night (another overland truck) and so it was very easy to start converstation! Good night.
Think I've found a truck to Cape Town on Thrusday for $30 which is MUCH less than the $300 for a flight. Basically the tour trucks generally go one direction and then have to drive all the way back to the start empty, so I hunted all the sights today and chatted to all the truck drivers and think I've got one. Need to go meet with them now.
Posted by Admin at October 21, 2002 09:05 AM