Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe: Spring Break in Africa!!

So I know its been more than a week since ive been back from spring break but this is the first free time i have had to sit down and write this entry. My trip was absolutely incredible and i will include as many details as I can in this entry.
Day 1: 6:45 flight from Joberg to Cape Town. Arrived in Joberg and loaded up the trucks that we would be traveling in for the week. Now these trucks were pretty massive! definitly offroading trucks that fit a lot of people and fly over potholes. The rides were pretty bumpy but still quite the adventure. Day one was a travel day on the road into Botswana but the time went by pretty fast. arrived at campground number 1 too late to set up tents so just ate dinner and slept in one of the function rooms.
Day 2: got in the truck again and drove to northern Botswana. long ride but spent time getting to know the other students on the truck. it was funny because for both breakfast and lunch we would just pull over on the side of the road and have our meal and then pack up and continue on with maybe one or 2 cars passing us total. then when we were near the first town, i think it was Papala(?) we saw 2 giraffe near the trees in the distance. of course we all screamed cause we were so excited, i bit my tongue and couldnt get my camera out in time. but one of my friends did get a picture so we definitly have proof!
Day 3: packed up camp and got in open air trucks to ride to the delta. got to ride through the small villages and towns on the way to the water which was really cool to see. lots of the houses were grass huts or small shacks. lots of cute children that we waved too. after about an hours of driving we got to the Okavango Delta where we each put our stuff into a Makoro (African dug out canoe) and met our polers. Christina and I werent in a real Makoro made out of an african tree but that was ok because some of them looked like they were going to sink!! Craig was our 2o year old poler who lived on one of the villages on the delta. So while we sat back, enjoyed the view, and took a little snooze, poor Craig had to pole/pull us through the delta for an hour!! the ride was so beautiful and relaxing!! we then got to our bush camp where we stayed for 2 nights in tents and had to, get this, go to the bathroom in a hole in the ground that was our toilet for our stay. it was quite interesting to say the least! At night we went on a short game walk and saw not animals but giraffe and elephant poop and hippo and elephant prints. got to watch the sunset and then came back to camp, ate dinner and made smores!

Day 4: got up early for a game walk with our makuro polers/delta guys. went and small groups for a long walk. we saw a ton of zebra and wildebeest in groups and then running. the zebra were really cool and arent as white as you would think they would be, more tanish than white. walked through huge elephant prints in the bush and my friend christina ended up falling into one on accident! the rest of the day was spent hanging out at the camp and swimming at the water hole. at night we went out in the makuros with our polers to the hippo pool. we all sat there and waited for the hippos to come up. amelia and i wanted to get close to the hippos so we told Craig to go closer but when we did, one came out of the water proceeded to stare at amelia and then go back under. Craig and i were a little scared they were going to attack so we moved back!!! after dinner, all the polers sang and danced for us in Swatswana (the language of botswana). they were all great singers and really cool to watch. then we had to get up and sing for them which was not so good. we sang the national anthem, ain't no mountain, baby got back, the Macarana, Build me up buttercup and then Rudolph the red nosed reindeer because they wanted something original!
Day 5: packed up camp and got in the makuros to go back through the delta. as i sat in the makuro, i was surrounded by the sights, sounds, and the people of botswana. it was great to sit and just take it all in. my days in the delta really allowed me to become more aware of the African culture. i realized that the polers from Botswana do that as their job. this is there life and it was amazing to be a part of it. went back to camp from the delta and drove to the town of Maun. stopped there for a little and continued on our journey to our next campsite.
Day 6: packed up camp again and continued traveling through Botswana. this time there was an elephant right on the side of our truck literally about a foot away from our truck! i had to blink just to make sure it was real but it was and it was amazing!!! arrived at our next camp and went on a 3 hour sunset cruise ride. here we saw elephants, buffalo, crocodiles, lizards, birds, impala, springbok, and baboons. the best part about this was when we got to watch an elephant walk through the river to get to the otherside (dont worry i have it on video so ill show it to everyone when i come back!).

Day 7: woke up early and went on a game drive through Chobe National Park. We saw birds, buffalo, crocs, impala, warthogs, a mongoose, hippos and a male lion!!! the best part was the baby hippo with the mom that was said to be only 2-3 hours old!!! the guide told us that after spending 2 days in the shallow water, they venture into deeper water where the mom teaches the baby to swim for 6 months. after the drive we packed up came and drove to the botswana border. border crossings were pretty interesting but nothing too terrible. then got on a ferry to cross the zambzi river into zambia. eventually got our visas and everything in zambia and then drove to our campsite near vic falls. set up camp and then went to see vic falls on the zambia side. gorgeous view and scenery. on the way back to camp we saw a family of elephants with their baby!!

Day 8: got up early and went extreme white water rafting with dianna, ali, christina, amelia and lindsey. pretty crazy and scary day. went over 25 rapids over the course of the day. paddled through most of them but then had a command "get down" which was when you tucked into the raft and held onto the rope on the side of the boat. unfortunatly our raft flipped on the number 5 rapid (named highway to hell or stairway to heaven, we obviously took the first choice!) which was a grade 5 rapid which apparently youre not allowed to go over in the us without insurance but this is africa so we did and we flipped!! pretty scary and first but when i finally found the surface it was ok. then we took a truck back and got to drive through the villages again which was cool. and we drank coke-cola out of a glass bottle which was pretty cool!!! the driver of our truck was crazy and flew through these villages and over any of the potholes he could find!
Day 9: this was my adventure day!! so me, amelia, dianna, joy and ali went on what was called an "abseil combo" so first we abseilled down the side of the mountain which is basically like rock-climbing but backwards. it was pretty cool but i wasnt very good at it so the guys pulled me down halfway through. then we hiked up the gorge to our next activity which was called the flying fox. its basically like a zip line over a gorge but you are attached by your back. so i ran and jumped off the cliff and literally flew across the gorge like superman!! it was pretty amazing let me add!! then you just hang there over the gorge until the guys real you back in. then the last one was the gorge swing which was the scariest. basically you are attached with a bunch of harnesses and you step of the gorge, freefall for 3.5 seconds and then when you catch at the bottom, you swing back and forth in the gorge for awhile. needless to say when i hit the bottom, my mind and head were not connecting so i realized my chin and got major whiplash. it was really fun but scary also. of course i screamed the entire way down and you can hear this all on the videos!!! then after those crazy adventures, ali, dianna and i went into zimbabwe. border control was fine getting our visas but then we had to walk across no mans land to get into zimbabwe which was a really long and hot walk. but eventually we made it to vic falls on the zim side and it was totally worth it!!! the falls on that side were even more amazing and surrounded by a jungle area and at least 2 rainbows. we made it back safely through no mans land and back to our campsite.
Day 10: this was the last day of our trip where we just hung out, packed up came, got to go to the zambia market and got a flight back to cape town.
Overall it was an AMAZING trip filled with lots of animals and fun. it was great to see all other parts of africa and relax for a little bit. travelling to all the countries was great and definitly worth the price of the trip!!!

African animal fact: So if you are ever in Africa and have to escape from a lion, elephant, or hippo, you will now have the ways to escape thanks to delta guide Andrew!
To escape an elephant or a hippo, you must run away zig zagged and hide in a bush. Not a tree because they are big and can probably reach you.
If you are confronted by a lion, you are supposed to stay still and back up a little if you can but never turn away. You are supposed to stay still until the lion gets up and walks away. Then you can continue walking backwards to a safe spot! Do not run away from a lion cause they will catch you :)