A short stay in Africa

Slightly delayed, but it's finally time for the tale of our 11 days spent in Zambia and Botswana. First off, a few public thank yous though. Firstly to Myles' dad for offering us his airmiles to fly to Africa on the cheap, especially as South African Airways, who we flew with, are awesome. Next, to the Prestons who were fantastic hosts during our couple of odd nights we had to spend in Ascot (couldn't fly direct from Africa to Asia). To the Galloway family for picking us up at Heathrow Airport at 7AM. And finally to the Hurst Knoll Year 6 class. For those that don't know, they're taught by Myles' mum, and as part of their Geography lessons this year, they're following our worldwide adventures. Recently they were set a task to research Prague, advising us where to go, and what to see, and we were delighted to receive the letters!

So, back to the story. After a long and tiring flight, you could forgive us for having dodgy maths skills, which meant we calculated the currency conversion incorrectly by a factor of ten. Consequently we spent the first day/evening spending lots of money for no reason, assuming the 50,000 bills in our pockets was equal to $1, instead of $10. A horrible 'Hungry Lion' lunch and a (for Dave) severely undercooked chicken for dinner, meant Africa started slightly downhill, but that would soon change (apart from when we both got ill...).

Worst fast food chain ever

The following day we ventured into town to see the hand-craft market. Rows and rows of stalls where you'd be greeted by seller after seller, who'd be nigh on impossible to get rid of. They as good as lock you in their shop until you've bought the heaps of junk awesome merchandise on offer. After struggling through the market for a couple hours, we exited with severely heavier bags, particularly Dave, before spending the rest of the afternoon relaxing by the pool of our delightfully named hostel, Fawlty Towers.

Basil wasn't around sadly

Our next couple of days in Zambia were spent at Victoria Falls, which was quite simply incredible. Though we went in the dry season, it gave fantastic views, and going in the dry season had the added benefit of being able to swim in the Devil's Pool, the naturally formed swimming pool at the edge of the falls. Swimming and lying at the top of the falls, just a couple of metres away from being swept over to your death was incredible. Plus as part of the trip they gave you a scone. Superb stuff.

We're the two on the right in case you weren't sure

The only thing you can do to match that is a bungee jump. Which is precisely what we did the following day - a 111 metre jump above the Zambezi river, where it splits through the Zambia/Zimbabwe border. There's no point in even trying to describe the emotions of it so we'll leave it by saying: Everyone do one. As soon as you can.

Myles...

...and Dave.

The second half of our stay in Africa was less adrenaline fueled - though still fantastic. We got the chance to visit a couple of local villages (even meeting the head man of one village), and even tried our hands at farming during one afternoon. Turns out Zambians are far better at digging up onions than we are. Who'd have thought?

Dave and Chris farming

Just before our short stay in Crocodile Creek (amazing place), we popped to Botswana for a couple nights to go on safari in Chobe National Park. Incredibly, it was even better than Knowsley Safari Park. Hordes of buffalo, giraffes, monkeys and elephants (nearly 100,000 in the park) were mixed in with a few lions, hippos, crocs and other animals in a National Park over half the size of Wales. In the evening we camped somewhere out in the wilderness, stupidly not bringing anything you should take camping.

Chobe National Park

It's a huge shame we didn't get to see more of Africa, as the part we did see was incredible. We rowed down the Zambezi river, saw a cat get through security at an airport, and even learnt the Australian name for a ginger (ranga). Stay tuned for adventures from Asia soon. Oh and of course - on the flight from Livingstone to Johannesburg, Dave was sat next to a model - Genevieve Morton. Can't forget that.