goodbye africa....

what a way to end my time in africa...
my last 10 days here were spent searching for the big 5 on safari, sleeping under an incredible star lit sky, gazing upon one of the most brilliant of natures 7 wonders, and thrilling adventure sports!!
so it all started the day after my last blog...a van came to pick us up at 5 am at our backpackers. 10 sleepy girls stumbled into the van as 2 chirpy tour guides (johannes and bheki) greeted us good morning. and yes....i said '10 girls', our entire tour group is girls!! 5 americans, 4 britts, and one mexican! what are the chances?!
so we set out to Kruger National Park where we would be camping for the next 3 days searching for animals on safari. It was great fun! During the days we would drive around the park and look for all the wild animals. We saw tons of elephant herds, 6 white rhino (one who had a little baby), lots of giraffe, deer, buffalo, warthogs, kudu, hares, wild dogs, and much more! the landscape and animals is exactly what one pictures africa to be. Wild grass land with scattered trees and animals roaming all about. the sunsets were amazing...deep red over the whole horizon. At night we camped by a fire, cooked dinner (i was the main chef =) ), and made smores!!! they were delicious! it was the first time our african guides had tasted them and i think we got them hooked :)
After 3 days in the park we headed out to Botswana and stayed the night in a "traditional cultural village". It was so corny...when we arrived the locals were sitting around in basketball shorts and t-shirts and when they saw us they quickly changed into their animal skins and came rushing out to meet us. The village was like disney-land-africa, clearly not lived in and built solely for tourists who hop of the plane, go on safari, and then hop back on a plane without seeing any real local lifestyle. after living in our village in the gambia, all we could really do was laugh at this fraud. Anyway, the next day we continued on our way through Botswana, driving mostly on a terrible road completely filled with potholes, stopping occasionally when someone spotted another animal. Day 5 we reached Zambia and took the ferry across the mighty Zambezi river separating Zambia from Botswana on one side and Zimbabwe on the other. We took a truck straight to Victoria Falls (one of the 7 natural wonders of the world). And boy does it deserve this award!! The sight of these massive falls is truly breathtaking!
We walked around the falls taking it all in and snapping many photos for the rest of the day. After that we hopped on an evening 'booze cruise', which was a beautiful boat ride down the river with hippos and crocs all around, providing dinner and all the beer, wine, and cocktails you can drink in 2 hours! We met tons of other travellers out to see the amazing falls and the mighty river. The night continued on with all sorts of parties, music, campfires, and smores back at our campsite!
The next day was an early rise to go white water rafting and river boarding down the mighty zambezi river!! and what an amazing day it was! after a looooong and treacherous hike down the gorge (easily the hardest part of the day), in which an elderly man in our rafting company had a heart attack and another guy dislocated his arm, we got down to the river and launched our rafts. After hitting the first four level 4 rapids, Shields (a good friend of mine from my tour group) and I hopped out of the rafts and strapped on our boogie boards. the rapids coming up were level 5 and we were doing on a board with flippers and a wet suit on and nothing else. It was such a crazy thrill! Albeit one of the most exhausting things i have ever done! and boy was the water cold!! but i think our hearts were racing so much that we didn't notice it too much! At one point we all stopped to clamber up the rocks on the Zimbabwe side and jump off a ledge 9 m above the river. sooo scary! shields and i were the first to go and we just had to jump when they said to go or we never would have made it!
The day was so exhausting i couldn't even feel my legs by the time i climbed my way back out of the gorge and stumbled back to the campsite! but wow what an awesome day it was! That night we went out to dinner and drinks with all our river guides from the day which was a great time! I always have so much fun when hanging out with the locals!
And then the tour group was gone....and Jess and I had 2 days left in Zambia before saying goodbye to the African lives we had lived for 2 months. In the last 2 days we spent alot of time at the falls and the river hiking around and shopping at the markets. We visited Livingstone island, which is a tiny island at the top of the falls jutting out over the edge. You can walk to the edge and look straight down into the plummeting water (900 million Liters per minute!), 111m down!
On the last day I took a microlight flight over the falls which was fantastic! It's a tiny plane/hang-glider with me as the only passenger. It zips over the falls taking in the majestic sight and spotting all sorts of wildlife in the surrounding landscape. It was such a great way to take in the whole view and wind up my stay in Africa.
Jess and I said goodbye in our stop over in South Africa and I spent the next 32 hours on various planes and in various airports making my way back to San Francisco. It's very strange to be back in america, to have a hot shower and eat fresh vegetables, to be in a clean house and have on clean clothes, to listen to local music and watch television....
I think back on these last 2 months and realize the different universes we can exist in across the globe. The different ways we live our lives, perceive our world, interact with our fellow humans, and value our different things. I hope that this time in africa, the people i have met, the things i have seen, the lessons i have been fortunate enough to learn will stay with me forever. i really am so blessed to have had such amazing experiences.