Botswana -Trip of Close Encounters

Hello this time from Cape Town. What an absolutely beautiful city! Heather arrived safe and sound and we just returned from Robben Island where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned and saw his humbling 2x2 cell and bucket toilet. The mantra was see one, teach one and most prisoners left Robben Island able to read and write; most with University degrees. When god gives you lemons...you make lemonade I guess.

I need to recap my adventures in Botswana for you...it was really a trip of close encounters. We were told by our guides that as it was not the dry season and the grass was too long and our chance of seeing lots of animals was low :( as they are easily hidden. Luckily, this did not turn out to be the case.

In Chobe National park, we saw wild dogs--only 3,000 left in Africa, a lion stalking an impala which I told you about and a very close encounter with a puff adder..deadly snake. Our beautiful boat cruise on the Chobe River was ending and we were about to disembark onto the shore where our guides were and our keen spotter Rachel yells "Snake, Snake" it was 1 footstep away from the guides and no one noticed. We could have disembarked into peril. Rachel saved our life! A close encounter I was happy to avoid.

In Sauvti, close encounters of another kind...hippo out of water. We were all so stunned no one was able to take a photo. It was HUGE! Hippos are the most feared animal of the big five as they can be extremely aggressive. We also had an elephant sniff us with his trunk..so surreal. Elephants weren't always so friendly as we had one charge us full force and man can they move. I was shouting ..."How fast can this thing go.. can we outrun and elephant?" Our guide just laughed and stepped on the gas.

In Moremi, our cooks and camp hands got stuck in the mud! This meant no food or tents for us till after dark 10 pm to be exact. We were covering up from the mosquitos and being reassured by our guide that we were safe even though the lion roars where getting close. He kept saying akuna matta..don't worry as he paced around the camp..CLOSE ENCOUNTER.

..to be continued..Heather and I are off on the hop on hop off bus of the city and cape ending at the Beach in Camps Bay for a PIMMS and a sunset.

Thanks again for all your comments. Having a fabulous trip. Really enjoying life!

Love Julie