A Welsh Man in Africa

12th September to 8th October- Zambia & Botswana

Would this be a ‘Bridge’ too far for our intrepid little Welshman from the valleys of Pontypryd? Not only was this Roddy's first foray into Africa but also his first holiday alone – how would he cope?

Our last update was posted from the shores of Lake Malawi where we spent just one night before heading west and into Zambia (our 19th country) via the remote border crossing at Lundazi. Clare and I then spent the next 3 days and nights traveling through some wonderfully remote countryside, although thankfully the roads were pretty good, making our way south for our rendezvous with Roddy. Two nights were spent camped at a top spot on the banks of the Luangwa River in the remote Luambe National Park, where we had the place to ourselves, well, apart from the Hippos, Elephants, Leopard, Baboons and Monkeys that is! On the morning of the 15th September we drove the final 4 hours to the Wild Life Camp at South Luangwa National Park and were met by Dr Roddy Bridges himself which was to be the start of an amazing and memorable 2 weeks!

For those of you who know Roddy I am sure he will account his ‘adventures’ with far more excitement and passion than I ever can but a second version might help maintain a bit of balance! The first 4 days were spent at the Wild Life Camp where we each had a ‘luxurious’ tent including ensuite bathroom (albeit open to the elements). We spent our time going on game drives (morning and night) relaxing by the pool and eating and drinking. However, we did manage to break this routine to partake in a walking safari which included a night in a remote bush camp, a definite highlight for us all; particularly the close encounters with Elephant and Hippo!! We soon learnt that Roddy has quite a turn of speed, as he ignored the guide’s strict instructions never to run from wild animals, almost knocking me over in his haste to climb the nearest bank. The cause? Again probably two versions and Rod will tell you that the Hippo charged, though the other four witnesses saw it more as a stretch and yawn….. you decide! South Luangwa’s reputation for Leopards and Lions was to prove spot on as we had good sightings of both which in the case of the Leopard has been a long time coming for Clare and I.

Having seen all the key animals (including the extremely rare and elusive Aardvark) it was time to move on and liven things up a bit (there’s not much totty in the bush!). Clare took the easy option and flew to Lusaka whilst Roddy joined Bula and me for a bit of true African bundu bashing! We took the little used and very remote off road route to Lusaka and successfully had a few ‘adventures’ en route, which in summary included a blocked road (fallen tree), bush fires, tsetse flies, a puncture and some very tough 4x4 driving, which Bula hadn’t seen since northern Kenya. After a long 8 hours and in total darkness we were mightily relieved to finally find a camp site. The next day we joined Clare in Lusaka where we spent a wonderful weekend staying with Paddy, Louise, Victoria and Alexandra, who looked after us magnificently, thanks guys. We certainly made the most of regular home comforts i.e. bed, TV (got to watch our first world cup game), laundry, restaurants etc along with way to many beers, particularly when we were joined by the rest of the Leed clan, Willie, Nick and Bob!

Dragging ourselves away from the luxury of Lusaka the 4 musketeers drove the 500 kms south west to Livingstone, the adventure capital of Zambia! We were not to be disappointed. Based at the Maramba Lodge we succeeded in overdosing on adrenalin over the course of the next 4 days.

Day 1; a walk along the top (and edge) of the Victoria Falls themselves.

Day 2; white water rafting the mighty Zambezi River (Clare says never again).

Day 3, Golf at the royal Livingstone Golf Club, followed by a fabulous micro light flight over the falls.

Day 4, a 110 meter bungee jump into the Batoka Gorge. This last hair brain activity was only undertaken by Roddy in order to celebrate his 49th birthday – total madness and will he ever grow up?

All of the above activities were fantastic, scary, amazing and have a full story attached to each (plus DVD footage and photos) so we will just have to show and talk you through it on our return – bet you can’t wait!

Sadly, all too soon we were waving goodbye to our new welsh mascot and it was back to just Clare, Bula and myself. We thoroughly enjoyed having Rod with us and certainly had a lot of laughs along the way; hope he enjoyed it as much. As a quick aside for those who might be wondering, Africa’s population has not increased as a result of Roddys visit, in fact there was not one single attempt to even chat to a female…… must be some sort of record!

Clare and I then crossed over into Botswana and are got on with the real business of ‘traveling’ and reducing our expenditure. Therefore, we quickly retreated into the bush from which we have just emerged after a fantastic week, though was also the start of a serious of ‘close encounters’ with nature!

We first traveled through Chobe National Park and then into the Moremi National Park on the edge of the Okavanga Delta. The game viewing was fantastic, particularly along the Chobe river front where we were to witness our first lion kill – absolutely fantastic! More lion were to be seen en route and Botswana is certainly not short of elephants, we must have seen over 500 in the past week alone. In fact elephants featured regularly in the ‘close encounters’ series and on two particular occasions we had to beat a hasty retreat, once in Bula and another on foot, both pretty scary! We have also had a few ‘intimate’ moments with both hyenas and baboons that seem to like to make themselves at home in and around our camp sites, quite nerve racking I can assure you. Thinking we had had our fair share of scary moments, nature decided to throw one more challenge at us in the form of a huge electrical storm, which some may say is beautiful to watch but from the inside of a roof top tent in the middle of the African bush I can safely say we probably did not fully appreciate its beauty!

So all in all a fabulous week in the bush and we are now re-stocking in preperation for a 4 day trek into the centre of the Kalahari Desert…… will let you know how we get on.

And to cap a great week we returned today to hear the fabulous rugby results from the weekend (thanks Barry), boy, must have made compulsive viewing and has certainly sent those cocky antipodeans packing! Only worry now is we are deep in South African territory and they are not the most gracious race when it comes to winning rugby!

Hope everyone is in fine fettle and winter is holding off (35 degrees centigrade here today) until next time take care.