Okavango

I am on my way home to NY now after a wonderful trip to Botswana! Our river safari was just as wonderful as previous years.

We started up north, in Shakawe on a beautiful river boat. We spent our days fishing and swimming. The fish were not biting this time - maybe because we giggled the whole time. I don't think our guide was used to taking out all women.


This is the inside of the river boat with our guide, Greg, at the helm.

After a couple of nights on the houseboat we were picked up by Mike for the trans-Okavango.

We saw so many huge crocodiles on the river this year! They lay on the bank warming themselves in the sun.



The sunsets are so beautiful on the river. All you hear are the hippos in the distance and birds quieting down for the night.



This year we saw much less game than in previous years. I think because the water is so high. There were still multiple elephant sightings.



And we also saw lots and lots of birds.



Our week on the river was so much fun. Ellen is my favorite person to fish with ever! I don't remember giggling so much. We have come up with a brilliant plan to start our own river safari company!! If it were to ever become a reality, it would be disastrous!! But we had the best time coming up with ridiculous ideas!! I think Mike was totally overwhelmed.



This is Elena kissing a fish - she really kissed it!!! She is clearly more daring than I.




I can't wait until the trip next year!

Lazy Monday

I am finally feeling better today! The fluish aches are all gone and I am left with a very scratchy voice and a sad looking hanky (symptoms sound familiar, Caroline?).

Yesterday I stayed behind at the house while Elena worked at Hilary's. Lucy and Mopipi (her maid and gardener) were both there and it was so nice to meet them after all this time. I especially enjoyed the animals, though. I read on the hammock most of the day and Pepper came to sit with me. It made me so happy!



Elena says she looks like Maria Callas here.


The goats also came to visit me often. It is very difficult to avoid scratching them when they shove their heads into the hammock. Feefee tried to eat my jeans, iPad and water bottle (Elena told me this morning that she had to move my shoes inside because Feefee started chewing on the laces. They are now green)! She is a rascal.



Today I am going to hang out at Hilary's in the morning and watch Elena work.

Borro 1

Today we had a lazy Sunday morning at Elena's house. I am not feeling well, so it was great to relax and read and drink tea all morning.

While I love the goats, I am more familiar with cute kitties. Salty and Pepper and super affectionate. Elena says they are very shy, but they warmed to me pretty quickly.





I just hope the cats and goats don't encounter the cobra living somewhere near this tree!





If I am home alone and see it, Elena has a very tough neighbor with a gun who will come over and shoot it. It is actually very comforting.

Location:Maun, Botswana

Maun

I made it to Maun today. The flight was delayed an hour, but what really matters is that my bag made it!! No repeat of last year's desperate scramble for clothes. Elena and I took a walk in the late afternoon so I could see the area around her house. There is an ostrich farm nearby and lots of squatters with their cattle. Off to dinner soon.

I am sitting in my hotel in Johannesburg after about 18 hours of flying. It is nice to be clean and in a bed. My trip here was interesting. The flights were fine with nothing special to report, but moving through the different airports was interesting. For anyone who has been to the Delta terminal at JFK, it is not a pretty place. I was sitting in the sky club lounge and overheard two very fancy looking ladies talking about how awful it was in the lounge and the terminal, as a whole. One woman even went so far as to say it was 'worse than a third world country'. I hope she either gets slapped in the face, or has the chance to see what an actual third world country looks like. It was pretty gross.

I had a three hour layover in Amsterdam before my flight to Joburg. I think the nasty, fancy ladies would have loved it there! There was even a delicatessen!


This is the cheese section. When do you ever see this in an airport?! There was also a meat section with a large selection of caviar!



JFK is far beyond the third world, but still pales in comparison to the beautiful Amsterdam airport. I had a nice time walking around looking in all the nice little shops.

Tomorrow I fly to Botswana! I am so excited to see Elena and spend time with her before our river trip.

Location:To Johannesburg