I got poop in my shoe

We had an absolutely incredible week and I really have no idea where to even start.

Most important information of the whole week: If an animal charges, don't run until I say so....as said by our guide Mr. Company

-If a hippo charges-run zigzag and run up a termite hill

-If a buffalo charges-run and climb up a tree

-If an elephant charges-run, run zigzag, and don't run up a tree because they will just knock the tree down with you in it

-If a lion charges-don't run at first....then at some point you are out of luck

We had an absolutely wonderful time in the Delta and were incredibly lucky to get one of the best guides around. We spent the night in tents...I did not sleep. It's kind of hard to when I hear heavy breathing, sticks breaking, and pots at our campsite being knocked over due to animals. I didn't even roll over the whole night for fear of the animals ripping my tent to shreds. Yeah, go ahead and laugh but I was scared. Actually I think I did so much praying for those 2 days I should be good for about a month. We did game hikes. This involves following our guide Company around out in the wilderness on foot for hours on end. No jeep, guns, spear, slingshot...nothing. I asked him why he didn't carry a gun and he thought I was talking about for people. No for animals. He seemed totally clueless as to why you would do that. You think he would though. I asked him to tell us some wild stories around the fire at dinner that night. He proceeded to tell me about how his brother was killed by a lion, his grandma's sister was killed by a lion, and his aunt was killed by a hippo. You would think the man would carry SOMETHING! Anyway, we followed tracks, poop, and their calls and saw many many animals. Elephants, zebras, warthogs, impala, wildebeests, baboons, giraffes, and water antelope. I also managed to get poop into my mesh sandal/shoe. Let me tell you...there really is poop EVERYWHERE so it's not like I was just a moron and wandered into it. I never was able to stop and get it out so I just walked for four hours with it in there. Fabulous. We rode in mokoros through the delta to get to our campsite. They are little canoes that sit just a few inches above the water and you have a poler who stands in the back and pushes you along. Oh and let me tell you, the sky is absolutely beautiful at night. Back at the backpackers the showers were little stick huts with no roof and you could look at the stars then. Actually everything at the backpackers was a stick hut. Ha.


After the delta we managed to get ourselves farther up north... We had incredible luck on getting to Livingston in Zambia because public transportation or transportation of any kind is extremely unreliable and inconsistent. We made it in incredible time though. In Zambia we went to Victoria Falls, did some hiking, bungee jumped (which was awesome and I would love to do it again), and we bartered our socks and other items to trade for crafts with the locals. We also went white water rafting down the Zambezi River. One side was Zimbabwe and the other side Zambia. I thought my rafting was over when we were "practicing" pulling each other in for if we fell out when he had us jump out and I jumped knees first onto a boulder. No worries though everything is A OKAY just some bruises and scrapes :) As we went down the river we saw a ginormous python and some crocs along the edge of the water. We also went on a day trip to Chobe where we took our "real" safari in our jeep. Much more comforting until the jeep got stuck next to a buffalo. ha. We added hippos to our list and also found ourselves in the midst of huge herds of giraffes and elephants which was amazing. It was wonderful.

Our trip of course had many other activities and stories which I could go on and on about but they will be told once I am home. haha. Our trip home was interesting. We honestly had no idea how we were getting home. Some people told us there were no buses...others told us to wait at the post office and a bus would come by sometime between 4 and 8 in the morning. ha. We ended up getting up at 4 and going to the boarder. We had to wait there in the cold for 45 minutes until they felt like opening the boarder. We then had to wait another hour for the ferry's to start so we could get across the boarder. We got to a bus station and got on a bus. It then headed a little out of the way down this terrible highway covered in potholes. You literally couldn't drive down the thing at all. So then we got to this town and everyone got off. Nicole and I were walking to the bathroom and I said gosh I hope the bus doesn't leave us. We came out and the bus was gone. Everyone else from the bus was at the gas station so we were all stranded together. After an hour we were told we had to walk down to the police station because our driver was arrested. HA! Apparently he didn't have a license or something. He seemed to be doing just fine to me. After a while another bus came and picked us up and took us the rest of the way like we were supposed to. It was an interesting day. We traveled and rode on buses, ferry's, and taxis from 4:30 a.m. til 10:30 p.m. We were so glad to be home. It was honestly one of the most incredible weeks ever.

Let's see....

-Paul bungee jumped in the fetal position because he was scared and everyone watching made fun of him

-We never saw lions. Boo. But I didn't really like the idea of seeing them while I was on foot either.

-Our tent in the delta was right next to a big pile of elephant poop

-I am extremely angry at my camera because I took many videos of animals for my momma (because I wished that she was there the whole time) and then when I downloaded them on my computer they only saved as pictures. Yeah and everything is deleted from my camera. I'm an idiot.

-I was peed on at school today. BK came sat on my lap and got up 30 seconds later and my pants were soaked. I am not a toilet. She laughed when I told her she was in trouble.

-We missed the kids SO incredibly much I hate to think what it will be like when we actually leave....

-I am getting really good at frying chicken at the feeding project

-Hippos kill humans purely for fun. They don't eat meat. I made sure Alex our poler was constantly on the lookout while in the mokoro

-I successfully lived out of a book bag for an entire week. I know I know, no one thought I could do it. I actually think I had the least stuff out of everyone.

-No one in Africa has heaters. I think I slept with literally all my clothes on every night and still managed to get a cold.

-Warthogs were so cute to see. Haha they are one of my new favorite animals.

-The buses like to play rap/club music and blare it at 6:30 in the morning for a few hours. It's not like I wanted to sleep then or anything.

-The whole trip we talked about home in Gaborone. Crazy to refer to it as home. We missed it and its "structure" so much

-We stopped at a gas station in Zambia in our taxi...it was the side of the road, had a tree, and a few cans of gas. They kept referring to us being in the "real" Africa now.

-I took out a million quatchas at the bank. Ha. Dinner cost me 25,000. That is 5 dollars.

-My body felt like it had been hit by a bus for a few days due to our "extreme" activities

I suppose I can stop here. I have many many stories for when I get back. It was beautiful and incredible and I am so thankful we had the opportunity to take some time off to go see it all.