New photos, 2 weeks old yesterday

Sharing the floor with mum



















He's so cute


Ian holds him on his first "brunch" at Hot Pippis


Dad Ian looking pretty happy



Nana gets a cuddle





Mum Lahni and baby


Pa and baby boy


Micheal takes a turn



Lonni with her two babies

More pics another day. All I am doing is putting unwanted possessions on ebay, recovering form the surgery slowly and seeing the baby

lots of love

Lyndall

The new baby in the family

Baby Steel made his appearance one week early at 8.16 am on Wednesday 17th June after a labour lasting roughly 10 hours. He is a BIG boy at 4.62 kilos and Lahni knows all about it, being very thankful he didn't go to term. It's very exciting for us all. Everyone is well and Lahni goes home tomorrow (Thursday). So here are the photos


All together at last


On mum's tummy


Very new


Dad Ian has his first cuddle


Three generations


Mum and Dad and baby makes three


Nana, Aunty Lonni and baby


Lahni relaxes while doting Dad Ian holds the baby

DAY 2




With Aunty Lonni





Day 2 and he's definitely getting cuter all the time


Will post more in a few days

love

Lyndall

Botswana the beautiful - days 1 & 2

I promised I'd add more on Botswana at some time and now that I have more photos it seems as good a time as any. I've covered the main details of the trip so I'll use this as an opportunity to add photos so you can see what we saw - in a small way.


Lonni looks pretty cheerful while we're still on the ground as Dan (the pilot) gets organised - a slightly different story in the air although she appeared outwardly calm, if not exactly loving it

Botswana is a land of vast open spaces and large tracts of unspoiled wilderness. Four fifths of the country is covered by the Kalahari Desert and on our trip we skirted it constantly. Our trip however began at Maun, known as the gateway to the Okavango Delta. We flew in a light aircraft to Xakanaxa with Lonni slightly apprehensive and Jeremy in the back just about ill. However, as we weren't very high the flight gave us an excellent bird's-eye view of the delta formation. Dan explained that it was rather like a hand with fingers extended. The land surrounding the channels is very dry at this time of the year as October is the hottest month for the region. So sandy, hot, windy sometimes and very dry, some areas with grass and some just bare sand without a blade of grass to be seen between the low trees. And it was very exciting as we were coming in to land at Xakanaxa to see elephants in the shade of the trees, just near the airstrip.


Part of the delta as we fly over

Our first two days were spent in the Delta, but also in the Moremi Game Reserve. We saw plenty of game - even on the drive from the airstrip we saw quite a few animals and birds, the first being the ubiquitous impala - fast food as Kaiser calls them, for the Big M (like the golden arches) on their bums.


The ladies delicately cross our path


A clear view of the Big M

Game abounds in Moremi - birds of all sorts, including lots of water birds, elephant, lion, red letchwe, waterbuck, lion, wild dog, hippos, cocodiles, zebra, giraffe, hyena, warthog, baboons and so on and so on. We found quite a few different species on our first afternoon game drive, including lions.


Can you see the lion just a few scant metres away in the shadow of the truck?


Maybe now?

Of course the first night in camp we had the adventure of the lions very close by. Shelley told us she was so scared that she held her gum in her hand for two hours because she was afraid to even chew!

The camp awaits us for breakfast

On day 2 it wasn't long before we saw our first elephant ambling quietly from the bush and across the grass just in front of us. This lone bull really didn't pay us any attention at all although later in the trip we would definitely experience a couple of close encounters of the elephant kind.

Out for a leisurely stroll



Storks hunt for small fish and frogs in the delta waters

These baby francolin were right on the sandy track - it's a good thing that Kaiser has such sharp eyes

Mum, or maybe Dad, kept a close eye on us and called the chicks to order

On day 2 we also took a boat ride down the river. We saw very little game on this outing, but there was the great experience of seeing two elephants in the water having a playful little struggle. Of course there were lots of birds. And we had the unforgettable experience of taking a swim at the "safe swimming spot", which actually meant that it was shallow enough to see the hippos or crocs coming, not that they weren't there! The water was surprisingly cold but very refreshing in the heat of the day.

Reeds, grasses and papyrus line all the channels

Once the elephants had finished with each other one of them thought that we were getting a little too close

Taking a threatening stand

There was plenty more of course - Moremi is 18,000 sq. km. and covers the tribal lands of the Batawana people - the landscape has not only the waterways but also reed beds and mopane and knob thorn forests. I hope to be able to go back and see it after the rains when it is green and lush, but it is really worth seeing at time.

I'll put up more photos when I can - tomorrow is an early start to catch my flight to Addis Ababa - I have to be up around 4.15 am so I should finish packing and get to bed. Today has been a quiet day getting sorted out and ready to head for Addis tomorrow.

Thinking of you all

lots of love

Lyndall

Even more of the desert dust...

We left Desert Rhino Camp behind the next morning in the capable hands of James (with Lonni in the co-pilot seat) who flew the little Cessna just like some would ride a motorbike. Very capable and manoeuvred it with consummate ease. A talented young pilot of 23 who has been flying for Sefofane for 18 months. We landed at Swakopmund on the coast to refuel after having to come down under fog and cloud and following the road into town at around 400 feet for the last 30 minutes of the flight - which was fabulous. It was cold there and very bare, a temperature drop of around 20 degrees in less than 5 minutes.

After refuelling we took the scenic flight over the ocean and desert for as much as we could, over abandoned diamond camps and seal colonies, couldn't see the shipwrecks because of the fog, but we did see the coast where the huge desert dunes meet the sea. Very spectacular views of the monster red dunes, including Big Daddy, Big Mamma and Dune 45 - supposedly the most photographed dune in the world - and a brilliant (new word from the Englishmen) landing by James at Sossusvlei. We were met by our new guide, a Nama man called Petrus who was a truly gentle man, and who took great care of us at Sossusvlei.

Both camps are run by Wilderness Safaris and are quite beautiful, with fabulous staff. Sossusvlei was perched on a hill with an incredible view over the plateau to the mountains. All stone cottages with a private balcony which included a cold plunge pool. We were the next to last across the hill and we needed a cut lunch and most certainly a waterbottle to get to and from our room, but once again the room was beautifully decorated using local craft works, natural desert woods and seed pods etc. and again, the fabulous white linen. A ceiling fan helped keep us cool and showers could be had at any time. Both of us are certainly learning about water conservation however.

Once again the cool washers and drinks met us as we arrived (apple juice and grenadine - very nice). We lunched and then had a "siesta" and then afternoon game drive and sundowners. This time atop a mountain with one of the most spectaacular views - all we could say was "wow". Once again we saw few animals except springbok and oryx, but there are ostriches and cats, although we didn't see any cats at all, or even any sign of them. However, on all our safaris we saw at least one new species every day - I reckon that's pretty good going.

Next day we had a start in the dark to arrive at the national park as the sun rose and we visited the dead vlei and Big Daddy (which none of us climbed - just over 320 metres). The big white clay pan with its dead trees and surrounded by red dunes is certainly spectacular. Lunch under a camel thorn and then a return to camp again for a siesta, which was a hot and dusty ride. An evening trip to Seisrim Canyon was really interesting, there is even a water pool deep in the canyon that has frogs.

We were treated to lunch the next day at the "posh" Littlte Kulala camp and then our pilot Simone flew us back to Windhoek in a slightly larger plane. We even had a ten minute hop from the international airport to the local airport when we arrived. Fairly bumpy as it was an afternoon flight.

And now I'm back in J'burg and have said goodbye to Lonni who is on her way home - it made me cry of course, I will really miss her.

I'm about out of time on the terminal but will be able to update regularly from Nairobi where I fly tomorrow. With any luck I'll be able to add some pictures at last.

The trip remains amazing

lotsa love

Lyndall

The desert dust of Africa

Well, a couple of messages from home have told us of floods in Africa but believe me - it wasn't anywhere near us. We have been in the Namibian wilderness and really in the desert, where there was no rain at all last year and in fact, none for almost 2 years. And even then it was around 40 mm (good rains as the annual average is 20 mm). The people there are hoping for some more good rains at some stage between November and March. Interestingly there were some clouds in the sky the day we left so the people are hopeful.


I wish I could upload some images because the landscape has to be seen to really be appreciated. We took a flight from Windhoek of around two hours, with one stop to pick up two passengers (Scottish sisters, Janet and Morven, who were then our companions for the rest of our trip), to reach the Desert Rhino Camp. We flew through smoke and dust and over many mountains and bare, dry plains to reach Damaraland. Lisa (our pilot from Sefofane airline) was very skilled and so the small 6-seater Cessna (including the pilot seat) barely bumped at all as we made our way north. The air strip was around 45 minutes drive from the camp - but 45 minutes of bone shaking travel in our safari car at around 5 - 25 kph. The phrase that kept running through my head was "the mountains of the moon". Kapoi, our Himba guide and driver, was very careful and also informative about the wildlife and very sparse vegetation. We rocked over gibber plains and through gravel river beds, past the stinky shepherd bush and saw our first springbok and oryx.


A warm welcome awaited us in camp - a tented camp but permanently set up as individual twin rooms with attached bathroom (bucket showers and flush toilets) and beautiful white linen (all the lodges have white linen, given the dust and grime level we're really unsure why). We were welcomed by Daphne and Ignatius, the camp managers (and husband and wife) with cool face washers and drinks and then we made ourselves comfortable in the main dining and relaxation room for a while before having lunch and being shown to our "room".


We had an afternoon game drive - desert zebras, lots of oryx, springbok and a couple of giraffes - and then watched the sunset over the plateau as we had snacks (kudu and springbok biltong plus some other goodies for the vegetarian) and gin and tonics - very civilised!!! We came to love sundowners, they were always in some beautiful spot, stunning red sunsets and absolute quiet and stillness. The second night we had 5 giraffes close by as well, and Karpoi made us stop talking and spend a few minutes minutes "listening to the view". There's a lot to be learned from the Africans.


The next day the rhino trackers were out early and tracked the rhino from the permanent spring in one of the riverbeds. The concession is not fenced and the 19 rhinos at the concession are, we were told, the only totally free roaming rhinos in the world. Miraculously, given the huge tract of land to cover, we came upon 3 rhinos - a bull and a mother and youngster called, Ben, Deborah and Desiry. With a lot of strict instructions we got out of the vehicle and very quietly walked up hill and down dale in searing heat to get closer and then watched them for some 20 minutes or so. Ben was not really welcome and there was a bit of push and shove and dust raising before he wandered off around 30 metres or so, but he was clearly reluctant to leave the mother and youngster. Kapoi said perhaps she was coming into season, but the clear message on this day at least was "not tonight dear!"


When we got back to the vehicle Karpoi said we had not been close enough so there was to be more walking to follow them over some more hills. I started out and decided it was not worth dying for and so Lon took the new big lens and went on the walk. I found the extremely dry, searing air quite difficult when really exerting myself - I thought I was in for an asthma attack on the first hill, but no, it was really just not fit enough. However the air is SO dry it was like breathing in superheated air from an oven and I, at least, felt like the sides of my lungs were going to stick together. All in all I was pleased enough with the sighting I had and also pleased I didn't make the second stalk. (I'm talking temperatures of 40 degrees in the shade towards the late morning so I'm not sure what it would have been out in the open on the rock hills).


Back for a quick shower and "siesta" and then on the afternoon drive for sundowners we came across another male rhino - only good for binocular viewing but really pleasing to see yet another one. We only saw one elephant at Damaraland, an old bull with one tusk broken off. As there are only 2 in the concession we felt pretty fortunate to see even one of them.


Guests came and went and we also had the Sefofane pilot, James, stay over the second night. Just wait ladies, until I can post some pictures!! Patrick and Miriam (Swiss) had joined us for two drives as well. We met all sorts of nationalities but a lot of Germans and most of the travellers older rather than younger. And two young Englishmen, Jack and Jeremy, (who sounded like Wills and Harry) who are doing work in the camps as part of their "gap" year - building roads no less.

Dinner was always all the guests (the camp can hold 18) and then a sit around the camp fire out in the open and chat and watch the stars. Karpoi knew as much about the stars as he did the land so it was always entertaining. Two Americans flew in for a private safari (one of them apparently the owner of the Maker's Mark distillery) and more Germans arrived. Bed in the cool of the evening was always welcome.

As we left the next morning we saw lots of animals - Karpoi told us they didn't want us to leave and that if we must, then we had to return. And we both would love to do that, it was totally fascinating and very different.

Gotta go - bed awaits in Windhoek

lotsa love

Lonni and Lyndall

Windy Corner

Here we are in Windhoek (translated it means windy corner). We managed to get up at 4.30 am and just as well we did as the driver was early, arriving at 5.10 am instead of 5.30. We only kept him waiting a few minutes before we headed out to the airport for our Air Namibia flight to Windhoek to begin the Namibian part of our adventure.

We had dinner last night with Jeremy and Shelley (at the exceptionally posh Twelve Apostles Resort and Spa) who had just finished their Namibian leg and it sounds like we have a treat in store for us. It was only a two hour flight and Lon and I slept most of it, not even waking up for breakfast. We were collected by an exceptionally handsome young man called Max who dropped us at our hotel and also took us on a city tour this afternoon. But first a quick brunch (seeing as how we missed breakfast) at a nice restaurant - we asked the hotel security guard could he recommend a nice place and he escorted us all the way there - about 2 blocks. The people are very friendly in Namibia.

Windhoek only has around 300,000 people and most of them live in "shacks", as some of the settlements are called. We toured some of those and also visited an outdoor market where people sell spices, fruit and vegetables and meat both raw and cooked. We both made small purchases although neither of us tried the cooked meat.

Max then took us to Joe's Beerhouse, a famous spot in Windhoek and popular with tourists too. It's difficult to describe it - an eccentric, eclectic, comfortable indoor and outdoor bar and restaurant - the decor includes everything from elephant bones and oryx horns to old number plates, a carp pond, cooking pots, bird's nests, funny signs, stools shaped like toilet seats and fish trap light covers - but somehow it all works amazingly well. We enjoyed some relaxation with Max, who is excellent company, and had a drink and some great potato wedges with a nice chilli salsa. Max shared stories of his impending marriage and his two small boys and has filled us in a great deal on how people live in Namibia.

Now we're back at the Kalahari Sands and Lon is resting while I'm in the Business Centre. Unfortunately I can't upload any photos from here. Not sure what the situation will be like at our next two destinations, the Desert Rhino Camp in Damaraland and the Wilderness Safari Lodge in Soussesvlei - so maybe I won't be able to update again until we're back here in Windhoek on Friday night. We leave around 7.15 am tomorrow for our flight to our first lodge and we're really hoping we'll see some rhino (and Max says there's plenty of elephants as well).

We both remain really well and thoroughly entranced by this beautiful continent of Africa and its wonderful people.

Lotsa love

L & L

Up and down and all around...

Us enjoying the elephants in Botswana

Up Table Mountain, down to Cape Point on the Cape of Good Hope and all around the city - that's been the last two days for us in Cape Town.

We've been to the blue shed, the red shed, the Green Dolphin, the main mall and 2 of the 3 World Heritage sites in Cape Town. We've been up to the old lighthouse on Cape Point and looked down on the new one. We've taken the cable car up Table Mountain and surveyed the city and all the bays around it, watched the penguins on the beach and seen Cecil Rhodes' Cottage. We've investigated the Castle, seen the Malay slave quarter, visited the Kraal weaving workshop and chatted with the ladies there (stunning work), bought art works and souvenirs of bead work and made of malachite and fabric, fitted in a pedicure and a manicure, had time to get Lonni's hair part braided and have listened to some of the many street performers who sing and play amazing music. We've lunched and dined Portugese and Italian and eaten looking out over the waterfront.

I've got my cameras fixed and bought another lens (yes Ley, it will show up on the credit card but truly it was about half the price I'd pay at home) and had the photos put onto CDs, one set to send safely home and one set to keep. Will try and add some of Botswana when I can. Feel more ready (photographically speaking) for Namibia now.

Sorry this is short but all is well, we are still having an amazing time with one experience piled on top of another. Lon is already in bed and it's time I returned the laptop. Only one more day here, dinner tomorrow night with JD and Shelley and then picked up at 5.30am to go to the airport for our flight to Windhoek. Will add more when I can.

Hope all of you are well - we're just terrific!

lotsa love

L & L

PS - a couple of pics to be going on with - lions and hippos, us with the elephants

Cooling off in Cape Town

And COOL is the operative word here! About 14 degrees at the moment and not a lot warmer during the day. But before we do Cape Town and all the things in between - let's finish off Botswana.

Our last afternoon and morning in Botswana unfortunately didn't produce a leopard, although a boat trip down the Chobe River brought lots more elephant, including babies, lions, crocodiles, all sorts of birds and some buffalo. Timan came with us and seemed to enjoy the trip. Kaiser picked us up at White Sands and we did a slow game drive back to camp. More of the usual suspects, including giraffes. Our last night at camp was uneventful although the elephants were very close and there were certainly hyenas about. We tried to ask all the questions to which we hadn't already had answers. Kaiser and I were last up and I managed to get lost looking for the loo, thank goodness he was still up and came to my rescue or I may still be wandering the Chobe bush. No, not true, Kaiser is an excellent tracker (and always ready to teach us, so now we can recognise lion tracks, hyena, wild dog, impala, elephant, hippo, cheetah, all of which will be of enormous assistance to us next time we go out into the bush) - I'm sure he would have found me by now. I'm ashamed to say I even had a torch and still couldn't find it!

Chobe is an interesting park, still showing the signs of the village and the industry that were there many years ago before the park was declared. It was still dry and dusty, but the river winding through it opened some incredible and beautiful vistas from the hills. The game had eaten it bare, so unless they are prepared to swim to Namibia or one of the river islands, or to eat the flowering trees, they need to travel up to 40 km from the river for food. No wonder the elephants sounded restless. So the game wasn't as concentrated during the day and we worked harder to see it. Elephants and impala being the exceptions of course.

Our last morning was really bitter sweet - lots of photographs taken and hugs given out. We waved goodbye to Amos and Timan around 8.30 and set out on our last game drive, with many comments being thrown around about last chances to find a leopard. Which we didn't. (But we won't hold that against Kaiser) . We did find a lion kill (completely stripped by the vultures) and the lions sleeping it off. A last visit to Kasane to tidy up the paperwork and look regretfully at the art gallery and it was off to Kasengula to cross the border into Zimbabwe.

Finally armed with our visas (a long and tedious manual system) and our Zimbabwe guide having arrived, we made heartfelt farewells and crossed over into Zimbabwe headed for Victoria Falls. As CC Africa had been late, we quickly threw our bags into our rooms and grabbed a taxi to the Falls to make sure we didn't miss getting a long look at them. Lon and I LOVED the taxi. You need pictures to get the real idea: yellow Mazda 323 around 20 years old (Osbornes think of the Colt with a battered yellow paint job) - one of the Executive taxi fleet. With the sweetest and most reliable driver! The Falls are truly mind-blowing, powerful and awe-inspiring, and deserve their place as one of the natural wonders of the world. If I could upload some images I'd show you - maybe tomorrow!

While JD and Shelley went back to the hotel, Lon and I did a little shopping (surprise, surprise!). We were frequently approached by people asking us did we want to trade our clothes, followed by children holding out begging cups and accosted by stall holders touting for business. The hotel didn't have water or virtually any soft drinks, and only 3 dishes on the dinner menu. The economy seems to be struggling to say the least. The people were wonderful however and we especially thank Rochelle who did our laundry on the morning we left in less than an hour - washed and dried and beautifully folded. All the hotel staff were impressive.

It was a looooong day the next day. We said goodbye early to Jeremy and Shelley with an agreement to meet in Cape Town for dinner on Friday night and then had a two-hour flight to Johannesburg first up, with around 3 hours at the airport to try and find Lonni's luggage. And yes, there it was eventually, only with a broken zipper and missing a whole bunch of stuff. Sad to say the losses from both our suitcases add up to around $7000 - so hopefully both Emirates and travel insurance will come through. Everything took so long that without the assistance of a great porter who got us checked through Alliance Gold Star we would have missed the plane to Cape Town. Then to top it all off we had the driver from hell pick us up at the airport to drive us for 2 hours to Groot Bos. Ten to twenty ks over the speed limit all the way (already set at 120), non-stop talker and so arrogant that we both struggled to stay calm and quiet. Lon escaped into her iRiver but I had the joy of the front seat!

Groot Bos (a private nature reserve), once we got there in one piece, proved to be a fabulous and very luxurious, quiet retreat. We were welcomed by Andre and Michelle and nothing was too much trouble - luggage delivered to our rooms while we had a quiet late dinner, and when we got to our rooms there was a fire going and everything was ready for us to fall into bed. Up early for whale watching and we saw lots, as well as penguins, seals and a great white. In the afternoon we were supposed to go off on some other activity but sleep overtook us both. Another enjoyable dinner and lots more sleep! There's something to be said for 5-star treatment on occasions.
Another fairly early start and Nzuzos took us on a beach and cave tour - a great deal of climbing down sand cliffs and over rocks, and steps and interesting caves used by the Koi people around 80,000 years ago as well as some time on the sand. The water is COLD though.

The same driver came to pick us up and I made Lon sit in the front - once again she escaped into her iRiver but this time I matched her, falling alseep not far out of Hermanus and only waking up a few minutes from our hotel. I thought if he snapped his fingers in front of her face just one more time she'd have them off at the elbow - much easier to sleep and pretend I heard nothing! That way I couldn't testify.

Anyway, the Victoria and Alfred on the waterfront is a beautiful hotel and Cape Town a pretty city. I'll have to tell you the rest tomorrow night - it's getting late and I still have to take the hired laptop back. Lonni is already showered and reading in bed and I need to get there myself.
Both cameras have been in for a clean at a camera repair place we found - I collect them tomorrow and hopefully everything will be in good working order for Namibia. They are also downloading all our cards, so maybe I can get some photos up tomorrow night. I can't wait to see them on the screen anyway.

Gotta go - will tell you about Cape Town and our activities tomorrow night.

lotsa love - L & L

Bewitching Botswana

We've had such an adventure since we last posted. I am here in Kasane just near the border of Botswana, Zimbabwe and Namibia on the second last day of our magical safari through the Okavanga Delta, Moremi Game Reserve, Savuti and now Chobe. I will be very sad to leave it behind - I have been totally captivated by the landscape, the people and the animals.



We've certainly had an adventure getting from Dubai - our luggage didn't show up in Joburg and so we got a great guy called Sidney to take us to a mall where we got underwear and a change of clothes for the next day while the hotel provided a toothbrush. Hitting the airport at 7.00 am the next morning we discovered that our safari bags had turned up with the lock on Lonni's broken, my suitcase had been ransacked and gone are my laptop (with photos), a lens, some Oz dollars and my expensive 100th anniversary edition Mont Blanc fountain pen bought in Dubai. Unfortunately Lonni's whole big bag is yet to surface - we are just hoping against hope that it will be waiting for us in Joburg again. Her new jewellery is in it as well as all her chargers etc. and clothes of course and Dubai souvenirs. The jewellery is the big concern (no it's not it's the crappy I heart Dubai key ring I got Lahni as a souvenir, you can't replace that! - Lonni).



However, we determined not to let it ruin our trip and so faced Botswana with happy faces. And it has been amazing. On the fringe of the Kalahari and in the dry season it's hot (as Lonni keeps saying, it's hot, damned hot! - remember Good Morning Vietnam), dry, incredibly dusty (we've given up on fingernails, you're filthy again about an hour or two - or in Mum's case its more like thirty minutes - more from Lonni thank you, sweetheart) but totally bewitching, exciting, entrancing and magical (don't forget surreal). At least it is for me. The only animal we've really missed so far (there's still this afternoon and tomorrow morning to go) is a leopard and there are no rhinos here (though I would like to see more hyena).



We've had a fabulous and full of it guide (Kaiser) and two wonderful camp hands - Timan and Amos. I would bring them all home if I could (so would I you should see the muscles!). There are only four of us in the group, we are with a great young Texan couple called JD (Jeremy Daniel) and Shelley. Kaiser is always joking and smiling and is incredibly knowledgeable - we are often the first and only to find animals - but all the guides share information around. We've seen impala (Fast Food for the Big M on their butts), lions, elephants, hippos, kudu, sable and roan antelope, cheetah, warthogs, zebra, giraffes, steenbok, red letchwe, crocodiles, Cape buffalo, jackals, hyena, wild dogs, mongoose and squirrels, baboons and monkeys, honey badger and birds far too numerous to mention, except for the gloriously coloured lilac-breasted roller and the carmine bee eater. We've lunched with the hippos, taken tea with elephants and zebra, had lions around our camp scaring the **** out of the Texans the first night, us aussie girls were either excited (mum) or asleep (Lonni). And I managed to sleep right through a honey badger trying to get into our tent while Lonni almost had a heart attack. A hyena also trotted through camp while the boys were preparing dinner and raided the trailer one night.

We also have been through some small villages and stopped a couple of times to talk to people and buy locally made goods. The people are SO friendly and beautiful - we have all been totally entranced. The country is so dry I have to keep asking Kaiser - but what do people eat? How do they live? And speaking of that we've been having pa pa (mealie porridge) for breakfast - it's the local staple and we all think it's pretty good. Kaiser is a great cook as well so the food has all been fantastic.

Anyone who knows us well will be hugely surprised to know that we are awake before our 6.00 am wake up call as Amos or Timan pour warm water into our basins outside for us to wash faces, have a quick bite and go out on our first game drive. We have another cuppa and a biscuit whilst out (maybe at the hippo pool or beside the river watching zebras or elephants) and then back to camp about 10.30 for Kaiser to cook us a substantial brunch. Then maybe it's in camp in the shade, doing the washing or reading until we take a bush bucket shower and head out again around 3.30, have another cuppa out and back at sunset. Kaiser gets us a magnificent feast for dinner and under the brilliant stars (Scorpio right overhead), listening to hippos or lions or hyena or elephants, with a glass of wine beside the camp fire we chat away by candle and firelight (listening to Kaiser's stories as he answers all our dumb questions - often with a big fat lie until his contagious laugh gives him away) until at a fairly early hour everyone drifts away one by one to get a good night's sleep - unless the animals wake us up.

It's a wonderful life - I have no idea of the day of the week or the time and am totally relaxed!!! When I have more time I'll tell you more about Botswana, it's an interesting country and the way the villages are organised by community trusts an interesting model.

No photos to add - with the laptop gone and being unable to charge batteries or download I am starting to conserve and can't do anything here - maybe later. Hopefully what I have will last me until we get back to Cape Town. The 400D is on the blink - the dust is very pervasive and I suspect that's the problem. With the big lens gone I have been really lucky as Shelley has lent me one the same size but without stabiliser. She has been very generous.

Boat trip in around an hour so better go - down the Chobe River - we might even see a leopard! If we don't, as Kaiser says, there will be an excuse to come back!

Love to all

Lyndall & Lonni

Dubai - friendly, progressive and with more sunshine ... (advertising billboard)

Friendly, progressive and defintely more sunshine here in Dubai. Another great day of desert adventures and amazing sights. Today, after wasting most of the morning waiting for Lonni's jewellery delivery that turned out to be in white gold instead of yellow (so got sent back to be delivered correctly tonight), we took the blue line bus around Jumeirah - a tour of the construction zone. Here's some more Dubai fast facts:

• 25% of the world's cranes are in Dubai
  
• It's the second largest construction activity in the world (Moscow beats it - but Dubai only has 1.4 million people for goodness sake!)


• Construction goes on in shifts 24 hours a day
  
• They can build a full floor in 4 days


• Never use your indicator to change lanes - just wander where you will....


• Dubailand is under construction - bigger than any Disneyland in the world


• An expat can never be granted citizenship, only a lifetime residency
• Petrol is cheaper than water - the equivalent of around 35 cents per litre


• And there's heaps more but I'm too tired to remember (and I still have to pack and we have a really early start in the morning (ready in the lobby by 7.15 am) with an 8 hour flight to Johannasburg)

Tonight we went on our desert safari - great fun dune "bashing", saw a camel farm and had dinner under the stars. Lonni rode a camel in the Dubai desert too!

That's all for tonight folks - a big day tomorrow and it's midnight already. Lonni's already in bed and I still have to pack and have a shower.

TOMORROW - 8 hours in the air, but who's counting?.

The big red bus goes round and round... Dubai Day 2

Here it is - the big red bus - and indeed it does go round and round. Your ticket is valid for 48 hours and you can get on and off whenever you like as the "red line" bus makes 12 stops around Deira and some of Dubai's many malls and souks (including the gold souk), and the "blue line" bus does a tour of Jamireh - the new Dubai that's home to "the Palm" and the Burj Al Arab - the world's most luxurious hotel.

We hopped on and off a few times today, including a stop at the Dubai Museum which is quite fascinating (and air-conditioned) and decided that we would go back to the gold souk tonight. Siesta time (when the souk closes) is 2.30 to 4.30 pm, but the shops then remain open until 10.00 pm. We figure it will take us at least that long to see even a tiny fraction of what's on offer. There must be thousands of shops, not hundreds, and each stuffed full of gorgeous golden items. We'll take a hotel car back this evening and maybe get them to collect us - the hour's wait at City Centre for a taxi yesterday almost did it for us with taxis. 18K gold is around 75 dirhams a gram (a shade over $20) and that's before you bargain! Guess the credit card is in for a little work tonight.

Driving round Dubai is a hot and congested experience (the bus guide says that the evening peak hour is from 2.00 - 10.00 pm, and the morning peak hour from 7.00 am to 2.00 pm), but not quite as hot as walking it. We got off at the stop nearest our hotel (Lonni says a klick away but I reckon a bit more than that) and I wouldn't recommend that anyone walk that in 43 degree heat in the middle of the day when they are as unfit as I am! I thought I would expire but Lonni told me she would be traumatised for life if she had to give me mouth-to-mouth so I struggled on until the hotel, but I tell you it was touch and go! Lon reckons it feels like 33 degrees, I reckon it feels like 53 degrees!!

Dubai is building a rail system for the city - 25.5 billion dirhams - which will be the longest continuous driverless system in the world. They are setting a few records in this fast-growing city, where rumour has it that the oil will run out in 2010 (according to the bus driver). Here's a few fast facts:

• just over 4000 sq km
  
  



• 1.4 million people





• 20% only are Emeratis, the rest are ex-pats from over 200 countries





• 75% of the population are men and 25% women





• the crime rate is less than 2% (it feels really safe although we do get male stares a bit) - all the dhows are unloaded onto the walway beside the road and there are no security guards or anything to stop anyone walking away with the goods - they can be left there for days, quite safe
  
  
  

We heard the muezzin call for the first time today - the midday call happened while we were at the museum. There are a lot of mosques as you might expect but not all are as obvious as you might think either. This one is a hidden mosque, set in a courtyard - a Shi'ih mosque beautifully decorated with blue tiles.

More later - after the Gold Souk...

And here she is - gold and diamond girl!

You can't possibly come to Dubai go to the gold souk and then NOT BUY GOLD, diamonds was my little optional extra. Don't fret Micheal I can explain...

The longer I stay and the more I see makes me realise everything in Dubai is like a competition with everything being the (insert adjective here eg. biggest longest fastest) in the world, which is ok except I'm in the wrong career I need to be an engineer or even a brickie! (I think there professions where its ok not to care and over here make bucket loads).

The gold souk was good, the spice souk was overwhelming with smells - not all of them good and some combinations were just plain gross - and the people, I've finally seen a good looking native -I can totally understand why there are only 25% women here!

Suffice to say experience experience experience not all good -mum threatening to die when I was simply having a pleasent stroll in the afternoon sunshine - but not all bad - all service with a smile.

Hope all is well in everyday Australia, missing everyone heaps, say hi to the dog for me xox

Time for bed folks - we've done lots of walking - the souk was BIG and so much to see - really too much for you ever to think you've had a good look at even a fraction of it. We made a few small purchases at bargain prices and had some interesting conversations with shopkeepers. Couldn't wait for a shower however, 8.30 pm and the perspiration is still poring when you're outside. Don't think I'll have time to upload the photos tonight - it's a slow process -but have added one of my favourites from the day.

TOMORROW - more on the buses and a desert safari experience....