On Wednesday morning after a brisk walk along the beach,a look at some sand sculptures a little wrecked by the weather and being hastily repairedand a quick Christmas buy from a local craftsman (I can’t tell you what they are because it would spoil Ellie and Paris’ surprise but they’re made from monkey fruits) we left a very windy St. Lucia for a very windy journey to an even windier Durban.

The journey had been fairly straightforward with some more, truly amazing scenery followed by short glimpses of the wild sea as we neared our destination.

As a quick aside – I can’t believe that I’ve forgotten to tell you that Rob’s favourite thing since his arrival in South Africa, has been an ever increasing presence of Mark 1 or Citi Volkswagen golfs. He has loved them since before we were married (a long, long time ago) and I think he mainly married me because Jen and Noel lent us a brown one early on in our relationship. (What ever happened to it Bennetts?) Anyway, there are literally hundreds here and Rob has taken pictures of most of them. We’ve passed many a happy hour playing who can spot the most (a bit like the red nose game I used to have to play with Porky) but I’ve given up now because Rob always wins. It’s like he is so in tune with them that he can sense them before they appear – what chance do I have? Anyway I didn’t know how obsessed he was until I joked about getting him one for his birthday and he explained that he’d looked in to having one shipped over but can’t because of various reasons including differing emission rules. He’s still looking into whether there’s a way around it – bless him.😘

We arrived in Durban to the Blue Waters Hotel and were shown up to our room. As we went in there was a definite dodgy smell (sort of a damp dog or sweaty feet smell) but as everything else seemed okay we ignored it, turned on the air con and got ready to explore. The room was really hot so we left the air con on as we set out.

The wind was even stronger and we dodged various pieces of rubbish as bins were blown over spilling their contents carelessly. Unfortunately we couldn’t dodge the sand particles which intermittently blasted our bare limbs like hundreds of mini needles delivering free acupuncture. Rob also lost his hat a couple of times much to my amusement. There is very little more funny than him bending down to retrieve it just as a fresh gust blows (There is it so happens but I’ll tell you about that later). We visited the tourist information centre (not a patch on how good you used to be Rois) and tried to formulate a plan for the next day – Rob’s Birthday!🎂

On arriving back to our room we were disappointed to discover that the wet dog smell was still very much in evidence and the air conditioning had done nothing to improve the ambient temperature. We tried opening the window but as it was torn from Rob’s hand by a forceful gust of wind and there was no way to secure it, we abandoned this plan.

Dinner was calling so we quickly showered, fiddled with the air con to ensure we weren’t missing anything obvious and left to visit the hotel restaurant.

Having forgotten all about the issues of our room our senses were totally assaulted as we arrived back to an, if possible, more pungent smell and an even hotter room. After eating both Lindt chocolates (the hot room had left the centres perfectly liquidy) left on our turned down bed we decided we had to take action and called reception.

Several phone calls and a couple of visits later, at about 10.45 (a very late night for us) we were transferred to a new, fresh smelling, cool room (with Lindt chocs still in place – not for long) and thankfully drifted to sleep.

The next morning, Rob’s Birthday, I awoke, wrote the card I’d smuggled all the way from England and assembled his two presents. He did have more but the fruit and nut toblerone I’d bought him had been eaten in a chocolate emergency the previous week (we did share) and he’d really needed the shaving foam from the men’s grooming kit and the waterproof map of South Africa so had already had those. Therefore his assembled presents consisted of a Kruger, reusable mug and a little leather band. I’d also written in the card to promise to let him choose all plans for the day – very bad decision!

Before moving rooms the previous night I was sure Rob had agreed to a visit to Ushaka. Just down the beach it was a lovely sea life centre with water slides, seal and dolphin shows and an opportunity to go in a glass elevator like contraption into a shark tank. As an alternative there was a trip to Bike and Bean, just down the beach in the opposite direction. This is a coffee shop (from the Mugg and Bean chain – our favourite African coffee chain) that rents out bikes and body boards. We could cycle down the golden mile all morning, go back to the shop for lunch and body board all afternoon. Alas, neither plan was to be.

Rob had decided instead that we would get in the car (we’d definitely been in there too much lately), drive for half an hour and visit an MTB trail ride park. I love cycling and in most circumstances I’m quite brave but hurtling down paths, barely wide enough to take a bicycle tyre and covered in rocks and tree stumps just doesn’t appeal. I had however made a birthday pledge in his card so in good grace (🤔😡) I agreed to go.

I’d like to say it wasn’t too bad, the people there were lovely, it was really good value, the actual place and surroundings were beautiful but the trails……. were just as I’d feared and worse. The most upsetting part was that Rob absolutely loved it and had he had another nutter (Joe, one of his brothers/brothers-in-law/nephews) with him would have had an even better time. As it was we made the best of it – I was so glad when it was over!After a quick, recovery drink we set off back to our hotel and a dip in the sea before our evening plans. As we were walking down the pier the funnier than Rob chasing his hat thing happened but I think you had to be there. Along the pier are stone benches, they’re very simple, no backs and almost the same colour as the pier, they’re practically camouflaged, it could have happened to anyone.

As we were walking along I was in the middle of the pier but Rob was walking along near the side. Both of us were looking out at the massive waves, I saw the bench in Rob’s path but he didn’t. He hit into it at full stride, sprawling across it before recovering quickly and looking around to see who’d seen. I tried to contain myself – it was his birthday, but between the fall and the checking who’d seen it was just so funny. It was quite a bash and I did try to check if he was okay but was struggling. Luckily, it was definitely his pride that took the biggest battering. As I said, you probably had to be there.🤣

We had a lovely evening meal and a trip to see The Crimes of Grindlewald – not my choice but actually really good especially as I was able to experience 3D thanks to my eye op. Rob says he had a great day and says thanks for his birthday wishes (and cash).

Our final morning in Durban we had a quick walk to see the very impressive Moses Mabhida stadium. As you can probably tell from the trees, the wind had really picked up again so we abandoned plans to have a last lounge on Durban beach and instead set off for Kokstad – our next stop on our South African road trip.

From Mlilwane we headed down through Swaziland, across the border at Golela border port and back into South Africa. Swaziland’s scenery continued to impress us throughout the journey and although I’m not the best traveller, the motion of the car often lulls me to sleep, there was much variety and beauty, plus Rob’s stimulating observations, to keep me awake.

After another slightly stressful border crossing we continued on our way. All of our travelling has really made me realise how beautiful and varied Africa’s scenery is, how often Rob needs the loo (and not always when one is available), and how being in the car makes me eat. I could be a stone heavier by the time we reach Cape Town!😩

St. Lucia was very nice, we had a lovely, relaxing time there but it wasn’t my favourite place. It felt like a strange little town built almost entirely around tourism, almost manufactured. That was just my impression, apparently there is a lot of history surrounding the area but we were just there a couple of nights and were happy to move on.

We stayed at the Bhangazi Lodge in the Elephant room – I can’t imagine why it was called this?Again this was lovely and in a good position to explore the surrounding area. We had some great walks within the town and along the beach and a delicious, very good meal at The ski boat club.

Our one full day here we spent at the wetlands and on Cape Vidal. The beaches were beautiful but very hot and windy. After snorkelling and being sandblasted for a little while we moved along to a more rocky cove where I found shelter to read my book while Rob explored rock pools and chased crabs.

We had been told there was much wildlife within the national park and there were signs everywhere listing the animals and potential dangers. Apart from a few monkeys and the odd deer we hadn’t seen anything and as we left the beaches and drove back towards the gate we joked over our lack of game sightings. After exploring yet another loop in search of the elusive inhabitants we agreed to stick to the main route and get home. Within seconds our doubts were forgotten as we came across three black rhinos grazing by the road. They were beautiful and did restore our faith that there were actual animals in the park.🤣

My biggest disappointment of St. Lucia was a lack of hippopotami. Every street corner displayed signs warning of the danger of them and everyone we spoke to had encountered at least one on their evening jaunts. Despite seeing evidence that they’d been on the streets (hippo poo) and dragging Rob out on quests to find one, they remained elusive.

We left the peace and tranquility of St. Lucia on Wednesday to head for the bright lights of the big city.

From Kruger we headed south to Swaziland and on to our next stop at Mlilwane Nature Reserve. Booking.com has served us very well so far and generally we have just been booking a place to stay a couple of days in advance. We are definitely getting less picky as we go and where we have looked at so many different accommodations we often arrive to a new place without really knowing what we’ve booked. Mlilwane was one of these places.

After our trip to Graskop where my poor choices had somewhat lengthened our journey I had vowed to let google maps make all the decisions. As we arrived at the border of South Africa and on into Swaziland everything was going well. It was another long journey but a stop at Wimpy had revived our flagging spirits (conjured up a memory of childhood when Anna had taken me to the one in Cirencester for my first milkshake – must have been 40 years ago, why did Wimpy disappear from England?) and we were looking forward to arriving.

With about twenty minutes to go we arrived at a junction. Google maps said turn left, I backed her up but Rob was questioning our joint decision. He avoided the left hand turn and continued straight. Myself and Mrs Google berated him and eventually, with no other options presenting themselves Rob gave in to our united pressure, turned around and took the avoided left hand turn.

Google maps had not made a good decision! The road wasn’t actually the very worst we’d been along but on our previous dreadful road experiences we had been in our trusty Rav 4. Our poor little Volkswagen polo wasn’t made of the same tough stuff and struggled to negotiate the lumps and bumps of this awkward terrain. Our relaxed demeanours caused by our Wimpy sugar high had all but disappeared as we blamed each other and held on tight. Lots of children and a few bored adults came from their houses to watch how the two crazy tourists might negotiate the little car through the peaks and troughs of the dirt road. It was definitely the slowest and hardest 5.7km if our journey so far. Our relief when we came to it’s end was palpable. Even when Rob had to bump up the kerb of a shiny new road before being turned around and sent back to another (thankfully much smoother) dirt road our good mood prevailed and was heightened when within ten minutes we had reached our latest stopover.

Mlilwane was beautiful, our little self catering bungalow, nestled on the hillside, overlooked open grasslands where deer, wildebeest and warthog grazed.

Monkeys played near our verandah and there were birds and beautiful wildflowers everywhere. We had really had no expectations and had arrived in this little paradise. Our only disappointment was that we had only booked one night.

Very aware of our limited time to enjoy our amazing surroundings we set off on a walk as soon as possible after arrival. On advice we followed the 7km hippo trail. It meandered along the river, climbed up through hills and sauntered along side open grasslands. Unfortunately, we only had a couple of hours of daylight so did little meandering or sauntering but lots of quick marching and clambering with the occasional pause for pictures. Neither of us were keen to be out after dark when the hippos, crocs and other wildlife enjoy a stroll and a graze.🤣

We finished our day with an open air dinner besides the noisiest lake ever – the cacophony of sound being evidence of the abundance of life it supported.

The following morning we set off at about 9.30 for a bike ride. As we booked our two hours of cycling the lady questioned if we were sure we wanted two hours, Rob assured her that we did bit. About half an hour later, as temperatures hit about 34 degrees, we understood her hesitance.The scenery and wildlife were amazing but I have never come so close to fainting (apart from when I actually did after a small op, I was on the loo and fainted to the floor – I still don’t understand why Rob felt the need to call for help before covering my dignity).

We managed the two hours with frequent stops for drink and shade before returning back to our camp. This is definitely another place I would love to return – maybe when the new road is completed.

Rob needed to see a predator!!

Our safaris so far had been fab but a little lacking in carnivores so with that in mind we headed north to Kruger with a one night stop at Graskop, for its outstanding beauty, on the way.

Google maps said four and a half hours, the last part of our journey would take us along the first part of the panorama route so we were looking forward to beautiful views. About seven hours after our departure the views were truly beautiful but as I’d chosen what I thought would be the most panoramic route Rob wasn’t really able to enjoy those views. For about 90km he was unable to lift his eyes from the temporary road surface littered with pot holes the size of small craters. Obviously he was very supportive of my decision and hardly mentioned the smooth road we joined about 10km outside of Graskop that we might have come on the whole way. I vowed not to make any more decisions and let google lead the way – lets see how that turns out.🤣

We arrived in Graskop eventually to possibly our favourite hotel so far. The Graskop Hotel was like stepping back in time to another era and was soothing to our frayed emotions. Our room was luckily very roomy giving us space to spread out after our confined journey.After a quick walk around the village (I thought about leaving Rob here)

and a tasty dinner in the restaurant we retired to relax and get ready for an early start.Our plan for the next day was to visit the many sites around Graskop with a minimal amount of driving and a maximum amount of walking before heading to Kruger for the afternoon. We woke up early, jumped out of bed (maybe a little exaggeration here – Rob has never jumped out of bed) and opened the curtains, to persistent rain.☔️

Undeterred our spirits were soon restored with a blazing fire, a hearty breakfast and music that my parents used to sing to me such as Making Whoopy and It was a very good year.

We set off enthusiastically and I hardly mentioned Rob’s socks or how well they accentuate the Sturla ankles.We were very pleased when the rain stopped, but not so pleased when it gave way to persistent fog.🤣 We toyed with the idea of turning back but thankfully continued on to a beautiful, fog free walk at Lisbon falls and more beautiful views and lovely walks at Blyde River Canyon and pot holes. Neither of us however recommend the Lichen trail – unless you are happy to discover endless information on rocks and lichen?The best view of all in this area was supposed to be God’s window. We’d passed it on our way to the other highlights and were looking forward to seeing it on our way back. Unfortunately the fog had returned with a vengeance and made driving impossible, let alone sight seeing. As the fog obscured the sign for the turning to God’s window, we took it as a sign and drove on for our first afternoon at Kruger and our hunt for big cats.

We had been reliably informed that wildlife abounded within Kruger and weren’t disappointed. In our two days we saw so many animals including all of the Big 5. Our highlights were definitely a family of four white rhinosseven, lazy lionesses on our last afternoon. (Rob was very happy)

and a random tortoiseWe now feel like we are experts on the self drive budget safari. Although the Protea Hotel (I know we said no more large chain hotels) where we stayed didn’t feel budget at all. It was about twenty metres from the Paul Kruger gate and as near as you could possibly be without paying the exorbitant prices of being in the park. It was a lovely place to stay and the deers, monkeys and warthogs within the grounds made you feel like you could easily be within the park.

We had a great couple of days and felt like all of our wildlife expectations had been met.😊

Since our last post we have missed some important occasions.

Happy birthday to Aliand happy 14th to Paddy.

It also would have been my dad’s 90th on Monday.

Lastly congratulations to Effie who has learnt to walk before ten months. What took you Effie?

Since our recent bus journeys I have definitely rekindled a love of flying. Livingstone airport was quiet and organised, we waited for our flight in a cool, comfortable lounge, our BA flight was barely half full and even the turbulence on descent into Johannesburg was okay – just don’t put me back on a bus.🤣

Within half an hour of landing we were packed in our hired car and on our way to our air bnb, the Hand built house.We were met by Mary and Buster and shown around their beautiful home which between them they really had built. It was really impressive, our hosts had thought of everything we might need and continued to take care of us throughout our four night stay. I was allowed to be photographed on Busters pride and joy – his 1952 Ferguson (I wrongly thought it was a Massey Ferguson😂) tractor. It very much reminded me of dad and hay making days – I also knew Gosso would like it so this picture is for him.

After a quick trip to the supermarket with Mary, Rob and I did lots of firsts that we hadn’t done since embarking on our trip. We had our first self cooked meal (does pasta count as cooking?), did our first load of washing, our first washing up and had our first chill out on a sofa in front of the tv. It’s funny how you miss some simple things (and not others).

Revived after our evening and following morning of domestic bliss and planning, we spent the next couple of days being proper tourists. We visited Constitution Hill to see where Mandela (Winnie and Nelson), Ghandi and thousands of other political and non-political prisoners were kept before and during apartheid. We spent a day on the hop on, hop off buses around Joburg (I thought calling it this was pretentious but have realised it’s so much quicker), visiting all of the major sites including a two hour tour of Soweto.We really enjoyed the traditional dance display.

and began to understand a little more about the turbulent history We had to book another night to fit in a stroll around zoo lake and a visit to the Apartheid museum. We allowed a couple of hours, stayed at least three and needed much longer. It is an amazing, really well thought out museum which shows the events that led to apartheid, how all races existed through it and the eventual fall out after. The way Apartheid was justified is unbelievable to us now but being in South Africa makes us both feel that there is still an awful lot of progress to be made to create equality.

Our other reason for booking an extra night was a trip to see, The curious incident of the dog in the night time’ at the local theatre in a complex called Montecasino. I’d wanted to see this as a play since I read the book and when it was just over £10 for the best seats we decided to go. It was brilliantly done and although Rob said it was good he has decided he doesn’t really like plays.😩

The Montecasino was an experience in itself. It is a complex of shops, restaurants, cinemas, theatres and a massive casino all set out as an Italian Town. I loved it – particularly the Christmas decorations.

We left Joburg early Thursday morning to head along the Panorama route to Graskop. We had a really good few days, really interesting and educational but as we left the traffic of the big city we breathed a sigh of relief and agreed that we’re definitely country bumpkins at heart.

After our long journey to Livingstone on the Thursday I was really looking forward to a quiet day of relaxation on the Friday with maybe a little trip to visit the falls in the afternoon – Rob had other plans.

We had talked about doing some white water rafting because we had so enjoyed the experience in Canada with Paris’ family the previous year. Rob had found a deal with a company called Bundu which included swimming under the falls and so at 8am on Friday we were trundling along in an amazing purpose adapted truck for a full day on (and in) the Zambezi.

According to Rob it was his best day ever, I’m hoping he meant on this trip so far (what about the day he met me? Our wedding day? The births of Joe and Ellie???) but didn’t question him for fear of his answer ……… and it was an exceptionally amazing day!

The description had been fairly vague but had stated that all participants needed an average level of fitness. As we followed Mr K, our incredible guide for the day and his agile team down into the gorge we were both already questioning who’s average they had been referring to? It was an incredibly steep, rocky descent with no allowances made. Mr K forged ahead and I followed trying to keep him in my sight as best I could with Rob, showing unusual concern for my welfare, and bringing up the rear. Mr K did stop occasionally to check on us and as we finished the descent and began instead to traverse massive boulders he instructed us to put on our helmets as we were walking directly under the cliff edge and monkeys often threw rocks down on to the passing humans. 🤣At this point we were also allowed to leave our paddles near the raft and having two hands with which to clamber made the journey slightly easier.

After this not so gentle introduction, with racing hearts and sweat pouring off of us, the jump into the water to swim under the falls was a welcome relief and generally amazing.

It definitely cooled our bodies but our hearts continued to race as we fought against the persistent spray and were forced away from the fall by the pure pressure of the water falling. Swimming hard we followed our team and once behind the falls, although the spray continued, the push was not quite as intense as long as you stayed close to the rocks. What had looked like a small fall from the bank seemed overwhelming when swimming through it. It felt difficult to catch my breath and, about halfway through, I had to give myself a stern talking to as I felt a slight panic setting in. The whole setting and experience was outstanding and once through I did wonder if the day could get any better. It did!We spent about six hours actually in (and out of) the Zambezi experiencing 20 different rapids (there are 21 but everyone has to walk around number 9) and too numerous ‘baby’ rapids to mention. Every so often Mr K would tell us we could have a swim, we’d jump in and laugh at him when he talked about staying in the middle to avoid the crocodiles. We stopped laughing when he began to point them out. Most of them were fairly small but Rob and I are happy to include swimming with crocodiles as one of our many new experiences.

Out of all of the rapids it was only number 5 that defeated us! We thought we’d conquered it until a second wave hit us and we didn’t stand a chance. Mr K has been paddling this route for over twenty years and he told us that our spectacular capsize was only his second one in all of that time and there was nothing we could have done. That definitely assuaged our pride a little.The whole day with Bundu was fantastic including our floating lunch and dinner back at their base. We would highly recommend them to anyone heading to Zambia, maybe not someone with a partially healed rib as that definitely took a bit of a battering but otherwise a perfect trip.

An added bonus on the way home was our trip through the villages to drop all of our assistant guides homeand, as if by arrangement, a whole herd of elephants crossing the road as we returned to our base.Day two at the falls was a little calmer, we spent the morning by the pool and organising ourselves before being taken, on Sarah Deo’s very good recommendation, to the Royal Livingstone for lunch. As we arrived the taxi driver pointed out giraffes on the roundabout – we’d spent hours searching for them in Akagera game reserve and now here we’d found two with no effort whatsoever. During lunch and our walk to the falls we also saw several zebrasMonkeysand deerThe Royal Livingstone is in the perfect location with just a very short walk to the falls through their beautiful grounds.It was lovely to go and visit the falls from the top of the gorge rather than the bottom and return to the hotel to watch hippos in the lake whilst avoiding crocs and enjoying a sundowner.For our final night in Livingstone we moved to a new lodge near to the airport ready for our flight to Johannesburg the next day. We spent a lovely evening chatting to a young couple on their honeymoon who gave us some great ideas for the next leg of our journey. 😊

I’m still a little surprised about my powers of persuasion but I managed, against all odds, to get Rob to agree to another bus journey. This was, in theory, much more straightforward – no border crossings, better roads and we’d been to the bus station to have a quick check on the standard of coaches. What could go wrong?

Firstly we had, on advice that they had slightly more room, booked the two seats behind the driver. When we arrived at just before 6am we realised that actually, there were three very narrow seats behind the driver. Since I’ve been in Africa I have noticed an awful lot of bottoms and from my careful research was able to deduce that these seats were not designed for any I’d observed apart from possibly those of ten year old children. Neither mine, Rob’s or the lovely young lady seated in the aisle seat had the bottoms of ten year olds, consequently we didn’t really fit!

Strangely enough, when there was a slim (no pun intended) chance that the aisle seat might not be occupied, Rob had chosen the middle seat placing me by the window. Interestingly, as soon as it became occupied, Rob (who as you probably know struggles with physical contact at the best of times) had a sudden urge to observe the passing countryside and so I found myself leaning forward for the estimated 6/7 hour journey as my fairly narrow shoulders didn’t physically fit in the remaining space.

As we prepared to depart Lusaka we were both delighted to have a Christian preacher extolling the virtues and power of prayer in ensuring our safe journey. We had chosen a company called Shalom (The alternative had only just had their licence renewed after a poor accident record) as this had appeared the best option. Twenty minutes in, with the preacher in full flow and Rob ready to jump through the window, we questioned our decision. Luckily, as we pulled into a garage, the preacher alighted and we temporarily welcomed the Gospel music that replaced him.

Due to a minor collision of an overturned truck and a jack knifed lorry that totally blocked our road about an hour into the journey we were a little delayed. It looked like we might be there for hours but within half an hour the truck was back upright, the lorry had moved on?? And we were all back on the road. There were several unscheduled short stops along the route as we discovered that Shalom also operated an unofficial postal/delivery service but otherwise all else went to plan. The journey even got a little better when after six solid hours of Gospel music I requested a change and they allowed me to play Rob’s iPhone selection. Kylie and Ed among others were definitely an auditory relief.

At about 4pm, approximately two and a half hours after our latest scheduled arrival time, we arrived in Livingstone, found a lovely taxi driver called Simon and were taken to Ngoma Zanga Lodge for the next short, exciting leg of our journey. Without any further persuasion I think our coach journeys may be a thing of the past. 😊

Having asked our ever helpful receptionists about what there was to do in Lusaka and only being told about the numerous shopping malls we decided to do our own research. Consequently we had come up with a few ideas (that didn’t involve shopping) for our next couple of days entertainment. Everything we liked the look of involved transport so, as Rob was so enjoying his various driving experiences we again decided to hire a car.

We really should have learned our lesson by now but ever hopeful of them redeeming themselves, we again approached the receptionists, this time to enquire about car hire. We were assured that they would arrange this and call our room when it was sorted. After waiting in vain for a call we fell asleep after deciding to deal with it in the morning.

Waking up early we went down and explained our requirements to a new receptionist. She assured us it would be arranged and she’d come and find us in breakfast. With no news during our meal we returned and were told a price of the equivalent of £60 a day. Having paid less than £30 a day in Rwanda we managed to reduce the daily price to about £40 and were told we would be called as soon as the car arrived.

Hurrying upstairs and readying ourselves for the day we speculated about the car hoping, for the inflated price, that it might be a little better than our trustee but rattley Rwandan Rav 4. By 10.30, having exhausted all ablutions and preparations, we went back down to enquire how much longer until our transport arrived. We were reassured it was on its way so waited patiently catching up on emails and messages in a rare moment of fairly good WiFi. At around 11am a driver appeared. After a little discussion with reception about towels we could borrow for our trip we were told we had to go back up to our fourth floor room to take the ones from there. Rob had had enough so ignoring them he decided to just take the ones from the pool as we were passing it on our way to the car. As I followed the car hire man Rob detoured, grabbed two towels and joined us as we surveyed our chariot.

Within seconds a porter and the pool man had appeared to insist that the pool towels could not leave the site and we must take the ones from our room. Trying to avoid a prolonged towel tussle I set off for our room ( did I mention it was on the fourth floor) missing much of the car hire man’s explanation of the very dirty, seven seater cars little quirks. When I arrived back I sat in the back seats, (the middle row of seats ‘didn’t work’ so were folded down) scared to move for fear of contamination, with the towels and all my possessions piled on my lap for the same aforementioned reason as above. Rob meanwhile had clambered into the drivers seat (his drivers side door didn’t always open) with the car hire man in the passenger seat ready to drive to the nearest atm to collect payment as they didn’t take cards.

Before we had left the hotels limited grounds and despite our passengers obvious desire for very loud music, a very obvious clanking noise had emerged. As Rob turned left into the flow of traffic it continued ominously and within 50 yards it was my turn to have had enough. ‘Pull over’, I demanded, Rob was obviously of the same mind as he wasted no time in finding the nearest lay-by. We apologised (???) and explained to the bemused looking man that we didn’t want his car and despite his reassurances that it was a good car, good wheels, good brakes we left him extolling it’s virtues and marched back to the hotel.

I was so angry, and as is often my way, also a little emotional over the car, the towels, our wasted morning and the hotel’s general inefficiency. I needed an outlet for this but preferably without an audience so asked Rob to try to arrange car hire with the nice tour operator adjacent to the hotel (why didn’t we go here first) while I ‘spoke’ to reception.

Within ten minutes I had unleashed my fury, Rob had arranged a lovely saloon car that was already sitting outside our hotel and (at nearly midday) we were off on our way.

We had a relaxed afternoon visiting the monkey pools, a lovely swimming pool and river pools in a beautiful quiet setting. It was especially peaceful as there was no one else there.We also visited Lusaka’s National Park and met their very friendly rhinoceros, he was great although I was a little put off that he’d recently fatally wounded his female partner.

And a few other scattered animals.

Above is the viewing tower in Lusaka National Park, you could see for miles but with my fear of heights, and an African disregard for health and safety, it was one of the scariest things I have ever climbed!

Both places were very difficult to find as there were no obvious signs for either attraction. We were however, so happy to be away from the hotel that none of that mattered. On our way back we found a restaurant called latitude 15 that had been recommended on trip advisor as being good for coeliacs. It was so lovely, great food in a beautiful setting for a very reasonable price. It was a perfect ending to a lovely afternoon with our mornings trials all but forgotten. 😊

Our final day in Lusaka was an unexpected delight. After going to the bus station to book our next days bus journey to Livingstone (I still can’t believe I persuaded Rob to catch another bus) we set off for the elephant orphanage. Again it was near on impossible to find but with my expert navigating using the phones GPS we arrived just in time for the daily 11.30 until 1 educational talk and meeting with the orphans.

The talk was fairly short and interesting but the orphans were totally captivating. There were only three there as they just keep them until they are nearly weaned from the bottle (at about three years of age). They then send them to another centre where they are introduced to a herd and prepared for release in to the wild at between 20 and 25 years of age.

Contact with humans is kept to a minimum, the guards just feed them their bottles three hourly throughout the day and night and then leave them to their peers. At night they sleep in the loft of the elephants stable to continue the feeds – they are amazingly dedicated to their charges.

Watching the orphans play in the mud, rolling and tumbling and pushing each other over reminded us strangely of wayward children and our first day in Lusaka.

Once our time with the elephants was over we walked back to the car and decided to go for lunch at Lilayi Lodge right next to the orphanage. We drove up mud roads flanked by dry woodland to a little oasis amongst the trees.

While we sat and had lunch we watched monkeys, bushbuck and Elands walk the gardens and chatted to the South African, Essex educated, manageress tell us a little about her workplace.

On her recommendation, but with limited time, we selected the shortest of the three trails around the hotels grounds and spotted zebras, warthogs and several types of deer before returning back to our final night in Lusaka and our early morning departure on the bus to Livingstone.

After a very pleasant flight (including our second breakfast) we arrived in Lusaka and caught a cab straight to the hotel. So far we have stayed in lots of lovely, independent and often quirky small places but for some reason, we still don’t know why, in Lusaka we booked the Best Western. I really wouldn’t recommend it! It’s not that there was anything wrong with it, although the pool was a little dodgy, it was right at the front of the hotel and looked more like a water feature, it was just bland and corporate and had the worst customer service out of everywhere we’ve stayed – and we’re becoming quite expert now!😊It was also our most expensive yet!! What were we thinking?

Anyway, once we’d checked in and I’d had my first moody and a little bit emotional stage (not bad for nearly six weeks in) we decided to go out for a walk before dinner. We asked the receptionist’s advice and walked towards the famous (apparently) Cairo Road. We’d walked for about twenty minutes when a man started talking to us. So far in our time in Africa we have been approached by several people asking for different things but this gentleman was definitely different. He was dressed smartly and on his way home from work. As we walked he started to tell us a little bit about himself, his name is Godfrey Simukonde and he is a child activist who seems to work tirelessly for the welfare of the homeless children or street kids in Lusaka. Rob is usually very cynical about many things but was very moved by Godfrey and his story and before we knew it we had agreed to go and meet some of the children, look at their living conditions underneath the main bridge in Lusaka and take some of them, with Godfrey, on a little shopping trip to the local supermarket to buy enough food to keep them going for a little while.

As we walked to the supermarket Rob talked football with the boys and I walked with Godfrey and the girls who were very affectionate, holding my hands and wanting to be close. Their English was limited but Rob was fine as Football talk needs very little language and I found out a little about the girls with the help of Godfrey. Walking with them also confirmed some of what Godfrey had told us, the local people ignored them totally and they weren’t allowed in public places, such as the Supermarket unless Godfrey was with them.

After we’d bought the provisions in the supermarket we parted ways as it was getting late and neither Rob or I are keen on wandering the unfamiliar streets in the dark. Godfrey had given us a short leaflet with details of his work and charity and we spent quite a lot of the evening, as we ate our dinner in total luxury, thinking about what we might do to help.

Thanks to members of both of our families we have gathered enough money to ensure that the two young girls who have recently given birth under the bridge will be housed, with their new babies, for the foreseeable future. We are in touch with Godfrey and hope to do more once we are home. Our first afternoon wasn’t spent quite how we’d expected but it felt right and really highlighted how lucky we are. Xxx

Time has absolutely flown since we last posted and already our stay at La Locanda, the Dian Fossey hike and our canoe down the Mukungwa river seem like a long time ago. I’ll just give you a quick run down and some pics before we tell you a little bit about our time in Lusaka too.

La Locanda was a really lovely surprise, when we booked our trip to the Volcanoes National Park we knew we wouldn’t be spending a lot of time at our accommodation so went budget. Our lovely Italian host Alberto was warm and welcoming and our room, although a little bit quirky, had everything we needed. The food was great and Alberto made a fantastic hot chocolate and had it bought to our room when the rain fell torrentially for two hours.

More rainQuirky light in the corner of our room??

We only spent two nights at Alberto’s but fitted a lot into our day and a half.

The first day we hiked the Dian Fossey trek. It was as hard as any part of Kilimanjaro mainly because of the ankle deep mud for much of the walk. As the gorillas live in rainforest and it is the beginning of their rainy season the whole walk is peppered with marshy land and deep mud. Despite this and not getting to see any gorillas we still really enjoyed our trek which was enhanced by the company of a lovely American couple. Our guide could have been more informative but was very quiet only pointing out the main areas of interest and otherwise chatting to the porters. We didn’t really understand the need for these on a three/four hour hike but our American friends insisted they were necessary to carry their lunch and water and pull them out of the deepest patches of mud.🤣

Rob’s driving skills were again put to the test as we drove along a 2km route, that I can’t even begin to describe, to the start of our hike. I honestly think that if the guide hadn’t been travelling with us we would have taken one look at it and made an about turn but as it was there was no turning back. I have never been so pleased to arrive somewhere, luckily the beauty of the hike made us forget we still had to go back.😩

We also discovered one of the gorillas buried beside Dian Fossey was called Effie! I can’t believe you named your gorgeous girl after a gorilla Libs.🤣🤣

Once we arrived back to our room we decided to watch Gorillas in the Mist as we’d heard and seen so much of what took place and where. Rob hadn’t seen it before and it’s been a long time since I watched it so it seemed like a good idea. We are both loving it but haven’t finished it yet as WiFi is fairly intermittent across Africa. Still, it’s something to look forward to each night and quite exciting never knowing how much we’ll get through before the thingy starts to spin.

Our second day was spent canoeing the beautiful river Mukungwa. It was so, so peaceful and relaxing and our lovely guide Eloi, with his perfect English and unbelievable knowledge of every bird on the river bank was the perfect companion.

There were lots of highlights throughout the three hour trip but our main ones were two lots of rapids, the first one nearly capsized us and the second one was through an amazing narrow tunnel of sugar beet where we saw a malachite Kingfisher up really close. We didn’t get a picture as we were struggling to stay upright in the canoe but Eloi said he did and will forward them on soon.😊

Another highlight was courtesy of some young boys. We could hear children’s voices beside the river but couldn’t see anyone until Eloi pointed them out about forty feet up the trees. The way they can climb the trunks that have no branches for the first twenty feet is amazingIt’s not easy to see but high up in the second tree from the right is a child. There were a few others up there too but he’s probably the clearest.

We also loved this little fellow who as soon as he saw the canoes coming, stripped off, jumped in the water and clambered into Eloi’s canoe. He rode along for a little while before jumping out and swimming across to be reunited with dry land. He wasn’t at all camera shy and was delighted to be the subject of my photography.

Just like the roads, the river was teeming with people in some parts and with wildlife in others.A traditional dug out canoe

A stork – just for you Maria

People all along the river bank

Captain of the canoe

Such a great trip thanks to Eloi and Kingfisher Journeys – highly recommended if you’re ever in Rwanda.

We drove back to Kigali that afternoon and spent our last night at the Martin Aviator Hotel before our early morning flight to Lusaka in Zambia.

Martin Aviator Hotel – only place with a free room as the Family Planning Convention took place in Kigali. Maybe they need to improve their provision of access to Television.🤣🤣

I’m sorry – that was meant to be a short catch up but Rwanda was amazing and I’m already planning a return visit.😊