Annie and Catherine in NYC

After a long and lonely stretch of no visitors, Annie and Catherine came to visit us in early June! This picture shows us celebrating Annie's birthday with a world famous frozen hot chocolate and an apple pie sundae.

Who knew there is an Engineers' Gate at Central Park? We're thinking really hard because that's what engineers do.

The highlight was going to the Live with Regis & Kelly! show. Standing in the rain for two hours before most New Yorkers wake up paid off nicely with front row seats! Regis wasn't there so adorable and charming Anderson Cooper co-hosted instead. Sorry Regis, but we didn't miss you.

Annie and Anderson during a commercial break. I'm sure they would've really hit it off if they had gotten the chance to meet.

The Shoes That Went the Distance

These flip flops may not look like much but they are no ordinary shoes. After 5 years of wear and trekking through an estimated 12 countries, not to mention countless miles back home, Andrea's teva flip flops finally bit the dust in Cape Town when one of the thongs broke.

Teva, if you are reading this and think it is a good advertisement for your product, feel free to send Andrea a new pair for free, size 8 1/2 please.

Back Home

Saturday morning we began our series of flights to get home. First Victoria Falls to Johannesburg, then to Dakar, Senegal, and finally to JFK. Luckily we gained a lot of time flying westward and arrived early Sunday morning. We are tired and nursing mosquito bites but had a great time and would do it all over again if we could. Our tour was awesome as we got to see a lot and make new friends. We also very much enjoyed our time in Cape Town.

You can tell how long we've been traveling by the length of Randy's beard.

Victoria Falls - February 26-28

We ended our tour in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. Due to the political and economic state of the country, Zimbabwe is a damaged country right now. You can't use a credit card anywhere and they won't accept their own currency so it's essential to have cash in either U.S. dollars or South African rand and lots of small bills since you probably won't be getting change. We stocked up on food and water before entering the country because we'd heard the grocery stores wouldn't be well stocked. Many stores and restaurants are closed down completely.

The town of Victoria Falls is cute but empty. Every time we left the hostel we would be immediately surrounded by people trying to sell us various crafts like wood carvings. They didn't just ask for money but also wanted to trade for our flip-flops or socks, anything we could give them.

Every day people from Zimbabwe cross the bridge into Zambia just to buy basic groceries like bread and fruit. The country is also suffering from a cholera outbreak but not in the Victoria Falls area.

Here is what hyperinflation looks like - a note for one hundred trillion dollars that is worth pretty much nothing.


Zimbabweans do have this beautiful landmark to be proud of. Because of the low volume of tourists right now we had Victoria Falls National Park almost to ourselves. The falls are called one of the seven natural wonders of the world and they did not disappoint. Over twice the height and width of Niagara, these spectacular falls stretch for over a mile along the Zambia/Zimbabwe border and push out 184 million gallons of water per minute.

Despite all the problems, we did feel reasonably safe while in Zimbabwe. The unrest in the country is mostly related to the political situation and therefore doesn't involve tourists. Even so, it was important to always be vigilant and aware because with such high numbers of desperate people its easy to see how the security conditions could deteriorate very quickly.

Chobe National Park - February 24-25

We visited Chobe National Park in northwestern Botswana and spent one night at a campsite in Kasane. The park has a very high concentration of elephants. We went on a sunset cruise on the Chobe River and saw lots of elephants bathing and drinking water along the riverbank. Our boat got really close to the elephants. We also saw kudu, impala, and baboons.

We went on a morning game drive and saw a buffalo and two lion. Game viewing is tough this time of year because it is rainy season and the vegetation is very dense.

Okavango Delta - February 22 - 24

We spent two nights camping in the bush in the Okavango Delta - a freshwater wetland in northern Botswana. The delta is beautiful and pristine with clear water and an impressive concentration of wildlife. To get to the delta we rode for 3 hours in a 4 x 4 truck from Maun and were then transported for another 2 hours to our campsite by mokoro, a traditional canoe made from a sausage tree. A poler stands on the end of the mokoro and pushes it through the waterways with a long pole. It is very relaxing to slide by the reeds and water lilies. We passed a hippo but luckily no crocodiles. They also used the canoes to transport our cooking equipment and tents to the campsite. We were specifically instructed not to leave the campsite without being accompanied by a guide because of safety concerns with the animals.


Our polers and guides were from a nearby village called Ditshiping. They grew up in the area and are very knowledgeable of the land and plants and animals. We went on bush walks to look for animals. We also went swimming in the waters of the delta, which was fun until Andrea found a leach on her finger and then everyone wanted out.

This might happen to you if you ride in a mokoro.


Sunrise at our campsite


Early morning bush walk


Giraffe

On our final night, the polers entertained us with song and dance around the campfire. Afterward they asked us if we could sing them a song. The one song we could come up with between all our nationalities was Wonderwall by Oasis.

Maun, Botswana - February 21

We arrived in the city of Maun (rhymes with town). This little city serves as the gateway to the Okavango Delta. We took a flight over the delta and saw herds of elephant, giraffe, and lots of hippos.

The delta from the air. That little spot near the center is a hippo.

This is how we lived for six nights. The hardest part was setting up and taking down the tent everyday. Luckily Randy is from the wilderness of South Georgia and his inner bushman really came out during this trip.