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Sunday, August 9, 2015

Southern Africa

MH and I are lucky to be able to travel regularly and I always plan on posting travel photos on this blog, but almost never do. But I really have to share some photos from a recent holiday in southern Africa.

We spent a bit over three weeks travelling through Namibia, Botswana and ending up on both sides of Victoria Falls. Wow! It was more amazing than I ever could have expected. We really only chose southern Africa because we could only take our holidays in June this year and June is either busy northern hemisphere or winter southern hemisphere. We thought maybe southern Africa, while being winter, would still be pleasant.

It was a great time to visit, if you can stand the freezing cold morning starts (and you'll have lots of those if you want to spot animals!).

Namibia is fantastic, and if you've ever wanted to visit Africa, but felt intimidated by it - it is a great place to start. You can drink the water, the roads are good (and wearing seat belts is the law) and most of the country does not have malaria. And then of course there are amazing sights and lovely people!

Here are some of my happy animal snaps (well, I was happy to snap them and then leave the animals to live their wild lives).

 
Giraffe, Etosha NP, Namibia.
They are easy to spot as you can see them a long way off!

Young male lion, Etosha NP, Namibia.
He completely ignored us, had a drink from a water hole and then walked into the distance.

Rhino, Etosha NP, Namibia.
If you see what looks like a big rock - it is probably a rhino!
Every time we saw a rhino I sent up a prayer that it would keep its horn.

Cheetah, Etosha NP, Namibia
We didn't see him run after prey, but seeing him at all was a treat.

  
Not for the weak stomached.
Lionesses with a kill (to the left of the shrub), surrounded by vultures.
Vultures were everywhere - on the ground, in the trees. There were probably easily around 50 of them. Waiting for their turn with the carcass.

Okavanga Delta, Botswana
We saw hippos here, but my photos aren't very good. I hope you enjoy the water lilies instead.

 Chobe River, Botswana
We sat in a boat and watched an elephant family cross the river. It was magical watching them help a very young and small elephant across - a real team effort.

 
Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
We saw the Vic Falls from both the Zimbabwe and Zambia sides - simply incredible (and wet!).

 Zebra, Zambia
This guy was hanging around a posh hotel where we had high tea and watched the sunset over the Zambezi River. I think he is a paid actor though, not a stray wild zebra. (But still a great opportunity to see one a bit closer up).


We were so lucky to be able to visit such amazing places and have the opportunity to see as many animals and sights as we did.

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