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Bwanji, (hello in Nyanja, a language spoke in Zambia)

I saw one of the seven natural wonders of the world this weekend! Although it took a lot of effort and adventure to get there. Friday night we waited for our bus at 6pm, although as expected it was late. It didn't arrive until after 8, then we drove around at the station for probably an hour and a half because they couldn't find the 2nd bus driver, but we couldn't exactly tell what the hold up was. All the meanwhile a crazy many on the bus kept ranting and yelling at the bus company, made it a little hard to sleep.

The bus was 3 seats on 1 side, 2 on the other, doesn't leave much room for anything. And no bathroom. Although the bus driver would stop if you asked him to, there wasn't much of a stop anywhere. This meant finding a corner or a bush that was somewhat but not really out of view so you could do your business. By the 2nd time I had to go to the bathroom I really wished I was a guy, would've made things much easier! The few times we did stop at a gas station or a place with an outhouse, the line was too long, there was no toilet paper, and the smell was repulsive (so bad I even choose to find a place outside to pee many times). We also stopped in the middle of the night at a foot and mouth disease check point. This meant that we all had to get off the bus with all our stuff, and walk through this muddy liquid to get rid of any chance of transferring the disease. I also got sick at 2am until about 7, so my bus ride was a little less than enjoyable across the bumpy roads of northern botswana.

But nonetheless we made it to the border of Zambia and Botswana, paid our fee, got stamped and were on our way. We took a ferry across the river (where you can see Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe) and managed to convince a taxi driver to drive all 5 of us to Livingstone where the hostel was. Although there were 2 check points along the way so we met his friend and 2 of us jumped in his car to get us through the check points...lets just say this all made for a very interesting morning.

The rest of the day was great, we got settled into our 3 bunk bed room and headed to town. We found this great restaurant called Cafe Zambezi where we met the owner and his girlfriend. They had just opened the week before and the food was amazing! He even gave us a free pizza so we could tell him how it was. he then gave us a lift in the back of his bakkie (truck) to the craft market. People in Zambia are so nice!

Sunday started off early with an elephant ride. yes I said elephant. We each mounted a elephant with an elephant trainer. The company has about 7 elephants. They ride them twice a day, then feed them and let them graze on their own for the rest of the day. Since they are still out in the national park, there are wild elephants as well. One day the wild elephants took one of the females. She stayed with them a while, but then came back to the domesticated herd with a baby, Chabaruka, who gladly let me ride her. She is now 7 years old and plays mother to a 2 year old baby elephant the company found abandoned in the bush. The ride was amazing and just over an hour long. We walked through the bush as my guide told me about the park and the herd. We even went passed a tributary of the Zambezi river, which was beautiful early in the morning. After our walk we got to feed our animals, then they saluted us/thanked us.

We then spent the afternoon in the Victoria falls park. We walked right and were standing right over the falls, only about 20 feet from the edge, spectacular view! We then rented some fashionable ponchos and walked to the opposite side to view the falls. Glad we splurged the $! on the ponchos because there is so much mist that when you walk across the bridge to view the falls you get soaked. Although on a hot day I would've just stood there without a poncho! We also saw double rainbows and people bungee jumping from a nearby bridge (I was really tempted to sign up for the bungee jumping but thought about how my mom would kill me and decided against it). We ended they day with a sunset cruise on the Zambezi river going up stream from the falls. Life doesn't suck. Monday we relaxed at the back packers lodge and enjoyed our last day in Zambia.

The ride back was even longer than the way up. We left our hostel at 5:30am and wouldn't arrive in Gabs until almost 11pm. There is no direct bus on the way back so after we crossed the border we took 2 different buses home. Although this time we stopped 4 times at hoof and mouth disease checkpoints which included getting all of our stuff searched. By the time we got off the bus for the 4th one it was just kind of a joke. And apparently now none of us have any shame with going to the bathroom outside, when you gotta go you gotta go. Although on the way back we grabbed toilet paper from the hostel (Jollyboys). It was really hard to take the day bus back because you couldn't really sleep much so you just were bored out of your mind, especially with just the bush to look at out the windows. The day buses are also much hotter which means much smellier. On our first 5 hour bus they had over booked it (on purpose to get more money) so that meant people stood in the aisle ways, all the while knocking into us with their elbow and butts. On our second bus we broke down a few times, overheating the engine and hanging out on the side of the rode until it cooled off and we could get going again. As some of my friend say here, "Ah this is Africa". It was quite the adventure.

Today was clinic, tomorrow is class and an exam I just found out about (hopefully my setswana doesn't fail me), then its off to a diamond mine and the Okavango Delta.

Go Siame.