We made it! After 30 days of safari, our adventure has come to an end. Jeff landed in San Francisco yesterday and I arrived in Cape Town two nights ago. We had a fantastic trip. Our Botswana portion was really good and we ended it by rafting down the Zambezi.

On the 23rd, we flew from Johannesburg to Maun, Botswana and met our guide and fellow camp mates. We got lucky and had a great group consisting of 3 Norwegians, two Brits, and two Yanks ( us of course ). The safari would take 10 days and cover 4 reserves; Okavango Delta, Moremi, Sauvuti, and Chobe. We immediately took a small plane to the heart of the Okavango Delta. The Delta sits in northern Botswana and is the largest untouched inland delta in the world. For two days, we were chauffeured around the various waterways in thin dug out boats called Makoros. Our guide poled us through lily pads, papyrus, and hippo highways, pointing out the birds and big game which would walk from island to island. We saw elephants wading through the water, giraffes, red lecher gazelle, and a ton of birds. The water was very clear and you could see the white sand just 4 to 6 feet below. We saw a ton of large storks and eagles and the rare Pel's Fishing Owl. It has incredibly big black, alien type eyes - a face right out of an X Files episode. We also got out and took a swim, very refreshing. Soon after, Phil and Mike ( the two Brits ), took another swim ( cameras and all ) when the Makoro tipped. It was quite the event. Apparantly, this was a first for the camp.

After another flight in a tiny Cessna, we drove to Moremi Game Reserve to the east and set up camp. We had a few visitors in camp over the next 3 days; an elephant, a hiena, and a puff adder ( poisenous ). Moremi has a river running through it and we saw more birds, hippos, a croc with a goose in it's mouth, a female lion on a waterbuck kill, and the other usual suspects.

From Moremi, we headed to Sauvuti where we lucked out on the big cats. After setting up camp, we immediately saw a female leopard in a tree with an impala kill. Later in the day, we saw her carry a bush buck gazelle up another tree in her mouth. Talk about strength and agility, wow! At one point she was sleeping in a tree with both animals hanging from different branches. It seemed fitting that Halloween was just a few days away. We also saw two large cheetahs calling to another cheetah or cubs. They make this very cat-unlike bird whistle call. The lions were interesting here too. We saw pride with a mom and her 3 two week old cubs. They were bopping all around and we saw her take them away for safe keeping for the remainder of the day. They are in danger from males in other prides. Speaking of which, we also came across an injured female. She had been injured by two males because she was outside her territory. We saw them fighting and later saw her lying under a tree. She probably did not make it through the next day. It was not very nice to see, but I guess that is how the natural world works. There are very clear lines - don't go outside your territory. Just like us. We also had another visitor in camp one night. A female lion parked it about 20 yards from our tent for an hour. She was making her call ( hard to describe, but you feel it as well as you hear it ) and I could hear lions from other directions responding.

The last reserve was Chobe which has a huge river and is known for its large elephant herds. We took a great sundowner river cruise and saw hundreds of elephants. Great sunset. We also had some intense card games with Phil and Mike. It was like the Ryder Cup of cards. I think the U.S.A. narrowly lost this round, unfortunately. Over the course of the trip, we had a lot of fun in the camps talking around the campfire. Our guides, Andy and Joe ( both local guys from Botswana ), were great. We also enjoyed some great lighting storms.

We wrapped things up in Victoria Falls. We had a group dinner at Boma's, a restaurant that serves all of the game we had viewed over the past weeks ( somewhat strange ). The wart hog and osterich were the best. They also had local dancers. The Zambezi rafting was great. It has 20 rapids, 5 of which are class 5 ( the highest rating possible ), and is advertised as the best one day raft trip in the world. We capsized once and we wished we would have capsized more. It was a ton of fun.

After 30 days of safari we are ready for something else. It was a fantastic adventure. Jeff, I'm glad you came along. I am so glad we could share all of those wonderful sunsets together . . . NOT!! We really did see a lot. It feels like a lifetime ago when we started in Arusha. I know Jeff will always remember those Flamingos ( inside joke: Jeff really enjoyed hiking into and out of Empakai Crater just see Flamingos that we then saw all over the place the next two days anyway. )

Well, now I have some down time in Cape Town and in two weeks I start my surfing safari. I am looking forward to that, and I am looking forward to coming home soon.