Time to go home...

We've all had a really interesting time here in Siem Reap, despite the heat and humidity, the 'organised chaos', and the occasional (or frequent, for some!) tummy problems.  The food was lovely, although with tummy problems we were not terribly adventurous this time.  We really enjoyed our Cambodian BBQ, even though a table of young people next to us were having a great laugh when we tried to eat the big slabs of fat (with chopsticks, too!) that were actually meant for putting on top of the BBQ to cook with!

Tonle Sap, Cambodia

Still submerged after recent flooding

We organised a trip through Beyond Unique Escapes to Tonle Sap, an enormous lake in the middle of Cambodia which is larger than the island of Singapore!  This lake is home to many floating villages, where families live on homes built on bamboo rafts, or stilt homes or boats.  The lake increases in depth by 9m or so every wet season, and the villages just 'go with the flow'.  About a month before we arrived in Siem reap all the outlying areas were over a metre under water from flooding, and many of these homes (on 9m stilts) were totally covered.  We could see all the water still covering the area when we flew into Siem Reap.  This flood has devastated the recent crops of rice, and affected the livelihood of many Cambodians.

Enjoying?? a fish spa

 

This is uploaded in Quicktime, so you may need to download it if you don't already have it. Check out the look on Trev's face!

Every Cambodian has a story....

During our 10 days here we've heard some interesting (and sad)stories from some of the people we've met.

One of our guides, Kim, took us to Tonle Sap, the huge lake in Cambodia that is larger than the island of Singapore.  On the way he told us of the first time he actually saw white people in 2003.  He was 20 years old at the time, and said he didn't understand what these 'strange white things with long noses' were!  He said:  "I asked myself what these things were - were they human, were they the same as me?'  We were absolutely astounded - until he explained that when he was young, there was no TV, no radio, as the Khmer Rouge had cut off access to the outside world. 

Temples, Tuk-Tuks and ... more temples!

Our driver, Pang, picked us up next morning in an air-conditioned van to take us to Angkor Wat.  We bought a 3-day Temple Pass for $40, which could be used within 7 days.  We first visited Angkor Thom, built in late 12th century, covering an area of 9 sq km.  Very impressive.  

We were, of course, assaulted by young street vendors offering books, silk scarves, bags and other assorted items. We managed to battle our way through unscathed, then moved on to the Terrace of the Elephants and the Terrace of the Leper King.  This was a huge area and was very interesting, except that there were were too many bloody tourists (jumping in front of my camera when I wanted to take a person-free photo) and it was soooo hot and humid.  And we did, of course, get caught by the next lot of vendors and I ended up buying 4 bags and 5 scarves!  Lorraine also bought several bags, and Trev bought a book.  How does this happen, I ask myself every time?

Siem Reap, Cambodia

Our next adventure is again in Asia - our first time in Cambodia, accompanied by our friends Lorraine and Bill who have also travelled to Thailand and Vietnam with us.  We left Canberra on 5 November flying Malaysian Airlines and arrived in Kuala Lumpur for a 7-hour layover at 3.00am next morning.  KL airport has an airside hotel, so we booked in to have a decent sleep, shower and breakfast before the 2-hour flight to Siem Reap.  It cost around $48 but was well worth it for the few hours of sleep after a long flight.

We arrived in Siem Reap and were transferred to the Frangipani Hotel ... we'd booked deluxe poolview rooms, but didn't know that we'd be on the 3rd floor, with no lift!  That's 64 stairs at least 3 times a day up and down for 10 days - do the maths, that's a lot of stairs.  We all should be super-skinny by the time we get home.  

Menindee Lakes - Yabbie Heaven

It was just a short drive from Broken Hill to Menindee where we planned to stay for 2 or 3  nights.  The road was quite different to when we here last (2009) - green or grey shrubs and trees lined the highway, virtually covering the thick red dust that we drove through before.   We drove up to the Menindee Lake Lookout which used to overlook a huge, empty, dusty lakebed - well, there was water as far as the eye could see.

Quite a different outlook, especially along 'Sunset Strip', a small 'exclusive' suburb just outside Menindee, which was supposed to be a holiday village overlooking the lake - we drove in here in 2009 and found a cluster of dilapidated, tired old houses on the edge of a large dustbowl.  This time, they actually did overlook the huge Menindee Lake, and obviously many of the homeowners were making the most of the change in view, as they had their homes up for sale, hoping to 'cash in' now that there was water.

Flinders Ranges & Wilpena Pound

We hopped into the Rangie at 8.30am next day, ready to do one of the 4WD tracks up to Mt Gill, rated as 'hard' by the homestead managers.  It's a 54km round trip, and should take around 5 hours to complete - sounds like a slow and steady day!  Well, Trev started the car and 'bang', she backfired.  Trev said a couple of choice words, then went to check what had happened - the lid of the air filter box had completely blown off and broken in about 4 places.  Not a good start. 

So it was out with the toolbox, the super glue, the epoxy glue and other assorted bits and pieces.  None of the above seemed to work at fitting the jigsaw back together, so then he tried his little butane soldering iron (thanks, Pete!) and tried 'spot-welding' and melting the plastic pieces together, and it seemed to work.  He put it all back together, tied the lid on with a strap, and 2 hours later we were ready to go.

Coober Pedy Slideshow

Click here to view some photos from Coober Pedy

William Creek and a Flight over Lake Eyre

After refuelling and stocking up at the local supermarket, it was off to William Creek where we planned to do a flight over Lake Eyre.  It was another beautiful day, around 22 degrees, and we were heading into red dust country.  The scenery was amazing - miles and miles of nothingness, followed by plains of red gibber pebbles which looked red/purple from one direction, then as you passed and the sun caught them, they changed to shiny black.  Then big open claypans, followed by long red dunes covered in green shrubs of varying hues and a variety of wildflowers.  You could see 360degrees of totally flat land followed by red or white mountain ranges dotting the landscape. 

We went through Anna Creek Station, a working cattle property, which is bigger than Belgium or half the size of Britain!  We arrived at William Creek on the Oodnadatta Track,  where we had a drink at the hotel, then went across to the airfield to book our flight at 3.30pm.  We booked into the local campground and had lunch. 

Mildura to Coober Pedy

We left Mildura and headed to Renmark, hoping to find a nice spot to camp then have a Paddlesteamer cruise.  No luck, as the weather was still not good, so we carried on to a little town called Burra, where we camped at the local showground.  Good value, only $10 per night, with power, showers and toilets.  We'll have to look out for more of these on our travels - beats caravan parks hands down.

Bright and early next morning we packed up and headed for Port Pirie.  We dropped into the local tourist info centre and viewed the white pointer shark that had been caught locally - all 5.4metres of her!  Quite impressive.  The tourist info centres at each place we visit are a mine of information - most of the staff are really well informed about their area and have lots of tips for visitors - we love them.  We had lunch at Port Pirie at Barnacle Bill's, which was actually in an old church - quite different and a bit weird!

Trying to outrun the rain - and failing!

Well, Trev decided it was time for us to visit the Flinders Ranges and also check out Lake Eyre while it still has water in it - so, despite the fact that it's winter and we're heading west instead of north, here we are on our next adventure.

We left on Friday morning and arrived in Yarrawonga, Vic in the afternoon.  We dropped into the visitors information centre (very helpful), got some maps then set up camp at Forge's Bend on the Murray River, just past Yarrawonga.  It was a nice area and we got a fire going to cook a tasty beef stroganoff in our camp oven.  It started to get a bit chilly, but we enjoyed sitting by the fire eating and drinking to a beautiful moonrise over the river.  Very pretty.  A couple of drinks, then bed.

I was fast asleep when I was suddenly woken by Trev saying: "Something just crawled over my head!'  He switched on the light, and we checked the bed, where I discovered a small furry animal, (bigger than a mouse but smaller than a rat) crawling along the channel at the top of our slide-out bed - it quickly ran along the edge, then disappeared through a tiny hole to the outside!  Seriously, this was a little unsettling!  But we were both happy that it was something like a marsupial mouse, rather than a rather large spider - I don't think either of us would have slept well.  Trev called him 'My mate Murray, the Marsupial Mouse.'

So, next morning we were off to Echuca.  The plan was to spend a couple of days there, have a trip in a paddlesteamer, check out a couple of wineries etc.   We found a campsite near Christie's beach on a really pretty bend on the river, then headed into town to find about Paddlesteamers and wineries.  We were in the old Port town which has been restored really well, has lots of character, where we found we could do a paddlesteamer and lunch at Morrison's Winery trip for a reasonable price, a perfect combination.  So we planned to come back the next day and do that, weather permitting.  Back to camp where we again got the fire going and had chilli con carne in the camp cooker - lovely.

Of course, overnight the rain started - not too heavily, but enough to spoil our plans  for the next day - neither of us particularly wanted to sit on a paddlesteamer in the rain and pretend we were having a good time, so early next morning we packed up and decided to try and outrun the rain and head for Mildura.  So we are now sitting in a caravan park just outside Mildura enjoying the pitter-patter of rain on the roof, hoping that tomorrow the weather will clear up and we can either do a paddlesteamer cruise here or in Renmark.  So, a good start so far.  Hopefully my next instalment will be a bit more interesting!  

Moonrise over the Murray river

Ballito on the Indian Ocean

The last leg of our journey - Coco de Mer Boutique Hotel at Ballito, on the Indian Ocean.  This was a very 'trendy' upmarket hotel one street back from the ocean, in a lovely area of Ballito.  Our room was large and well-furnished, with a balcony from which we could catch sea views.  The gardens and swimming pool area were lovely, and very tropical.

We had three nights in Ballito, and ate twice at the in-house restaurant, La Fiamma.  I have to say, the food here was absolutely mouth-watering, and again service was excellent, and very friendly.  Dinner was accompanied by a very nice wine:  Zevenwacht by Tin Mine.  It was so good we had two bottles!  We had quite a bit of seafood here on the coast, and they certainly know how to cook calamari - it just melts in your mouth - no sinewy, chewy bits!


The morning after we arrived we went for a walk on the boardwalk which extends all the way along the local beaches.  As this is obviously a holiday spot for both South Africans and overseas visitors (a lot of English people, I suspect) some of the beaches were quite busy.  

The area is well populated, but high-rise buildings have been kept to a minumum.  One of the things that surprised us was how much security (as in high walls, alarms, electric fences and barbed wire - even razor wire!) was in evidence around the majority of homes and resorts.  I asked our receptionist about it, as I found it quite disturbing - she said that basically it was a very safe area, but a lot of security had been installed 10-15 years ago when things were more unsettled.  It had now become the norm to have such a lot of security, especially as many of the homes there were holiday homes and unattended for a lot of the year.  But crime rates were relatively low, with the occasional burglary and car thefts.  She compared it to Johannesburg, where she had lived for a couple of years, and said there was still a lot of violence and crime there, and that living in Ballito was much more comfortable.

We had late lunch/early dinner at a pub/restaurant overlooking the beach, and again the food was fantastic.  My crumbed mushrooms were lovely, followed by steak and calamari (surf'n'turf) which just melted in my mouth, Trev had an entree of snails in garlic cheese sauce (which was also excellent) and a fish & chips dish.  We also had a couple of drinks with lunch and the total was less than $30 - good value.


We decided to hire a car for a day, as it was a 20 minute drive to Durban, buses did not seem to be around, and the only other choice was a taxi.  So off we went to Durban, where we had been told about some markets that were on that evening.  We eventually found them, but they were very disappointing - not a lot of stalls open, and nothing I really wanted to buy.  That kept Trevor happy, but wasn't so good for me!  So we decided to take a drive into the waterfront area.  Probably wasn't the best idea, cos we really didn't know where we were going or what we were going to do when we got there.  We found the waterfront, and I was hoping that there would be some markets or activity going on, but the stalls that were there were already closing up.  So it was a bit of waste of time really, but we did see a bit of Durban, which looks like a very cosmopolitan place and would be easy to live in.

The next morning we drove up to Ballito Junction and Lifestyle Centre to do a bit of shopping, hoping to find some souvenirs to bring home.  But it wasn't really a souvenir type of place, more like a general shopping centre back home.  We then drove to Shaka's Rocks and Salt Rock and checked out the beaches up there - all very nice and the countryside was beautiful.  We stopped for lunch at The Waterberry Tea Gardens, and again had a lovely meal at a very reasonable price.  Service was a bit slow, but they tell you that when you read the menu, so you can't really complain.  It's a place where they serve good 'slow' food - exactly as advertised!

We dropped the car back, then made our way back to Coco de Mer where we had a refreshing swim in the pool, followed by dinner again at La Fiamma for our last night in Africa - just beautiful.

We had a lovely time here, but my only comment is that Ballito could be a coastal holiday area anywhere in the world - I didn't get the feeling that I was in South Africa at all.

Bright and early next morning we were picked up for our transfers to the airport - heading home via Singapore.

We have had an absolutely amazing time in Africa.  We stayed in three very different lodges/hotels in three very different areas and saw some incredible sights.  Each one was fantastic in its own way, and I'm glad that we chose to do it this way.  It gave us a little taste of Africa and left us wanting more.  

Overall, we were surprised at the quality and low prices of food and the excellent service at all the places we visited - Australia could certainly learn a few lessons from Africa.  We found that in Ballito we could buy a large 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment with sea views, swimming pool in the complex, garage and carport for around $180,000 - what a bargain, compared to Australian prices!!  And sea views included - unbelievable!


Our trip was put together by Catherine at Go2Africa - over several months and many changes of mind, we ended up with a memorable African experience, and I can certainly recommend this company if you're thinking of venturing into the dark continent.

Last Morning at Pondoro - then off to Ballito

We finished off our stay at Pondoro Lodge with one last game drive - how keen are we???  Getting up at 5.00am four days in a row was a bit of a stretch, but we managed it.  And we're so glad we did.  Ryno and Eryk were in constant radio contact with a couple of other drivers and managed to track down the same pride of lions that we had met previously - only this time instead of sleeping, they were on the move.  It was so exciting, being surrounded by 11 lions who just walked all around our vehicle, giving us totally bored, disdainful looks as if to say:  'Not you guys again!'  We spent a lot of time watching, following and of course, photographing, them.  What a great way to finish off our stay.

When we got back to the lodge for breakfast we headed for our usual breakfast table, but Chantelle caught us and said we were not having breakfast there, they had something special for us.  So she led us away from the lodge and down to the riverbank where they had set up a table overlooking the river.  Then the staff took our orders and served us breakfast there before we went up to finish our packing.  How lovely!

We said our goodbyes then it was back on the road for a 3 hour transfer to the airport.  At least this time it was daylight and we actually got to see a lot of the countryside, which was very picturesque.  And the road system was very good too - it would be an easy place to drive through.


We arrived at the airport in good time, and had lunch there before getting on the plane.  We had quiche and salad and coffees at a little airport restaurant which actually had cloth napkins and cloth serviettes - the food was very good and cost only around $14 for the two of us - can't get that at Sydney airport, or any Australian airport for that matter!  And the service was excellent!


The flight was good and we arrived in Durban for our transfer to Ballito (about 20mins down the road) around 4.00pm.  Again, the roads were excellent - Trev was most impressed!  We stayed at Coco de Mer, a boutique hotel right on the coast... more in my next post.

Pondoro Lodge - Wow!

After a 3 hour drive from Nelspruit Airport we finally arrived at Pondoro Lodge in Kruger National Park around 8.30pm.  And what a place!  We were greeted by Lize, the general manager, and taken on a long trek to our room - the Buffalo Suite.  Wow, it was amazing!  A huge thatched 'hut' with an enormous living area, bedroom,  and open bathroom area, all with huge windows leading onto a large deck overlooking the Oliphants River.  The furnishings were all very modern and interesting, with an African twist - desk and vanity unit held up with twisted tree trunks, a huge red painting of a buffalo hanging over the bed, outdoor shower built around a tree trunk on the deck...... wonderful!

After sorting our luggage and getting changed we were then escorted to the dining area back at the main lodge area by one of the staff - at night you have to be escorted by a security person with a torch, as animals can be in the scrub around you. 

Dinner was served on a large deck overlooking the river, kerosene lamps on every table, trees overhead - it looked amazing.  Our first dinner was:  Chunky corn soup, followed by Ostrich fillet with almond couscous, African ratatouille and creamy basil pesto sauce, finishing with a sticky date pudding and vanilla ice cream, and African coffee.  All courses were beautifully presented and tasted wonderful.  After dinner we were again escorted back to our room, to prepare for our first game drive at 5.30am next morning - yes, 5.30am!  

Well, at 5.00am next morning we had a knock on the door (our wake-up call), we had to be up and ready in 15 minutes to be escorted to the dining area for tea/coffee before our drive.  We were driven by Robbie, the general manager, with Renson as our tracker, in an open-topped 11-seater 4WD Toyota.  We climbed into the back seat, greeted 4 other guests, then we were off into the scrub for our first drive.  It was quite cool (make that freezing) hurtling along the tracks early in the morning, and I hadn't brought a jacket (just a long-sleeved top), so I was wrapped up in a blanket for much of the trip - I'll be better prepared for the next drive! 

We struck it lucky early on in the drive - we found a lone bull elephant having breakfast at the side of the track, so Robbie went off-road and came around right next to him so we could take photos and observe him close-up.  It was awesome!  We didn't seem to bother him, and he just continued pulling up roots of trees and chomping on them.  Then one of the young girls in the front of the vehicle slid over on her seat rather noisily, and startled the elephant who suddenly turned and walked right at us, flapped his ears and squealed!  He then walked right around the front of the vehicle, where our tracker, Renson, was sitting on an elevated seat right out in front - he turned and stood right in front of Renson's face, ears out, and stared him down - I took a photo right at this moment, and this is the result - one of my favourite photos and moments of the whole trip!  

When the elephant looked like he might come further forward, Robbie started the car and drove forward towards the elephant who then backed off, and resumed eating.  After observing him for about half an hour, we then continued on our drive, then stopped for coffee/hot chocolate at a rocky outcrop overlooking the mountains.

We hopped back in the truck then tracked down a group of white rhinos - we observed them for a while, and Robbie radioed their location to our other vehicle, who also arrived and took photos.   During our first drive we spotted beautiful birds, elephants, rhinos, impala, warthogs, giraffes, and zebras - a good morning's work.  Getting up at 5.00am has its rewards!

After a good hearty breakfast at around 9.30, we went for a walk with Eryk, one of the trackers, who was toting a rifle for security.  We wandered through the bush as he pointed out various trees, shrubs, animal tracks and poo (yes, I did say that!), then headed down to the river where we spotted one large crocodile sunning himself on a small island in the river, and shortly after that we saw a young croc.  We were looking for hippos but were unlucky that day.

Later the same afternoon we went out for our first evening game drive with Ryno and Eryk.  We bumped into a black-backed jackal shortly after starting, and saw numerous zebras, a family of elephants and a chameleon - as well as a beautiful sunset.

During our stay we went on 7 game drives, each one revealing something different and magical each time.  On our second morning, Ryno asked what we would like to see - I replied that I would really like to see lions, so off we went.  And incredibly, they tracked down a pride of 11 lions lying in some dense scrub after a big night of hunting!  We sat only a few metres away from them, taking photos and talking in hushed voices, while they just ignored us - fantastic! 

On our next evening drive, Ryno again asked us what we would like to see - Trev replied, "We'd like to see a hippo and a leopard, both at the same time!"  Ryno replied that he'd certainly do his best, but couldn't guarantee it.  Well, we arrived at a dam where a hippo was clearly visible, together with a crocodile lazing on the banks of the dam.  So we ticked that one off, and had our 'sundowners' (beer and wine) at the top of the dam. 

After we packed up and hopped back into the truck, Eryk murmured 'leopard' and shone his spotlight to the left of our vehicle, where a beautiful big leopard was strolling along!  We were so excited, and the leopard passed in front of our vehicle where we had been standing having a drink just moments before!  He wandered around for a while while we took photos and movies, then wandered off into the scrub, where Ryno started following him.  We tracked him for a good half hour through dense scrub in the dark - it was just amazing.  So not only did Trev get his hippo and leopard at the same spot, but he also got a crocodile thrown in for free!  What a great day - lions in the morning followed by hippo, leopard and crocodile in the evening.

On our last day we decided we would still do the morning drive, even though we were leaving for Durban after breakfast.  What a good decision - shortly after starting, Ryno got word that a group of lions was on the move at a particular location.  We headed in that direction and eventually found them - the same pride we had seen a couple of days previously, only this time they were walking in front of, around and behind the truck - magic!  We stayed with them for around half an hour and I took numerous photos and movies.

Then it was back to the lodge for breakfast and packing to go to Ballito.  We usually had breakfast on the deck, but this time we were escorted to our own private breakfast table on the bank overlooking the river - it was just lovely, and a nice touch to finish on.

We had an absolutely wonderful stay at Pondoro Game Lodge - the food was fantastic (the lodge has won awards for it, and we got to taste impala, ostrich and kudu), the staff, guides and trackers were lovely and very knowledgeable, our suite was just amazing, and the game was plentiful.  And the pool was good, too, athough we only got to use it once, we were so exhausted!  We would definitely recommend Pondoro to anyone going to South Africa to view the wildlife.

Next stop - Ballito on the Indian Ocean ....

Zambia on the Zambezi

It's a long, long way to Africa from Sydney - but fortunately we were flying Singapore Airlines, who have to be one of the best airlines in the world, even in cattle class.  Seats were comfortable (even for Trev's long legs), service was prompt, food and drinks were delivered without fuss, and a couple of Singapore Slings helped to pass the time.

Johannesburg airport was surprisingly good, easy to get around - except that Trev and I actually left the international airport and entered the domestic airport for our flight to Livingstone, Zambia.  We obviously weren't thinking straight after about 26 hours of travelling, cos although we knew when we left Australia that Zambia is actually another country, we totally forgot it when we arrived in Johannesburg.   We blamed it on tiredness, Singapore Slings, and just plain stupidity!  Luckily, a porter explained our stupidity  to us, and we were on the right track.  Several hours later we arrived in Livingstone for the start of our African Adventure.

We arrived at Chundukwa Lodge on the Zambezi River at about 2.00pm local time.  This is a rustic lodge with cabins built on stilts overlooking the Zambezi - our first 'over-water bungalow'!  It takes a maximum of 10 guests, and each cabin is open to the river (no windows), with a fully mosquito-netted bed in the centre.

We had a late lunch, then settled into our room before joining other guests for a sunset cruise on the Zambezi.  This was lovely - we spotted our first hippo (although I only have photos of his ears and eyes above the water), lots of beautiful birds, a waterbuck and a couple of impala.  The river was beautiful, and we had wine and munchies on the boat while we watched the sun go down.  A lovely introduction to Zambia.  After a lovely homecooked meal of roast pork with Charmaine, our manager, and other guests, we had an early night  and slept like logs.

Next morning we had coffee in our room, followed by a good breakfast in the main eating area.  Then it was off to visit Victoria Falls and do our helicopter flight.  This was amazing!  After some discussion we elected to do the half hour flight instead of just 15 mins, as  this included a flight through the gorge at low level.  Twice the price but well worth it!  Seeing the falls from the air was unbelievable - as the water is very high at this time of the year, much of the falls were hard to see as the mist rises so far into the sky and returns to the earth as very heavy rain.  Something like 9million litres of water per second (or minute, can't remember which) drops over the falls!  The view was amazing, and we circled the falls a couple of times before dropping down into the gorge to follow the Zambezi.  I filmed this as we twisted and turned through the gorge, trying not to feel sick - fantastic.  Then we flew over the Mosi ao Tunya National Park and spotted some elephants, wildebeest and warthogs before returning to the heliport.

Then our guide, Bright, drove us to the falls for our walk where we were greeted by baboons and their babies.  We were advised to take a change of clothing, as we might get a bit wet, and to make sure that my camera was in a waterproof bag so it didn't get damaged.  Bright also had ponchos for us to wear through the wetter areas.  Well, we got soaked!  Even with ponchos and hats  the amount of heavy 'mist' that we walked through was unbelievable.  More like torrential rain!  What we could see of the falls was just stunning, but when we went across the bridge, we totally lost sight of the falls due to the immense amount of water coming down at us.  When we got back to the car, we were soaking, laughing, and had to use a towel to dry off.  An incredible walk!  From there we went to the bridge linking Zambia and Zimbabwe and watched a few people bungee jump and gorge swing - and no, we were not tempted in the least.  We've jumped out of a plane, and that will do us.

We had a quick trip to the craft markets, visited the David Livingstone Museum, and then finished off with a drive around the local food and clothing markets to see how the locals live.  Very interesting.

On the way back to the lodge we stopped on the side of the road to watch a giraffe eating leaves on his side of the road. We thought that was fantastic, but just a km or two down the road we stopped at a white  rhino doing his impersonation of a 'victa'. The rhino was complete with his personal armed guard, (nice big Kalishnikov rifle). All rhinos in Zambia have armed guards with them 24 hrs a day. They are there, not to protect you from the rhino, but to protect the rhino from you.  You get the feeling they would shoot you long before they'd shoot the rhino!

We arrived back at the lodge where we had dinner, then found that a hippo had come to play in the garden!  He was near the dam area, munching on grass, and we had the torches out to spot him.  We were warned not to get between him and the river, as that is where most 'hippo-related deaths' occur - they're not actually trying to hurt people, it's just that they want to get back to their patch of water, and people get in the way.

On the next morning we had arranged to visit the local village and preschool with Levy,  who works at Chundukwa lodge.  We sailed up the river and got out at Natural Mystic Lodge, which was amazing, we walked through the property and into Levy's village.  He told us stories about his village and how they had got together to form a preschool which operated out of their local church (basically a large mud hut) during the week.  The govt school was too far away for most of the children to travel to each day.  The school was run mainly on donations and help from the local community, with no government funding.   We took a collection of pens, pencils, stickers, textas etc as a small contribution to their school.  When we arrived, all the children sang a 'welcome' song to us - it was very touching. 

From there we walked back to the river and onto the boat, where Levy took us to Tongabezi Lodge - here they'd established a school which started off as a small school for the children of staff who worked at the lodge.  Then it grew to cover primary to year 10, with currently around 180 children attending.  We were given a tour by Beth the admin person, who was so enthusiastic about the programs and opportunities they were giving these young people.  A lot of the students are orphans (many parents died of HIV/Aids  related illnesses) and they are well looked after by the school and the community.  It was a really interesting and humbling experience to see how much work is being done on very little money and the sponsorship of individuals.

On the trip to and from Chundukwa, Levy sailed us past a group of about 20 elephants frolicking on the banks of the river - they were bathing, playfighting and throwing dust over themselves to dry off.  He managed to get within 10 metres of the group and we just sat there quietly watching their interaction.  Magic!  What a great day.

Back at the lodge we had lunch then had a swim in the very cool pool, then relaxed for the afternoon.  In the evening, just before dinner, the lodge suffered a power outage, so it was out with the candles, torches, and we had dinner by candlelight with Chairmaine, the manager.

So, on our first 3 days in Zambia we've seen elephants, baboons, hippos, a white rhino, a giraffe, impala, waterbucks and assorted colourful birds.  Not a bad start.  Next we're off to Pondoro Private Game Reserve in Kruger National Park, South Africa for the next part of our adventure.

Escape to Africa

We're sitting at Sydney airport waiting for our flight to Johannesburg via Singapore. About to start our next adventure. Watch this space!

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Island time - Vanuatu style

I'm always on the lookout for good travel deals, and just before Christmas I spotted a really good package to Vanuatu - 7 nights including airfares, accommodation at Poppy's on the Lagoon and breakfasts.  I mentioned it to Trev (who didn't say 'no') and suddenly I've booked a week's holiday in January.  We had visited Vanuatu six years earlier (on our honeymoon) so had a good idea of what to expect.  We were just looking for some quiet time, a bit of snorkelling, good food and a relaxing holiday after our busy Christmas/New Year season.

We flew Pacific Blue - basic airline, no food provided, but plenty of leg room, and it was only a short flight, so we were happy with that.  One of the big advantages of flying Pacific Blue rather than Air Vanuatu is that you arrive in the middle of the day, rather than late in the evening, so you can actually get your bearings when you arrive and it's not a 'wasted' night.

Our transfer was good, and we were provided with ice cold towels soon as we got into the van - excellent, as the humidity was unbelievable. We checked into Poppy's, a smaller 'boutique' style resort right on the Erakor Lagoon, and then a couple of the staff took our luggage and led us to our room - well, it was quite a climb up many steep steps and I'm glad that we didn't have to carry our own luggage!  Certainly not for the unfit or the elderly!  However, our studio apartment was a good size with a full kitchen, modern bathroom and balcony with chairs and a table overlooking the lagoon.  I've posted a review of Poppy's on TripAdvisor if you're interested.

We settled in then had a chat with Gary, the manager, who gave us some ideas of where to go, what to do, how to use the local buses, and he recommended some restaurants for us to try.  One of the first things to do, of course, was to have a dip in one of the two pools - it was so hot and humid, so the pool was lovely and refreshing.  We had a meal at the 'Banana Leaf Cafe' at Poppy's, and it was very good - prawn mango curry and a beef curry.  Although the resort doesn't have a 'restaurant' the cafe provided good food at a reasonable price throughout the day.

Next day, we managed to catch up with our daughter, Sharon, and her family who were also holidaying at Warwick Le Lagon in Port Vila.  We swam in their many pools, had lunch at Aqua on Erakor Island, snorkelled in the lagoon, then finished off with a beautiful seafood buffet at Le Lagon's restaurant.

We caught the local buses (stand anywhere and flag down a van with a red 'B' on the rego plate) and visited Mele Cascades, which are a series of gorgeous waterfalls and rockpools in the Mele area.  It was a warm walk up to the main waterfool, but so refreshing to cool off in the pools in the middle of the dense green jungle.

We revisited Hideaway Island for a spot of snorkelling - again, we used the local bus, then paid 1000 vatu (around $10) to catch the ferry over to the island.  We took our own snorkelling gear, and had a fabulous day watching the colourful fish and soft corals in these beautiful waters.  The beach is entirely made up of crushed coral, so it's not comfortable to walk on - reef shoes are a necessity!

One of the restaurants that Gary, our manager, had recommended was Le Rendezvous which overlooks Port Vila Harbour, so we checked it out one evening, and had a lovely meal there.  Trev ordered a filet steak, which was cooked just as he liked it and I splashed out and had a whole lobster.  It was beautiful, the service was excellent, and we had a good chat with a couple of the waitresses there.

We did book one trip, the Coongoola Cruise, but we were very disappointed with it - our guide was totally disinterested in the whole thing, she told us very little about where we were going, what we were supposed to be doing, and did not communicate well at all with her clients;  we didn't go out to the advertised beach, apparently because of the previous week's cyclone;  the turtle rookery was not explained at all - she just told us to read the signs!  The snorkelling was pretty ordinary at the first site, but the second site was better.  Then at the end of the day, we sat on the boat in the middle of Havannah Harbour for over an hour, waiting for some people from a dive boat to get back - when they weren't even on our tour????  We did mention our disappointment to the tourist agent when we returned, and apparently several other people had complained about it.  We ended up getting half of our money back, which was of some help, but unfortunately we had a disappointing day.


On our last evening we went to another restaurant recommended to us by Gary (and many reviews on Trip Advisor), Villa Chaumieres on Emtoo Lagoon.  It was a lovely way to end our holiday - the setting was gorgeouos, on a jetty over the lagoon, the food was scrumptious, and the service was very good.  I also posted a review of this restaurant on TripAdvsor.


If you're looking for a relaxing tropical holiday in a place with friendly smiling people, good food, that's easy to get around, then try Vanuatu - we love it.