Starting 2025 in Africa 🌍

What a long awaited trip with my best friend whom I hadn't seen in seven years. We have both lived in south Africa before and booked the flights already in June because the journey was long for both.

We spent some time planning and weighing our option. We ended up deciding to spend a week in Cape Town with family and friends and then booked us on a 10day safari camping tour through g adventures followed by a few chilled days in zimbabwe and Zambia.

Cape Town is always the dream. I felt just lightness with my feet on my former home soil and we had some great plans and amazing people to see. We were also able to stay in my old house which added to the charm! I enjoyed being back in observatory tho it had changed a lot in the four years since I had been there last.

My Cape Town bucket list of favourites never really changes so we did all the usual things and enjoyed them the fullest;

Shopping and chilling at the waterfront with one of my favourite food halls and handcraft markets.

Old Biscuit Mill for Saturday morning to people watch and enjoy excellent food again.

Walk through Kalk Bay, Simon's Town and again, enjoy the fresh air and good food.

Drive through the most scenic Chapman's peak seaside road.

Enjoy kirstenbosch gardens with a sunset concert: the goldfish.

Attend a rave at the Cabo beach club.

Hike the lion's head and table mountain.

Stroll through Bo Kaap.

Visiting the Constancia vineyards (we didn't have time or energy to go to Stellies).

All of these were great with family and friends and I would highly recommend all or any of them.

New years was spent in my favourite town, Scarborough where my brother also used to live. We had the most epic beachfront house with the best views and the year started off beautifully.

Unfortunately, no time is ever really enough in cape town but it was time to fly to windhoek, the capital of Namibia. We had two days alone in namibia before the tour started but didn't get up to anything hectic. Both of us had already toured Namibia extensively and all the best things are outside the cities.

Our tour group arrived, we had a nice dinner together and enjoyed a beautiful night glamping at the urban camp. I absolutely love open air showers!

The next day we headed straight to the Botswanan boarder which we crossed pretty quickly. The drive to the Kalahari was the longest on our tour but went surprisingly smoothly. My no-longer-new passion for reading keeps me well entertained everywhere and I'm a very good car reader.

It was a new experience for me to go on such a tour especially since I quite enjoy driving and travelling alone but it suited us very well and it was nice to have someone else in charge.

We set up our tents in the Kalahari and attended a bush walk to familiarise with the local culture and herbal medicines. It was very interesting and lovely to get to walk around the wilderness a bit.

The first night went without incident and we packed back into the bus. We headed to Maun, the tourist capital of Botswana. We had a quick shopping pitstop before we got to our camp by the Okawango Delta.

I braved myself onto a small scenic plane and spent an hour flying over the delta spotting all sorts of aminals and great views. The floght cost 200 USD and I would say it was quite expensive but a very unique opportunity to do something I'm very unlikely to come back to do. The Okawango is a stunning national park from air and from the ground filled with beautiful animals and fauna.

The next day we drove to the Delta itself and got onto the traditional Mokoro boats where pollers waded us through the Delta to our island camp in the middle. It was a beautiful sunny day and the one hour ride was very relaxing. We also got quite close to hippos and other cool animals.

We had quite a sheltered camp near a pond full of hippos and received an extensive security brief for our camp.

After setting up, we headed out to a walking tour of the area where we spotted hippos, giraffes, zebras, and other antilopes from a short distance. It was definitely a new, fun way to explore a national park.

We also received a tutorial on how to poll the mokoros which is quite hard! My friend also managed to completely submerge his mokoro and had to be rescued but we all had a fantastic time.

In the evening, we ate our dinner by the fire and then witnessed a traditional song and dance performance by our guides. It was truly breathtaking under the stars and definitely an authentic botswanan experience. We also got roped into some dancing and games which was great fun.

The night went without incident tho you could definitely hear the wild animals nearby. I think everyone was too scared to step out of their tents.

Our guide was brilliant because she warned us about the aggression of hippos in advance but didn't tell us any gory stories. Only afterwards, she told me privately that the year before a hippo had bitten a mokoro in half mid tour. And a few of them had also surprised some careless walkers who had to back off and hide waiting for a rescue.

The following day, we drove on the elephant highway to the Elephant Sands sanctury: a camp with a permanent watering hole in the middle where elephants gather during the dry seasons. Unfortunately, while we saw plenty of elephants from a very short distance while on the highway, we didn't see any at the camp. Our tour took place during the wet season, and the animals were mostly hiding in the greener bushes.

We opted to upgrade to a clamping tent and had a lovely date night drinking south African wine on our terrace watching the stars and catching up.

Next we headed to Chobe national park and most of the group upgraded to a room due to the crazy thunderstorm the night before. You could clearly see the effects of many stormy and sleepless nights in the crowd.

We had a lovely three hour sunset cruise on the river spotting hippos, buffalos, and crocodiles from a very short distance.

The next morning we woke up early for a sunrise safari inside the national park. Our morning kicked off well but spotting a majestic kudu male and two hyenas all of who should be in hiding this time of the year. The rainy season is also the mating season and we saw a bunch of baby impalas and giraffes. However, the highlight was definitely two mama lions with their four cubs that we got to observe from a very short distance. They were all cuddling and just chilling in the sun together.

Chobe national park is quite different from a lot of the others in the region in that its fully green and lush. It follows the river we cruised and is located right in the corner of Botswana, Namibia and Zimbawe.

The following morning we had a very short ride ahead where we simply drove to the Zimbabwean border and then an hour to the Victoria Falls village.

We explored the village and ate some more good food: mainly vegetarian burgers since that was the option for vegetarians in most places.

The entry to the falls costs 50USD and is a single entry only. Be prepared that they rarely take cards and the revolut card doesn't work at all in Zimbabwe so I would recommend having some dollars in cash. Luckily, you are able to withdraw this from the atms. Interestingly, while everyone wants you to pay with USD, the official currency, it's too expensive for many of the locals and it's very rare that someone, especially the street hawkers, has change for you.

There are plenty of hawkers selling handcrafts however, they are generally very kind just very desperate as well. The employment situation in Zimbabwe is very had and people are simply trying to make ends meet. Please, consider them with kindness.

The falls are of course spectacular. I would recommend going first thing in the morning when they open: you get the whole falls to yourself and the rainbows are only visible early in the morning and late in the afternoon.

It actually doesn't take more than two hours to explore them and that was us taking our time. The walking paths are good and very accessible.

After our visit, we went to the lookout cafe for lunch and some reading time. There are several activities you can do around the falls but bare in mind, they are all very expensive. There's rafting, helicopter rides, bungee jumping and zip lining among others. Most of our group entertained some of these but we were not too fussed.

We had a great group dinner at the local brewery followed by a night out at a local bar called Cotton on. We were told its the authentic bar that locals also go to and they play Zimbabwean or other popular regional music which we greatly enjoyed!

The next day the official tour came to an end, we did lots of quite sad goodbyes and then headed out to a local Backpackers for a couple more nights. I was much too tired from the trip and the night out to do more than lay by the pool and read which is much of what we continued to do to the next day with some great card games as well.

Our plan was to head to Zambia together for two more nights but due to a family emergency, I ended up going alone. I left by big backbag in Zim and walked across the bridge to the Royal Livingstone Hotel where zebras and giraffes graze freely in the yard while you sip your coffee. It's walkable from the border and you are welcome to go for just a drink. I have to say, for a 5 star exotic hotel, the menu wasn't overpriced! I got a chance to chill with a bunch of zebras and then got to privately feed a five year old little baby giraffe called Covid.

I stayed in a nice hotel with a pool and a pizza oven so I was content just spending my evening reading. The thunderstorm that night must have been the strongest I've ever heard and I thought that about the ones that keep happening in Bangladesh. The whole building was shaking and the nose was absolutely incredible.

I had planned on a local village tour the next day but unfortunately the weather didnt lend itself so I ended up doing come cafe hopping and enjoying a walk around. Livingstone is about 20 minute/10 USD/8 km from the boarder and doesn't have that touristic vibe anymore. There were also lots of activities on offer but they were very similar to the ones on the other side and less inspiring after a whole (and expensive) safari trip across Botswana.

I walked back to Zimbabwe the next day, did some more art shopping and reading by the pool.

The following day I headed to the airport and flew to Johannesburg where I spent one more night.

I got card scammed as soon as I walked out of a shopping mall in Joburg but luckily I was quick enough to freeze the card and nothing was taken. At first I was just really shook and felt quite unsafe but by the morning I guess I was just glad that all they got was a useless card and no one pulled a knife. However, if I never have to go to Johannesburg again, it can't be too soon.

Best wishes,

Mira