The End and the Long Trip Home

Hello everyone!

And so here it is, the last installment on my amazing trip-of-a-lifetime. Hope you've enjoyed reading!

Day 21/Aug 20th

This morning Shawna and I celebrated taking down our tent for the last time! No more fumbling around with tent poles (or losing them), no more rolling thick canvas up in the dirt and dust, no more struggling to reach the top hooks which were the hardest to manipulate, no more making mistakes and starting over again. No More Tent!! Tonight we'd stay in a lodge, with everyone else, and we were SO glad.

Today we're crossing the border into Zimbabwe, so as per usual, it was a rushed and mildly stressful morning. We arrived at the Botswana exit-point in no time, but weren't quite prepared for the general chaos on the Zimbabwe side. THIS is why Colin wanted to get going each morning: people were everywhere. There was a tiny little office that could reasonably fit maybe 15-20 people? Three times as many tried to shove themselves through the doors. Apparently there was a queue, but you couldn't tell until a security guard showed up and started attempting to re-direct us all. None of our group was together. It was a mess.

For some reason Colin was able to successfully collect our entry forms, passports, and Visa fees, and stand in line for us. It still took forever, of course, but at least we were able to stand outside in the shade, and Colin got the entire group done at one time. Zimbabwe deals in American dollars. Apparently their own currency was so worthless that the bank notes numbered into the billions. People just couldn't carry around wads and wads of cash and bills anymore. So they switched to USD. Probably a good move.

Incidentally, do you know how much a Visa to enter Zimbabwe is? Well for Colin, a native Zim, of course it's nothing. What about Germans? $30. Not too bad. What about Australians? Also $30. Seems decent. What about those mild-mannered, polite Canadians? How about $75. Whaaaat!!? Seems hardly fair. Not to mention that we were not told to have American dollars at the ready, and we certainly wouldn't have thought to have $75 each anyways. Lucky for us our wonderful Australian friends were able to help us out until we passed the border, got to a bank machine, where it spewed out, yes, American dollars (never seen THAT one before). This is a very expensive trip.

Once we extracted ourselves from the border chaos, it was a short drive to Victoria Falls where we were to spend the last few days of our adventure before the long trek back to BC. Colin drove us around town where we saw beautiful hotels, shops, street vendors (very pushy street vendors in fact), and the beautiful personality of this town. It was touristy, sure, but it was a welcome sight and I wished we could have had more time there.

Our first stop was to a booking office where we had optional activities that we could book for the rest of the day and next. We had a tour of Victoria Falls already coming to us, but we were also interested in the "Walk With the Lions" Rehabilitation Center and treating ourselves to some time at a Garden Spa. We also had to fit in dinner at The Boma which was a fantastic restaurant right next to where we'd be staying.

Then we checked into our shared lodge with Vyv and Carol and got all settled in. There was a big mosquito next over our beds and I think this might be the only time on our trip that'd we'd actually use it. There have been so few mosquitoes that it was surprising. We were initially paranoid about getting bitten, but truthfully, even when we were next to lakes and rivers, they weren't abundant. They were certainly nothing remotely close to what I'd experienced in Bowron. The fact that I wore long sleeves and pants all the time probably helped, too.

Off to Victoria Falls. Oh, wow. There's no doubt as to why this place is one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the world; it's breathtaking! It's also really wet and we were handed rain slickers at the entrance. The sound of the falls is heard well into town and the closer you get, the more the mist fills the air. Shawna and I marveled over the many rainbows and sheer size of this amazing place. You can't take a bad photo, although you do have to take care that your camera doesn't get too wet. There is one section of the falls where the spray is like thick rain - a downpour. We had raincoats on and were still running to get out of it. Awesome. It was simply amazing.

Our later afternoon activity was called "Walk With the Lions" and Shawna had her heart set on it as soon as she'd heard about it a few weeks back. We didn't know too much about it, but it sounded like an incredible opportunity. We not only got to walk beside lion cubs (still rather huge for only 18 months old), we got to pet them, rub their bellies, and pose for photos with them! And yes, there were rules, too: no walking in front of them or by their head, and no eye contact. Remember the wolf? It was like that except with the addition of 5-6 men.

The African Lion & Environmental Research Trust sets up this activity to support the Rehabilitation work they do with orphaned/adopted lions over the course of 4 stages and many years. The public will never interact with a lion that is beyond 2 years (indeed almost all human contact is eradicated at that point), and lions that have walked with humans will never be released into the wild completely. But newborn cubs that have been raised completely by lions with no human interaction will be truly wild. Anyways, I cannot remember all the details of the program (read about it here: http://www.lionalert.org/pages/ALERT-projects.html), but suffice it to say, Shawna and I felt great about it. Our money was donated directly to rehabilitation and conservation efforts. This wasn't some woman feeding porcupines in her backyard; this was actually making a difference to Africa, its peoples and its wildlife. Yes!

Back to the lodge and time to get ready for dinner at The Boma. By far the best place we'd eaten on the whole trip. When you walk in, they dress you in traditional garb (basically a brightly patterned sheet tied over one shoulder), paint your face (tiny white marks that indicate your gender), and seat you amongst a sprawling buffet. There were food and people everywhere! First, our server brought snacks, which included a selection of hot and cold nuts, and a small portion of local beer for everyone to try. It was thick, and fermented, and white. We laughed as we watched each other's faces while trying it. They gave each person only a taste, except Colin, who "grew up on that stuff."

The food was amazing. In the entree area, you chose which meat you would like, and they cut & cooked it for you on the spot while you waited. You could have almost any kind of meat you wanted, including kudu, ostrich and crocodile. There were 2 salad bars with appetizer-like choices, there were pastas and roast animal on a spit. There were desserts and a crepe-chef. In fact there was probably more that I missed, because I ate so much I had to stop before I got all the way around the place; that's how good it was. We'd been waiting 22 days to eat like this! What a treat. During dinner we were entertained by African singing and dancing and drumming, and we found out that after we'd left they'd brought around black worms to each table to see who would be courageous enough to eat them. We weren't sorry to miss that, and we heard all about it from the 2 German boys on our tour who had both earned certificates for doing it. Yuck!!

We could have easily stayed there all night, eating and drinking and dancing and enjoying the atmosphere & people. However, we had one more thing to do: we had booked a Garden Spa appointment for the end of the night. We were picked up from The Boma, and taken to the Spa. It so happens that the Spa is located right behind the backpacker's lodge in Victoria Falls. And it was Saturday night, and the bar was open. So while we were relaxing and being pampered, we watched and listened to 20-somethings dance and yell and sing and drink. Our spa was far enough away that we could enjoy the music and laugh at all the bad singing, from a distance. We weren't disturbed by it; on the contrary, we found it totally amusing and entertaining. T. I. A.

In talking to Cheryl, my personal pamperer, I discovered that you must go to school to be an esthetician just like here at home. The program is about a year long and she said that she enjoys her work very much. She has three kids under the age of 5 and she admitted to being 25 years old. Sometimes I wonder at all the young mothers I see. What do they think of motherhood - is it something they pursue, does it happen by accident, and do any of them feel that they have a choice? Those are questions I think about a lot myself, and I am ten years older than Cheryl. I wonder what she thought of me after hearing my age and the fact that I have no children. Life is so different there for women. Again, here I am feeling lucky for all the choices and opportunities I have had and continue to have.

We loved being pampered on the last night of our tour. Camping and environmental conditions really took a toll! It was such a nice thing to do for ourselves, and besides, it was ridiculously cheap - $40 USD for three separate spa services. That's a steal!! We were driven back to our lodge. What a crazy day. We loved it.

Day 22/Aug 21st

The only thing we had to do today was get-up, pack, eat breakfast and wait for the shuttle that would take us to the airport. We said goodbye to Carol & Vyv and were so sad to see them go; they had been our allies and counterparts this trip. They were extremely generous and funny. They want to visit Canada in 2013 and we can't wait to see them again! For a retired/near-retired couple, they have an amazing spirit and sense of adventure.

We ate breakfast with the German family and talked about all the activities they'd planned for their extra day in Victoria Falls. Hugs all around, well-wishes and goodbyes. Then we put together the items that we had brought to donate to children/schools (Shawna brought some school supplies, and we had each purchased soccer balls), and handed them off to Colin. We had been so impressed with his dedication to the local people on this trip. If he needed firewood, he'd buy from the village instead of the camp. He'd regularly find people to give our leftovers to. Food that we would throw out because it was unsightly (but otherwise fine), he'd make sure got to a local person or family. We'd catch him giving change or a few bills to security guards or other people in need. When he said that he knew which schools that generally didn't receive tourist dollars, we knew it was going to the right place.

And so we said goodbye to Colin, our steward and protector. Not once on this tour did I feel nervous, unsafe, worried, in danger, or vulnerable. Colin was incredibly knowledgeable and supportive. He had a stressful job coordinating the needs of all the people in our group - and sometimes the stress did show, but overall he was excellent. We knew he had everything covered, we knew he had our backs. He was our guide, cook and driver, but he was also a friend and companion. He's going to be missed.

Shawna & I were flying to Johannesburg from the Victoria Falls airport. Once we got there it became apparent that this small airport wasn't the same as other small airports I'd been to. Most noticeably, they hand-wrote our boarding passes and luggage tags. There were only 2 gates and we walked haphazardly across the tarmac to get to the plane. The flight was short and a long layover in Joberg was ahead of us. Lucky that the airport was nice. We both had a few items we needed to buy but my only real goal was to get a chunk of time on the internet so I wasn't weighed down with writing 10 days worth of stories once I got home.

Lucky for me, Shawna wheeled & dealed an under-the-table arrangement at one of the airport lounges, and we got to use their computers and eat their snacks for a small fee. :) We both used the internet, and when Shawna was done she patiently waited for me to finish as I raced through the days in my head and on the keyboard. Then we did some shopping, and ate some dinner. I was so tired at this point, that when I ordered lasagne I remember thinking how strange it was that there was ground beef in it. Then I remember that that's exactly the type I eat at home all the time.

When we headed to my gate for my flight to Washington DC, I was patted down by security and subsequently yelled at when I walked back to where Shawna was waiting to say goodbye. I didn't care about their threats that I'd have to do the search again - I wasn't leaving without a goodbye to my friend, my rock, my supporter, my conspirator, and my lifesaver for the past month! (Can you imagine if I had done this tour on my own like I had originally planned? I shudder at how lonely I would have been). Shawna and I certainly got to know each other very well on this trip. She's thoughtful and generous and sensitive and beautiful (which she needs to realize more often) and a great listener and has a wicked sense of humour. She's awesome!

My flight to Washington DC was pretty good. I sat next to a young South African guy and we made some good conversation and had some good laughs. He tried to convince me that noise-cancelling headphones were the best thing since sliced bread. He also asked if we had done a township tour as one of our optional activities, but we had not. I talked to him about not feeling "right" about entering the shantytowns or extremely poor villages and that it made me feel like people and their lives were some kind of sideshow. However, he kind of changed my mind about it as he explained that people really enjoy having visitors. They like being treated as humans who have a story to share, they want to participate in conversations, they want to show how they live. He says that you don't wear any jewelry and you don't dress flashy or carry expensive things, because theft will definitely occur. When people don't have food, your watch is suddenly a lot less valuable to you than you might think. But anyways, I really liked the idea of people getting a chance to tell their story, and I kind of regretted not doing a township tour.

The flight to DC stopped over in Dakar (which is in the country of Senegal), and the guy got off with about half the plane. And lucky me, nobody came to sit beside me afterwards! So I had the next leg of my flight with 2 luxurious economy seats to spread myself over. I didn't sleep as much as I should have. During the 17 hours of that (total) flight, I watched 4 movies: Africa Cats, The Adjustment Bureau, Water for Elephants, and The Lincoln Lawyer. Shawna had recommended African Cats, but I was so tired and seeing all the wild animals was too fresh, so every time a tough scenario came up for one of the cats, I started welling up. Thanks, Shawna. :P

The next two flights were uneventful. I arrived home approximately 42 hours after I left. As Vancouver became clearer and clearer through that little airplane window, I was sure I had never seen anything more beautiful. Breezed through customs, totally astounded that my bag showed up on the luggage cart. T picked me up. Finally, my heart is home.

xo
E!

Mokoros, Speedboats, Motor boats and more

Hello everyone

Can't believe how time has been flying! We're getting really close to the end of this adventure.

Day 18/Aug 17

After breakfast we were taken directly from Guma Lodge by motor boat to an island. Waiting for us were several young men who were to be our guides for the better part of the day. Each of them hosted two of us in a traditional dug-out canoe called a mokoro, and they acted as our "polers". Shawna and I sat back, and our guide, Matthew, stood at the back of our boat with a 10 foot pole and steered us through the marsh.

In the Okavango Delta the surroundings change quite a bit. Instead of the dry, dusty desert that we were used to, we experienced more lush, green vegetation. Steering through the marsh, the reeds would part in front of us like curtains. It was silent except the sounds of nature. It was truly magical and a highlight for me. I absolutely loved every minute of it.

We were given instructions like, "please do not move much in the canoe" so that we wouldn't tip our guide, but Matthew had it covered. He had excellent balance and control - they all did. He told us stories in his broken English about hippopotamus and early fishermen. He made us necklaces and bracelets out of lilies. He pointed out trees, flowers, birds. It was fantastic. He'd also take shortcuts and go through places that the other boats didn't go. We were the last boat and so did not hold anyone up; if we stayed back to view something significant, he'd quickly catch up with powerful strokes and (we think), car engine noises. It was so fun. Matthew has been a poler since he was 5 years old.

Colin tried to bribe Matthew to dump us in the river but Matthew refused to break his perfect record of never tipping the boat. We were happy about that. :P Once we reached the Mokoro Island, we had a tour. We followed some elephants and watched them feed - from a safe distance, since it felt rather vulnerable to be without our vehicle! Some people in our group need to be told that when you pull back branches to walk, you don't let them go and hit the person behind you in the face. I learned to keep my distance from people who didn't know that rule, as Shawna tried to stifle her laughter. We learned about the baobab tree. We sat on the banks and ate a great lunch. Colin gave all of our leftover food to the polers.

Our mokoro ride back was much hotter but once we got into the motor boat the wind was great. We relaxed at the camp, and Carol & Vyv even let me use the shower in their cabin. I had confessed to them that I could barely step into our outdoor washrooms having discovered some huge spiders and funnel nests in there. They truly are wonderful people. :)

There were monkeys at Guma Lodge but we didn't get to see them. We scouted around camp but all we ran into was a couple of steers. Try facing off with a steer on a walkway - let me tell you, it's a formidable standoff.

We sat by the campfire until dinner time. Dinner came, and back to the campfire we went. While relaxing we heard a noise from across the water. It was like a baritone animal doing a half-laugh, half-snort. It echoed across the river. What on earth was this?? A hippo of course. :)

Day 19/Aug 18th

Today was a rushed morning as we all tried to get everything done in time to leave. We had to head to the border which made things more stressful again. We just wanted to get there - you never know how a border crossing is going to go. People in our group were starting to get irritable with each other and comments were getting blunter. Shawna and I stayed out of it.

Got through the Botswana border okay, went back down to Namibia. We stopped at a gas station for food. It was a little crazy and disorganized. We stopped for lunch at the side of the road and ate as quickly as possible. On to our next camp we go! We quickly set-up at Camp Kwando and headed into the truck for a late afternoon game drive. We saw baboons! They ran around and hid from us. We saw hippos! They sank underwater when they saw us coming. We didn't care. It was still cool. African animals in the wild - awesome!

Back to camp. We hung out at reception with Carol & Vyv and enjoyed a drink. I have had so much ginger ale on this trip it isn't funny. :) The lounge had wi-fi which was a nice treat, but not good for writing long messages. A nice visit with our Australian friends and dinner at the camp (roasted chicken and coleslaw) rounded out our night. Time for bed.

Day 20/Aug 19th

As we got up this morning we enjoyed our breakfast around the fire, which unfortunately was shared with another campsite. This was unfortunate because a member of the other campsite came out in his underwear to yell at us for being too loud. Oops. Most of us tried to be quieter but a few people in our group didn't seem to mind disturbing the peace... sigh.

We stopped for groceries and snacks at a real grocery store and Shawna & I managed to get some chips and dried fruit. Then we crossed the border and left Namibia for the last time. In no man's land, we pulled over and had a roadside lunch. As we were finishing our meal, we heard the most lovely sweet singing. About 5 young men were walking down the road singing together in harmony. It was beautiful. Colin ushered them over and gave them all of our leftover food (they would have confiscated much of it at the border anyways, he says - but we think he was probably just being kind). As we drove past they were snacking on the newfound goods.

At the Botswana border we were made to exit the vehicle, bring all pairs of shoes with us, clean them off, and walk up the road to the Immigration office. Just then we remembered that we'd left an apple in the truck (which was being searched) and worried that Colin would get in trouble for it. Turns out it wasn't even looked at.

We arrived at camp and at first, were disappointed. The camp was changed at the last minute and was not the camp we were supposed to be at. THIS one was basically a construction site. Shawna & I set up our tent (for the last time, yay!) as we listened to some of the others loudly complain. Turns out, it was pretty nice once you got past the construction part, and some people ate some crow. :P

Our group rushed to head out to our last excursion in Botswana: an early evening river cruise. This turned out to be a super highlight! Our guide, Vincent, took us around for 3 hours and we saw amazing animals and some that we hadn't yet seen. Crocodiles, Hippos, Buffalos, Elephants, Giraffes, Birds, Baboons, Lizards, it just went on and on. It wasn't a game "drive" but it was the best animal-sighting experience so far. Vincent was happy, extremely knowledgeable, and gave us a fantastic experience. Loved it!!

Back to the Lodge and dinner was ready. We had a great day. It was early but we headed off to bed in preparation for tomorrow's early rise and border crossing; this time, into Zimbabwe.


Until then,
xo
E!

Close calls, border crossings and puppy trauma

Hello all!

Last I wrote we were being bombarded (not physically, thank goodness) by animals. There were still more animal experiences to come...

Day 15/Aug 14

Today Shawna and I got up and packed up our tent perfectly, and fast. So fast that we were sitting an enjoying our tea and breakfast while we watched the others stumble out of their tents. Okay, we might have been a little smug. But we were so proud of ourselves since usually we were on the tail-end of the morning routine and not the other way around.

Speaking of camp routines, many of them center around food. Colin does the cooking mostly, and we assist when we can, but mostly, we help set up for the meals and we do all the dishes. We kind of do dishes in turns, since we only need about 3 people and there are 10 of us. I don't mind doing dishes at all but if you know me I am pretty picky about getting things properly clean. So you can imagine my dismay at watching other people do dishes poorly. Like, handing over a dish covered in soap to the dish-dryer, is not acceptable. Why aren't we rinsing, people?! I don't want to eat soap! And it made the tea towels filthy. I volunteered to do the washing every time it was my turn, so I know that I was eating off clean dishes one-third of the time. Sigh. T.I.A.

We had a mini-game drive to do today before we headed out of Etosha. I found it irritating/fascinating that other people on the tour would say things like "ya, ya, ya, we've already seen a giraffe/elephant/wildebeeste." We are in AFRICA, people! It didn't lose any novelty for me. I could watch them all day. I was constantly marveling at the power of these animals, and the precariousness of their lives. Thank goodness that Shawna and I were on the same page. :)

We still hadn't seen a leopard or a buffalo. We were told that leopards were really difficult to locate in the wild because they are solitary hunters, and Etosha didn't play host to buffalo. But, we were assured that although there are no guarantees, we'd see much more wildlife and definitely species that we hadn't seen yet. With that, we left Etosha.

As we were speeding down the highway at say, 90km/hr, we approached an intersection where some idiot driver decided to make a right turn in front of us (equivalent to our left turns at home) and we almost hit him. Colin couldn't swerve too much or the trailer would jackknife us and we'd be toast. Shawna was in the front seat for the whole show. I think it rattled everyone pretty good. Even when you are doing everything right, accidents can happen... we were lucky that day.

Sitting in the LandCruiser is not a really enjoyable experience anyways, considering we travel by road for hours and hours at a time. We sit on our behinds, and when we get a chance to stop at a gas station, well, it's gas station food. And gas station restrooms. We eat a lot of junk food. We don't get a lot of exercise. We are having the time of our lives mentally, emotionally, spiritually even! But physically I feel icky all the time. We stopped at a small store today and to save time, Colin got us pre-made sandwiches. Mine had about half a cup of mayonnaise in it, no exaggeration. It was not very good. But when you have nothing else to eat...

The German family who travel with us are picky eaters because they have to be; 3 out of 4 of them have Celiac disease. But they also do this weird thing where they hold the food item up their heart with their right hand, and hold their left hand straight out to the side. Someone else tries to push their left arm down while they try to resist. If they cannot resist the push, the food is bad and they won't eat it. If they can resist the push, the food is good enough to eat. What??!! Has anyone ever heard of this? Sounds a little cockamamie to me.

As we drive to our next destination we see so many roadside huts that are made into little villages with wooden fences all around them. We see women balancing big tubs or heavy bags on their heads with babies strapped to their backs. Everyone is in really bright-coloured clothing and adults sit around in the shade visiting while kids play soccer and wield sticks.

We stopped in a town called Rundu before heading to Kaisosi River Lodge. Shawna and I were excited because we had decided to upgrade to an actual room! No setting up tents for 2 nights! What a way to treat ourselves! Right? Well, it was okay. The woman at reception was really unhelpful and seemed to know nothing about the establishment she worked for. The room was okay, although the bathroom didn't come with soap, which we found to be particularly inconvenient.

Our whole group had dinner together at the restaurant, and we called it a night. We relaxed in our beds (a.k.a. not tents) and fell asleep to the sounds of the Kaisosi river!

Day 16/Aug 15th

Colin made us breakfast & lunch today and we prepared for our day of leisure. I suppose that if we had been really smart we would have gone jogging or done some calisthenics, but who are we kidding. We relaxed, and it seemed to be much-needed. All that sitting on our tushes really wore us out!

We managed to catch a ride into Rundu with Colin who was replenishing our groceries, and headed to a local internet cafe. It was a rather nice establishment, but we didn't get much time there before it closed. Alas, it would have been nice to catch up on all the stories/writing, but we do what we can when we can. :)

At this point I had taken about 1000 photos and switched to a new memory card. I think I may actually run out of space! There's so much here that is photography-worthy. I'll be sure to send links to photos once I get home. There's GOT to be one or two good ones, right?

Kaisosi River Lodge is home to 2 resident peacocks, which I don't believe are endemic to the area. They were, unfortunately, the best part of that place. That night we had dinner at the restaurant again, and spent some time watching the local news afterwards in the lounge. I realized that I really have no idea what's going on at home. Normally I don't watch the news, but being "plugged-in" means that I am usually in the know. I hope that everything is okay.

Tomorrow, we are back at it. Get ready for go-go-go.

Day 17/Aug 16th

They screwed up our bill upon check-out (of course) and we were delayed leaving, which makes everyone a little stressed. We've learned that being early or ahead of schedule is fantastic, and being late or behind schedule means we put up our tent in the dark or eat dinner in the dark. And dark also means cold. So, we want to be on time. :)

We were also slowed down by many goats on the road, who don't seem very respectful of our schedule. :P We'd honk at them but animals are unpredictable and we'd have to slow down long enough to make sure that they weren't going to suddenly change direction.

Today was an important day - a border crossing. We'd leave Namibia, and enter Botswana. Everything was going more or less as planned, until another wrench was thrown our way. At the Namibian border we discovered a fairly flat tire. Good thing Colin used to work as a mechanic. Out comes the jack, the spare, and we ate lunch while he worked to save time. Fried egg sandwiches which we fed much of to a sweet & gentle dog who accepted all donations happily. I never want a fried egg sandwich again, thankyouverymuch.

In order to get to our next site, the Guma Lagoon Camp, we had to 4x4 through sand dunes and rivers. It was sketchy at times but fun - I guess that's the essence of 4x4ing. :) We arrived at the camp and immediately wished we had saved our upgrade money for THIS place which seemed much nicer and well-organized compared to Kaisosi. Ah well. Shawna and I started setting up our tent while the others trotted off to their luxury cabins.

In the middle of the tent set-up, we heard a distressing cry from the resident puppy who was whining and cowering over in the grass just behind us. The owner was cursing and yelling, trying to get ahold of the dog. Turns out the puppy had found a fishing fly in the bushes and thought it a toy. It had become embedded in his lower lip. :( I heard the owner and another staff member trying to figure out how to get it out and I ran over to help, trying to fight back tears all the while. I had to hold the dog down while they pulled it out. Poor puppy!! I was so traumatized but an hour or so later the puppy was running around wagging his tail and totally oblivious to what he'd put me through. The owner thanked me for my help and we noted how there wasn't even any visible mark. He seemed to be totally fine. I should probably not be a vet for my next career. I'd need constant therapy.

We relaxed until dinner which Colin made for us and we ate in the dining room. A bonus about Guma Lodge is that we were able to use their kitchen to cook and their dishes & cutlery. And they had a staff that did all the cleaning, so no dishes for us to do! Yay! We sat around the campfire and even roasted marshmallows. How heavenly.

Tomorrow was going to be a fantastic day.

Until then,
xo
E!