The final chapter

I met these two girls on the beach in Malawi and we played together for ages while their mothers were washing clothes. I had gone for a walk down the beach to get away from the racket emanating from the ipod with speakers that one of our crew has brought with him, and these two girls ran up to me effervescing with excitement, so I said hello to them and though we couldn’t speak any of the same language the universal language of seaweed throwing soon had effect. They were laughing and giggling as we played catch together…The little one was really good at catching but really encouraging of the taller one who kept dropping it! I guess its not often that random muzungus stop to play with them…and I was loving it as much as they were!

After our camping by the beach we moved on to Lilongwe – the capital of Malawi – and camped there for two nights. After the first night the manager of the campsite (An English lady) came and asked Tracy if she knew the people that were camping over by the fence. Tracy said yes, it was our friends Rhod and Karen (the Welshies who we had become quite attached to). At this point the conversation went something like this:
Manager: “Oh right, just because they have pitched their tent on Christina’s hole.”
Tracy: “Who’s Christina?”
Manager: “Oh, she’s a baboon spider.”
Tracy thinks to herself…this spider is not only big enough to have a name but also to live in a hole.
Tracy: “So how big is Christina?”
Manager (nonchalantly): “About the size of your hand. She’s an endangered species and I usually say good morning to her as I walk past…but this morning I couldn’t see her hole, so I’m pretty sure your friends have got their tent on top of the hole. I guess they might want to move it.”
Tracy: “Yes, right, I’ll let them know as soon as they wake up.

Though of course the temptation to wake them up is too much to resist, so a small group of us go over and call out, ”Karen, are you awake?” She pokes her head out and we explain the situation which she just thinks must be a wind-up. Eventually they both realise we are not kidding and with a look of stunned disbelief Karen leaps from the tent and Rhod follows a few mins later! They drag the tent back, and sure enough there’s the hole and no spider to be seen…of course there is a slight concern as to her whereabouts and whether she is clinging to the bottom of the tent or not!

Later on when it was dark, the managers husband had told us he would tease the spider out, in the way he had been shown by an Australian spider expert, but on his failing to turn up, Callum and I went over and while Callum was exceedingly brave with a red torch and a stick, I was busy getting fantastic wildlife footage (from a suitable distance using my camera’s incredibly handy zoom!!) And Christina was indeed the BIGGEST spider I have ever seen. She was the size of a hand at least! Unfortunately when we got back to our tent later that night there was a baboon spider size hole in the zip, so until that point we really hadn’t minded being the next closest tent to the hole…but it didn’t make for a great nights sleep! It wasn’t actually that I was scared of the spider but more of the larium dreams that I have been having and the fact that they would probably feature Christina that night.

The next few days in brief involved a bush camp in Mozambique – I will give private explanations of bush toilets to anyone brave enough to ask for one, but I want to keep this blog suitable for bedtime reading. Crossed into Zimbabwe, lost the Welshies, gained a couple of newbies, and had a fancy dress party to welcome them – I only just managed to stop one of them from leaving there and then!
Remembering that we are getting continual warnings from various parents about the civil war in Zimbabwe, we went into Harare the next day, bought food and then watched a film. Didn’t even have to dodge any gunfire

The day after I got lost in the Great Zimbabwe Ruins…just stopped to take a picture and the group had disappeared! I wandered around lots of walls and eventually heard Tracy calling me. It was quite an exciting adventure!

We moved onto Antelope Park which has not only been the best campsite we have been to for amenities, but also the coldest! During the day, temperatures were probably around 28 degrees, and at night they drop below freezing! Now this is all very well if you have a blanket and are well, but add a fever and diarrhoea into the equation and you end up with uncontrollable shaking from head to toe and a very uncomfortable nights sleep. I have had some kind of stomach bug again, and at midnight on that particular night, after an hour of uncontrollable shivers, I informed Tracy that I was dying. I had malaria, tuberculosis and Bilharzias disease and probably wouldn’t make it to the morning. She gave me half of her blanket.

Four days later I am right-as-rain, you’ll be pleased to know!
In the days when I wasn’t ill at Antelope Park we actually had an incredibly exciting schedule. I walked with lions, stroked them, played with lion cubs, rode an elephant (never again – I have NEVER been so uncomfortable in my life!) and went on a sunset boat cruise. Tracy and I were the only people on the cruise because everyone else was planning to do the booze cruise in Victoria Falls and the thought of being trapped on a boat with the rest of our compatriots blind-drunk didn’t appeal to us. It was incredible to watch the sun go down over the river with the fish eagles watching on and the cormorants nesting down for the night with their babies.

In the next campsite we upgraded for the night – it only cost us $3 each to get a bed and was much appreciated. We went to see the rhinos in Matopos Park – unfortunately only white ones, though there are black ones there but the rangers don’t like to take people close to them as they can be skittish and potentially violent. We got really close to the white ones though – even a mother and baby which was very sweet.

Now we are in Victoria Falls and we watched some people bungy jumping yesterday, without the slightest urge to join them! Tomorrow I will be flying over the Falls in a microlight which I am very excited about! Then we will explore them from the Zimbabwe side, go across to the Zambia side for two nights and THEN WE’RE COMING HOME!!! We are flying on 2nd August and will be back on the 3rd – hurray!

Addendumb (sic) : We are in fact NOT going to Zambia for two nights because we do not in fact fly from the airport in Zambia…we have just had a narrow escape…almost turned up at the wrong airport and would have been told we were in the wrong country! Why does Vic Falls have to have two international airports? Its so small!!