Limpopo River Lodge, Botswana

It is incredibly difficult to describe the atmosphere around this lodge. I literally mean its in the middle of no where. A four hour drive down a dirt road and then there it is. Right on the water of the Limpopo river. There were only a handful of lodges and I only saw one other person apart from the staff. The staff were amazing though. Doing the dishes in the early hours, starting fires, etc and yet you hardly ever saw them. When we did see them they were always cheerful and always laughing. It felt like a 5 start resort that we had all to ourselves.



Over the next 2 nights we did two game drives seeing all sorts of animals in the wild such as Kudu, waterbok, warthogs, many species of birds, laguans, monkeys and much much more. We were told stories by DJ and Kelly of their encounter with the elephants on their previous trip. They were charged by a mother elephant after they got between the mother and her baby and went flying down the road in reverse until the elephant gave up and turned around. Scary I am sure but part of me really wanted to see the elephants.




We relaxed a lot by the river, tanning in the sun, swimming in the pool, and catching up on a few books. At one point Kelly, my mum, and me decided it was a good idea to try and hop across the rocks to get to the other side of the Limpopo and see if we could enter South Africa this way. It was decided that the chance of crocodiles been in the river were slim to none so we set off to the other side.

We made it over we great ease and started walking up to barbed wire fence that acts as the boarder into the South Africa. We were currently in no mans land as the Limpopo is the boarder of Botswana. As we approached the fence a Springbok (or something alone those lines) jumped out from the side and ran across our path giving us all quite a scare. With that we decided to turn around as next time it might be a leopard or lion.

Other highlights of this trip was do a little off road 4x4 trips down dried up river beds and driving to a huge hollowed out baobab tree. I have never seen a tree quite like it and suggest searching one out if you are ever in Africa. Its quite a remarkable site.

On the last night as we were driving back from the last game drive it was getting a bit late and we decided not to stop to see animals unless it was something really big. About 5min later there they were about 30ft away. 3 huge elephants eating from the tress. Wow. I was just in awe of these animals. I was unable to get a photo as they sort of disappeared into the bush but I was just so excited to have seen a animal like this in the wild in its true habit. That night we had yet another brilliant meal (as we did every night in Africa) and sat around the fire talking and taking a few pictures of the sunset. There really are no other sunsets quite like an African Sunset. At least not that I have come across yet.

The Drive to Botswana

Sunday morning we had nice breakfast sitting outside overlooking the reserve before we said our goodbyes and grabbed a taxi to the airport. Just before we left I had about 50 people sing Happy Birthday to me (almost got away with it) which was a really nice surprise. The quick flight back to Johannesburg was a chance to catch a bit of a power nap and get some rest before a week of early morning starts.

DJ and Kelly who are long time friends of family live just outside Johannesburg and kindly picked us up from the airport and told us about what they had planned out. We went into their house where we had to make it past their 2 security fences and 3 guard dogs before getting inside. We had an amazing dinner cooked on the brie by DJ their kids Matt and Jess who many of you in Canada will remember from meeting last Christmas. and then watched a movie before making our way to bed as it was going to be a early start in the morning with a 8 hour drive to the lodge in Botswana.

Surprisingly I was up, wide awake, and ready to pack the car at some awful hour in the morning that I didn't know existed. The five of us (DJ, Kelly, my parents, and me hit the road in the SUV and started heading north. I did cave and have a nap about 30min into the drive though. The road was long and straight but the scenery was unbelievable. You just get lost in thought as you look at all the rocky outcrops, flat barren land, or tress in the game reserves. Before I knew it it was time to stop for breakfast. It was a rest stop on the side of the highway and I couldn't help but stare at the state of a bus that had pulled in. Apparently it was from Zimbabwe bringing people down into South Africa. A definite eye opener.


We arrived at the border crossing after a brief stop for some billtong (dried meat like beef jerky) where we all had to get out of the car and get our exit stamp for leaving South Africa. It was laid back and after a quick chat with the crossing guards we were back in the car and driving towards the Botswana side of the Limpopo river. The river at the crossing was completely dry which alowed for us to just drive through where the river should have been. Not something you get to do every day. If the river had been running then we would have had to turn around and find another place to cross. The guards at the Botswana gate where great.

They just seemed happy to have something to do and someone to talk to. After a 10min talk and stamping of passports we proceeded into Botswana in the now 40C hot sun. We turned onto a dirt road which we proceeded to drive down for about 3 hours of bumps which I could not get enough of.

The excitement of being in this country and looking out the window for wild animals was outstanding. There was no way I was going to miss any of it. At two more points we had to cross the Limpopo river again and at one of them we got out and went for a bit of a walk. Me, Kelly, and my mum were about 60ft from the car when I found a footprint of some kind. Upon closer inspection it turned out to be that of either a lion or leopard. Lets just say we made it back to the car if pretty good speed all the time keeping our eyes on the rocky outcrop about 40ft away. Its strange but I doubt you would see anything on it even it was there.

With that it was on towards our riverside lodge on the edge of the Limpopo where there was a bit of water and a sign saying beware of crocodiles.

The Wedding

The wedding took place in the afternoon on a raised patio with the backdrop being the animal’s watering hole. It was a perfect day and a wonderful ceremony. Just like the rest of the trip so far the food was amazing. A full buffet of meats and vegetables kept people going for 2nds and 3rds. The speeches were hilarious and there were many jokes about the World Cup Rugby final game as it was England vs. South Africa. It was a brilliant night regardless of the games outcome and everyone had a great time dancing and meet new people. Congratulations to Chris and Jacqui!!!

Tula Game Reserve

Luckily I managed to get out riding in the mini bus and jumped in the car with my cousin Chris instead. We had a quick stop on route a shopping mall to pick up a few supplies and of course have a quick bite to eat at the KFC. There were about 15 people working behind the counters and another 15 in the kitchen. They seem to have more people working at all stores than we are used to. That said I am not sure it speeds up the process at all. They are after all still working on South African time.

Arriving at the game reserve Chris took me for a bit of drive in the rental car around the reserve where we very cautiously approached a mother rhino and her baby. Although they may look very peaceful when they are grazing it doesn't take much to anger them into a charge. Especially when the young rhinos are around. We did stop very close though, wind down the windows, and take a few pics. There were also wildebeest and zebra covering the field. As this was my first time seeing this animals in South Africa I was in complete awe of them. I could have sat there all day just watching them. But we had other things to do (like a wedding rehearsal) and made our way on to meet everyone else. On the way though we did stop to take a peak at the hippos (or rather just their noses in the water).




That night we did a night game drive in the land rovers and had a wonderful tour by the guides where we taught us about the animals and vegetation of the reserve. The sun was setting at this point and it was getting hard to see the animals so we went down to the hippo pond and had a few beers and snacks overlooking the water. At night by shining a light across the land you can see the reflection of animal's eyes. If its green it means they are herbivores, red is carnivores, and orange means you are looking at the animal from the side. As it was pitch black everywhere else you really can't see them until the light finds them. All of a sudden on the way back we saw 20 eyes from a heard of zebra's all light up green. Really remarkable. Also on the way back we saw more rhino and lucked out by seeing the Hippo's walking back to the water. They only tend to come out of the water at night to feed and even though they are massive its still not easy to find them in the dark.

After a nice meal and a few drinks back at the lodge we all decided to call it night as the following day was the wedding.

The morning of the wedding we had another game drive booked for those who thought they would have time to do both. Even though I was in the wedding party there was still time to go out and see a few more animals. Our first destination the far end of the reserve to go in search of the giraffes. We found them with ease (one as the game ranger knew where to look for them and two they are just ridiculously big) and parked up right next to them. They had a bit of a look but remained un-phased by the land rover we were in. We took a ton of photos until something spooked them and they ran off.



With them running off it scared the wildebeests who also took off in a run. That just started a chain reaction with the waterbucks, zebras, and ostrich's all tearing off into the bush. While we were watching these run we had the engine turned off and didn't notice the mother and baby rhino come up within 10m of the car. However we did notice when the male rhino made a loud grunting noise, stopped in his tracks, and started giving us the evil eye. I have never seen anyone start a car and floor it out of the way in my life. The rhino was just giving us a warning to get out of the way or suffer the consequences.

We decided to go off and find what might have scarred all the animals but after a while we concluded that it was probably us. oops. We did however find the African buffalos which trust me are more than a glorified cow as people may think. They can be extremely temperamental but that day they just relaxed in the grass. They were the only animal that didn't seem to be running away in all the chaos. With that we made our way back to the lodge to get ready for the wedding.

Durban

I found it very hard trying to concentrate on work on the morning of Tuesday October 16, 2007 knowing what I had in store for the next 2 weeks. Luckily at 12:30 I left the office and made my way to the bus station in Bristol to catch a ride down to Heathrow where I met my parents who had flown in from Canada a few days before. We also met up with 12 other members of our extended family who were all on the same flight to South Africa for my Cousin Chris' wedding.

The flight went by fairly quickly for a 10 hour direct flight to Johannesburg International airport even though it was delayed leaving Heathrow. This resulted in us missing our connecting flight to Durban but they had already booked us on the next flight out 2 hours later before we even arrived in South Africa. It was a quick 1.5hour flight to Durban and it felt so nice to get out into the hot sun after all that travelling.

We were shuttle bussed to a resort south of Durban called Pumula where I was shown to my room with a balcony overlooking the Indian Ocean. What a stunning view it was. The resort was right on the beach but still had its own pool, trampoline, and bouncy castle. I made use of it all except the bouncy castle due to the age restriction.


The following day we swam in the ocean, sun tanned by the pool, and made our way to a place called Crocworld. We only had about an hour to see the Crocodiles though before the place closed. There were tons of the mean looking animals around and at 20ft long they are rather intimidating. However this did not stop 2 employees climbing in to retrieve a few crocodile eggs. The only problem with this was the adult crocs where sitting on them. Armed with nothing but a long stick these 2 men started hitting the crocs on the snout trying to get them to move. Clearly this irritated the crocs who started snapping and snarling at these men who eventually all ran off. All except one croc who stood his ground and watched as these men took the eggs. What a job. Not sure how much they were getting paid but I bet it wasn't close to enough.





Once back at the resort we were out on the patio overlooking the ocean when we saw a few fins on the inside of the shark net. The lone surfer didn't seem to be too phased by it so we decided it had to be dolphins. At that point a wave broke and we saw about 10 or more dolphins surfing in the wave before turning and swimming north along the coast. It was a truly amazing site.


The remainder of the day was spent eating, drinking, and meeting the bride and groom for drinks which was followed by a few games of darts in the resort bar before calling it a night. The following morning we packed up our things, had breakfast, and made our way towards the game reserve called Tula where Chris and Jacqui were getting married.

Cardiff Half Marathon

Yesterday was a bright and early start at 5:30am which is not something I plan on getting used to. After a quick breakfast Greg, Karsten, and myself piled into the car and drove over to Cardiff and into the city centre. We were all there to run in the Cardiff Half Marathon (13.1m/21km). I had been dreading the run for the prior few weeks but once we arrived I was full of energy and really looking forward to the race. I had a goal of beating my previous time of 1hour 42min 22 sec which I got in the Bristol Half Marathon back in August. I started a lot further up in line this time thinking that starting at the 2 hour mark last time slowed me down a little.

The course was brilliant and took us all over Cardiff city centre, Cardiff Bay, past the millennium stadium, into a huge park, and ended in the middle of Cardiff Castle. The first 7miles seemed to fly past and I was making really good time. I ran into my friend Greg at the 7mile marker and we ran the rest of the course side by side pushing each other to keep going and keep the pace up. I have been training with Greg quite a bit over the last few weeks and we constantly push each other further each time.


We hit the 10 mile marker just past 1hour 7min and then we both became really tired and a bit dizzy. Heading into the park to do 4 laps up and down was not a pretty site as you can really tell how far you have left to go. With one mile left I turned up the pace, put my head down, and just pushing on through. I have never been so happy to see the end of a race in my life. After crossing the line I looked up at the clock hoping that I beat my previous time to see a clock time of 1 hour 34min and 28 sec meaning I was the 427th person to cross the line out of 6000. My official chip time put me at 1hour 33min 56 sec (446th place). If you are interested in what each means then just check back a few entries to the Bristol Half Marathon for a explanation of each. Well needless to say I was incredibly happy with this time although I was more focused on trying to breathe properly at this point. The highlight though was the incredible medal with a carving of Cardiff Castle on it which as Kelly pointed out made my day as I am somewhat obsessed with castles. The goody bag at the end was full of snacks, lucazade energy drink, t shirt, and cans of soup. Can’t complain over that. The only thing I didn’t like about the race the fact that after we were done there was one small gate to leave through (been a castle and all) and it took 45min for me to get out onto the street. Apart from that it was a great day out.

Today my legs are aching but apart from that I feel great. Its going to be a few months now until the Bath Half Marathon and the London 10km run but the training will continue all the way up to that point. I might take a 2 week break starting tomorrow though as I am off to South Africa and Botswana for 2 weeks tomorrow night. I am sure there will be plenty of photos and entries up here on the blog upon my return at the end of October.

Charity Dragonboat Racing

Our company recently set up team for a charity dragon boat race which took place in the river Avon that runs through Bristol. As I have been taking in part in just about everything the company has to offer I saw no reason to turn down this opportunity. Going out on the Saturday until 2am was probably not the greatest idea but as half the team did the same we were all in the same boat (literally) the next morning... Upon arriving with a bit of headache we saw one of the teams we would have to face. It was none other than the British Army Riffle Squad. Great!!! 4 members of our team didn't show up for the first race but we were determined to do our best. We won the race 18sec ahead of the other boat and we were all really getting into it. It was however incredibly painful in the arms and we welcomed the break until the next race.

Our 2nd race we only just won by a few seconds and then for the 3rd race we came up against he army. By this time we were only 3 men down and we went up against them ready to go. The race was neck and neck all the way down the course with the army just pushing out the win at the end by 2 seconds. We still managed a really good time which put us into the final race as they took the top 4 times from the 17 teams that were there. We spoke with the army after the race and they admitted that they were a little worried for a while as they had been destroying everyone in their previous races. They asked us if we played rugby or had physical jobs which could have been the reason we kept up with them. The look on their face was priceless when our response was "no mate, desk jobs". They replied with how impressed they were and then tried to convince us to sign up for the army. Nice try!

Unfortunately we lost the final race placing 4th overall but as we were still 3 men down it was not that surprising while racing the top teams of the day. It was yet again a very close race between all 4 boats. It was a great day out and another great experience. I have no doubt that I will be back in a dragon boat again in the near future.

Rugby World Cup

One of the great things about Europe is that it is easy to get around and there always seems to be something happening within a short trip away. September 16th turned out to be the day that Canada played Fiji in the Rugby World Cup over in Cardiff. Yes I know you are all thinking that France is hosting the world cup but luckily for me France owed Wales a few games as a few world cups ago Wales didn't have enough stadiums so a few games where played in France. It was time for France to return the favour. I went over with 2 friends on the Saturday morning to head down to a pub in Cardiff bay to watch the Wales vs. Australia game. Just been in Cardiff on game day was an amazing experience. The atmosphere of all the welsh fans was insane (probably on par with Toronto Fans if they made it to the Stanley Cup). Roads closed off, partying in the streets, and people everywhere.

We watched the game with about 30 welsh people at a reserved table (friends of one my friends) and unfortunately Australia came out on top. The Welsh weren't too upset though as England lost to South Africa the day before without scoring a single point. This obviously made the Welsh quite happy. We went out for a few drinks after the game in the city centre of Cardiff and hung out with plenty of Aussies as well who were in high sprits before calling it a night and crashing with a friend down in Cardiff Bay.

The following morning we were up around 11:00 and made our way down to the stadium in the city centre. Only paying £10 a ticket we grabbed a bite to eat and went to find our seats in massive Millennium Stadium. I almost felt like I was home with the Canadian flags waving everywhere and the chants "CANADA...CANADA" echoing throughout the stadium. After a tremendous effort it looked like Canada was about to take the win at the very end. One tri would win it and they were right on the line until a bad pass let Fiji intercept and run end to end to secure the win. As rugby is not something Canada is really well known for they were not expected to win but just to be in the stadium and watch them play was a great experience.


We hung around Cardiff for another few hours after the game enjoy a few drinks and soaking up the World Cup atmosphere before taking the train back to Bristol to call it a night.