Ron Makes a Friend

After making 'new best friend' status with the travel information guy in the lobby, Ron booked a dinner dhow boat cruise for tonight. We wanted to go tomorrow night, for my birthday, but Chris, the travel guy was not certain. They needed a minimum of ten people, but they only had 6 so far for Tuesday night. Monday was a sure thing; they had the minimum already. Convinced we could possibly lose out, we settled and handed over 45 euros per person. This particular boat is run by the Tamarind Hotel, a five star property in town. They will be sending a car for us at 6pm, we sail at 7pm and are returned to shore at 10pm.

Now that Chris has attained 'new best friend' status, Ron was assured that all of the other tours he wanted to sell us were absolutely the best bargains in town. We had read about these "Vayas" a spiritual forest you could visit, but once you reached them, you could only be escorted by a spiritual tribal member. There were restrictions in the forest. You had to speak softly, you could not kiss another person, and the tribal person could communicate with the trees. This gave us hope that there was something to do in this city, so we asked Chris about it. Being Ron's new best friend, I let the two of them discuss matters; however, each time Ron returned, he would say that Chris spoke so fast, he was not sure what he had said. The crux was that the forests are a ways out of the city, meaning you have to hire a driver. Forests are within government protected parks, so there is an entry feee of $20 per person to enter. 


My offering was to check the tour companies in town to compare prices. We looked for one in our tour guide, but could not find it, finding another close by. We stopped in, explained what we wanted and the man kept saying "Yes, okay, okay, okay". When we stopped talking so did he, so we had no clue if he understood a word we said. After a long pregnant pause, he said he could arrange a driver for us for 7,500 shillings. The driver would take us to the forest, we would pay our $20 admission to the forestry office, and then the driver would take us to a beach for an hour and back to the hotel. The beach was our second requirement. We said we would think about it and possibly return.

On the street where our hotel is, Moi Avenue, there are about sixteen banks. In some blocks there are four banks side by side. Finding an ATM machine should be easy and it would be if we had a Visa ATM card. As we prowled the blocks, we came across another tour agency and decided to give them a try. Once upstairs, their office is down a hall where there the fron part of the building is being used by a language school. In the two rooms of the language school, you have the options of learning Spanish, Italian, German, French, Arabic, or Swahili, but not English. At the tour office, their English was perfect, the owner understood us and made an offer of picking us up at 7am and delivering us back at 3pm. We would drive 2 hours to the forest, spend time there, go to a boardwalk area for bird watching, and then on to the beach, have lunch there if we wanted and to return to the hotel at the end. It sounded like a full day, but again we said we would think about it and return. 

I have not rid myself of the stomach bug, so being close to a bathroom is a priority. Let me clarify that being close to a western type bathroom is a huge priority. Many toilets are the squat type sans any paper products. I cannot trust my balance nor my supply of tissues to hold out.

Once again the temps were in the high 90s with chance of thunderstorms. The skies were alternating black and blue like a bad bruise. Drained from the heat and knowing I only had Internet paid up to tomorrow at 4pm, we spent the afternoon reading, computing and napping. At 6pm, our car was here for our dhow dinner. The hotel is on the outskirts of the city taking about thirty minutes to get there. Docked at their private dock was a grand boat, the deck covered with tables, the tables covered in linen, crystal, and china. Our table was on the upper deck. It was lovely. Although a set dinner, each of the four courses had two offerings. We started with a seafood salad, I had cream of butternut soup,  Ron had tomato, both of us had lobster, and for dessert cherry cheesecake. As soon as all were boarded, the tables were full with about thirty people total and we sailed off. A band on board entertained during the evening with soothing music. At the next table, by himself was a young man who started out with "Since I am alone here, I will need someone to talk to. Can I talk to you?"  Once he started, he did not stop. From Australia, he is working on his doctorate in African studies with a special interest in the Congo. His department would not allow him to travel to the Congo to do his research for safety reasons. Instead, he decided to teach a year at the Gibson School in Ethiopia to gain experience.  On an Ethiopian teacher's salary, he decided to do one major trip over the holidays, hence his being here. He ordered water for our table, but then said he had no money to pay for it, so we said we would. He chatted for the first forty-five minutes with us, but then went to try to take pictures. We went downstairs and when we returned, he was chatting up the African couple sitting next to us. They bought him a mixed drink and a beer.


Dinner was wonderful, the cruise was lovely, the music was a special touch, and the service was stellar. At the end of the cruise, the staff came around with our bar bills. Ours was 230 shillings for the bottle of water. The Australian's was 4,500 shillings for the cruise itself. He argued that he had pre-paid just as the rest of us had, but strangely when we docked he was the first off and disappeared like Casper the hustling ghost. I never heard him even thank the African couple for the drinks. All in all it was a wonderful way to spend an evening and highly recommended.

I was betwixt and between needing the facilities on the ship or waiting for the hotel. 

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New Year's Eve - Sydney Australia

Both of us were dog-tired, so we dragged out by 9:00 and went to Gloria Jean's to see the what for on their Internet connection. They have a sign in the window showing Everywhere Connection WiFi. What is not shown is that it is a subscriber service, so you have to log on and pay a subscriber fee. I really cannot wrap my head around the fact that there are no free WiFi hotspots at coffeehouses or restaurants. This makes me nuts that Budapest is so far ahead of such a modern society. I paid the fee for 120 minutes time, thinking over the next few days, I would use it up. It was begrudgingly, but I did it. I had just checked e-mail and downloaded it all, when the connection kicked off. I checked my log in...fine. Wireless connection turned on...working fine. Firewall blocking it? No! Reboot the computer and try again. Still now working. Call over the guy from behind the counter. He said it must be the router, so he goes to reboot it or whatever they do. Minutes later, the connection is up and running again. Great. Well, not so great, because within five minutes, it was out again. Called the guy over again, he checked my computer over. No, the problem was not my computer, it had to be their system again. He disappeared to do something or other. Back online, surfing cyberspace, jamming along for a whole ten minutes when whack, hit the cyber wall of no connectivity yet again. Three strikes, they were out and so were we. After dropping the computer off at the hotel, we decided to do a test run to the ship for tonight's event. According to the desk reception, it would only take ten to fifteen minutes to walk there. Translation: thirty to forty-five minutes. Over the hills up and down we went, Ron with map in hand, but the receptionist said it was a pretty straight shot with only one turn. We however, had to stop at the Chinese Garden on the way. But it was closed for the pending holiday activity, so we went through another park instead. Filled with fountains of great magnitude that flow forever around a green space, the Australians take their parks with serious interest and design. In the green area, young men were playing modified cricket and soccer. Further into the park, children can be amused with fun fountains that resemble step farming on the side of a mountain, or spiral shells that finally end in a black hole in the middle. We followed the map provided by the ship company; our dock was located to the side of the Maritime Museum. Going into the museum, we asked to make sure, found our dock and checked our watches. It took one hour and thirty minutes. Okay, we stopped in the park, looked around, relaxed a second or two, so we could not gauge an accurate account of time. However, going back from there to the hotel we could. Here is the scary part. Each entrance to any of the dock area is a no alcohol area unless you buy it from the restaurants within. There is security at every possible way of getting in and they check your bags for liquor. I asked one of the security guards wearing a yellow vest if the gates would be open all evening. We would need to get through this harbor area to catch our ship. He assured me they would be open all night. When we arrived at the other end, I checked with the guard there also. Sometimes there is a point to being compulsive, other than setting your nerves on edge. His response was that as soon as the crowd gets too large, all gates go on lock down. After sharing what the other guard had told us, he asked “Was he wearing a yellow shirt or a black shirt like I am?” Here is where the problem occurred, yellow shirts are only junior security and do not know shit. Only the guys in black shirts who have had ten years or more experience know anything at all. This guy looked like he was recruited as a gang member or a former Soprano, so we tended to believe him and worried about being locked out and not getting to our wharf for our dinner cruise that we have paid $1,000.00 and were told in no uncertain terms that there were no refunds. Swell! And not the kind of swell that happens in the sea. With paranoia, we headed back to the hotel for a quick rest, a shower, and then out once again. We did take the city train a few stops to save some time, but we were still far earlier than we needed to be, but cautioning on the side of error. We made it to the dock with over an hour to spare. I kept checking people's tickets if they were holding them to see if they were on our boat. No one seemed to have the same tickets, so I again became paranoid we were at the wrong dock. When the last ferry came to board, I asked the guy taking their tickets and he assured me we were in the right place as he scooted me off of the gangplank so the could leave the harbor. Our trip was on the Princess Cruise line and our ship was the Sydney. When a Princess ship came in and had Sydney Princess on it, my heart sank. There were no tables and chairs, there were a hundred people waiting, there would hardly be room to stand. When we went to board, the guard told us we were not on that ship, but the next one. Ours was just the Sydney. The second boat that came in was what I had imagined. Larger, it was filled with tables and chairs set for dinner. It had walking room outside in the front and upper deck. After finding our assigned seats, we introduced ourselves to the people on both sides of us. One older couple was from Perth, the other from England. The English couple quickly made arrangements to have a table for two and left us. The Perth couple was charming. Dinner was a buffet with salads, roasted chicken, roast beef, shrimp, and oysters. They called us up table by table to keep order. The chicken and the scalloped potatoes were to die for; Ron and I agreed, the potatoes were the best we have ever had. All of the beer, wine, and champagne was included. After everyone was served, we were invited for seconds or thirds, but the buffet table stayed up for another hour in case anyone was shy. Shortly after dinner was completed, everyone was milling around the boat. The city has a shortened fireworks display at 9:00 pm for families and so children can see some fireworks. The boat staff presented a large cheese platter with crackers. You would think that no one had eaten dinner, they demolished this in twenty minutes. An hour before midnight, they put out two enormous trays of fresh fruit cut up. We cruised all over the bay watching the other boats with their lights on, the city lit up, and the opera house dimmed, but partially lit. It was a magical experience, one that I had been waiting for for fifteen years, and it was worth the wait now that it came to fruition. The fireworks display was all that I could hope it would be. Not only fireworks in the air, there were others over the tall buildings. When all was over, the staff presented everyone with a meringue type dessert. I am not usually one for meringue, but this was incredibly delicious. All of the staff was so gracious; they all worked endlessly without an obvious break the entire time. Each time someone complimented one of them, they honestly responded with “I am so pleased you are enjoying it.” By 1:15 am, we were back disembarking and making our way back to the hotel. It was one enchanted evening for certain.We floated back to the hotel and crawled in by 2:00 am.

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Where is Our Fax? - Sydney

As soon as reception opened this morning, Ron was there to check on the vouchers for the cruise. Nothing still. I am thinking about $1,000 Australian dollars on my Mastercard and I have nothing to show for it. This gave me a headache and two aspirin did not touch it. We took our laundry to a place where they will wash, dry, and fold for a reasonable amount. Ironing is extra and if we wanted to iron, we could do it at the hotel. Ron wanted to do the hop on-hop off bus. I was not keen on the idea, but we went anyway to the bus station to get it at the first stop. It is advertised as having 31 stops with two routes one going to Bondi Beach good for 24 hours for $30.00. Getting on was not a problem when we started out. There is a taped narrative in English. Here is where the fun started. Each stop, the narration advises that all passengers must remain seated at all times. Once the bus started, we heard “We are now approaching...as you can see on the left...and to your right we are now approaching...” All of the … parts are where the narration cut out. About a third of what we were supposed to hear was missing in the atmosphere. Due to construction, the bus had to drive on the wrong side of the street. He kept warning us that we would have to duck for low branches since they were not trimmed on this side for the bus. At the Opera House, we gave up the ghost and hopped off. Seeing the Opera House up close was terrific, though I had no desire to attend a performance, even if there were one during our stay. Inside there are five major performance spaces, the largest of which is the 2,690 seating place. The money for the construction was allocated by having a lottery. Designed by Danish architect Jorn Utzon, who never saw the completed project leaving after major disagreements. The cost went from a projected $7 million Australian to the final cost of $102 million Australian. Locals either love it or hate it; this has not changed over time. The parks and green spaces throughout the city are treasured by tourists as well as locals. With all of the high rises, blotting out the sky, these oases give some breathing room. Frustrated with the hop on bus, we walked the city. All of this time, I had been carrying my computer around thinking that I would have some time to write, but it never happened. A coffee break was just that and nothing more. One of the unexpected treats were the occasional Aboriginals playing the traditional didgeridoo. I really love the music, so we stood around for some time listening. We ventured to the Queen Victoria Building, a gorgeous red sandstone building that has been converted to a high class mall with expensive high end shops. By this point, my anxiety level had reached a peak, so we returned to the hotel to check on the elusive fax. It still was not there. I was beside myself, but we called the cruise lines, but with no answer this time. Panic! We went to reception to tell them our concerns and she was great. She went to check to see if anyone else had taken a fax when she was away from the desk. Reception is upstairs where the hotel rooms are, with the bar below. The fax had actually been sent to the bar area. Finally, my headache disappeared. With that weight over my shoulders, we went to get the hop-on bus again to go to Bondi Beach. When we arrived there were five people waiting for the bus that went this route. After waiting for thirty minutes, I asked one of the others how long they had been waiting and she responded an hour. She said they could not get on the first bus because of overcrowding. When it finally came, a German woman pushed ahead of me; she had only been waiting five minutes, so I blocked her husband.. The guide caught and said something, but I corrected him and he told the husband to keep his wife on a shorter leash. Bondi pronounced Bond-eye, is one of the most famous beaches in Australia. The beach is roughly a kilometers long, patrolled by those famous Australian lifeguards that we see in all of the movies and on calendars. Being a beautiful beach, I really expected to see tons of beautiful people in their little speedos lazing around sunbathing. The beach was not nearly as crowded as I would have thought, there was rarely a speedo in sight, but those that were had the overhang problem. Their bellies hid the speedo. The men who could easily have worn a speedo, wore those long and boring to look at long shorts type bathing suits. How many beaches have their own web site? http://www.bondivillage.com/ The area is full of restaurants, bars, and souvenir stores. They had a little crafts market in the center, which we perused and bought a couple of trinkets. We figured it may be too expensive to eat in this area, so we took the public bus back to the city. By now, the hop-on bus had stopped for the night. Though our tickets are good for 24 hours, we do not plan on attempting it again tomorrow. We found an Indian restaurant that appealed to us on Oxford Street. You can order 2 or 3 main dishes with rice for a fixed price. I had one type of chicken, one beef, and one vegetable. The servicing are for the famished, because it was all I could do to finish it. We are not sure how they can do it, since the prices are so reasonable, but it was a great deal for us. This restaurant is a repeater.

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Sydney Tourism

Going to the tour office in Sydney is a totally different experience than in Melbourne. It is located by the water, in a rustic area of restaurants and shops, but is on the second floor of a modern small mall type building. About half the size of Melbourne's tourism office, this would not be a problem. It is the organization that is a problem. Their only system for handling information is for people to form a line, no numbering, just one long line. To add insult to injury, they only had one person dispensing pearls of wisdom to a slew of people waiting, while the only other person acted as a cashier for those making purchases. Ron stood in line for twenty minutes with a list of questions, but then gave up. At one point, the sole attendant asked who just wanted New Year's Eve information and then passed out brochures of the activities. Bad news all around, we were too impatient to wait and the poor soul that had to deal with the ever growing numbers was losing her patience at a steady rate. For one of the largest cities in the world with a population of 4.1 million, and millions of tourists coming every year, this is ridiculous.

At the back of the office, there was indeed a separate booking desk to book tours, cruises, and so forth. There were two people working when we managed to figure out we needed to take a number here. Why would you have the foresight to have a numbering system in one area, but not the other. We were told that one million people come to Sydney for the New Year's Eve event alone, so they were certainly not caught unaware at the turnout.

While waiting for our number to be called, I listened to what others were booking to gather ideas. Hearing the responses from there 'agent' have me fodder for making an insightful decision when it was our turn, and in turn cutting down on the time it took us to get out of there. Our number was called by a third 'agent' who appeared on the scene. She appeared to be part of our family, so I had hopes of getting some quality service, in spite of the disgruntled look with which she started working. We told her we wanted to book the New Year's Eve cruise to which she abruptly said “We don't do that, I will give you the information, but you have to call yourself.” I immediately responded with “Your co-worker just booked a cruise for someone.” She turned to Mark, a nice looking young man who I was hoping would be helping us and asked if it were true. He politely responded that is was, they had the capability of booking the cruises in their computer. Mark had to walk her through the whole thing, but finally she was successful. We choose the Princess Cruises without knowing much about it other than we would be part of the Parade of Boats around the harbor, have dinner, be on the water for both the 9:00 and midnight fireworks displays, and return around 12:30 am. Sounded good! Okay, hand over $495 Aus each for this privilege.

We also booked the Blue Mountain tour that included a stop at a wildlife park. Sign the Mastercard slip for one, sign the Mastercard slip for the other. Thank Tammy for her services, and leave after she said the cruise company would fax our vouchers to the hotel by 5:00 pm. She printed out our vouchers for the Blue Mountain tour. We were off wandering around for about an hour when I realized I never did get a credit card receipt for the cruise, only for the tour on January 2^nd. In essence, I had charged close to $1,000 Aus and had nothing to show for it until we received the fax at the hotel four hours from now. The only time I frighten easily is when money is concerned. This was one of those times.

We walked up George Street to the Circular Quay where we had our first sighting of the Opera House and the famous bridge dubbed “God's Coat Hangar”, Sydney Harbor Bridge. Both were wow experiences from afar. In the distance, we could see people walking over the bridge. This is something that those who do not have a serious fear of heights do for the fun of it and the amazing views. For me, those views can be found on postcards. I don't need to climb into the heavens to see them for myself, thank you very much. Finding the Museum of Contemporary Art after being intrigued by the posters around the city, we discovered the exhibit of headless mannequins by Yinka Shonibare MBE. He uses wax to create bodies that he designed clothes using Nigerian folk designs on Dutch fabric, arranging them in different situations. One example was a table of ten supposedly men, sitting around a table playing poker. What one becomes aware of is the amount of information that is perceived through body language alone, without a single facial expression. No pictures were allowed, breaking my heart. I would have loved to be able to share these.

Strolling back to Hyde Park, we spent some time looking over the Archibald fountain displaying Greek mythological figures such as Diana and Apollo. On the other side of Hyde Park, there is a lovely garden and different fountain dedicated to Prince Albert, the consort to Queen Victoria. However, it also has the ANZAC memorial remembering the Australian and New Zealand men who lost their life in wars. A young man was sitting on the steps smoking a hookah, at least until the police came and disrupted his peaceful times.

By this time, it was 6:00 pm. Anxious to find a fax with our cruise vouchers, we headed back to the hotel to check with reception. No fax was waiting for us. I called the number for the cruise line that Tammy had supplied, reaching someone within three rings, surprising me due to the hour. The cordial woman said they have not sent out the faxes to anyone yet, had not promised it by 5:00 pm, but we would have it by 9:00 pm. This was nerve wracking also since the reception closes at 8:00 pm.

Noting it was out of my control, we went to Oxford Street, the gayest street this side of the equator according to the young guy who checked us into the hotel. For dinner, we chose a restaurant called La. The specials looked appealing and the prices were even more so. It was a good choice of places; we needed an extra walk after dinner and a stop at Gloria Jeans coffee before going back to check e-mails. I had to buy time at Gloria Jeans for WiFi access. No one seems to know of any free WiFi spots around the city and even those that advertise it as free, really have a service that you have to sign up with and buy time before going any farther than their own home page.

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Zimbabwe - The Final Day as a Group

Our cabin was still flooded this morning. Last night when we went to bed, there was the most orchestrated sound of frogs we have ever heard. There must have been a bullfrog right out side our door and we will swear he was hooked up to an electric amplifier. If the cabin were equipped with a phone, I am certain people in Namibia would have called to complain about the noise these frogs were making. Regardless, we slept well; it had a lulling effect one would not expect. Though this was not the common consensus of the group. Many had difficulties sleeping through it. When the sun broke through in the morning, the sounds stopped again like someone pulled the power cord and cut it off.

Breakfast was set out for those of us who were staying behind while the rest went on the river cruise yet again, but under better weather conditions than last night. We started out later this morning so we could pick up the others directly at the pier and then we are driving to Zimbabwe.

Some of the group needed to get more cash. We were not informed we had to pay US cash at the Zimbabwe border. As we approached the Botswana border, we were leaving the country for the last time. As far as I was concerned our stay was entirely too short; I could have stayed much longer.

At the Zimbabwe Border Control, we had our filled in forms ready. We lined up and handed our form, passport, and cash over to the officer. For Europeans and US Americans, the fee was $30.00 in US currency only. The Brits had to pay $35.00 and the Canadians $65.00, which no one could figure out why. As the officer took our passports, he put the money in his shirt pocket, which was suspect in itself. They held everyone’s passport and we had to wait in the parking lot for about thirty minutes before getting them back.

We had heard rumors that the money paid at the border goes directly into Mugabe’s Swiss bank account and that his first wife is the number one customer of Herrod’s in London. Others told us that commercial airline flights are cancelled if Mugabe or his wife want to fly off somewhere to go shopping. It gave me and others in the group the creeps to be here. It would have been much better if the tour had ended in Zambia rather than here.

Within the hour, we were in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. We stopped at the lodge, but the rooms were not ready yet. Bruce took us to the Outdoor Adventure provider for a presentation for those who wanted to book something while we were here. The options were bungee jumping, elephant rides, helicopter rides, microlight rides, and so on.

Bruce had primed us that the Zimbabwe currency is no longer tradable with any other world currency, so we should be careful with how much we withdraw from a bank machine. He said there was an official exchange rate and a black market exchange rate with a wide gap between the two. He also warned that using ATMs or credit cards could be dangerous, with many finding shocking surprises on their statements once they were home again. He suggested using US dollars whenever possible. There are signs in stores stating that non-residents must show the receipt from the currency exchange before their Zimbabwean currency will be accepted. Jean found this to be true when she want to by batteries for her camera.

Jean, Omo, Ron, and I were going to take a thirteen-minute helicopter ride over the falls for $90.00 each. I have always wanted to take a helicopter ride and this was a great opportunity to do. This is the first time Ron has agreed to do it with me. The only time we could go was the next morning, but the company was booked solid. The guy found another company, but the timing was bad. It had to be that afternoon. It was disappointing. Everyone in the group signed up for a dinner river cruise for tonight at $45.00 per person, our last night together.

The truck took us back to the lodge and we got our keys. The t-shirt man was there to take our order for custom t-shirts that show our trip on it. When we settled this, we went to our rooms with the plan to meet at reception by 4:00 for the cruise. It did not turn out that way. We went to our room and I stormed back looking for Bruce. The cabin was four walls with two beds in it. There was no sink, no running water, no toilet, no shower, no towels, nothing. It was no better than a permanent tent. For our last night together after a wonderful trip with some exceptional accommodations, this was like a slap in the face. As I looked for Bruce, there were others who felt the same as I did, we were all furious over this.

When Bruce looked at the rooms, he agreed. He had not been to his yet. He spoke to reception and had us changed to lodges, where we were supposed to be four to a lodge. We anticipated sharing with Omo and Jean again, but when they saw the lodge, they made plans to find another place for the night. As you enter the lodge, you are entering a dining area. To the left and right, there is a bedroom with two beds in each. Beyond the dining area to the left is a kitchen and the right is the bathroom. The tub had no shower. When Bruce asked if it was okay, I was not going to make a scene over it. It was dark and dreary, but for one night, we did not really care as long as there were clean sheets and towels.

Our other concern was the Visa waiver we were supposed to have for Zambia. Supposedly, if you are staying one night in Zambia to travel on, you do not have to pay the fee for a Visa. Bruce did not know anything about this and he called the hotel where we would be tomorrow evening. They faxed the form that I turned into Go2Africa so we had it in hand.

Others on the other hand, still had major problems with the new rooms and spread out looking at other hotels and making other reservations spending upwards of $250.00. Some were able to negotiate lower fees, but then they found out that they had to have a residence card from an African country to get the rate. This really put a blemish on our last night as a group.

There is a sad hopeless feeling in the air and I was very uncomfortable being in the country, but anticipating going on to Zambia tomorrow. The bike rack at the lodge was a large metal pole with a series of hang man nooses going across it. It really threw me and I did not know what the reason for it was until people started to hang their bicycles seats from the nooses. Perhaps the message is if you steal this bike, you will hang for it. It was creepy to say the least, but it seemed apropos for this country and its government.

At 4:00 sharp, the vans were here to take us to the cruise, but we had to wait for some to return from other hotels. The pier was at a fancy hotel and in spite of our being a little late, the food was not ready or perhaps waiting for our arrival to stay hot.

Once aboard, we were given safety instructions and the bar was ready for happy hour. It was an open bar inclusive in the $45.00 fee for the cruise. We were floating above the falls. The crew included the captain, bartender, waiter, and two chefs. We had a choice of three salads, chicken, beef, macaroni and cheese, mixed vegetables, and two desserts. The food was delicious and we mingled about the boat, but when a crocodile was discovered floating along side us, everyone rushed to hang over the rail to get a better look.

As the boat trip progressed, we saw elephants, hippos, and a huge lizard on shore. The cruise was supposed to be two hours, but lasted closer to three. After we reached shore again, the captain allowed us to stay aboard for another hour. It was a fitting ending to our 20 days together.

Back at the lodge, we were again faced with the unpleasantness of a cheerless accommodation and people went in all directions for their place to sleep that night. It had the feelings of a family breaking up after the patriarch and matriarch are gone.

We went to our uninviting lodge, but after five gin and tonics on the cruise, it did not seen so bad after all. We filled out our feedback form for Nomad Tours giving them the complements and the negatives. Some of us are meeting at 7:00 for breakfast and those who are not going for the adrenalin rush, will go to the falls together.

Our total mileage as a group has been 5,090 km, a 45 minute plane ride, and a speedboat return.

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