More pics from our recent trip....

Hi! Tanya here. I just wanted to add a few more pictures from our trip.

The picture on the right is from Swakopmund. We took several walks along the beach during the few days we spent here at the start of our trip.

From Namibia we went to Botswana. One of the highlights in Botswana was going on the Mokoro ride in the Okavango Delta. A mokoro is a small canoe that is navigated by a poler (named as such because the poler uses a pole to push the mokoro through the shallow delta). Only 1 or 2 people ride in a mokoro. If two people ride, they alternate poling- except when there are tourists onboard. The polers make poling look easy, but it requires a lot of balance and strength.

The picture below is of me and our poler, Snapps. Snapps made a necklace for me out of a water lilly.

Mostly the Delta was full of hippos. The hippos create the paths that the polers use to take their mokoros through the delta. Before I came to Africa I had no idea that hippos were so dangerous. I have heard that more deaths in Africa are caused by hippos than any other animal. You can hear them in the delta because they make a loud snorting noise (they are closely related to pigs).

Fortunately, the polers weren't worried about the hippo below. I think that if you don't appear as a threat they won't bother you. The problem is that hippos can stay under water for several minutes, and if you are not a careful poler, you might stick the hippo.

The delta was also full of frogs. Have you ever seen such a tiny frog? How cute!

Afterwards, those who remembered their costumes (swim suits) took a dip.

The last few days of our trip were spent in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. The picture on the right gives an idea of the level of inflation- $2000 for a tomato!

We didn't get any good pictures of the falls. It was too wet to take our cameras. The flow was at its peak at the Falls, which actually made them harder to see because of all the haze. It would be nice to return in the dry season sometime.

Despite all the economic troubles in Zimbabwe, Victoria Falls is very expensive. People only want $US (not Zim dollars), but never have change in dollars so you always spend more than you anticipate. Since we were running low on dollars at this point, it was nice to find a low-cost activity with a cultural component too: renting bikes with a guide. Our guide (below with Scott) took us though the neighborhoods and markets of Vic Falls.

Scott is in China this week, but returns tomorrow, so things here have been slow. Yesterday (Saturday) I went with my friend from Singapore to an orphanage run by her church. Most of the orphans are HIV positive, and all are under 12. It was fun to play with them. Unfortunatly, quite a few of the kids seemed sick. The nuns seem to take good care of the kids and the place was clean. Apparently the kitchen at the orphanage was paid for by Anne Linnox (the Eurythmics) . She came to South Africa for 7 weeks while it was being constructed.