Jet Lag, Bags and Lions...

Right, where to start...

First and foremost, we are in Africa!!!!

But our trip here has been interesting...

Our flight from Singapore to Johannesburg was delayed by 3 hours, which meant we missed our connecting flight from Joburg to Victoria Falls. We ended up on a British Airways flight that got us into Victoria Falls at 1.30pm instead of 9.30am. Sounds sweet right? Ummmm it gets better...Our bags never arrived in Victoria Falls, AND there was no rep from our tour group there to meet us. So we are sitting in the dinkiest little airport you have ever seen, in Zimbabwe, with no bags, and no idea where the hell we are! Lol! Ahhhh memories!

We got someone to ring our tour company and they came and picked us up and our bags are expected to arrive today! Yay coz we are both fairly manky...no toothbrush, soap etc etc and shops here are VERY grass roots!!

The drive from the airport to our lodge was very eye opening and humbling! Orangatangs walking down the road with their little babies, people living in grass/tin shacks on the sides of the road, beggers everywhere, big signs saying beware of elephants...Mind blowing!! We slept for 12 hours off and on and had to wake up at 5.30am this morning to go on our dum dum dum WALK WITH THE LIONS!!! We needed breakfast beforehand so decided it would be a good idea to walk down to the local 24 hour takeaway bar...in the dark :o/ Pam and Jane would you like paper bags? Getting there was fine, a few dodgy people hanging out, but on the way back all these monkeys came running out on to rooftops to stare at us, and then this rabid looking dog came running at us...good times! Possibly not the BEST idea to walk down the street at 6am with hamburgers with all the wildlife around here...

So we found a place where we could walk with the lions here on the boarder of Zimbabwe. The place basically strives to introduce lions back into the wild. There are 4 steps to the programme and we were a part of step one, which is mainly fundraising (what we pay) but also getting the lions used to being part of a pride. AMAZING!!!! Like, life changing stuff! There were 10 of us and 2 lions and basically we just walked around and hung out. They are cheeky and you have to watch out when they pull 'naughty' faces. We both walked with them, with our hands on their backs, and also sat with them while they were lying down. An experience neither one of us will forget in a hurry! For cubs they were pretty big! A fully grown one would be very intimidating.

It is far far more primative over here than either of us expected. And we are currently in a very touristy area. Our room for example, has 2 single beds, a set of drawers and that is it. Showers and toilets are shared and they are very grass roots. Lysh, you wouldn't use them! Lol!

This afternoon we are going to walk down to Victoria Falls as we haven't seen them yet, but you can hear them at night! And we start our tour in the morning.

We feel pretty safe here and it is hard to comprehend that the rest of Zimbabwe is not in such a good state. The poverty is asstounding, and makes you really glad for what we have back home. We have no bags but we are blissfully happy!!!

Until next time.

Love to everyone!!!!

xxx