Gone African: a 56 day trek: Hakuna Matata

Tonight is our last night in Namibia. This country is incredible and our 10 days here were filled to the max with excitement, wildlife and oh so much sand.

In our two days at Etosha National Park we saw 4 of the Big 5!!! Lion, rhino, elephant & a leopard! Just missing the buffalo which I've been told we'll see plenty of in Chobe. We have been SO lucky! A couple in the group has been traveling around Africa for about three months and had yet to see a leopard - until yesterday. He was just walking down the road! Apparently it's a pretty rare sight, especially during the day. Amazing.

We've also seen zebras, giraffes, springbok, gemsbok, warthogs (pumba's!), wildebeest, jackals, impala, eagles, baboons, and a whole bunch more. There are three waterholes in Etosha that are lit up at night and you can actually go sit and watch the animals come drink and splash around. We brought some bottles of wine and blankies and just sat there for hours. At one point 18 elephants showed up, including a couple babies! I freaking love this place.

Tomorrow we are crossing into Botswana and we'll be spending three nights in the Okavango Delta. I've been looking forward to this for ages! Apparently we'll be falling asleep to the sound of hippo's and have been told to make sure we always have our headlamps with us at night because there are no fences that keep the hippo's in one section and us in the other. A little scary, but totally awesome.

Alright, that's all for now. Was hoping to upload a lot more photos but the internet is sooooooo slow. Hope everyone had a safe and happy 4th of July. The only other American (Jeff) and I had to sing the Star Spangled Banner at breakfast yesterday which was kind of hilarious. Bye!