Spring Break!

We had our spring break here at UCT about 2 weeks ago, and I feel like I could write a book about all the amazing experiences I had on my 10 day trip, but I’ll just have to give you a glimpse on here and I’ll be full of cool stories to tell once I get back home as well. I decided to kind of break the bank for my spring break trip, but looking back it was definitely worth it. I traveled to three new countries I had never been to; Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe, so my passport is getting lots of use and has some sweet stamps in it. I got a souvenir 100,000,000,000,000 dollar bill from Zimbabwe, which sadly is worth less than one cent because of inflation... But it is a pretty cool souvenir in my mind.

We left in the wee hours of the morning on Saturday the 4th with high expectations of seeing ‘cool’ wild animals, but otherwise no idea of what lay ahead. I put the word ‘cool’ in quotations because what I’ve realized is that for people who live in the wilderness where we visited, elephants, zebras, giraffes and the like are no longer a sight to see. Even for our group leader Jess who has been on this specific trip 5 times, the idea of seeing these wild animals is similar to the mindset I have towards squirrels or rabbits back in the states. When at first you see them it might be a big deal or exciting or whatever, but when you see them day in and day out it isn’t as spectacular. For me though seeing these animals was amazing and something I will never forget for the rest of my life.

Traveling all day on Saturday was grueling but the route was scenic and the destination was even better. We crossed into Botswana that evening where we spent the next 6 days or so. We stayed at a handful of different campsites in the country as well as in the Okavango Delta for 2 nights. Taking a flight in a small 7-seat plane over the Delta turned out to be a great idea because we were able to get our first glimpse of wild animals (elephants and giraffes!) as well as a greater picture of where we were going to stay for the next 2 nights. We got into the delta by means of macuro’s, which are hand crafted boats kind of like gondola’s, which were pushed by our guides who grew up in the area.

Living in the Delta for 2 nights we slept outside by the fire, went on walking safari’s (to witness elephants, zebras, giraffes, wildebeest, water buffalo, warthogs, and black mambas),
sunset ‘cruise’ to see hippo’s and crocs, tried to push the macuro’s (which was definitely harder than it looked), swam in the delta and obviously song and dance by the fireside. Seeing all the African wildlife up close and personal was definitely one of my favorite parts of the whole trip.

On the last two nights of the trip we stayed in Zambia at a campsite near Victoria Falls. Being one of the 7 natural wonders of the world I knew Vic Falls had to be spectacular, but it exceeded all expectations by far! The falls take a curve around the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe and the first night we went to the Zambia side which was absolutely stunning. But what we didn’t realize was that about 80% of the falls are only able to be seen from the Zimbabwe side. Once we realized this that was a perfect excuse to get another couple stamps in our passports and also to hit up a market we had heard about where you can trade socks and pens and such for hand crafted goods.

Victoria Falls is part of the Zambezi River and just downstream from the falls there are some of the biggest rapids that you can raft in the world, without certification. Over time the falls have shifted farther and farther upstream, leaving a beautiful gorge in its wake. The rapids go for about 15km snaking their way down the river. Quite obviously since I was in the area I had to conquer this challenge. I conquered every wave except #13: The Mother. She got the best of our whole raft as you can tell. I feel like I have said this before since I came to Africa, but this was definitely the sweetest thing I have ever done!


All in all, spring break was amazing! I visited 3 new countries, traded sunglasses for trinkets, saw sweet wild animals, rafted the Zambezi, and SO much more! I could not have asked for a better trip!