Swakopmund, Namibia - Okavanga Delta, Botswana: Blurry Beer Goggle Landscapes

So when are we really in Africa? These days it kind of feels like we are drifting in and out in some sort of drunken haze. We have covered so much distance in such a short time, seen so much and met so many people.

The tour is both a blessing and a hindrance. Gone are the early mornings searching for your bus or trying to find a hostel, and instead are the early mornings up to watch tour mates struggling to pack efficiently or break down their tent. Frustrations have grown on us at times, as people seem to loose their minds after not showering for three days, and the idea of having a chore as simple as doing the dishes can be a rough day for some.

BUT that aside the people we have met on the tour, while not all like us, have taught us how to relax and have given us a different kind of friendship that grows through the laughs and the frustrations that can be shared day in and day out.

We have travelled north and westwards stopping to see a sea lion colony on the Atlantic coast and moving inwards to visit odd rock formations at the tiny village of Spitzkoppe. Onwards and north-eastwards we travelled to Etosha National Park where we took in several days of tour mates drinking and doing game drives for animals. While the lions have still elluded us we were woken up in the middle of the night; their chilling roars and grunts just outside of the fence of the campground. We were up early every night and in bed late, as the waterholes are lit up at night and we enjoyed a few beers while watching giraffes go spread eagle just to get a drink. Days were spent spotting Gemsbock, Impala, Springbok, wildebeasts, giraffes, elephants, Red Heartbeast and many more animals.

Onwards and into Botswana we have moved to take in a few days in the Okavanga Delta, which is a large swamping river delta home to all of the above mentioned animals. We were poled in by locals in wooden hollowed out canoes and we spent two nights bushcamping in the wild. So wild they say that it is pristine. While we didnt quite agree with pristine, we did have to give it to them that they did take every trace with them, and we also did have to have a few people up all night stoking the fire to keep away the animals. We took in a walk into the bush where we heard the sounds of lions, and as we tracked the lion we came across elephants, hippos, zebras, impalas and other such animals all in the wild and with our guide having the security of a cellphone and binoculars in case of an attack.

While the tour has been a nice relaxing break, it has also been quite tiring with almost every morning starting around 530am and going as late as people can make it. We usually drop out around 10pm, but a lot of our tour mates keep it going much later than that. Sometimes you really feel like you could be in Africa, when you are sitting around the fire in the middle of the wilderness listening to the mournful sounds of hyenas and the grunting of wildebeast and lions. Then to add to the wild sounds, the locals occasional will sing and dance in a harmony that can be matched nowhere else in the world. But then you are just as quickly serranded by the sounds of drunken tourmates singing "Sweet Caroline" or "Roxanne."

Flying by in our giant truck past villages and shacks you really do get to see the living conditions for many of these people is quite poor. But hardly have we seen a sullen face. Children will often run waving at the truck and villagers often wave and smile as we pass. Which is not to say everything is rosy, there are many people who ask for money, and it is a hard thing not to give when people have so little in their lives. But, and it is hard to remember, encouraging a begging culture is not a good thing, instead we prefer to give out healthy food or give money in exchange for a craft.

If one thing that can be added is that the tour is kind of an odd continuation of what we found in South Africa, that we are kind of in an isolated bubble, where we stay at campsites and hostels and visit parks and attractions that only foreigners or rich locals have access to. You start to wonder is this what it is all about, travelling in a bubble? How do we get out of that bubble? Africa is a land of a thousand misconceptions and stories, many of them not true, but just as many based upon horrifying truths, ranging from AIDS to rape and violent crime. We are still trying to figure out how to get under the skin of Africa?