Let the adventure begin!

August 18, 2024

I set my alarm for 745 so I could shower, repack and eat breakfast before checking out and going to the zipline. I had yogurt and cereal (its basically like home, but with shelf stable milk most of the time). I grabbed all my stuff and headed to the front desk to check out and store my bags. I was a bit early for the zipline shuttle, but it’s always better to be early!

There are two other girls in my van and we were all ziplining (you could also do a gorge swing, but no thank you!) We all were excited to do our zipline, but only I had been to Lookout Cafe before so they didnt even know what to expect.

Being the single person it meant I was going first. I got my harness on and hooked up my Insta360 camera to the harness. I think that may be one of the best accessory purchases I have made for this trip – the strap harness for my camera. It was scary to be on the platform before you get let go. You have to step down a couple ladder steps to get to the launch point and even though you are hooked up and cannot actually go anywhere, it is still crazy to be standing on a ledge of a giant cliff.

Once they let me go – IT WAS AMAZING!! Normally with ziplines you go from one side to the other – in the case you go down and over, but then come back to the middle and the employee has to come get you with a winch! It was SO COOL! Since I was the first to go I got the most time just hanging above the canyon. I loved this and would highly recommend anyone doing this zipline.

After we all finished our ziplining we went back to find our driver. He had gone to pick up another group so we had to wait a bit for him. We all loaded back into the van with another couple this time and he dropped us off at each of our hotels. When I got back to the hotel I had lunch (same thing as last night) and then read my book for a while before going back to reception and collecting my bags – because at 2pm we are on the road to Chobe in Botswana!

We were all loaded up and hit the road at about 215 (the paperwork the guides needed to handle delayed us a bit). We met the other two guides with us as well. We have Noel (driver/guide), Promise (chef) and James (assistant).

Our first stop was the border! Only about 100km from our hotel. We had to stop first at Zim for our exit stamp then Botswana for our entrance stamp and shoe cleaning. They have a large meat production export system here and so they do not want any of their livestock to get sick. You wash the bottom of your shoes to get rid of any livestock disease that may be on the bottom.

We got to town and stopped at a grocery store to get snacks and a drink – then it was off to our campsite. When we got to camp Noel took us over to the waterfront bar while they started dinner and setting up our camp sites.

My tent zipper wasnt happy, so tomorrow I will get a different tent. But for tonight it is fine. We get a cot, foam mattress, tiny pillow (think harder plane pillow), and sleeping bag. Im alone in my tent and the Italian girls (Eli, Marghe and AC) are all sharing one. I definitely won on space.