🇿🇲 Zambia
Our favorites from the trip
To put the final bow on our 100 Day Adventure, we thought it’d be fun to reflect on our trip “favorites.”
Destination
It’s probably not surprising that our favorite destination on this trip was safari-related, as that was the part of the trip we were most excited for. This particular destination featured a day of both morning and sunset safaris, interrupted only by some time at our remote tented camp inside a national park. The two game drives were stellar—we spotted an incredible amount of wildlife, including our very first leopard, along with a bunch of other great interactions with a wide variety of “top tier” animals. I’m speaking of the Okavango Delta in Botswana, an UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Wildlife experience
While we thoroughly enjoyed our experience in Botswana, I think our single favorite experience was following a leopard in Sri Lanka. It was such a surprise when we saw it (the rest of the safari tour that day had been sort of a dud), and then we promptly lost it into the bush. But, we repositioned along a different roadway and were able to track for quite some time, losing it as it entered the dense forest, repositioning elsewhere with the hopes of it again emerging from the vegetation, and guessing correctly several times. Eventually we got a chance to watch it make a (surprisingly lackadaisical) hunting attempt on a spotted deer that just a handful of yards away from us. Seeing a leopard was our primary goal in Sri Lanka, so it was great that it came together like it did.
Country
Overall, our favorite country on the trip was Australia. It was the only country on the trip that we could easily relocate to—just show up tomorrow and feel like we’re still at home. It also helped that we spent most of our time there campervanning around national parks…which, you know, is already probably our favorite thing to do. So as you can imagine, we’ve already started plotting a return trip, and a new quest to circumnavigate the continent, too.
City
Our favorite city (yeah yeah, it’s also a country) was Singapore. Of course, it helps that you arrive in perhaps the most interesting airport in the world. That place is impressive. But overall, it was both a welcome reprieve for us, as well as a quite unique place. After arriving from Sri Lanka after more than a month in Africa—places where roadside trash is seemingly ubiquitous—Singapore felt nearly surgical-table clean. Beyond its cleanliness, it also featured some really interesting architecture. It felt modern, safe, and a bit futuristic.
Meal
On the second leg of our overlanding safari tour, our truck broke down for seven hours on the (effectively shadeless) side of a two-lane highway in Zambia. Not ideal. Eventually, we busted out the cooking equipment and our guide made some simple chicken fajitas. They were glorious. It might have just been the situation, but it was our favorite meal of the trip.
Accommodation
Our favorite accommodation during the trip was our tented camp in the Okavango Delta in Botswana. This was not the nicest place we stayed, by any measure, but it was among the more memorable. We had to leave our overlanding vehicle and take a 4 hour ride in a safari vehicle just to get there. The camp had very limited electricity, just a couple plugs in the “lobby” tent, which were grossly abused by visitors who concocted a Griswold-style daisychaining of extension cords and chargers that was surely a fire hazard. Luckily, we had prepared for this and used our generous battery capacity instead (it pays to come prepared). Our shower and toilet were outside and open to the air. Baboons bounced on our tent roof during our mid-day siesta. Meals happened in the large “lobby” tent, which was open on one side to a large grassy field where large mammals grazed, or you could sit around the campfire instead.
Brewery
Good craft beer was hard to find on this trip. That’s not too surprising—the places on our itinerary aren’t beer places; after all, you don’t go to rural East Africa for hazy IPAs. That said, we had expected a bit better beer in a few of the major cities we visited. Luckily, our time in the Blue Mountains in Australia helped redeem the beer portion of our trip. That’s because we found Mountain Culture Brewing, which was our trip favorite by a wide margin.
🎥 Recapping our 24-day overlanding safari of Africa
Here’s a video recap of what we thought about our 24-day overlanding safari tour of Africa. What did we like? Dislike? Would we do it again? Find out below.
And here’s a short montage video someone on our tour made for his students—focusing on the first few days of the East Africa portion of our tour—using a 360 camera.
And if you missed it, here’s more on the overlanding truck we used:
https://adventuresaroundthe.world/2025/01/07/a-little-bit-about-the.html
-S 🇿🇦🇧🇼🇿🇼🇿🇲🇲🇼🇹🇿
🎥 Recapping our wildlife experiences in Africa
A video discussion of our wildlife experiences in Africa. Did we see everything we wanted to? What were the game drives like? Find out in the video below. -S 🇿🇦🇧🇼🇿🇼🇿🇲🇲🇼🇹🇿
A story in three photos… 😂
-S 🇿🇲
Next Zoom Call - Sun, Jan 12, 2025
Join us for our next Zoom call! We will have finally finished our 24-day African Tour and we’d love to share our updates and impressions, tell some stories, and see all of you.
Scheduled for 10:00 am Arizona Time (12:00 pm EST) on Sunday January 12, 2025 (it will be 8 pm our time).
Here is the link:
In the meantime, we’ve included some fighting zebras to catch your interest 😁
-J 🇿🇲
Uncomfortable in Africa
The primary constant during our time in Africa has been the feeling of being uncomfortable. I’m referring to physical discomfort, not the discomfort that comes from traveling as a privileged person in a land that lacks it (we’ll write about that another time).
Humid beyond belief. Hot, intense sun. Omnipresent insects, especially at night in our tent or room. Bumpy roads. Long drives. Constant sweat. Frequent rain. Fleeting internet access. Sporadic electricity. Unnecessary delays. Cold showers. Warm beer. Unending stickiness. Long lines. Terrible toilets. Ubiquitous mud. Reliable unreliability.
Africa is a challenge because everything is a bit uncomfortable. Everything.
It’s an adventure, not a vacation, and so this was expected. But it also gives us a glimpse into daily life on this continent. We will eventually return to air conditioning, roads that don’t resemble minefields, and bug-free hotel rooms—while the locals continue with life as-is.
-S 🇹🇿🇲🇼🇿🇲
We did a sunset game drive a few days ago, but a rainy night made for a less than stellar experience. But the two highlights were a (rather vicious) zebra fight and elephants playing the mud. The sunset was pretty nice too! -S 🇿🇲
A few photos from our morning safari in South Luangwa National Park, Zambia. -S 🇿🇲
We’re at a tented camp at Luangwa National Park, but wifi only works for two hours a day, and only if the electricity is on (it’s quite unreliable here in Zambia). So it’ll likely be another day or two for some photos. But we’ve been enjoying our wildlife experiences here, with more to come tonight.
I’m not sure you can travel thru rural Africa and not return home a changed person. -S 🇿🇲
Our African adventure continued this morning when our truck attempted to drive out of the campsite. We drove about 30 feet and promptly got stuck in the mud. Had to spend time helping get it out so we could be on our way. -J 🇿🇲
We knew East Africa would be more challenging, and it quickly lived up to its billing. Just 90 mins into our journey, the brakes on the truck failed, stranding us on the side of the highway for 7 hours, huddling under trees for shade. Luckily, we could continue in a replacement vehicle. -S 🇿🇲
Entering East Africa
Victoria Falls serves as a turning point for our tour. We exit Southern Africa and cross into East Africa, which we expect to be the most challenging portion of our 100-day adventure.
We said goodbye to some members of our tour yesterday at Vic Falls, who had signed up for only the eight day Jo-burg to Vic Falls stretch.
Among them were Erik and Beathe from Norway, friends we happened to make at our hotel bar a number of days before this tour started. We became fast friends, trading emails after an hour or so and committing to visiting them on our to-be-rescheduled Norway trip.
Funny enough, we found ourselves sharing a city tour of Johannesburg a couple days later, and then again found them on this Nomad tour. Great people! We’re looking forward to seeing them again.
A new “family”
While we lost some folks at Vic Falls, we also gained a number of new ones. Most here are en route to Nairobi, Kenya, though we skip out a few days earlier at Dar-Es Salaam in Tanzania.
-S 🇿🇼🇿🇲
And we’re off on our 24-day safari thru South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, and Tanzania!
Here’s our vehicle for the journey! -S 🇿🇦🇧🇼🇿🇼🇿🇲🇲🇼🇹🇿