Life has been proceeding at a brisk pace since the beginning of April. It’s shocking to look back at our last post of over a month ago, as it seems like just the other day. Unfortunately, our current jobs keep us very busy and there has been little resolution on Mozambique. We have decided to simply head to Maputo, check flights to Nampula, and if they’re not to our liking then we’ll slowly head north till it is time to turn around.

Our Lonely Planet – Southern Africa came the other day along with out Kodak Playsport camera. You can see the first shots of it on www.theafricanfile.com under the video blog.  With Lonely Planet as her inspiration, Alisa has been scouting out Victoria Falls and tours to Etosha in Namibia and Chobe in Bostwana. These seem to be popular among the backpackers and tour operators in Livingstone, and Alisa is trying to find us something that will be cost effective compared to trying to do these on our own with no transportation. We haven’t yet worked out how to get to Livingstone, but it seems like all we need to do is get to Windhoek and then there will be transport out to Zambia from there.

In the time just before this, we have decided to head straight from our last World Cup match in Bloemfontien to Windhoek via Kimberley. However, getting between these two places is not as easy as one would expect, because even though they are seperated by just a few hours, they are not on a popular travel route. Buses run from Joburg to Cape Town through either of these two towns, but not between. Our plan was to leave Bloem to Kimberley, then to Uptington and up to Windhoek. This is all still possible, but buses are infrequent and may require us to spend up to 4 days in Kimberley. After reading the Lonely Planet exerpt on the town though, that might not be a bad thing. This seems to be the going plan, but Alisa needs to set out firmer dates for Livingstone and a possible tour based out of there.

Alisa seems to be willing to sacrifrice the Garden route in order to see Etosha and Chobe, so we may be arriving back in Cape Town after the WC Final (11 July). I had been hoping to get to experience the day of the final in country, but that might be something that has to be sacrificed in order to see what we want to see.

Hopefully, accommodation in South Africa will be sorted by next week, and Alisa can coordinate our Livingstone plans simultaneously so those are all set by the time we depart.

Everything in terms of supplies, has been acquired or on our final checklist. Hopefully this weekend will see everything come together so that our 4 pre-flight days can be spent packing and buying last minute items.