Botswana...A Wilderness Paradise!

Today (Saturday April 6th) was a day spent in Botswana at the Chobe National Game Park. We left Livingstone Zambia early this morning and had to go to an instant teller to withdraw some Zambian currency, the Kwatcha. It is quit amazing to me that I can simply insert my ATM card and withdraw funds in a different currency on a different continent of the world...you have to love technology! We then proceeded to the Zambia, Botswana border crossing which is actually a Ferry or speed boat crossing. There were countless semi trucks waiting to cross on the ferry which can only accommodate one or two trucks depending on whether they are loaded or not. We were told by our guide that it usually takes the trucks a couple of days to navigate the crossing, and that at times it can take up to a week!

Once we navigated the border crossing we were off to Chobe for a morning boat safari followed by an afternoon land safari. What an amazing experience! I literally have hundreds of wonderful pictures to share with you when I get home, but due to the poor internet connectivity in Africa you will have to wait a week to see them. Today we saw Hippos, Elephants, Kudu's, Impalas, Cape Buffalo's, Crocodiles, Lizards, Giraffes, Baboons and countless African birds. Simply amazing...a true gift of creation!

On our way home we needed to once again navigate the border crossing which is always very chaotic and nerve wracking. Our FCE guide has done a wonderful job of taking care of us, and once again got us through the pedlars (very aggressive style), border agents, and just general chaos to a safe arrival back to our hotel.

Today was spent with a group of Australians also visiting FCE. Tonight we had supper together and developed some great bonds with many of their team members. Relationships developed on this trip are ones that will last a life time!

Tomorrow morning we will spend an hour and a half at Victoria Falls where I understand you simply can't take pictures because of the water and mist that is dispensed from the falls. We have been told to plan on getting extremely wet! After our time at the falls we will be flying from Livingstone to Lusaka Zambia, and then transferring to a different plane and flying to Ndola Zambia where we will be taken to the FCE training centre in Koti Ni Eden Zambia. We will be spending three days there learning about the many projects that FCE is involved with supporting the villages in that area.