Saturday 09 December 2017. Photos
Highlights: Final Farewells

The first leg of this tour officially ended with us arriving back at the Wildebeest Eco Camp. Only six people for the first leg will continue; Maggie, Roz, Aaron, Emilie, Logan and myself. We started the day with a 5.45 am wake up, but in my tent I set the alarm incorrectly as 4.45 am, but Nick corrected me without throwing a shoe in my direction which I think I deserved for this mistake.

Breakfast was between 6.15 and 6.45 am and I enjoyed eggs and cornflakes. Belinda organised a group photo in front of the truck just before we left which was a great idea and we were off.

Today was a 95 km drive that took around 3 hours. We did briefly stop at a shopping mall looking for small items but the supermarket there had almost nothing of it’s shelves. I did however pick up a Kenyan fridge magnet to go with my Ugandan one.

Before we knew it we were at the Wildebeest Eco Camp and farewells to our crew of Kapila (tour leader), Duncan (cook) and Alois (driver) were underway for those finishing. I took this time to enquire about an upgrade which turned out to be expensive but I wanted to reset for the trip ahead made easier by having an ensuite shower, and easier to organise washing etc and not having to worry about security of belongings. I originally tried to book this overland tour as basic hotel accommodation but they later changed it so this is only possible from Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe so until then it’s upgrades from putting up a tent to basic accommodation when available and suitable.

I spend most of the afternoon reading blog entries, backing up photos to Dropbox, and uploading photos to Facebook. You never know when that will be available again. I had lunch with Emilie and Logan at the campsite,as there is no included meals until lunchtime tomorrow, before they went off to the local markets with Belinda.

We did meet most of the new group at our 5 pm briefing. In all 8 new members, six of them an expanded family (all adults), and two single travellers. There are still 3 other tour members to join, 2 will after the Serengeti the other we can’t be sure as they are unwell.

Later that night the campsite power went out and didn’t come back on until around midnight. Luckily clothes washing had been completed. The campsite did however have generators for registers (you have to charge your tent for all purchases, no cash allowed until checkout).

Those of the original group who remained, basically everyone but Stephanie and Nick, decided to order pizza with a free delivery. This did cause issues later as the menu prices on the internet were different (lower) then the physical menus. Logan stuck t his guns and we got the lower prices and the opportunity to eat pizzas around a fire under the stars. It was the final farewell.