Interesting stories I must say :-) My most exciting 'travel' experiences were during school in Zambia. We used to go on school trips and it was the most fun I've ever had.
In my first year in highschool we went to Kafue National Park, one of the largest national parks in Zambia. The memories are so vivid, even though I was only 13. We went with our entire class to this absolutely beautiful, untouched natural wildlife game reserve - it's the closest I've ever been to nature. We stayed in chalets and every morning we were up at 5 am to go for 'game drives' in these open 4X4s. And we went for game drives in the evening too, and then sit beside the fire when we came back. The most exciting game drive was when we followed a female leopard and watched her go for a kill, she chased a kudu, strangled it, went straight for the jugular and all this blood came gushing out. We were about 10 feet away from her. The next morning we were out in this open field where there was a pride of lions and these two cute cubs started chasing our jeep, it was quite scary since we were sitting in the back out in the open. On our way back we saw the carcass of a hippo. I've never been so close to a hippo in my life, it was absolutely massive and its eyes had been eaten out by vultures. It smelt like death. If you guys don't know, hippos are the most dangerous animal and the most likely to kill a human.
Our camp site was on the Kafue River and we also used to go fishing. then we'd bring back the fish and braai it (bbq).
During this trip me and 2 of my best friends almost got expelled from school. I must admit I was quite naughty in school, and I won't go into details about it. :-)
I've been to Kruger National Park and other commercial national parks, but nothing quite compares to the real Africa.
The following year we went to Kapisha Hot Springs, which were literally hot springs in the middle of nowhere - it was absolute bush! Every morning we used to get up really and go swimming in the hot springs, it was so amazing, the soft sand between your toes and the water literally bubbling through the sand. While we were there we did a combat course, were put into teams and basically really ruffed it out. 5km jogs every morning.
Those were the best years of my life.
When we lived in Botswana and even Zambia we often used to make trips to the Victoria Falls (border of Zimbabwe and Zambia). A big group of family friends. Its one of the 7 wonders of the world and you really cant compare Niagara Falls to it. Its the most beautiful thing ever. And I've been to the Victoria Falls 3 times and I never tire of it. The very first time we went I was about 5-6 years old and I still clearly remember getting soaking wet and staying in a caravan out in the open. At night we could even hear lions roaring.
It's just one of my main passions in life to explore the rest of Africa in-depth. I hope to make a documentary one day, the natural beauty, combined with culture and history is really something else.
mad:
i even tried explaining to them but they didn’t listen 
