Met back up with the Belgian team at Cape Maclear where we reenacted a scene from love story much to the amusement of the locals. Cape Maclear was also the latest venue for our ongoing catalogue pics area. We even managed to pursued an English girl to strip off for our dresses section!

The Malawi border with Zambia was a simple affair the only sore point being that I had to pay 60 dollars for a Zambian visa whilst the continental contingent paid 25 dollars, I don't know we give them roads trains and administration and they give us a huge bill to enter the country. I was thinking of stealing a railway sleeper as back payment but somehow never got round to it!!

Next we went onto South Luangwa national park were we had the all time classic line of “excuse me gentleman but there are some elephants at the bar” and literally there they were. We spent 2 days near the park the highlights being sitting in the pool with hippos 20 metres away and a memorable night drive in a car without a roof in the rainy season.

Driving the next day we somehow got lost (theres only 2 bloody roads!) and drove approximately 150 kilometres out of our way to end up at the Zimbabwean border Wal and I looked at each other with the expression of “what the hell are we doing here”

We made it to Livingstone were we had heard there was some small water fall that was worth a visit. If you ever get a chance to go and see Vic falls its worth every soaking wet second, it is awesome.

Crossing the border into Botswana Wal finally lost his horns at a veterinary check point much to his disgust (it's the closest I have ever seen him to crying). We met up with a few locals that we got friendly with in Malawi and made our usual contributions to the local economy! At around 2 o'clock in the morning we set off on a mission to liberate Wals horns from the veterinary centre all went well until on the way back we were stopped by the army who took us to the police station where we were questioned about being poachers, this was rather funny as half the party were unable to walk let alone shoot anything and besides Wal and Sven had already ejected the precious horns from the car.

Thanks to Mad Jen, Aussie Mick and Adam the poacher for yet another one of those nights.

The next day I picked up my obligatory on the spot fine from the local constabulary who had me on radar as going 79 km/h in a 60 zone. There is not a lot you can do in this type of situation except sit back and watch the proceedings, on this occasion the police didn't have any change from the amount that I had given them and had to drive into town to get some change from the local grocery store. You have to laugh.

Were currently sitting outside the Okavango Delta national park debating the merits of paying park fees as opposed to rough camping outside the camp and seeing the animals for free, it's a tough decision.

Gav, 30 March 2002, Maun, Botswana