Back!

I got back from the Easter break trip on Monday night. It was great, many changes to the plan along the way (you really can't plan for Africa it turns out) but all were good and for the best. I got to see and experience many awesome things and I will have so much to write about! Unfortunately I'm also writing 2 essays this week. The pictures I'm uploading to Facebook now are from February and I'm trying hard to get current, but there will be some serious difference between the blog and the photos for a long time now.
For now, here's a link
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2147104&id=7412354&l=08779f5119
This is the album (in progress) of the Zululand trip I went on a while back.

A really quick summary of easter break:

We headed north through Swaziland (we were in three countries in one day!) to Mozambique. We stayed in Maputo for one night and one day. It's the capital of Mozambique and is an interesting city. It is rough and worn down but has uniquely beautiful parts and lots of characters. We went to a cool open market and the local beach, where we were the only non-locals. We then continued north to Inhambane/Tofo where we stayed in an awesome backpacker right over the sand dune from the beach. The beach was gorgeous. A storm by Madagascar made the waves too big to launch boats for some of the activities run there, but I still got to do a scuba dive (saw an octopus in a cave!) and a kayak day trip out to a tiny island covered with palm trees and past white beaches with turqouise waters. We spent an extra day in Tofo to soak up more of the awesome beach atmosphere and then headed back towards Swaziland. We stopped over in Nelspruit on the way to Swaziland and ended up just staying there instead of Swaziland because we had seen alot of it driving through (it's a beautiful but small country) and Nelspruit is very close to Kruger Park. We wanted to go on some game drives and there is nowhere better than Kruger so we took a safari organized by the backpacker in Nelspruit into Kruger for one day, one night of camping, and the following morning. We didn't see all of the big 5 (buffalo, lion, leopard, rhino, elephant) but I finally got to see elephants and lots of them! They're my favorite and we saw about 20 wit some little cute babies! We also saw lots of impala, zebra, 4 rhinos, wildebeast, warthog, cliffspringer, and lots of cool birds, including the zazoo bird from lion king.
The trip was stressful at times doing all the driving and navigating and planning ourselves but it was worth it and I got to see alot of Africa!

Easter Break

Tomorrow morning I'll be leaving for our Easter break. I'm travelling with 6 friends to Mozambique and then Swaziland! We'll stopping in Maputo, Inhanmbane, and Xai-Xai in Mozambique and staying in the Milwane Nature Reserve in Swaziland. We'll be spending most of the week in Mozambique and the second weekend in Swaziland. We've rented a van and will be driving because it gives us more flexibility. I'm excited and a bit nervous for the adventure! We're staying in backpackers so we've booked those and they sound really nice and organize lots of activities like snorkeling, kayaking, and game drives. I also might scuba! Both countries are supposed to be amazing so I should have alot to write about when I get back. Happy Easter!