Adrian's First Thoughts of His Most Memorable Seven Wonders of the Trip

These are my initial thoughts of my stand-out memories from the trip, in no particular order : 1. Fox and I being thrown out of our inflatable as we attemped to paddle down Popa Falls white water, then seeing Fox scrambling out of the water still wearing his sunglases under his protective helmet, safe, with me getting out from under the up-turned inflatable to then hang on hoping that the inflatable would take the rock- hits rather than me (as turned out to be the case). So, after the adrenalin high, all were safe! Fox and I both said that we would like to give the Falls another go! However, we joined the other boats to continue with our paddling down the Kvango. 2. The openess and serenity of Njuca Hills, with orange/yellow savanna, black acacia trees and no one else for miles other than than Lynn, Lindsay, Ellen , Fox, Eric and myself. 3. The wild campsite at Kwai, with elephants wandering by our camp just 15 metrews away during the day and hippos munching 30 metres away at night, all unconcerned that we were sharing their world! 4. Elephants swimming from the opposite river bank to an island at Chobe, with snorkles (trunks) up! 5. Witnessing a leopard attempting to snatch an impala - this time unsuccessfully - at Chobe. 6. Seeing the reaction of elephants when they stumbled upon another leopard's kill, showing signs not just of distress but also sympathy for this recent abrupt end of life, towards the north of Moremi Wildlife Rserve. 7. The plains at Etosha, full of wandering giraffes (a 'journey' of giraffe), hundreds of zebras, tens of elephants; and watching an elephant family washing and squirting - thoroughly enjoying their family event! And, an eighth memory (!), Lynn's exhiliration of taking her first photo of a cheetah - learning later from the local guide that this was a chettah with her cub, although we did not see the cub in the tall grass. Adrian