Book Club Rendezvous
Our book club travels a lot together especially since most of us are single. This helps alleviate the traveling costs of a single person and since we are such a fun group, we have taken to the skies and levelled up on our book club offering. So each year our group chose a destination and we saved towards that getaway, seeing many places together... and of course, doing 1 book club night - with lots of wine!
We had travelled our own country extensively and wanted something different. One night, we read The Elephant Whisperer by the late South African author, Lawrence Anthony and decided that Africa was going to be our next stop. Luckily, Tracey in our group was a travel agent and she compiled an exotic itinerary for our group of 6 people.
Our first stop was Livingstone, Zambia, where we stayed for 3 nights in a lodge that was on the edge of the Zambezi River. We received a royal welcome with hand massages as we checked in... loved that! We packed our stay with activities including the Victoria Falls – a World Heritage Site. We felt stuck in a time warp as elephants roamed freely in the streets and of course baboons who blended themselves into the town like human folk...hahahahaha!
From Livingstone, we headed to Kasane, Botswana, just in time for the charter flight to The Okavango Delta, where we spent the next 4 nights in a place we called fondly labelled as "Heaven"! Our lodge was so remote, you could only access it by charter flight. And when we arrived, we were blown away by the luxury of this lodge. How they got all this luxury into this remote area, without making any impact on the environment, will remain a mystery. We ate the best food and explored waterways from mokoros seeing animals from a different perspective, especially these HUGE elephants.
Our trip ended with the last leg of the journey - South Africa. We flew from Johannesburg to Durban and stayed for 3 nights being spoilt at an iconic hotel. We headed to Thula Thula Private Game Reserve for the day to visit and connect with Lawrence Anthony's elephants, who inspired our whole trip in the first place. Durban was amazing and vibrant. We loved the energy this spice city offered. Soon it was off to Cape Town, our last stop. We spent 4 nights in this cosmopolitan city and explored all the city had to offer. We walked the city center, explored the winelands and shopped until we dropped!
This was a trip of a lifetime, filled with moments that will forever be in our hearts.