My Big Trip come to an end :-((( But then another adventure begins...

The end of my Big Trip: bit earlier than planned, bit unexpected but it's good to be going home...
So the end of my Big Trip came somewhat sooner and more unexpectedly that I ever anticipated... When I showed up at the border between Botswana and Namibia in mid March, an otherwise lovely immigration officer informed me that with a Polish passport I could not obtain a Namibian visa on the border. Hmmm all the visa research I've done before departure and all the advice I was given from the overlanding company organizing my trip said that yes I needed a visa but I could easily get it on the border. Well, evidently not on this particular border... The officer was polite but very firm. He couldn't let me in, he couldn't issue my visa, no he wouldn't do it for a "special fee", if I wanted a visa I would have to go all the way to a Namibia embassy in Botswana or Zambia. Well, by the time I would get it and catch up with my friends again in the middle of nowhere in Namibia, it'd be days if not weeks and they would be almost down to South Africa ending their journey. So I made an executive decision to say "no" to Namibia this time and to fly home to reunite with friends and family couple weeks earlier than originally planned. And once I made that decision the joy really hit me: I'll see my beloved Cute Dutchman in just couple of days! I'll have more time with my family including the adorable 6 month old nephew I haven't even met yet, I'll have more precious time with Me amongs the luxuries of life I have not experienced for a long time such as hot water, bubble baths, clean clothes, soft bed instead of a tent crawling with little ants (I could not get rid of them in Botswana!), Cute Dutchman right next to me... I am so excited to be going back home! Namibia is not going anywhere, I'll surely visit it one day soon. And I feel ready to embark on a brand new adventure in my life called "re-entering the real world, the rest of my life and seeing what happens"... 

Uncertainty and a life lesson how to deal with it
At an emotional, personal level I cannot quite believe my Big Trip is almost over. I have been dreaming about it for years and planning it for months. It feels like yesterday that I gathered the courage to leave the office and board that flight to China and now it's time to go home??? Bugger... I yet again fell in love with Africa all over again. A piece of my heart is left behind here every single time I visit. I love its sounds at night, it pinks and oranges in the sky at dusk and dawn, its tribal village people content in their basic existence and totally oblivious to the concept of the outside world, unpolluted by the silly worries and stresses of our abundant Western ways with our little irrelevant Western life problems... 
 
Now I find myself so very excited about what lies ahead, even though - funnily enough - I actually don't really know what lies ahead. A realization hit me recently that my Big Trip has been an invaluable life lesson in dealing with uncerainty. Few years ago my old self would be freaking out at the thought of not knowing what her life will look life in 6, 12, 18 months. Right now I have no bloody idea to put it frankly. In my relationship I have no clue whether a year from now I will be living in the same country, let alone the same house with the Cute Dutchman. At work I have no clue whether a year from now I'll still be doing the same thing for the same employer or completely different thing for a dofferent organization and where in the world the job will take me next. But I feel so amazingly grateful for all these various opportunities and options my life offers me and I welcome every single one of them with open eyes, arms and heart. Whatever happens, happens. Bring it on, life! I wanted my Big Trip to be an exercise in dealing with uncertainty and the Universe blessed me with plenty of opportunities to practice...

I return home after 8 months on the road:
- more accepting
- emotionally calmer
- less feverishly pursuing and striving
- more tolerant and open to people with views/experiences different than mine
- trusting that Universe will deliver what I want if I'm clear what I want
- believing that everything happens for a reason, even if I don't quite know what it is at the time
- facing inwards instead of outwards 
- gratuful, oh so very grateful for what I've been blessed with
- more present in the Now and Here
- chosing to be kind over being right
- chosing to stop comparison thinking from running my life
- taking responsibility (no matter how much I protest, I am totally responsible for everything that happens to me in my life)
- not judgmental about the ways of others (if I judge, it says more about me that it says about them)

- still so very much in love - with Life, the world, and yes the Cute Dutchman :-)

Eastern + Southern Africa - how I met someone who changed my views on passion forever

Tanzania (including the glorious Zanzibar), Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe - on my previous African travels I've never had the privilege and opportunity to visit these corners on the continent and let me tell you, it's been absolutely amazing. 

Tanzania - Serengeti and Ngorongoro National Parks

I’ve been fortunate to visit most of the big national parks in Southern Africa but Tanzania offered one of the best game viewing experiences I’ve ever done. Not only do you get the Big Five and many other amazing animals lazing around in their natural habitat but also it’s all surrounded by dramatic, beautiful landscape: flat savannah of Serengeti and crater dramatics of Ngorongoro (which is sometimes called the Garden of Eden, which quite accurately describes the atmosphere and the serenity of the place). The animal encounters I was fortunate to witness in these national parks were impressive: I saw a lion making love to his lioness, I saw a cheetah just about to start his deadly chase after an antelope, I saw 4 lions hunting an antelope (poor antelope, everybody wants to eat them for dinner), I saw 2 big elephants fighting with each other so that their trunks were completely twisted and you couldn’t tell which trunk is whose, I saw 2 giraffes also fighting with each other twisting their long necks so that you couldn’t tell which neck was whose neck was whose. The additional fun of my Serengeti experience was couple days when I had opportunity to camp right in the middle of the  national park, where the campsite gets visited at night by lions and hyenas. I must say I’ve never required special training what to do if you have to leave your tent to go to the toilet at night! In case you’re wondering: the trick is to never ever turn off your flashlight because if you have it on, the animal’s eyes will reflect, you’ll see them and you’ll be able (hopefully!) to slowly back away to your tent (don’t turn your back at them, walk backwards with flashlight directed at the animal’s eyes). If your light is off, you won’t see anything but the animal will certainly see you and may attack. Before you leave your tent at night, flash the light around and if you see a lion or a hyena, best to stay in your tent. I decided to play it safe – decided not to leave my tent under any circumstances at night while in the Serengeti and kept an empty plastic container in my tent in case my bladder gets desperately full J

Zanzibar

Aaahhhh, this finally felt like I was on a real beach vacation. It was blissful couple days on Nwungwi Beach of no dirty, dusty, smelly, waterless, shower-less overlanding. Instead it was sleeping in a simple but beautiful beach hut, with mosquito net over the bed giving it this special romantic African look, with white sand and blue ocean just steps outside the hut, with every cocktail imaginable available at the beach bar, with sea food grilled to perfection just hours after it was fished out of the water, with breathtaking sunsets, and finally with amazing coral reef scuba diving. Swimming in the warm ocean at sunset, just as the sky turns a million shades of pink is a travel memory forever engrained in my mind and soul. Stonetown was also lovely with its beautiful narrow stone alleys, carved doors, fish and meat bazaar, old slave market with its brutal inhumane history... No wonder the entire town is UNESCO protected as a designated World Heritage Site. Sundowner cocktails at Africa House overlooking the ocean and the local boys practicing their sports and acrobatics on the lawn outside makes for a lovely “chillaxed” evening. And last but not least – the SPICES! A visit to the local spice farm was so much fun! What an unbelievable eye opening experience to the abundance of smells, colors and tastes that we could and should be including in our cooking. I have had vanilla, ginger, cinnamon, lemongrass etc before but never ever of the quality and strength that here on the beautiful island of Zanzibar. I now completely understand why so many travellers say the same thing every time Zanzibar is mentioned: “Aaah! Paradise!”. It is very true…

So, how is life and general wellbeing after months on the road? 

Inevitably, after months on the road, some of my beloved fellow travellers are getting tired, frustrated and starting to miss home bit too painfully. In my 7 months on the road thus far I have seen your every travelling interpersonal drama in the book: people getting drunk, people getting high, people partying all night every night to music that belongs in a London music club and not in Africa (what’s the point of travelling all the way here just to do exactly the same thing you do in your home town every weekend???), people changing bed partners more often than they change their underwear. Yes, my dear friends, when you travel with other people (especially ones you did not carefully handpick yourselves and submit to thorough psychological testing before they boarded your overlanding truck) you will get frustrated with your fellow travellers and have them being frustrated with you. And it will happen sooner rather than later. Complaining is a big theme and it’s one that I do not deal with very well. Yes, overlanding across the entire Africa is not everyone’s piece of cake and can get pretty tough. Sometimes it gets too hot, too cold, too wet (guess what, it rains heavily and your tent gets soaked if you come to Kenya in the rainy season! Dah!), too dry (guess what, this is Africa and sometimes showers are just not going to happen), too dirty, too smelly, too you –name-it… And the downside of travelling with other people is that you’ll always have someone complaining something. There are days when I feel like screaming at and punching some of those Forever Complaining. But guess what – they probably feel like screaming at and punching me sometimes too. We all have our bad days out here, it’s expected, accepted and all part of the fun. Overlanding is real life in its extra intense miniature form – just like in your real life at home you’ll have good and bad days, sometimes you’ll love life and sometimes you’ll want to go to the woods and scream your lungs out, some people you’ll meet will be complete losers complaining about everything and some will become your friends, lovers or soul mates. Sharing the travelling experience with other like-minded people is unpredictable, sometimes beyond annoying and hence great fun. The alternative would be to drive across Africa completely alone, which in addition to being dangerous for a single while female, would also lack the gratifying adventure of meeting fascinating people I would never meet at home. 

Zimbabwe - life lesson on passion
I have developed a strong, unique personal bond with Zimbabwe. It is now officially my favourite country in Africa. And not only because of the breathtaking beauty of its nature, sunsets and people. Not only because of its painfully unique history. But it's rather because of someone I met here that Zimbabwe has for me become a symbol of the importance of finding and following your true passion in life. Let me tell you the story of Andy... Andy is a professional hunter and guide in the Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe. His professional certifications allow him to guide in any of the Zimbabwean parks. I had the privilage and the honor to visit the Hwange and the Matapos national parks guided by Andy. I have visited many parks in many countries throughout Africa in the last several years. Technically speaking, the game drives I have done by Andy's side have not been the best game drives by a long stretch - it was the rainy season with too much green bush to spot many animals, other parks in Eastern Africa probably have more easily spottable game than Zimbabwe. But those game drives I have done with Andy will forever in my heart remain the most inspiring, fascinating, beautiful, memorable safaris I have ever done in my life thus far. And it's for one reason and one reason only - Andy's passion for what he does is utterly contegious. He knows and loves every bit of animal. bird, grass, bush and tree in his home country. If after couple hot sweaty hours of driving through the bush the big animals like elephants, lions or leopards are not showing their pretty heads out of the bush, he will get you so excited about a few animal pawprints in the dust or a pile of elephant dunk on the ground that you'll happily forget that youn really wanted to see the big game and not prints and poo. It will not matter anymore. You will feel totally at one with nature, with the sounds and smells of the bush, with the tear enducing colours of the sky at sunset. You will drink every single story Andy feeds you about his 2 years of living alone in the bush without ever seeing a white face, his survival completely dependent on what food he hunts and what water he finds. You will feel in your vains the passion he has for his profession, for his country's wildlife he is honored to show you, for years of hard sweaty dangerous work he's had to go through in order to complete his professional accrediations and to become one of the elite few. His passion for his life and his work shows in everything he does and says. It was beyond inspiring to meet someone like that. It opened my eyes to how utterly crucial it is to find and follow our true passions in life. It made me realize that if I ever have children, I will make it my most important mission in life to teach them exactly that: that life without true passion is not worth living... Thank you, Andy. Maybe one day you will take me on that 4 day walking safari in the Zimbabwean bush we talked about and we'll stand again mere metres away from 2 ton rhinos and to camp under the stars hearing the hippos sing...