Travelog for: Aisha

Hey there!
My travels begin with this short visit to the capital of nearby Russia. I only had time for a short walk around, so we headed for the most famous pedestrian street of Moscow - the Arbat. There, we browsed through several shops, had lunch and took this photo in front of a theatre. Too bad we had to return to Kyiv that very evening - I would have attended a play with great pleasure.

I'm hoping to be hosted somewhere soon - so that I can take longer walks and see more of other cities.

I was hoping to join one of the forum members on a trip to New York, but another TV was faster and took the prize. Oh well...

On the other hand, I'm almost certain that I'll travel to JLS in South Africa instead! We're in the final round of talks... Oh, I'm quite excited at the opportunity! Let's hope it works out!

Hurray! I'm on my way to South Africa!!!
Still can't believe this is happening to me. No, really, think of it - does an ordinary mouse often get to travel across the equator to a different continent? (Not that I'm an ordinary mouse, but still...)

The people at the post office were friendly and helpful. Having had some trouble packing my buddy Gena yesterday, they were happy to see another ToyVoyager who was half his size (me, that is). For some reason Gena was classified as "small packet" and I was labeled as a "letter" 

Anyway, all the best to everybody watching my journey. And I hope to reach my new host JLS soon!

After a long and painful trip in a TINY envelope, i arrived safely with my new host, Julia.


Julia is already the proud host of Jubilee Bunny and is also newly joined by her very own Ella Bella.


Julia gave me a brief tour of the house and introduced me to a real African doll. What a sweetie.



Guess what? I get to tick off a mission from my list! Jo'burg is now officially off the list! YAY! Only 4 to go!

Apparently we're off on a trip in a day or two, so hold thumbs for me!

We left for Botswana at 5pm on the 19th of December 2008. We met our guide in Lephalale on the border of South Africa and Botswana. We spent the night in campsite there and then continued our journey to Botswana the next day. The campsite was basic but had shady trees and decent bathrooms.


We spent the night on a roof tent on top of the Landrover. It kept the mosquitos out and had a comfortable mattress.
Here we are relaxing on the bonnet on our first morning of the trip.


We were travelling in Landrover Defenders and although these cars are big and bulky, they are also top heavy. About 20km into Botswana, while travelling on a dirt road, Julia’s boyfriend (Sean) sister, Talitha, nearly rolled the car. She tried to over take another car but left it too late and starting sliding on the sand. After much screaming, Sean’s younger brother, grabbed the steering wheel and forced her to keep the wheels straight and accelerate. My life flashed before my eyes and Julia had to apologise a thousand times to use before we calmed down.




After driving for what seem like hours, we eventually got to our destination. The Magadikgadi Salt Pans, which you may have seen Jeremy Clarkson drive across in Top Gear. The pans are the size of Portugal. We spent the night at Kubu Island, and here you can see Julia, Sean and his dad, Haggis, at the start of the pans.



To get to Kubu Island you have to drive a third of the way across the pans, over very slippery sand surface. Here Sean is with the Landies on the pans.


As you drive into Kubu Island, the first thing you see is a giant Baobab tree and thats about it. There are houses for miles and miles around.


We set up camp for the night camped under another Baobab.


Sean took us up the baobab, so we could get a better view. The green plastic sheeting in front of the tree is our shower. The day had been so hot that the water we used that night was still warm.



As we watched the sunset over the pans, we thanked our lucky stars that we were in beautiful Africa.

We barely slept a wink. Not only was it the hottest night of the year but there were all sorts of wild creatures about. The scorpions were huge and had the fattest tails you’ve ever seen. The spiders were roughly the size of an adult’s shoe. Apparently they’re called Red Roman spiders, and although they aren’t poisonous, they are huge and very nosey about their surroundings. We woke up at 3am to find a Red Roman spider, thankfully, on the outside of our tent. It was climbing all over, trying to find a way in. When it was finally time to get up, at 4am, we heard an owl hooting and then the screeching sound of an owl catching its prey. We then heard a small wild cat crying. So we think its mother was taken by an owl, although we couldn’t find the cat once we were out of the tent.

We climbed to the top of Kubu Island to watch the sunrise over the salt pans. A sight I will never forget. Unfortunately, Sean’s dad, who is busy recovering from Cancer, started feeling very sick this morning. So the mood was dampened. 




While we were on top of Kubu Island, we came across a tree, that had over the years picked up a large rock and lifted it into the air as it grew.


We left Kubu Island and drove through the salt pans once more. Here I am in the pans.


Here we are by the landrovers in the pans.



We arrived at Xyga late that afternoon, but unfortunately Sean’s dad’s condition went from bad to worse and we had to drive him the 30 minutes to Maun hospital. We spent the next few days there, before he was airlifted back to Johannesburg. We later found out that he had had a brain aneurism and had slipped into a coma.



We spent a 2 days at the Xyga campsite before he was moved, and we spent a lot of time in the swimming pool.



Then we started to head back to South Africa

On our way home, we were lucky enough to see Elephant on the side of the road in Botswana. We must have seen HUNDREDS of elephants, I couldn't believe our luck.


They were everywhere!