We saw these lion cubs on the Serengeti and despite the bad quality of this vid, we really were very close. It was fascinating, and the reason behind my decision to do 3 projects rather than 2, as the opportunity to work at Antelope Park was irresistible.

D Day -20

Blimey - less than 3 weeks till I go now, and the to-do list is still massive, as is the pile of stuff I'm trying to fit into my case. The trouble is, once you pack 9 months supply of contact lens stuff, anti malarials and other necessities of life (and I am now resolved that not all products from Space NK qualify into that category) there is not much room left for anything else. I have decided to wear as much as possible, and no doubt there will be more stuff left on the living room floor before the case zip is finally sealed.

Its been quite an emotional few weeks. If you ever want people to be nice to you, tell them you're heading off into the sunset. I have been quite overwhelmed at times with the response that I've had and I want to say a huge thank you to everyone for all the kind thoughts. I've also had a lot of contributions to my collections for the school and orphanage in Livingstone, which has been fantastic. I'll be packing up and sending the stuff off in the week between Xmas and New Year so if you still haven't done that clear out, time is ticking. And CF team, thanks for the dosh. Now get swearing more!

The pic is our Bitch n Stitch dinner (sadly unavoidably minus one key member) at the Witchery on 14 Dec. I'm not sure they'd ever had hand painted underwear on the table before. I'll miss you lot so much - just make sure you post pics of the dinners while I'm away.

I've decided to extend my stay at the South Africa project to 12 weeks. This was how the idea first began as I found information on the web (which doesn't seem to be available anymore) when I was looking for riding holidays and the idea of working with horses and learning about conservation appeals so much. I then found out about the other projects and the plan grew from there.

Anyway, I am still working on the technology side of things and hopefully before I go I'll know how to get emails to people when I add a post and have a photo storage web site which I can link to this. It is all soooooo hard, and does not come naturally. If you want to get an email when I add a post, please let me know in person or email me at lynneinafrica@gmail.com .

That's all for now.

Technical Progress

These are just a few pics from safari in Tanzania this summer. Just because I can!

D (Departure) Day -50

Not only am I having to cope with a ridiculous amount of organisation for home, work and travel, I'm pushing my very limited technical skills well beyond my comfort zone of reading emails and buying stuff on Amazon (only 2 more packages to come, I think). Hopefully this blog will work and do what I want it to do - stuff, whatever it is supposed to do.

The details of my trip are as follows:

8 Jan - 7 March - working as a teaching assistant in a school for orphans in Livingstone, Zambia
9 March - 6 April - working as a volunteer at Antelope Park, Zimbabwe which has a specific programme for releasing lions back into the wild - see the link for more details
7 May - 30 July - working on a reserve in the Drakensberg range in South Africa, learning conservation skills, looking after the reserve's horses and going out on horse safaris.

After that I'm going to go travelling in Botswana and Namibia for a few weeks (or until the money runs out), which should be bring me back to Auld Reekie for a wash and a haircut in late summer/early autumn.

I'm trying to collect donations for the school and they've sent me a list of things that they need for the school and orphanage.

Schools:
Pencils & Pens, Notebooks, Chalk, Textbooks for all ages, Rulers, Compass etc, Educational posters for walls, Glue stick, Sweets
Orphanages:
Games, Tennis Balls, Footballs, Pencils & Pens, Bubbles, Balloons, Playground Games, Teenage Boy & Girls clothes, Music CD's & tapes, Sweets, Colouring books, Water Guns

If you can donate any of these items, please let me know. I'll be getting everything together and sending it out in the New Year as I need every gram of my luggage allowance for toiletries and camping gear. Mostly toiletries. Do they have Jo Malone in Africa?