2001 Africa

Beaches in Mauritius, rainbows at Victoria Falls, a total eclipse of the sun in Zambia, elephants at Etosha, paintings at Twyfelfontein, and leopards and lions at Okonjima

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Mauritius is a tiny island in the Indian Ocean, about 1,300 km east of the African mainland. Click for pictures of Mauritius. The little kingdom of Swaziland is entirely bound by South Africa and Mozambique. Click for pictures of Swaziland. Victoria Falls names both the falls and the town on the Zimbabwean side of the falls. Click for pictures of Victoria Falls Difficulties in travelling to Angola lead me to see the eclipse in neighbouring Zambia. Click for pictures of the eclipse Etosha National Park, in the north of Namibia, is half the size of Switzerland, or a third the size of Tasmania. Click for pictures of Etosha. The shape of Zambia suggests the result of former colonial administrations rather than natural topography. Click for pictures of the eclipse from Zambia Lusaka is the capital of Zambia. I was about 60km north of Lusaka for the eclipse. Click for pictures of the eclipse. Livingstone (as in I presume) is the town on the Zambian side of Victoria Falls. Click for pictures of one of my favourite spots in Africa. Johannesburg is the airline hub for southern Africa. I managed to fly through here 5 times during this holiday! Namibia is on the south-west coast of Africa. It is sparsely populated and relies for its income on mining, especially diamonds, and tourism. Click on Etosha National Park, Twyfelfontein, Okonjima or Windhoek. Windhoek is the capital of Namibia, and is a charming city. Click for photos of Windhoek Zimbabwe is land-locked with South Africa to the south, Mozambique to the east, Zambia to the north and north-west, a tiny border with Namibia, and Botswana to the south-west. Twyfelfontein is a significant site of rock art in the Brandberg range of mountains. Click for photos from Twyfelfontein. Okonjima is the home of Africat. Click for photos of leopards, cheetah and lions. Regrettably, the only bit of South Africa I saw on this holiday was when driving from Johannesburg to Swaziland. Click for photos of Swaziland.