The almighty Amalfi and captivating Capri, Italy.

We awoke early to the sound of alarm blasting away. We packed up our things drowsily & were out the door in good time. After stopping for a pastry & espresso, Cris & Roberto dropped us off at the station. We hopped on the train & before we knew it we were in Milan. We had a two hour stop over before jumping on the fast train to Salerno, so we just chilled at a café & had an overpriced sandwich. Once we got on board we were sat opposite each other, next to two Italian strangers. One of which was a lady who sighed frequently, & unnecessarily loudly! 

It was a long six hour trip but we made it into  Salerno just as night was falling. We jumped in a cab from the station & pulled into a small alleyway which allegedly led up to our Air BnB. After asking a friendly waiter at a nearby restaurant, he pointed us in the direction of our accommodation & in no time we were buzzing on up. We were greeted by a young, quiet couple who showed us our cute orange room with a little terrace. We dumped our bags & asked where the best place was to eat. The man recommended the same restaurant downstairs with the helpful waiter so we headed on down & after a little wait for a table, we were seated. Dinner consisted of a tasty thin pizza & an okay salad, & satisfied, we went back upstairs & dived into bed! 

Waking the next morning to the noise from the bustling little street below, we walked out into the kitchen & helped ourselves to brekky. Our plan for the day was to head out on a ferry to the town of Positano, & once we figured out where it was & we got changed, we were off! We managed to make the 10:30am ferry, & we took a seat up on the top deck. The water was absolutely gorgeous the further we moved around the Amalfi coastline, & the secret coves, beaches & houses along the way were countless! 

After a couple of hours we arrived at the port of the pretty-as-a-painting Positano. We disembarked the ferry, had a quick browse around the town & marvelled at how 'Italian' (tacky) the unreasonably expensive clothes were, then had a bite to eat before heading to the beach! We walked along a path just outside of the town, away from the crowded main beach, & stumbled upon a quaint little cove where hardly anyone was, happy to avoid the masses lazing about on over priced deck chairs!! Jumping at the chance to get in the stunning aqua blue sea, we laid our sarongs down on the scorching hot pebbles, & dived on in. 

The water was cool & very refreshing, & the cove was such a little haven away from the masses. We had a couple of swims & chilled in the before heading back towards port & onto the 4:30 ferry. Napping the majority of the way back (whilst being pranked by a certain photographer,) we arrived back in Salerno. We made our way home, stopping at a supermarket on the way to gather supplies for dinner. I hopped into the large shower while Sean cooked up a pork dinner, along with peas, carrots, zucchinis & mashed potatoes. We crawled into bed, ready for an early start in the morning for a day trip to Capri!

We accidentally overslept our alarm when we eventually woke, & after chucking a few things together & throwing clothes on, we raced to catch the 8:30 ferry. Making it just in time, we set sail again over the crystal blue ocean, & after stopping a couple of times to pick up more passengers, we arrived in the port of the paradise island of Capri. Unloading off the ferry, we weaved & dodged around the masses of other tourists, who trickled off other boats at a seemingly never ending pace. Seeking respite at a café with a particularly strong cappuccino, we made an executive decision to hire a scooter for half of the day, & after we paid up, our waiter pointed us to a scooter hire store. 

The hiring process was a breeze, the gent behind the counter marked the best spots on the map, & we had 5 hours to bring it back. Setting off on the hectic & narrow island roads, we rode along a winding pass that cut into the mountain & provided breathtaking views. It wasn't too long before we pulled into the carpark of Punta Carena e Farro & as we walked down the pathway we soon came to realise why the swimming spot was a local favourite! The  water deep, yet crystal clear, so you could see every rock on the bottom. We jumped off a diving point, which unbeknownst to us, would be just a warm up for the ones to come!

After making like a sunbaking lizard on the rocky boat ramp for a wee while, we were up & off again, this time headed to another swimming spot on the opposite side of the island. This one was called Grotta Azzurra, & it was just picture perfect. Laying our sarongs down, we leaped into the ocean, the island dropped off right away into blue abyss, making this the perfect jumping spot. Sean was jumping from a point a good 8 metres up before a young local boy asked him to come jump off a point nearly twice as high! Unsurprisingly, Sean needed no time to deliberate, & he was soon up on the face of a cliff. It was a giant drop but he wasted no time in taking the leap of faith, plunging into the water, then coming up laughing. We hung around the serene spot for a little while, before agreeing that we were both hungry, & so we were back on the scooter, headed towards the opposite end of the island.

We parked up in the town centre as no vehicles were permitted past a certain point, & we made our way up a hill towards a restaurant Sean had read about. Making it to the place after a good twenty minutes of walking, we were met with a closed door & empty place. Not disheartened, we retreated down towards another crisp white place we walked past earlier. It worked out fantastic in the end, because the place we ended up at, 'La Palette,' provided outstanding views of the other side of the island from their modern balcony. We enjoyed a cold peroni with a tantalisingly fresh Capri salad, before our mains were brought out. We both had different pastas, mine a seafood special & Sean's, a classic carbonara. They were both fresh & tasty, not to mention very cleanly presented. It hit the spot, & after paying up, we were back walking down towards the J'ardin Augustino. 

The gardens were picturesque, amongst the cliffside with sea views. Unfortunately as we were in a hurry to get the scooter back in time, we could only stop for a few photos of the gorgeous view, before heading back to the carpark & jumping on the scooter. We rode back down to the shop, dropped it off, & after one more swim at a packed beach we were back on the ferry bound for home. 

We stopped by the supermarket again & picked up some snackie foods - cheeses, cold cuts & bikkies. We weren't terribly hungry so it was just a light dinner along with  a couple of beers each. The second one, a German wheat beer smelled & tasted like smoked salmon! It was bizarre & I wouldn't rush back into another one! We were in bed shortly after, ready to leave Salerno to venture further into the coast.

Walking lions and chasing rhinos, Zimbabwe.

Reaching the park around lunchtime, we were greeted by an enthusiastic welcome song & dance performed by a few members of staff. The park itself was therapeutically peaceful & vast, with a giant lake in the middle. Over one hundred species of birds resided around the water's edge, a bunch of monkeys played around the trees, a few resident elephants splashed about in the lake, however the main attraction here were the lions. Antelope Park's lion breeding programme aims to increase the population's dwindling numbers across Africa by hand raising & teaching cubs how to hunt by taking them on daily walks with park patrons, then later releasing them as a pride in certain designated areas so they can continue to breed & prosper. There are thousands of volunteers a year & over hundreds of thousands of visitors. 

After deciding between several different options for activities in the park, we settled on a sunrise walk with the lions & interaction with the four rescued elephants. The elephant interaction was a little too brief, but the up close & personal time with Ntombi, the mischievous young female, was unreal. 

The next morning's lion walk in the crisp cold air was one of the most amazing experiences of our lives. Waking up around 6, we headed out to meet our two gorgeous chaperones. Africa, the young lion, & Alika, the young lioness. Both cubs were 11 months old, & naturally eager to play & hunt. We walked alongside them, stroked them, held their tails, & stopped to pose for photos at the perfect opportunities. At one point while Sean was standing with his legs apart stroking Alika, Africa took the chance to dart through his legs, a briefly heart stopping moment. 

The walking is stage 2 of their plan; where they are walked and can run off after wild animals teaching themselves to hunt whilst tourists are the main point of funding the whole thing. It's controversial like a lot of the other problems in Africa; from lion poaching, hunting game parks, rhino and elephant poaching for their tusks and horns.. But it seems that everyone has their own opinion and not one of them is a fully equipped plan nor has any of them seen the perfect results. 

The morning spent with the two Cubs was honestly just incredible however it was important to remain very aware as at the end of the day these are wild animals and are very capable of being just that. An hour and a half passed way too quickly so we walked back up to put the big cats back in their enclosure and all headed back for breakfast by the truck. The day was spent lazing about soaking up the warm winters sun by the lake and sipping a pretty tasty coffee at the cafe. Evening crept up and before we knew it we were sitting around the fire, drinking wine and roasting marshmallows before calling it a night. 

Back on our trusty yellow truck the next morning, we were off again, this time to Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second capital. The road there was smooth, however the amount of police checks in this country its crazy! The police are payed a pretty small wage so they have hit the roads to make more money by  picking apart the smallest flaws in cars as fineable offences, & also looking for bribes where possible. After a few hours of driving, we pulled into 'Burke's Paradise,' a cosy little family cottage with a substantial amount of land for campers & self sustainable blocks. We were greeted by the family dogs, the 7 month old puppy Lilly, an adorable black labrador, & Simba, an older terrier cross jack russell. After meeting the pups, & the owner Adam, we settled in, pitching tent by the swimming pool on the lawn. 

We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging around, catching up online with our first proper WiFi since Zanzibar. As the sun descended closer to the horizon, we decided it was beer o'clock & headed to the local pub, 'The Clubhouse,' for a cold one. The bar was fairly new, looking suspiciously a lot like a university bar. A couple of delicious but expensive South African craft beers later, we headed home, (not without getting completely lost first!) After a big home-cooked meal of chicken diane I made for everyone, we were soon in bed, excited for the following adventurous day trekking around Matapos National Park with a guide named Ian & his band of rhinos. 

Rising early the next morning, we threw down breakfast & were soon on the back of Ian's dark green open air Land Rover. After an hour of driving we reached Rhodes Matapos National Park, named after Cecil John Rhodes, an English entrepreneur who still has a massive influence on Zimbabwe & Africa in general, with a very varying opinion on him. Ian was a big advocate of him and tried to convince us all of his respect. 

Entering the park we were soon to find a guard, who lives, eats and sleeps in the park to protect the Rhinos from poaches, with his gun over his shoulder he led us to where a mother and her son were grazing. It was incredible to find them in the wild and see how tame they were in having us approach them. We were able to crawl us as close as a few meters from the incredible and rare rhinos, whilst they're not as rare as the black, they are still rare and protected as the price for their horn increases. (Mainly in the Asian culture it is believed to be an afrodesic and have other sexual powers so they are paying up to one million American dollars for a decent sized one to be imported). After following them through the rough bush for about an hour we headed back to the van to grab a drink and head off to climb sacred rocks and learn about the ancient tribe of the bushmans.

Upon a steep incline we finally came to an incredible open air cave decorated in bushman art dating back to thousands of years ago. Ian went on to tell us about the bushman tribe and how unfortunately settlers have hunted and killed them as they believed them to be like animals. The story much like the decimation of aboriginals in Australia, allowing them no rights nor value of their life. It's crazy to think that people's greed and power have allowed them to think that they are more superior to, in my opinion, a much more incredible and indigenous race in both Australia, Africa and many other countries. 

We then climbed to the very top of the massive rock for an amazing 360 degree view of the landscape which stretched for miles, lit by the blazing sun and shadowed by the other sacred rocks. The decline wasn't near as tough and we found our van at the bottom scattered with a bunch of locals and their pop up market trying to make an honest dollar. Of course a few giraffe serving spoons later we headed back into rhino territory, unsuccessful in finding another before the hot sun crept away and the winter cold darkness fell.

 

Arriving back at Burke's Paradise, we were greeted by several large pizzas Vee had ordered for us all. No one felt much like cooking so it was a welcome gesture. After dinner, we headed back to the Club House for a beer, but the day had taken it's toll, we were soon back, & straight into bed! Drifting into a deep sleep, thoughts of the next day & the beauty that is promised to be Victoria Falls, danced around our minds.