Another nice lie in this morning and a relaxed start. We all feel sorry that we didn't make Lake Malawi but have so much enjoyed our time with TeamMaverick spending time in Chobe both on the roads and on the river. It is Sunday today so Kasane is not so busy, Botswana is very religious so we presume many are at church. 
We have been eating very heathy but today we succumb to junk food and fill up before heading into the unknown. We need to be in Maun on the 2nd so will look for something on the way there. The road passes through acacia savanna and we see quite a lot of game. Of particular interest to me is the abundance of game and the lack of people. There is so much untamed land here that the animals roam free on. We saw ele's, kudu, giraffe, impala and even ground hornbills just at the side of the road. These roads are very dangerous to drive at night as animals walk on the road and can be very hard to see.

The road from Kasane to Nata was excellent at first but we came across large sections of road works where the whole length of road is being worked on. They make a temporary road next to the main road to take both lanes of traffic, unfortunately the trucks drive as if it is a single lane and they do so at full speed nearly driving us off the road several times. This temporary road is still much better than the roads in Zambia however.

LuLu has picked up the bad habit of smoking, mostly during the middle of the day and early evening when she is hot/stressed. Chill thinks she has blown another o-ring in the rocker shaft. There isn't much we can do out here so we will just keep a close eye on the oil. She did the rally with this o-ring missing last year so it is no biggy.

Matt manages to get a booking at the Nata Lodge for us and their plan was to travel on but we arrive at the lodge and find them beside the pool enjoying cocktails. Team Maverick couldn't resist the luxury at affordable prices when they saw the chalets with private outdoor showers and deep freestanding baths. It was the equal of high quality lodge Accommodation and well worth the money. There is a lovely, well stocked bar and a nice restaurant, we take full advantage of both while Hayley and Amy take full advantage of the bath and outdoor showers.

It was one of those special evenings in an oasis of luxury found in the least likely place.

Luxury, another day in the same spot. We decide to stay put and have a relaxing day in camp and go on the evening cruise on the Chobe River. Stew is still pretty sick we discuss upping his medication to antibiotics but decide against it. Between us all I think our range of drugs is better than the stock in most african hospital pharmacies.

We dropped into Kasane to get some supplies and things were extremely busy as it was end of month and most get paid at the end of the month. The queues in the supermarket were about 30 mins long which blocked up all the aisles. I managed to get a micro sim for the iPad so we are back up and running with Internet.

We were picked up from the camp at 2.45 and driven to the double decker boat for our cruise, after a quick stop at the park entrance which is a little pontoon at the side of the river to pay our fees it is into the park properly. One side of the river is Namibia and the other is Botswana so as we head into the park we have the Caprivi to the north and Chobe to the south.

There are quite a few islands in the middle of the river and these are loaded with game, big rafts of hippo's and buffalo and huge numbers of ele's. The bird life is amazing, again with huge numbers of everything. We were able to get right on top of the hippos and right next to the ele's. they are very chilled next to the boat.

The birds we saw included Purple heron, Malachite kingfisher, Pied kingfisher, Wire-tailed swallow, Yellow-billed stork, Open-billed stork, Spurwing goose, Squacco heron, Reed cormorant, Grey-headed gull, Blacksmith lapwing, Long-toed lapwing, African fish-eagle, African jacana, White-faced duck, Marabou stork, Lesser jacana, Little egret, Great white egret, Sacred ibis, Glossy ibis and an incredible sighting of African skimmers.

After the cruise it was back to the camp where Dtours organized the meal, vegetable parcels on the Braai, marinated fillet on the Braai and potatoes wrapped in tin foil in the fire. Very nice and a great chance to be able to show Team Maverick that we can indeed look after ourselves. Feeling quite content we were once again blown away when Team Maverick casually enquire would we like a marsh-mellow. As if it wasn't enough to have marsh-mellows in the bush, they pull out cane skewers and offer us either plain or coconut. These guys are so sorted.

With great excitement we get up early for our day in Chobe National Park. A quick breakfast of muesli and rusks and we are ready to go. We hadn't arranged another night in the camp so checked at the booking office if we could stay again. The bad news is the site is already booked for tonight. The good news is that another is free. Our quickest campsite change ever and we are away into the park.

We would love to stay in the park tomorrow night so first checked out the campsite bookings. In true African style the booking agent gave us a rundown on rates, sites locations and facilities then asked us which one we would like to stay at. Carefully picking the one that was halfway through the camp we were told that one was full, asking for any that were available we found the park was fully booked. Not sure why that bit of information wasn't shared first.

Botswana parks are supposed to be very expensive so I was surprised to find that the park fees were quite reasonable. Not sure if SA residents get special rates as I didn't make it clear that I wasn't an SA resident. Our fees for LuLu (who was declared as 4x4) and 4 people were P530 about NZ80 or R680.

We had been told by fellow campers that LuLu wouldn't be able to drive the river roads as the road requires 4x4. In fact your not allowed into Chobe in 2 wheel drive cars at all. At the first intersection we had the choice of the main road or the river road, you guessed it, straight to the river. The roads are indeed bad but we are committed now and with a 4x4 in front and behind we think we are pretty safe. We quickly realised LuLu might need some air removed from her tires so stopped on a hard patch to do this.

Very soon we came to the water, the arid dry Mopani gives way to lush green riverine landscape, there is plenty of water in the Chobe river and the game and bird life are everywhere. One thing that you notice immediately is the huge numbers of everything, ele's buy the thousand, hippo's by the hundreds, crocodiles line the banks, impala and lechwe(a first for me) mixed in big herds, buffalo, sable, roan (a herd of about 12 and another first for me), Kudu everywhere and a myriad of bird life. white browed coucal, white browed scrub robin, babbler, black wing stilt, Jacana, yellow billed stork, African, spoonbill, white faced duck, African darter to name a few.

We saw lots of vultures circling in different places, one group were on a young elephant carcass and we got great shots of a Lappet-faced Vulture. We drove along the river toward the Ihaha camp hoping to get a nice lunch when we arrived. The drive took 3 hours and LuLu didn't get stuck once. Justin however managed to get the 4x4 Hilux stuck 3 times.

Arriving at the camp we found it to be very basic indeed. What a lovely place to camp, no fences, no power and certainly no Wimpy restaurant. The campsites are well set out along the river and it certainly isn't crowded. For a park at full capacity it certainly isn't crowded like Kruger in the peak season. With no food available, it was into Team Maverick's snack box. Eish they could feed a small African nation from their snack box.

We didn't manage to see any predators throughout the day although a leopard was reported in the Ihaha camp just after we left.

Today we are packing up and leaving Livingstone but before we do, we have the opportunity to help greenpop.org plant some orange trees at the local hospital.

Greenpop are from Cape Town and have been active in Zambia for 6 months planting trees in schools and hospitals trying to combat the deforestation problems. The work they are doing is like a drop in the ocean of what is needed but a great start with education around the need for and value of trees essential.

We met up with Juliana who is Geenpop's representative in the area and Uncle Ben who is a retired Zambian national that has volunteered to help them. They showed us how to plant the trees and we had to each dig a hole, add manure, water and then decorate the ground around the tree and then name it. It seems like such a small effort but these orange trees will grow and provide fruit for the patients as well as provide a green area for patient recuperation.

It was well organized, there was a representative from the hospital and two reporters from the Zambian Times. I was interviewed by the reporters as the leader of the group as we didn't have anyone official from Put Foot there. I hope we get a positive write up for Greenpop. It was a shame that Put Foot had not got back to Juliana when original approached months ago as we could have planted trees at the school during shoe drop while we had the whole team.

During the drive back to camp, Juliana asked if we had seen the Rhino in their game park. They have 4 Rhino their which is half the Rhino population in Zambia. These 4 are said to be the most protected Rhino in the world with 24 hour guards. Is this a glimpse into the future and is this the only hope for the species worldwide?

Following the tree planting we again ate at the beautiful Indian restuarant in the stunning colonial house. We took Team Maverick there as well and the staff were delighted to see us again. Our second meal didn't disappoint either so with full bellies we made our way to the border.

The border was hectic to say the least. When we arrived there was a grader working on the dirt roads so parking was the first issue. As with everywhere in Africa there seemed to be many people just waiting. i have no idea what they were waiting for and wonder if they do? There were street vendors and hawkers trying to relieve us of our last Zambian Kwacha. Understanding that we would need Botswana Pula to enter Bots, we changed some US dollars. Border crossings 101, know the exchange rate before arriving at the border. We received an appalling 5 to the USD when it should have been 8. That was just lesson number one. Lesson two is to not accept help from quasi officials. We were "helped" to the front of the queue by one guy when I am sure there wasn't a queue for cars and he relieved us of another US50. One other guy with a semi official looking ID helped us with our paperwork but disappeared after I found out that he had made me fill out the wrong form. My exclamation of "Oh F@&k" silenced the whole place for probably the first time since it had opened at 6am. Once again you seem to need to pay everyone behind a window. We had no idea what most of these charges are for.

The method of crossing the border at this point is by barge and there are hundreds of trucks lined up each side going one at a time onto the barge. The cars fit in around the trucks so we managed to get on very quickly in spite of the hundreds of trucks lined up. The crossing itself is very quick, probably 5 minutes. You then drive off the other side into Botswana. LuLu had a problem getting off as her tow bar hit the steep barge ramp. She was left stranded with both back wheels spinning in mid air. A couple of rocks under the wheels did the trick and LuLu was also into Bots.

We found a nice campground about 10 minutes from the border and settled down for the night feasting on an excellent stew courtesy of Hayley. We are now about 5 minutes from the entrance to Chobe and we can't wait. So glad we only drove 1 hour west from Livingstone and not 12hours east toward Lusaka like the rest of the rally.

Activity day but none of us are all that keen to go rafting, some of the crew went big last night! It was fantastic that they still managed an episode of Master Chef Zambia at the end of the night. The winning entry being eggs boiled in the kettle with Aromat and pepper. In a surprising move these weren't all shelled proving some essential calcium in the meal.

After a slow start we got mobile and went down to the falls. There is still a lot of water passing over these falls even though the surrounding countryside is in drought. At its height in summer, 50 million litres per second flow over these falls. The Zambezi forms the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. This results in part of the falls being in Zambia and some in Zimbabwe. The Zambian name for the falls is Mosi-oa-Tunyu mean's the cloud that thunders. The noise from the water thundering over the falls is deafening, and the mist/rain rises up in the air and can be seen for miles. The falls were formed as a result of a massive seismic shift. This left a zigzag tear in the landscape where the falls drop between the banks. This means you can walk on the other side of the bank and look right onto the falls. When you get close to the falls the spray is like rain.

Health and safety in a first world country would have a fit. I wonder how many lives have been lost when people slip over the bank in the wet slimy conditions with no fences or barriers. The Zambian side is much shorter than the Zim side but it is impressive none the less.

All the spray makes a permanently wet area around the falls creating a very different micro climate from the arid landscape typical of the area.

We were hoping to eat at the falls but there really isn't anything there except very expensive hotels so we made it back to town and had the nicest Indian food I have every had.

We had booked the evening cruise on the river which took us up the bank of the island opposite the Zambezi Waterfront where we were staying. We didn't see any Ele's but did see Hippo's, Crocodile, Green Backed Heron complete with tiger fish in its mouth along with Dikop's, Jacana's, Cattle Egrets, Bee Eaters and many more birds.

Being an "all you can drink cruise" the boat soon became very festive as we were mostly put footers including The Crestfesters, The Calendar Girls, Team Maverick, Sargerofti, Fanaticus, shotgun front, Team Afreeaka, The Retro Soles. It was hard to believe that it was only 7.30 when we excited the boat.

A few more festivities later and a serenade from the Bagpipe Whisperer and we decided to go into town to check out the Fezbar. This was my first experience of an African bar and it was pretty hectic as the crowd built up. I had my first strawberry lips and a tequila shot, I swear I only had one of each . Departing early I was asking for a taxi and a couple of locals gave me a lift home which is typical of this very friendly frontier town. I must say I am amazed at the friendly people and the safe feeling around this town, in fact everywhere we have been has felt safe.

Today is shoe drop day, this is the centre cause of the put foot rally. For us we are just trying to raise awareness of Rhino poaching but the put foot rally is about helping disadvantaged kids in Africa.

They do this by finding a school of very disadvantaged kids and putting shoes on their feet. We were asked to assemble at 8.30am and all the cars formed a convoy ready to head off to the school. We assembled in order of interesting cars and LuLu lined up third today.

After forming the convoy, we all grouped together for a briefing and were told of the unrest in Mozambique which is suddenly so serious that we would be at significant risk if we entered the country. Being a kiwi I would probably be seen as a high value target so I was doubly happy that the organisers had decided to change the route. We were now to finish in Botswana, a country that I have been keen to visit for a very long time.

Once the briefing was over we set off in convoy and it was very festive with police escorts and roadblocks giving us the run of the town. Livingstone isn't that big but I am sure we drove every street. The people came out and waved and cheered us through.

Being the first time the entire crew had been together since before Etosha, it was a special moment for the Rally. Once we arrived at the school, Chill left us to lead the convoy into the school grounds. The kids were all out on the playing fields sitting at their desks when we rocked up. 56 odd cars with all their stickers and themes and points of interest coming to the poorest school in the town was a huge occasion. The put foot foundation has already invested in the school with painting the classrooms and toilet blocks.

We were welcomed by the principal in an impassioned speech. This school only exists because a local Zambian selflessly made it happen. Education isn't free nor compulsory in Zambia so poor disadvantaged kids fall through the system. Us rocking up with shoes, pads and pencils was amazing for them, I actually got the impression that many of the kids were terrified of us.

The shoe drop itself was quite emotional. To actually put shoes on the feet of kids who may never have owned shoes was moving to say the least. These kids are used to classroom sizes of 50 to 100, they are often from households where there are kids looking after kids, such is the problem with AIDS here. It wasn't too surprising to see many Put Footers openly crying. I actually spotted a hardened Stanger Lawyer, shed a tear, while fitting shoes.

After the shoe drop it was a quiet afternoon before preparing for the checkpoint party. Tonight's theme is barefoot royalty and we are going in kilts and crowns. Thanks Shelley for preparing the kilts for us all.

We made quite an impression as the Bagpipe Whisperer piped us in to the venue. As is the case with all checkpoint parties there was an excellent meal put on as well for this party the camp owner provided free beer. This was going to be a good night. :-)

After the dinner we were all called together for an announcement and in a very emotional moment we were told of Madiba's death. It was a solemn moment of reflection and acknowledgement of a great man. I felt privileged to be in a group of South African's during this moment.

It wasn't long before it became apparent that the rumors of his death were untrue with the conversation then turning to why won't they let him go with some dignity. Such a great man deserves the ultimate peace now.

Another cold night in the tents, probably not as cold as other places because we were beside the river. However it seems to get very cold around 4am although this might just be when we were woken by the hippos who we know are very close after last nights cruise. One camper even saw one in the reeds on the bank only meters from the tents.
Another stunning sunrise and it is time to pack up. We are getting better at this now and Bruce is an absolute trouper getting up on top to pack the roof rack in these cold mornings.

One last trip to the toilets which all have a theme. We all had a turn in the garden of Eden toilet. Each shower and toilet has an eclectic angle. In fact the whole camp is an eclectic mix of artifacts and humorous anecdotes.

Shelley's rusks and tea for breakfast went down a treat with both ourselves and Team Maverick this morning as we strive to get away early. These guys are legends, we nickname them our support crew as they are always ready to help when we arrive in camp so late or book places ahead for us.

Once we were on the road we crossed the Okovango river, this put us into the game reserve or what they call a shared use road. The Caprivi highway is several continuous game reserves or national parks. We saw herds of elephant, a herd of sable, lots of cattle and goats and villagers, proof that people can coexist with wildlife. A great model for Zululand?

The border crossing went very well for a third world country. We seemed to have to pay everyone. Insurance, visa, customs, carbon tax, vehicle fees...... This took about an hour but went surprisingly well. Straight after the border we crossed the mighty Zambezi, arguably the most important river in Africa. This is the upper Zambezi as Victoria Falls separates this from the lower Zambezi. This river eventually flows out into the Zambezi delta in Mozambique.

Traveling through this next section we experienced the worst pot holes we had seen so far, this really slowed us down. Some of them would do you serious damage if we hit them at speed. We did spot Ground Hornbills at one stage and they weren't in a park or reserve at all which was probably as special as the sable earlier. Some Zambian kids will be writing with their new pens tomorrow as well.

Arriving into Livingstone at night we battled to find our camp at first. Eventually we made our way to the camp which is on the banks of the river about 3 km above the falls. Our excitement wasn't over yet as we jostled with Elephants getting in the gate. We don't appear to be in a game park so it seems Elephants just roam wild here. How exciting.

Once again Team Maverick has our back. They manage to travel at about twice our speed so get there ahead of the main pack and reserve a spot as well as cook us a stunning Braai.

Being unable to buy supplies we were left with little option but to visit the restaurant. This was an inspired choice but left the girls once again without tasks to earn their keep. In a very sweet move, Gaby did a speech in front of the whole restaurant thanking us for rescuing them in Sprinbok and looking after them so well. It was well received by us as well as all the ransoms in the restaurant. Once again the end to a stunning day. We all want to visit Etosha again.

A slow start today with tents to pull down and van to pack up. Team Sargerofti were waiting for the girls outside the gates of Etosha. After fond farewells it is back into a much more roomy van.

LuLu is struggling today, we suspect her sinuses are also blocked like ours were after the dust in the park. We thought with a little less weight we would be flying. It might be a visit to the doctor this morning. We also need to get Stews tooth looked at but that might have to wait for Livingstone. Yesterday Stew was eating and lost half of one of his back molars. It isn't hurting but we don't want it flaring up in Malawi.

First stop Grootfontein, top up with supplies and give LuLu a much needed air filter clean. Back on the road and she is a different lady. It just shows that if you look after your woman and treat her right she will give you many years of love right back. We also just realized that LuLu is 39 years and 362 days old so we are thinking of a big celebration at Livingstone.

As we head toward the world renowned Caprivi strip we are passing lots of game farms. Lovely bushveld would make an excellent home for the Rhino. They take poaching very seriously here. Any incident results in full Namibian army response. We are getting lots of respect for the Imake a difference fundraising effort.

Just passed a farm with the name Taranaki. It is probably the same size but I wonder if there is any connection. This run up to Rundi is 260k of sameness. Just stopped for a leg stretch with quite a few put footers. Fantastic to see the replacement VW has caught us up after an epic 1800k drive yesterday. I think all cars are back in the rally.

Dotted along the road are small traditional villages with the traditional wooden Kraal. Looks a bit like Zululand but no rubbish nor painted block work.

We took the time to stop and chat to the locals. They loved the pens and the soccer ball. Think they might need paper as well. We were quickly surrounded and thought we should move on.

Approaching the Caprivi strip we took sundowners in the evening on the road, we are quite chilled inside LuLu so it wasn't a hardship. Bruce can't wait to get into camp so he can have a belated sundowner. The Caprivi strip connects Namibia to the great Zambezi. This narrow strip borders Botswana on one side and Angola on the other side. The little villages dominate the landscape and everywhere you look you see cows and goats. Many of these are not taken into kraals at night so driving can be very dangerous after dark. We came past locals walking in the road, cycling on the road with no lights and dark clothing as well as goats and cattle. Bruce and I were working very hard to spot anything in the fading light. The moon gave us a little relief.

We finally reached Ngepi camp after about two hours in the dark, what a surprise we had in front of us. This camp is stunning, it is on the banks of the Okovango river, there are lovely campsites along the banks of the river as well as restaurant decks and bars. You can hear the hippos in the water beside the campsite which seems a little dangerous but it seems they don't come into the camp when people are there. Lets see!

We are starting to get sorted with putting up the camp now but still haven't managed to get all the gear out as we couldn't get the van onto the site. We then cooked a fantastic Braai of vegetable parcels, chicken and baked potatoes in tinfoil.

Chill also delighted the camp with another appearance of the Bagpipe Whisperer.

Woken by the Fish Eagles calling and the Hippo's grunting you know your in Africa. Waking in a tent on the banks of the Okovango river, it just doesn't get much better. This camp is absolutely stunning. There are tree houses over the water, campsites along the banks, a central bar and kitchen with decks over the river for dinning or just chilling.

Guy and Amy went out on the makoro this morning where you paddle yourself up the river, where they learnt from their guide that there are 650 species of birds in the area here. They are so colourful and the bird noises are amazing.

I took the opportunity to visit a local village with Jacki from the sargerofti crew, our guide came from this village so we were able to ask whatever we wanted. We were shown how they make the houses using termite mounds and wood cot from the local trees. This village makes its money from cutting reeds and wood and selling it to locals or through the camp. They get N$10 for a bundle of wood and the camp sells it for N$12.50. A Namibian dollar has the same value as a rand so this is about NZ$1.50

It costs N$100 per term to send a child to school so many of the children can't afford to go. In the village we gave away some of the "imake a difference" pens to the kids. I asked one little girls if she had a pen already and she didn't. Boniface, our guide, told us that if a child doesn't have a pen then they must wait for one of the other kids to finish so they can borrow theirs but they need to be quick before the notes are removed from the board before the next lesson. Bring pens and soccer balls to Africa if you want to do something constructive for the locals.

The structure of the village is that girls and boys stay within the family compound. Once they get to be more independent the young men build a hut outside the compound and the young lady has a hut within the compound so the parents can keep their eye on her. If they want to get together they either need to organise this through the girls family or sneak out at night. If they have an accident then he must either marry the girl or take the child. If he wants no part of either then this would be a big problem.

This camp also has free wifi which us being thrashed as crews try to get their blogs up. This is not an official checkpoint but at least half of the crews seem to be here. We are taking the time to spend two nights here and are sharing the site with our friends from Team Maverick again. On the other side we have the Sole Sistas who are a fellow Project Rhino supporter. We had a good chance to chat and they might be interested to Adopt a Rhino under their Sole Sistas name.

The boys organized a fantastic lunch of borevors rolls with potato and onion. Maybe not the healthiest thing but it sure tasted good.

It was nice to have some down time in the afternoon. Traveling is fun but tiring and we probably spending more time in our car than most others. Bruce is doing a stirling job chauffeuring us around the continent.

We teamed up with the Creastfesters, sole sistas, tekkietubs and the legendary Team Maverick for the Booze cruise at 5.00 to view the animals in the park across the river and see the hippos and crocodiles in the river. We saw a good herd of Elephants coming down to drink, Kudu, Crocodiles, Buffalo, Little Egrets, Cattle Egrets, green backed heron, blacksmith lapwing, giant kingfisher, pied kingfisher, fish eagle, reed cormorants and spoon bills. The no swimming signs are for real! Ngepi camp does have a swimming pool in the river which has netting around it so you are safe from the crocs.

As we were coming back we were treated to another stunning sunset. The colours of an African sunset are quite unique. It seems every shade from yellow through gold, red and purple feature in the sky at the same time. As the sun went down we were treated to the largest moon since 1930. It was huge and again all the colours of the spectrum. The reflection on the Okovango river was an added bonus.

The Ngepi camp has to be seen to be believed, they have a very relaxed vibe and will make a plan about anything. Everything runs on an honesty system which was a new experience for many of the South Africans. You run a tab up and pay on exit.

Tonight the super moon is the biggest since 1930 and with the current poaching crisis in Africa we are very concerned for all the Rhino and Elephant that will loose their lives tonight. The full moon has become known as the poachers moon as it makes access to the parks so much easier. The Super Moon turns the night into a darkened twilight which provides plenty of light for the poachers to track these iconic animals.

Although we are on the Put Foot Rally, which does great work with school kids in Zambia, our cause is to raise awareness of the poaching crises decimating the number of Rhino. We are traveling under the www.imakeadifference.co.nz banner and our Kombi is becoming known as the Rhino car. Our mascot Bheji is a clay model Rhino and we have tried to photograph him in some of the iconic places we have visited.

It is with a heavy heart that I have to report that the poaching crises has claimed a victim close to our camp. Bheji has had half his horn removed in the night. We have no idea how this happened as he was locked away in our Kombi and it was on constant guard. At least he was not slaughtered or left drugged for extended periods ruining his internal organs, like so many of his species. None the less it will take many years to hone his horn to a point again and he may now suffer short horn syndrome.

It really brings it home to our camp that we need to wipe out the trafficking in endangered species and their body parts.

You may have noticed that we have a New Zealand domain extension for our website. Yes we are a NZ based fund, raising money for saving the Rhino. We see the plight facing the Rhino and Elephants as a global problem and want to use our business contacts (Our business is called Imake Ltd and we sell DIY equipment and supplies to make your own food and alcoholic drinks at home) to help raise funds and awareness for this heinous international crime. We have raised money from many of our international suppliers and customers from countries as far away from New Zealand as UK, Canada, USA, China, Taiwan, France, Australia and even South Africa. We also believe that the education about the poaching problem is as important as raising funds to try to make a difference in this war against poaching.

One thing I want to make very clear is that all funds raised are used for the projects listed on our website. No donated funds have been used for a joy ride around Africa. All costs for this trip including the cost of the Kombi, maintenance, fuel, signage and crew feeding and lubrication have been born by either us personally or Imake Ltd.

Our points of difference for our fund are that 100% of all donations go to the cause. All administration costs are born by Imake Ltd or are donated. We work with existing NGO's or similar but try to provide goods or services where we pay the suppliers of these directly. For instance when we paid for a reprint of enviro kids magazine we paid the printer, when we pay for helicopter reactions to poaching we pay the invoice from the helicopter owner, when we paid for the second tracker dog in Phinda we paid the breeder. All these payments are done through The Bagpipe Whisperer whose other life has him as a lawyer based in KZN. This gives us an added level of comfort. Chill also donates his own time and that of his staff to facilitate this.