Africa Bound

So I guess I fly to Africa in less than a week.

The majority of conversations which I've had over the holidays center around negative themes: "wow, that sounds dangerous" "do you have your shots?" "did you hear about x person dying via y" "are you sure you should be doing this?" [Edit: I've removed my brief overview of the categories of badnesses.] They have many valid points.

But on the positive side, I've got a wireframe itinerary put together. I've listed some of the itinerary's highlights below. I'm not sure if the distances are realistic (covers more than the distance from Vancouver to St. John's), but I think it's a suitibly optimistic and grand vision. If nothing else it will serve as something to laugh at down the road when nothing goes to plan.

Some of the itinerary highlights:

- Dune boarding in the Namib dessert
- Safari with newborns and predator in Botswana
- Aerolite over Victoria Falls at peak season
- Class 5 white water on the Zambezi
- Summit of Kilimanjaro
- Two weeks on the white sand beaches of Zanzibar
- The Sarengeti's Great Wildebeest Migration
- Ngorongoro Crater Conservation Area
- White water at the source of the Nile
- View life at a hospital in Uganda
- Gorilla trekking in Rwanda

I've split my time up into three major milestones: The South (4 weeks), Tanzania (3 weeks), and Shannon (3 weeks) with a two week buffer. I plan to travel by land as much as possible despite the rainy season's ability to flood areas and make roads impassible.

Less than a week to go! Lots of preparations to make. Lots to figure out still. But I'm psyched.