I grew up in Zimbabwe where we spent many wonderful weekends and vacations on a house boat on Lake Kariba, the largest man-made lake and reservoir in the world. We'd watch the wildlife, fish for the ferocious Tigerfish, and even water-ski despite the crocodiles. You'll never catch me water-skiing there again, but you will catch me further upriver aboard a much improved "houseboat", the Zambezi Queen.The Zambezi Queen sails the Chobe River, a tributary of the mighty Zambezi River that feeds Lake Kariba. It is a new 150-foot-long river boat described by its owner, Tony Stern, as a “five-star floating boutique hotel”. It truly is. It makes our old houseboat seem like a dugout.
The Zambezi Queen is eco-friendly, with solar-heated water, jet propulsion (instead of propellers) and limited air-conditioning. A breeze cools you as you cruise past some of the most spectacular scenery and wildlife in Africa. Welcome to the Chobe National Park in Botswana with it is teeming wildlife including approximately 120 000 elephants and over 400 species of birds.
All 14 suites with floor-to-ceiling windows have private balconies, modern colonial-style décor and plenty of mosquito netting. The ship also has a bar, reading room, plunge pool, and top-class service.The boat is also only 70km by road from one of the 7 great wonders of the world, the Victoria Falls, and just 3km from Kasane International Airport.
Activities include land-based game viewing, and tiger fishing. Water-skiing is not offered.
See you there!

In just 29 days time, on August 17th, privately owned South African airline Airlink will start connecting two sought after destinations. You will be able to fly directly from Nelspruit (which is close to Kruger National Park, South Africa) to Livingstone (which is at Victoria Falls in Zambia).

Here's the schedule (Day, Flight#, Route, Departure, Arrival)
Mon, Wed, Fri SA8870 Nelspruit to Livingstone 11h35 13h50
Mon, Wed, Fri SA8871 Livingstone to Nelspruit 14h20 16h45

We're proud to announce that Southern Africa (and the Indian Ocean islands), the home of Roar Africa, has 11 entries currently competing for inclusion in the New7Wonders of Nature. Of those 11 the Kalahari Desert (Botswana/Namibia/South Africa) is the current front runner. We have two coming in at number 7: Sossusvlei (Namibia) and Table Mountain (Cape Town, South Africa). Not bad!

Wonder, Country, Current Rank
Kalahari Desert, BOTSWANA/NAMIBIA/S.AFRICA, 1
Sossusvlei, NAMIBIA, 7 (group A)
Table Mountain, SOUTH AFRICA, 7 (group C)
Mount Karthala, COMOROS, 11
Okawango Delta, BOTSWANA, 18
Victoria Falls, ZAMBIA/ ZIMBABWE, 25
Aldabra Atoll, SEYCHELLES, 26
Malolotja Nature Reserve, SWAZILAND, 29
Mount Nyangani, ZIMBABWE, 30
Avenue of the Baobabs, MADAGASCAR, 35
Maletsunyane Falls, LESOTHO, 57

And we can think of far more than 11 reasons to visit southern Africa!

The New 7 Wonders of Nature will be determined by votes from the public.
Vote here.

Why elect the New7Wonders of Nature?
The campaign to choose The Offcial New7Wonders of the World was a resounding success, in which more than 100 million votes were cast and which took democracy to a new, global level. The New7Wonders of Nature campaign will raise awareness of the incredible variety and beauty of nature around us. “If we want to save anything, we first need to truly appreciate it!” This is something that is very important - more awareness and more tourism income means that these natural treasures can be better preserved for future generations.

The New7Wonders Foundation, which is behind the New7Wonders campaigns, has the express aim of undertaking documentation and conservation works of monuments worldwide under the motto: "OUR HERITAGE IS OUR FUTURE". The Foundation was established in 2001 by the Swiss-born Canadian filmmaker, author and adventurer Bernard Weber to contribute to the protection of the world’s human-built and natural heritage and to foster respect for the cultural diversity on our planet. Fifty percent of net revenue raised by the New7Wonders Project is to be used to fund monument documentation and conservation efforts worldwide.

Back in "varsity days" when I was at the University of Cape Town (U.C.T.) in South Africa I was a member of the gymnastics club where I was more enthusiastic than skilled. It was a fun club that attracted a small crazy group of real gymnasts as well as adventure sports enthusiasts particularly rock climbers and surfers. We got on well with our rival club at the University of Stellenbosch and great ideas were born whilst drinking beers and doing hand stands above the braai (barbecue). Someone had heard of bridge jumping or bridge swing and bungee jumping and before long a couple of our more crazy members were off with climbing ropes to test the idea. Destination Gouritz River Bridges (also Gourits, Gouritsrivier) about 350km (a few hours) east of Cape Town towards the famous Garden Route.

Early Days:
We didn't have bungee ropes in the late 80's but we did have climbing ropes which stretch about a third of their length and climbing harnesses. That's not enough to risk a straight fall without injury but Gouritz had a unique layout. The new highway bridge is next to the road bridge and the old railway bridge. They are slightly closer together than the depth of the valley. We could tie climbing ropes to the new bridge and jump off the old one (65m or 213ft high). After a chilling 50m (164ft) free fall you'd take up the slack and enter and incredible swing/flight down the valley and under the other bridge. Before long we were making regular trips up to Gouritz sometimes leaving Cape Town directly from a party with some new recruits who'd wake up in the car alarmed at what had seemed like a good idea at the time. The bonus was that they soon found an instant cure for their hangovers.

Today:
Today the first "official" operation we used to jump with in 1989 still exists: Wildthing Adventures. Over 83,000 jumps later and with a sophisticated operation with accommodations, jumping platforms and so on it looks very different from the pioneering days but you can bet the effect is the same. And there are other options now too. Bungee ropes didn't take long to reach South Africa and other venues have opened up as well.

The Highest Commercial Bungee Jump in the World!
A few hours east of Gouritz in the Garden Route is the fantastic 216m (yes- that's over 708ft) Bloukrans Bridge. Bloukrans is the highest and largest bridge in Africa; the third highest in the world and the largest single span concrete arch bridge in the world. This absolutely dizzyingly high bridge is a beautiful arc across the forested valley within sight of the ocean. A bungee jump is different to a bridge jump in that the rope is more elastic. It's a giant elastic band and you fall and recoil as opposed to fall and swing. Face Adrenalin runs a professional operation there and if the jump seems a bit too much there are thrilling but less intense adventures like the 200m (663ft) Flying Fox "foofie slide" (zip line) and the bridge walk.


Further afield: Victoria Falls Bridge, Zimbabwe/Zambia
The bridge across the gorge just below one of the seven natural wonders of the world has to be about as spectacular a place to bungee jump as you could possibly find. The bridge connects Zimababwe and Zambia and is effectively in no man's land. At 111m (364 ft) is was until fairly recently the highest commercial jump in the world. You jump almost into the Great Zambezi River. In fact you are collected by a boat just a stones throw from where the world's greatest white water rafting trips begin. This is a jump that Roar Africa Founder Deborah Calmeyer tested herself years ago and much to her own surprise.
So the question is.....are you ready for Roar Africa to add some adrenalin to your trip?