Liz

[Guest guest]

Hello everyone! Please can I go back on mail. We have

just come back from our Africa trip, which was

curtailed as well as postponed, we only had five

complete days, this was because of the boss's busy

work schedule. However, they were the most amazing

five days! We stayed in a permanent tented camp called

Mombo, in the Moremi game reserve, in the Okavango

delta in Botswana. It was so beautiful, the annual

rains have just ended and it is pretty swampy with

green grass and lots of standing water. There were

trees, lots of gorgeous birds, also many butterflies.

Despite the water there were relatively few

mosquitoes, but loads of water buffalo, hippopotamus

(sometimes under your tent - they are on stilts - the

tents, I mean). There were lots of lion, cheetah and

leopard, we saw something every day. We watched a

female cheetah with two small cubs, hunt and kill an

impala. She missed the first time, then she lay

panting for twenty - twenty five minutes, having

called the cubs. Even at two months they know to hide

when she gives chase. Then suddenly she exploded with

speed again, and downed a buck, as big as she was. I

cried for the impala, but at the same time I was happy

for the cheetah and her cubs. We watched them eating

- cheetah are quite gentle and take it in turns. We

watched the vultures gathering, and hoped the hyena

wouldn't come and take the prey away! It really was

one of the most exciting experiences of my life.

We also sent an evening following a pride of 13 lions

hunting. They have amazing strategy - it is like a

military operation. You have to imagine, we are

sitting in open landrovers, (no doors, no windows)

they have spotlights but they don't have them on when

the lions are stalking. Suddenly the males start this

amazing, primal roaring, which not only frightened us

half to death, it messed up the hunt for the females.

At one point a wildebeest came galloping past the car,

followed by a lioness - she was soooo close to us she

nearly hit us!! She did not get the prey that night.

On the last night the staff sang and danced for us,

they had absolutely lovely voices - apparently they

are also the church choir. The dancing was so

AFRICAN. It was such a success they repeated it in the

morning, at breakfast time, and we all got up and

danced with them. We had good flights and lovely

weather, although it was cold at night. They gave us

hot water bottles, because there is only mosquito

netting between you and the wild animals. On our last

day we saw a lion very close to the camp.

A bonus was that I felt amazingly well - I am

wondering if the anti malarial we take has anti

inflammatory properties; plaquenil I know is used as

an anti malarial, maybe... Mind you it is another

very toxic drug!! Some people can't take it at all. I

am very luck that I don't suffer severe side effects

from these drugs!! I take just 75mg Zantac am and pm

which seems to keep everything OK, as long as I don't

eat a lot of fat.

Enough from me, I hope everyone is as well as

possible, I look forward to catching up with you all.

Love, Liz

__________________________________________________

[Guest guest]

Hi Liz :-)

Thank you for such a photogenic description of your safari. I feel

like we went along with you! :-) I hope we didn't crowd you in your

tent. LOL

You mentioned that you take Plaquenil for your malaria protection

while in those areas. A friend of mine, who has another connective

tissue disease called scleroderma, was going on a missionary trip to

the jungle with a group from her church. She found out that the

antibiotic, doxycycline, is also used for malaria prevention. Since

she had already heard about doxycycline and minocycline for RA, she

opted to go with the doxycycline to take care of both the malaria and

the scleroderma. Four years later, she's doing very well with the

doxycycline....her scleroderma is well under control and she's a

happy lady.

Doxycycline does have to be taken every day as opposed to the

Plaquenil....I think it is on a once a week basis. Also, the

doxycycline will sometimes cause an upset tummy if its not taken with

a meal. All in all....its side effects are much fewer and you not

only get the malaria protection, treatment for rheumatic diseases,

but also protection from other infections....not a bad idea :-)

Anyway, it's so good to have you back with the group. I love hearing

your stories, thanks again for sharing.

Hugs to you,

Connie H.

> Hello everyone! Please can I go back on mail. We have

> just come back from our Africa trip, ........