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CR Adventure Travel, Home Office, Neenah, WI (2026)

06/07/2026

Okay real talk — what day is it? 🤷‍♀️

Genuinely. I could not tell you. And honestly? I don't even care. 😄

If you've been following along you already know we left home 7 days ago. We've been on African soil for 5 of them. And somewhere between the hippos and the border crossings and the candlelit deck dinners and the Zambezi River sunsets, the calendar just stopped mattering.

We are fully, completely, happily lost in it. 🌍

That is a gift, by the way. A real one. To be so present in where you ARE that where you are in the week becomes completely irrelevant. I don't know the last time that happened to me at home. I'm not sure it ever has.

But here's where things shift. ⚡

Now that our full group is together the pace picks up. Africa is about to move fast and today alone has so many experiences packed into it that each one deserves its very own post or multiple posts. I am not even slightly exaggerating.

Some of these places aren't new to me. I've been here before. But here's the thing about travel that never gets old...

Watching someone experience something for the first time is its own kind of magic. 🥹

Seeing it through their eyes. That moment the reaction crosses their face before they even have words for it. That's what I'm most excited about today. Every traveler in this group is going to take in what's ahead of us in their own completely unique way and I get a front row seat to all of it.

You know what else I know from experience?

You can visit the same place twice and have a completely different experience. Africa makes sure of that. She never performs the same show twice. 🌿

So today is multiple activities. Multiple moments. Multiple posts incoming.

And it all starts with one very important question 👇

Why exactly are we all meeting at 6am? 👀

Stay close. You're going to want to see this. 🌅

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06/07/2026

After the border crossing and getting settled in at Insika there was just enough time to slip into the pool and exhale. ☀️

Sometimes that's exactly what a trip needs, a slow hour and cool water before the next adventure begins. 🌅

That evening we boarded a double decker boat on the Zambezi River for a sunset dinner cruise and I have to be honest, I had feelings going into this one. I did this same cruise in 2024 with my NTABA group and I knew what it could be so my anticipation was real. For the rest of our group though? They simply came with open hearts and open eyes, no expectations, just ready for a beautiful evening on the river. Sometimes, that's the best way to show up. 😊

We headed straight to the top deck. Beverages in hand, the Zambezi stretching out ahead, getting to know each other a little more as the light began to soften and turn golden.

We heard hippos before we saw them. 😄 A crocodile made an appearance. Birds dotted the trees along the banks. The animal sightings were quieter than I remembered due to the high water level keeping much of the wildlife tucked further back, but honestly the river more than held her own.

Off in the distance there was a mist rising up soft and steady against the evening sky that looked like smoke but is Victoria Falls waving hi to us. 🌊

As the sun began to set, the light caught that mist just right and cast a rainbow. Right there on the horizon. Right there above the falls.

I just stopped talking mid-sentence and stared. Some things just deserve a moment of silence. 🌈

The sun kissed the Zambezi and melted into the horizon and we watched every last second of it.

Then we moved downstairs to the lower deck for a three course dinner. Good food, warm conversation, and a trivia challenge at our table that was far more humbling than any of us expected. 😂 The original, natural, and new Seven Wonders of the World. Many of us had opinions and not always the right answers which brought about discussions. It was the best kind of fun.

We returned to the resort and the night got even sweeter. 🎂

Two members of our group were celebrating birthdays. So there we were, poolside under the African sky, cake and champagne, celebrating together.

It was so unexpectedly, perfectly special.

Early start tomorrow as there is a full day of adventures ahead that starts with a 6am departure. Just wait till you see! 👀🌍

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06/07/2026

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06/06/2026

And just like that our time in Chobe Botswana was over. 🌿

I'm not going to pretend I left easily. Chobe gets into you. The river, the sounds, the wildness of it all, yes, even the hippos that stole my sleep every single night. 😄 I would go back in a heartbeat.

But before we even made it to breakfast, Africa had one more thing to say.

I had just finished telling Troy about my hippo moment, still emotional, still glowing from it honestly and something caught my eye. Movement in the tree, I stopped and Troy said, what is it? My eyes started scanning automatically without even thinking about it until I found it.

A monkey. 🐒 Just casually appearing, cool as you please, like he'd heard the whole hippo story and wanted to make sure I knew the morning wasn't done with me yet.

I laughed out loud, OF COURSE. 😂

No morning safari needed. Wildlife finds you when it wants to. That little monkey made me smile bigger than I expected and felt like the most perfect, playful goodbye from Chobe that I could have asked for.

We had a relaxed breakfast which after days of early alarms and river sounds and adrenaline felt like the most luxurious thing in the world. Then we loaded into an open safari jeep for the transfer to the Zimbabwe border. 🚙

The border crossing was genuinely interesting and moved far more smoothly and quickly than crossings I've experienced in other parts of the world. I was pleasantly surprised.

Then came a little wait as the driver waited for others to made their way across before we could continue on together.

This is where our group unites. Our guide Wayne and the rest of the crew who had arrived just the day before would meet us at the next lodge. They had chosen for various reasons not to add on the Botswana leg of the trip, so this was our first time all being in the same place. A new energy. New stories to swap. New adventures ahead as a group. 🙌

Our next lodge? Hard walls this time we will sleep easier I think. 😄 But what makes it extraordinary is its location. Right along the Zambezi River. On a watering hole.

A watering hole, friends.

Wildlife just… shows up. On its own terms. Whenever it pleases.

So the question is what will come to visit? 👀

I cannot wait to show you. 🌍🐘

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06/06/2026

I have to be honest with you all about something.

I was disappointed. 😞

Our final morning in Chobe, the one I had been holding onto in my heart since arrival was supposed to be a sunrise safari drive. My last chance at that leopard. 🐆 That was the dream. Up at 5am, out in the golden bush, willing that leopard into existence with everything I had.

And then the resort informed us our border transfer was at 10:00.

No morning drive.

I won't pretend I wasn't crushed a little because I was. I laid there in the dark listening to those hippos (still listening to those hippos) my complicated sleep situation fully intact 😂 and I had to make peace with it.

But here's where the story gets good.

I couldn't sleep. Surprise surprise. 😄 So I did what any reasonable person does at dawn in Chobe, I got up and started walking. All the way down to the last tented lodge, as close to the water as I could get, chasing that sound, hoping for one more glimpse of something wild and wonderful before we had to go.

The sun was just beginning to rise. That soft, quiet glow spreading across the horizon. I was moving slowly, carefully, not wanting to disturb anyone still sleeping.

And then I discovered the guests in the last tent were also skipping the drive and preparing for departing. They saw me out there and did the kindest thing, they invited me onto their deck.

We stood together, two groups of strangers, talking softly about the hippos. About how close they sounded. About how neither of us had seen them fully out of the water despite hearing them every single night.

And then.....

Movement in the water. 🌊

And then two hippos, walking, right in front of us.

I can't fully describe what happened to me in that moment. My heart just leapt. My eyes filled with tears before I even realized it was happening. There they were, the hippos I had been losing sleep over, chasing in the dark, whispering prayers about and right there, right in front of me.

The river was flooded so they weren't fully out of the water the way I had dreamed but they were there, partly out of the water. They were moving, present, real and close enough that I felt it in my whole chest.

I took a video because a photo could never hold that moment. But honestly? I barely looked through the lens. I just watched because some moments you don't want a screen between you and them. Some moments you just need to receive with your whole heart and let them land.

Here's what I know.

If we had gone on that morning safari I would have missed it entirely.

The disappointment I felt the night before? It was actually a gift being wrapped without my knowledge. God redirected my morning and then filled it with the exact desire of my heart, in a way I never would have planned or predicted.

He knew. He always knows. 🙏

I stood on that deck, tears on my face, surrounded by strangers who felt like friends in that moment, watching two hippos move through the golden morning light of the Chobe River.

I was so, so grateful for all of it, even the sleepless nights. And even the disappointment and the flooded river.

All of it led me exactly there. 🌅🦛

What is a moment in your life where a disappointment turned into something unexpected and beautiful? I'd love to know. ⬇️

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06/05/2026

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06/05/2026

Can we talk about Jackalberry Safari Lodge for a minute? 🌿

Because Troy and I need to give this place its flowers. Literally and figuratively. 🌸

For those who don't know Jackalberry is tented lodging. And before you picture a sleeping bag on the ground and a flashlight, just scroll through the photos and reconsider everything you think you know about "tented." 😄

This is not your average camping situation.

We were blessed with a tent that faced directly onto the Chobe River and that view never got old. Not once. From our deck we watched birds, listened to hippos doing their nightly thing (my sleep and I had a complicated relationship with that sound 😂), and stumbled onto the most entertaining showdown of two Nile lizards 🦎 battling for dominance on a branch right over the water. Nature's own reality TV.

And then completely still, completely quiet a praying mantis appeared. Butterflies 🦋 floated through the air.

It's funny how much you miss when you're moving fast. How much is just right there waiting for you to notice the moment you slow down and get still and let yourself actually look. God puts so much beauty directly in front of us and most days we walk right past it.

Jackalberry made us stop, and look, and breathe.

Oh, and my absolute favorite feature of the tent besides that river view?

A footed soaking tub. 😍

I mean, COME ON (I even fell asleep in the tub and got woke up from the hippos)

But here's where the last night took a turn none of us saw coming.

We returned from our sunset boat safari, tired and happy and full of hippo sightings and our server met us with very specific instructions.

Do not come to dinner.

…I'm sorry, WHAT? 😂

He told us he would come get us at a designated time. Another couple received the same mysterious instructions. We were all standing there genuinely confused, trading glances like — did we do something wrong?? 😄

We went back to our tents.

And then we walked out onto our deck and it all made perfect sense.

Candles. A beautifully set table. Dinner for two, right there on our deck with the Chobe River in the dark below us and the sounds of Africa all around. 🕯️🌊

And when we stepped inside, pushed back the current and was greated with fresh flowers. A handwritten note from the staff that was so genuinely sweet it stopped me in my tracks.

We felt so special, so seen, so taken care of.

Troy and I just looked at each other.

This. This is why you travel. Not just to see things but to feel things. To be surprised by kindness. To have an evening that you just know, you will never forget.

Our server's humor and warmth made the whole night even more magical. He is genuinely one of those people who makes a place feel like home.

Now, does this happen for every guest at Jackalberry? 🤔

No. It doesn't.

But it's absolutely something that can be arranged. And that's all I'll say about that. 😉

Morning came fast. One last sunrise safari before crossing the border into our next destination.

What were we about to see? What was waiting for us in those final golden hours?

Stay close. 👀🐾

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06/05/2026

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06/05/2026

Y'all. THE HIPPOS. 🦛😭

Okay let me back up.

I have been hearing hippos every single night in Chobe. Every Night. That low, rumbling, otherworldly sound drifting across the water in the dark and I'm lying there in bed equal parts fascinated and wide eyed wondering exactly how close is that sound right now and can I see the hippos out of the water. 😂 My sleep took a hit. I'm not going to pretend it didn't because I did get up multipletimes a night to investigate off the deck.

So when they told us Day 2 was a sunset boat safari on the Chobe River I had one mission. Just 1.

SHOW ME THE HIPPOS. The whole hippo or at least one with its mouth open. Not a hump. Not just eyes. Not those adorable little wiggling ears poking above the waterline taunting me. I wanted to see a real live hippopotamus and I was not leaving that boat until it happened.

Reader — it happened, I saw a mouth open, heard them sing BUT didn't see them fully out of the water due to the high water level. Not completely what I had hoped for but did enjoy all the same. 🦛🎉

The entire evening was just magic. We floated along the Chobe and even crossed into Zambia as the sun began its descent and the world turned every shade of gold and amber and pink that you can imagine. The air was warm and still and filled with that quiet anticipation that only comes when you know nature is about to show up for you.

And show up she did. 🌿

🐘 Elephants in the water. I could have watched them for hours. Just massive, gentle, magnificent creatures doing their thing completely unbothered by the audience they had.
🦛 Hippos finally, gloriously, partially visible hippos
🐊 Crocodile
🦎 Nile lizard, swimming
🐒 Baboons, playing on the shoreline and in the trees
🦅 Beautiful birds everywhere
🦌 Impala along the banks

Now I'll be honest with you, there were a lot of boats out on the river that evening. More than I expected. And getting as close as my heart wanted to wasn't always possible. There was a little frustration in that. I wanted to just sit with the elephants and the hippos and let time stop completely.

But then the sun hit the water just right and the whole river turned to liquid gold and I forgot every single frustration I had. 🌅

No photo or video does it justice but I took them anyway. You try not to when Africa puts on a show like that but your heart wants to remember God's handiwork long after back home.

Daylight calls the end of every safari whether you're ready or not. I was absolutely not ready. 😄

What would YOU have been most excited to see from that boat? 🦛🐘 Tell me below! ⬇️

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06/05/2026

Okay real talk for a second this trip moved fast and the wifi moved slow and I am just now catching up on sharing everything with you. 😄 But I promised I would bring you along and I meant it, so we're going back to Chobe because you need to see this.

Day two. Sunrise drive. Chobe Botswana.

I want you to imagine waking up before the world is fully awake. The air is cool and still and carries that smell, that wild, earthy, alive smell that you just cannot replicate anywhere else. You climb into the jeep and the sky is just beginning to blush pink along the horizon and everything in you goes completely quiet.

And then the sun starts to rise over the Chobe terrain. 🌅

Slowly. Deliberately. Like it knows exactly what it's doing and wants you to pay attention.

The golden light spills across the landscape and suddenly everything it touches looks like it was painted by hand. The grasses, the trees, the birds and animals beginning to stir and move. All of it sacred feeling in a way that genuinely takes your breath away.

If your not a morning person, Chobe will convert you. 😃

There is something about a sunrise in the African bush that fills you in a way that's hard to explain to someone who hasn't felt it. It's joy. It's gratitude. It's this overwhelming sense of look what God made and put here for us to witness.

I felt it in my heart the entire drive.

The wildlife list from this morning is below and trust me, Chobe was not done showing off. 🐾

Worth every early alarm. Worth every single second. 🙏🌿

🐆 Cheetah
🦌 Sable
🐒 Baboons
🐢 Tortoise
🐕 Jackle
🐕 Hyena
🦒 Giraffes
🐘 Elephants
🪶 Guineafowl
🐦 Lilac Breasted Roller
🪶 Duck
🦌 Impala
Mongoose
🦉 Owl
🪶 Red Billed Hornbill
🦁 Lion and two Lioness
🐃 Buffalo
🦌 Kudu
🦌 Steenbok
🪶 Misc other birds
Stork
Heron

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