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Published: November 4th 2006
The Lion Whisperer
Yep, she can tame even the mightiest of all animals!Although this may be the longest blog so far it is only because the second part of my Africa trip contained more adventure and once in a life time experiences than I have ever experienced in my life. In this blog you will among many other things read about the African rollercoaster, porn parties, how I became a lion whisperer and the scariest moment of my life...let the fun begin!
Lake Malawi - week 2
As I sit here on the beach of Lake Malawi and watch the sun's soft and rosy morning light fill the landscape I almost have to pinch myself to ensure that this moment is actually real. I woke up as the first birds started singing up the sun. No one else in the campsite was awake so quitely I went down to the beach for an early morning swim. After diving into the refreshing waters of Lake Malawi I rested on the beach while taking in the surroundings. For the inhabitants of the village next to our campground it was already late morning, the fishing men had returned with the morning's catch in their dug-out canoes and were skinning the fish on the beach. Next
to them hundreds of kids were helping their morthers wash clothes and pots and pans in the lake. To them the lake equals life, it is their kitchen, their hunting ground, their playground, their everyday life. To me, Lake Malawi has been exceptionally beautiful - perhaps the biggest lake I have ever seen (we drove for two whole days alongside it) and also I never knew how great snorkeling could be in fresh waters, truly spectacular.
So as I watch the women balancing pots and pans and big bags of washing on their heads (I truly wonder how they do this!), I cannot help but feel so fortunate to be able to experience the amazing continent of Africa. I cannot believe that it would take me 31 years to discover this continent, why didnt anyone tell me earlier? Anyway, I am also really happy being on the truck and lucky to have such a great crew with me. I am surprised by how well I have settled into this style of travelling. I simply love camping, cooking on the camp fire (as long as I dont have to cook of course), getting up early (yes, I mean that) and
just hanging out and reading books and drinking Serengeti beers. Perfect. Although little did I know that nothing could have prepared me for what I was about to experience in Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe - a country so beautiful but so devasted by greed...
Although the point of my journey is to look at beauty and goodness around the world, I must admit that once in a while as a traveller you do come across injustice and terrible things that it becomes hard to find anything positive to say. Although these moments are rare and I have tried to stay positive throughout my blog, I cannot pretend that what is going on in Zimbabwe did not affect me. So I do urge you dear reader to read the below paragraph although you may wanna skip to the fun bits further down (Lake Kariba and Motopas).
What used to be one of the most prosperous African countries with big thriving farms, infrastructure, brick homes, shops and vehicles and so much to offer tourists, is now a country that is all but a shadow of itself. Mugabi has not only slaughtered thosands of innocent people but chased every productive farmer and business
We dont need water to have fun in a boat
Kids playing on the beach at Lake Malawi man out of the country which has left the entire country looking like a run-down ghost town best described as a ghost town out a classic American Western movie. Abondoned farms with overgrown yards and rusty roofs fill the landscape, supermarkets have empty shelves and only on a lucky day can you find an ounze of milk for about USD5. Not only is there a lack of most commodities but the rate of inflation is absolutely crazy as well. Apparently at one point it was over 1000%. This is all due to Mugabi coming up with the brilliant idea to print more money whenever he would run out. It doesnt take a genius to figure out that if you swamp a country with money everything eventually will cost more. Paying over a million Zimbabwan dollars for a loaf of bread may be slightly crazy but that is what was happening. Luckily just recently it was decided to get a new currency which meant deleting a couple of zeros of the notes.
So how did things go so wrong in Zimbabwe? The short version is that when Mugabi stood to lose the elections in 1992 after having wrecked the economy he
Fancy dress - African style
All the boys or should I say lady boys dressed to kill - you can totally understand how the party turned porn... decided that the only way he could win was to win all the black votes. To do this he decided to chase all the whites out of the country as they were running all the farms and then give the farms to the black population. However the results were catastropic as most black Africans did not know how to run the farms. Although Mugabi successfully drove out most whites, he still did not win the election but had to rig it last minute to do so.
Despite all of this, the country is still very beautiful and has got so much to offer. The locals are happy and friendly and all surprisingly positive about the future. It was from the locals I learnt the terrible stories about what really went on during the genoicides - apparently people found in the forests had their feet cut off and were left to bleed to death. Other stories are too horrible to put on paper.
One can only wonder why the Western world has chosen to turn their blind eye to what is going on in Zimbabwe when other countries ruled by dictators get so much attention. Perhaps when the dam at the
It only took a bowl of punch...
and the party went from fancy dress to out of control. This is the only photo which I can safely put online... Zimbabwan/Zambia border finally collapses due to no maintenance the world will listen. Apparently when the dam gives in, it will flood the country of Mozambique and create a tidal wave that will reach as far as Australia.
This may all sound ludicrous but apparently the first three dams have already given in and flooded parts of Zimbabwe. The locals say it is all a matter of time and all just due to Mugabi not wanting to put any money back into the country*.
*all this info I have from the locals, I have not researched or double checked the info so please dont quote me on this!*
With all of that information at hand plus the fact that it is not recommended to travel to Zimbabwe at the moment, it was only natural for us to be slightly apprenhensive about entering Zimbabwe. Of course Absolut Africa are experts in this area and used to travelling here so we were always very safe.
Lake Kariba - a party of a life time
After that serious note we better get onto something completely and utterly unserious. The absolute craziest and wackiest time in Africa was our three day
What happens when you put boys in a dress..
...there must have been something in the punch to make Dave and Jas go porn... houseboat trip around Lake Kariba. Away from politics, camping and the truck, we had all looked forward to our time on the houseboats. As a special treat, Tans had organised a fancy dress party a week early and in preperation we had drawn names out of a hat and then bought some fantastic outfits for the lucky person at a local market. The funniest thing was that everyone at the market was there to buy "real clothes" while everything there to us was perfect ugly taste gear. What was to become the party of a life time started with a dangerous fruit punch at about 4pm then proceeded to the most anticipated exchange of outfits for the night - I think the photos speak for themselves as to how much fun that was. Needless to say, the night quickly turned into a combo of a porn photo shoot and a singstar night with dancing starting at 5pm and food fighting at about 8pm. Ash and Rach were the first to leave the party involuntarily- tucked in at 8.30pm, that must be a record of sorts! I would have loved to give you a more detailed description of the night but
Doesnt she look like a tasty lunch...
...Kitty seems to be thinking. Pretty scary having lion stare at you at less than two meters distance. the memories are a bit blurry, all I remember is that it was legendary and involved so much singing and dancing that I was VERY sore the next morning!
Lake Kariba was more than just fruit punches and fancy outfits. We also enjoyed a very cool game cruise where we went hippo and crocodile spotting in a tiny little dingy. Although slightly nerve-wrecking having 2 ton hippos dive under your boat knowing they are one of the most dangerous animals in Africa, it was still amazing to see the big but cute animals up close and personal. Just as well we had life jackets onboard (not).
Antelope Park - the African roller coaster and a Lion Whisperer is born
"What a little piece of heaven" - those were my first words when we arrived at Antelope Park after another big drive day. After camping Africa style (a nice way to say "basic") for so long, it was a blessing to arrive at the luxury camp of Antelop Park. Here they had real toilets with hot showers and sinks with soap and hand towels (oh yes, its the little things that matter). The park is actually a lion breeding sanctury
Arent they cute?
Lion cubs munching away on a Zebra (perhaps not so cute) where they collect orphaned lions and breed them with the aim to release them into the wild. As soon as they are born they are put in human contact and shown that humans are dominant. This means that Antelope Park is one of the only places in the world where you can walk with lions. Naturally we were all very excited about the prospect of coming face to face with the king of animals, especially after having seen how mighty and scary they are in the Serengeti. We met our three 15 months lion cubs as they were playing around in a tree. And let me tell you that 15 months lion cubs are not cute little baby kittens anymore, they are big animals that look very dangerous. We had all been equipped with a small stick which apparently tells the lions that we are dominante. Not sure how this small stick was going to save me from being mauled by such a big animal. Perhaps throwing the stick off and calling out "fetch" might have been my best option. Anyway, the lions didnt seem to be worried about our little nervous group at all, they just ran around playing
The African Rollercoaster
ARriving safely back on shore after one h*** of a rollercoaster. Loving it. with each other or had a snooze in the shade. It was when one of the mighty lions was having a snooze that our guide - who referred to the lions as "kitties", decided that it would be a great photo opp to sit down next to the lion and pet him. "Are you serious?" I said. This is after being told that we couldnt ever squat down as the lions would attack or "want to play" (which would involve a few little bites) with us. Meanwhile, I tried to control my fear and slowly approached the sleeping giant holding firmly onto my stick. As I whispered out my final prayers I somehow managed to force a smile resulting in probably my favourite picture from my trip (the hero photo on this blog) where I look like I am totally at ease and in control of the lion. And so, a new lion whisperer was born.
And the next day I got quite a different experience when I was introduced to the African Rollercoaster. I had signed up for a swim with an elephant thinking it would be a little ride on a elephant that would walk through a
river or similar. Little did I know that I was about to experience the wildest rollercoaster of my life. Dave and I jumped on our massive bull elephant along with the elephant tamer and slowly made our way to the watering hole along with Jane and Rach who were on the other elephant. As soon as the elephant got in knee deep he decided to throw himself sideways into the water with us hanging on for our life. He managed to submerge completely and believe you me it was a freaky moment when I was deep under water holding onto the elephant tamer in front of me. Luckily Jumbo decided to come up for a breather and I gasped for air slightly puzzled, scared and thrilled at the same time. Jumbo was loving it so he decided to roll on to the other side and once again I was submerged with the big fella. This time I knew what to expect and actually managed to enjoy diving under with Jumbo. As we re-surfaced in a clumsy elephant way I couldnt help but yell out a triumphant scream. How cool is this? A completely natural and unpredictable rollercoaster. Jumbo kept rolling
Where has Jumbo gone?
Believe it or not, I am still sitting on the elephant in this photo around with us on his back for several minutes and let me tell you, if you are ever in Africa, the African Rollercoaster comes highly recommended. What a thrill.
Motopas National Park - how I nearly s*** myself while staring into the eyes of a rhino.
Once in a while, life throws you a completely unexpected experience that you know will become an everlasting memory. While my whole journey I will definitely remember forever, my close encounter with a Rhino will forever be one of the scariest moments of my life (I surely hope so).
Ian was our park ranger for the day as we entered the beautiful national park of Motopas in Zimbabwe. Ian must be one of the most passionate people I have ever met, his passion for Rhinos rubbed off on all of us. On a side note, I have always found that the most interesting people in life are the ones who are really passionate about this one thing in life. I am sure you know what type of person I am talking about, a person who is so passionate about birds, saving the planet, swimming or playing the piano that a few
Camping at Antelope Park
What a great campsite - our tents with our camp fire and truck in the background. minutes talking to him, can make yourself interested in the same thing. Well, Ian was just like that. After spending a day in Motopas with Ian, I almost felt the need to devote my life to saving the black rhino, just like he has. Its hard to describe just how intense this next experience was for me, but it was one of those moments when you actually know that something inside you has changed forever. Anyway, back to the story. After driving around in Motopas spotting giraffes and other great animals, we stopped the cars and got out of our safety to do our first rhino walk. Although slightly nervous about walking away from our safety, I thought to myself that we will be safe with the ranger (Ian) who will of course just shoot to kill if an animal comes to close. We had walked quite a while before I realised that he carried no gun! So here we were. Just a few humans walking around armed with nothing but cameras hundreds of kilometers from civilisation totally at the mercy of our Rhino Whisperer.
Ian stopped after a few minutes and kneeled down to assess a few Rhino foot
The Chief
visiting a local village near Motopas prints: 'These are less than a day old' he said and continued on. Next stop was Rhino pooh, Ian picked it up much to our disgust and said 'a few hours old, we are on the right track'. As we wandered through the bushes quitely, I found it amazing how alert all my sense were. Because you realise the danger of the situation, your adrenalin is pumping, you hear every sound, smell every smell and see every movement. In short you feel alive. Only a few moments later Ian stopped and we all looked up to see three massive big Rhinos only a hundred meters away from us. We had already been briefed on the dangers and how to act (e.g. NEVER EVER run) so we all stood there completely paralised with fear and ave of these massive animals. Oh yeah, I thought, this is not too bad. Lets just turn around and go back. 'Lets get closer', Ian whispered. 'What do you mean closer' I thought to myself but too scared to ask. Ian ducked down and slowly moved closer while we all followed. Rhinos have very bad eye sight so if you are upwind from them they wont
Close up of Mr Rhino
You know you are close when the animal looks this big even with my shitty camera. What an experience. actually know you are there. When we got about 10 meters (yes, that's 10m) from the Rhino he suddenly realised we were there and stopped grazing and looked us straight in the eye. That was the moment I seriously thought he was going to charge us. The moment when I thought 'what a sad way to go, to be trampled to death by a Rhino'. I dont think any of us dared to breathe. I so so so wanted to run for my life secretly blessing my many hours of triathlon training knowing I could hopefully out run most of my friends on the truck. Isnt it funny how in moments of life and death you become so selfish? I dont know if any sprint training in the world would have helped me though since Rhinos can run at 35km an hour. Luckily for us we had Ian the Rhino whisperer with us and he let out a couple of bird noises which seemed to satisfy the rhino. He simply thought we were birds and nothing dangerous. We all let out big sighs we the old fella started grazing again and we found our cameras and starting taking photos. When
A nervous smile
so close to Mr Rhino.... we found another group of Rhinos we actually got within five meters of these majestic creatures. It was such a surreal experience to be so close to such amazing animals completely in their natural habitats. But most of all, it was a moment of being one with nature, of being so alert that you are aware of everything around you, every inch of your body is awake and you just feel so alive. I truly wish for all of you that you will have a moment like that in your life as well because it was truly mind blowing.
Victoria Falls - a teary farewell, a meat lover's paradise and a world wonder
Vic Falls meant the end of our fantastic trip through the mighty African continent, so of course we needed to say farewell in style. Our big farewell party started out with a booze cruise followed by a messy night at the camp bar which among other things involved everyone being thrown in the pool and apparently I was last seen attempting to pole dance! Never should I ever think that I would say the sentence: 'My body is so sore from pole dancing'. I should mention
Party Time at Vic Falls
Red, Rach, Me, Kirsty and Jarrod after a couple of Zambezi lagers (great beer by the way) though that only one person succeeded in doing the no hands pole move and that was a guy! So unfortunately pole dancing is not a career for me!
Needless to say we did more than party in Vic Falls - it also has this small water fall you may have heard of. Although we were there in the dry season, the falls were still absolutely amazing. You could hear the roar kilometers from the falls and feel the mist hundreds of meters away. The biggest drop is 108m and believe you me looking down the gorge to the bottom of the falls is pretty scary. That's a big drop. You can totally appreciate why it is one of the seven natural wonders of the world when you walk through the park - the falls just go on for ever. Spectacular.
Given my passion for food I had been looking forward to our visit to Bomans Game Restaurant ever since Nairobi. This restaurant was meant to be one of the best game restaurants in Africa and it did not let me down let me tell you. The place is basically a giant buffet where they serve everything from Boerwoer
to Zebra and crocodile. Given the fact that we knew this would be our once in a life time opportunity to try game meats we had all woved before hand that we would eat until we burst. We first started out with some traditional starters (dont ask what they were) and then had a nice soup served in a cute little poikee (sp?) and then got an entree of crocodile tale (yum) and then proceeded to the meat buffet (skipping the salad and starch buffets of course). First I tried ostrich and warthoag and Boerwoer and immediately fell in love with the Warthoag steak. I have tried alot of yummy meat over the years and have always sworn that nothing will ever beat my three favourite meats: Eye Fillet steak, Alaska Salmon and Margret du Canard. However, Warthoag managed to beat all of those by a mile - so tender, so tasty and the marinade (a secret of course) was divine. So I proceeded to eat another three servings of Warthoag only interupted by swallowing a horrible little Mopani Worm which earned me a certificate. In between our third servings and dessert an African drum band came around and gave
us all a drumming lesson which was awesome as it meant that the 10min break had made sufficient room for a beautiful chocolate mousse. Needless to say, we all had to be rolled out of the restaurant and I had a sore stomach for days after probably eating 1kg worth of meat. Damn it was good.
J'Burg
After a very tearful goodbye a few of us headed to the airport to go via Johannesburg to Cape Town. Unfortunately the flight to J'burg was grounded due to safety problems (we didnt wanna know) which meant that we missed our connection from J'Burg to Cape Town. Sometimes life has its funny ways of throwing you a nice surprise just when you need it the most. After four weeks of camping, sharing bathrooms, dusty roads and living out of a backpack, British Airways must have known that we were in need of a bit of luxury so they put us up in a five star luxury resort (Emperor's Palace) for the night. How good did it feel to sleep in a real bed, have my own shower, go to a restaurant with everything paid for AND just indulge. WOW. Just what the
doctor ordered. And the best part was that I appreciated it more than ever before which I guess is just what the trip was about. So thanks BA!!!
Cape Town - beer and great views
The next morning we managed to get on a flight to Cape Town only to discover when we landed that all our checked in packs had been opened and stuff stolen. I had all my cables for my phone & camera stolen as well as my torch and swiss army knife. After spending half the day at the police station we learnt that apparently there is a syndicate working at J'Burg airport who basically open every bag and steal what there is to steal. I mean I had heard lots about how dangerous J'Burg is but to think that you cant even be in transit in the city without getting mugged is pretty insane.
However, it takes more to spoil a happy traveller, so we (Rach & Ash, Kate & Katey plus me) went for a great walk around town and decided to head to the waterfront for a civilised seafood and wine lunch. After looking around for a while we decided to go
Yes I actually ate that horrible looking worm
At Boman's Game Restaurant in Vic Falls - a meat lovers delight for a quick beer in a German beer garden before lunch. 8 hours later and 7 pints later we waltzed out of pub having exchanged our civilised lunch for beers and schnitzel and a bit of table dancing. Can you blame us?
So next day there was no way out of it. We had to work off those beers and nothing less than hiking to the top of Table Mountain would do. Two hours later we finally reached the top, very exhausted and reminded of how unfit you get after sitting on a truck for four weeks. The views totally made up for the hike though. On one side you see the the stunning city of Cape Town and on the other you can see all the way to Cape Hope and the Atlantic Ocean.
Before I knew it, it was time to say goodbye to Africa. To say that Africa was so much more than I expected is the understatement of the year. The landscape, the animals, the villages, the people - everything about the continent is amazing and so diverse. I think we can learn a lot from how happy even the poorest villagers are. Although they
A sad farewell
10 of the guys on the truck went on all the way to Cape Town so it was a sad morning when we had to say goodbye to them and Tokoloshe - our home for four weeks. have nothing, they always smile and seem to be happy and content. I swore I would always remember this and whenever I would be down or worked up about some pathetic problem, I would remember the little kid in the village who played for hours with an old bike tyre. If they can create happiness out of nothing, surely we should be happier having everything?
So goodbye Africa - I promise I will be back one day. I have only seen a fraction of the continent and there is so much more to do. I definitely want to climb Mt Kilimanjaro and I think the pristine blue water and the white beaches of Zanzibar will see me again. And here's a HUGE cheers to everyone on the truck who made my African experience TRULY memorable. I had a blast and hope to catch up with all of you shortly again (kiwis especially, that was a warning). I hope you will all come visit me one day, whereever I may live! Thanks again, you guys rock.
At the time of writing, I am actually already in Thailand, on my last leg of my round the world tour. Not sure
if I will be able to update the last bit of my tour before I arrive home, but I definitely will try to. The plan is still to touch down in Auckland on Nov 16 and I look very much forward to catching up with everyone again as well enjoying the NZ summer and potentially even getting fit again (talk about a challenge). And to everyone who have followed my travels, thanks so much for your comments and mails along the way, they mean the world to me. And to all of you who still havent added a comment to my blog, please, please do so. It will be an everlasting memory to me, something to show my grand kids!!! And my final piece of advice is: If you are even remotely thinking about leaving your job, taking a few months off or even just going travelling for a week or two, all I can say is JUST DO IT. Earth is an amazing playground and there is so many places to go and so much to discover. I never for a second regretted giving up my career and my salary for a year of living out of a backpack.
Just having one beer
Kate, Katey, Rach & I The rewards are never ending. I am not sure if this blog even remotely describes what an amazing time I have had but if it only ever inspired one person to go somewhere new then it was definitely worth it. Go on, I dare you....
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Jodie
non-member comment
JEALOUS!
Hi Vikki! Gosh...you're having such wonderful adventures and I am jealous! :) lol. If you ever decide to host a travel show in Denmark, can I be your sidekick? lol. It's snowing here in Michigan...visiting mom. Will be back in Georgia next month. Thanks for the updates! J.