Everything but the Train

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Africa » Namibia
October 6th 2007

Saved: January 7th 2013

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Anj and Bry

Cheetah bitah

Very pensive. I'll call him Curious George

PLEASE NOTE: MORE PHOTOS ON PAGE 2

OK, before I get into it, what’s with the title? Well, in two weeks of travelling we took any and all sorts of transportation, visited 3 countries, amassed a 110,000 Kwacha bar bill and barely made it home. Modes of transport:
Bus ride, back of a pickup truck, speedboat, mokoro, foot (walking and also running for our lives), taxi, combi, on a bed in the back of a converted 4x4, small airplane, massive 40 seater airplane, helicopter, another speedboat, a bus without air-conditioning or windows for 15 hours, another combi & small plane, a hired private plane and finally one more pickup truck. Sadly no train.Yeehaa!

So here we are, back in Gaborone after our longest (both in distance and in time) adventure exploring more of Africa. This time, we had the pleasure of having three good friends from Toronto come visit and travel with us. Claire, Jordan and Emily each took two of their precious few weeks of vacation time to fly thousand of miles across the Atlantic to London, then down all the way across the length of Africa, to our humble town of Gabs. Needless to say Anj and

Last of Botswana

Just before taking our private speedboat to Zambia. We would at one point be at the crossing of 4 countries; Botswana, Zambia, Namibia and Zimbabwe.

I were excited, and had spent some time planning a busy two-week itinerary that would take us through 3 countries and have us spending almost no consecutive nights in the same place.

Jordan arrived first on the Saturday and I collected him from the airport, threw him in the pool and cooked up a braii before heading out to our once favourite spot for a drink - the Gaborone Sun Hotel. Unfortunately, for the second time in two visits, we were ripped off, and probably by the staff. This time, despite having guarded parking lot security, our trunk was broken into and all the beers we had bought were duly taken. The last time we visited, the bartender tried to serve us water instead of rum for our mixed drinks and was caught out. Emily and Claire had a less smooth ride. They missed their connecting flight from Joburg to Gabs and the replacement flight they took blew a tire on take-off, forcing them to return and watch as the tire was replaced. Anj finally got them 4 hours late. We threw them in the pool as well, had a bite to eat before they faded into blessed sleep.

Lillies of the Delta

The next morning would start our adventure, bright and early - a 6am bus to D’Kar beckoned, but everyone was excited and up for it. Unfortunately, Anj had to work, so would only be joining us 4 days later in Kasane.

We caught the bus and made our way slowly through the Kalahari. Having done this ride numerous times before, I was shocked at how quickly the 700km went - having good friends along made it go much quicker - and I was especially pleased not to have to share my seat with someone eating fried chicken at 7am. We arrived on time in Ghanzi, and managed to find something resembling food before we were picked up by Hennie, the manager of the D’Kar Game Farm. As there was no room in the front of the pickup truck, the four of us and our gear were loaded into the back for the 30km ride (note: Botswana does not have the same road safety rules as in Canada - more examples to come). Hennie had a surprise for us; he took us to a friend’s farm who had been keeping several lions and cheetahs that were forced to be taken

Baby Lions

These 3 month old lions were the first animals we saw on our trip; and could play with them. Claire was slightly injured, but the scar will have a fantastic story attached to it.

from the wild due to “behaviour” problems (killing livestock - don’t those silly cats know that they need to find their own wild game). The highlights were the two 3-month old lions and the five 2-week old lions, who we were allowed to hold and play with. Claire received a scratch from one that years from now will be regaled as evidence of a heroic life and death struggle with a fully-grown lion - saving all of our lives.

Our next stop was the Okavango Delta and the Bridge Backpackers (where Prince Harry was sighted) and where we found our legs before heading off into the delta. I warned the guys a little about the group of locals that frequented the bar at our place - including one severely bi-polar bigot. True to form that night, he was out in force - sitting on the bar with his knees crossed daintily (think Andy Warhol meets the kid from Deliverance) and telling quite loud stories to his friends, no so warmly, about blacks. Jordan and my ears perked up when he started a joke about Jews, but missed the punch line and thought better to ignore him. In the past,

Cruising

Claire and Jordan sharing a mokoro, from Emily and my vantage point. There was a single dragonfly on almost every reed tip.

this same guy has in one evening muttered rudely to me and then later bought me several drinks. Luckily he has no children, so the idiocy will end with him. But I digest.

Our trip to the Delta was a mixture of beauty, fear, exhaustion, and mainly heat. Our guide, Galaxy (though we heard others call him Dynasty), was quite good, and took us a few hours into the delta to our “shady” campsite in near 40 degree sun - not a cloud to be found anywhere. We went for an evening walk in the bush, saw a few animals and cooked up a feast on the open fire of chicken peri-peri, roast potatoes, onions and peppers. Unfortunately, our drinks; gin, beer, water, soda, were all also 40 degrees. So I guess I can no longer say that I have never had a hot drink anymore - my legacy is done. A highlight for me was taking a swim in amongst the reeds of the Delta with Jordan and Chris (a good Isle of Man lad also on our trip). Galaxy promised us that this part of the Delta was too shallow for crocs and hippos - and given

So hot

Trying to relax at our less than shady campsite in the delta. I'd say it was around 40 degrees, and that's just the beer.

that I had known him for 4 hours and that he walked everywhere barefoot - I took him at his word. It was a quick swim, but worth it for cooling off, and being able to write about it now.

Our morning game walk was a bit of a disaster. We left too early, without breakfast, walked for 4 hours in what became searing heat with not enough water and nearly lost Emily to heat exhaustion on the way. Luckily, she recovered, just in time for us to turn the corner around a bush into the rear end of quite a large elephant. We had already lost Galaxy at this point, who was trying to find a route around some other elephants back to our boat. Our other guide (need to check if he’s qualified), led us directly into this elephant even after we had all (except him) seen it. Before running for my life (to where?) I vividly remember Claire mouthing the words “what the hell is he doing?”. We all ran crazily into the bush and were all near passing out when we saw our mokoros at last...and Galaxy...and 3 elephants including a baby one, drinking right

Taking the high road

Due to lack of seats on the $30 plane ride to Kasane, Claire and I hitched a ride with some Brits in the back of their converted 4x4. Instead of seats in the back, they built a bed, with 18 inches between it and the ceiling. So we did the entire 7 hour ride on our backs.

beside our canoes. The guides scared them off by clapping loudly (note to self) and we hurried onboard - only to watch Galaxy take his time, walk around a bush, and relieve himself. Umm, Galaxy, can we go now? The mokoro ride back to the camp was uneventful, except for the close encounter with a group of hippos - we were in their same pool and they were not happy. Our guides thought it would be nice to linger a bit. For most of us, it was enough. Again, great story for the blog - less fun while it’s happening.

So the next stop was Kasane - on the edge of the giant Chobe National Park - and where the Chobe River meets the Zambezi and rushes onwards to Victoria Falls. This is where we were meeting Anj - unfortunately, getting there was the problem. We found two seats on a private plane for $30 for Jordan and the still recovering Emily. Claire and I hitched a ride with Chris and Kelly, the couple that were on our Delta trip. They had bought a 4x4 in Cape Town, and were driving all the way to Kenya and were heading

Enjoying a swim

Baby elephant frolicking in the water. Etosha.

our way. Only problem, no back seats. They had ripped them out and built a giant wooden box for all of their stuff and placed a double mattress on top of it - for when there were no accommodation options. So Claire and I rode the 700km on our backs and stomachs on the bed - with barely 18 inches between us and the ceiling of the truck. We stopped at Nata along the way for some gas and nibbles, and encountered a few zombie-like locals who obviously thought that staring was a sport. But I guess they don't get crazy western folk riding on a bed in the back of a car, listening to Bon Jovi and wolfing down fried chicken (it's everywhere) everyday. I would stare if that same group of crazies stepped out of a truck in downtown Toronto.

Eventually we met Anj, Emily and Jordan there - who having arrived earlier by plane, had already enjoyed an amazing boat ride along the Chobe - seeing lots of crocs, hippos, elephants and rare birds. Sorry to have missed it, but eventually I will absorb Anj's memories and years later convince myself that I was also on

Cooling off

At our lodge in Livingstone, Zambia. Claire and Anj enjoying a dip.

that boat - in fact, I was driving it and single handedly found the jewel of the Nile. Isn't it great how stories change over time? Back in reality, were happy to wait at our lodge, where we were camping for the night. Dinner was a disaster - took over 90 minutes to come and was pretty bad - they even managed to mess up Emily’s soup.

Our luck was to change though. We organized a speedboat ride over the Chobe River and into Zambia - crossing the only point in the world where 4 countries intersect (BW, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe). We hired a private combi that took us to our upscale resort in Livingstone, where we were camping, but could enjoy the facilities as if we were staying in their fanciest chalet. Anj and I ran into Gerhard, our tour guide from our trip to SA last September, who promised to take us on further adventures around Africa as a personal guide, and friend. Livingstone, to be honest, was pretty beat up, apart from the resorts. For a town that gets so many tourists, it sure didn't look like the government was reinvesting any of that revenue

Vic Falls

Anj and I at a lookout in Vic Falls - not much water here, but there was much more further up.

into infrastructure. Potholed roads reminded me too much of Mozambique. But then Zambia is a very poor country as well and I suspect that many of the resorts are foreign owned.

Later that day we were off to Victoria Falls - which were impressive even with a lower that usual water flow. Basically, the Zambezi river flows into giant cracks in the earth hundreds of feet deep and has to be one of the natural wonders of the world. See the photos, as its better to see for yourself. Jordan took a scenic helicopter flight over the falls and his pictures are amazing. In the evening we enjoyed good food, and amassed a massive 100,000 kwacha bar bill ($25).We had only a short time in Zambia before heading off to Namibia as our bus was leaving the next day. Waiting for the bus though, was an experience in itself. The stop was really just a tarred bit of road beside a snack shop. It's tiny TV was on full blast, showing on repeat several times, a retrospective of the best of Michael Bolton videos. The song "Time, love and tenderness" was seared into my skull and I couldn't get

Elroy and I

Jordan and I infront of the gorge at VF. The bridge behind us was being used for bungee jumping, sheesh

it out for the rest of the trip. Actually, I had forgotten about it until just now, as the internet cafe was blaring his version of "when a man loves a woman" which I suppose will be the background music in my head for the next few weeks. Lucky for us though, they changed the video and we watched wrestling for the next 30-odd minutes until the bus actually did arrive. Very surreal. If this is the exposure they get of Americans, I can only wonder if they think most of them are either long haired effeminate torch singers, or oiled up, hulky madmen, also quite effeminate in their skin tight undies grappling with each other. Zambia needs fewer exported stereotypes, please.

The bus ride was both hell and a blessing in disguise. Anj and I booked us on the “luxury” Intercape bus, taking us 15 hours through the Caprivi Strip in Namibia, to Tsumeb, a gateway to Etosha National Park. As soon as we got on though, we realized something was wrong. In the blistering sun, the bus’ AC was not working, and with no windows to open, we were being baked alive. Me personally, I need oxygen

Flying

Don't do it.

to breathe, but maybe I'm just spoilt. No water on the bus, and none of the gas stations along the way open, meant that we had to suffer as we were. Eventually we made it, dedicated to calling the company to demand our money back. Later on, we would run into people who stayed on the bus for the rest of the way to Windhoek and learned that 10 minutes after we got off the bus, it hit a springbok, whose carcass got caught up under the bus and they were delayed 10 hours in the middle of nowhere before help could arrive. A blessing in disguise.

Having arrived at 3am, we got a tiny bit of sleep in bunk beds at a hostel, before meeting our tour guide, Audie, who was to take us for the next 3 days into Etosha, for what would be the best game viewing of our lives. Our luck was turning. We had the tour to ourselves and set off in our private combi for the park. The next 3 days were spent going on game drives (3 a day), from waterhole to waterhole. We would see herds of elephants, prides of lions,

Salt Pan Roadkill

In Etosha. This was amazing. And Eerie. A giant lake all gone. You could still see the shorelines, but, around 10,000 years ago, ice ages, warming, no more water.

flocks of thousands of birds, antelopes and giraffes, often all at the same waterhole at the same time. A highlight was driving into the 7500 sq km, salt pan, that thousands of years ago was once a lake. Global climate change dried the lake up and changed the surrounding area to much of a desert landscape, as seen to this day. Our nights were spent camping in designated grounds, which were quite sparse with many campers, but with quite good facilities. Audie cooked fantastic meals each night, and we visited the lit waterhole after dark, spotting leopords, elephants, caracals and jackals. Amazing experience and the highlight of the trip.

Having no way to get to our next destination, we paid Audie a healthy sum to drive us to Swakopmund on the Atlantic coast. We decided on a couple days of luxury and stayed at a beautiful B&B right near the beach, ate wild game at the Lighthouse Restaurant, overlooking the sea and wondered over our clean towels, sheets and television. It was like we had been transported into a German resort town in the Costa del Sol. All the buildings were colonial, the beers Bavarian, and nothing but variations

Bridge at VF

The gang having spitting competitions, classy.

of pork dishes on the menu (not that I had seen a pig since arriving in Africa). Schnitzel, bratwurst and sauerkraut, and I was wondering where I was and what they did with Africa. At first it was nice, feeling back in the western world, enjoying the luxuries of life etc, but then I started noticing; where were all the black people?

Namibia was a German colony. So needless to say, everything was neat and tidy. But Germany lost the colony in 1915 - and it was governed by SA (a beacon of equality over those years), named South West Africa from then until 1990, upon whence it gained its independence and renamed itself Namibia. I guess that the Germans didn’t stop arriving between that period though - most of the streets are named after famous Germans (gladly none from '33-'45). I found out that there are three peoples in Namibia; whites, coloured and blacks. The coloured people are of mixed race - an intriguing combination as you can easily see the strong features of both races. Before the Germans left in 1915, they fought a battle with the local Herero people, and after winning the battle, eliminated 80%

Anj & Claire at VF

of its population. Without that happening, there would be 1.6 million Herero in the country today, instead of a couple hundred thousand. Now, there is still a majority of blacks comprising the 2 million Namibians, but unlike Botswana, there is very little mixing between the races, especially socially, and because of it’s colonial past, you feel a lot less warmth from the population to white tourists such as myself than in Botswana.

Enough of the history and sociology lesson. We enjoyed ourselves and had oysters and champagne on the outskirts of the city by the ocean, where the Namib desert began, on our last night together. Jordan, Anj and I were off to Windhoek for the night as Swakopmund was full (literally no rooms save one), while Emily and Claire spent the night there, went on a scenic flight over the dunes, and were catching a flight the next day home. We had just assumed that Anj and I could easily get a bus from Windhoek to Gabs, being two capital cities and all. Bad idea. The weekly bus was full, and the useless staff at our hostel could offer no options. Eventually, Anj and I had to hire

In all its glory

Our best view of the day

a private driver at a ridiculous price, to drive us back into Botswana. We said our goodbye to Jordan, whose flight home was leaving later that day and made our way gratefully back to Ghanzi, with our grumpy driver. We spent the night at another bushman farm, enjoyed a fantastic swim in a giant waterhole and eventually made it home - grateful for our own bed, and particularly happy to be in Botswana. Though Botswana doesn’t have quite the beauty of Zambia or Namibia, it feels much more like we are in Africa. We like its edginess and how you can see how people live life and for the most part enjoy their lot. But most of all, it’s the people; saying hello to everyone you walk by, looking people in the eyes, shaking people’s hands, and people appreciative of your presence in their country. The trip was fantastic, don’t get me wrong, but the highlight wasn’t the scenery or the adventures, it was having our friends there with us; spending time with them and seeing the looks on their faces during their first game drive. So, again, come visit. We have room, time and a continent to explore.