My Trip Through Southern Africa

Hello Everyone! Today is my second day back in Cape Town after spending the previous 10 days traveling through Zambia (a second in Zimbabwe), Botswana and Namibia. While I'm happy to be back in a city and to see the ocean, getting back into work mode is a challenge. I've received some marks back, however, and seem to be doing fine, so I know there is never reason to stress :).

Now, to begin describing my adventure...

A group of 7 of my girl friends and I left for Livingstone, Zambia on September 3. We split the flight into 2 two hour legs (both of which provided meals! I'll have to complain to all American airlines for their cheap services...) and arrived in a hot, dry Zambia in the afternoon. It took us a bit to go through passport control and take care of our visa, so the heat was a bit much, but at the same time very welcomed after chilly Cape Town. Once we got stamped we spent 20 minutes trying to convince a taxi to take all of us to our hotel for less than $30. It was a bit difficult to get all of the girls to agree, but finally we were on our way through a dusty Zambia. Being the dry season, there was very little greenery around, and most trees were completely bare and withered. We spent the next two nights at the Zambezi Waterfont campgrounds and it was total paradise! The grounds overlooked the Zambezi River (which feeds Victoria Falls) so we rested up on the deck to take in the sights. That evening was very low key, but we made sure to sign up for extra activities at Vic Falls...Somehow, I ended up signing myself up for bungee jumping, who knows what I was thinking...It never really hit me though until the next day when I was standing on the edge of the platform about to fall 111 meters. We woke up early the next morning to make it to Vic Falls, one of the natural wonders of the world. The falls are divided between both Zambia and Zimbabwe, but we could only view them from the Zambia side because we would need an additional visa (and $50) to cross the border. Although it is the dry season and the water volume is lower, the falls were still stunning. The Zambezi branches out across Zambia to form a magnificent curtain of powerful waterfalls that seem to plummet deep into the earth. I still don't understand how the Zambezi contains that much water. After getting our fair share of photos (and also getting soaked from the spray) it was time to head to the bridge.

One of the 7 Natural Wonders of the World

Vic Falls bungee used to be the tallest in the world, but now is in third place at 111 meters. The bridge is the connection between Zim and Zambia, so you have to get a temporary stamp just to get to the bungee. My number ended up being the first to go, which was both a blessing and a curse. Of course, I started getting anxious as they strapped me in and realizing that I had no way out, but at the same time, I hadn't seen anyone else bungee yet, so I didn't really know what to expect. They shouted out my number and it was time to go. I had to duck out onto a smaller platform where they would do the final harnessing, i.e. wrap giant towels around your legs and then another strap around those, which you would then hang upside down from. Then, it was go time. Because your legs are wrapped in by these towels, you have to waddle out to the edge (the whole time using all of your energy not to trip over). You're told to jump out away from the platform with your arms up and they give you no time to think about the jump, all they do is get your arms up then shout "1, 2, BUNGEE" and they push you off. It's funny because for being such an adrenaline rush, I don't really remember the first part of the fall. It was terrifying the first split second of falling, but then you're just soaring through the air, completely liberated. I wasn't prepared for the second drop, however, and that's when my brain turned on again and realized what I was doing. As you get pulled back up by the force of the drop, you end up floating for a split second (that feels like forever) and then dropping again. This happens several times until you're left spinning upside down waiting for a guy to come down and get you. Those drops were much worse than the initial one because you couldn't really tell how far you were falling or when it would stop. Either way, I survived! After everyone had gone we headed back to the hotel where we would later go on a sunset cruise on the Zambezi and see a bit of wildlife.

The next morning we began our drive to cross the Chobe River border into Botswana. The Chobe River intersects four different countries, and from the ferry crossing you can see Namibia, Botswana, Zim and Zambia. When we arrived, there were at least 60 giant trucks waiting to get on one of two car ferries, both of which could only hold 2 trucks at a time. Our guides had told us that this could take up to 5 hours, so we prepared for the worst. Somehow, our crazy driver Errol passed all of the trucks (most likely with a little bribery...) and we were soon on our way to Botswana. We spent the rest of the day in Kasane and also went on a sunset cruise on the Chobe River. This cruise was much better than the last because of the abundance of wildlife. Chobe is much greener than the area surrounding the Zambezi and the marsh islands in the middle of the river provided protected grounds for wildlife. We saw everything up close, from elephants, buffalo and kudu to even crocodiles. Now, crocodiles are probably my least favorite reptile, so I wasn't too enthused, but at the same time, I had never seen a wild one before. We floated up to a 6-7 foot crocodile basking in the late afternoon sun, as our guide was explaining that crocs are only active at night because they need the heat from the day the croc shut its mouth and started moving. All of a sudden, it's turning towards us and charging down the shore to our boat that was only a few feet away. It plunged into the water and for about 30 seconds it couldn't be seen anywhere (in the mean time I didn't dare lean over the edge of that boat). Soon enough it popped back up, but you could only see its tiny eyes in the dark water. That night we had an amazing dinner called potjie, which is a South African stew. This was probably the best week of food I've had since I arrived in SA and I definitely miss the meals cooked over the fire! The next day we hopped back on our giant overland truck and went into Gweta. The arid dustiness of Botswana continued to surprise me, as I always imagined it to be very green and lush. Our campsite was called "Planet Baobab" because of the gigantic baobab trees that grow in Gweta. These trees are also called "upside down trees" because of their root like branches. We were all so filthy from sitting in the truck and heat for the last couple days so when we heard there was a pool we were ecstatic. There was even a little fountain in it! We spent another night around the campfire and hanging out with our group in the kitschy camp bar. I want to steal their design; the chandeliers were made out of Amstel bottles, the chairs were cow hide and the walls were covered in original spreads from the 1950-60 editions of Drum Magazine. It was a really cool place, and definitely not what I expected from a campsite literally in the middle of nowhere.

Next stop, Maun and the Okavango Delta. To reach Maun on time, we had to get up before sunrise (around 4:30 am). I could've sworn that it was darker when I woke up than when I fell asleep. Once we reached Maun we had time to grab giant water bottles and snacks then it was time to head into complete isolation. There had been news that a bridge had washed away that would allow us to leave Maun and get to Ghanzi (our next stop after the delta) and the only other way to get to Ghanzi was to drive 2000 km around the delta. Luckily, we were spending 2 nights in the delta, and our driver was going to be the one to suffer this long drive. Thus, we had to unload everything (most of which we took to the delta) while we thought he'd be traveling around us -turns out they put up a temporary bridge so we were able to go on our planned route-. To get to our bushcamp site we had to take an hour long speed boat ride through the main channel to get to a small village/makuro station. Makuros are long skinny canoe like boats that are "paddled" by people called polers; they use long bamboo like sticks to push through the delta silt and reeds. We all got packed into our makuros and it was time for our 2 hour journey into the largest inland delta in the world. It was midday, and while the ride was initially pleasant, it quickly turned south. It was so hot and the constant spider check (oh yes...there are spiders in these reeds) made the trip painfully slow about half way through. I have no idea how our poler, Alvin, was able to remember which way to go. While there were narrow paths through reeds, from our perspective, it seemed like there was no structure. We passed small islands, and an elephant, until we at last reached ours. For the next two nights we would have no electricity or running water, so you know what that means...our "bathroom" ended up being a hole in the ground, where the "door" was a trowel and toilet paper (when they were missing, that meant the door was closed...). Our guides stayed with us the whole time and took us on a sunset game walk and also a sunrise walk the next morning on the main island. It was an amazing experience that I know I'll never forget. The only people that we saw for those three days were people from our group. The silence and serenity on the delta is indescribable, as all you can hear are the birds and the soft wading of the makuro. While I know I'll always need the luxuries of civilization, it was nice to take a break from it and not think about just how dirty we were...After our second night it was time to pack up again and get back to Maun. Luckily, we left at 8 am so the makuro ride was much more bearable (and surprisingly there were no spiders!yay!).

Sunset on the Delta

When we arrived back at our departure camp site lunch was waiting for us, and it wasn't an ordinary lunch, it was hamburgers. I'm not sure what it is about hamburgers, but there's something about them when you're exhausted that makes them the best meal in the world. We weren't even starving because of course our guide, Mareika, made incredible meals. All I know, is that the burger and fries on my plate disappeared in under 5 minutes. That night we all hung out on the water after another filling dinner. The next morning apparently a monkey had taken our bag of left over spaghetti and scampered up a tree with it. In the middle of its happiness one of our group members came running out and yelling at it, at which point it quickly dropped the bag and hurried off. Of course, there was little point in getting the bag back since the monkey had already feasted on it. I also noticed that my bananas were missing from my bag which I had forgotten to put inside my tent.

We drove on towards Ghanzi, a campsite in the Kalahari, where Bushmen provided educational walks. I didn't go on one, but everyone said it was great. The whole camp was solar powered, meaning they ran out of electricity at about 11 pm. That night, however, there was a full moon and the whole desert was glowing in pale blue moonlight. This was to be the last night that we camped, and I was a bit sad to think that we would have to return to the real world and actually try to appear decent in public. I'd grown quite comfortable in my 5 shirts, 1 pair of shorts and 1 pair of pants, but I was ready for a nice shower!

Camping in the Kalahari

Driving 8 hours to reach Namibia's capital, Windhoek, I was surprised by the change in scenery. The entire trip we had more or less been driving in a completely flat desert. As soon as we crossed the border, we were still in the desert, but the trees had leaves on them! Green leaves! There were also mountains that interrupted the otherwise flat landscape. Soon enough, we entered Windhoek, which looked like a real city, not the small towns that we were used to. To our surprise, we drove up to a beautiful hotel where we would spend our last night. It was complete luxury. We had beds, a huge shower, a pool and finally we were clean! We ate dinner at Joe's Beerhouse, which was a touristy place (that locals still go to) that serves game meat such as zebra, kudu, crocodile, etc.. Since being in Africa I've already eaten: ostrich, croc (tough and fishy, not my favorite), kudu and springbok. I couldn't get myself to eat the zebra, but I did try the oryx (or gemsbok) which was quite tasty :).

We flew back the following day, while half of our group traveled on through Namibia. I really wish I could've done the additional leg because Namibia's landscape looks like another world. It would have been an even more incredible experience and I'd have fantastic photos to prove it. Overall, this was the best spring break I've ever had and am so happy that I had the opportunity to travel in such unique places where I may never go again.

Photos:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2146614218755.2112069.1048260152&l=942a64dbdd&type=1