Hi Celeste
Lovely to hear from you.
The overland from Cape Town to Vic Falls was fabulous, thank you, and have just joined the group for Tanzania and Kenya after arriving in Zanzibar a few days early to chill.
I absolutely love Africa and have changed my mind about it being a once only trip! Walter is also already planning to come back with his friends and do it all again when he finishes school.
I'll forward you my notes from the trip in the next two e-mails (I'm on my Blackberry, so limited space in every message!). We have taken some fabulous photos, too, and will send you some when I have access to a high speed Internet.
Thanks again for all your organising and catch you soon.
Cheers
Tammy
Report:
The overland tour was slightly overbooked and the truck was filled to capacity with 23 of us, the tour guide Lesley and the cook Anneli.
Will give more detail about some of our fellow travellers as we spend more time on the road but, for now, there is a mixture of ages and nationalities. I thought Walter and I would be the youngest and oldest respectively - Walter is the youngest, but the Belgian couple and another Australian are older and there's a Scottish bloke who's the same age.
Had a really bad head cold and sore throat on the first two days. Think it was the cold weather in Cape Town, lack of warm clothes and the aversion to heating found there.
The first day two days were mainly driving and camping. The food is pretty bad - cheap and nasty - brings back memories of school camps. Luckily, now in a position to get (at least some of) my own supplies, including fresh bread, cheese, butter and lots of fresh fruit. I just wish I had some Tabasco sauce or some fresh chilli.
Our last night in South Africa was spent on the Orange River, forming the border with Namibia. We arrived in time for a swim and a hot shower and the bar was open until late. There was a kid living there, too, so Walter had someone to play with until dinner time. We were staying until after lunch the next day, so could get my washing done.
After a walk and lunch, drove the 10 kms to the border, where it took around two hours to get us processed, putting us about an hour behind schedule. Meant we would only have a few minutes to set out camp before heading to Fish River Canyon for sunset and dinner.
Namibia looks like a giant quarry - dust and rock. This view was only confirmed by the site of the Canyon, which looks like the heart of the quarry. Surprising anything can live here, but have seen kudo, springbok, oryx, zebra, ostriches and other birds. Lesley enclosed himself in four benches before going to sleep in front of the camp fire, for fear a hyena would bite his nose off in the night (they're apparently attracted to mucous).
The landscape changed a little on our long drive the next day. There was more vegetation and living trees, signs of human life, including the odd town and signs of attempts at farming (livestock only; no crops).
Signs of life increased the next day and we were fascinated by the social weavers - tiny, talkative birds that build their nests together, increasing its size year by year. They're protected by wasps that build their nests on the underside.
The next day, we experienced real sand desert, rising early to climb a giant dune at dawn and then tumbling down. The geometrical shapes of the dunes and the shadows they cast are spectacular.
Looking at Walter now, I barely recognise him, as his hair gets fairer and his skin darker!
We spent the night at Solitaire. It's called a "town" but, essentially, it's the campsite and lodge adjoining a bar, corner shop, petrol station and German bakery - which makes fabulous rye and apple pie to die for.
Lesley usually has at least one good campfire story to tell us each evening. They generally revolve around his own adventures or, if not, the misadventures of clients he's taken on tours - and the central character always seems to be an Australian male!
Day 6 of the tour and we arrived in Swakopmund on the Atlantic coast. It's totally a tourist town, but at least it's a town! I'm sharing a dorm room with three blokes - Walter, Nick and Pavel. I don't think I've ever seen anyone spend as much time on personal grooming as Pavel. He must've spent an hour and a half on Friday night and again on Saturday afternoon making himself beautiful! After dinner on our first night, the group went to a pub that was really just for young tourists and had terrible music. I ditched the group and went to the Cuban bar across the road. Had a fabulous time and was even persuaded to dance. Had to laugh, though (with one of my new friends), when some of the group arrived later and asked the barman to turn the volume of the music down.
Finally gave in to Walter on quad biking on Saturday - and sorry I did. He's way too small and I had trouble hanging on to him and that was before he spilled the bike!
Am the only one in the group to go out on Saturday night - our last before hitting the real bush on Sunday and departure from civilisation until we hit Windhoek late next week. Ended up at a nightclub with some locals. There were a few people there, but it seemed dead because the place was way too big for such a small town, with capacity matching that found in big city venues.
Walter finished reading a Michael Crichton novel he found on the bus within about 4 days of starting it. I don't think I'd seen him that absorbed in any book since Harry Potter!
Day 9 of the tour was a visit with a Himba tribe. The exploitation was a little discomforting even though the women and children were so welcoming. Seems that the Namibian government sold all the farming land to wealthy (read Afrikaaner) farmers, who then permitted the Himba tribes to stay on their traditional homelands in exchange for tending the cattle. To add insult to injury, the landowners charge tour groups 1800 rand to camp and have a cultural exchange with their tenants.
Got into a long political discussion with Lesley about Zimbabwe - his home country. His view is that Mugabe is unfairly treated by the West, which is economically sabotaging Zimbabwe. He argues that Zimbabweans have been kept poor through low wages, reducing educational attainment and other opportunities. He gave the example of his dad, who worked as a park ranger for $50 a month - not enough to care for a large family and increasing pressure for the kids to leave school early to help financially. And, of course, without that education, income is limited. The takeover of farms is by the people who have been managing them anyway, so their failure is not because of mismanagement, but because of freezing out by the West, led by the UK, because of the former colonial ties.
Had a walking tour, the highight of which was when the guide stopped to talk about a tree. Walter kept asking to climb it so, when he was finished, the guide gave the all clear. The guide was unaware of the wasps' nest - never seen Walter get down from a tree so quickly! He only got stung four times and, luckily, unlike Australian wasps, the swelling goes down and the pain subsides within an hour.
The best part of the tour started on day 10, when we entered Etosha.
Unfortunately, the Belgian couple had to leave us, when Vera had a health scare. They were able to meet up with us for dinner at Windhoek before flying home to get proper medical treatment.
We set up camp, had lunch and (naughtily) hand fed some squirrels, and then walked the 50 metres or so to the nearby waterhole (with a wall between us and the animals) where elephants were basking and giraffes making their way down. Our first game drive yielded sightings of lions, elephants, zebra, giraffes, mongoose, amazing birds, springbok, oryx, gnu, helmsbok, jackals and a giant iguana.
The weather turned wild after dinner - gusty and stormy. Just as I was ready and about to go brush my teeth for our 5.40 am game drive, Lesley ran around to tell everyone that he'd made a mistake and the gates don't open until 6.50 am. After threatening murder, I decided I may as well see what's happening at the waterhole. Made it just in time to see a lion, which sauntered off a few minutes later. The next morning we found a lion eating part af a zebra and trying to stave off a whole pack of jackals that wanted some. Other highlights included being surrounded by a herd of elephants and seeing a whole family of lions at a waterhole. That night, a mother and baby rhino arrived at the waterhole next to our campsite just after I did. Was very lucky as got a full viewing of the only thing happening there for the night.
Shortly after, while enjoying a g&t at the bar, it started to rain. We had to rush back to cover the tents and I had to move Walter out of a puddle. We managed to keep reasonably dry, but I didn't sleep much between worrying about the rain getting in and the persistent cough I've had since my cold cleared - I put it down to all the dust, which also seems to have permeated the tent, so I keep breathing it in.
Next afternoon, we arrived in the capital, Windhoek. Two more of the group finished their tour here - Sandra from Germany and Johan from Korea. Great shops, but I spent over an hour looking for a bookshop as Walter has run out of reading. Found one bookshop to start with, but the 9 to 12 year old section only had Enid Blytons and Ben 10s. I asked the shopkeeper if there was anything for older children and she said only the general A-Z shelves. Well, there weren't too many shelves and they weren't strictly in alphabetical order with S and P sittling above L and K. After circling the city and coming up blank, I returned and, as I was walking out empty handed spotted a great little bookshop opposite that I'd missed the first time around. Was sorry later that I didn't buy him two books as it didn't last the rest of the trip, but it was the last bookshop we saw.
While the rest of the group went to Joe's Beer House for steaks, Walter and I had a fabulous Indian dinner around the corner before joining them. The trouble with Windhoek is that I was advised not to walk even short distances at night, so had to cab it everywhere. While cabs are cheap, it's just very inhibiting. There's also not much nightlife. The club I went to is, I'm told, one of only four in town and the crowd was very young.
Another border crossing the next day - much quicker this time - and arrived at our first campsite in Botswana in the late afternoon and as the storm clouds were gathering. Pleasant surprise as there are huts - with solar powered electric lights that we can upgrade to for $US5 - best $10 I've spent this trip I reckon. Next night was a repeat. Was able to upgrade to a cabin in Maun, too, where it rained again.
By now, my travel coffee plunger is the envy of all and I can't tell you how much I appreciate it - the flask takes enough to last for an hour of sipping and keeps it hot, too.
Foot and mouth disease is a problem among livestock in Botswana. There seem to be far more donkeys around than cows and goats and they are being turned to more as a food product. Anyway, it means that there are regular road blocks where the truck is searched for fresh meat and we have to get out and walk over a disinfecting solution. We are also asked to bring our spare shoes to disinfect. I keep taking the chance and only going with the shoes I have on - it would be too embarrassing and I'd hold up the whole shown, as everyone else brings their single other pair!
Maun was our base for our big trip to the Delta. We started with a 45 minute flight in the late afternoon of our arrival. Unfortunately for Walter, the pilot wanted him in the back seat. Walter was even less impressed when I snaffled the front seat next to the pilot, but it was a fantastic flight. Really amazing seeing the whole delta and really gave us a perspective for our camping trip next day. Incredibly, too, we saw a herd of buffalo - there must've been well over 200 animals!
Got up early next morning for our trip to the Delta. Only packed a small bag, plus tent, sleeping bags, snacks, water and grog. After an hour's drive in an open truck, we arrived at the Delta and the starting point of our adventure.
A poler - Oman - chooses us and loads our things into his moroko. Most of the morokos are made from fibreglass now, as the traditional method of using an eighty year old sausage tree to build a canoe with a five year life span is unsustainable, but Oman takes us in a real one. It sits lower in the water than the fibreglass version, so I think we were chosen because of Walter's smaller size and weight.
Two hours of gliding down channels through rushes, beds of lilypads and open lagoons brought us to our campsite for the next two days. Safari walks and moroko trips are only in the early mornings and late afternoons, so after setting up our tents and having lunch, we spend the hottest part of the afternoon swimming, reading, playing cards and other games. Walter and I learn a new card game, "Arsehole", which groups of us then play on and off over the few days of the tour we have left.
We were very lucky with weather as the two nights before our arrival were very wet, but we had lovely clear weather for the our two nights. Feeling healthier, too, as my cough starts to clear.
This is the first time we've walked in areas where large African animals live - rather than being in a vehicle or human enclosure and it's so exciting. Over our stay, we get close to zebra, giraffes, gnu and baboons and park our morokos in a lagoon with bathing hippos.
While watching the hippos, I see the guides pulling large reeds out by the roots, peeling the tip and eating the inside. I ask to try and find that, while it has a bland taste, they are very juicy and quite nice. Oman tells me he finds the taste sweet and it's like eating lollies. On the way back, Walter and I egged Oman to race the other polers and we won!
On our second night, the polers put on a fabulous show for us around the camp fire (they make the best fires I've ever seen) and then we are expected to reciprocate. Our effort was nowhere near fabulous I'm afraid, and mainly relied on nursery songd, but Tina saved the night with an operatic solo.
After our last early morning safari, where we met up with an elephant, our polers packed us up and we headed back in our morokos. For a long while, I lay back with my eyes shut and hands skimming the water and just took in the incredible sounds of birds and other wildlife and the feel of the movement of the boat. Later, we sang songs and after starting "My Eyes are Dim" with Walter, then Oman, then me, Oman kept me going with the names of all the other polers - some were really tough to rhyme.
Had to laugh, though (as did all the polers, I'm sure - I think I could tell they were sharing the story even though they weren't speaking English), when at our midway stop, one couple bailed up their poler and asked if he could change the route for the rest of the way back as she's scared of spiders and so many were falling into the boat using the current channels.
Arrived back for lunch and showers before heading off on the long trip to Chobe. Couldn't get good fruit at either of the supermarkets in Maun, so shared our last orange in the afternoon and Walter ate the last apple in the morning.
Day 19 of 20 and we're on a "sunset" cruise on the Chobe River. Very quickly relinquished the chairs to sit on the front of the boat. Put Walter on the other side of the esky so we had the best views, but we were both down low so we didn't block anyone else. As we were coming back a hippo was right in front of the boat, so that my foot almost touched its eye before it dived under the boat at the last second. Lots of buffalo, elephants, hippos, baboons, kudo and crocodiles. This is probably sounding a bit passe, and even Walter can come up with a "whatever" when we pass another zebra on the road, but this may be the first and last time in our lives that we see African animals in the wild and we still get a thrill every time.
The boat ride was shared with another two groups, one of which was the Gap overland group that is following the same route, staying at many of the same places on the same nights, and had mooned our truck from theirs once before. True to form, they mooned us after we had each boarded our respective trucks. We persuaded Lesley to block the gate to the campsite with our truck, as a whole group jumped out to return the favour. Surprisingly, Walter would've been happy for me to participate a (I say surprisingly because this is the boy that conducts random checks to make sure I have undies on!).
Last day and we arrived at Vic Falls. We were both awestruck. I don't think I've ever seen Walter take landscape photos before. Of course, pictures don't do the place justice because you can only see small sections of it. But when you look at it as a whole, its sheer length, height and overall extent are just amazing.
Walter was also impressed with all the monkeys, baboons and warthogs - both at the falls and wandering around town. we did some shopping in the afternoon and still find the bargaining hard. It is particularly unique in Zimbabwe because basic commodities are so hard to get, so trading is a big part of the negotiations. Clothes, shoes and books are in high demand, but people will swap for almost anything - Stacey got a necklace for her washing line rope! People also keep asking for things and other kids, particularly, kept chasing Walter for his shoes.
I also spent some time in the afternoon trying to get info for the next leg of our trip, but came up against a brick wall, as the 10 kms across the border of Zambia to Livingstone may as well be to another planet. Thought I'd just have to cross the border the next day to sort it out. Then after our last group dinner at Shoestrings - hotel, bar, backpackers - and traditional music, I met a bloke who does bush camping tours in Botswana. He gave me contacts in town that checked out and Jo at one of the tour companies sorted out all my travel and accommodation en route to Tanzania.
