More on the Delta Safari

After the excitement of the morning boat rides we headed back to camp for brunch. For some reason, the guides were very firm about the fact that the meal was "brunch" and not "lunch" even though it was noon time. After brunch I attempted another "bush shower" and had the misfortune to share it with biting ants and millipedes. Ugh! After this tramatic experience, and in the intense heat of midday, I took a nap. Napping in tents in the African bush in summer time is a somewhat uncomfortable affair, but I was too tired to care much.

Around 4 we had a quick tea and then set off for the evening game drive. We saw plenty of zebras, wildebeest (plus calfs!), butt-pecking birds on the zebras, and impala. The most interesting site was a dead water buffalo, which had expired within the hour of some sort of illness. None of the Kalahari predators had found it yet, so it was still perfectly intact. We decided to come back later and see what the progress was. Sunset was absolutely magnificent! The Okavango Delta and the Kalahari must be some of the most beautiful places on earth. Sunsets in Wisconsin certainly feel lacking since they don't include heards of zebra and impala, along with peppy little jackals scooting around the scrub.

Dinner that night was another culinary masterpiece (considering it was made in the bush- it was roast chicken and mashed potatoes with chocolate covered crepes for dessert) and afterwards Amanda and I retired to our tent. We ended up playing the one word story game for a while. A storm was rolling in and through the mesh window of our tent we could see lightning in the clouds. Luckily it didn't rain that night.

Dustland Fairy Tale: The Okavango Delta Trip

On Saturday we left UB at 6 am for the airport. It was brutally early for us, and when our 7.30 flight was delayed, it did not make for a very auspicious start to the trip. When we landed in Maun the cloudy and cool weather in Gabs was replaced by real African weather, which is hot and suffocating. Luckily the flight had been only about an hour and they served us a nice breakfast croissant sandwhich for breakfast. Our safari company, called Naga Safaris, was waiting to pick us up in three large, open-sided vehicles. We stopped for supplies and then got on the road for several hours. At one point we passed the Veterinary Fence, which is a huge fence separating wildlife from domestic livestock (don't get me started on this damn fence business). Our guide, Dennis, informed us that now we were in wild animal territory and to keep our eyes peeled. Sure enough we saw zebras, guinea fowl, and "the McDonald's of the bush", impala. We finally arrived at the Moremi Game Reserve, which is large tract of land situated in the heart of the Delta. We had a picnic lunch and then continued into the park. The drive to the campsite, which took several hours, was also a game drive. Certain places in the bush were home to what must have been millions of cicadas, because the noise they made was defeaning. We passed through Mopane forests, open grassland, elephant-decimated woodlands, and swampy streams and ponds. There were the usual suspects: wildebeest, zebras, impala, guinea fowl, impala, guinea fowl, imapa (haha, etc). No big game spotted yet...no elephants yet :( However, we did past into a narrow stretch of the road (which was just dirt and sand) and spot three adult lionesses just relaxing in the shade a few feet away. The guides stopped the trucks so we could all lean over and take pictures. Batsi and his two kids lamented the fact that they had forgotten to bring a camera. When the first truck tried to start up again it stalled and failed. The guide had to get out of the truck to take a look, which disturbingly made one of the lionesses very interested. A little too interested. It was a poor place to have a breakdown.
We did not get eaten, so when the truck started again we continued on to camp. In Moremi you are not allowed to drive off the roads/trails and you can't drive after dark. To do so risks losing your license. Guides are put through a lot of rigorous tests in order to become certified (such as facing charging elephants, rhinos, and lions among others). We made it to camp around sunset and were greeted by about fifteen cheerful green tents, each equipped with a back "room" which containted a shower and a makeshift toilet. These were attached to each tent so that no one would need to wander around the campsite at night. There are wild animals like leopards and hyenas wandering around, after all. There were two people to each tent, and both people were fitted out with a cot, a mattress, and sheets/bedding/pillow/towel. In camp there was also a large mess tent and a "kitchen" of sorts. All our food and water had to be brought with us because we were so far from anywhere. It was a good feeling. It turns out that our cook was exceptionally talented and we had gourmet meals the whole trip! However, we spent so much time waiting for each meal that we were so starved by the time it was served that we would have been happy with crusts of bread. After dinner we sat around the campfire for a little while and then wandered off to bed. Wake up time was scheduled for 5 am.
Breakfast was a lavish affair consisting of scrambled eggs, granola and yogurt, cereal, creamy milk, coffee, tea, and toast. For some reason I became completely obsessed with toast during the trip. I might still be when I get home- who knows? The sun was already up when we left for the morning game drive, but the air was lovely and cool. Batsi informed us that we were headed to one of the many tributaries of the delta for a speed boat ride. When we arrived at the dock there were two small speed boats waiting, so we divided our group in half and crammed ourselves onboard. The guides admitted that we were way over capacity. TIA! We sped off through the narrow channels and into big open pond areas. We saw a couple of elephants grazing near the water, and some big old hippos peering at us from the water. Our guide said that most of the deaths that occur in the Delta are due to hippos. It's not that hippos go around eating people, but it's that they knock boats over and people drown. With this delightful knowledge in mind we motored along passed the now menacing hippos. Our guides gave us lessons on water chestnuts, lillies, and papyrus. It was oh-so-educational. It was also extremely beautiful to see the blue water and the rich green color of the water plants after being in dusty old Gabs for so long. When we got back to the docks were told that twelve of us at a time could go for a ride in a little dugout canoe, which was poled through the water by a guide. I was in the first wave of people and I shared the canoe with Meara and Elijah. With the hippo information in our minds, the rickety canoe was a little nervewracking at first, but we stuck to the small, shallow, reedy channels. We went to slowly and smoothly through the water, and the world was so quiet except for the sounds of the bush; it was tempting to fall asleep. Yeah, fall asleep and then fall into a channel crawling with crocodiles, snakes, hippos, and who knows what else.

November: Trips to Pretoria and Durban

Matt left at the very beginning of November. So did my last remaining will power to put effort into school. Luckily the first weekend some CIEE kids with November birthdays organized a trip to Pretoria, SA, which about about half the group went on, including me. We rented a combi and squeezed in and seven hours later, voila! Pretoria! Here are some fun facts: SA has three capitals, each with a branch of government. Pretoria is the executive branch, so it's kind fo the like the Boss Man Capital. The other two are Cape Town and Bomfontein. Pretoria has a very high percentage of white people, mostly dutch, who speaks Afrikaans and English. The city has a very European air and it's sort of like not being in Africa anymore. It's nick name is the Jacaranda City because of the all the beautiful Jacaranda trees (trees with big purple flowers). Thanks for that update Wikipedia! Anyway, we stayed at a hostel whose name I can't remember. It wasn't as nice as Pretoria Backpackers, but we did get the back house, which had exactly twelve bunks beds for exactly twelve of us! It also had a kitchen, a living room with a pool table, a TV room, a small separate bedroom, and two bathrooms. Our combi driver stayed in the little bedroom. We picked up some booze to get the party going and ordered some pizzas. After a while, even though it was raining, we headed out to the main attraction of the trip: Hatfield Square. You may remember me posting about Hatfield Square during the Mozambique trip when we went there. Basically, it's a square of bars and clubs where you drink. Yep, so that's what we did. We also ate McDonald's, which was conveniently located righ across the street.


In the morning us girls were up bright and early and ready to go while the boys sat in bed and complained about things. We left them behind and got more McDonald's- this was to be a recurrent theme in the trip. When we got back the boys were up but this time complaining about being hungry. We all piled into the combi and the girls got out at a tattoo and piercing shop while the boys continued on in search of food. Two people wanted nipple piercings (nasty!) so we waited while they got their appointment, prepped, and finally did the piercing. While we were waiting around Hannah, the birthday girl, decided to get a small tattoo on her wrist that she had been thinking about. It was a spur of the moment decision, but an old idea. All in all it was very exciting and the tattoo lady was really cool. She and her husband owned and worked in the shop and lived in the house behind it. They let us use their bathroom in the house and we discovered a mama cat with three tiny kittens!


After the tattoo and piercing excitement we met up with the boys again and decided to do some sight seeing in the town. We drove to the parliament buildings, which are situated on a hill over looking the city. It was a great view. It was also a great place for a nap and we all ended up lying on the grass in the sunshine and dozing off. Eventually we woke up from hunger, left, and hit up a local Spar for supplies. A weird possibly homeless guy chased our van around for a while. That night we cooked a huge amount of pasta and played Drunk Jenga befor heading out. There were some terrible dares including table spoons of salt and mustard on toes. I try not to think about it too much. Anyway, this night went much the same way as the first: Hatfield Square, then McDonald's. The difference was that on the first night we won a bottle of champagne for dancing and singing the loudest to The Spice Girls and Journey, and the second night we did not.


Morning was rough, but we pulled together and got more McDonald's. I was one of the very few people in good shape, so I was chipper and having a good time. We decided to stop at a muge and famous mall on our way out of town. It was about five stories high with aviaries full of birds, koi ponds, big plastic balls for kids to sit in, and too many expensive stores. I wanted to check out the Swatch shop, but all the crabby hung over people wanted to leave, so we got some food and then headed out. It was a long drive back to Gabs, and as Meara said, "We may have marched to Pretoria...but now we're crawling away." Oh yeah, we ate McDonald's five times that weekend.





Durban:


The next weekend my friend Lily got some people together to head down to the coastal city of Durban, SA, reputed to be on the coolest cities in Southern Africa. I would have to agree; the city is a colorful mixture of Indian, African, and Afrikaans culture situated right on the beautiful Indian Ocean. It has big markets with weird things and crafts, exciting bars and restaurants, a healthy beach culture, and a big aquarium called uShaka Marine World. The city also offers things like going out on the boats which check the shark nets around the beaches every day to see which sharks have been stuck. Then the tourists get to see the sharks dissected for information on their diets and so forth. I myself didn't partake in this, but I was fascinated by the idea. I do like sharks, after all. Lily, myself, a CIEE guy named Tim, and a PhD student named Jenny all crammed into a car and drove the twelve hours from Gabs to Durban. Around about dark it started to storm and driving conditions got sketchy. Still, we made it to our hostel in one piece. The guy who runs is it named Elmer and he is very much an authority on all things Durban. He pulled out a city map and immediately drew out places to eat, places to drink, places to be entertained, and places not to walk at night. He only gave us a minimal hard time about breaking the 8.30 bedtime rule (we arrived at 10.30). After putting our stuff down in the comfortable and colorful rooms we headed out to Florida Rd, the main fine dining destination. We ended up eating at a swanky Italian place where they had REAL BEER. It was brewed in Germany and bottled in SA.
The next day we set out for some hard core exploration. Lily had spent a semester in Durban previously (during the world cup!) so she knew her way around. She took us to the markets so that we could buy crafts and see all the beheaded animals. No joke- I must have seen fifty goat heads and ten cow heads. The cow heads were absolutely enormous. After the craft markets we went to the Zulu Healing markets where there was everything from bark and soil, to herbs, to various partially dissected animals. To get away from the smell we left the marketplace and wandered into the largest temple in the Southern hemisphere, where a jolly and helpful man gave us a tour and told us many interesting tidbits. I don't remember too much, unfortunately, because I was so hungry and so tired at this point it was a fight not to doze off and make a fool of myself. I do remember koi in the ablution fountain. When we did eventually get lunch it was on the advice of two Indian ladies at a pharmacy/shoe repair shop who told us about a "divine" Indian restaurant at a place called the Warehouse. We went there and their speciality was also a Durban speciality known as bunny chow. This does not involve actual rabbits! It is a loaf of bread- quarter, half, or whole- hollowed out and filled with curry. The food was indeed divine.
After lunch we went to a place known at the BAT center which, despite popular belief, actually has nothing to do with bats. It is an art center located right in Durban harbour. It was pretty quiet when we got there, but we were all glad to get out of the wind and rain. There was a studio full of works in progess so we checked that out and met a local artist there. He was chatty and friendly and told us that he was a musician and that one of his bands was playing that night at a rasta bar called Cool Runnings. It was immediately and unanimously decided that we should go. So, several hours and a change of clothes later, we did arrive. Our BAT friend turned out to be a hired percussionist for the band and we had a great time sipping our drinks from the bar and listening to the reggae. In the alley out back there was a huge mural covering two buildings which had been painted specifically for Cool Runnings. Apparently their mascot was a little black and white cat named Spliff. I later learned that Spliff is an actual cat owned by the owner, and that once at a kitten he got lost. The owner put an ad with a reward in the newspaper and sure enough he got Spliff back. Finally, a cat story with a happy ending from Africa!
The next day we went to the beach (the overcast sky did absolutely nothing to deter us) and set up base camp at a bar restaurant with a view of the ocean and a live performance by none other than our favorite reggae band from the night before. It wasn't long before I was able to get back in the ocean and swim again! The air was cool but the water was warm. We made trips between the beach, the restuarant, and uShaka Marine World all day. At the aquarium they had an area where you could walk into a fake old ship and see down into the shark tank without actually having to pay to go into the building.
Lily and Jenny left to follow the rastafarians, which left Tim, Chris, and I. We wanted to get sushi and fried rice and unfortunately we had a hanger-on from the restaurant. At first we were too polite to leave him, but after an extremely irritating and uncomfortable meal we had no qualms about waiting till he was in the bathroom and then running away as fast as possible. It was full on raining at this point so we took shelter in a hotel lobby until we could get a cab back to the hotel.
The next day was Chris's birthday and we decided to get breakfast at a cafe and at a tasty little bakery called Bread Ahead before heading to the Botanical Gardens. We spent all day wandering around the ponds, trees, flowers, birds, and themed gardens. It was very peaceful and relaxing and we only left when they closed the park and made us get out. We headed back to the beach after that for drinks and seafood. Lily and Chris wanted to go out on the town, so we did, and it was cool to experience that part of Durban as well as the touristy beach areas.
The next day were planned to pack up the car early and get going in order to make it across the border before it closed. Lily had a final at 8 am on the following day, so we couldn't risk getting detained in SA. Elmer had noticed that the car had a small oil leak, so in the process of backing it up to check on it Tim noticed that tires were so badly worn in front that they were literally one thin layer away from blowing. He deduced that the alignment must be off and that it was shredding the tires. With this dires news were headed to a body shop. It took about two hours for Jenny to pick out new tires, have them put on, and get the alignment fixed. We were behind schedule and grumpy. Still, we got on the road and hauled ass. Sometime after dark we were driving on a road which passes along a game park and all of a sudden we kept seeing giant kudu lurking next to the road, threatening to cross, be hit, and annihilate the car. Luckily, nothing of the sort happened, and luckily still we made it to the border with an hour to spare before closing.
We wandered back into Vegas and dispersed. It's always hard to come back to Gabs after an exciting trip.