Author: globegazers

Monthly Recap: Month 1

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We have now been on the road for 1 month! It is hard to believe, at times feeling like way more than a month and at times feeling like way less. We plan to do a recap every month to summarize and then reflect.

Countries visited: 5 (Egypt, South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia) – though two of those countries were visited for less than a day (12 hour layover in Cairo and Victoria Falls).

*Countries looked at: 2 (We stood across the border and reached our hands into Zambia on our Vic Falls trip, and we looked across the river into Angola at N’kwazi camp in the Caprivi Strip, Namibia)

Beds Slept In: 3 (One of those was our Self-Drive Safari tent which we set up 18 times!!)

Top Moments:

~We both agree that our first top moment was coming across the “Hippo Pool” in Moremi Game Reserve on our way to Khwai campsite. We had been stressing about the deep sandy roads we had been driving, but when we found this secluded spot and climbed into the blind to observe a large pool with many hippos sleeping and feeding, all the stress melted away. We were also thrilled to see the hippos!

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~We were so thrilled that our plan to visit Victoria Falls came together smoothly and that we were taken in by a large family of South Africans during the day.

~We both loved Etosha National Park! One of our favorite times was our afternoon game drive there where we came across a waterhole where we observed several elephants drinking, bathing, and playing. When we arrived, one elephant was in the middle of the pool, up to his head, and he was rolling around, clearly reveling in the water. As we watched, another elephant joined the first and they played with each other, climbing on each other’s backs and entwining trunks. At first we thought that they were mating? But a little later a third, much smaller elephant joined in so we weren’t sure.

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Runners up for Top Moments:

~Despite being exhausted after hours of deep sand driving, we decided to go out for an evening game drive at Savuti camp in Chobe National Park. We were so glad we did. We turned onto a side road which would take us to some rock paintings and we saw a car stopped ahead of us. They were observing a lion sleeping under a tree right next to the road! We were so thrilled to see our very first lion!

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~After a week in the wilds of Botswana staying at wild campsites, driving on deep sandy roads, and meeting hyenas, we were excited to finally make it to Kasane, where we stayed at Chobe Safari Lodge. First we were so happy to have access to internet to be in contact with family and friends, but we also loved their riverside bar. We would sit there with our St. Louis Exports (a Botswana beer) and watch the sunset over the Chobe River. What made this extra special was the elephants feeding in the water on the other side.

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~After two windy, miserable nights leading up to our camp at Sesriem in Namibia and a horrible, windy morning, we finally made it to Dead Vlei (see upcoming post) which was exactly what we had been waiting for the whole trip. Phew.

Items Missing, Broken, Discarded, or Added:

1. Eric’s watch is broken. The battery died. He is very sad.
2. Eric’s camera is almost broken. There was an unfortunate incident where it fell out of the car in the deep sand. Luckily, it was not on this list as lost which it was very nearly. But since that time, it hasn’t worked quite right.
3. New bar of soap purchased!

Packing Update:

We have not made any changes to our bag contents. We only wish that we had some more warm clothing for this safari portion of the trip.

Books Read: (Have you read any of these??)

Della has read The Covenant by James Michener, Adrenaline by John Bendict, Adrift by Erica Conroy, The Advocate by Teresa Burrell
Eric had read The Stand by Stephan King and Starfish by Peter Watts
Eric and Della have BOTH read Dreamers of the Day by Mary Doria Russell, Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane, Born Free by Joy Adamson, The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith, Morality for Beautiful Girls (the 3rd book in the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series) by Alexander McCall Smith, and The Kalahari Typing School For Men (the 4th book!) by Alexander McCall Smith. (We read the No. 1 Ladies’ books out loud to each other while we drove across Botswana – very appropriate!)

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Small Comforts

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There are a few small comforts that we run into now and then that really make us feel better while traveling…

Small Comfort 1: Clean fingernails!

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As you can imagine, camping for 25 days is sandy, dusty, desert-y climates can make you dirty! There was almost nothing better than those first few (unfortunately, very few) minutes after a shower when the fingernails were clean!

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Self-Drive Safari, Week Four

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We’re not sure we will have Internet access while on our safari, so we’ve scheduled a few posts like these to automatically go out.

During the final week of our safari, here is where we are planning to be:

Day 22 – July 29

We leave Sesriem and start our long haul back to Joburg. Tonight we stop in Keetmanshoop, Namibia at the Mesosaurus Fossil Camp.

Day 23 – July 30

A very long day of driving – all the way to Kuruman, South Africa where we spend the night at the Red Sands Country Lodge.

Day 24 – July 31

We will drive almost all of the way to Joburg, stopping about an hour away. No camp booked yet, but we are expecting to stay somewhere near Magaliesburg.

Day 25 – August 1

Explore the Cradle of Humankind archeological park, where there is a visitor center and a cave where ancient hominids were found,. Once done, we drive to Joburg and return our truck to Bushlore – hopefully in one piece! 🙂

Soweto Bicycle Tour

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This post was pre-scheduled to publish while we are off on our self-drive safari

While staying in Joburg, we decided to spend some time in Soweto. Soweto is outside and to the southwest of Joburg. Soweto in fact is the name for the southwestern townships- the cities populated by the black population of Joburg during apartheid. It began during the 1940s when the black settlements outside Joburg were destroyed by authorities. The people were forcibly moved into Soweto.

Soweto gained its fame during the 1970s when it played a crucial role in the struggle against apartheid. It is also well known as the home of Nelson Mandela before he went to prison.

One of the best ways to see Soweto is to take a bicycle tour offered from a local hostel. We decided, despite it being a little pricier than we hoped, to do it. We were able to pick a bike (we both chose red cruisers) and, with a local guide, we headed out into the city. Soweto was really like many other cities around the world. There were some areas with clean, comfortable looking bungalows but also areas of abject poverty: people living in shacks with only shared bathroom facilities. In these areas, there was much trash and running sewage that we had to pick our way carefully over.

The people, in all areas, were unbelievably friendly. They all continually waved, calling out to us and welcoming us to Soweto. They seemed very proud of their free city and happy to share it with us. The children were adorable, running up to us hoping to give us a high five as we rode past. Many times the kids shouted for us to “shoot” them. We were a bit taken aback until we realized what they wanted was for us to take a picture of them.

The tour wound through the many areas of town until we reached Vilakazi St. Here we stopped to reflect on the Hector Pieterson Memorial. In 1976, students of Soweto came together to protest the use of Afrikaans in their schools. There was a movement by the apartheid government to make Afrikaans (the language of the white Afrikaaners) the only language used in black schools. Students did not read or write in Afrikaans, so they wished instruction to be in English. During the large protests, police opened fire into the crowd, killing many, including the young Hector Pieterson (only 13 years old). This event led to nationwide demonstrations, mass arrests, and riots which took cost many lives. Our guide also explained that this lead to a famous picture, one of a student heroically carrying poor Hector to safety. He explained that this photo was spread on an international stage, helping to let the rest of the world know what was happening here in South Africa which helped bring new support and pressure on the apartheid government to change. It was a beautiful memorial, and we were able to spend a bit of time reflecting.

Also on Vilakazi St, we visited the old home of Nelson Mandela, which has now become a museum. A little farther down the road is the house of Desmond Tuto, making this street the only one in the world to host two Nobel Peace Prize winners. We did not see much of Desmond Tuto’s house as were told that it is actually still his Joburg residence, though he spends most of his time in Cape Town.

We found it interesting also that Vilakazi St has blossomed into a true tourist locale with large, hip restaurants and bars which look much different than the area surrounding.

At the end of our tour, we were treated to umqombothi (the q sound is actually a click which makes this a very fun word to hear and very difficult one for us to say) which was a traditional beer served in a shebeen during apartheid. It was illegal for black people in Soweto to drink anything except beer in government established places. A shebeen was where people continued to make and serve their own traditional beer. It was very interesting – a milky white color and a sour taste. It was also drunk in a very traditional way, everyone sharing from one cup, or calabash. We sat in a circle and when it was our turn to drink we had to assume the traditional stance, which was kneeling for girls and crouching, one foot slightly in front of the other, for boys.

We very much enjoyed our tour, and learned quite a lot. We would definitely recommend it for anyone getting a chance to visit Joburg.

 

Our Self-Drive Safari Truck

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We wanted to show you all our self-drive safari truck… or our home on the road currently. We picked up our trusty Toyota Hilux in Aug 8 in Joburg. We promptly named her Hennie Hilux for the duration of the trip. She has everything we need to live comfortably for the following 25 days. Here is a series of pictures to show you how we’re living.

Victoria Falls

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When planning our self-drive safari, we knew that a visit to Victoria Falls was a must-do. These gigantic falls are definitely a unique attraction within the world.

The falls are a nice day trip from the town of Kasane in Botswana, where we were staying for three nights. The falls themselves are on the Zambezi River, which forms the boundary between Zimbabwe and Zambia. So, to visit the falls you have to go into one of those countries for the day. All of the tours offered in Kasane go to the Zimbabwe side, which was convenient since that’s where we wanted to go anyway!

We booked our day trip as “unguided,” meaning that the tour company would get us to the park and back from Kasane, but we were on our own inside the park. We priced a few companies in town, then went with one that was cheap and already had a large group going (meaning we were less likely to get lost). After paying though, we began to have regrets for going through a random company we found on the street. What would we do if the driver didn’t show up the next day?

Luckily, our worries were unfounded. Our driver showed up the next day right on time. He took us to the border, where we first had to get a stamp to exit Botswana. Then, he drove us a little down the road to enter Zimbabwe. Both stations were very crowded with tourists trying to do the same thing! The visa for us to enter just for the day was $30 US, which seemed very high!

We were then handed off to our driver from the Zimbabwe side. It is cheaper for the company to have a separate vehicle in Zimbabwe than to pay fees for taking a vehicle through.

At the falls park, one of the first things you will notice in the parking lot is vendors attempting to rent you ponchos. We had our own so we were prepared.

The entry fee to the park was also $30 US per person. This plus the visa fee plus the tour fee made for an expensive day!

There are numbered viewing areas that you go through as you get closer and closer to the main falls. First,  you start off near the Devil’s Cataract. Then as you proceed down the stations, it starts to get mistier and mistier. At some of the final stations, the mist from the falls is so powerful that it feels like rain is falling. We don’t have pictures from these stations because we didn’t want to get our cameras wet! Even with our ponchos, our lower legs got soaking wet. We’d recommend for future visitors to wear sandals!

We also took a little bit of time to walk out on the bridge that connects Zimbabwe and Zambia. At least we didn’t have to pay a fee for this – just a “bridge pass” is enough even though you are technically leaving the country. There was a bungee jump available from the bridge, but we decided to pass :).

It was a quick visit, but one that we won’t soon forget!

Self-Drive Safari, Week Three

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We’re not sure we will have Internet access while on our safari, so we’ve scheduled a few posts like these to automatically go out.

During the third week of our safari, here is where we are planning to be:

Day 15 – July 22

We spend the day exploring Etosha National Park in Namibia, again spending the night in Halali Camp.

Day 16 – July 23

Another full day in Etosha and a night in Halali.

Day 17 – July 24

We leave Etosha and head to Twyfelfontein, spending the night in Abu Huab camp. Hopefully we have some time this day or tomorrow to explore some rock art in the area.

Day 18 – July 25

We drive to the coastal town of Swakopmund, spending the night at Alte Bruck.

Day 19 – July 26

We drive from Swakopmund to the town of Solitaire staying at Solitaire Guest Farm.

Day 20 – July 27

We drive to Sesriem and and explore Sesriem Canyon. We spend the night in the campground here.

Day 21 – July 28

Another day in Sesriem which we will use to explore Soususvlei.