African Swansong - Chapter 6
Tuesday , April 16th
At breakfast we got the message
that Collen would be a bit late to pick us up. The bus had broken a spring the
day before and he was getting it repaired. With the hammering the vehicle gets
on the gravel roads, it’s not surprising. We had been blessed with “good luck”
for most of our vehicle challenges and today was no different. Swakopmund is a good-sized
town and they are used to these kinds of issues in this part of the world. The
repair place had what it takes to get it done.
Collen gave us a briefing before
we took off for the day. Because of the repair delay, our planned shopping trip
for supplies of fruit, water and other basics would have to wait. Today was
going to be a long day for driving. But our desert driving days were more or
less over, apart from the first couple of hours today while we worked our way
inland and north. From here on we would start to meet people in the bush. Today
we would be passing through Damaraland, but we would also encounter some
Hereros and Himbas. If we wanted photos of people in traditional dress, we
needed to be buying something or pay them a tip.
How would you like your coffee with your car wash? |
Herero women in traditional dress |
We had a brief stop at a Herero
market stall. Some of the ladies were dressed in long flowing brightly colored
dresses. We did a bit of souvenir shopping, and it was onward and upward.
The gravel roads could really do a number one one's tyres. |
No jack? No problem. Just drive the inner wheel up onto a pile of stones. |
Then build up a big pile of rocks under the chassis, in case the first pile of rocks falls. |
Our first hint that we were in trouble was when we found that our jack wasn’t working. We would be moving to Plan B. Collen made a pile of two large flat stones about a foot high and tucked them under the inside good tire on the left. He then drove the vehicle up onto the stone pile, thereby lifting the damaged wheel clear of the ground. We now had to build a pile of rocks under the chassis to stop the vehicle dropping down if the first pile of rocks collapsed. This involved the other men in locating and carrying large flat rocks, which Collen then stacked up into a pile under the chassis. A large piece of plank was finally hammered into place to secure the pile for a tight fit.
Then find a strong man to undo the lug nuts. |
Then get the spare wheel off the back of the truck and try not to get killed in the process. |
Loade up for the ride up the hill. |
It turns out that Cher and I for
some reason are always top of the list of our group. We figure it must be
because we come first alphabetically or that we registered first for the trip.
Depending on how each hotel or lodge does their numbering it either means our room is closest or
furthest from the main lodge. Today this meant that we got allocated the chalet
closest to the main building. Our room was literally perched on the edge of a
steep drop overlooking the plain below. The view was to die for. Our bedroom
had a front window looking East. We
would wake up to a sunrise in the morning.
Had a tough day? Have a nice cool drink, with a view to die for and watch the sun go down. |
Tomorrow we arrive at Etosha in
northern Namibia. Etosha has been on my bucket list for decades. Thank you,
Lord, for all of these experiences which you are treating us to.
Wednesday April 17th,
2024
This morning we got to sleep in a bit as our drive today is not long. Departure was set for 9am. This gave us a bit of time to enjoy an early morning cup of tea watching the sunrise from our deck.
L-R Cheryl, Barb, Dianne, Jane - enjoying the 270 degreed view from the dining room. |
Next up was to ferry us and our
luggage all back down the hill. Going down, the hill seemed even steeper than
it was going up. I wouldn’t want a driveway like that in Canada. Coming down
would be like a toboggan ride and one would never get up it in the first place.
Collen gave us an impromptu lesson on the large termite mounds which were very common. |
When we arrived in Outjo, Collen showed us where to do our shopping and also where we could get coffee and a snack. We went about our business and ended up in a gorgeous curio shop where we tried to resist the competing urges of limited space and weight versus the need to take home mementos and gifts. We managed to resist by and large and emerged mainly shopping unscathed. Phew!! It had been a close call.
Next stop was the Taleni Etosha
Village close to the Etosha National Park in northern Namibia where we are
scheduled to be for two nights. After arrival, Collen announced we had about an
hour and a half to settle in, and have a quick swim, before we would be doing
an afternoon game drive before dinner. I am not sure what our expectations had
been, but the animals were definitely not leaping out at us in large numbers.
Having said that our tally by the end was quite impressive. We had had good
sightings of giraffe, zebra, wildebeest, Cape fox, black backed jackal, impala,
springbok, steenbok and finally, and best of all, a very close up rhino and one
very large, but lazy male lion fast asleep in the distance. Not bad for our
first time out.
Entrance to our Lodge near Etosha |
Thursday April 18, 2024
I woke up during the night
sweltering hot, despite our aircon being on. That reminded me that today was
scheduled to be a high temperature of 34 degrees. With my Scottish skin, I have
to be really careful about too much exposure to sun and I realized I wasn’t
really relishing the idea of being trapped in a 4x4 for 8-10 hours with lots of
sun pouring in. I could cover up and be disgustingly hot all day, or I could
wear shorts and short sleeved shirt and hope there would be sufficient shade
under the vehicle canvas top. Or I could just opt out and stay back at the
Lodge.
Bottom line, I decided to take a
day off. I will suffer in our chalet with its aircon or go and find a nice
shady spot by the pool. We will be having a lot of game viewing opportunities
in the next few days, so I will get my animal fix then. Cher, decided she would
stick to the program. I kept the fact that I was taking a day off very quiet as
I didn’t want to discourage any of the rest of the group from participating.
After our 5.30am breakfast I quietly tiptoed back to our room and left Cher to
let Collen know I would not be joining. So far, I haven’t spotted any others
from our group who have had a similar idea, so I’m in the clear. Whew!
Cheryl and the rest of the gang
returned hot and dusty around 3.30pm. They had had a good day and everyone was
delighted with their day’s results. They had found a large group of elephants
by a waterhole and spent an hour watching them. They also spotted hyenas and a
lion, once again posing at a distance. Their guide showed them how to combine
their binoculars and cell phones to take good close-up pictures. They also saw
Black Faced Impalas. These are only found in Etosha and are considered
endangered. So, all in all, the group were feeling it had been a good day.
My day had been much less
productive. I’d cleared a bunch of emails that had been building up, went for a
short walk and had a snooze in the afternoon.
The weather was hot and the pool very inviting. |
At dinner, Collen gave us the
scoop on tomorrow’s drive. We are headed for Rundu, on the Kavango River and
the border with Angola. This is the furthest north we will travel. It will be a
long day, but as promised, it will all be on paved roads. There is much
happiness with that. We are all pretty much done with the shake, rattle and
roll of gravel roads by this stage.
We are entering the last lap of
our Adventure Safari. Not one, to go soft towards the end Collen announced
breakfast would be at 6am. We rushed off to get packed up and get an early
night.
Friday, April 19, 2024
Our alarm went off at 5am. Groan.
Isn’t there an easier way to get to our destinations than all of these early
mornings? Ah well, nothing that an early morning cup of tea won’t fix.
We departed, as scheduled at
seven am. Our Lodge is situated in a private reserve about 1.5 kms from the
main road. At that point there is a security check point. As we approached, the
guard waved us down. “Room #4 has not dropped their keys off at reception”, he
announced. The guilty party shouted back that they had left the keys in the
room. We had to wait while someone was dispatched to check. We got all the
clear and were waved through. I was impressed that the hotel had gone to such
lengths to not lose keys. It’s a common problem for hotels and they were
determined to fix it.
We were back on the road and
although it was going to be to a long drive, it would all be on paved roads,
which was fine by us. We passed through a number of neat and tidy towns with
names like Outjo, Okiwarunga and Otiva. What is it with the O’s? The bush more
and more began to look like the bush I associate with southern Africa. Low
slung, thick bush and more and more larger trees were starting to emerge. Apart
from being fenced alongside the road, we passed kilometer after kilometer of
what seems to be untouched bush. It reminded me of our early days in Northern
Rhodesia, current day Zambia. I’m guessing these large tracts of land were
owned by cattle ranchers or were private game hunting reserves.
The roads in Northern Namibia were good. |
I have found generally that there
is lots of evidence of government money being well spent in Namibia. This has
shown up in the form of well-maintained roads, clean towns, and new schools. I
read a report in the paper yesterday indicating that Namibia is now ranked in
the top ten of Africa’s wealthiest countries. The number of millionaires,
measured in US dollars is projected to go up 85% by 2030. It gladdens my heart
to see what can happen when politicians start doing more of the right stuff and
less of the wrong and the potential for good for the country as a whole. `
We stopped at a mall in
Grootfontein for a washroom and lunch break. In most of the bigger towns we
have visited, many of the shops have been South African chains. Evidence of
Namibia having been under South African control since the end of World War 1 until
its independence in 1990. The vast majority of people at this quite upmarket
shopping center were well dressed and looked reasonably affluent. Generally, we
have found the Namibians we have encountered speak good English, they seem
confident, and they relate to us easily and pleasantly. More encouraging signs.
Soon after our lunch stop we came
to a large official looking gate with a boom stopping us driving through
automatically. Collen explained. We were moving from an area of commercial
farming, with strict controls over cattle health, vaccines, and dipping. This
was called the Green Zone. We were moving into an area, called the Red Zone,
where people lived and did subsistence farming in the traditional way. Meat and
cattle could move from Green to Red but not the other way around. He explained
that we would see evidence of government producing central water facilities,
and with newly built schools being provided to service a number of villages.
Houses in the Red Zone, en route to Rundu were quite primitive. |
We arrived at our Hakusembe
Lodge, on the Kavango River slightly west of Rundu at about 3.30pm. The
thatched chalets were laid out along the river and in amongst beautiful green
lawns and shady trees. With the wide river as our backdrop, we felt we had
landed in a little piece of heaven. On the other side of the river was Angola.
Hakusembe Lodge near Rundu was lovely and green and lush. |
We had time for a quick swim
before we had to report at the beach for our scheduled sunset cruise. Our two
guides were Kennedy and Eric, both of whom knew their stuff. They really knew
their birds which always gladdens Cher’s heart as birding is an area of special
interest for her. Our guides warned us that there are crocodiles in the river
and each year at least one local person, is taken by one of them. Kennedy
steered us to a nearby island and sure enough there was a monster crocodile,
large enough to inhabit my nightmares for many nights to come. Kennedy parked
our boat close enough that I was glad I was on the side opposite of it to the
crocodile.
Our first mokoro sighting. This man crossing the border with not a passport in sight. |
At dinner Collen briefed us on
our upcoming visit to the Okavango Delta. Having seen the mokoros on the river
some folks were wondering if maybe they were going to be taking us a bit too
close to the crocodiles and hippos. In some masterful understatement Collen
said, “Don’t worry. The mokoro men, are all very experienced. They are all
married men and love their wives and children. They like to go home at night
and visit their families. They will keep y0u safe”. We all felt a bit better
for a few minutes until he pointed out that we would be doing a hike through
the bush. He emphasized that we needed to do what our guides instructed without
question, and then rather alarmingly he said, “If your guide disappears
suddenly, you must follow him immediately and ask questions later. Do not
hesitate”.
With that cheerful thought in mind,
we took ourselves off to bed. Visiting the Okavango Delta has been on my bucket
list since long before I even had one. I’m not sure any reality will be able to
compete with my expectations, but I am happy to be pleasantly surprised.
Saturday April 20th,
2024
The roosters over the river beat
our alarm clocks for our wake-up call. The smoke of early morning drifted
through the air and we knew we were back in rural Africa. It made my heart
glad. Sometimes we don’t know how much we have missed something until we get a
reminder of it.
As usual, it was all go to get
luggage loaded and 16 people boarded on the bus. We retraced our steps for a
few kilometers east until we reached Rundu which we had bypassed the previous
day. I was interested to see what downtown Rundu looked like. For a brief
kilometer or so there was a stretch of two lanes of road in each direction, but
maybe I blinked. There didn’t really seem to be a downtown. What I noticed was
lots of small roadside business mixed in with homesteads with names such as,
Velocity Barber, Makutiye Mini Market and JoJo’s Tyre Repair. It seems that
small business is thriving in and around Rundu.
As we headed east from Rundu we
entered the Caprivi Strip. This a 400 miles finger of land which stretches east
of Rundu all the way across to almost the Victoria Falls, where Zambia and
Zimbabwe meet. The Caprivi Strip forms a buffer between Botswana in the south
and Angola and Zambia in the north. I don’t know the history of how the Caprivi
Strip came to be under Namibian control, but you can bet a bunch of gents
sitting in a gentleman’s club somewhere in Britain or Europe, a hundred years ago,
decided it made sense for some reason.
The road through Caprivi was
excellent. It was beautifully paved and manicured on the shoulders. A good
quality road along Namibia’s, ex South West Africa’s, border would have been a
military necessity back in the South African apartheid years when South Africa
was warding off insurgents heading south from Angola and Zambia aiming to bring
“the struggle for freedom” to South West Africa/Namibia and South Africa in the
south.
More free range farming was the
order of the day in Caprivi, so Collen had to keep his eyes peeled for cattle,
goats and donkeys along the way. At one point a couple of oxen towing a
primitive wooden plough, darted onto the road and the bus pretty much had to
stand on its head to avoid a collision. A little boy who couldn’t have been
more than 6 or 7 took charge of the wayward oxen and we tiptoed gently away,
thankful for Collen’s diligent driving.
Upmarket furniture store in the middle of nowhere, it seemed. |
Towards the end of our trip, we were in and out of Namibia a couple of times |
About an hour or so south and we
turned off to our home for the next two nights, the Swamp Stop. I’m guessing it
had originally been named after the Okavango Swamps. However, one would imagine
the name would have given us a clue as to what our new digs would be like.
We arrived to a rather run down
set of buildings, but it was alongside the main channel of the river and was attractively
positioned; It didn’t have the same “together” kind of feel as the other Lodges
we had stayed in all along the way so far. We noticed that there was another
Kiboko group staying there as well. Kiboko is the tour company we are
travelling with. It would be nice to meet up with fellow travelers. All was
fine and dandy until we discovered that we would not be staying in the Lodge
with the other Kiboko group. There was no room left at the inn and we had been
relegated to tented sites off in the distance. Oh well. We’ve glamped before.
We would manage.
Our tented room at Swamp Stop. |
It turned out that more of our
group were seriously unhappy about our digs and the complaints began to proliferate.
Cheryl had the WhatsApp number for the guy in Cape Town who runs Kiboko. Pretty
soon, our friendly Kiboko man was inundated with indignant messages along the
lines of “Where was the air conditioning and ensuite Lodge accommodation we had
been promised and paid for?”, and so on. It turns out that us intrepid
adventure safari types didn’t extend the concept as far as our rooming
facilities. Eventually the message came back that we would be moving into the other
Kiboko group’s accommodation the next day.
Cedric, demonstrating how locals use the papyrus in the Delta as a sugar cane substitute. |
We had been warned that hippos
might come and graze close to our tents overnight and under no circumstances
should we approach them. There was no chance of that. I was too busy doing
regular snake updates.
Sunday April 21st,
2024
Breakfast was peppered with
sharing war stories of our overnight tent adventures. Rosita had had a small
snake in her shower, noises in the night and other such glimpses into life
close to nature in Africa. I had survived the night without being attacked by
squadrons of snakes, intent on my swift demise. Cher noticed that there were
some nice-looking muffins on the other Kiboko table. Ours never arrived. When
Cher inquired, she was told, “No the muffins are not for your group”. Ouch.
That hurt.
Cedric was pumped and ready for
action. We had to be vigilant for what nature would show us today. We were soon
all loaded up on the flat-bottomed boat and we set out for the waterways.
Cedric hit the gas pedal and we careened down the waterway at breakneck speed, with
Cedric exultantly crying, “Cool bananas”.
A "meditation" of mokoros, making their way peacefully through the waterways. |
After due instruction on how to
get in and out without capsizing the boat, we were off with two up per mokoro.
It was a lovely experience. We weren’t expecting to see animals as the waterway
is still too full of water, but it was just a very peaceful experience. We
chatted with our poler, Len. He told us that his grandfather taught him how to
fish in these waters and in those days, poling a mokoro was the only way to get
around this part of the world. Len went to the new local primary school in his
youth and got through most of his high schooling, where he learnt English. This
allows him to earn a living in the tourist trade. He is very content with his
life.
Len on the left and Cedric, demonstrating how God gave permission to hippos to live in water. |
At the end of our mokoro rides we
had a picnic lunch and an opportunity to go “bushy, bushy” as Cedric so exquisitely
described the use of an “African toilet”.
Len, our mokoro poler made Cheryl a water lily necklace. |
We did a high-speed run back to
base camp to Cedric’s exultant cry of “Supa dupa”. On our return we moved our
bags over to our new digs, which were suitably air conditioned and sealed off
from monkeys, snakes and other creepy crawlies. We were no longer glumping
underdogs and life was good. There was time for a quick swim. There was one
more treat in store.
Four other couples on our group
had booked to do a helicopter ride of the delta. Because there were so many,
the price had halved. I have never done a helicopter ride so decided to carpe
the diem and just do it. Cher didn’t fancy it. I went up with one couple and we
enjoyed spectacular views of a vast landscape of green grasslands and blue
waterways, along with some elephants and hippos. It was a wonderful way to see
from the air what we had seen from the water earlier in the day.
The Delta from the air. An endless myriad of waterways, grasslands and wildlife. |
Our stay in the Okavango Delta
had not matched my expectations as regards seeing large amounts of animals. However,
I was enchanted by the beauty of the wetlands and Cedric had done a wonderful
job of showing us this unique part of the world. Tomorrow we will be in Chobe
Game Reserve in Botswana. I have visited Chobe once before and we saw lots of
animals at that time. I am sure we will get our fix of animals when we get
there.
Monday, April 22nd,
2024
Today was a travel day with about
six hours of driving and when we added stops, we did well to do it in eight
hours or so.
We headed north up the main road
and retraced our steps back to the Shakawe/Mohembo border post from Botswana
into Namibia again. We were back into the Caprivi Strip heading east. Once again,
we noticed an improvement in the quality of housing and roads in Namibia. The
Botswana side was much more rural so had a less developed look and feel.
We were heading directly east,
once again. The road was once again wide with a grassed shoulder to ease
pedestrian traffic. Cattle, goats and donkeys were a consistent reminder that
we are in Africa and Collen did a good job of navigating us around these mobile
targets.
We stopped at a small roadside gas
station stop called Kongola for a washroom break. We discovered the more remote
we got the costlier it gets to follow the call of nature. In southern Namibia
the price was $2 Nmbs, then it went up to $3 Nmbs and today in Kongola it is $5
Nmbs. I guess the law of supply and demand works just as well out in the
boonies as it does in the larger centers.
Katima Mulilo - a bustling town. |
After lunch we headed south to
return to Botswana and into the Chobe Game Reserve. On crossing no man’s land
on the Chobe River plain between Namibia and Botswana, Collen pointed out that cattle
and Zebra were grazing together. He mentioned that on the Botswana side we are
required to soak the soles of our shoes in a solution to reduce the risk of
bringing in foot and mouth disease. He noted that Zebra carry foot and mouth.
They were freely mixing with the cattle in no man’s land and there is no
control on the Zebra which cross the border at will and are presumably bringing
it to the cattle they are mixing with. His point was that the ritual of soaking
our shoes was a bit of a farce.
Rob soaking his shoes soles to eliminate foot and mouth disease |
The Chobe Safari Lodge was
probably the most impressive accommodation we have seen to date. It was very
welcome after our disappointing experience at the Swamp Stop the day before.
The reception area was a giant high thatched roof hall. We were greeted with a
cold ginger beer and then given an orientation speech by the host for the day,
before being swept off to our rooms in grand style. I went to go and fetch our
luggage from the bus. A Botswanan staff member chastised me gently. “Now Sir,
you are on holiday. While you are here you have no worries. We will bring your
luggage to your room”. I was liking this
place more by the minute.
We all gathered for a pre-dinner
drink outside, enjoying the balmy temperatures under the starlight. A large ladies’
group was having dinner under the stars, not far from us. A group of female
African staff came swaying by us in pseudo-African outfits, singing and dancing
in front of the ladies group. It was magical to hear the unique sound of
African singing. Wonderful.
Crocodile tail on a platter. |
Crocodile tail was on the menu, and I thought, what the heck, we only live once let’s try it. Stefano joined me. It arrived looking a bit like browned bits of chicken. The meat was white and a bit dry, a bit like chicken breast, but otherwise it reminded me a bit of fish. Been there done that. Check.
Tomorrow is an early morning game
drive. We depart at 6am. Chobe is our last chance to find some of the animals
we have not yet seen. Our level of anticipation is high. I slept like a log.
Perhaps this is a side benefit of a crocodile tail diet.
Tuesday April 23rd,
2024
This morning, we were doing a
game drive in Chobe National Park. Our departure time was 6am. There was no
time for a shower or breakfast. We’ll have that when we get back at 9am. So, it
was rising bell, a quick cup of tea and we were off.
There was a crowd of 30-40 folks
waiting in the hotel foyer. The place was buzzing with activity. Game viewing
landcruisers were zipping up to the hotel entrance and people were loading up
at a fast clip. It was all very slickly organized. Our Kiboko group needed two
vehicles. We drove about 10 minutes to the entrance gate to Chobe. There were
at least 16 land cruisers there, registering their passengers. Our anticipated,
serene, early morning game viewing drive was starting to look like a busy day
in Piccadilly Circus.
Our guide was a young man, who
introduced himself as Same. He was very well spoken and gave us the run down
about Chobe National Park and set our expectations about what was reasonable to
expect to see. Chobe, at 11500 sq kilometers, is Botswana’s second largest game
park. It is huge. We would only see a small sliver of it. Chobe hosts 80,000
elephants, the largest concentration anywhere.
Our early morning drive along the Chobe River |
We then headed toward the picnic
site where we would have a coffee. When we got there, it looked like a
Landcruiser convention was underway the place was so crowded. Same notified
everyone that a lion was probably on the way. The toilets needed to be cleared,
and folks needed to be back on their vehicles. Some folks then spotted a couple
of lionesses off in the distance, with two cubs. It was deemed distant enough
to be safe and we could continue with our coffees. We swapped notes excitedly
with our other Kiboko group as to who had seen what and where.
Landcruiser convention and coffee in Chobe. |
Our afternoon activity was a game
viewing boat ride on the Chobe River. We loaded onto a large boat which
probably seated 40 people and our host introduced himself as Senior and his two
assistants. Captain Morgan and Freddy the barman. Senior was extremely
knowledgeable. He kept up a constant patter of useful information for the
duration of our three-hour cruise.
There was a great deal of
activity on the southern bank of the river, but there was a large island in the
middle of the river called Sedudu Island which was an idyllic scene with a
variety of animals including hippo, Cape buffalo, elephants and a variety of
buck. They were grazing peacefully, free of predators who didn’t fancy doing
the swim across to the island.
The northern shore of the Chobe River is Namibia. Senior explained that Botswana and Namibia had both laid claim to Sedudu Island. Namibia wanted it to be used for agriculture and Botswana wanted to keep it for the animals. The dispute ended up in the World Court, where it was decided that the dividing line would be the deepest channel, which proved to be on the northern side of the island, so Botswana was awarded the claim and the animals got to keep this rather unique set up where the animals could find safety from predators in almost idyllic conditions.
Up close and personal with elephants on the Chobe River |
Our dinner that night was at the
outdoor Sedudu Restaurant, which included some very vibrant African singers and
dancers. Those guys really have rhythm. After the meal Collen gave us our
regular evening briefing. He announced that Kiboko management had felt bad
about the fiasco related to our accommodation at the Swamp Stop. To show that
they were sorry, they were going to buy us lunch in Victoria Falls tomorrow.
This was greeted with much enthusiasm, as the mess up, minus an apology, had
really left a bad taste in our mouths. We felt better now.
Chobe Safari Lodge - a very comfortable stop off for us along the way. |
Wednesday April 24th,
2024
Collen had done this route many
times before and he had let us know that the entry into Zimbabwe via their customs
post would likely be the slowest of all. The Zimbabweans are still doing their immigration
process manually, which slows everything down as every visa has to be handwritten.
For that reason, we needed to get to the border early enough to beat the rush.
For some of our group who were doing excursions in Vic Falls we also needed to
allow sufficient time for these. So, our departure was set for 7.45am.
A gang of baboons attempting a break in. |
We had asked Collen if it is safe
to walk around Victoria Falls at night. His immediate answer was, “No”. We had
been thinking of possible threats from human beings. Collen explained that the
town itself was included in the National Park and that animals, including
elephants and lions occasionally enter the town to check things out. He noted
that there is an agreement between five countries Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe,
Botswana and Angola not to fence their mutually shared game park borders. This
allows the animals to enjoy their traditional migration routes and to travel to
find food and water, as conditions dictate. It is so good that these countries
are recognizing the necessity and value of preserving the wildlife that their
countries are blessed with.
I had last visited Vic Falls in
2014 with my two brothers, Neville and Alan, and brother-in-law, Roy. At that
time the town was a happening place. On arrival in Vic Falls in 2024 it seems
to me that the town has mushroomed since then. Collen drove us past what is the
largest outdoor curio market I have ever seen. Shops, banks and a host of
adventure activities proliferated in every direction.
Market place near the Victoria Falls. |
We wrestled our way free of the
market and made our way to the official entrance to the Victoria Falls scenic
walk. Collen had previously announced that entrance to the Falls was $15 (US)
per visit. We were shocked to find that we had misheard him, and the price was
actually $50. Ouch that really hurt. We remember the days when it was
completely free. I suppose the reasoning goes that Zimbabwe is a poor country
and tourists have spent thousands of dollars to get here. What is another $50
each to see one of the wonders of the world? The reasoning is valid, but we all
felt a bit bruised by that price. Even Venice, which is overwhelmed with 30
million annual visitors is struggling with introducing a mere 5 euro entrance
fee.
David Livinstone statue by the Falls. |
Collen took us to the Lookout
CafĂ© for Kiboko’s apology lunch. It is new since I was here last. It is perched
over a cliff overlooking the Zambezi Gorge below the Falls and the bridge. Some
of our group were doing helicopter rides, guided bike rides and river cruises
so we couldn’t dawdle too long over lunch.
Rob and Cher with Collen. |
For the final dinner of our tour, Collen took us to the a’ Zambezi River Lodge, which was about 5 kilometres out of town, overlooking the Zambezi River. We were entertained by an excellent group of acapella men singers dressed up in Ndebele style outfits. Collen is an Ndebele man, and at one point they had him up dancing with them. It was a lot of fun. The singers ended with a haunting version of Nkosi Sikelele. It is the national anthem of Zambia and South Africa and is a prayer for Africa. It always stirs my heart. Jane, our lone UK member made an excellent speech thankig Collen for the wonderful job he has done for all of us and then it was time to head back to bed.
Victoria Falls from the air. A sight to behold. |
Tomorrow most of our group depart for the airport leaving a few stragglers like us behind. We had wanted to make sure we got the most out of being in Vic Falls and have planned to cross the border into Zambia on one of our days. We will be using our time to relax around the pool, catch up with emails and check out Vic Falls in a bit more depth.
Thursday April, 25th,
2024
In the morning, we said our fond
farewells as most folks left for the airport. Some of the stragglers took off
to explore the town.
Rob outside the community help project market |
Patience had asked us if we would
be willing to be interviewed on video about the service at the hotel. We had
agreed and we did that in the morning for a few minutes before we headed out to
check out the town. The hotel shuttle was at the airport, so we walked the one
kilometre into town. We have been nursing our remaining few US dollars for when
we might really need them, so we had no intention of shopping. Not only were
our dollars scarce, but our luggage was already stretched to the max. We were
just going to browse.
Helicopter flights over the Falls were being peddled everywhere we went. |
Cher taking a breather from the madding crowd before launching her shopping spree. |
We got back to the hotel and had
a bit of a siesta in our nice air-conditioned room and a swim and a clean up
before dinner. We played cards in the lovely hotel lounge before heading for an
earlyish night. Tomorrow we will stay home and get ourselves geared up for our
return home. Emails to clear, To Do lists to prepare and generally have a slow
day.
Friday, April 26th,
2024
Laptop, calendars and lists |
Just as we were getting going Marilese
arrived to pick up the two sewing machines we had brought up in our bus with us
from Cape Town. She was the contact we had been given to hand over two sewing
machines to. It’s a long story but in brief; Sharon in our church small group
in Port Perry was in the Vic Falls area volunteering with a charity
here and heard of a need for sewing machines. She knew we were going to be in
Cape Town and managed to find two there which were donated. She asked us if we
could bring them to Vic Falls in our bus. It seems we may have unwittingly
escaped some fairly harsh Zimbabwean import duties. They were in the back of
the bus and we never gave them another thought until we cleared the bus out. We’ll
be amazed if they survived all that jostling and jolting on some of the gravel roads
but were glad to have been able to help.
It wasn’t pleasant having to
think about getting back to reality, but in fact by the end of the day we were
glad we had taken the tim. We now have
our lists in place, our calendar mapped out and we are ready to roll when we
get home.
We ended our day with a swim. It has been so good to have this pool here to dip and refresh in. We bumped into Jane, our sole remaining Kiboko group member at the pool and arranged to meet after dinner to play some cards. At dinner we bumped into two Australian ladies we had met the previous night. They are on the Kiboko tour which is retracing our steps back to Cape Town. They joined us for cards and now we are all best friends. They are leaving tomorrow.
Another use for a plastic coke bottle - to protect one's shins from exposed rhebar |
Saturday April 27, 2024
Today will be the last day of our
7 week African Adventure. We had one last highlight to end on a high with. We had
planned to cross the bridge over the Zambezi River and into Zambia. We had discovered
that by chance, Kerry Paterson, Cheryl’s niece, who lives in Lusaka with her
husband Russel, were planning to be in Livingstone, Zambia on Saturday, as they
were starting a camping trip nearby.
Welcome back to Zambia, where country of her birth. |
We felt the views from the Zambian side were closer and had a better perspective |
On the way, we had bumped into a young
woman, called Felicia from Sweden, who is working for the diplomatic corp in
Liberia, in West Africa. She was taking a week’s holiday to explore Zambia a
bit. We took photos for each other, which is how we met.
L-R. Cheryl, Kerry, Russel. An unexpected reunion in a gorgeous spot at the Royal Livingstone Hotel |
Entrance to the Mosi Oa Tunya (The Smoke that Thunders), World Hertiage Site. |
While we were chatting, Felicia,
our Swedish diplomat turned up. She was all alone, so we invited her to join us
which she did and helped us finish the pizza which we had not managed to eat.
Kerry and Russel had to leave, and we stayed on and chatted with Felicia before
we had to depart in time to do the walk back to the border and back to our hotel
shuttle which arrived at 4.15pm to pick us up, as arranged.
It had been a wonderful way to
wrap up our African Swansong. We have so enjoyed our 7-week African adventure.
We have visited places which have played significant roles in our lives when this
was our home. We have connected with friends and said our goodbyes, just in
case we never pass by this way again. We have confirmed that Africa is embedded
in our DNA and it feels almost
impossible that we may never be back here again.
Rob and Cher - saying farewell to Zambia, the country we met and courted in. So much to be thankful for in the years we have known eacch other |
We are grateful to the Lord that he has blessed us so richly with our early lives in Southern Africa and regular connection since then. We will have to wait and see if this truly is our final farewell or not. The end – for now.