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.
We followed the Atlantic
coastline north for about 100km at which point we were to be turning inland to
the northeast. At the junction, turning inland, we stopped at Henties Bay for a
refreshment stop. We made our way into the town, which was a reasonable size
and pulled in at the Jakkalsputz Coffee Shop and Car Wash. Both sides of the
business were doing well. People stopped in for a coffee and snack, while they
got their car washed by a team of guys. The 4x4s coming off the beach from
fishing trips just kept rolling in. If one wanted the full package, one drove one’s
vehicle up onto a ramp and then two men gave every part of the vehicle a
thorough spray down, including the underneath. It then went over to the
detailing department, where a team of four to six men shone, polished and
vacuumed. The full package cost 200 Namibian Dollars, about $15 (Cdn). On our
way out of town, I spotted the Stubbe Pub, Grill and Car Wash. Clearly the
combo car wash with food and coffee is a business model that works in this part
of the world. Viva free enterprise.
We turned inland and our
expectations of “no more desert” were dashed. Soon the paved road stopped, and
we were back onto unforgiving gravel on a sea of sand and shrub for a couple of
hours. Eventually, the landscape became a bit hillier, and the bush thickened
up a bit. We started to pass very remote clusters of primitive huts, made of
straw and mud. Kids and topless women would rush out of their huts to wave and
try and persuade us to stop. They had goods to sell, but Collen was not
stopping. Places to go and other things to see and do. We were back in the land
of the living. It was quite a relief after all that scrub and desert to see
signs of people and thicker foliage.
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.
Around 2pm we stopped to assist a
4x4 group which had stripped one of their tires. These gravel roads are brutal.
One must have to budget for regular tire replacements in this part of the
world. The 4x4 team was coping so we left them to it. However, the gods of the
road were still angry and about 20 minutes later we heard an ominous “Pfffft!”
emanating from the back of our bus. Collen did a slow pull off the road and we
all had to get out of the vehicle. A tire change was going to be needed and all
bodies must be off the bus.
Fortunately, it was the outer
tire on the left side which had gone, so we could do our work out of the way of
traffic. The tire wasn’t stripped, just flat. Changing this baby was going to
be a mission. Collen advised the ladies to go and find a shady tree – a mission
in itself. This was going to be men’s work.
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.
With
safety out of the way, the offending wheel now had to come off. They were fastened
on very tight. The regular socket with a three-foot extension for leverage
never touched sides. Collen pulled out his Big Bertha tool, which was very
clever. It must have had a highly leveraged gear system inside. It needed some
heavy duty turning, but the tool somehow managed to release the nuts. This is
where Stefano and his surplus energy came into play. Even he looked a tad tired
by the end of the sixteenth nut. While this was going on, another team of guys
was removing the spare from the back of the bus. This was a mission. To release
it, we had to lever it off it’s supporting frame and let it just run until it
stopped. It was too heavy to try and lift it off and stop it running once it
hit the ground. We then had to re-attach the damaged tire to the bus. It took
four men, working hard to lift it.
The bottom line was that this
whole exercise took the effort of the whole team to get it done and it took at
least an hour I’m guessing. The ladies had found some distant bushes to relieve
the drought on, so all was well on that end. We re-embarked grateful that we
had managed to find a way to get out what could have been a much more serious
situation. Collen assured us he has had do this many times. He is a man of many
talents. This had just given us opportunity to see yet one more of them in
action, up close and personal.
We arrived, hot and tired, at our
destination for the night, late because of the various vehicle ailments, so a much-needed
swim was not possible. The Hotel was the Ugab Terrace Lodge. It was perched at
the top of a high kopje (rocky hill). The bus could not get up that hill, so we
and our luggage were ferried to the top of the hill in 4x4s. It was a very
steep hill. When we got there the outlook was hard to describe. The hotel was
perched on high with a 360 view of the bushy plain below, surrounded in the
distance by hills and cliffs. It was breathtaking.
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.
.jpg) |
Had a tough day? Have a nice cool drink, with
a view to die for and watch the sun go down. |
We had time before dinner to sit
on the deck and enjoy a cold drink before being served a tasty buffet dinner,
offering 3-4 types of game meat.
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.
.jpg) |
L-R Cheryl, Barb, Dianne, Jane - enjoying the
270 degreed view from the dining room. |
After breakfast we were able to
explore our surroundings a bit. Where does one build a pool on top of a kopje
when all the available building area is filled with main buildings and chalets?
Cascading down the hill of course. We discovered that the pool consisted of
three pools, built into the rocks,
descending into each other down the hillside.
It was quite unusual.
….guy looked at
the land for sale in 2007. We met the manager over breakfast.
He was the son of the owner. His father had
seen the land for sale in 2007, noted the view,
and had vision to build the resort. Every
brick to build the place had been ferried the the top of the kopje in a Toyota bakkie,
which worked nonstop.
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.
.jpg) |
Collen gave us an impromptu lesson on the
large termite mounds which were very common. |
Collen had announced the day
before we “are now finished with gravel roads”. Apart from game reserves,
it seems he may be right. It was quite pleasant driving today as we made our
way into Outjo. We needed to stock up on drinking water, fruit and snacks and
Collen needed to get the punctured tire repaired.
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.
.jpg) |
| Entrance to our Lodge near Etosha |
Tomorrow we are scheduled for an all-day
game drive in 4x4s taken out by a park ranger. Presumably they know where the
best hangout spots are, so it should be a good day. Breakfast would be at
5.30am for a 6.30am departure. We set our alarms for 4.30am to allow for our
necessary early morning cup of tea and shower.
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.
.jpg) |
| The weather was hot and the pool very inviting. |
For some reason, our Lodge has
two swimming pools. We went to go and cool off and were soon joined by most of
the rest of our group. We all lolled around soaking off the day’s dust and
shooting the breeze. The conversation was pleasant and relaxed. We have been
together now for two weeks and relationships are fairly easy going by this
stage.
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.
.jpg) |
| The roads in Northern Namibia were good. |
As we progressed, we started to
notice some mining activity and some very attractive looking farms. I guess
with the extra rainfall in the area and the improving lushness of the bush,
this area makes for good farming. The quality of the road was good and there
was lots of evidence of maintenance going on constantly. The verge of the road
was very wide, probably about 25 yards on either side. It is kept clear of shrubs
and bush. Every 100 yards or so, a large shady tree was growing and only grass was
being allowed to grow freely. We saw work crews clearing any bushes that were
springing up. It all made for a very attractive, almost park like look.
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.
.jpg) |
Houses in the Red Zone, en route to Rundu
were quite primitive. |
The difference was immediate.
Villages and small settlements followed the road almost uninterrupted until we
reached Rundu about 150 kilometres further down the road. Some of the housing
was very primitive with huts being built out of sticks only, sometimes with
sticks and mud and quite a lot of folks were starting to build with corrugated
iron, which must be unbearably hot in the summer months. Villages were broken
into homesteads of maybe half an acre each. They consist of three to five huts
each. Collen explained that there would be a main house for Mom and Dad. Granny
would occupy a hut and if there were boy and girl children, each gender would
each occupy their own hut. Animals would be brought into the yard at night. We
were constantly needing to slow down to avoid cattle and goats which were
roaming freely on either side of the road. Collen explained that there is
insufficient land to provide adequate grazing for all of the livestock. This is
why they are allowed onto the road verge to add to their grazing space. The
verge on either side of the road had a downtrodden wide path to allow for easy,
safe pedestrian movement between homesteads, villages and schools.
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.
.jpg) |
Hakusembe Lodge near Rundu was lovely
and green and lush. |
We were welcomed by the hotel
staff with a glass of cool iced tea and given a quick briefing. Our host noted
that we needed to be careful with the time if we were using our electronic
devices. Angola is an hour behind the time in Namibia. Often folk’s devices
pick up the signal from Angola and their devices get confused. I use a manual
watch, so I felt quite smug and secure that sometimes the old is better than
the new.
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.
.jpg) |
Our first mokoro sighting. This man crossing
the border with not a passport in sight. |
We cruised up and down the wide
river with our guides pointing out various items of interest along the way. At
some point the cold drinks, champagne and snacks came out and we lived the
lives of the rich and famous. Very close to the Lodge we noticed a man on a
mokoro, which is a dugout canoe, poling himself from the village on the Angolan
side to the Namibian side. Kennedy assured us that this was very common and
neither government had any problem with this informal arrangement for shopping,
visiting family and friends and so on. Our cruise ended with a truly
magnificent sunset over a perfectly placid river. As we approached the hotel at
the end of our cruise, we heard some singing. The staff from the hotel were
giving us a welcome African style. Some of the ladies were dressed up in
traditional style and they took turns dancing. Kathy and Rosita went and joined
in with dancing. It was a lot of fun.
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.
.jpg) |
Upmarket furniture store in the middle of
nowhere, it seemed. |
By late morning we arrived at the
point where we were to turn south to head towards Botswana and the Okavango
Delta, at a settlement called Divundu. Up to that point all of the housing
visible to us was pretty primitive, consisting of mud huts and the occasional
corrugated iron houses. At Divundu we happened upon a brand new shopping center
rising like a phoenix from the ashes. It seemed completely incongruous.
Immediately alongside the shopping center were mud huts. We went in to get
snacked up and for the mandatory washroom break. One of the largest shops was a
very upmarket furniture store which was selling beautiful furniture, including
large double beds and even a small pool table. It was hard to imagine how any
of this was going to find room in the type of housing we had been observing
along the way. I asked Collen and he chuckled. His reply was, “they make it
fit” It seems like rural Namibia is fast making friends with development and
consumerism.
.jpg) |
Towards the end of our trip, we were in and out
of Namibia a couple of times |
The Namibla Botswana Border was not
too far. We crossed at the Mohembo/Shakawe border post. There were no problems,
and we were soon on our way. We were back into rural Africa in spades. The road
was paved, but it had a wiggly feel to it and the shoulders had not been well
maintained resulting in the road breaking up a bit. We had the Okavango river
on our left, so we knew we were heading in the right direction.
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.
.jpg) |
| Our tented room at Swamp Stop. |
When we got our tent, we realized
that this wasn’t going to be much of a glamping experience and that we felt we had
been well and truly glumped. The tents were hot, dark, the bed small and, our
sink was a rusty old, galvanized tub. The clincher for me was the toilet and
shower were open to the elements. I don’t mind showering in the outdoors along
with the best of all the other rugged outdoor enthusiasts. However, my snake
phobia would mean that any trip to the washroom during the night would be an
eye popping event as after having put on pair of shoes,
I would scour every nook and cranny with my
flashlight
before tiptoeing in to do my
business. Not conducive to a good night’s sleep.
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.
.jpg) |
Cedric, demonstrating how locals use the
papyrus in the Delta as a sugar cane substitute. |
Our appointed host for our time
at Swamp Stop was Cedric. He is a local Botswanan farmer who gets called in to
help when needed. He was a very cheerful upbeat guy. He announced that we would
be having a complimentary sunset boat ride along the river. Cedric did a great
job of introducing us to the Okavango Delta and some of the local bird life. He
is quite a character. He knows his birds well, but sometimes one gets the
impression some of his authoritative identifications are a bit suspect. Cedric,
likes to keep the crowd motivated and every now and then would come up with one
of his favorite sayings such as, “Cool bananas, supa dupa,
and we’ll be home in 15 minutes and 35
seconds”. We enjoyed a lovely sunset and returned to base for a nice dinner. We
were a bit peeved to note that the other Kiboko group had a nice fire to sit around,
and they all seemed just a tad too happy for our liking. Was it just us, or
were the “Lodge” guests being treated better than us glumpers?? Hey our dollars
are the same color as theirs you know.
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”.
.jpg) |
A "meditation" of mokoros, making their way
peacefully through the waterways. |
Cedric was a man on a mission. It
was early morning so the crocodiles would still be active. He had eagle eyes
and we spotted a few, in amongst some really nice bird sightings. Our first
stop was on an island in the middle of the wetland where our mokoro polers were
waiting for us. Traditional mokoros are hollowed out logs. Each one requires
the felling of one of three types of tree, and their lifespan is about five
years. Each tree probably takes fifty years to grow. The Botswanan government
has now banned this practice and a modern day mokoro looks like a hollowed out log
but is made of fiber glass. They are easier to handle and enjoy a much longer
lifespan.
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.
.jpg) |
Len on the left and Cedric, demonstrating how
God gave permission to hippos to live in water. |
Halfway through our mokoro ride
we stopped off on an island for a nature walk. Cedric did a good job of giving
us an entertaining and informative walk. At one point Len, our poler, picked up
some hippo poop and pointed out that it revealed only a vegetarian diet. He and
Cedric then acted out a local African story about Hippos and the Creator. The
hippos had very sensitive skin and desperately needed to get out of the sun.
They approached the Creator and asked if they could please live in water and in
return they would promise never to eat meat – only vegetation. The Creator
asked them to produce evidence of their vegetarian diet. They produced a pile
of their poop and the Creator was convinced. From then on, they were allowed 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”.
.jpg) |
Len, our mokoro poler made Cheryl
a water lily necklace. |
Cedric still had some magic up
his sleeve. Len had told us that Cedric knew of a secret place to find hippos
and elephants. He took us on high speed search to see what nature provided,
with his help of course. In due course we found a pod of five hippos who agreed
to stay where they were, if we agreed to stay where we were. Our final quest
was elephants. Cedric spotted elephant dung in the water, and we knew they had
to be somewhere close. Hats off to Cedric. He had the eyes of an eagle and we
eventually found six elephants across quite a wide area, some of them very
close to the channel we were in.
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.
.jpg) |
The Delta from the air. An endless myriad
of waterways, grasslands and wildlife. |
Our day ended with Collen
briefing us on the four forms each we would need tomorrow to exit Botswana and
re-enter Namibia and then reverse the process later in the day as we dropped back
down into Botswana and our destination of Chobe Game Reserve. Collen carries a
supply of fruit for us to munch on as we travel. However, Botswana doesn’t
allow fruit to come in from Namibia. He said the Botswana customs would inquire
if we had any fruit. Collen demonstrated how we should offer a deadpan face and
just say, “No”. His depiction of how to do it was hilarious.
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.
.jpg) |
| Katima Mulilo - a bustling town. |
For lunch we were heading for a
town called Katima Mulilo which is on the Namibian, southern side of the
Zambezi River. On the northern bank of the river is Zambia, which is where Cher
and I shared our growing up roots. It felt good to be so close to “home”.
Katima Mulilo is a bustling town. It is the capital city of the Zambezi Region
in Namibia. We stopped at a big shopping center with the ubiquitous Pick ‘n Pay
which let us know we were in the right place. We found a cute little upstairs
restaurant where we had a rushed toasted sandwich. Stefano ordered a beer. When
it arrived, it was a full pint. We teased him that he was going to need to be
going “bushy bushy” along the way. It is an unspoken rule, not to ask Collen to
stop the bus to answer nature’s call. Stefano looked worried. Rosita rescued
him by helping him slug it back.
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.
.jpg) |
Rob soaking his shoes soles to
eliminate foot and mouth disease |
On entry into in Botswana, we noticed
our first Baobab trees. The Aussies noted that they think they have the
identical tree in Australia which is called a Baob tree. That was news to me,
as I had always thought that these trees were unique to Africa. As we left the
border we entered a transit route through the Chobe game park. On the transit
route we were forbidden by law from stopping to check out animals. Collen told
us infractions put him at risk of large fines and that the police enforce them
strictly. We were sorely tempted when within minutes we saw elephant and then
giraffe who posed beautifully for us. For Collen’s sake we didn’t ask him to
stop. Tomorrow there would be more where they came from. The transit route took
us into Chobe and out again to our destination of Kasane where our Chobe Safari
Lodge was located.
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.
.jpg) |
| 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.
.jpg) |
| Our early morning drive along the Chobe River |
It became clear quite quickly
that most of the action at this time of day would be along the Chobe River. We
made our way down there and were taking it all in. We were quite relaxed and were
identifying birds and saw some hippo in the distance. It was very peaceful.
Same was in touch with the other guides by cell phone. He suddenly accelerated
and the race was on. There had been a lion sighting. We needed to get there
fast. We made our way over there at top speed. When we arrived, there were six
or seven vehicles surrounding a bushy clump, with more arriving by the minute.
There were two lionesses finishing off a meal of a small buck. The guides in
the various vehicles were very good about sharing the viewing and we slowly
moved into a spot where we could see clearly. One of the lionesses walked past
us and headed off toward the river. Same, backed up and headed for the spot where
he figured she would cross the road. Sure enough, she walked past our vehicle,
close enough for us to almost scratch her back. It was a magnificent sighting.
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.
.jpg) |
| Landcruiser convention and coffee in Chobe. |
After our coffee break it was
time to gently make our way back to the main gate. On the way we spotted a
train of about 5-6 elephants heading towards the river. Same found a road which
would intersect where he estimated they would pass and plonked our vehicle slap
bang in the middle of their path. Sure enough, the elephants were following a
path and they walked by us, once again almost within touching distance. We
returned to our hotel, having had a great 3 hours of sightings and ready for a slap-up
breakfast, to be followed by a few hours off before our next activity began.
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.
.jpg) |
Up close and personal with elephants
on the Chobe River |
We spent a few hours watching
elephants grazing on the island and the odd crocodile basking in the sun. The
elephants would lift a clump of soggy, muddy grass and then dip it in the water
and swish it back and forth to wash off the mud. It was very entertaining to
watch. It was a lovely experience to be so close to so much of God’s creation
so perfectly preserved.
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.
.jpg) |
Chobe Safari Lodge - a very comfortable
stop off for us along the way. |
Our stay at Chobe Safari Lodge
was a highlight for us. Our rooms were very comfortable, and our Botswanan
hosts had done everything they could to make our stay as pleasant as possible.
Tomorrow would be the last leg of our three-week journey. It would be a quick 2
hours or so over to Victoria Falls which should be the pinnacle of all the
adventures we had experienced.
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.
.jpg) |
| A gang of baboons attempting a break in. |
Once we were through the border
crossing, we entered the Zambezi National Park, which continues 40 to 50 kms all
the way to Victoria Falls. The first animals to welcome us were a group of
warthogs rummaging around the border area buildings to see what they could
find. Next up was a gang of baboons who were busy swarming a truck to see if
they could find a way in. We saw some elephants along the way, which was a
bonus.
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.
.jpg) |
| Market place near the Victoria Falls. |
Our first stop was to see the
falls. The parking lot at the entrance was a riot of activity. A very colorful,
vibrant market has sprung up. An African music group was busking for dollars,
and we were immediately swarmed with offers of good deals. At one point in
Zimbabwe’s history about 20 years ago, the country had had the highest
inflation rate in the world. The central bank had eventually issued billion-dollar
bank notes. They were virtually worthless.
We were offered souvenir sets of these repeatedly.
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.
.jpg) |
| David Livinstone statue by the Falls. |
Having said that, the folks in
our group really enjoyed the scenic walk. We took a back path to the David
Livingstone statue. David Livingstone had “discovered” the Falls in 1855, after
his African guides had told him about Mosi oa Tunya, the Smoke that Thunders.
In true fashion, typical of those days, he named it after Victoria his queen
and the name has stuck. The Falls were fairly full, and it was fun to share the
experience with others who were doing it for the first time. Barb and Gerti our
two Canadian ladies announced later that Vic Falls is way more impressive than
Niagara Falls. That was good to hear.
Collen took us to the Lookout
Café 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.
.jpg) |
| Rob and Cher with Collen. |
We checked into our Cresta
Sprayview Hotel. The rooms are not fancy but very comfortable. It has a large swimming
pool, which is nice. I can use it do laps and lose some of the weight I’m sure
I’ve gained. For those not doing excursions, we gathered around the pool and
enjoyed cooling off and debriefing on our three weeks of Adventure Safari
experience.
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.
.jpg) |
| 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.
.jpg) |
| Rob outside the community help project market |
Over breakfast Cher and I got
chatting with Patience, the hotel manager. We had met her the day before. I had
guessed that she was a Christian and she confirmed that while we chatted. She
had an amazing story of how she had got this job. Some years earlier, she had
been on her hands and knees in her apartment polishing her floor. She was
listening live to Joel Olstein, a well known TV preacher from the USA, when he said,
“I have a message for someone in Africa. You are on your knees, doing something
on the floor. God wants you to know that you must not be afraid to apply for
the job that comes your way”. Patience had been doing a relatively minor job supervising
the restaurant in a hotel. She had felt cut off from advancement because she
lacked a degree or qualifications. She had heard about a managerial job but
didn’t bother to apply because she didn’t meet the criteria. After hearing from
Joel Olstein, she applied and landed the job. She has been on an upward trajectory
since then. She now gets to travel to Europe to attend trade shows and promote
her hotel. She has also studied and now is the proud owner of a Master’s
degree. Thank you, Lord, that you care for us, your children, in such personal ways.
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.
.jpg) |
Helicopter flights over the Falls were being
peddled everywhere we went. |
The minute we reached town we were
approached by curio sellers. It was really hard to resist buying. Their need is
so much more than ours. We approached the massive outdoor market we had seen
the day before. We came across a community help group. There were 13 small shops
altogether in the project. Most of their goods looked old and faded. We were
the only potential customers there and the pressure was on. The shopkeepers were
very sweet and gracious. Oh dear. Most of the shops had large numbers of curios
on the ground in front of their shops. We asked them what they do with them at
night. They said, “We leave them”. We were astounded and said, “but don’t they
get stolen?” The answer was “No”. They seemed surprised we should even ask. Its
nice to hear places like this still exist.
.jpg) |
Cher taking a breather from the madding crowd
before launching her shopping spree. |
We stopped at a much more
upmarket area for a coffee where we could pay by card. We’d had enough of shopping.
As we left, we stumbled across another indoor market and just decided to have a
look. We have been looking for something meaningful and lightweight for a
birthday present for someone. Cher saw something she liked, and her keen
shopping instincts kicked into gear. Suffice to say, that we spent the next hour
or so testing the patience of a variety of sellers as they diligently searched
for the perfect item, which we finally found. Our problem was we had very
little US cash and so we insisted on paying by card. Our seller did not have a
card machine. After all this effort, we had a problem. “No problem”, says our
resourceful seller. He would borrow one from a friend, but there was a 10
percent levy for using the machine. His friend had a little credit card machine
business going. We were hot, tired and negotiated out. We agreed and everyone
was happy.
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
.jpg) |
| Laptop, calendars and lists |
This was a “stay at home and get
our lives straightened out” kind of a day. We were thankful to have an unplanned
day to start to think about all the various To Do’s which we will face when we
get home.
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. |
Our hotel shuttle dropped us at
the Zimbabweans customs this side of the border and we told them we were crossing
for a few hours. They checked our passports and waved us through. We then
walked over the bridge connecting Zimbabwe (ex Southern Rhodesia) and Zambia
(ex Northern Rhodesia). This bridge, which includes a rail line, has some interesting
history. It was built between 1904 – 1905 arranged by Cecil Rhodes. Cecil
Rhodes was fabulously wealthy, having made his fortune in South Africa via the
diamond and gold discoveries in the 1880s.
He was an ardent Empire Loyalist and the
founder of Northern and Southern Rhodesia.
Cecil Rhodes had a vision of painting the map
of Africa red and pink (British) and connecting Cape Town to Cairo via a rail
line. The Victoria Falls bridge was one of his primary starting points in
fulfilling his vision. He declared that the bridge had to be close enough to
the Falls that passengers on the train should be able to feel the spray on
their faces. Lord Kitchener was building rail line from Egypt in the north, heading
south through Sudan and Cecil Rhodes was moving it north from Cape Town. The planned
work on the railroad stopped in 1922 where the north and south connections were
only 500 miles apart.
 |
We felt the views from the Zambian side were
closer and had a better perspective |
We walked across the bridge. Some
of the views of the Falls were great. We then entered Zambia, which once again was
a breeze. It was a short walk to the National Park walk to view the Falls from
the Zambian side. The charge was a mere $20 (US), compared to $50 on the
Zimbabwean side. The views were much clearer and closer than what we had seen
from the Zimbabwean side. It was a lovely walk.
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 |
We had arranged for Kerry and
Russel pick us up at 1pm and they were spot on time. We went to the Royal Livingstone
Hotel a kilometre or so up the river from the Falls. I had visited this hotel
in 2014 with my brothers. At the entrance we had to tiptoe past a group of wild
Zebra who like hanging around the hotel gardens. It is a magnificent hotel, but
its location is what gives it, it’s edge. One sits on the deck, overlooking the
river with the spray of the Falls not far off and the overall ambience is very
special. When I was here with my brothers, we had watched the sun go down over
the river. It had been one of those memorable moments. I had been determined that
Cher should see this, and second time around, it had lost none of its allure.
 |
Entrance to the Mosi Oa Tunya (The Smoke
that Thunders), World Hertiage Site. |
We sat on the deck, under the
shady trees and lived the good life, while we shared a pizza each, on what was
quite a pricey menu. It was fun to see Kerry and Russel again. We had seen them
about six weeks ago in East London and here we were by chance seeing them again.
One of those coincidences that sometimes come along.
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.
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