Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

My first solo hitchhiking adventure took me from Kasane into Zimbabwe via Mazungula. I took a small sedan with five guys to Victoria Falls. The driver picked up others en route, and we dropped them along back roads in rural communities - cool to glimpse rural Zimbabwe.

The biggest storm I've yet seen hit when I arrived in Zimbabwe. I hunkered down in a hostel where some lightning touching down extremely close and a man sitting near me was electrocuted by a surge through his computer. It was a cool place and I intended to stay, but I slowly discovered over the course of the day that it was impossible to withdraw money from a Mastercard in Zimbabwe. I would kill for a Visa. Priceless.

My best option to get cash would be to head into Zambia. I scraped together some US dollars from the pula I had, but after the $50 entry visa to Zambia I could not afford to pay for a drive to the border. I walked the 10 km to Zambezi National Park and glimpsed the falls, though it was extremely foggy.

Zimbabwe is recovering from a tumultuous period of poor governance. I heard some stories about police corruption and was overcharged at the border by $25 USD, and the recent hyper-inflation was evident from the readily available 100 Trillion Zim Dollar notes. I bought something for $2.50 and was told to wait "over there" for my change - which just never came for nearly an hour. I asked for the third time if I would ever see my change, and they finally admitted they don't have any. Otherwise it was inviting, friendly, and the people were the friendliest I've yet met. An eight-year old followed me around for nearly 8 hours, and a teenage kid traded me the shirt off my back for a bunch of his ironwood carvings.

Leaving for Zambia was necessary, but it felt pre-mature. I'll be turning around and heading back with USD. I am also entertaining the idea of traversing the whole country into Mozambique instead of heading North through Zambia. We'll see.

Pictures of Namibia, Botswana, and Zambia

Some pictures from my time in Namibia are posted here.

Chobe National Park

Chobe National Park contains an "infestation" of elephant and large game. I had a chat with a park ranger and he's trying as hard as he can to allow people to "cull" (ei. butcher, slaughter, or poach) as many elephants as they want in order to control the populations. Even if this were allowed, he predicts it would take 15 years to reduce the population to a healthy level. The park may be destroyed completely without a significant culling, but environmental groups in Europe and abroad have "successfully saved the animals" from culling. He was very much a park ranger who hates environmentalists. Cool chat.

I went on a boat cruise up the Chobe River. Saw some Hippo - the cutest of all potbellied animals. It was pleasant, but overcrowded. Picture shows Nile croc, Hippo, and Elephant herd.

I hope this to be my last safari for some time. I have done this. Time for a new pass-time. Should have picked a better place to chill out than Kasane.

Goodbye Jo!

Nigeria Won. I'll miss you, Jo.

I really liked traveling with Jo. He had a real zeal for life and travel which seemed to be fueled by an unwaivering optimistic faith - that people were honest, and that lions would always turn the other cheek. A hitch hiker in four continents, he had a really great attitude and passion.

It's too bad that I felt so strongly in need of a rest day, and that he was not able to join me on his tight schedule back to Capetown. I wish him an eventful and safe passage to another semester in South Africa.

Maun to Kasane

Jo and I spent the day in transit. Three hour bus from Maun to Nata and then five hours hitching from Nata to Kasane. Two truckers from Zimbabwe, Webster and Terrance, took us the whole second leg. They were taking 40 tons of food and 30 tons of matches to the Dominican Republic of Congo. Their trucks - built in the early 70s - never exceeded 75 kilometers per hour. They got just two kilometers per liter, and carried 2200 liters of fuel each. Webster and I blasted Conga music throughout much of north eastern Botswana as we casually rolled over the pot holes, and large stretches of unpaved road. Fun to negotiate this stuff in a truck hauling two fully loaded trailers.

In Botswana, it is not uncommon for animals to bring traffic to a complete stop. On the road from Sepupa to Maun, we were often stopped by vast numbers of cows, donkeys, and goats. The grass beside the road is open for all to use for grazing. This is arguably better than Namibia's use of public labour to cut the grass, but is a nuisance in terms of transit times.

On the road from Maun to Kasane we were stopped many times by cows, donkeys, and goats - but also now by elephants, baboons, and wart-hogs. I counted 57 elephants on the drive - most of them just a few meters off the road. At one point, more than 200 baboons stopped us. At another point, Webster said "You can't see that at night!" pointing out the window into the bush. I followed the line of his finger but saw nothing. Then I saw the male elephant barreling out of the bush to charge the truck. That takes balls.

Jo and I are now safely in Kasane, staying just on Botswana's side of the intersection of Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia, and Botswana. There is an island shared by all four countries just a few kilometers from here.

Jo is on a tight timeline to return for a semester in Cape Town, so he plans to hitch to Big Falls in Zimbabwe tomorrow morning. If Zambia beats Nigeria tonight in the African Cup quarter finals, then I'll go with him to be in Zambia for the semi-finals. I think it would be fun to see a local crowd. If Nigeria wins, I'll head south into Chobe National Park and then to Victoria Falls later in the week. If I time it right, I may see the rainbow around the full moon caused by the mist of the falls. Mini-epic.

Hedonic Wisdom

Measured on a hedonic scale of odour, a shirt's unpleasantry increases at a rate of the root of x - where x is the number of days a worn shirt goes without washing.

Okavango River Delta - Day 2

We awoke at 5am for a swamp canoe and another walking safari on a big island.

After 45 minutes, we were followed some elephant paths through the grassveld plain. There was a very loud rustling in the grass accompanied by a thunderous decrescendo of feet on groud. "Lion," said MT.

"What?" I said. MT turned around to look at Jo and I and said very calmly, "Big lion." The lioness had been in the tall grass just 10m to our left. A tree had obstructed my view, but Jo saw its haunches and tail as it ran away.

He went into the tall grass straight toward where the lion had been, then continued in the direction the lion had run. I agreed with MT's choice of pace, but my inclinations would have taken me in a different direction. In this moment, all I could think of was the wise Australian hunter from Jurassic Park II screaming "Not into the tall grass" immediately preceding the gruesome scenes where half the cast of the movie are disemboweled by raptors. I was scared stupid. Lions hunt at dawn. My defensive plan was simply to stay close to MT. Lions like small targets. MT was about 5'4". We did not see the lion again.

Not much later, we encountered a large herd of zebra and giraffe. We were positioned downwind and they did not notice us for some time. We approached, and when they did see us they iteratively retreat at 100 meter intervals. After about twenty minutes, they got spooked by something up wind and ran as a large stampede directly toward us. They veered off when they were about 300 meters away but kept running for some time.

There were fresh elephant tracks everywhere. We followed them, walking alongside the herd of giraffe for several hours. In this time, I thought of a joke. It involved an animal magician and the punch-line was "abra-giraff-(z)-ebra" (take the accent off the z). It's impossible to write down and it isn't very funny.

Eventually there was a wonky line in the grass. MT said "Python track" in his thick Tswana accent. We followed the track about 20 meters to the python's lair. It was thicker than my thigh. We stayed about 2 meters away from it because a python that size can jump about 2 meters. Eventually it kinda slithered away and we saw it stretch out to a length of about 4 meters - even with a large section of its tail missing. Pretty cool!

We climbed up onto a large abandoned termite mound. We were higher than the giraffe, with a clear vantage over the grasses. It felt good to get higher up and out of the grass. I remember feeling pretty safe - no visible lions for miles. We hung out until MT eventually mentioned that mamba (both black and green) like to live in the holes of abandoned termite mounds.

Twenty minutes later we spotted a large male elephant in the distance. We followed it for some time until it jogged away at a pace we could not keep.

It was getting hot, so we turned around to go back to camp. We did not see anything living on the walk home - indicative of MT's tracker acumen, and the efficacy of remaining down wind. We canoed back to Fence of Safety in sweltering heat. The reeds blocked the breeze and trapped in the heat. It felt good when we could swim in a pool back at camp once again.

I'm a little embarrassed to report this romp in the bush, as I believe it showcases a my startling naivety to many of the dangers which I exposed myself to. In truth, aspects of this outing really scared me - pretty much just the lion.

In conclusion, I am quite pleased with the lion's choice to run away from us. I will think twice about going on another walking safari.

Okavango River Delta - Day 1

The Okavango River is Africa's third largest river. Starting in Angola, it flows more than 1500 kilometers into Namibia and ends in Botswana. It never reaches an ocean. Instead, it just spreads out, flooding over 16,000 square kilometer in a region known as the Okavango Delta - a massive swampy wetland. This swamp is bisected by a 1000+ kilometer buffalo fence. North of the fence is the Moremi Game Reserve with a high concentration of hippopotami, Nile crocodile, buffalo, lion, et al. If you wanted to learn about this wild swamp, you could watch a half-hour episode of Planet Earth. If you're really into swamps, you can do a multi-day trip into the swamp on a traditional canoe and take a bunch of "nature walks" in the swamp. Apparently, I'm into swamps.

Ever since first seeing the river in Rundu, I aimed to jump onto a boat. At "The Swamp Stop" in Sepupa, I chummed up to a dude with a motor boat and he took me for a ride on the river. Mission accomplished! But he never explained that he expected me to walk home until he dropped me off downriver...

My next mission was to enter the Delta.

But first, an aside about diction. The term Walking Safari conjures images of close encounters with large beasts. It sort of makes me laugh that people would want to go walk amongst lions and pythons and such. The connotations of the term raise my danger flags. In contrast, the term Nature Walk conjures images of peaceful casual walks through serene wetlands looking at birds, reeds, and beetles. The term Walking Safari would more aptly fit what Mosu Safari Tours entitled Nature Walks.

Our guide's name was MT (or alike). My first impressions of him were quite negative. He was grouchy and would reply succinctly to only direct questions. We embarked into the swamp on the Mukoro at 10am. After forty minutes of MT pushing us around with a 5m pole, he took a four hour siesta - leaving Jo and I to entertain ourselves in the middle of the swamp.

The flies in the swamp are called "Flesh Flies" because they spend so much time on dead meat. It is therefore disconcerting when you realize you can't stop them from landing on your lips, nose, and eyes - let alone everywhere else. Eventually, Jo and I got profoundly bored in the swamp. Exchanged glances clearly communicated that we were both doubting our decision to make this trip. Eventually, we took out the Mukoro together and went swimming in a clear part of the swamp - the hippos & crocs go to deep water during the day. We were all smiles.


In the afternoon, we embarked on our first walking safari. It was pure ignorance which allowed Jo and I to fearlessly embark on such walks. Turns out, the African bush is sorta dangerous.



The path we took through the forest, plains, and wetland was chaotic and slow as we tracked a herd of wildebeest through the bush for about 4 hours. We eventually found the herd on a big open plain. After watching MT track game, I am in love. What a man. MT was a local hunter, and his ability to track animals was just amazing. He was smelling dung, inspecting bent grasses and stripped barks. He could date the animal footprints in mud or in sand to within a couple of hours. MT carried a homemade axe which he made from a broken down car's shock-absorber. The crafted medal blade was shimmed into a knotty wooden branch - it was very sturdy and bad-ass. I hire MT to spend a day to make one together. The wood for the handle is not common, but MT found me the right kind of tree. Sadly, the branch configuration to make the right knot wasn't available on the tree - so my plan was doomed. I wish I had a better picture of his axe.

Night fell quickly as we were out on our walk. During the sunset, we heard lion roaring, hyena howling, and loud unexplained splashes as we Mukoro-ed back to the smaller island camp. I was happy to share a tent with Jo, and took a urine bottle to bed with me. No way was I leaving the tent at night.

Mosu Safari Tours Review

Botswana's government has a policy of "high cost, low volume" tourism, so even smaller trips like guided tours into the Delta on traditional Mukoro canoes can get pricey. The highest price we saw for such a tour was 1200 pula per person per day ($680 USD for our trip). Eventually we found Mosu Safari Tours which hooked us up for less than a quarter of that - which was very reasonable when split two ways.

Prompt, curious, diligent, friendly, Oliver Cromwell Madibela (owner and operator of Muso Safari Tours) was the man. He set us up right, gave us a good honest price and went the extra mile to serve us. When a fellow traveler from Korea was disappointed by his trip in the delta, Oliver gave him an extra day for free. Oliver even gave me beer and ferried me in and around Maun for writing this review. What a stand-up gentleman.

My Aunt Jane should be so proud as it was her idea to monotize the blog. This is my first form of remuneration for blogging. My integrity even remains intact since everything here is the truth.

Maun, Botswana

I'm in Maun, central Botswana. Hitch-hiking is the only way to travel. Ironically, a Ministry of Tourism vehicle was the first to offer us a lift. Many stories to follow, but it's 2am and I'm sitting under a bright light right beside a swamp - the mosquitos are crazy. I elaborate more later.

Jo and I have arranged an overnight canoe trip up the Boru River into the Okavango Delta starting tomorrow at 9am. Camping in the swamp! Will post an update again on Monday.


Edit:

1. With the Englishman and Irishman from Rundu to Divindu
2. Ministry of Namibian Tourism from Divindu to Muangu National Park
3. Semi-Truck hauling stone across Botswana border to highway junction south
4. Eight of us in the back of a pickup to Sepupa.
5. Overnight in Sepupa at "The Swamp Stop". 3km hike.
   
6. Ministry of Botswana Education from Sepupa to Gemare
7. Semi-Truck hauling scrap from Gemare to Maun

It's really comfortable and casual and it's how the locals get around, so you sometimes travel all day with the same people. People are very willing to give a lift for free or for the price to share petrol. I've only felt in danger once when the Ministry of Education vehicle drove 150 km/h on a dirt road.

Rundu, Namibia - Okavango River Access

No mainliner buses going through Otjiwarongo until Friday, no place to camp, and the cheapest room I can find is nearly N$400 ($60USD). I eventually found a mini-bus heading north to Rundu for N$100. I'm on it. The bus had 11 seats and 19 travelers. Every one of my travel compansions was from the small village of Rundu and were deathly afraid of the lightning storm which enveloped the car for much of the trip. The women cower and shelter their children and refuse to open any of the windows. I loved it.

From my tent pitched in Rundu, I could see Angola and the flooding Okavango River. Tomorrow, I would spend time at the local market across the street, go for a hike through the countryside, and try to find a boat on which to head down the river towards Botswana. Gotta have dreams.

*

It poured rain all morning, so I slept in and didn't really ever leave my tent except for a large T-Bone steak for lunch. I got deeply engrossed in a good book and spent the whole day reading. I can't recall a time when I read a book all day.

In the evening, I met an Englishman at the campground who invited me to a local bar to watch the Mozambique vs. Nigeria football match. Bad game, but great fun to be in a local bar in a rural town with a local crowd - mostly Angolans. The Englishman was traveling with an Irishman and a German. The Englishman and the Irishman were going by 4WD into Zimbabwe enroute to Mozambique where the Irishman lives and teaches English teachers. The German had hitch-hiked alone from Capetown and was heading to Botswana.

So ... I'm hitch-hiking from Rundu into Botswana with my new friend Jo from Germany. Sorry, mom.

Goodbye Raphael!

We awoke before sunrise one last time to head south together. Raphael has a plane to catch in Windhoek in order to continue his round-the-world journey - Ghana and then Cameroon are next on the docket.

This has been a fabulous partnership! We joked about me writing him a letter of reference for use when meeting future travel partners. I should do it. He really opened up Namibia for me, and also taught me a lot about travel, photography, business and investment strategy, and a bit about third-world economics. The breadth of topics which he could talk deeply about was really quite impressive. It seems that the timing may work out for us to meet again in Uganda this April! Wouldn't that be swell.

I need to get to a better staging ground to jump into one of two Northern regions in Namibia: Owambo Region (Ondangwa), or Kavanga Region (Rundu). Raphael dumped me in Otjiwarongo, on the main highway heading into both regions.


Edit: Raphael has published some of the pictures he took here. We saw the same things, but he had the ability to make it look a lot prettier. My favourites: 1 2 3 4 5.

Etosha National Park - Days 2 and 3

We woke up before sunrise both days to catch the prime viewing times. We saw ostrich, geckos, and thousands of instances of the 15 varieties of DLT. But things were not like the first day - we would often go half an hour without any sighting at all. At times it was quite frustrating to drive for so many hours without seeing anything, and when we did see animals, well … you can only marvel at so many DLTs before they just become part of the landscape. It's hottest in the early afternoon and sightings are at their worst, so we returned to camp.

Josh and Autumn broke my tent when they assembled it in Vancouver over Halloween. In retrospect, I'm impressed that they managed to do so much damage to such a simple tent in such a short period of time. In Josh's defense, I don't think he's ever assembled a tent nor will he ever have to do so again. Regardless, due to the resultant structural damage to poles and fabric, additional areas of the tent are now failing under the increased strains. This will take on significant importance as I enter malaria zones in the north, so I spent some time sewing. Shown: me sewing.

I love the radio here. The music is mostly American stuff, but the selections are just … better. Of particular amusement is the Namibian National News. Today's national headline: "30 sheep were stolen from Botswana and smuggled into Namibia". Also, an ad informing us that for only $1500 you can get two television ads and three radio ads both receiving a national audience during the African Cup. This got me thinking about all entertaining things you can do with money.

The zooming on my camera is broken, so I tried to regain the functionality by taping my monocular to the camera. Results were mixed. Excuse the resulting photographs.

Dusk Day 2 - Four lionesses and one king of the jungle just 15m off the side of the road. They were relaxing, licking, and rolling around in the grass. About 200m downwind, the largest herd of springbok we ever saw was trickling past them. We sat to watch for about 20 minutes - and finally, the king gets up, gets feisty with his favorite lioness, mounts, and dismounts two seconds later. A mighty roar echoes throughout the land, and they're back to rolling in the grass together. The whole ordeal got me thinking about the potential virtues of polygamy. Raphael's picture.

Dusk Day 3 - We hadn't seen anything of interest after nearly eight hours of driving. As the sun was setting on the grassveld, we were very excited to see a giraffe posing perfectly. Nice sunset, that was special - let's go home. Surprise! Big rhino in the middle of the road! We turn off the car to observe. It stands perfectly still just looking at us. Takes a couple steps closer. Couple more and it's time to start the car again. But starting the car visibly spooked it. Now only 7m away, it drops its head to charge. Time to go! Raphael's picture.

Back at camp we have real meat over the braai (BBQ). We also eat some stinky fish on bread and this draws quite a bit of attention. We end up defending our campsite against a group of jackals which harass us all night. When Raphael leaves, I'm reading in the dark and one is just 1 m behind me drinking some fishy water. Cool little things.

Etosha National Park - Day 1

About 6 hours from Waterburg up to Etosha. Great drive with incredibly varied scenery from flat desert into rolling desert; mix it up with some flat desert and then into mountainous desert. Surprisingly, things got green as we went North.

Context:

• The park is 22,000 square kilometers and was once 80,000 square kilometers. For context, Algonquin (Canada's largest park) is 7,653 square kilometers. This place is massive!
• Etosha has the highest elephant population of any park in the world - over 2,400 elephants.
• Etosha is a self-guided safari park. So, you just drive around on over a 1000 km of gravel roads in your own car.
• 4WD is recommended, but not enforced. We're in a 2WD Volkswagen Golf - about 1/3 the size of next smallest vehicle we saw.
• Raphael drives 2x as fast as anybody else on the road.

Before we're even in the park the giraffe are coming to check us out over the park fences. Once inside, in our first kilometer we saw a family of 20 giraffe cross the road just 15m in front of the car; then one black rhino and then a second just 30m from the car. From then on, we were totally immersed in wildlife for the whole afternoon. Prepare to be regaled.

About 2 hours into our drive we pull up beside a large safari bus. Wow! Look at the enormous female elephant! It possessed some sort of deformity - a mutant with a fifth leg. Strolling along it comes right alongside us. Raphael is snapping away on the camera. Getting pretty close, and then its within only 6 or 7 meters. It pound the ground, flare out its ears, and charges the car. Raphael guns it for the safety of the larger safari bus; all is safe. We're in front of the elephant now. It just walks slowly along the road toward us, we back away when it gets to within 15m or so. Now a second male comes along the road from behind us, and we're sandwiched between the two. Moments of stress ensue. The situation defuses. The two males meet, play show and tell, and then go for a drink together. For our remaining time in Etosha, we would never see another animal at a waterhole again. Raphael's pictures 1 2.

Approaching dusk, we're en route back to camp when I spot elephants in the distance. We quickly zip up a side road but our view is totally obstructed by some crummy trees. At a high-point in the road, I can see over the trees and manage to catch a glimpse of two elephants fighting via my monocular. We return to our point of the initial sighting and sit there. Twenty-four elephants walk right past our car, with us having to steer to evade them once again. A matriarch, new babies, and two young males play fighting. It was really quite cool. For our remaining time in Etosha, we would never see another elephant.

The camping didn't disappoint with a massive honey badger just 2m from us as we chow down.

A warm welcome from Etosha.

Waterburg Plateau National Park

Namibia's Waterburg Plateau National Park is a 50km long and 16km plateau. There's only one way onto the plateau since the sheer 200m sandstone cliffs act as a natural fence. Throw a bunch of animals on the plateau, and you've got a prime breeding ground for some of Africa's endangered large animals. Leopards and cheetahs are the only predators here.

Namibian wildlife viewing is different in that it's really hot and it's really dry and there's only a few sources of drinkable water. So the theory is: grab a lawn chair and a beer, then head down to the ol' watering hole where the animals are just chillin' out. Watch them drinking together, socialize together, and eating each other. But the theory only applies for ten months of the year; in the wet season (includes January), Namibian wildlife viewing is still optimized around water holes but the animals are dispersed. So, I didn't expect to see too much.

It took five hours to drive onto the plateau, visit two watering holes, and return to the camp. The thick forest vegetation reduced your line of sight to only a couple meters. Despite this we saw some cool stuff, kicked back with some orange Fanta, and had a great time - a handful of DLTs, a giraffe, and a water buffalo. Not really worth the cash. Once again, the campsite hosted a more intimate animal experience than the game drive - beautifully colourful starlings, a pack of twenty-odd mongoose, and a colour-shifting chameleon.

Dinner time! And Raphael - culinary master - has big plans. Penne alfredo in a three cheese cream sauce, sautéed onions and peppers, authentic German sausage and some kind of kraut I had never heard of which goes well with the sausage. Dreams clashed with reality when we realized we had only one pot - it made for bright purple semi-homogeneous slop which was absolutely delicious!! Too bad it doesn't photograph as well as it tasted.

The Spitzkoppe

This big chunk of rock in Namibia is the same type of stone as my rock-climbing playground in Canada. It's also the same height - to within 10m. So many of the lines and patterns reminded me of The Chief, but the coarse texture, and "Lion King"esque colouring were distinctly Namibia. The coarse texture is a result of the mineral differences which result in Namibia's precious stones. The Skipzkoppe is loaded with precious stones, and people illegally mine for them using a hammer and chisel. The colouring was striking and kept me looking for a baboon holding a baby cub above his head above an obedient animal populous.

We got the royal tour from our man Eddie. Started with a set of 4000 year old rock paintings made by the San peoples (aka Bushmen). From what I can tell, art wasn't their cultural forte. They depicted some bad ass stuff though - like hunting for lions with a bow and arrow. Kudos to whoever does that.

The best part was the game drive. The gate to the area containing game was locked, so we went to the park's gates. "We should come back later," Eddie says. So we waited three hours and came back. "Its in town," Eddie says. So we drive into town (a school and maybe ten buildings). "Other side of town," Eddie says. We end up at a tin hut (shown here) with four men living in it. They yell back and forth (yelling with the verbal clicks sounds awesome). "He buried it," Eddie says. So we go back to the gate to start digging. We dig, there is no key - the game drive has become a game walk.

My first sightings of some DLTs (deer-like things), warthogs, and stunning African birds. Raphael pauses a lot to take photos and Eddie and I end up waiting for him quite a bit. Eventually, I take off to do some bouldering - making it up into some cool spots.

In the evening, Raphael and I climb up to a vantage point to watch the sun set. We're treated to the sights of a family of rock dassie playing together. Later that night, lying beside the camp fire a scorpion walked under my legs. I scream like a girl while Raphael threw it into the fire. Even in a dry area like this, the beetles are the size of my fist and night-time produces for some very mysterious and loud noises. The joy of camping in Africa has begun.

Cape Cross Seal Colony

We left from Swakopmund heading north to Cape Cross after some final errands. On the road by 9, we arrived at Namibia's largest seal colony - sporting a population of 210,000 seals. Dats'a'lot'a'seals. They give birth in December, so there we got to look at all'za'babees. Some of them would be sleeping alone way out in the desert. The scale of the colony was amazing. My favourite was the sounds of the babies barking.

A few babies were sleeping alone up on the sand so I crept up slowly for a picture. I inevitably woke it up. I would stare at me for way longer than you'd expect for a well-adapted animal; then just freak-out barking and sprinting towards the colony. I felt like a monster, but it was really really adorable.

Heading North - Swakopmund to Etosha

Rapheal has a car and has invited me to join him for the Namibian leg of his journey. We'll drive along the coastline to Cape Cross, then cut inland to the "Matterhorn of Namibia" at Spitzkoppe, head to the Waterburg Plateau, and then to Nambia's largest game park at Etosha. Six days in total, then Rapheal has to head back to Windhoek for a flight into West Africa.

After a second language lesson, I can sorta kinda hear and produce the four distinct clicking sounds required to speak Khoekhoe (KWAY-kweh-ko-AB), the language of the Damara. As soon as I can roll my Rs and hork flem, I'll have all the prerequisites.

Willie DuBe

Ten minutes after stepping off the bus to Swakopmund, Namibia, an old man on the street called out to me. He approached me, claiming to be a schoolmaster from Mpandawana, Zambia. Walking on crutches outside of the public hospital, he claimed to have been in a car which hit an elephant while traveling in Namibia from Zambia. "The collision killed 13 of the 16 of us," he said and showed me a massive deformity on his back. He claimed to hold a master's degree of bio-chemistry and he was able to back up this assertion by answering my subtly posed skill-testing questions about bio-chemistry and the general sciences (he had at least a 6th grade knowledge of science). He had N$200 and needed another N$100 ($15 CAD) to get to Livingstone, Zambia where his colleagues could assist him the rest of the way home.

I had been walking quickly in order to gain a glimpse of the Atlantic ocean during sunset. It was getting late, but I slowed my pace to hear his stories of Zambia, his mother in Zimbabwe, his schooling, and the "many virtues of the merciful whites." With the sun setting and Willie slowing me down to his limped pace, I said goodbye. I could still make the sunset if I went now. As I left, he asked me for aid. I was in a hurry, and had no money except a single N$100 bill ($15 CAD). I showed it to him, but explained it was all I had left and I couldn't spare it. Instead, I gave him a handful of change from my pocket: N$6 ($0.90 CAD). In despair, he said, "Well, that's useless." I apologized and walked away quickly, knowing he couldn't keep up. I felt aweful as my gesture had clearly been an insult.

Due to Canada's comparatively superior social safety nets and a comparatively lower number of elephants on major roadways - I had never encountered this exact predicament. Yet in my transposition of this situation into comparable Canadian circumstances, I would probably have given a stranger on the streets of Vancouver my last $15 if he explained he were in a comparatively unfortunate predicament. In fact, I actively spend time finding people in real need of charity. But today I'm in a hurry, and in Africa, people often putting me on the defense by trying to get money from me. I am cautious to not be taken advantage of, since I don't want to be the stupid tourist who falls for "Old Willie's" cons. I've been in town for only 30 minutes so perhaps many people here have a story such as this one. I don't want to lend money to Willie now and have every person in town who experiences tough times to know of me.

As I walked away, I thought about the people I lend money through Kiva. I thought about what Willie's 'profile page' would have looked like on this internet charity site. In my mind's eye, I saw his 'character profile' reading as if it were a transcript of the polite story he had just told me. I could see myself clicking "Donate" for Willie DuBe had I been in the comfort of my armchair.

Weird.

Swakopmund - Namibia's Atlantic Coast

I borrowed a power adapter from a man in a bar last night to write yesterday's blog post. Turns out that man was my dorm-mate Rapheal - an avid traveler and photographer. We hit it off and spent today together.

First stop - Namib desert. But sandboarding is out and quad-biking is in. We spent 2 hours ripping up and down the sand dunes - the roaring Atlantic to the right and the massive tangerine dunes to the left. Nice. I've got a video but don't know how to share it.

I'm on the Northern edge of the Namib. It rarely rains (obviously) but life thrives just north of here where large quantities of fog blow inland every morning. The condensation from the fog supports a surprisingly large amount of life from lichens to large mammals (even elephants and lions). I'm living BCC's Planet Earth.


As expected, I am approached frequently by people selling things on the street. This is normal everwhere I've been - but there is an African twist here. Sellers begin with a hand shake, but then continue to hold your hand as you walk or talk together. It feels awkward to refuse a handshake, and then even more awkward to pull your hand away - so I feel quite bound to the conversations once they start. Sellers take their time to ask about you, especially the women in your life - and then the seller's companion standing nearby (so the seller doesn't have to let go of your hand) enscribes your mother's name into a hand carved souvenir. How can you not buy the $1 hand carved trinket. Very effective. Happy Birthday, Mom.

Sometimes the conversations end up being quite rewarding. Today I got a lesson in making the four distinct clicking noises !, //, /', and = of the Xhosa tribe (the X makes a deep flemmy throat noise like you're prepping to spit). He taught me how to pronounce the words for both male and female genetalia: xoa and /'uea.

I spent the afternoon in Swakopmund's museum, Crystle Gallery, the Atlantic ocean, and various shops. Great day. This place is so German!

I saw an albino African too.

Windhoek - Capitol of Namibia

An excellent few days in Windhoek and a great introduction to urban life in Namibia. With the wrong power adapter for my computer (Namibia uses a different adapter than South Africa) and tough competition for internet access, I've been delayed with blog updates. Also, I'm having trouble distilling all the new experiences down to a post.

In general, things have gone very very well so far and I'm extremely happy with my situation here. I spent 3 nights in Windhoek - two in a tent and one in a bed. In short, I bought a train ticket to the coast, lost the ticket, took a bus instead, and now write to you from Swakopmund.

I had my headlamp stolen from an outside pocket of my pack during the flight from Johannesburg to Windhoek, so I gave credibility to the stories I had heard about crime in the area. I was really quite intimidated by the idea of walking around Windhoek alone, so I welcomed a German chaperone who was also new to the city. There were security guards many with guns every 150m and at every ATMs - needless to say I felt pretty safe. The second day I happily walked alone.

Some highlights

1) The garden outside of Namibian parlament (aside).
2) The grocery store. I bought some Oyrx paste (like Spam in a tube made from Oryx instead of ham. Sprym?), "Breezes of Summer" fruit juice, some Yum Yum peanut butter labeled with familiar north american ebonic slang, some bread straight out of the oven, delicios cashews, and plums + peaches.
3) The Cardboard Box Hostel (above) a cool cheap spot with a pool. Locals came to the in-house bar for the evenings which makes for some great conversations. My favourites were with a Namibian risk management consultant and centered on Zimbabwe's politics and history.
4) There are many KFCs, but no McDonalds.
5) First mosquito bites.
6) African Football Cup gets everybody riled up. Especially the Angolans. From last night, check this out.
7) Rain. It came nearly every day, super intense, but lasts less than two minutes. You can see it coming for miles, and then it's like somebody dumping a bucket of water on you. Everything is dry again in 30 minutes.

Much more, but that's all I can think of.


The drive to Swakopmund is 3 hours. The train to Swakopmund is 11 hours. The train is a more direct route - it's just that slow. The passenger trains are from the 1920s, and look super sweet (no photo)! I bought a ticket despite the obviuos inefficiency of this route. When I was getting ready to go to the station, I couldn't find the ticket. Strange and totally unlike me. Looks like $8 worth of transportation subsidies. Quite likely a blessing since I got to Swakopmund before sun down.

I was thinking Swakopmund would be a short stop enroute up the coast. But it's on the ocean, a gateway to the Namib desert, and an incredibly German center in Africa. Just got back from some authentic Shnitzel.

Sandboarding tomorrow!

Status Update: Kenn in Africa

Location: Windhoek, Namibia
Status: Glad to not be on a plane
Dysentery: No

Took the Tube into London for a little walk about. Made it back to the airport with good time to spare (3 hours) plus I thought I was in the wrong time zone (+2 hours) plus flight was delayed (+5 hours) plus it was snowing (+2 hours on tarmac). Missed my connection in Johannesburg and spent some time wandering around. Weaseled my way out of a 300 rand booking fare to change the flight, and then had to sprint through the entire airport to catch the new plane. Last person on. W00!

Got to Windhoek, 45 km taxi ride into the city. Settled in at a nice little hostel with a pool. Met some construction workers and went for a pint and chicken sandwich. Saw some stuff. Not much to Windhoek, I think I'll head to the coast.


Sunday Update: Major jet lag - I was in bed by like 8pm but wide awake at 3am until morning. Translate that into London time and I pretty much slept from 3am to 10am ... just like everyday. Old habits, I guess.

I met a girl on the plane and she's invited me up to her cattle ranch in the Caprivi Strip (the part of Namibia which is sandwiched between Botswana and Zambia), and the construction workers invited me to come check out their fish farm up there also. I really can make friends!! I'm wandering around Windhoek with a girl from the hostel on her last week of a 6 month tour in southern Africa. She's teaching me some of the ropes as we explore the city together.

West Africa Time

Oh my god, Oh my god, Oh my god, Oh my god, Oh my god, Oh my god, Oh my god, Oh my god, Oh my god, Oh my god, Oh my god, Oh my god, Oh my god. It begins!

As of right now, I'm on West Africa Time (UTC+1)

Starting in London, Canada
12PM - 2h to Toronto, Canada
4AM - 7h to London, Engaland
8PM - 11h to Johannesburg, South Africa
10AM - 2h to Windhoek, Namibia

Namibia at high noon.

What's up with Binoculars?

What's up with binoculars and why do they outsell monoculars? Convinced of the inferiority of binoculars' (due to seemed unnecessary bulk, weight, and material costs), I was finding myself absolutely sure that the world was making a horrible mistake by preferring them over monoculars. Turns out I'm absolutely wrong.

I was so smug when I noted that your depth perception would be ruined by the reduced parallax (ooo my new optics lingo) resulting from magnification. Turns out your depth perception is not affected until magnified greater than 10x [2].

General optical acuity is improved by using both eyes also. But "the binocular detection threshold of dim light is 1.4 times better than for monocular viewing" [1]. So using both eyes is important with telescopes more than anything.


Anyway ... wary of possessing too much clarity, depth, and vision so early in my quest, I bought a monocular.

Too Much TV

I'm taking Mefloquine, an antimilarial drug, and one of the side effects is "nightmares" or "night terrors". I rarely ever dream, but recently I'm kept up at night by vivid scenarios of doom. It may not be related to Mefloquine at all, but regardless they're vivid and awesomely amusing and clear signs of an idle mind not grounded in reality.

I'll recall three of my favorite doom scenarios here.

Tents and Lions - I'm walking alone in the Serengti and the sun sets before I get to where I'm going. In the trip reports I'm reading, it's fairly routine for animals (including lions) to prowl around in the camp sites at night and approach (but not enter) the tents. My uncle Aldo heard lions roaring nearby while camping in Kenya, and even once had a hyena come into his tent. Apparently tenting is a safe practice so long as you don't bring food into the tent, aren't alone in the tent, and have a big canvas tent. I have none of these luxuries, so I decide to set up my tent in a tree (don't ask how). Lions don't climb trees anywhere on earth except in Uganda. Just my luck. The dream ends with a lion balanced on a branch clawing its way through the side of my tent. Shit. Sleep tight!

Machete Family - The next night I'm kept up by a scenario in which I'm walking through Johannesburg. People on motorbikes will apparently come along with machetes and cut your pack off your back if you walk too close to the street. In my dream, a motorbike with seven men balanced on it come and slash my pack. The machete gets stuck, and I punch the dude in the face, then steal the machete from him. The mob gets off the bike, each of them wielding machetes. Needless to say, a fierce machete battle unfolds on the sidewalk. I easily take down a couple more screaming and weilding two machetes, but eventually I'm forced to run away. The dream ends with me running through the streets of Joburg with an 80 lbs pack on, wielding dual machetes, with a large mob of Africans casing me. Shit.

Accidentally Drowning a Child - My most recent scenario is an African variation (and extrapolation) of something which actually happened to me in Venezuala. I'm taking a picture while I'm on a long pier overlooking the ocean. A child pushes me from behind in an attempt to knock me off the pier so he can take the bag at my feet. I catch my balance and end up pushing the kid into the water - yay! Things turn south when the kid can't swim and drowns. The kid's family turns out to be the same machete wielding family from the motorbike scenario. They charge at me and my only recourse is to jump off the pier to get away. I've been reading about Shark diving in South Africa so of course my dream takes place in Shark Alley. I swim up and down the shore trying to get back on land, but the family just follows me up and down the coast screaming with their machetes over their heads. The dream ends with me choosing between death by machete, shark, or drowning. Shit.

Africa Bound

So I guess I fly to Africa in less than a week.

The majority of conversations which I've had over the holidays center around negative themes: "wow, that sounds dangerous" "do you have your shots?" "did you hear about x person dying via y" "are you sure you should be doing this?" [Edit: I've removed my brief overview of the categories of badnesses.] They have many valid points.

But on the positive side, I've got a wireframe itinerary put together. I've listed some of the itinerary's highlights below. I'm not sure if the distances are realistic (covers more than the distance from Vancouver to St. John's), but I think it's a suitibly optimistic and grand vision. If nothing else it will serve as something to laugh at down the road when nothing goes to plan.

Some of the itinerary highlights:

- Dune boarding in the Namib dessert
- Safari with newborns and predator in Botswana
- Aerolite over Victoria Falls at peak season
- Class 5 white water on the Zambezi
- Summit of Kilimanjaro
- Two weeks on the white sand beaches of Zanzibar
- The Sarengeti's Great Wildebeest Migration
- Ngorongoro Crater Conservation Area
- White water at the source of the Nile
- View life at a hospital in Uganda
- Gorilla trekking in Rwanda

I've split my time up into three major milestones: The South (4 weeks), Tanzania (3 weeks), and Shannon (3 weeks) with a two week buffer. I plan to travel by land as much as possible despite the rainy season's ability to flood areas and make roads impassible.

Less than a week to go! Lots of preparations to make. Lots to figure out still. But I'm psyched.

Christmas and New Years

I certainly enjoyed my Christmas and New Years in Ontario.

Christmas - Christmas day in London with the nuclear family, then we transplanted mid-day to Toronto for fun with The Extendeds – including an annual family talent show! I started practicing I Would Do Anything For Love on the piano on Day 1 of the sabbatical and achieved my sabbatical-dream of performing it for an audience. The only part of the song I like is at 5:50 when Mrs. Loud rocks out the rest of the song is really long and boring. Lesson Learned: One should confirm that a piano has been tuned in the last 10 years before performing a 12 minute love ballad on it. Painful.

New Years – I went up to Sault Ste Marie to see The Other Extendeds. I had a particularly good visit with my grandparents and particularly good fun with my cousins, aunts, and parents at Search Mount - Southern Ontario’s largest ski resort. The fun included a covert night-op wherein Cousin George and I borrowed some large crash pads from the ski lift, hauled them up the ski hill, and then tobogganed down on them. For one run, we fit four people and two dogs on the mats. Ah, memories.

The next day I joined Cousin George for a New Years party in the Sault. I was expecting to meet some of his friends as the reunited after their first semesters of University. In reality, I was taken to a house rammed full with hundreds of inebriated high school students. A lot has changed in my life since I partook in such high-school spendor, so this was not a typical evening for me (contrasted against my regular crowd of climbers and programmers). Surprisingly, I found myself nestalgic, longing for a time when my social circles were comparably massive, tight-knit, and excitable. George was certainly loved by many.

It was great to re-connect with family and to see so many positive changes - whether it be in people's personalities or in the events of people's lives.