Leaving Zimbabwe and going through Botswana back to RSA

The Zimbabwean side of the Victoria Falls is just as spectacular as its Zambian counterpart. We went on a helicopter ride to get an aerial view of the mighty falls after Pieter traded (not changed) money in the streets and got incredibly rich, a sum of over 100 Trillion dollars in just 1 banknote – unfortunately old Zimbabwe Dollars, that is. The countries’ inflated currency had been retired 5 months ago when they ran out of space for extra zeros on their banknotes. Now the 100 Trillion Dollar notes have become popular tourist curios. We celebrated our final night in Zimbabwe at the Boma Restaurant in Victoria Falls. The locals call it the “place of eating” for good reason. The buffet featured all sorts of delicious African treats from saza (something like polenta) to mopane worms, which we passed on for more than the reason of being vegetarian. We also attempted to play the drums and had a great time conversing with the two barmen, Takawira and Trymore. The latter was aptly named that way by his parents who attempted to have a son after having given birth to 5 girls already. Takawira offered us his remarkable perspective on Africa, Zimbabwe’s political leaders and foreign aid. In essence, he was very positive about the future of Zimbabwe because change, as he put it, is only a matter of time. The people have voted the so-called old man out three times and still have to deal with him but the resilient Zimbabweans are hopeful to outwait their dictatorship eventually. When we asked what the world could do to help Zimbabwe, he wants us to tell our people back home to stop sending aid in form of handouts to Africa since he has witnessed for years how aid results in the determent of the moral and work ethics of the people. He says that his people quickly rely on it and if aid one day does not come they have forgotten how to work and sustain themselves and their families. Aid should therefore only be employed to remedy catastrophic situations, such as natural disasters, and it should be stressed that it is only available for a limited time.

On 14 May we drove our car through a chemical bath and wiped our flip-flops over disinfectant cloth in order to be able to enter the country of Botswana. The country takes disease control very seriously but the measures seem little more effective than what we have seen in other parts of Africa where officers are often merely equipped with little nets to catch tsetse flies.

We headed straight for Chobe National Park. A year ago Botswana changed the way national parks are being managed. It used to be fairly efficient and cheap but now it is unorganized, quite pricy, and facilities are quite dilapidated despite all the donations pouring in from the European Community (plaques indicating sponsorship of public buildings can be frequently seen). But nothing takes away anything from the natural splendor of the place. Quite frankly, I do not want to rave about its beauty all that much because otherwise too many people end up going there, and after all the best of being on safari is to be in nature alone.

There were roughly a zillion dragonflies at sunset on the banks of the Chobe River, presenting water levels at record highs. The colors of the sunset are especially indescribable when experienced in combination with trumpeting of the roaming elephants. In order to get out of the way of the insects I was already in the tent in the IHAHA camp when Pieter faced a big old buffalo right on our doorstep. Unfortunately the camera was not in close reach and neither of us braved a move to fetch it. It is remarkable how close animals get to people in areas where there is no human threat for them in the form of poaching.

A very much anticipated stop of the trip was Savuti, a particularly beautiful area within the Chobe National Park which is home to many lions, elephants, and gazelles, as well as the National Geographic Film producing Jouberts. To get there one has to drive a couple hundred kilometers through very thick sand. It was more than worth it because we witnessed private moments with a beautiful lioness and her new beau, as well as a mother nursing her adorable cups in the warm morning light.

Shortly after that, we were on our way to Moremi National Park. Getting there was hands-down the biggest adventure of our journey due to the high water levels in the Okavango Delta. We met a nice German couple, Olli and Nicole, who shared the same route, and it quickly turned out to be a good idea to have two vehicles. The route encompassed multiple deep river crossings with waters gushing high, and at times even over the bonnet. At one crossing we got stuck in the middle of the river and had to reverse back out but by that time the water had already entered the cabin of our Land Rover and had covered our feet ankle high! We made it though on the second attempt. The Germans were crossing the waters behind us knowing where there was in fact a passable path, however, they were driving a lower car which made the water come up even further over their vehicle. Albeit a bit soggy, we all made it to the North Gate entry of Moremi where we said our good-bys to the Nicole and Olli. We unanimously agreed that this was a day to remember. Still pumped with adrenalin and on a high on faith of an infallible Land Rover, I got behind the wheel myself for further water crossings deep into the Delta. No other type of vehicle but the Land Rover Defender (bragging intended) managed the difficult terrain to Hippo Pool where we stopped and cooked our lunch amongst pure wildlife before pressing on southward to our rest camp.

The Nxai Pan is a place that creates an instant sound of bliss to my ears for several reasons: Its name is pronounced by locals with a big clicking sound and the huge salt pans features *the best* camp site ever, as some of our pictures hopefully manage to convey. Camping without amenities (no water either) at a hefty fee of US$100 buys access and privacy to a huge area of natural splendor. Pieter went for a bike ride on the pans and encountered sandy-white washed elephants, oryx and jackal while I volunteered to stay behind and to prepare dinner. Not a single sound was to be heard. It is probably the most silent place I have ever visited. It was absolutely fabulous to experience the solitude of this heavenly place. All animals aside, we were alone in a vast open area with Baine’s Baobas clearly visible in the distance.

Due to the wet season we were unfortunately not able to enter the Makgadigadi pans to the south in order to reach Kubu Island. Certainly a disappointment yet also a very good reason to come back to Botswana again in the future.

Upon entering South Africa we headed straight for the concrete jungle of Johannesburg and Pretoria. The two cities still undergo lots of road construction and clean-up projects are part of the effort of getting ready for the Football Worldcup (kick-off June 11th). South Africa now flies their rainbow colors everywhere in forms of flags, hats, wigs, and shirts. Part of the most useful things we had on our journey through Africa clearly were the so-called rear-view-mirror socks with the pattern of the South African flag. This open display of our support for the South African Bafana Bafana Soccer team had opened a lot of gates and has earned us big smiles at many roadblocks. Again thanks for the socks, Colleen!

After completing our tour over 11,000km from Cape Town via Johannesburg through Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia, and Botswana we are trying to find a buyer for our Land Rover back in Johannesburg. Pieter has to further engage in some business before we will sadly leave Africa next week. We feel extremely grateful though for all the new impressions and wonderful memories. There are a lot of special people and friends to be missed, as well as the sound of lions calling at night.

Thanks for reading our blog and for having sent us so many nice comments!

CLICK ON PICTURE BELOW TO WATCH VIDEO

Greetings from the SeaLion, Lake Kariba’s only operating ferry that allows you to travel the length of the entire lake. We are on it for 23 hours, so I might as well make use of the time to write an update for our site, which I hope to be sending out through cyberspace with the next available internet at Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.
 
We wrapped up filming at Lake Malawi and I am quite happy about the footage I got. Now months of reviewing, logging and editing lie ahead. I am very thankful to Pieter for having supported me thoughout the production process and I have left Malawi with fond memories of the people in the fishing village of Chembe, especially the kids, and in particular a little boy named Kumbo who was quickly by my side every time we were shooting in the the little fishing port.  

Before departing from Lake Malawi we chartered Musafa (the only yacht on the entire lake) with our friends, Hans-Peter and Colleen, from South Africa. We enjoyed a splendid time in great company, saw more of the lake and commemorated our 7th wedding anniversary having returned to the same catamaran we had been on during our honeymoon. The highlight of the charter was the visit of a remote and very secluded little fishing village on the eastern shore on the boarder to Mozambique. The village featured truly rural and untouched existence of fishermen surrounded by majestic Baobab trees and a few subsistence veggie gardens. The people though warned us not to go into the water since a crocodile had just tried to attack a woman doing her laundry in the lake. This didn’t deter Pieter, nor our friends Hans-Peter and Colleen to go diving in the lake.
 
We carried on to Zambia and revisited the Luangwa River Camp site that we remembered well from our Tour d’Afrique in 2006. It comes to show that memory is a very selective thing because while I remembered the lovely hot showers I had forgotten the fact that a shower results in one smelling like a smoked fish since the water is brought to boiling temperature by a smoking firewood geyser. We met a couple of fellow globetrotters whom I spent the entire morning with discussing the philosophy of traveling while Pieter rode his bike to the boarder of Mozambique and back. The couple had been on the road for 18 months already and the woman, Jan, told me that they were at a point where they did not really know where to go and what to do next. Both she and her husband Trevor felt that they had become slightly complacent with traveling in Africa after such a long time on the road and wondered if they should go on or perhaps go to a place like India instead. I told them that the more exotic, the greater the risk and the more one pushes the comfort zone – the better the choice. We said good-by and the couple headed-out eastward, in the opposite direction from us. A few hours later on the road we met them again. They had thought about their choices and turned around. Now they were going to India which means shipping their car out of Durban to Mumbay.  This must have been the biggest impact I had on anyone in a long time!
 
We only spent two days in Zambia and then crossed the boarder to Zimbabwe at Lake Kariba. There we had a spectacular close-up encounter with lots of hippos at night. Not only did they enter the campsite from the lake but they were mowing and fertilizing the grass directly around our tent.
 
We had a very good time in Mana Pools and saw lots of animals. Pieter, however, was a little disappointed in comparison with the huge amount of wild life he was able to spot during his last visit in the dry season. After lots of rain the park is very lush and the animals don’t have to come to any of the 4 pools in order to find water. Yet we had a big elephant bull in our camping spot and lots of visitors at night, including impala, hyenas, lots of hippos, and something mysterious that kept brushing against our ground tent. We crawled into our tent while our camp fire was still burning and the hyenas between the fire and our tent cast over-life size shadows on our inside tent walls. What a sight!   The commotion was big around our tent all night and we heard lions roar, elephants trumpet and the hippos snorting throughout the night. Mana Pools is a truly magically place with superb untamed wildlife and unique vegetation right on the banks of the mighty Zambezi river. It is also the only game reserve with lions, buffalos, hippos, leopards, and elephants, in which one is allowed to walk around unaccompanied. We hope that people are sensible so that it will stay this way in the future since most dangerous encounters are typically provoked by people, and not by the animals.
 
Time to go, since the sun is setting over Lake Kariba and the Gin&Tonics are in order for another beautiful sunset in Africa. ($0.95 each!) If you ever want a ride on this amazing floating watering hole, contact www.karibaferries.com.