20 June, Day 7: Day trippers

I set my alarm for 05:00 (that’s in the A M), in order to catch the sunrise. Grabbed my gear, tripod, jacket (coffee would have been really cool... didn’t plan that far) and headed down to the beach. Sunrise was around 06:10, but I was a little let down by overcast skies. I took a few shots anyways, strolled down the beach and took some more pics. Almost stepped on a grasshopper having a moment on the beach. Sat down next to it, enjoyed the view. Not much of a conversationalist, but that was cool.

Walked back to camp at around 07:15, made some coffee just as Annelie woke up. Shared some rusks with everyone (Annelie’s Mom baked them) and everyone sat around and chatted for a while. It’s really cool listening to the old guys (now retired) about their businesses and all sorts of issues they had over the years. I’m learning quite a bit and it now makes more and more sense why these guys are such naturals at negotiations and bartering. I’m learning, I’m learning.

We organised to go out on a little day trip today at 11:00, once the lake and the wind died down. We organised to go out on a fishing boat to a little island just off the coast. We were in for some snorkelling, followed by a visit to the local fishing village and hopefully catch a glimpse of some fish eagles (I actually watched them all morning already. So graceful!)

But first, we wanted to head into town to get to a forex and check out the local area. In the camp compound it’s quite sheltered from the REAL Malawi experience. We had about an hour and a half to kill, so I hopped through the shower, juggling the 5 drops a minute of hot water from the shower as best I could. At least I got clean. Packed up the Bullet and headed into town. It’s more of the same from what we’ve seen before, little straw huts interspersed with brick and straw houses. Little craft markets and hawkers next to the road. Saw these weird black mud mounds, some with names on them. Thought maybe they where graves, but I’m not so sure. I saw a local with water and mud adding to the pile, so I suspect maybe they use it for pottery? Must ask around.

Managed to get some Malawian Kwachas (about 160 to the Dollar) and did some light shopping, mostly wine :) Got back to camp just before 11:00, but the lake was still a bit rough, but getting better. We decided to wait until 12:00 instead. So we took some time to get all our swimming gear, put the camera, GPS logger and money into a zip lock bag and have lunch. At noon, we were all lined up on the beach, staring in disbelief and this really shaky looking boat. Oh well, what's the worst that could happen??

Good thing we packed some motion sick pills, because it was rough going to the island. The captain of this fine vessels was one of the most muscular lads I’ve seen on this trip. He looked a bit Nigerian, possibly Congolese? Anyways, he was quite masterful at guided us to the island, by this time the sun was out and we could get to some snorkelling. Saw quite a bit of marine life, but visibility was quite poor. Lots of lizards and butterflies all over too. Our guide waited with us on the island until we were done (didn’t want to have to negotiate a price BACK to land! This is why you pay AFTER the trip. I’m learning, I’m learning...) before loading us all back on the boat. We cast off to the fishing village.

What an amazing experience! So much activity, people very inviting and friendly, our guide explaining the various fish drying methods, types of food and guiding us through the little alleys and byways. We wanted to try some real Malawian beer so he took us to a little bar in the middle of it all. Lekker. Tried some Kuche Kuche beer, at 3.7% not too rough. But at 500ml, more than enough to put all of us in a really mellow mood :)

Headed back to the boat and back to our camp site, but not before they tossed little fish they skewered with wood into the lake for the eagles. They managed to coax one of them to snatch it up quite close to the boat, I think I MAY actually have caught in on camera. But it’s tough going in a moving boat.

We’re making some chicken potjie tonight, with Chakalaka sauce, potatoes, sweet patatoe (that we bought at the fishing village) and veggies. Also enjoyed a HUGE papaya we bought in the village, delicious! It was about this time that we realised that this would have been a most excellent time to grab Annelie’s wedding dress and snap some pics on the beach, but we where hands deep in prepping food, and the dress was packed away, and I was still pissed, and and and. Oh well. Next time, we’ll be more prepared.

It’s our last evening here, we managed to fall behind again by one day, but I reckon it was worth it. So it’s going to be a bit of hard going again the next day or two. I’m really getting into this!

It’s now ABOUT 18:20, pitch black and I’m going to call it a day with the journal. Need to get some pics uploaded and enjoy that awesome potjie we got going on the fire.

Until later, much love from Malawi.

Highlights: A true fishing village experience!

Little blue fishes (as seen when snorkelling off an island in Lake Malawi)

[G & A], out

It’s as simple as something that nobody knows

19 June, Day 6: jus' chillin'

Day 6: just chillin

Spent the whole day lounging about. Managed to secure $2000 from the tour leader, Mattie. That’s quite an IOU, but it saves me the hassle of trekking to town for forex. We’ll sort it out in Mozambique.

Did some much needed maintenance on the photo gear, geo tagged the pics (YES! Thanks Leandra and Mom for getting me that stupid Bluetooth code. It was 0000. Not 1234, 123456, 12345, fuckfuckfuckit or any other variant). So all that is now locked and loaded, by the time you read this I should have pics online! So go check it out, I hope the geo-tags work ok, I can’t test it without interwebs.

Lots of monkeys here, so you have to watch your stuff like a hawk. Cleaned out the Bullet, hosed it down a bit, sweeped the seats, wiped the dashboard, rewired some gadgets. Took a rather cold shower, but at least I’m clean (relative). My beard is coming on nicely and I’ve been told that “it’s not the biggest deal in the world if I don’t shave it”. Which is about the closest my wife will come to admitting she likes the rugged look.

Ate peanut butter sandwiches (while drooling monkeys watched on) on the shore. Going to bake some more beer bread tonight, we managed to secure some fish from a local (obviously after much bartering). He’s also gonna organise a snorkelling trip for us tomorrow, so I’m looking forward to that. Pretty shit that I never bought the underwater housing for the side arm (Canon G9) but where would I have put it?? That said, I did bring a lot of crap I don’t need, but it’s still early days.

Sitting here under the shade of a tree, curious monkeys all around me. I found a pocket rocket in the Bullet, and my aim is pretty spot on. But these little guys are way too quick.

Nothing more to report right now, going to go make some chow and kick back. I’m really enjoying this tropical weather, soft surf, tiki-huts and gentle warm breeze. Even the monkeys are cute! Need to cover up for the mozzies though, malaria is a biatch.

[G & A], out

I have seen

18 June, Day 5: 12 hour stint

On the road again

Last night was a moderate success. We managed to at least feed everyone, so I think we did OK. Annelie reckons we did more than ok, but then, I’m a perfectionist.

What I found out a bit later after we stopped is that we were camped at a Mission camp ground. There was a little orphanage across the way, and they offered the facilities as a means to gather income. Lots of kids and young adults around, obviously very interested in strangers :) Something about the African people that I have taken to heart is that they are extremely courteous and friendly. Ok, I did run across a few not so trustworthy fellas in Livingston, who were very interested in selling me some gold and diamonds; work out some business arrangement to import to Cape Town (the number plates on The Bullet tipped them off).

What I’m saying is that I don’t feel threatened or paranoid in talking to local folks anymore. The site was next to this little dam, with a small straw roof building which was divided into 3 rooms and a bathroom / shower combo. We ended up “renting” the room, but camping with our gear outside, using the toilets should we need to. We were also keen to take a shower, so there where about 8 kids of various ages ferrying water from the dam in little buckets up a ladder to a container, perched above a hearth. This was to be our hot water. Only catch: the water than came through the old rusted pipes where bright red with copper... so... we skipped the showers. Shame, felt pretty shit, considering they went through all that trouble! I gave them some t-shirts from my stash of clothes, which they greatly appreciated.

Oh, and there was a spider the size of my fist in the toilet, right by the handle you’d use to flush. This I only spotted AFTER I did my business. Swell... And no, I didn’t take a picture, less I piss it off. It was pretty decent of him to let me use HIS toilet. Sometimes you just gotta know when you’re ahead.

Anyway, yes, braai went off a storm, tucked in, and awoke to the sound of roosters. Got up, grabbed my camera and snapped a few pics of the dam at sunrise. It had this weird mist rolling off the water and it was stunning! Couldn’t dwell on it too long, had to make some coffee for the flask, pack up the gear (ALL WET!) and get going. We were going to have to push hard today to reach Malawi. It was my turn to drive, so off we went. Managed to piss Annelie off with all the toys I’ve setup, since NONE of them wanted to work now. Coached her through a few tech support issues, but it all proved too much. Managed to sort it out eventually though, but we’ve made a new rule: she will drive initially until I get all the toys / chargers / laptops online, then we switch, because it’s WAY to stressful that time in the morning!! Fair enough.

Drove through some of the most picturesque landscape to date, made especially so due to that warm, golden sunrise. The geography showed some signs of change, since for the first time we encountered more mountain passes and rolling hills than before. All wide open spaces, with the top of any said hill affording a grand view as far as the eye can see. The flora is very much a combination of Karoo bushveld dotted liberally with all sorts of green. Spotted a few banana trees and Sugar plantations. Also, quite a few Balboa trees! Balboa means “upside down tree”, in that it looks like the roots of the tree is on the top. It’s not green at all, rather a grey colour, but they are MASSIVE. Apparently, some of the bigger ones, bigger being ones with a 7m diameter are estimated to be at least 3000 years old.

Stopped a few times for the customary photo shoot (rather, I’ve been imposing theses, since we’ve done nothing but drive like bell-ends this entire trip!). Passed many many little towns and other Church missions. Most towns are nothing but shanty shacks and a few brick buildings 4 rows deep, built around the main road, with peeling or no paint, some painted signage indicating their function.

But busy! Very very busy, people and hawkers everywhere, bikes, chickens, goats and dogs. And piggies. Mmmm, Bacon. Each town is usually announced with a “Slow” sign, followed by a “50” sign (50 kms), followed by a set of booms with the local police. Checkpoint.

Another thing I’ve learned here is that Africa is ALL about communication. Be friendly, be courteous, make friends, smile. Gets you very very far. Never argue. So it’s usually all smiles, how are you, yes yes, we’re going to such and such, make a little joke, wave, smile and drive. Easy... so far.

Anyways, we pass probably 6 of these on our way, slowing down only when we get stuck behind another truck or car (I use the term “car” and “truck” loosely) or when there are animals next to the road. And there are PLEEENTY of animals next to the main roads! Little goats that would be grazing one second, next dashing in front the Blue-Grey 4x4 going 120km/h (that would be us). I’m very sorry to report that later that evening, while trying to overtake a bus, Annelie drove right over a dog...

Yeah. Hectic.

We where both in a stat of shock, the truck didn’t even flinch. At least we know it was over quickly, we just kept going. Had she swerved though, she would have hit the bus we were passing or any of the cyclists of people walking next to the road. The dog just had its day. RIP little buddy, we’re sorry.

Had many many close calls before that too, too many to mention, really. It’s really hard going driving here. Following distance is key, and good radio comms. A lot of the times we did some “Strategic Driving”, so once one vehicle is through, he will radio through an “all clear” of “wait for the 2^nd white bakkie, then it’s open”, because you can’t always see around a bend, or over a hill, or around the bus you’re stuck behind. Also, our 3.0l diesel Nissan is a little loaded at this point... so getting up to speed takes some work especially up a hill. Timing, good recon and pure luck. Sometimes even that isn’t good enough.

Drive through Chipata, another rather large town, stop to buy a muffin at a shop. Carry on...

We eventually reach the border.

New experience. Totally new experience!

Just trying to get to the customs office was an adventure in itself, lots of fellows trying to sell you Malawian Kwacha “at good price. 160 per dollar”. As an aside, I did bargain up to 170, but I am totally out of my league here. I suck at bartering. The old hands in the group got 190 eventually, but only for “big notes” ($100 notes up).

Anyway, get to the office, have to fill in our details into a register, hand them our vehicles Carne de Passage, chick checks our passport... and stops.

“How many deys you in Zambia?”

“errr, 4”

“you only have 2 deys”

“eer, yes”

“I must detain you, you are illegal! Why you no visa?”

Shit

You see, I told the Zim / Zam border we’ll be 2 days when they asked. What the high hell was I thinking?!? And Annelie still argued with me about it, but in true male style I batted it. It was a little unfocused after all the landing in Zim without our gear.

“err, sorry ma’am (be kind, be courteous, NEVER argue!!), it was because our luggage was delayed by 2 days” (humble supplication)

“you shuld ‘ave got anothar one. This is illigaI, I must detain you”

“I’m really very sorry, it was an honest mistake, I’m travelling with all these other guys...”

Long story short, the other folks have built up enough rapport with her so that she let us go. But lessons learned.

Do the rest of the dance trough customs and immigration (I wish I could take pictures of this!), money hawkers trailing us all the way (at this stage I could get 165 per dollar). Walk over to the “insurance office” for the vehicles, where more negotiation and bartering is going on. In Malawi, if you get pulled over without 3^rd party insurance, you are severely boned. And these folks will phone ahead to the “authorities” and inform them of your “uninsured predicament”. More bartering, haggling, back and fro, eventually get the insurance sorted. One and a half hours later, we’re finally through!

By the way, the trading money with the money-hawkers are illegal. You can do it, and no one will stop you... until you try to cross the border. THEN they stop you, and fine you, and take the money back. It’s all a very elegant system, isn’t it? :)

More driving, more villages, thank goodness for the iPod! Reach Lilongwe, refuel, STRUGGLE to get money out of the ATM’s, since there aint no service. So have to burrow a $100 for fuel. Great. Sunset is earlier this far east, so by 18:45 we’re driving in the dark (big no no, remember?). And now I know why: NO street lights, NO bike lights, NO Animal lights, nothing. So if driving during the day was treacherous, times that by 10, at least. Annelie drove after Lilongwe, since I was going into a trance from time to time.

We reach Senga bay, next to Lake Malawi just after 19:15, at a camp called Steps. Compared to the world outside the gate, it’s miles apart. Green grass, little tiki huts, a bar, lights(!) and the roar of the lake, breaking shore. I say lake, but if you didn’t know where you where you’d think it’s an ocean.

Set up, make some chow, pretty much pass out! We’ve driven for 12 hours straight. But it was worth it, because now we can camp for 2 whole days! I have to hit town tomorrow, try and get some cash and upload some pics.

Highlights: green rolling hills and epic vistas

Arriving at Steps camp in one piece

Having chow next to the epic Lake Malawi, after such a loooong day

[G & A], out

something in the way

17 June, Day 4: Next to the Dam

Heh heh, what a night. Heard the strangest sounds , difficult to describe. There was this beep beep beeping sound, which I thought was a car alarm or something. Turned out to be some bushcat (no, not lion or any of the big kitties) in the tree above our tent. Looked it up in the animal encyclopaedia, could only be 2 types... but I’d be hard pressed to produce their scientific names at time of writing. J I’m gonna switch my camera to video to try and capture some of the kaleidoscope. Makes for crazy dreams though.

It was my turn to make coffee, so up I get, bowl some water, the rest of the camp is already in motion by 07:00. No fried stuff, just cereal today. Two tents are already being broken down, chairs back in backs, tables finding their way into storage slots. Water boiled, made Java. Bought some local flavour at a shop 2 days earlier, not too bad. Meanwhile, Annelie packed up the sleeping bags and cleared up the tent. Grabbed some cereal and got to work with the breakdown. Back on the road at around 08:00, heading to Lusaka. This was my first opportunity to type up some stuff on the laptop while the wife drives. A bit of a test really, since I usually get way motion sick, but it was totally fine.

Lusaka is the capital city of Zambia and looks every bit the part. All the westernised buildings you’d expect, and some South African shops where plentiful. And... busy! So damn busy. People everywhere, cars and taxi cutting you off, swerving across the road. Hawkers in the middle of it all trying to sell you everything from heated in car mugs to t-shirts and lighters. It took us longer than expected to get out of the thick of it. We stopped at a big shopping centre to restock with some supplies. We will be responsible for the food this evening, so we’ll just do a straight bbq with some braai broodtjies (toasted sandwiches, but the like you must taste to believe how freakin good it is!). End up spending around 873 000 Kwacha (Qwachja), that’s about 70 quid / R1250. We bought a lot though, more than enough to feed 8 people for 2 nights. We hit the road again after a refuelling stop, during which the group got pretty split up, due to traffic and some stations not accepting credit cards or petrol cards. Thank goodness we have the 2 way radios in the cars.

We’ve ended up at a camp that’s way off the map. Once I get the freaking GPS logger online I could tell you! Or rather, SHOW you :). I’m try and MacGyver a solution with another XP netbook we have here, although it’s been a tech support nightmare in itself.

I’m gonna sign off now, it’s 16:15, we’re in a beautiful place next to a dam, the sun will set in about 2 hours... and this nice, golden glow is around everything. This is the Golden Hour in photo speak, so I’m going to take advantage of this light.

[G & A], out

She’s an extraordinary girl

16 June, Day 3: Reunion

Woke up refreshed, slept way better last night since the sleeping bags where dry. I took the opportunity to try and organise some intertoob access at the lodge. True to form, it was slooooow and what should have taken a quick 10 mins took 45. I think this is due to my own processes though, but I’ll get the hang of it. I also didn’t upload the pics yet, since I didn’t have any battery power left! I have since installed my Tactical Command module into the 4x4 (aka “the Bullet”) and now have all the juice I’ll ever need!

While I was over there the kind lady ad reception informed me that BA phoned and confirmed that the luggage will be sent over at 11:00. Got back to the camp and helped break everything down, pack it up and take better stock of all our gear. We were still in flight mode, so everything was packed in various boxes and hand luggage, so we unpacked everything and repacked it into a “day box” (stuff we’ll need day to day”) and “backup box” (stuff we can use to restock the day box) followed by a “probably never box” (shit we’ll need on a very rare occasion).

Headed back to reception at 11:40 to check for our baggage. On the way, I commented to Annelie that they’re probably going to drop off the wrong baggage, considering our luck so far. Got to the reception and the friendly lady said something did arrive, but there was a problem with the bags so they took them back. 10 Second pause. “no no, I’m jus’ jhoking, it is here!” (said in East African accent). Here at last...

Dragged those heavy bags all the way back to camp. Turns out the little wheels don’t work that great on dusty gravel paths. At this stage we were quite elated and carefully sliced open the cling wrap we put over the bags at the airport (because I’m the world’s most paranoid traveller) and decided to duct tape the rest to the actual bag to keep out the dust.

At this stage 2 members of the party where off to the airport to hitch back to Cape Town. We said our goodbyes, finished with the packing and resolved to repack our newly acquired lost luggage at the next stop. While the other two were being dropped off I took a moment to tag and bag my pictures and queue a few up for upload (which, by the time your reading this should be online)(hopefully). I STILL cannot get my laptop to comms with the GPS logger, even though it’s still logging data points. It will run out of space eventually though, but for now it’s ticking over like a trooper. If anybody can locate the Bluetooth passkey for a Qstarz BT-Q1000x, I promise to love you forever! Email me at Gerhard.nel.za[at]gmail[dot]com.

Anyhoo, finished with the pics and I got a chance to repack the 4x4 that will be our home for the next 3 months. And she is a dirty bitch! Just the way I like it ;) As I mentioned before, I installed the inverter and multiple adaptor, cigarette lighter expansion bay and iPod tuner (for the radio, so we can jam some sweet tjunes while we cruise through our 16 000km adventure). Nice. At least something is going to plan! (ps: damn I’m good). Took some pics, it aint pretty, but it’s functional which is more than ok for Africa.

Lusaka, Ho! We were never going to make it in one go, since we only left Maramba at around noon. So we made our trek through Livingstone and beyond, finally stopping at a camp site called Gwembe at around 16:00. That’s the preferred time to stop for the night, btw, since you NEVER want to have to setup in the dark in this part of town. Got all our gear up, by this stage this is becoming habit; habit is essential, because after the 4 times I lost the keys, 2 times I lost my mobile and 1 and ONLY 1 time that I “lost” my wallet (this is after one day on this trip) it quickly became apparent that we need a better system for keeping track of everything. So laundry goes in the front left of the tent, 2 stretchers on front right to back right, “day bag” in middle left, all canvas bags for stretchers, chairs, sleeping bags etc goes into one stretcher bag, zipped up and underneath stretchers. Doom (for mozzies) front left, flashlight in pouch, as well as car keys when we go to bed (else, keys left in ignition). Insect repellent in cubby. Food and the like in the “day food box”. We can be up and ready to drink in 20 minutes flat :)

The site had a crocodile enclosure, with 35 of the biggest, meanest, ugliest sons of bitches I’ve ever seen. Spoke to Iya-komazi, the “Crocodile Hunter” (phonetic approximation, since I didn’t actually ask him to spell it, but made a nogte of it). It was his job to trek to the Kariba lake and catch these bad boys, using some very rudimentary methods. From what I gathered, he basically fed them a bit first (makes em sloooow) and harpooned them with a spear, then just reeled them in. I’m sure the pissed off, over fed croc may still have some strong feelings about that...

Took a bunch of shots of them the fellas (and one very pregnant lady) just lazing about, but I was informed that their seemingly docile attitude belies the fact that they haven’t been fed in 3 weeks (they eat once a month). Step one foot in there, or fall off the VERY rickety bridge over the enclosure and you won’t have much time to dwell on it. On account of you’ll end up a light starter. Nice.

Very rustic area, so I took the photo op to get a few shots of farm implements, an old rusted 4x4 and some machine parts. Got back to camp and kicked back. We didn’t have to make food tonight, the other folks where making potjie (a stew, made in a big cast iron pot). Baked some beer bread: 1 can 340ml beer of your choice, one small packet of self raising flour, some salt. Mix with hands. Throw bits that feel out of the bowl back (adds to the flava), kneed, fold, put in cast iron pot, cover for 15 minutes next to fire to allow to raise, but on coals, pack coals all over lid and bake for 40 minutes. LEKKER! (awesome, would be the closest English equivalent, though I’m open to suggestions from the Afrikaans speaking massive. Smack some ideas into the comments for other folks’ benefit :) )

Wife and I take a moment to sort out our accumulated luggage, doing the same “day / backup / never ever" Lamb and veggie potjie with bread went down a treat, as did the last Mosi beer and Savannahs. Chatted about politics and random bits, mostly about retirement plans (not for us, so much, the older crowd). Turned in at around 23:00 because we had an early start tomorrow. Need to reach Lusaka, stock up again and find another camp site before 16:00. We’re kind of on a bit of a schedule only because we need to meet up at Arusha for a tour guided safari we organised, into the Ngoro-Ngoro crater. But more on that later ;) (wiki-wiki)

Furthermore, my nose is constantly glogged up with dust! The roads today are in surprisingly good shape (courtesy of China), MUCH better that Cape Town and about 1000 times better than London!! Sjeesh, London roads are kak. But I guess they see more use. Yesterdays road out from Livingstone however... WHAT ROAD!? Potholes on and in potholes, dirt, bush and rock.

Yeah. It was great J

Highlights: Potholes in Potholes

Makin bacon with my luggage

Mid light: beer bread!

[G & A], out

I walk this empty street

Map updated!

My GPS Logger is giving me hassle, in that I cannot seem to connect to it. Yes. Big hassle. Tech support is damn hard in this part of town!

 

Anyhoo, I’ve add some points of interest. J

 

Much love,

 

[G]

June 15, Day 2: i can like totally see my house from here

Slept rough. These new stretchers sleep way hard! And as it turns out our sleeping bags got wet somewhere in the Caprivi Region... so we had to make another plan with the little blankets that where packed in plastic bags. And when the sun sets, it’s coooooold! We kept each other warm and ended up sharing one stretcher but we ended up tossing and turning all night, pulling what little blankets we had off the stretcher, waking up, resetting everything, try to warm up again wash rinse repeat.

This morning I chucked it all out in the sun so tonight should be better :)

Had a more productive day today. Switched my cell phone on, but only after spending 30 minutes trying to find it (it was in one of the bags I chucked out into the sun!). Anyways, message on phone: they’ve found our luggage and it’s on its way to Zim! Good times.

Had a quick breakfast, re-aligned my spine (damn stretcher!) and got dressed in the same clothes I’ve been wearing for 2 very long, very sweaty, very tiring days. We headed to Batoka Sky for our Microlite flights over the falls. And what a day for it! Clear blue sky, no wind whatsoever, and a new addition to my field of reference: a constant haze of spray on the horizon to where the falls are.

I wasn’t allowed to take my gear up there, which is a great shame. They did have a camera mounted on the left wing of the, erm, “aircraft” (2 bucket seats clamped to a lawn mower engine and strapped to a kite) and for $20 you could even have a copy. The no cameras policy suddenly made perfect sense. Got a few good shots actually, mostly of me doing horns. But there are some cool nature bits in there too, and the pilot was quite cool in pointing out any crazing Elephants, Hippos and the fattest crocodile I’ve ever seen! You could spot that big boy from space!

There was this one, truly National Geographic shot which I’m so disappointed I didn’t get to take. We were doing a second circuit around the falls and the bridge which spans the chasm over the falls, with Zim on the one end and Zambia on the other. I looked down and the pilot mentioned that the train crossing over the bridge at the moment was the Rooibos train (I “nodded” and “uhuh-ed” sagely, like I had a clue what he was talking about!). But that view... my goodness. My field of view was filled with this top down image of this simply magnificent waterfall and the sheer drop to the chasm below, white rapids roaring underneath the iron bridge, the ivory train in stark contrast as it eases across. I’m really struggling for words to describe the moment, the colours, the sound of the engine, the wind in my helmet, the giddiness of flight (never done THIS SHIT before!), the giant goofy smile on my face. And this world class view I was beholding. I felt like the luckiest man alive. Beats catching a bus to work... (oh how you London folks are loving THAT snide remark! Heh heh heh ;))

Since it would be pretty darn hard to top that today, we decided that we should part ways with the group somewhat and go do some quick shopping and track down our bags. We managed to find a slice of civilisation where Annelie could buy some underwear (apparently it’s different for girls, so no commando for her then...) and we had some chow, bought some booze and headed back to camp to track down our luggage. We were stopped by a herd of Elephants crossing the road before making our way back to camp. Long story short with the luggage: it DID arrive, but they needed to check if someone was heading to Livingston (so, Zambia) today. But nobody was making the trip, and their offices closed at 16:00. We got a guarantee that it would be here at the camp site (the Maramba River Lodge) tomorrow at 11:00 sharp. Though I’m not too confident about “sharp” in African Time. Translates roughly like GMT, but more like GMT+wheneverwefeelLikeIt or GMT+howManyDollarsDoYouHave. Fingers crossed, again.

Tomorrow some folks are off to the airport, which leaves about 7 of us. I’ll be sure to intro everyone in the follow up posts. For now, It’s getting quite cold, the fire has burned itself out and I’m tired of batting mosquitoes off of me! I’ll go and process some photos that I will attempt to upload later tomorrow.

Highlight of my day:

Doing horns while rocking it spread eagle over the Vic Falls, in a bucket seat strapped to a lawn mower.

Mini highlight: SHOWERING!

[G & A], out

flirting with life

14 June, Day 1: Zimbabwe or bust!

The time has come! We have spent the last few days selling / flogging / trashing and storing all our possessions, fit whatever was left into 4 impossibly small bags, re-packing said bags, weighing, repacking again, chucking more stuff, drinking heavily, forgetting that you actually give a shit and go!

So off we went, all dressed up and ready to safari the bejeezus outta this trip! We were quite fortunate to have one of our friends take us to Heathrow’s shiny new Terminal 5 for our flight (thanks Dan!!). I gotta admit, it’s the only way to get to the airport. Rock up at the drop-and-go, head into the building, and in retrospect I should have known that something was about to go horribly wrong when we couldn’t print our boarding passes...

In the queue we go, only to find that our flight has been delayed by 2.5 hours... What’s more is that we would probably also miss our connecting flight to Victoria Falls. Which shouldn’t normally be a big deal, but they only fly there 3 times a week! In the end, we took a gamble and checked our baggage all the way to Vic Falls, in the hope that the pilot steps on the gas a bit so we can make up lost time. This adventure is starting early.

To the bar (well, restaurant... but we got pissed anyway) , got some dollars at the forex counter (dollar is king in Africa) and onto the plane.

Arrive in JHB pretty much on the original flight schedule (we-hey!!). Off the plane 1^st, onto a shuttle, to the terminal, off the shuttle, do the hokey-pokey and we turn around, onto the shuttle and back onto another plane! At this stage, I was quite impressed with the efficiency of it all, quite unusual for South Africa. But we arrive at Zimbabwe relatively refreshed and well rested. Go through customs aaaaaand (drum roll, please)... our luggage isn’t here.

Fuck

We go through the rigmarole of reporting our missing bags, feeling pretty grotty as you do after long haul. This Le Grott is amplified by the realisation that we’re gonna be STUCK in these clothes for the foreseeable future. And... it’s hot. Like, really hot, adding some more flava. Swell...

Quite liberating actually.

Stranded, in Zim, without our clothes, without comms to our tour group and a sinking feeling of dread that every person in the building is out to get me. Plan B for this situation was to haul ass to the border and trek to the Zambezi Sun. The taxi driver was very helpful and gave us all sorts of info during the 27km ride to the Zim /Zambia border. Quite a quick affair, just a stamp here, stamp there and stroll over the bridge.

Breathtaking. After all the BS, the sight we met on the bridge was breathtaking. We could already feel the fine spray and mist clinging to our skin as we approached the vantage point. Victoria Falls, in all her 1.7 km wide, 93m high, 6000 cubic meters of water per second glory! How can you NOT forget about everything else??

We lingered a bit; batting all the vendors trying to sell us all manner of merch, and headed in the general direction (we were told) the Zambezi Sun hotel should be, crossing in Zambia (where the staff was playing a mean LAN game of Need For Speed 2 on government Pc’s nogal!). Stopped at a shop, bought a Sim card and got online! Managed to fire off a flare to the parental units and our tour group and a rendezvous was arranged. Rocked up at the Hotel and was greeted by nothing but smiles. Paradise!! Finally, something is going right! Truly an oasis in this desolate place. Even spotted a dude rocking on a Sedgeway! My kinda place.

Here we met up with our tour group, and immediately ferried to a boat cruise on the Zambezi! “Don’t worry man, you don’t need luggage, let’s go drink!”. Lekker.

We boarded the River Queen and cast off. Open bar, good food off the grill and more breathtaking views (I saw a hippo)! Drank our first Zambian Beer, called Mosi, and it tasted sweeeeet. Enjoyed our first epic African Sunset and tried our best to just relax. To be fair, it STILL didn’t feel like we left London, even with overwhelming evidence to the contrary. I kept thinking that we should get going, I’m working earlies tomorrow (that’s a 07:30 start, so 6am wake up call).

After the cruise we headed to our (temporary) base camp for some more chow and drink, signed up for Microlites at 09:00 the next day before tucking in. At this stage I just want to thank my folks for rocking so god damned hard!! Thanks for organising all the extra boxes with supplies of all sorts, our sleeping gear and the extra clothes (which we intended to give away to under privileged folks... which now turned out to be us!). Love you guys!

So that’s it, for now (phew, that was a marathon!). I’ll try and keep the posts shorter, and I actually skipped over quite a few things. But thanks if you stuck around to the end :)

Till tomorrow

[G & A], out.

In the jungle, the mighty jungle