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| Livingston |
dinsdag 3 juni 2008
Livingstone to Bushmen
On Saturday 12 April, the last day of our first overland trip and René's 32nd birthday we got up reasonably early. After breakfast with French toast, we said goodbye to Kim and Maarten, who were flying to Jo'burg later that morning, and headed to Mosi-O-Tunya (The Smoke That Thunders) National Park, gateway to the Zambian side of the Victoria Falls. With a height of 111 metres and a width of 1,7 km, the Victoria Falls are one of the world's most impressive waterfalls and an amazing sight. At its peak at the end of March about 900 million liters of water flows over the falls per second, dropping into a narrow chasm before continuing its journey through a series of gorges. Because the subsequent spray has nowhere else to go but up, a huge cloud of mist hangs in front of and above the falls. This mist, or smoke - as the locals call it - obscures the view of the actual falls, but can be seen from miles away.
Rather then donning a raincoat which doesn't really offer protection from spray that comes from every direction, we decided to walk around in our swimming gear, and were treated to the best natural shower you can imagine when crossing the footbridge to Knife Edge Point, a tall rock island directly in front of the falls. Next stop was the top of the falls, where you can get within meters of the edge. When the water is lower, it is even possible to lay in the Zambezi and look down the falls, but the time of year we were there the current was much too strong for that. We then descended towards the Boiling Pot, the first rapid after the falls. After climbing over rocks and crossing a couple of streams, we enjoyed a close view of the amazing power of the rapid and could fully appreciate the force of the water as it winds down through the gorgres. When the water is lower, the Zambezi offers some of the best white water rafting in the world, but unfortunately for us, it was still closed because the river was too dangerous. What we were able to do though is take a helicopter ride over the falls, which we did the next day. After visiting the National Park, we had some fun bartering for souvenirs at the locals curio market, trading some items that had become obsolete, such as an unreliable headtorch, fishing line and hooks and a spare headset.
Back at the campsite, we met the new group of people that had joined us for the second part of the tour to Capetown. It is always strange to say goodbye to people after bonding with them for a period of time and welcoming a group of strangers simultaneously, especially as the first impression isn't the greatest. The new group seemed to lack some proactivity, which, with the exception of some, turned out to be quite a theme in the next leg of the trip. Joining us were Brett and Ashleigh, a nice young couple from New Zealand who had just started their round the world tour; Rose and Georgia, 2 English highschool graduates from rather priviliged backgrounds; Lorraine, a middleaged woman from the UK, who started off by complaining a lot, but also displayed a lots of guts and a wicked sense of humour; Mark, an English bloke of 35; Sam, a young English chef; and Sheri, a Canadian girl, who had been travelling around Africa for 3 months by herself. Louka, Annie and Sara also stayed with us.
After 2 days of everyone doing their own thing, we set off on Monday morning towards Botswana and Chobe National Park. The next day we were booked in for a morning game drive and and afternoon river cruise in the park, which is famous for its huge herds of elephants. Unfortunately I missed the first activity due to a vicious attack of 'squirtybum' - or diarrhoea, as it is more commonly known. I was able to do the river cruise though, which offered wonderful views of drinking and bathing elephant, as well as hippos, birds and crocodiles . The next day we continued our journey across the Namibian border and into the Caprivi Strip, where we stayed for 2 night at Ngepi campsite, home to many artistic and interesting open air toilets and showers. The latter included the 'Garden of Eden', a toilet set in the middle of a garden surrounded by reeds, and 'The Throne', a royal contraption which looked out over the river. The second day in Ngepi, we just relaxed by the river, fishing, sunbathing and talking and even spotted a couple of elephants on the opposite bank.
The next day we went back into Botswana for one of the absolute highlights of our Africa trip, a 2 day Mokoro (dugout canoo) safari through the Okavango Delta. We met our polers at midday, and after a relaxing 1.5 hour trip through reeds and past hundreds of waterlillies we arrived at the island where we would bushcamp that night. The Delta is an incredibly beautiful place, lush, green and so peaceful. Whilst on the water, we did have a rather exciting encounter with a couple of hippos. Hippos are extremely territorial and when you get too close they can become very dangerous. In fact, more people are killed by hippos in Africa every year than by any other animal. That afternoon, we went for a short bushwalk, during which Meshak, our poler and the group leader, explained to us the various uses of plants and trees and showed us the footprints of vairous animals. So exciting to be standing at a spot where hippo, elephant, hyena, zebra and impala have all passed within the last 24 hour.
The next morning, we got up early for another, longer bushwalk, this time with the goal to find some wildlife. After 1 hour of walking, we had just spotted some zebra and impala, when Meshak heard the trumpeting of an elephant further away and proceeded to take us in the direction of the noise by following the elephant tracks. It is so exciting to be walking in the bush and notice that the tracks - footprints, dung and damaged plants and trees - are getting fresher. As Meshak started walking slower and his movements became more and more careful, the tension was palpable. And then, behind a couple of trees... three elephant bulls about 30 metres away from us. "Don't move, don't make a sound and stay in a single file", Meshack whispered to us, as one of the bulls stared into our direction. After about 5 minutes of staring, the bull decided to give up and continued to eating. As we all breathed a sigh of relief, Meshack explained that elephants have a bad eyesight, but if they spot you there is a realistic chance that they charge at you. On the way back, we had another encounter with an elephant. This time he was so close that we had to stop in our tracks, move backwards and wait for him to pass before we could continue down the path. After the walk, we packed up our gear and got into the mokoro again for a tranfer to the Umvuvu campsite, where we enjoyed hot, open air showers and a lovely traditional meal in the evening. That night, they had organised a little party for us and locals from the island and surrounding villages treated us to African song and dance. We were all encouraged to join in and René entertained and surprised all of us with his bootie shaking antics, whilst wearing a traditional reed skirt.
The next day and the day after we just drove, but the day after that we visited a community of San Bushmen. Bushmen are one of the older tribes in South Western Africa, but a decrease of their habitat, relocation and a ban on hunting have meant the loss of their culture and subsequent depression, unemployment and alcoholism.In order to keep their culture alive and make some money, the community we visited offer tourists an opportunity to learn about their old ways of living. During a walk through the bush a couple of bushmen showed us how they used to hunt with bow and poisoned arrow or by setting traps, how they used to dig up roots to drink their moisture and how they created fire. The bushmen, made famous by the film, 'The Gods Must Be Crazy' are small, friendly people with tiny frames and disproportionally big arses. The children were particularly excited about our visit and came running to us as soon as the truck parked, asking to be picked up, swung around or sit on our laps. In the evening we treated them to cordial and popcorn whilst sitting around the campfire.
After a very cold night during which we all decided a top priority was to buy extra blankets, we said goodbye to the bushmen and continued toward Etosha National Park, where we would be spending the next 2 days.
Rather then donning a raincoat which doesn't really offer protection from spray that comes from every direction, we decided to walk around in our swimming gear, and were treated to the best natural shower you can imagine when crossing the footbridge to Knife Edge Point, a tall rock island directly in front of the falls. Next stop was the top of the falls, where you can get within meters of the edge. When the water is lower, it is even possible to lay in the Zambezi and look down the falls, but the time of year we were there the current was much too strong for that. We then descended towards the Boiling Pot, the first rapid after the falls. After climbing over rocks and crossing a couple of streams, we enjoyed a close view of the amazing power of the rapid and could fully appreciate the force of the water as it winds down through the gorgres. When the water is lower, the Zambezi offers some of the best white water rafting in the world, but unfortunately for us, it was still closed because the river was too dangerous. What we were able to do though is take a helicopter ride over the falls, which we did the next day. After visiting the National Park, we had some fun bartering for souvenirs at the locals curio market, trading some items that had become obsolete, such as an unreliable headtorch, fishing line and hooks and a spare headset.
Back at the campsite, we met the new group of people that had joined us for the second part of the tour to Capetown. It is always strange to say goodbye to people after bonding with them for a period of time and welcoming a group of strangers simultaneously, especially as the first impression isn't the greatest. The new group seemed to lack some proactivity, which, with the exception of some, turned out to be quite a theme in the next leg of the trip. Joining us were Brett and Ashleigh, a nice young couple from New Zealand who had just started their round the world tour; Rose and Georgia, 2 English highschool graduates from rather priviliged backgrounds; Lorraine, a middleaged woman from the UK, who started off by complaining a lot, but also displayed a lots of guts and a wicked sense of humour; Mark, an English bloke of 35; Sam, a young English chef; and Sheri, a Canadian girl, who had been travelling around Africa for 3 months by herself. Louka, Annie and Sara also stayed with us.
After 2 days of everyone doing their own thing, we set off on Monday morning towards Botswana and Chobe National Park. The next day we were booked in for a morning game drive and and afternoon river cruise in the park, which is famous for its huge herds of elephants. Unfortunately I missed the first activity due to a vicious attack of 'squirtybum' - or diarrhoea, as it is more commonly known. I was able to do the river cruise though, which offered wonderful views of drinking and bathing elephant, as well as hippos, birds and crocodiles . The next day we continued our journey across the Namibian border and into the Caprivi Strip, where we stayed for 2 night at Ngepi campsite, home to many artistic and interesting open air toilets and showers. The latter included the 'Garden of Eden', a toilet set in the middle of a garden surrounded by reeds, and 'The Throne', a royal contraption which looked out over the river. The second day in Ngepi, we just relaxed by the river, fishing, sunbathing and talking and even spotted a couple of elephants on the opposite bank.
The next day we went back into Botswana for one of the absolute highlights of our Africa trip, a 2 day Mokoro (dugout canoo) safari through the Okavango Delta. We met our polers at midday, and after a relaxing 1.5 hour trip through reeds and past hundreds of waterlillies we arrived at the island where we would bushcamp that night. The Delta is an incredibly beautiful place, lush, green and so peaceful. Whilst on the water, we did have a rather exciting encounter with a couple of hippos. Hippos are extremely territorial and when you get too close they can become very dangerous. In fact, more people are killed by hippos in Africa every year than by any other animal. That afternoon, we went for a short bushwalk, during which Meshak, our poler and the group leader, explained to us the various uses of plants and trees and showed us the footprints of vairous animals. So exciting to be standing at a spot where hippo, elephant, hyena, zebra and impala have all passed within the last 24 hour.
The next morning, we got up early for another, longer bushwalk, this time with the goal to find some wildlife. After 1 hour of walking, we had just spotted some zebra and impala, when Meshak heard the trumpeting of an elephant further away and proceeded to take us in the direction of the noise by following the elephant tracks. It is so exciting to be walking in the bush and notice that the tracks - footprints, dung and damaged plants and trees - are getting fresher. As Meshak started walking slower and his movements became more and more careful, the tension was palpable. And then, behind a couple of trees... three elephant bulls about 30 metres away from us. "Don't move, don't make a sound and stay in a single file", Meshack whispered to us, as one of the bulls stared into our direction. After about 5 minutes of staring, the bull decided to give up and continued to eating. As we all breathed a sigh of relief, Meshack explained that elephants have a bad eyesight, but if they spot you there is a realistic chance that they charge at you. On the way back, we had another encounter with an elephant. This time he was so close that we had to stop in our tracks, move backwards and wait for him to pass before we could continue down the path. After the walk, we packed up our gear and got into the mokoro again for a tranfer to the Umvuvu campsite, where we enjoyed hot, open air showers and a lovely traditional meal in the evening. That night, they had organised a little party for us and locals from the island and surrounding villages treated us to African song and dance. We were all encouraged to join in and René entertained and surprised all of us with his bootie shaking antics, whilst wearing a traditional reed skirt.
The next day and the day after we just drove, but the day after that we visited a community of San Bushmen. Bushmen are one of the older tribes in South Western Africa, but a decrease of their habitat, relocation and a ban on hunting have meant the loss of their culture and subsequent depression, unemployment and alcoholism.In order to keep their culture alive and make some money, the community we visited offer tourists an opportunity to learn about their old ways of living. During a walk through the bush a couple of bushmen showed us how they used to hunt with bow and poisoned arrow or by setting traps, how they used to dig up roots to drink their moisture and how they created fire. The bushmen, made famous by the film, 'The Gods Must Be Crazy' are small, friendly people with tiny frames and disproportionally big arses. The children were particularly excited about our visit and came running to us as soon as the truck parked, asking to be picked up, swung around or sit on our laps. In the evening we treated them to cordial and popcorn whilst sitting around the campfire.
After a very cold night during which we all decided a top priority was to buy extra blankets, we said goodbye to the bushmen and continued toward Etosha National Park, where we would be spending the next 2 days.
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