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Africa - Day 11

I am not a morning person. So when planning this trip I had imagined that the 5am wake up call would not be pleasant. Thankfully, I was wrong! This morning, after a very heavy sleep, I was wide awake at 4am, when the sun was beginning to rise. Shanon was already awake, having heard a lion roaring nearby. Before our drive we went to the main deck to get Shanon a coffee. Everyone was talking about the lion, and about the other animals they'd heard wandering around in the night. It seems that while I was fast asleep everyone else had been sitting up in their beds, their eyes wide open and their hearts beating fast.

On our morning drive we got to meet Batman, the dominant male leopard in the area, while he was stalking impala. We stayed close in the hope of seeing him make a kill. At one point he walked right up to the vehicles (max. 2 vehicles are allowed at a sighting at a time), and sat down right in front of another vehicle from our lodge, leaving the tracker Oscar sitting precariously close and smiling nervously. At that moment we witnessed one of the most 'stupid tourist' moments you could imagine as the group of middle-aged Swiss guests stood up and clambered to the side of the vehicle to get a look, shaking poor Oscar in front of Batman and earning themselves a big telling off.

On the way back to the lodge we came across an elephant standing right next to road. We were able to stop for a while and observe him very closely...amazing.

After a delicious breakfast on the main deck there was an optional walk which we all chose to go on. Arend, armed with his rifle, advised us to all walk in a straight line behind him. By this time of day it was stinking hot, but I’m so glad we chose to go. The focus is on smaller things, such as plants and insects, which get missed when you're in the vehicle. The walk started well when we all went to look at a plant, and then spotted the tiniest of frogs clinging to one of the leaves. Next stop was a huge pile of dung where hundreds of dung beetles of various sizes were making balls of dung and rolling them away, maneuvering them around our feet. It sounds gross I'm sure, but it's actually quite comical and very, very cute. We continued on, past baboons and antelope, to the river. Standing on the bank we watched hippos resting in the water and a couple of elephants walking past on the opposite bank, while colourful dragonflies flew around us.

By the time we got back to the lodge we were overheating, but soon cooled down while enjoying nice cold drinks on the deck. The middle of the day is relax time at the lodge. The whole place turns dead silent as people nap, relax, or take a dip in the plunge pool. The deck in front of our tent was an excellent place to sit and pass the time.

Lunch was at 3:30, and then it was time for our afternoon drive. We'd only just left the lodge when we came across a herd of elephants, including a gorgeous wee baby one. After watching them for a while we went to see a crocodile. We got out of the vehicle and followed Arend to her. Crocodiles are deadly of course, but in this case we were able to safely observe her from just a couple of metres away. She was lying on her eggs, and was much too concerned about protecting them to bother attacking us. We also found the lions again, although this time the male was not with them. They were napping and we all had a good giggle when one of them rolled over and farted. On the way back in the dark Arend suddenly stopped the vehicle and disappeared into a tree. He came back holding a chameleon. A perfect end to another perfect day in African paradise!

Africa - Day 10

We had such a great time in Botswana we thought it was an experience which couldn't be beat. We were wrong. Today was the start of the most wonderful and exciting 5 days of our lives, and it all began with a domestic flight to Hoedsprit.

Arriving at Hoedsprit was an experience. After walking off the plane we were led into a tiny courtyard where the representatives from the various game lodges in the area waited. After meeting our ranger, Arend, it was only another couple of metres to the road where our luggage promptly arrived on a little trailer. Within 5 minutes of landing we were in Arend’s car and on our way to our lodge, Gomo Gomo Game Lodge, in the Timbavati Private Nature Reserve bordering Kruger National Park. We spent the hour-long drive chatting with Arend, and began to feel really good about spending the following five days in his constant company. His enthusiasm and love of the job was immediately obvious.

On arrival at the lodge the friendly hostess, Lourenza, came out and greeted us and took us into reception to fill out the paperwork and to give them the details of our emergency contacts in case we got eaten by lions. Arend then took us to our lovely tent. With electricity, running water, and comfortable beds we were definitely not roughing it. It was set on a wooden platform and had a proper wooden door. Inside it was just like a nice hotel room, with the exception of canvas walls & ceiling. A wooden door at the back led through to the attached bathroom, which had solid walls on 3 sides and was perfectly acceptable.

We were pleasantly surprised when we turned up to our afternoon drive half an hour later to find that the other guests in our vehicle were all a similar age to us; 3 English guys and a Swiss couple. We had imagined that we’d be spending much of our safari with older people which was somewhat the case in Botswana. There were 2 other vehicles, and they contained a mix of people our age, and people in their 50’s or 60’s. One of the other vehicles had a tracker sitting on a precarious little seat on the front, but we were told that the other two were on holiday with our own one not getting back until Thursday.

Our drive started extremely well. We had hardly left the lodge when we came across a herd of elephants. Not long after that we were on our way to our first rhino sighting. It was amazing getting within a couple of metres of a pair of them. But they were constantly moving in bushy terrain and since we were up high in the back row we seemed to be spending more time dodging thorns and branches than looking at the rhino. After tracking the rhino for a while Peter, one half of the Swiss couple, yelled out and starting pointing excitedly to the grass in a clearing. Unfortunately Peter can not speak English so his girlfriend Lilly had to translate for us. After a few confused moments we discovered that Peter had spotted a leopard. Even after it was pointed out to us it took most of us a minute or two to actually see her. If not for Peter we would of driven right past! We very quickly forgot about the rhino and started following the leopard. She was beautiful! By this stage this single drive had already exceeded our expectations for our whole 5 day stay.

And it got even better. Each night the ranger selects somewhere nice to stop for sundowners - a drink and snack as the sun sets. We passed through a large herd of buffalo not long before sunset, so Arend parked on the far side of a waterhole that he suspected the buffalo were heading towards. Sure enough, the buffalo soon showed up and we enjoyed our drinks just a few metres away from where dozens of buffalo were enjoying theirs. We were packed up and pretty much ready to go when Arend suddenly told us to get back into the vehicle immediately. A handful of buffalo had snuck through the trees on the side of the waterhole and were now standing just a few metres away from us looking decidedly grumpy. After we were all safely back in we swiftly left the area.

That wasn’t the end of the excitement. We soon heard that the local lion pride had been spotted on a sandy river bed. I was a bit nervous when I heard one of the other rangers over the radio say the drive in to the sighting is a bit of a precarious one. One thing that had very quickly become apparent was that Arend was a touch crazy when it came to driving. My heart sank when I saw the steep, tree-covered, hill which we would need to negotiate. But after a nerve-wracking few minutes we managed to arrive unscathed at the lions, a pride consisting of an adult male, two adult females, and five cubs. Since they were all sleeping we didn’t spend too long with them, with Arend promising that we’d pick up their trail in the morning.

As we drove back to the lodge Arend shone a spotlight, with the hope of spotting one of the nocturnal animals. We didn’t see anything, except for a couple of scrub hares, but it didn’t matter. Just being out in the African bush at night was a magical experience. We’d seen the Big 5, plus a number of other animals, all in the space of 3 hours. We couldn’t of been happier.

After half an hour to relax in our room Arend came to walk us to the bar, where we chatted with Lilly & smiled and gestured at Peter before going to eat. Dinner was a 3 course affair eaten at individual tables set in a circle around a fire. The chef announced the menu before we started. He considered himself as a bit of a comedian and tried to inject some humour into his announcement. Unfortunately, due to his hard-to-understand accent his jokes fell flat. They were either met with silence, or the sound of people asking each other, “What did he say?”. It was painfully uncomfortable. Between us Shanon and I picked out that he was joking that we would be served, ‘Steamed Trousers’, and ‘Cheetah with Nice Shoes On’, but had no idea what he said that we were actually being served. The main meal was buffet style served under lights, but the appetizer and dessert were delivered to us at our tables. With only the light of the fire and a small lamp each to see by it was a mystery meal. We all peered through the darkness at our food before being brave and taking a bite. Everyone thought that the food was very good, but we found dessert to be….interesting. It was a nice cheesecake with a weird sauce on it. Thanks to my recent experience with blood noses I thought that it tasted like blood, but Shanon thinks it may have been rhubarb.

Africa - Day 9

This morning we needed to meet in the lobby at about 10 for our transfer back to Victoria Falls. Eager to squeeze as much into our trip as possible we opted to get up super-early again for one last game drive in Chobe National Park. The South African man I met on my afternoon drive the other day was there too, without his sour wife. There are about 4-5 vehicles which leave from the lodge for each drive. Usually they are all run by the same company, who use radios to keep in touch with each other and to let the others know if they spot anything exciting. This time we were assigned to a vehicle from a different company which did not have a radio. This ended up working in our favour.

The drive started quietly enough, and by the time we stopped for a drink half-way through we really hadn’t seen too much. As we started to drive back the guide spotted a large herd of buffalo off in the distance and started heading towards them. This turned into one of the most exciting sightings imaginable, as just before we got to the buffalo a pack of about 9 wild dogs killed an impala. By the time we got there the wild dogs were excitedly enjoying their meal, and a hyena had come over to wait his turn. We quickly forgot about the buffalo and sat there absolutely engrossed with what we were seeing. Wild dogs are endangered and rare, so to get such a good sighting of them was extremely lucky and a great treat. And we had it pretty much all to ourselves, only having to share it with a couple of private vehicles. If we had been with the other company with the radios we would of soon been surrounded by vehicles.

Before long dozens of vultures began to land and wait, and we spotted a black-backed jackal making his way over too. The dogs took a break from their meal and the hyena started to drag the carcass away, but the dogs soon attacked him and he yelped and backed away. The dogs left a couple of minutes later and the vultures swooped in. But the hyena chased them away and began to eat, while continuously having to chase away the cheeky jackal which kept sneaking up and trying to get some food too. It was absolutely fascinating and a real highlight of our time in Botswana. As I was watching the wild dogs walking away in the distance I saw a couple of vehicles from the other company drive right by them. I really hope that the South African man was in one of those vehicles, so that he could go back to his wife and smugly inform her that she missed out on seeing wild dogs.
By the time we left the dogs we were already running a bit late, and I was nervous about getting back to the lodge in time for our transfer. But the animal sightings kept coming. First a large herd of buffalo ran across the road right in front of us. And then we came across a herd of elephant drinking at the river. By the time we got back we only just had enough time to quickly throw our things into our suitcases before checking out.

We were joined by 2 Canadian ladies on the way back to Victoria Falls. Canada must of done something to really annoy Zimbabwe at some point as their visa fees were ridiculous. They were horrified to learn that we only paid US$45 for double entry visas, whereas their single entry visas cost $65. Since Shanon had already entered Zimbabwe twice he expected to pay for an extra single entry visa at the border crossing, but even after he pointed out to the staff that he’d need a new visa he was simply waved through. But the poor Canadians were still forced to part with another US$65 each. One of the ladies had left her binoculars behind at a lodge they stayed at in Victoria Falls, so before we went to the airport we took a detour through the town and out to the lodge. Passing through the town I noticed that all the tourists were being followed down the street by guys trying to see them wooden carvings.

Victoria Falls Airport is tiny and after checking-in there was no-where to go and nothing to do except to go and stand in line for the departure lounge. While standing there surprised voices made their way through the line as people exclaimed, “It’s raining!”, and we all turned and stared outside as heavy rain poured from the grey sky. After endless days of sunshine, blue skies, and high temperatures the rain seemed bizarre and out of place. But the accompanying drop in temperature was very welcome.

On arrival in Johannesburg we briefly worried that we had fallen victim to the luggage crime which is rife at South Africa’s airports when we noticed that Shanon’s padlock had been ripped off his suitcase. But nothing seemed to be missing, so we assume it must have been ripped off accidentally. We took the shuttle back to Emperor’s Palace and went to check in at the Mondior Concorde, where we were informed that they’d sold out and we’d been moved to another hotel in the complex, the Metcourt Laurel. I really had to roll my eyes when I heard this as I had tried and failed a number of times since August to book a room at the Metcourt Laurel. It was only a few days before we left NZ, after finding out that it had just sold out for the dates we wanted, that I finally gave up and booked at the more expensive Mondior.

After checking into the Metcourt we wandered through the most ridiculously huge hallway to our ridiculously huge room. In fact, as soon as we opened our ridiculously huge door I exclaimed, “This is ridiculous!”. It certainly wasn’t the sort of size you’d expect a 3 star hotel room to be. A walk through numerous hallways and a convention centre took us to the food court area of the complex, where we went to grab something to eat from our new favourite restaurant, Mugg & Bean. When my drink arrived Shanon joked that I should be careful not to spill it, the way I did at Wimpy a week ago. Guess what happened? Sure enough, half way through our delicious meal I managed to spill coke all over the table and the poor waiter had to come clean it up. Shanon and were giggling hysterically, but really I was absolutely mortified. This time was even worse as the coke was running off the table and onto the floor. The worst part is that Mugg & Bean is directly across from the Wimpy. Our waiter from last week could very well have been watching and laughing.

Africa - Day 8

Today didn’t get off to the best start. We met in the lobby at 5:45am for our game drive, and were still waiting half an hour later. It turned out that the hold-up was a young Australian couple on honeymoon. The guy was slightly apologetic about being so late, but the girl wasn’t at all apologetic and everyone gave her evil looks and put her on their mental list of enemies. The drive ended up being extremely quiet. We didn’t see any lions, and the only time we saw elephants they were so far off in the distance I could only identify them with the use of my binoculars. Buffalo in the park have been dying of disease and we were unfortunate enough to drive past one lying on the side of the road. Scavengers are clever enough to leave the diseased bodies alone, so the buffalo was instead being eaten by insects. Thousands upon thousands of insects. It was a truly disgusting sight, and the smell was foul. We approached the buffalo from behind and I’m glad I looked away by the time its face came into view. Shanon said it was the stuff of nightmares, crawling with maggots. Fortunately our minds were soon taken off the gruesome sight when we saw some impala babies. This was followed by the hilarious sight of two rival hippos running across the grass on the island in the middle of a river, one chasing the other one away. We also saw a spotted hyena rolling in the mud. It was much bigger than I expected, and really quite ugly. And that sighting was followed by one of a warthog with 3 gorgeous little babies.

For our last night in Botswana we could think of nothing better to do than to go on another sunset cruise. The cruise was once again fantastic, with animals everywhere we looked. The highlight was when we spent some time with a pod of at least 40 hippos, all packed in tightly together. As the young guide said, it was ”the biggest pod ever”. Our last sunset in Botswana was absolutely stunning…the perfect way end our stay.

Africa - Day 7

When we travel it’s not uncommon for us to spend a day apart, often as a way of ensuring we both get to do what we want to do. Today was one of those days.

Shanon went on a day trip back to Zimbabwe to check out Victoria Falls, and had a marvelous time. He thought that the US$20 entry fee was extremely worthwhile, considering he got to spend a number of hours wandering around the falls admiring them from a number of spectacular viewpoints. The falls were only at about 40% strength, but still impressive. They put Niagara Falls to complete and utter shame. He returned to the lodge with dozens of photos on his camera, and four new stamps in his passport.

I opted to stay in Botswana, which was a bit of a controversial decision. Other guests I talked to were horrified that I was missing out on the falls. But I don’t feel like I was missing out at all. I had a wonderful day too. I spent the morning in Kasane, using the internet and going to the supermarket. It was great mixing and mingling with the locals, and even though I have never stuck out quite so much before I felt more accepted than in many other places I’ve been to. It was nice to be able to wander around without being stared at or harassed.

I spent the first part of the afternoon lazing around reading magazines, but ended up getting distracted by all the animal activity going on right by my deck. There was the troop of about 30 vervet monkeys, with cute little baby monkeys playing on the grass. Amongst them was the group of banded mongoose from yesterday. And to top it all off was a crazy warthog who spent a lot of time chasing a mongoose. It was hilarious to watch as the mongoose led the warthog back and forth across the lawn, causing all the monkeys in their path to quickly jump up into the trees. I would of sat and watched forever, but eventually the monkeys started joining me on the deck and a freaky-looking one with a disfigured eye chased me back into the room.

At 3:30 I went on an afternoon game drive with a couple of American ladies, and a South African couple. It was a lot quieter than our first drive, but we saw some interesting animals such elephants, lions, and cute little baby impala. The Americans wanted to see a giraffe, so we went off in search for some, eventually getting a good look at a group of about 5 of them. We all enjoyed the drive, except for the South African lady. She was really sour and exclaimed to her husband that it had been a waste of time and that she wanted to cancel the drive they had booked for Saturday morning. He spent the whole drive back to the lodge trying (but failing) to convince her that it’s all down to luck as to what you see on a drive, and just because she was bored with this one doesn’t mean that she won’t see more exciting things on Friday. She’s lucky we didn’t throw her to the lions.

Africa - Day 6

We had to book months and months in advance to get accommodation at the lodges we wanted. Even then we were still not early enough to find a room at this lodge that we could stay in the whole 5 nights. So we booked 2 nights in a rondavel (the cheapest rooms), followed by 3 in a safari room (the most expensive). So today we needed to change rooms.

At 11 we checked out of the first room, and since there were a few hours until our new room was ready we left our bags in reception. We thought a visit to Julius in the Activities office would fill in some time, but we were served by an extremely efficient lady instead. We were back out the door again within a couple of minutes, scratching our heads as to what to do next. With the weather way too hot to contemplate anything else, we went and grabbed a shady seat next to the water. After a while I went for a walk to the bathroom, and as I was crossing a bridge some alarmed sqeaking and scurrying came from the leaves below. I'd found a group of banded mongoose! On my short walk I also came across the resident troop of baboons jumping onto the roofs of the lodges. When I got back to Shanon I sent him off to check out the mongoose, and afterwards we both watched for a while as baboons climbed all over the lodge balconies. We could see why we were advised to keep our doors closed at all time. It wouldn't be nice to have baboons running off with our belongings! We spent the rest of our wait sitting under a small group of trees which was alive with literally hundreds of birds. It was lovely! At least it was until we got pooped on.

Our new room was a big step up from the rondavel. Most importantly, there was air-conditioning! Besides that it was huge, and very nice. We had a lovely big balcony with stairs which led down to the lawn. We were greeted by some great animal activity almost immediately after checking into the room. From our deck we could see a troop of vervet monkeys playing in front of us, and 4 warthogs running around the lawn like maniacs. They run with their tails up in the air, and look rather silly.

At 3:30 we went on a wonderful sunset cruise on the Chobe River, looking at wildlife on the banks, and on an island in the middle of the river. It was magnificent. The highlight was the hippos - we must of passed hundreds in the river, and we also saw about 30 of them grazing on land. It was quite the sight. We also saw elephants, lions, crocodiles, baboons, vervet monkeys, buffalo, sable, puku, waterbuck, a warthog with babies, giraffe, and many other antelopes and birds. As the sun was beginning to fade, large groups of birds began to settle down for the night in trees lining the river bank. At 6:30 the boat stopped near the lodge so we could watch the sunset, before returning to the jetty.