Queue the jaws music....
That's right - I swam with the big fishes. Josie (wisely) skipped the trip not wanting to spend all day throwing up. A lot of locals are not happy with shark diving and that this will associate people with dinner - but I figured well, the Sth Africans will need to deal with that. On the boat I heard that they tracked a shark from Sth Africa to Western Australia - it made the journey there and back in something like a week !! Whoops - there went my theory. But I just could not let the opportunity be missed.
At any rate, it was incredible. We must have seen about 10 different white sharks - yes there are that many ! And we were out in that place from the tv, Shark Alley. The sharks were incredibly scared of the boat and people, considering they are the no 1 predator. But hell, are they scary - just heart stopping...For their size, their sheer speed and motion was amazing. I was in the boat and nearly shat myself when a big (well 3.5m) shark went for the bait !! Apparently, they regularly see them up to 6m !
Seeing that black eye underwater, when you are behind a flimsy cage is also a real thrill! We had terrible weather, but the sharkies came to the party. We went for one of the cheaper options - which meant we were just given a mask and had to hold our breath while we watched them. This was made harder by the number of people in the cage and the rough weather....the wind must have been blowing at about 60-80kph ! With the smell of chum (rotten fish and oil) and the motion of the ocean - a few people were adding to the burly.
I actually preferred watching the sharks from the boat - you got to see a bit more and really got an idea of the their size. In the water, you are bobing in the water and listening constantly listening for "down on the bait" from the spotter - you then duck down to see the shark swimming in to investigate the bait about 4 m from the cage. The spotter then pulls the bait in, never actually letting the shark get hold of it, to bring the shark right to the cage. One Saffer tourist on the boat (their equiv of a chav or westy, who kept saying "look et det big snapper") nearly got on the toothy end, as he wasn't paying attention in the cage and was propped out playing with his camera when a big beast of a shark took a last bite at the bait right near the cage! Shared the shite out of him.
There is no way I would surf anywhere in Sth Africa after seeing the sharks...they are just too big !
Friday, March 30, 2007
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Cape Town & goodbye
Cape Town is just like Sydney - I kid you not. It is a little different. The cold wind blowing off the atlantic (even in the middle of summer)...the big bloody mountain (Table Mountain) growing out of the middle, and the massive slums that fringe the city aside.
The beaches are uncannily similar and the city itself is very modern and thrumming with a nice beat. We did all the touristy things (well we missed a couple) - we climbed the mountain,in a cable car (Josie was under duress), we did a city tour, we drove down to the cape of good hope and also visited the penguin colony (which was better than the seals, less smelly and they are walking comedians, well waddling comedians)...
We also celebrated Paddys Day in cape town - at a bar called....Drumrull please.....the dubliner. That was about as far from an Irish bar as you could get, no guinness, no irish music, prices set up for the special occasion - but of course the paddies crawled out of the woodwork and celebrated in usual green style and "kiss me I'm Irish" badges. We met a fairly rowdy bunch, one was called Mick - go figure hee hee, I gave him shit for that - but his mate wasn't called Paddy alas :(
The next day Josh shaved his head, obviously feeling betrayed that his hair would stand higher with every drink, and we would mock him for it. It was scary and wierd - to be greeted by that 1st thing in the morning makes you wonder if you are still asleep or have been abducted by aliens!
Josie also got gemstones into her blood - and we trekked all across the city to buy either a diamond, a tanzanite or a savourite. In the end, not finding anything - thank the budget - that suited. She did manage to find some lovely necklaces though - on the last day !!
We watched the seals playing in the harbour while shopping on our last night...we were very sad to be leaving Africa. A lovely place, and we saw bugger all really.... I hope we will be back one day, and it will not have lost its rugged charm !
The beaches are uncannily similar and the city itself is very modern and thrumming with a nice beat. We did all the touristy things (well we missed a couple) - we climbed the mountain,in a cable car (Josie was under duress), we did a city tour, we drove down to the cape of good hope and also visited the penguin colony (which was better than the seals, less smelly and they are walking comedians, well waddling comedians)...
We also celebrated Paddys Day in cape town - at a bar called....Drumrull please.....the dubliner. That was about as far from an Irish bar as you could get, no guinness, no irish music, prices set up for the special occasion - but of course the paddies crawled out of the woodwork and celebrated in usual green style and "kiss me I'm Irish" badges. We met a fairly rowdy bunch, one was called Mick - go figure hee hee, I gave him shit for that - but his mate wasn't called Paddy alas :(
The next day Josh shaved his head, obviously feeling betrayed that his hair would stand higher with every drink, and we would mock him for it. It was scary and wierd - to be greeted by that 1st thing in the morning makes you wonder if you are still asleep or have been abducted by aliens!
Josie also got gemstones into her blood - and we trekked all across the city to buy either a diamond, a tanzanite or a savourite. In the end, not finding anything - thank the budget - that suited. She did manage to find some lovely necklaces though - on the last day !!
We watched the seals playing in the harbour while shopping on our last night...we were very sad to be leaving Africa. A lovely place, and we saw bugger all really.... I hope we will be back one day, and it will not have lost its rugged charm !
Driving through the desert
I will rip through this next bit - some time later I might add more bits if we can remember anything interesting we missed.
We were faced with a big drive, basically around the Namib desert, with a night in the middle of before getting around it, at Fish River Canyon. The drive itself was spectacular - it was either mountainous dunes, massive gorges or layered mountains springing from nowhere. Amanda (a geologist) should go to this place - its geology was incredible - even us laymen could tell that. But with no plants and only the wind to expose the old bones of the earth - it is almost like a post mortem of the earth. Not to mention the tonnes of diamonds they pull from the sands and other gemstones and fossils...it really is geo heaven.
The night we spent in a camp in the middle of the dunes, near the Sissoku Vei (I need to check the spelling of that)....a vei, being a river bid. The heat was incredible and we had the option of a 2 hour tour with a bushmen and then a hike up a dune to watch the sunset. Josie rightly chose to remain in the shade by the pool, with laziness incarnate Josh and Dave. Me, coming from townsville could not be daunted with heat (foolishly forgetting 5 years in bloody england)...
The bushmen tour was great - he really new his shit, and he would want to -living out there. He told some great stories - some Josie should have been there to hear, about how a wife should behave.....and I shall summarise for this wisdom is pure GOLD. According to our guide, a wife should be like 3 animals. One - the Oryx, able to defend the home. A wife should be like the Ostrich, able to see a long way to gather foods and check for danger. And lastly a wife should be like a bee - with honeyed lips, because if she nags too much, her man will kick her out and go looking for a woman with sweeter lips. Ladies - these people are eternal, take heed!!
The climb up the dune was a killer - there was no trail...we had to make it ourselves. And whoever was leading would take one step up, only to slide back another half. Add in something near 35 degrees at 6pm and you had some sadistic fitness challenge. But we got there, I felt so sick, nah I shouldn't....but will. You know when you are that exhausted from the heat you feel as though you are going to crap your pants....no? Maybe it is just me then...shrug.
The next day was a run down to the Fish River Canyon - second biggest in the world. To be honest - I didn't go ooh, and ahh like many other places...maybe we were at the wrong spot or time? But we watched the sunset, did a bus moon of another overlander and then headed back to the campsite. Whoops, the other truck was camped next to us. The took it quite poorly - I suppose us getting pissed till late, playing loud music and stealing their chairs did not help the frosty looks we got in the morning?
We then got to the Orange River, jsut after the border with Sth Africa. A lovely camping site, right by a river (with water you could swim in) as well as grass - nice not putting a tent on baked earth all of the time ! This was probably one of the bigger pissups of the tour - with drunkest going to Ben, who provided extra enjoyment with some fine tent rolling in the morning. Special metion should go to Josh, whose hair rose to new heights; Breeny for trying to chat to every woman within 2 miles, and Dan for an excellent drunken rumour of Breeny snogging Miranda.
We then set forth into South Africa, or as we called it Sith Afreeca....to an even better campsite with hot springs. This was our last camping night...and we run up to the flash hotel after dinner and all consumed lovely desserts (with our drinks). Everyone was too tired to sneak back up for a nudey swim at midnight....happy to sit and talk religon and other heavy subjects around the campfire.
And then the next day - finally, and I mean FINALLY after 3 bloody weeks on the road - we arrived in Cape Town - and my wasn't she pretty !
We were faced with a big drive, basically around the Namib desert, with a night in the middle of before getting around it, at Fish River Canyon. The drive itself was spectacular - it was either mountainous dunes, massive gorges or layered mountains springing from nowhere. Amanda (a geologist) should go to this place - its geology was incredible - even us laymen could tell that. But with no plants and only the wind to expose the old bones of the earth - it is almost like a post mortem of the earth. Not to mention the tonnes of diamonds they pull from the sands and other gemstones and fossils...it really is geo heaven.
The night we spent in a camp in the middle of the dunes, near the Sissoku Vei (I need to check the spelling of that)....a vei, being a river bid. The heat was incredible and we had the option of a 2 hour tour with a bushmen and then a hike up a dune to watch the sunset. Josie rightly chose to remain in the shade by the pool, with laziness incarnate Josh and Dave. Me, coming from townsville could not be daunted with heat (foolishly forgetting 5 years in bloody england)...
The bushmen tour was great - he really new his shit, and he would want to -living out there. He told some great stories - some Josie should have been there to hear, about how a wife should behave.....and I shall summarise for this wisdom is pure GOLD. According to our guide, a wife should be like 3 animals. One - the Oryx, able to defend the home. A wife should be like the Ostrich, able to see a long way to gather foods and check for danger. And lastly a wife should be like a bee - with honeyed lips, because if she nags too much, her man will kick her out and go looking for a woman with sweeter lips. Ladies - these people are eternal, take heed!!
The climb up the dune was a killer - there was no trail...we had to make it ourselves. And whoever was leading would take one step up, only to slide back another half. Add in something near 35 degrees at 6pm and you had some sadistic fitness challenge. But we got there, I felt so sick, nah I shouldn't....but will. You know when you are that exhausted from the heat you feel as though you are going to crap your pants....no? Maybe it is just me then...shrug.
The next day was a run down to the Fish River Canyon - second biggest in the world. To be honest - I didn't go ooh, and ahh like many other places...maybe we were at the wrong spot or time? But we watched the sunset, did a bus moon of another overlander and then headed back to the campsite. Whoops, the other truck was camped next to us. The took it quite poorly - I suppose us getting pissed till late, playing loud music and stealing their chairs did not help the frosty looks we got in the morning?
We then got to the Orange River, jsut after the border with Sth Africa. A lovely camping site, right by a river (with water you could swim in) as well as grass - nice not putting a tent on baked earth all of the time ! This was probably one of the bigger pissups of the tour - with drunkest going to Ben, who provided extra enjoyment with some fine tent rolling in the morning. Special metion should go to Josh, whose hair rose to new heights; Breeny for trying to chat to every woman within 2 miles, and Dan for an excellent drunken rumour of Breeny snogging Miranda.
We then set forth into South Africa, or as we called it Sith Afreeca....to an even better campsite with hot springs. This was our last camping night...and we run up to the flash hotel after dinner and all consumed lovely desserts (with our drinks). Everyone was too tired to sneak back up for a nudey swim at midnight....happy to sit and talk religon and other heavy subjects around the campfire.
And then the next day - finally, and I mean FINALLY after 3 bloody weeks on the road - we arrived in Cape Town - and my wasn't she pretty !
Swakopmund - zee little germany
Well driving into Swakopmund was a little weird. This town sits on the top of the Namib Desert (think a bloody lot of big sand dunes)....and can only be described as modern! I guess owing its history to colonialism, german style at that, you get modern tourist town of white people appearing in pretty much a dry and desolate african country. I won't get on my high horse about colonialism now - and not just england are to blame to be fair - but in this case you are left with the adrenalin capital of Namibia, and a town that also does great "things from the bakery" (what is the word? shit, I am not qualified to right this blog) as well as coffee!
All manner of activities are on offer in this place - probably the highest profile is the skydiving, cheap by world standards at about 150 US for a jump from 10,000 feet...and before you sigh and think here they go, into a rant about jumping out of a plane - we were too chicken. Well Josie IS scared of heights to be fair - and I figured, I would prefer to pay more and do it a place that actually knows about safety standards. In fact, I was sitting on the fence for two days - but lacked the peer pressure to dare or force me into it.
So we are in a lovely little modern town on the beach, staying in a nice guest house (josie and I paid for the upgrade here - another of our wise purchases).... Dave, another mad fisho - despite the fact he lives in the Gold Coast - and I decided to give the fishing a try. Again, for non-fishing people (you freaks) you might want to skip ahead until you find a suitable paragraph. So we had an early start (by there standards - hah) at 8.15am - made a little more difficult by a headache and squeamy stomach (yes, a hangover) - but we were there ready and willing to catch some big fish.
Apparently, fishing in Swak. is supposed to be pretty good as this big Antartic currents come rushing up full of plankton and all that stuff. Unfortunately we missed the pelagic season by a month (to chase tuna, mackeral etc) and had to settle for Cob fishing - off the bottom. So we motored out, with 2 others from one of the other overland trucks, Rob and some lady (whose name I forgot)...the seas weren't too bad, a big old swell rolling in, but no chop from any wind.
Also in the boat were 3 others, our 2 white guides and a local (required to do all of the work!!) - so 7 all up, which was fairly crowded as the boat was one of those ocean going 21 foot jobbies...
Fishing started pretty well, first half pilchard down on the ladies hook resulted in a fish, that spoiled the party by getting off, right next to the boat. We got a good look at this Cob, something like a cross between a salmon and a jewfish...(told you non-fishers to skip ahead)...and pretty big two at about 2 feet long.
Well to be honest, this fishing was pretty much like reef fishing. Get a bite, haul these things up from the bottom. The only bit making it enjoyable was poor Dave had narry a bite :) This was especially good as we had agreed all the rules for 1st fish, biggest fish, most fish, smallest fish etc - unfortunately for Dave there was no category for no fish ! The battle was between myself and Rob, who stubbornly would not allow me to out catch him by remaining 1 or 2 fish behind. Our staff on the boat were also fishing - at most times it felt like in competition as we got bugger all help from them- and the young fella was fairly handy, if I must say so myself.
Catch and release - is not language they speak in Swakopmund, and every fish went into the esky. Which started to get uncomfortable after 2 hours with 8 big fish between me and Rob. Angry Dave was getting very stabby, and 'the lady' was seasick and throwing up...with our guides having about 5 big ones in the esky ourselves... Surprisingly, well at least to me, I stopped catching fish....Rob surged ahead, and Angry Dave, became Happy Dave when he nabbed his first one (a good candidate for smallest fish). No, of course I didnot remind of that fact every minute, until he caught a keeper...I am not like that !
Well we went back in with a shiteload of fish about lunch time....you should see how they get the boat out of the water over there - I would bore you with the details but only my Dad is probably interested, and I have it on video for him !!
Bugger, this post will be long. In the afternoon we were off Quadbiking in the sanddunes - and pretty much everyone went from the tour. Which was a good thing, as this was one of the highlights of the trip !! Josie and I had to get automatics having no motorbike experience (I declined to mention the Vespa incident), but luckily I nabbed one of the 250 autos, while Josie got stuck with the 125cc... We split into groups, adventurous (meant to go a little bit faster) and the rest, who were told they could divide into 3 groups based on how comfortable they felt at speed.
I will split this next bit up into 'bradleys tale' and 'josies tale' as the two were different and she is chirruping here in my ear while eating banana cake and drinking tea. So firstly, Josie's tale:
Josie's bunch, and there was a big lot of em - never got to split into 3 groups. I suspect the guides were a little lazy - and their lead rider from one of the tour buses was a 65 yr old woman scared of going to quick. Now you can imagine my little Josie, getting stuck in the slow lane and not being able to overtake....at the first rest stop, Josie and Sarah (fast becoming her partner in crime) went up to the guide to 'explain' the situation. He suggested they move to the front if they wanted to go faster - of course, this they did with Josie and Sarah also dragging Dan up to the front...they set off with Josie leading !
Now poor ol' Jose continued to be frustrated, as her quad bike didn't seem to go as fast as the others, a fact Dan kept highlighting by overtaking with a big dumb grin on his face... she later got bogged in the sand, and ended up last in the group - but you know Josie. Once she was back running she just overtook the lot - so many suspicious looks and tutting :)
Bradley's story - now I thought we would get some help in how to drive these things - but this is Africa. Raw and dangerous. But when you are in a group, you feel compelled to keep up - and our guide just went off. These things rocketed along, enough that you could spin your wheels, do donuts etc - but consider we were shooting up sand dunes like massive banked corners and I am talking about 100 feet into the air !! It was brilliant.... Personally I was on the edge most of the time, frequently getting 2 wheels in the air or seeing death reaching eagerly for me at the top of most dunes.
There were some great spills, Benny - who crashed doing donuts while waiting for the others to catch up, ending up with the bike on him and then got a big lecture too boot. Dave with probably the most spectactuar stack right on the top lip of a dune. He had a bruse on his leg about the size of an A4 piece of paper in all the colours. And lastly, some madman who was the driver of one of the other overland trucks....we all thought he worked for them at first -a s he was mad, and kept overtaking etc. Good ol Karma came through, when he hit a tuft of grass and went head first into a dune (he actually couldn't drive for one day and was on painkillers for the next week driving to cape town).
If you ever get the chance anywhere with sand dunes - do the Quadbikes !!
Our last day was a quiet one - apart from enjoying those things they cook in bakeries and nice coffee we went sandboarding. 2 types available - one like snowboarding, and one where you lay down on a bit of ply wood. We chose the later. It was pretty wild. Josie and I were clocked with a speed gun, I hit 72kph - but it took me 3 goes to get past Josie's then record of 71kph. It's pretty quick for face first on a thin bit of wood. The only down side is the slow, hard and hot walk back up the sand dunes in the Desert heat.
Of course, this only provides a good thirst for the evenings!
We got our fish fillets back and cooked dinner for the truck that night. Bit of lemon, some garlic butter and olive oil - with a fresh salad. Nothing beats fresh fish (of course chicken for Josie).
We also grabbed 3 new travellers for our truck - Jonathan, another pom, a bit older with a bit too say on every topic and 2 Japanese girls (no chance of names here - one was nicknamed Thomo and the other one, was too hard). They would laugh, or heeeeeeeee very high pitched at pretty much everything said - as they had trouble understanding us....but they were both very nice and drank and smoked like pirates - fitted in just fine.
And that was Swakopmund.
All manner of activities are on offer in this place - probably the highest profile is the skydiving, cheap by world standards at about 150 US for a jump from 10,000 feet...and before you sigh and think here they go, into a rant about jumping out of a plane - we were too chicken. Well Josie IS scared of heights to be fair - and I figured, I would prefer to pay more and do it a place that actually knows about safety standards. In fact, I was sitting on the fence for two days - but lacked the peer pressure to dare or force me into it.
So we are in a lovely little modern town on the beach, staying in a nice guest house (josie and I paid for the upgrade here - another of our wise purchases).... Dave, another mad fisho - despite the fact he lives in the Gold Coast - and I decided to give the fishing a try. Again, for non-fishing people (you freaks) you might want to skip ahead until you find a suitable paragraph. So we had an early start (by there standards - hah) at 8.15am - made a little more difficult by a headache and squeamy stomach (yes, a hangover) - but we were there ready and willing to catch some big fish.
Apparently, fishing in Swak. is supposed to be pretty good as this big Antartic currents come rushing up full of plankton and all that stuff. Unfortunately we missed the pelagic season by a month (to chase tuna, mackeral etc) and had to settle for Cob fishing - off the bottom. So we motored out, with 2 others from one of the other overland trucks, Rob and some lady (whose name I forgot)...the seas weren't too bad, a big old swell rolling in, but no chop from any wind.
Also in the boat were 3 others, our 2 white guides and a local (required to do all of the work!!) - so 7 all up, which was fairly crowded as the boat was one of those ocean going 21 foot jobbies...
Fishing started pretty well, first half pilchard down on the ladies hook resulted in a fish, that spoiled the party by getting off, right next to the boat. We got a good look at this Cob, something like a cross between a salmon and a jewfish...(told you non-fishers to skip ahead)...and pretty big two at about 2 feet long.
Well to be honest, this fishing was pretty much like reef fishing. Get a bite, haul these things up from the bottom. The only bit making it enjoyable was poor Dave had narry a bite :) This was especially good as we had agreed all the rules for 1st fish, biggest fish, most fish, smallest fish etc - unfortunately for Dave there was no category for no fish ! The battle was between myself and Rob, who stubbornly would not allow me to out catch him by remaining 1 or 2 fish behind. Our staff on the boat were also fishing - at most times it felt like in competition as we got bugger all help from them- and the young fella was fairly handy, if I must say so myself.
Catch and release - is not language they speak in Swakopmund, and every fish went into the esky. Which started to get uncomfortable after 2 hours with 8 big fish between me and Rob. Angry Dave was getting very stabby, and 'the lady' was seasick and throwing up...with our guides having about 5 big ones in the esky ourselves... Surprisingly, well at least to me, I stopped catching fish....Rob surged ahead, and Angry Dave, became Happy Dave when he nabbed his first one (a good candidate for smallest fish). No, of course I didnot remind of that fact every minute, until he caught a keeper...I am not like that !
Well we went back in with a shiteload of fish about lunch time....you should see how they get the boat out of the water over there - I would bore you with the details but only my Dad is probably interested, and I have it on video for him !!
Bugger, this post will be long. In the afternoon we were off Quadbiking in the sanddunes - and pretty much everyone went from the tour. Which was a good thing, as this was one of the highlights of the trip !! Josie and I had to get automatics having no motorbike experience (I declined to mention the Vespa incident), but luckily I nabbed one of the 250 autos, while Josie got stuck with the 125cc... We split into groups, adventurous (meant to go a little bit faster) and the rest, who were told they could divide into 3 groups based on how comfortable they felt at speed.
I will split this next bit up into 'bradleys tale' and 'josies tale' as the two were different and she is chirruping here in my ear while eating banana cake and drinking tea. So firstly, Josie's tale:
Josie's bunch, and there was a big lot of em - never got to split into 3 groups. I suspect the guides were a little lazy - and their lead rider from one of the tour buses was a 65 yr old woman scared of going to quick. Now you can imagine my little Josie, getting stuck in the slow lane and not being able to overtake....at the first rest stop, Josie and Sarah (fast becoming her partner in crime) went up to the guide to 'explain' the situation. He suggested they move to the front if they wanted to go faster - of course, this they did with Josie and Sarah also dragging Dan up to the front...they set off with Josie leading !
Now poor ol' Jose continued to be frustrated, as her quad bike didn't seem to go as fast as the others, a fact Dan kept highlighting by overtaking with a big dumb grin on his face... she later got bogged in the sand, and ended up last in the group - but you know Josie. Once she was back running she just overtook the lot - so many suspicious looks and tutting :)
Bradley's story - now I thought we would get some help in how to drive these things - but this is Africa. Raw and dangerous. But when you are in a group, you feel compelled to keep up - and our guide just went off. These things rocketed along, enough that you could spin your wheels, do donuts etc - but consider we were shooting up sand dunes like massive banked corners and I am talking about 100 feet into the air !! It was brilliant.... Personally I was on the edge most of the time, frequently getting 2 wheels in the air or seeing death reaching eagerly for me at the top of most dunes.
There were some great spills, Benny - who crashed doing donuts while waiting for the others to catch up, ending up with the bike on him and then got a big lecture too boot. Dave with probably the most spectactuar stack right on the top lip of a dune. He had a bruse on his leg about the size of an A4 piece of paper in all the colours. And lastly, some madman who was the driver of one of the other overland trucks....we all thought he worked for them at first -a s he was mad, and kept overtaking etc. Good ol Karma came through, when he hit a tuft of grass and went head first into a dune (he actually couldn't drive for one day and was on painkillers for the next week driving to cape town).
If you ever get the chance anywhere with sand dunes - do the Quadbikes !!
Our last day was a quiet one - apart from enjoying those things they cook in bakeries and nice coffee we went sandboarding. 2 types available - one like snowboarding, and one where you lay down on a bit of ply wood. We chose the later. It was pretty wild. Josie and I were clocked with a speed gun, I hit 72kph - but it took me 3 goes to get past Josie's then record of 71kph. It's pretty quick for face first on a thin bit of wood. The only down side is the slow, hard and hot walk back up the sand dunes in the Desert heat.
Of course, this only provides a good thirst for the evenings!
We got our fish fillets back and cooked dinner for the truck that night. Bit of lemon, some garlic butter and olive oil - with a fresh salad. Nothing beats fresh fish (of course chicken for Josie).
We also grabbed 3 new travellers for our truck - Jonathan, another pom, a bit older with a bit too say on every topic and 2 Japanese girls (no chance of names here - one was nicknamed Thomo and the other one, was too hard). They would laugh, or heeeeeeeee very high pitched at pretty much everything said - as they had trouble understanding us....but they were both very nice and drank and smoked like pirates - fitted in just fine.
And that was Swakopmund.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Into the Desert
We got a sleep in, till 8am !!! before heading to Spitzkoppe. We bumbled into the truck to head to a seal colony on the coast 1st, before getting the koppe.
The seals were amazing - but they stank like sin!! I don't know how many thousand there were on the beach and in the water - but these things need to wash more and clean house far more often. There were dead pups lying about (apparantly the Jackals and Hyenas come raiding at night) which only added to the smell - but it was nice to watch them playing in the massive Atlantic surf and then waddling on up the beach.
Then we piled back on the truck to head to Spitzkoppe - a big rock in the middle of flat dessert were we were camping under the stars. After a very hard slog to get firewood (you should try finding this in the desert) we went through the usual routine and then settled down to a bottle of Amarula (better than Baileys) and a camp fire chat. After burning all the wood, the discovery that dung burns very well meant we got a few extra hours from the fire.
Despite the tent nearly getting blown over in the ngiht, we got up early and climbed the rock to watch the sunrise - which was stunning - very Ayers Rockish (not that I have been there myself)...before back on the truck for civilisation and Swakupmond!
The seals were amazing - but they stank like sin!! I don't know how many thousand there were on the beach and in the water - but these things need to wash more and clean house far more often. There were dead pups lying about (apparantly the Jackals and Hyenas come raiding at night) which only added to the smell - but it was nice to watch them playing in the massive Atlantic surf and then waddling on up the beach.
Then we piled back on the truck to head to Spitzkoppe - a big rock in the middle of flat dessert were we were camping under the stars. After a very hard slog to get firewood (you should try finding this in the desert) we went through the usual routine and then settled down to a bottle of Amarula (better than Baileys) and a camp fire chat. After burning all the wood, the discovery that dung burns very well meant we got a few extra hours from the fire.
Despite the tent nearly getting blown over in the ngiht, we got up early and climbed the rock to watch the sunrise - which was stunning - very Ayers Rockish (not that I have been there myself)...before back on the truck for civilisation and Swakupmond!
Mr Psycho and Cheetahs
Another early start (sigh), and we were off to Cheetah park. Not sure where, somewhere in the middle of Namibia, and we didn't know much about this place. On the way out of the camp site, must have been 200m down the road we stopped to watch a lion hunting some small food type, I think a Springbok....about 10m from the road.
Unfortunately, she wasn't too successful (much to Dave's disgust - having constantly wanting to see something killed)...and the big herd of springboks saw her, and proceeded to follow her as she walked away in a huff.
After a few fairly ordinary hours driving, we arrived in the cheetah park campsite. No pool, or electricity but a bar - and apparently all profits went to helping the cheetah. Anyway, this bloke and his family have 3 PET cheetahs - yes thats right! And then about another 25 WILD ones in a big park out the back. He saves them from farmers that would otherwise shoot them - and then tries to rehome them in wildlife parks. Now this bloke looks like a dangerous individual - strong Saffer accent, shaved head, big goatee beard - and a stare that makes you want to go wee wee - especially after you make what seemed like a pretty witty remark !
So the 1st part of the tour was off to his house, where these 3 cheetah roam about and basically pick on this small jack russel. You actually get to pet these big scary cats while they purr (well rumble) and the owner makes sure they don't get too hungry/playful !
Next it is into the 2 trucks to see and feed the wild ones.... Now when I say trucks I mean utes, and when I say utes I mean old utes with no back tray and fairly low to the ground. We drive in through a big gate and sure enough, the cheetahs must know it is dinner time... There are about 8 around the truck, quite wary - going in and out of the bushes - kind of like shark cruising, almost seeing to size up the clicking tourists for dinner...now this is a little unsettling as Josie and I are at the back of the ute (with no back tray) and the cheetah need only say lift its head up to be level with our ankles!! So as we watch with our head on swivels as we slowly drive through the scrub more and more cheetahs come from everywhere, until we stop the 2 trucks with about 20 around us.
Then this guide (lunatic) gets out of the truck with 20 WILD cheetahs - oh, and he has a stick. A wee thing about 2 feet long... of course a big ruddy cheetah comes at him all hissing and smashing the ground with its paws - where he raises the sticka and tells the cheetah to (in Saffer accent) "Git owta it"... which to our amazement, the cheetah does?! His brother gets out of the other ute, with an even smaller stick and they walk to the bin (of food) between the utes. Well now the cheetahs start going crazy, running circles around the utes - like sharks in a feeding frenzy....hitting the trays on the way past and jumping between the utes as well.
So then this guide (lunatic) starts chucking lumps of meat, one at a time, to the left - whereby the cheetahs explode into a frenzy to get the meat. The first bit is grabbed by about 5 - who proceed to fight it out, growls, hisses etc - while the remaining lot go into overdrive! An incredible sight - you don't know whether to take photos, or watch the back of the ute in case one gets too impatient. The lumps of meat keep flying, one to the left, one to right and the cheetahs are jumping and taking the meat outta the air, fighting or running off with a lump of donkey to eat it alone. It was STUNNING ! And to be honest, the rawness of it, the lack of safety and the savageness of the cheetahs all combined to make it that good !!
Then it was shakily back to the bar (after feeding some wild cheetah cubs) for a much needed beer. The bar was great too - picture how you would build a bar if you were a bushy lunatic saffer - it had animal heads, elephant ears, trunk and penis (yes that's right), boobs flags and bottle tops. I spent the night playing Killer (a darts game) with him and his brother and Dave and Breeny...where we weren;t too sure what would happen if we beat him !!
A cracking day & night !
Unfortunately, she wasn't too successful (much to Dave's disgust - having constantly wanting to see something killed)...and the big herd of springboks saw her, and proceeded to follow her as she walked away in a huff.
After a few fairly ordinary hours driving, we arrived in the cheetah park campsite. No pool, or electricity but a bar - and apparently all profits went to helping the cheetah. Anyway, this bloke and his family have 3 PET cheetahs - yes thats right! And then about another 25 WILD ones in a big park out the back. He saves them from farmers that would otherwise shoot them - and then tries to rehome them in wildlife parks. Now this bloke looks like a dangerous individual - strong Saffer accent, shaved head, big goatee beard - and a stare that makes you want to go wee wee - especially after you make what seemed like a pretty witty remark !
So the 1st part of the tour was off to his house, where these 3 cheetah roam about and basically pick on this small jack russel. You actually get to pet these big scary cats while they purr (well rumble) and the owner makes sure they don't get too hungry/playful !
Next it is into the 2 trucks to see and feed the wild ones.... Now when I say trucks I mean utes, and when I say utes I mean old utes with no back tray and fairly low to the ground. We drive in through a big gate and sure enough, the cheetahs must know it is dinner time... There are about 8 around the truck, quite wary - going in and out of the bushes - kind of like shark cruising, almost seeing to size up the clicking tourists for dinner...now this is a little unsettling as Josie and I are at the back of the ute (with no back tray) and the cheetah need only say lift its head up to be level with our ankles!! So as we watch with our head on swivels as we slowly drive through the scrub more and more cheetahs come from everywhere, until we stop the 2 trucks with about 20 around us.
Then this guide (lunatic) gets out of the truck with 20 WILD cheetahs - oh, and he has a stick. A wee thing about 2 feet long... of course a big ruddy cheetah comes at him all hissing and smashing the ground with its paws - where he raises the sticka and tells the cheetah to (in Saffer accent) "Git owta it"... which to our amazement, the cheetah does?! His brother gets out of the other ute, with an even smaller stick and they walk to the bin (of food) between the utes. Well now the cheetahs start going crazy, running circles around the utes - like sharks in a feeding frenzy....hitting the trays on the way past and jumping between the utes as well.
So then this guide (lunatic) starts chucking lumps of meat, one at a time, to the left - whereby the cheetahs explode into a frenzy to get the meat. The first bit is grabbed by about 5 - who proceed to fight it out, growls, hisses etc - while the remaining lot go into overdrive! An incredible sight - you don't know whether to take photos, or watch the back of the ute in case one gets too impatient. The lumps of meat keep flying, one to the left, one to right and the cheetahs are jumping and taking the meat outta the air, fighting or running off with a lump of donkey to eat it alone. It was STUNNING ! And to be honest, the rawness of it, the lack of safety and the savageness of the cheetahs all combined to make it that good !!
Then it was shakily back to the bar (after feeding some wild cheetah cubs) for a much needed beer. The bar was great too - picture how you would build a bar if you were a bushy lunatic saffer - it had animal heads, elephant ears, trunk and penis (yes that's right), boobs flags and bottle tops. I spent the night playing Killer (a darts game) with him and his brother and Dave and Breeny...where we weren;t too sure what would happen if we beat him !!
A cracking day & night !
A day in the life of an overlander
Most days on the road were very similar in terms of the routine, and you would be surprised just how good you get at the robotics of it...shamefully enough Josie and I even had a trick or two to make it happen quicker...
So the first thing you need to do is get your ass out of bed. Now this is probably the most challenging, given the hangovers and time of the morning we repeatedly needed to arise in. You needed to have your tent and backpacks packed before you sat down to breakfast - to enable the 'dogsbodies' (people assigned to load the truck) enough time to eat and get the truck packed. Mithungu, our local cook, would be up 30mins before the rest of us getting the food ready..
In team Rudduck, Josie would sort out the inside of the tent, into backpacks - and I would go off and get some tea ready (you know what Josie can be like!)... by then I needed to put the tent away, which of course goes into a bag one size too small for the tent - while Josie starts into the breakfast. Surprisingly (now don't scoff at this) but Josie and I were usually the 1st ones up and had to wake up a few others - which is always sadistically enjoyable.
So, by the time I had the tent away and returned to the fire - we would eat our brekky. If we were lucky we would be treated to watching Ben & Josh putting the tent away still pissed - involving some quality swearing, a good tumble or two - and a tent rolled up that looked more like it had exploded :)
Once brekky was done, we all have to wash our own plates and cups and then flap then dry (in Africa this doesn't take long). The team on "Pot Wash" - would then need to wash anything that Mithungu had cooked with - while the dogsbodies loaded the truck... The rest of us would drag ourselves onto the truck - and usually try and grab the good spots. The good spots were few and far between - basically anywhere where you could manage a kip. Josh, usually was spralled on the floor with Ben or Kate or Dan (until he got travel sick)...
The truck would take off and most people would sleep, or spend their time trying to. We usually got a pee break about 2 hours after leaving...at which time our bladders were the size of baloons - and the funny bit about this was watching the girls try to find a tree to hide behind - something very difficult in Africa (especially Namibia) - good to be a man ;)
Around 12ish - we would stop for some of those lovely Paloney sandwiches....we would all pile of the truck. "Food prep" team would need to chop the salady stuff, bread etc while the rest would get out the camping chairs and look for shade. We would then stuff these (forgettable) sandwiches in our mouths, grab a drink and a quick slash. Pot wash would then clean up and back on the truck. Usually taking no more than 30 mins - which is not bad to prepare, eat and clean for 25 people!!
We would then normally arrive at camp an hour or two later - where we learnt it was a race to find a camp site...I think I said it before, but proximity to toilets, under shade and away from the snorers was the aim...not always easy. Once the tent was up, Food Prep Team would starting preparing dinner - while everyone else went to the pool and bar (if we were lucky with the camp site)...back for dinner about 6pm. Potwash would clean up, everything would go back on the truck - and back to the bar we would all go.
Stumble home at stupid o'clock...and then repeat.
Of course the fact we had 20 odd people makes this pretty interesting - not to mention the stunning landscapes of Africa that seem to change per hour on the road. It is a great way to travel some difficult areas, meet a few people and have a beer and a laugh.
So the first thing you need to do is get your ass out of bed. Now this is probably the most challenging, given the hangovers and time of the morning we repeatedly needed to arise in. You needed to have your tent and backpacks packed before you sat down to breakfast - to enable the 'dogsbodies' (people assigned to load the truck) enough time to eat and get the truck packed. Mithungu, our local cook, would be up 30mins before the rest of us getting the food ready..
In team Rudduck, Josie would sort out the inside of the tent, into backpacks - and I would go off and get some tea ready (you know what Josie can be like!)... by then I needed to put the tent away, which of course goes into a bag one size too small for the tent - while Josie starts into the breakfast. Surprisingly (now don't scoff at this) but Josie and I were usually the 1st ones up and had to wake up a few others - which is always sadistically enjoyable.
So, by the time I had the tent away and returned to the fire - we would eat our brekky. If we were lucky we would be treated to watching Ben & Josh putting the tent away still pissed - involving some quality swearing, a good tumble or two - and a tent rolled up that looked more like it had exploded :)
Once brekky was done, we all have to wash our own plates and cups and then flap then dry (in Africa this doesn't take long). The team on "Pot Wash" - would then need to wash anything that Mithungu had cooked with - while the dogsbodies loaded the truck... The rest of us would drag ourselves onto the truck - and usually try and grab the good spots. The good spots were few and far between - basically anywhere where you could manage a kip. Josh, usually was spralled on the floor with Ben or Kate or Dan (until he got travel sick)...
The truck would take off and most people would sleep, or spend their time trying to. We usually got a pee break about 2 hours after leaving...at which time our bladders were the size of baloons - and the funny bit about this was watching the girls try to find a tree to hide behind - something very difficult in Africa (especially Namibia) - good to be a man ;)
Around 12ish - we would stop for some of those lovely Paloney sandwiches....we would all pile of the truck. "Food prep" team would need to chop the salady stuff, bread etc while the rest would get out the camping chairs and look for shade. We would then stuff these (forgettable) sandwiches in our mouths, grab a drink and a quick slash. Pot wash would then clean up and back on the truck. Usually taking no more than 30 mins - which is not bad to prepare, eat and clean for 25 people!!
We would then normally arrive at camp an hour or two later - where we learnt it was a race to find a camp site...I think I said it before, but proximity to toilets, under shade and away from the snorers was the aim...not always easy. Once the tent was up, Food Prep Team would starting preparing dinner - while everyone else went to the pool and bar (if we were lucky with the camp site)...back for dinner about 6pm. Potwash would clean up, everything would go back on the truck - and back to the bar we would all go.
Stumble home at stupid o'clock...and then repeat.
Of course the fact we had 20 odd people makes this pretty interesting - not to mention the stunning landscapes of Africa that seem to change per hour on the road. It is a great way to travel some difficult areas, meet a few people and have a beer and a laugh.
Monday, March 19, 2007
Etosha National Park
Not sure what time we got up exactly...but I can tell you it was early !! We had to drive to Etosha national Park - so another big drive made up of the usual, lunch stop at 12pm for more of the famous Paloney sandwiches...famous for their motony and blandness, not for anything good. Seriously we ate these every day, for 3 weeks - variation was adding tomato sauce, or chilli sauce, or not adding onion !
Anyway, the campsite at Etosha was nice, right in the national park with a big fence around it. Two weeks ago 2 lions got in during the night and had to been chased off by rangers - no doubt scaring the hell out of all the campers.... They also had game viewing from the campsite at night, with a watering hold set up with flood lights... unfortunately we didn't see anything except one stork :( so we went to the bar :)
That night jackals ran amok in the campsite, and anything left on the crowd was dragged about the place - Josie confronting 5 of them on her nightly pee.
The next day was a full day game drive through the middle of the park. What a contrasts to the Serengeti - this place was dry, and rocky with little grass and trees. This was the dry season here - with the massive Etosha Pan basically a desert. We saw a pride of lions with a kill, cubs, males and with Jackals fighting over the bones. Along with the other animals you always see, I call the 'food' animals. We arrived in a similar campsite that night - with a better viewing hole and were treated to Rhinos (a mother and her baby) coming down to the watering hole to drink. One of those moments with its own kind of magic !!
Anyway, the campsite at Etosha was nice, right in the national park with a big fence around it. Two weeks ago 2 lions got in during the night and had to been chased off by rangers - no doubt scaring the hell out of all the campers.... They also had game viewing from the campsite at night, with a watering hold set up with flood lights... unfortunately we didn't see anything except one stork :( so we went to the bar :)
That night jackals ran amok in the campsite, and anything left on the crowd was dragged about the place - Josie confronting 5 of them on her nightly pee.
The next day was a full day game drive through the middle of the park. What a contrasts to the Serengeti - this place was dry, and rocky with little grass and trees. This was the dry season here - with the massive Etosha Pan basically a desert. We saw a pride of lions with a kill, cubs, males and with Jackals fighting over the bones. Along with the other animals you always see, I call the 'food' animals. We arrived in a similar campsite that night - with a better viewing hole and were treated to Rhinos (a mother and her baby) coming down to the watering hole to drink. One of those moments with its own kind of magic !!
Finally a sleep in !!
Well, thats what we call a start at 7am !! It was bliss to get up in the daylight for once ! We headed back out of the delta and back to the campsite in Maun - where a big party ensured as we were all clean and we could buy COLD drinks, we ahd birthdays to celebrate and farewell the americans leaving us, and making more space in the truck for the rest of us. Poor Dave was the worst for wear, and Josie and I had to carry him back to his tent...where we dumped him in with Andy hoping he would not throw up on him...
Funnily enough, we had to get up at 5am the next day (someone was going to get stabbed if these early starts keep happening)...and headed down to Rundu, crossing the Namibian border. Again the African heavens opened - thankfully this time during a big drive!! And when we arrived at our campsite we were able to upgrade from a tent to a double room....and I can tell you this was money well spent. As we had our own hot shower and didn't need to pitch a tent in the pissing rain.
The barman at this place was a laugh...self titled "Mr Alcohol"... he drank half the bar himself, forgot orders, refused to let people pay their tab....and had one of the most infectious laughs you will ever see. How much money he loses for the owner is scary - but he is definitely one of the characters we met on our travels.
Funnily enough, we had to get up at 5am the next day (someone was going to get stabbed if these early starts keep happening)...and headed down to Rundu, crossing the Namibian border. Again the African heavens opened - thankfully this time during a big drive!! And when we arrived at our campsite we were able to upgrade from a tent to a double room....and I can tell you this was money well spent. As we had our own hot shower and didn't need to pitch a tent in the pissing rain.
The barman at this place was a laugh...self titled "Mr Alcohol"... he drank half the bar himself, forgot orders, refused to let people pay their tab....and had one of the most infectious laughs you will ever see. How much money he loses for the owner is scary - but he is definitely one of the characters we met on our travels.
Okavango Delta and Mukoro canoes
We woke for another bloody early start - to head to our next excursion. This was three days 'real' camping in the Okavango Delta national park. Us and all our gear needed to be taken up the river in these bloody tiny canoes (Mukoro's)....I must admit I thought they would be bigger. About as wide as your ass, 3 meters long, and hand carved from some tree - with Josie and I and all our gear and our poler (Bee)....we had about 1 inch of clearance off the water to the edge of the this thing.
He then whisked us easily 2 hours though this narrow waterway in the reeds - with the water never more than a meter deep. It was an amzing trip - seemingly effortless (although he did get a good sweat up) and it was bloody hot. We were well baked by 2 hours of full force African sun...
We made camp on a small hump of land that packed on to some arid plains. The water in the delta was drinkable - but you wouldn't think it. It was clear, but barely flowed and it was not really a river, more a path cut through the reeds so the locals could fish and move about. Not sure if they have Bilharzia there or not - our guide says no, but doctors tests in 2 months should prove the truth. So it was bloody hot, so we were able to pole these Mukoros over to a little swimming hole to escape the heat !! Poling these things was not very easy at all - but Josie and I made it safe and dry after 20mins to travel only 40m - only to jump in and get wet:)
We then had a 2 hour game walk in the afternoon - which was amazing, even though there were no animals - there were plenty of tracks and you really felt miles from anywhere. The next morning - surprise surprise - we got up at the crack before dawn - to go on another game walk. This one went for 5 hours. We saw loads of animals, elephants, hippos, zeebra, etc and seeing them on foot is very different from the safety of the car. We needed to be aware of wind direction etc to make sure none of them took exception to our presence. The last hour was unbearable in the heat - it must have been near 40 and our guide was determined to walk us into the dirt....
But we survivied (just) for more swimming and lunch. I even managed to go out with one of the locals fishing....they catch hundreds of tiny perch like fish that can't be fun to clean and scale as they are about 10-15cm long. The men get around this problem by getting the women to do this work !! This is a good strategy I will try myself - but don't like my chances with Josie :(
Our last evening was spent around the camp fire - with the locals singing and dancing - and us trying to...we were more successful at getting pissed !! Aussies just cannot sing.
He then whisked us easily 2 hours though this narrow waterway in the reeds - with the water never more than a meter deep. It was an amzing trip - seemingly effortless (although he did get a good sweat up) and it was bloody hot. We were well baked by 2 hours of full force African sun...
We made camp on a small hump of land that packed on to some arid plains. The water in the delta was drinkable - but you wouldn't think it. It was clear, but barely flowed and it was not really a river, more a path cut through the reeds so the locals could fish and move about. Not sure if they have Bilharzia there or not - our guide says no, but doctors tests in 2 months should prove the truth. So it was bloody hot, so we were able to pole these Mukoros over to a little swimming hole to escape the heat !! Poling these things was not very easy at all - but Josie and I made it safe and dry after 20mins to travel only 40m - only to jump in and get wet:)
We then had a 2 hour game walk in the afternoon - which was amazing, even though there were no animals - there were plenty of tracks and you really felt miles from anywhere. The next morning - surprise surprise - we got up at the crack before dawn - to go on another game walk. This one went for 5 hours. We saw loads of animals, elephants, hippos, zeebra, etc and seeing them on foot is very different from the safety of the car. We needed to be aware of wind direction etc to make sure none of them took exception to our presence. The last hour was unbearable in the heat - it must have been near 40 and our guide was determined to walk us into the dirt....
But we survivied (just) for more swimming and lunch. I even managed to go out with one of the locals fishing....they catch hundreds of tiny perch like fish that can't be fun to clean and scale as they are about 10-15cm long. The men get around this problem by getting the women to do this work !! This is a good strategy I will try myself - but don't like my chances with Josie :(
Our last evening was spent around the camp fire - with the locals singing and dancing - and us trying to...we were more successful at getting pissed !! Aussies just cannot sing.
Sunshine and early starts
Well the sun would have greeted us in the morning - had we got up at a respectable hour !! I mean 5 am is just crazy - we had to wade knee deep through the flood waters to get to breakfast in the dark (due to the river swollen even more)...scoffed our food and headed onto the truck.
Morale was surprising good, given the rain, general wetness and shitty game drive the day before - and the first blooms of romance started as Dan (the bright red pommy DJ)drunkingly snogged little Frenchy the night before. She was straight onto him on the truck as we got underway - much to our amusement.
The drive was long, but broken by seeing quite a few elephants by the road - which made Josie's trip more enjoyable. She also was not getting motionsick - thank heavens as that could have made for a miserable trip indeed! We even found some 500 card players and this helps pass the time - and Josie got the chance to try out her new skills against decent players.... I think we lost the first 2 games, the second one was only narrowly though !
Arriving into camp after a nearly full day drive we went about the usual routine of race to find the best tent site - needs to be away from lights, the camp Snorers (Josh and Cyrus) and in the shade. It can be hard to get all three !! Josh's snoring is nothing short of spectacular - quite frightening in the middle of the night when you need to pee, but probably why we were not attacked by any animals.
Morale was surprising good, given the rain, general wetness and shitty game drive the day before - and the first blooms of romance started as Dan (the bright red pommy DJ)drunkingly snogged little Frenchy the night before. She was straight onto him on the truck as we got underway - much to our amusement.
The drive was long, but broken by seeing quite a few elephants by the road - which made Josie's trip more enjoyable. She also was not getting motionsick - thank heavens as that could have made for a miserable trip indeed! We even found some 500 card players and this helps pass the time - and Josie got the chance to try out her new skills against decent players.... I think we lost the first 2 games, the second one was only narrowly though !
Arriving into camp after a nearly full day drive we went about the usual routine of race to find the best tent site - needs to be away from lights, the camp Snorers (Josh and Cyrus) and in the shade. It can be hard to get all three !! Josh's snoring is nothing short of spectacular - quite frightening in the middle of the night when you need to pee, but probably why we were not attacked by any animals.
Life on the road
Well the truck (or bus as we called it) was set up for about 28 people and I think there were 18 of us to start - and the good news was we were losing 4 of them about 5 days later - and we were losing the americans (and canadian).
The truck was comfortable enough, but having been in england for 5 years I will have my minor gripes now. Seats didn't recline, no airconditioning, esky was too small - and thats about it.
Our first drive was a very reasonable 3 hours to get to the camp by the Hwange national Park. We setup our first real camp, scoffed down lunch and then headed to the pool in the camp site. The pool was a wildlife park in itself - full of wonderful insects that preceeded to bite us....so we left pretty quick !! The river we were based on was in flood and the waters had risen about a third over the camp site. So with no pool and no activites until 6am tomorrow we did what you do on these overland trips - drink. We were entertained by Hippos noises from the river - and a lot of alcholol - which is ridiculously cheap here :)
As happens, the hours blurred and we stumbled back to the tent at Stupid oclock. Some short hours later the rain started - and did it rain. We had not put our fly sheet on the tent, but were safe under a tree and only getting marginally wet. The alarm went off not much later for our safari drive as the rain started to stop...
..we feasted on one of 3 breakfasts - eggs on toast (the others being french toast and backed beans on toast). Still in the pitch darkness we left. Now you need to picture this right : 20 people piling onto a safari truck in the dark with a leaking canvas roof, and all of us a little wet as well as hungover.
About 30 mins later we arrived at the Chobe national park (supposedly home to 30,000 elephants) as the sun was coming up - well, trying to come up - but hidden by the dense layers of black clouds !! Our very fat white Sth African guide kept us waiting another 15 mins while all the other cars went by and then off we went.
We stopped by some other cars to be informed by our knowledgeable guide there was a leopard over there behind the green tree.... That was about as specific as "hey, you with the hair"... So we sat there for another 15 mins while our guide come out with other classics as "you should be able to see it, I am too low in the cabin and have no binoculars"... He then moved on to his best material - and I quote " the black guides have very good eyesight - that's one thing they have better than us"....which was greeted with severe suppressed giggles from us - this guy was just like on of the Sth african bad guys from the movies..... what a muppet !
The heavens then proceeded to open with vigour - and we became 20 drenched, cold, hungover tourists trying to look at the animals behind the green trees! I mean it was bucketing down, the animals where hiding from the rain and the breeze blowing through the truck as we drove along felt right from the Antartic. We then mutineed and told him to drive us back to camp - we had enough!
But the bad was counted by the good only a red shower can bring and a change into dry clothes !! And the rain continued to fall, and the river continued to rise... our sunset cruise along the river this afternoon was not looking too good. But after confirming the boat was covered, the roof did not leak and we could take our esky - half of the tour gamely headed out in the rain to thr river.
And glad we were we did !! The rain stopped as we stepped abroad the boat, the drinks in the esky were cold and plentiful and the animals were very willing. Hippos galore, Elephants drinking, crocs etc etc... So we returned to camp pleasantly dry on the outside and wet on the inside !! Returning to the camp bar (I think I will be typing BAR alot in this blog) we had some locals do some excellent african dancing and singing...
The truck was comfortable enough, but having been in england for 5 years I will have my minor gripes now. Seats didn't recline, no airconditioning, esky was too small - and thats about it.
Our first drive was a very reasonable 3 hours to get to the camp by the Hwange national Park. We setup our first real camp, scoffed down lunch and then headed to the pool in the camp site. The pool was a wildlife park in itself - full of wonderful insects that preceeded to bite us....so we left pretty quick !! The river we were based on was in flood and the waters had risen about a third over the camp site. So with no pool and no activites until 6am tomorrow we did what you do on these overland trips - drink. We were entertained by Hippos noises from the river - and a lot of alcholol - which is ridiculously cheap here :)
As happens, the hours blurred and we stumbled back to the tent at Stupid oclock. Some short hours later the rain started - and did it rain. We had not put our fly sheet on the tent, but were safe under a tree and only getting marginally wet. The alarm went off not much later for our safari drive as the rain started to stop...
..we feasted on one of 3 breakfasts - eggs on toast (the others being french toast and backed beans on toast). Still in the pitch darkness we left. Now you need to picture this right : 20 people piling onto a safari truck in the dark with a leaking canvas roof, and all of us a little wet as well as hungover.
About 30 mins later we arrived at the Chobe national park (supposedly home to 30,000 elephants) as the sun was coming up - well, trying to come up - but hidden by the dense layers of black clouds !! Our very fat white Sth African guide kept us waiting another 15 mins while all the other cars went by and then off we went.
We stopped by some other cars to be informed by our knowledgeable guide there was a leopard over there behind the green tree.... That was about as specific as "hey, you with the hair"... So we sat there for another 15 mins while our guide come out with other classics as "you should be able to see it, I am too low in the cabin and have no binoculars"... He then moved on to his best material - and I quote " the black guides have very good eyesight - that's one thing they have better than us"....which was greeted with severe suppressed giggles from us - this guy was just like on of the Sth african bad guys from the movies..... what a muppet !
The heavens then proceeded to open with vigour - and we became 20 drenched, cold, hungover tourists trying to look at the animals behind the green trees! I mean it was bucketing down, the animals where hiding from the rain and the breeze blowing through the truck as we drove along felt right from the Antartic. We then mutineed and told him to drive us back to camp - we had enough!
But the bad was counted by the good only a red shower can bring and a change into dry clothes !! And the rain continued to fall, and the river continued to rise... our sunset cruise along the river this afternoon was not looking too good. But after confirming the boat was covered, the roof did not leak and we could take our esky - half of the tour gamely headed out in the rain to thr river.
And glad we were we did !! The rain stopped as we stepped abroad the boat, the drinks in the esky were cold and plentiful and the animals were very willing. Hippos galore, Elephants drinking, crocs etc etc... So we returned to camp pleasantly dry on the outside and wet on the inside !! Returning to the camp bar (I think I will be typing BAR alot in this blog) we had some locals do some excellent african dancing and singing...
Walking with Lions and travelling with clowns
Well the next morning we were up bright and early to walk with the lions...yes, you read that right - you can actually go on a stroll with 2 young lions, no cages, whips or guns involved !! This group is breeding them, and rehoming them and using the tourist dollars from the walk to help fund it. We had 2 brothers about 18 months old who were quite frisky.
It was amazing to actually sit with them, pat them and not get eaten. They were pretty bloody cocky too - pretty much ignoring us (tasteless?) humans and acting like kings of the jungle. We were hoping one Austrian tourist who simply did not listen to instructions would get eaten - but alas Karma was not such a severe mistress today.
We then headed back to our lodge to go down to the dreaded pre-departure meeting - where we would meet our fellow overlanders - with great fear that it would be like a big brother crowd, or a bunch of 21 yr olds ...
I will try and give you our first impressions of the crew - as after 3 weeks we have a slighty different take...
Lizzie - was the guide. Young, 23 and a bloody Paddy ! She also had the most severe case of mosquito bites ever recorded, was recovering from Malaria, and had a bit of her face rotting off where some bug she squashed released its goo that apparently causes that... so she has some issues to say the least.
Marty - we met Marty as he was staying at the Tokkie lodge with us...fresh from Sth America, Marty was an Aussie, suffering severe flu and with the most disgusting toenails you could picture. Marty was young, and Josie and I quickly realised in need of a mother to travel with - seemingly unable to perform simple functions the rest of us take for granted !
The boys - Dave, Josh, Ben, Andy and Dan - 4 aussies and a pom travelling together. All around 30, except for Andy who is 40ish - typical aussies. Dan was bright red from being over zealous in the UK on a sunbed before travelling - Josh was also neon pink, having underestimated the effects of Doxy (malaria pills) and the African sun. Dave liked his food and Andy didn't really say much - the quiet one of the group. And you could see these lot would be the class clowns.
This will take too long, so the rest quickly: Sarah - a loud Kiwi girl, Chris - a canadian eh, Paul a californian who sounded like the Dude from the Big Lebowski, Steph and Jenny - 2 american sisters, Nat & Laurie : a couple(aussie/kiwi) who have been travelling for 6 months, Kate - a young quiet aussie girl, Mirande - a loud aussie girl, Marine (x2) - two french girls, later named big Frenchy and little Frenchy.
So it was predominantly and aussie crowd with a few foreigners thrown in. We all then went down for a swim and a bite too eat. To be honest, first impressions were good - they seemed like an alright bunch. Several of them had also been travelling on the bus for 5 weeks beforehand - having come down from Nairobi/Uganda...so they were well used to the truck.
So Monday, we all piled down - stuffed our backpacks in the truck and hit the road...
It was amazing to actually sit with them, pat them and not get eaten. They were pretty bloody cocky too - pretty much ignoring us (tasteless?) humans and acting like kings of the jungle. We were hoping one Austrian tourist who simply did not listen to instructions would get eaten - but alas Karma was not such a severe mistress today.
We then headed back to our lodge to go down to the dreaded pre-departure meeting - where we would meet our fellow overlanders - with great fear that it would be like a big brother crowd, or a bunch of 21 yr olds ...
I will try and give you our first impressions of the crew - as after 3 weeks we have a slighty different take...
Lizzie - was the guide. Young, 23 and a bloody Paddy ! She also had the most severe case of mosquito bites ever recorded, was recovering from Malaria, and had a bit of her face rotting off where some bug she squashed released its goo that apparently causes that... so she has some issues to say the least.
Marty - we met Marty as he was staying at the Tokkie lodge with us...fresh from Sth America, Marty was an Aussie, suffering severe flu and with the most disgusting toenails you could picture. Marty was young, and Josie and I quickly realised in need of a mother to travel with - seemingly unable to perform simple functions the rest of us take for granted !
The boys - Dave, Josh, Ben, Andy and Dan - 4 aussies and a pom travelling together. All around 30, except for Andy who is 40ish - typical aussies. Dan was bright red from being over zealous in the UK on a sunbed before travelling - Josh was also neon pink, having underestimated the effects of Doxy (malaria pills) and the African sun. Dave liked his food and Andy didn't really say much - the quiet one of the group. And you could see these lot would be the class clowns.
This will take too long, so the rest quickly: Sarah - a loud Kiwi girl, Chris - a canadian eh, Paul a californian who sounded like the Dude from the Big Lebowski, Steph and Jenny - 2 american sisters, Nat & Laurie : a couple(aussie/kiwi) who have been travelling for 6 months, Kate - a young quiet aussie girl, Mirande - a loud aussie girl, Marine (x2) - two french girls, later named big Frenchy and little Frenchy.
So it was predominantly and aussie crowd with a few foreigners thrown in. We all then went down for a swim and a bite too eat. To be honest, first impressions were good - they seemed like an alright bunch. Several of them had also been travelling on the bus for 5 weeks beforehand - having come down from Nairobi/Uganda...so they were well used to the truck.
So Monday, we all piled down - stuffed our backpacks in the truck and hit the road...
Crossing over
We are about to head over to the other side (Zimbabwe and town of Vic Falls) and also leave behind our solo (well couple) travelling and join the Overland herds for 3 weeks. So we didn't do a great deal of much...we lounged by the pool, and wandered down to the markets to buy 2 duvets. Why 2 duvets? Well, we have no sleeping mats and need them for the overland camping - and of course they don't bloody well sell them over here :(
We also had a strange surprise - running into Dave Cutts and Cathy in Livingstone. For those not in the know, Dave was my old Director at Orange, one of the few people who had left the company and returned more times that me :) Dave and Cathy were about to undertake the reverse of our trip (but I must say in considerably more style)...
So the next day we bid a sad farewell to the JollyBoys Backpackers - which was a cracking place to stay for anyone thinking of heading out the way... We crossed the border (a bridge across the Zambezi) with no dramas - other than the heat of the walk. We even stopped for 20 mins to watch some nutters throw themselves off the bungi jump on the bridge !! We then got ripped off by the cabbie on the Zim side for a fare to our lodge - something that was far more common on the Zim side than anywhere else we travelled.
For those not in the know, Zimbabwe is in a wee bit of trouble financially - and the Vic Falls tourist town is suffering - therefore the locals try to rip you off any way they can. You need to get cash out in Vic Falls but the exchange rate officially is 250 to 1 (as the goverment likes to control this rate).... but there exists an 'unofficial' exchange rate of 5000 to 1 - which is more real. If you got cash out at the official rate and then bought a sandwich at a pub it would cost you $25 .... using the real rate makes this $1.25 !! Dodgy indeed.
So the afternoon had Josie pretty excited as we were off on an Elephant walk - where you get to ride the elephants and feed them !! Well we were kept waiting by these other tourists - who happened to be French - only an hour late and didn't bother to apologise when they turned up. But this is typically French :) - however, it looks as though Karma sorted them out as they paid on credit card for the Elephant ride in Zim dollars - so the official rate :) Oh Karma, how I love thee.
So, Josie - pretty bloody angry at been kept from her Elephants by some damn Frenchies - was overjoyed to get on the back of her own elephant, I also got one to myself with our beloved frenchies sharing behind us - Karma continued to deliver, with my elephant farting like a wind generater all through the walk right in their faces, and then their elephant blasting muddy water all over them - joy, oh joy :) I must remember not to celebrate karma too much as she can be fickle and this can count against me.
So Josie went home pretty bloody happy - all things considered ;)
We also had a strange surprise - running into Dave Cutts and Cathy in Livingstone. For those not in the know, Dave was my old Director at Orange, one of the few people who had left the company and returned more times that me :) Dave and Cathy were about to undertake the reverse of our trip (but I must say in considerably more style)...
So the next day we bid a sad farewell to the JollyBoys Backpackers - which was a cracking place to stay for anyone thinking of heading out the way... We crossed the border (a bridge across the Zambezi) with no dramas - other than the heat of the walk. We even stopped for 20 mins to watch some nutters throw themselves off the bungi jump on the bridge !! We then got ripped off by the cabbie on the Zim side for a fare to our lodge - something that was far more common on the Zim side than anywhere else we travelled.
For those not in the know, Zimbabwe is in a wee bit of trouble financially - and the Vic Falls tourist town is suffering - therefore the locals try to rip you off any way they can. You need to get cash out in Vic Falls but the exchange rate officially is 250 to 1 (as the goverment likes to control this rate).... but there exists an 'unofficial' exchange rate of 5000 to 1 - which is more real. If you got cash out at the official rate and then bought a sandwich at a pub it would cost you $25 .... using the real rate makes this $1.25 !! Dodgy indeed.
So the afternoon had Josie pretty excited as we were off on an Elephant walk - where you get to ride the elephants and feed them !! Well we were kept waiting by these other tourists - who happened to be French - only an hour late and didn't bother to apologise when they turned up. But this is typically French :) - however, it looks as though Karma sorted them out as they paid on credit card for the Elephant ride in Zim dollars - so the official rate :) Oh Karma, how I love thee.
So, Josie - pretty bloody angry at been kept from her Elephants by some damn Frenchies - was overjoyed to get on the back of her own elephant, I also got one to myself with our beloved frenchies sharing behind us - Karma continued to deliver, with my elephant farting like a wind generater all through the walk right in their faces, and then their elephant blasting muddy water all over them - joy, oh joy :) I must remember not to celebrate karma too much as she can be fickle and this can count against me.
So Josie went home pretty bloody happy - all things considered ;)
A bloody lot to catch up on...
Well this blog thing seemed like a good idea at the time....but after being unable to get some quality internet time for the last 3 weeks it looks as though we have a lot to catch you up on !!
So I am now perched in an Internet cafe in the largest shopping centre in Cape Town...Josie is armed with her card and is off shopping (gulp!) and I need to get through three weeks of travelling in about 2 hours ! So here goes...
So I am now perched in an Internet cafe in the largest shopping centre in Cape Town...Josie is armed with her card and is off shopping (gulp!) and I need to get through three weeks of travelling in about 2 hours ! So here goes...
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
No updates
sorry for the lack of updates - getting hold of the time and the internet has been next to impossible....we are now 1 week into our overland trip. having a cracking time, currently just left Etosha national park in Namibia and heading today to a cheetah park for a bit of a cuddle...one big long blog update will probably come in 5 days when we hit civilisation again...
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