Africa is not for sissies!

We are snuggled into our bed, cozy under our summer duvet with the air conditioner blasting cold air to counteract the hot Botswana night when, all of a sudden, the little red light switch on the wall indicating the hot water tank is on, goes out, the face of my cell phone lights up indicating the power charging it has fluctuated and the previously functioning air conditioner lets out a small puff of air like a dying dragon on its last leg. Crap! It’s going to be one hot night without the AC. As I lie there processing what has happened a mosquito (hopefully not carrying malaria) does a flyby near my ear. Africa is not for sissies!

The craziness of my return to Botswana begins last Wednesday when I call Paul to see how his fourteen hour drive from Maun to Johannesburg to pick me up on Friday is progressing. Over the BANG, BANG, BANG of what I learn is a malfunctioning CV joint (whatever the heck that is…in my world your CV, or your curriculum vitae, is the electronic or paper evidence of all you’ve accomplished in your academic career), he explains the situation. He is diverting to Gaborone, the capital city, to drop the vehicle off at the Subaru dealer and get a rental car to carry on with this journey that is…if he makes it…he’s still 80 km outside of the city.

I continue packing and grading and organizing things for what will be my three month absence (I’m on sabbatical in the spring) all the while trying to think of a plan on how to get from the airport to the hotel if he can’t make it to Johannesburg. Fortunately, with a little help from some friends in Gabs he manages to drop the vehicle off, pick up the rental car and carry on his way. By the time I arrive on Friday he’s managed to go to the dentist for a cleaning (that’s right, he drives 14 hours to get his teeth cleaned), pick up lots of supplies for his mapping business, and settle into the hotel we’ll be in for a couple of nights until we start heading back to Botswana.

Unfortunately, the part needed to fix the Subaru is unavailable in all of Botswana and it needs to be ordered. At first they explain that, “it will be available in mid-January” (no I am not kidding…they suggest it will take over a month to get the part we need!). With a little cajoling from Paul they make a plan to have it shipped up on Friday or Monday from Johannesburg. We call on Saturday and, since it did not arrive on Friday, they can’t even start making the repair until the beginning of the week. We stay another night in Johannesburg…do some shopping, eat at a couple of decent restaurants, try to sleep off my jet lag and begin our trek north on Sunday.

Sunday morning, before leaving, we need to get some cash (Rand) in order to pay tolls and buy fuel (they don’t take credit cards in South Africa at fuel stations only “fuel cards”??). We go to a largely closed mall to find an ATM (most of the stores are closed in honor of Nelson Mandela’s funeral – can you imagine this in the US? 10 days until Christmas and you close your business out of respect?). The ATMs are a little hard to find. We manage to locate one that has 2 kiosks. A man stands at one and we go to the other only to see some sort of computer language that looks like it is rebooting itself. We’re a little confused but the man, who has apparently just used the other ATM, says his was working. We move over and try to use that one. When we try to insert our card it seems to jam in the slot. Paul pulls it out and tries again. Something is not right. I don’t like this guy hanging around and I say to Paul, “Let’s try another ATM.”

The man who has just used the machine insists that it just worked and advises us to reposition the card a bit. The hair on the back of my neck is standing up and I say AGAIN, “Let’s try another machine.” “No, no,” the guy insists, “this one was just working. Let me help you.” I say, “Paul, let’s go to another machine.” At which point the guy moves in to help Paul insert his card, then steps away. As Paul is typing in his PIN the guy is looking over our shoulders. I try to move around to block his view but he is quite tall. When the machine doesn’t seem to process his request, he attempts to eject his card. Paul tries again to eject the card. I explain, “We’ve just been scammed. That guy palmed your card.” Did I mention that Africa is not for sissies?

By the time we process what has just happened, the guy is long gone. We immediately call Paul’s bank and shut the card down. We learn later that he’s managed to get the equivalent of $500 USD out of the account before we do so (we’re currently disputing the charges…maybe they’ll be reimbursed). I love Africa. I love Africa.

Seething, we begin the drive back to Botswana. It takes about 5 hours to drive to Gaborone where we settle into our next hotel until the car is fixed. We spend the next couple of days foraging for food (it’s hard to believe we can’t find a decent restaurant in the capital of the country), buying some clothes (I’m running out and had planned to be back in Maun by now where my African wardrobe exists), and watching news footage on Nelson Mandela’s funeral (we even went to the movies and saw “The Long Walk to Freedom”). We try to forgive the ATM thief but fail.

We also take the opportunity to visit a friend from Maun in the hospital. Sadly he is quite sick and while he is at the “best” private hospital available, the ICU is sparse. Additionally, they are threatening to “pull the plug”, so to speak, if he can’t pay in advance for his care - he has no medical insurance (and I thought the US was bad…but at least there they will treat you, then bill you into bankruptcy, but at least you’re alive).

By Tuesday late morning we get word the car is fixed. We pack up and hit the road for the nine hour drive back to Maun. While I would have preferred to drive halfway and stay somewhere OR leave early the next morning, Paul insists on driving the entire way. It is not that 9 hours is too long to drive in one stretch but rather, the minute the sun goes down the drive is deadly (and exceeds my tolerance level). For those of you living in the developed world, it is a bit hard to explain. First, there are no street lights outside of urban areas in all of Botswana (and those in the urban areas have been installed in the last 3 years of so). Second, roads are thoroughfares for all types of creatures – man and beast, alike. Potential road hazards include donkeys (often standing still smack in the middle of the road; Paul and I joke that they are “doing maths” as they seriously look like they’re stumped by something perplexing), goats (they are the smart ones and quickly move out of the way of a beeping car), cows (“dumber than a cow” might be a way to explain their behavior) and horses. Oh yeah, the people…did I mention the people? At times you’ll find them walking very close to the edge of the road typically wearing dark clothing. It is totally stressful and we spend the last hour and a half squinting through bug guts on the windscreen look for dark shadows on the very dark road. I hate it.

Since I’m here writing you know we’ve arrived safely (fortunately). We spent yesterday in the office trying to catch up on a week’s worth of emails and starting to plan for our camping trip over the Christmas holiday (we leave Saturday). This morning when we left the house we noticed that two of our spare tires (one on a safari vehicle and one on the trailer) are…gone! That’s right stolen out of our yard right off the vehicles (which would require tools and probably transport to get them off of the ostrich farm, the Land Cruiser ones are too heavy to carry). Ugh…did I mention that Africa is not for sissies??

sometimes a story by a campfire can change your life

                                                                                                                      

  “So…what would happen if the moon went so far out that it was lost from the gravitational pull of the earth?”

This was a question Paul fielded last Friday night when he did a star show for some local school kids. Paul provided free use of our 7 passenger safari vehicle and the show and our friend provided bedrolls, chairs, food and coordination for an overnight stay in Nxai Pan. Nine kids, ages 11 to 12, spent a night sleeping out under the stars on the pan on what was one of the chilliest nights we’ve had so far this winter. You heard that right, out under the stars…not in tents! It was one of our best star shows yet with lots of enthusiasm and challenging questions.

As we drove home on Saturday, we wondered…what impact does a trip like this have on a person? Does it make them appreciate nature more? Realize that, if we don’t protect our small little planet, who will? Help them to navigate South by using the Southern Cross if they’re ever lost (and in the Southern hemisphere, of course)? Do the stories Paul tells have any impact at all on the audiences he speaks to?

Strangely enough, on Sunday, at the monthly market held at Motsana we ran into a young man who reminded us of the power of a story and the importance that such a trip to the bush can have in someone’s life. Stationed at a fold out table selling hats and shirts with “Rhino Knights” written on them, we find three enthusiastic people traveling around Southern Africa educating people about environmental issues and saving the rhinos. As their webpage explains, they are on a “10,000 KM global awareness and survey campaign by foot and bicycle around Southern Africa for rhino.” Within seconds of standing at the table the young man extends his hand to Paul and says, “Paul Sheller, you changed my life ten years ago!”

Fumbling for a name, Paul stammers, as the guy explains that he was on a trip to Botswana a decade ago and somehow met up with Paul who ended up taking him out into the bush. One night, around a fire, Paul explained that while South Africans and other travelers typically have huge roaring fires in the bush, the Bushmen always had small compact fires – sufficient enough for cooking and warmth but sensitive to the limited resource of their environment. Paul regularly tells clients stories of his time with the Bushmen and the many life lessons he learned along the way.

A common theme of these stories contrasts how Westerners are often trying to find ways to adapt the environment to their way of life, while Bushmen adapted their way of life to the environment. The young man explained that this one story really stuck with him and when he returned home he decided to dedicate his life to educating others about conservation. I guess that answers our question about if a story around a campfire or trip to the bush can impact someone’s life…

For as long as I’ve been coming to Africa (about seven years now), I’ve wanted to share this part of my life with some of my people from back home. So this year, in honor of my sister’s 50^th birthday, and inspired by a safari Paul guided in January (where a grandmother sponsored a trip for her grandson and friend), I decided to bite the bullet, forgo the kitchen renovation I was thinking about, and fly my sister and her two daughters (now ages 21 and 24) to Africa to see what life on this side of the pond was all about.

Since making the decision I have been planning for months. Finding the most affordable airplane tickets (not really a possibility during a peak travel month like July), searching for a little guest house to stay at in South Africa before we headed off on safari in Botswana, organizing an itinerary that allowed them to see some of the diversity of Botswana without driving a million miles in a day, finding a cook and camp helper to make sure they were well fed and cared for while in the bush, booking reservations at campsites and national parks, packing up equipment (tents, chairs, table, gazebo, toilet and shower tent, stretchers, bedding, etc.)…there’s a lot that goes into planning a two week trip to Botswana!

As the time grew nearer to their arrival I got more and more excited but also more and more nervous about how everything would go. How would they handle: the 17-hour flight from Atlanta? the cold winter nights in a tent? the possibility of animals in camp? showering outside (probably only every other day)? using a pit latrine? the long (bumpy) rides in the safari vehicle? unplugging from the smartphones, Google and Facebook for two weeks? And what about all the other things that have become so “normal” to me I don’t even think to worry about them anymore????

Overall, I would say the trip was a success! One of the best parts of it was spending almost two full weeks unplugged, in the bush, with my sister Kelley and nieces Nikki and Becca (when’s the last time you really “unplugged”? you should try it – I highly recommended it). We celebrated our first night with a champagne toast (an appropriate honor for their first crossing of the equator!), stayed at a little bed and breakfast about an hour outside of Johannesburg and headed off to Botswana the next morning. Say good by to wifi, the bush here we come!

Our safari started with a couple of nights at Khama Rhino Sanctuary where my family got to experience Paul’s bush skills in action when we had to help out an overland vehicle stuck in the sand (on more than one occasion) by winching them out with our vehicle. By the second time, I think their clients wanted to join our safari!! After the long drive from South Africa we got into camp just in time to experience our first Botswana sunset with proper “sundowners” (drinks and snacks at sundown). This became a nightly ritual for the remainder of our trip. 

Rhinos at Khama Rhino Sanctuary

Our first sundowners at Khama

 After the rhino sanctuary our trip proceeded from desert (two nights at Central Kahalari Game Reserve) to pans (two nights a Nxai Pan) to delta (three nights on the Khwai River across from the Moremi Game Reserve). Our days were spent driving from one location to the next (where my family engaged in what we called “extreme knitting” as my sister taught her two daughters to knit in the back of the safari vehicle) and, when in camp, doing game drives. We had some amazing sightings include: a brown hyena in the Central Kalahari, cheetah (both in CKGR and Nxai Pan) and wild dog pups (who had finally surfaced from their den up near Khwai) and the spotted hyena pups (who were starting to show their spots and lose their dark solid color coat of infancy).

Becca and Nikki on a cold morning in camp

Welcome to CKGR!

Shadow fun at Deception Valley, CKGR

Climbing in the baobab trees at Nxai Pan

 We also saw lots of birds, enjoyed amazing Botswana’s blue skies (and a very unusual thunderstorm in the Kalahari) as well as lots of zebra, elephants, giraffe, kudu, impala, warthogs and more. On their final day in the bush we went on a mokoro boat ride to give them some sense of what the delta looks like from water level. 

lilac breasted roller

Owl at dusk, Khwai River

mokoro trip on the Khwai River

mokoro polers

mokoros from the back seat

 Our evenings started with fabulous sunsets (and sundowners), continued on with delicious dinners (formally announced by our cook, “Tonight we will be having…”) and chats, singing and even some puppetry around the campfire at night (My sister had traveled with a hand puppet from my nieces childhood that I hadn't seen in years. "The baby" entertained Becca for hours when she was little and almost brought us all to tears around the fire when I brought her back to life - rapping, working out, singing and performing a one baby show!) . When in areas where it was possible, we did some night drives with my nieces taking turns using the large red spot light to look for creatures at night. We say tons of zebra, impala and an occasional bush baby too! 

Our dining area

Us with our camp cook and helper

Sun setting in camp at Nxai Pan

Becca and Nikki with sundowners in CKGR

Sunset over the Kalahari

Our closest encounter with animal life occurred our last night in camp when a hungry hyena made her way into our camp exploring for food. We first spotted her when she came around a bush not too far from where our dinner table was set up. Ever eat dinner while watching for a hyena? After dinner, my oldest niece calmly stated, “hey, there’s a hyena over there under the trailer.” Sure enough there she was shoulder deep, head submerged in an ash pit (with some dish water gravy)– yum! Great news is…no one panicked (and no one was eaten)! In fact, no one was harmed by any of the amazing animals we saw (and heard!).

Curious elephant in Khwai

pod of hippos

angry hippo

large herd of buffalo

 We spent our last night at the ostrich farm where they all camped out in our little house, showered in our outdoor shower and said hi to the ostriches. Our friend Mike joined us for dinner outside by the fire and a star show with Paul’s telescope. The final morning, they packed their bags, did a little shopping in town for gifts for the people back home before we put them back on the plane to return to their normal lives.

It was so great to show them a little bit of my life over here. The birds, the bushes, the animal behaviors, our ostrich neighbors, how to work the outdoor shower and keep the pit latrine from getting too smelly. I suspect this will be a once in a lifetime trip for them and I sure hope that perhaps a story by a campfire might change their lives too.

What I like most about traveling in luxury in the bush

I wake from my afternoon nap to gaze, from my extremely comfortable king size bed in my extremely luxurious ga-zillion thread count sheets, through the French doors, all glass and mahogany wood, out to the Khwai River waterfront. From my horizontal position I can see a few elephants coming down for an afternoon drink and a herd of lechwee, water antelope with powerful hind quarters, forming a conga line as they graze and make their way through the high wet grasses. Nearby hippos chuckle to each other under their breath in a low, ha…ha,ha,ha…
This weekend we stayed at the Khwai River Lodge for a couple of nights so Paul could train them on how to use their new telescope and do a star show or two for their guests. I’m starting to feel like I could be one of those travel writers that goes undercover and evaluates resorts – quality of accommodation, food, staff, etc. In my seven years (yes, it has already been 7 years since I started coming to Africa!) I’ve had the privilege to stay at a number of Botswana’s best lodges (perhaps 9, if I’m remembering correctly) and have come up with a list of the things I like most about traveling in luxury in the bush.

 

 

The reception – from the moment you arrive you know you’re some place special. I half expect Tattoo to come out and say, “Welcome to Fantasy Island!” (from a TV show in the late 1970s to early 1980s by the same name). At times, multiple staff come out to greet you, clapping and singing. Other times you are welcomed with a refreshing glass of juice as you are properly oriented and escorted to your room. We hand over our dust ridden bush luggage and discretely move our battered and dirty Land Cruiser to a less obvious location. Once at the room we are invited to join afternoon game drives (which we decline since we do our own game drives) and we are told what time high tea and dinner will be served.

The quietness of the lodge while guests are out on drives – while most guests take advantage of the game drives and other activities (walks, flights, boat rides), we are typically back in camp setting up for the star show or training session that allowed us to be transported into this world we could never afford (this weekend’s accommodations costs far more than we could ever afford!). In the quietness you get a real feel for the place. You can quietly watch the animals and listen to the birds in the area without the bustle of visiting guests.

Variations in eating venues – while staying at some of these lodges for more than one night we get to experience the changing of the venue for dinner. Most lodges have what is called a “boma” night, for example. On this night, dinner is served in a traditional boma or outside location enclosed by a rustic log fence. Traditional foods are served like samp and beans, mealie meal (mushy corn based porridge that is a staple at most meals), chakalaka (a spicy chutney), boerwors (spicy Southern African sausages), etc. If you’re lucky, this also involves the staff providing some entertainment of singing and dancing. The singing is typically a blend of harmonious voices emerging from a closely clustered group with coordinated hand gestures and foot movements that glide them in a circle around the fire. Other venues for dinner include the main dining room or a “hide” typically used for discrete animal viewing which can be transformed for a romantic dinner.

The nightly turn down service – each night you return after dinner to find your room magically transformed for the evening. Bedding is turned down. Slippers and bathrobe laid out. A bottle of water is on the bed stand. On your pillow you may find a mint or cookie or a bedtime story written by a local author. I like when the pillow treat is different from night to night…adds a little surprise to the end of the day.

 

But no matter where you slept the night before, in a luxury lodge or a tent, the things you see on any given game drive are equally stunning. On this particular trip we visited the den of a pack of wild dogs. While the pups had yet to emerge (they were still too young), we could hear them chirping and squeaking from their hole in the ground, dust seeping out of the ground to indicate their movement, while the attendant pack took care of them.

We were even luckier at the hyena den in that the four pups were just emerging in the late afternoon to explore their new world. They scramble in and out of their den. Galloping around a bit, they play like canine pups with each other, often pouncing on one another and biting their sibling’s neck. At one point the bravest of them came right over to our safari vehicle smelling the tires, looking up at us in the windows (we must look like giants from their ground level vantage point). Her siblings follow her lead until all four of them are investigating our vehicle. Mom looks on from a distance undisturbed. Something spooks them and they all high tale it back to Mom. It was quite cute!

 

 

Finally, at midday as we (sadly) leave the Khwai area to drive back to Maun, on our way out we see a leopard trying to catch his breath having just killed a young lechwee. He pants and gasps until he slinks off the riverbank and back into the tall grass to find relief from the grunting and snorting of the vigilant surviving lechwee.  A fine way to end a weekend of luxury in the bush!