Day 17 : Drive to Great Zimbabwe Ruins

21 November 2013

This is Africa!

Before we departed on our long journey, to the ancient historical Great Zimbabwe Ruins, we stopped over in the capital Harare. The city boasted some of the old colonial British influence in its architecture. Some of the group members posted postcard and others went on a scavenger hunt to find souvenirs.

After exploring the Harare jungle, we set off on our journey to the ruins. As we became accustom to by now, we were stopped by the police, lucky only twice and not 6 times as the previous day.

At the first stop the police demanded to see our fire extinguisher. We didn’t have one because we didn’t need it and made up a story  that we have one in the back of our bus underneath all the luggage and if they need to see it we have to unpack everything in both Quantums. I knew they won’t want to do that and the police let us go without paying a fine!

We weren’t so lucky at the second roadblock. The police pulled us over and said we exceeded the speed limit. They demanded a fine of R400 per vehicle. I refused to pay and after a 20 minute conversation reduced the fine to R200. We never got a slip for the fine, so I guess it’s my first bribe to a policeman….

The rest of the journey to the Great Zimbabwean Ruins went well we received some rain and had to decide if we want to camp or stay in a warm bed.  It was raining hard and the people that decided to camp, camped underneath the campsites cooking area. The day ended, as we all now became accustom to, us all eating together and laughing about the events of the day, but also with a new phrase for when things are peculiar…. This is Africa…

Day 16: Community project in Harare

20 November 2013

Today was one of those intense days, but nevertheless, one of the best in a while according to some. The start itself was something spectacular with monkeys shouting and running around in the hostel´s corridors. Maybe they had smelled the wonderful breakfast awaiting us; eggs, beans and sausages prepared by the church members.

Shortly after this, we were given a tour by one of the church member named Simba (POWERFUL in Shona, the native language of Zimbabwe). A tour through the church facilities by Simba, and then a look around the local neighborhood. During the tour we were guided through the village streets, filled with small barber saloons and people selling everything from tomatoes to Madora (grilled caterpillar). Some of us gave the local “insect-delicacy” a try and the judgement was; crispy and salty. Even though this might seem indigent enough for some, the interests for local things didn´t end here. Two of the members (Arthur & Viktor) decided to get a so called Zimbabwe haircut. 2 dollars later they both had got “sidecuts” and a special emblem imprinted on their newly shaved skulls.

Then it was time to paint the church which was successfully made according to the church members.

Exhausted as we were after the painting, we decided to go into the town of Harare for a dinner.

Well in the city, the group split up. Some went to Nando´s for some spicy Portuguese food, whereas others went along Simba on a walk to find themselves sitting at a local place eating Mopunga (peanut butter with rice) and chicken feet. The first, a bit more palatable than the last. No matter destination we all got to experience Harare by night which was quite spectacular. This cause the people of Harare were hard to spot since the streetlights were missing, but you could HEAR them. Big time. People trying to get a hold of you and shouting all over the street trying to sell things like tomatoes, air-time and minibus rides. A busy African city by night in other words and definitely a worthy ending to this long intense day.

Viktor

Day 15: A loooong drive to Harare

19 Novenber 2013

The morning started off with the wake-up calls from the Swedish boy searching for the car key at 5 in the morning. We needed to leave the camping site by 8 am as we have another long driving day to the capital city Harare. Before breakfast, the man who make custom T-shirt already arrived with our order from last night, which we have printed the route of our trip on the back with Academia bus on it. The T-shirts come in different colours, which some of us chosen to have black, blue or even red. After we collected our custom T-shirt and had breakfast, we finally hit the road but the drive today was not so smooth at all. We have in total stopped by the police 13 times in one day and each time took us about 10- 15 mins to mention how nice Zimbabwe is and how much we all enjoyed it. We also went through 5 tolls in order to get to Harare. At 8pm we finally arrived at the church and the youth hostel with warm welcome dinner. The dinner was so fantastic especially after a long driving day. It was really nice of them saving us from eating cans of baked beans and rice.

Day 14: Viktoria Falls

18 November 2013

So far, the 18^th of November was the day with the biggest variety of activities done by the group. Manon and Gerald start at 7.00 am for a river rafting tour, which they had booked the day before. The rest of the group used the morning hours to go to the Victoria Falls Park for a beautiful walk along the Falls. Everybody was very impressed by the natural power of the water and the extraordinary landscape.  We all really enjoyed that most famous place in Zimbabwe.  

After 3 hours at the Falls, our group split into different smaller groups. Four people crossed the bridge over the Zambezi, so they could leave Zimbabwe and enter Zambia. The countries were formerly known as North and South Rhodesia and have a connected history under British colonial rule. The Zambia group spent a couple of hours in this country, had lunch there and discovered the border city of Livingston.

The people who have not gone to Zambia or to the rafting went back to the camp side and relaxed a bit. Afterwards the people split again. Some went for a swim in Devils Pool, which was directly at the edge of the Falls on the Zambian side.  Others did a sunset cruise along the river and still others enjoyed a little walk along the Zambezi. Both groups had the chance to see hippos, springboks, monkeys and other animals.

In the evening, all the small groups met again at our backpackers to have dinner and to talk about the different experience everybody made during the day. Then, the majority of the group decided get a t-shirt specially printed with the trips route. Everyone discussed the design, the color, and the size of the shirts.   

In the end, everybody went very happy to his or her tent with lots of nice memories.

Day 13: Off to Zimbabwe

17 November 2013

The day started early due to our enormous amount of km, over 1000km to the Victoria Falls from Botswana to Zimbabwe.  Over all the drive was smooth without many troubles except numbers of crazy cows in the middle of the road. The highlight of the drive was the health and safety stop. Everyone needed to get out of the car and clean their shoes over this “Disinfective mat” against Hand&mouth disease (except for Arthur, who had lost his shoes the day before). The mat actually seemed more infectious than our shoes, but whatever. After a few hours of driving, we finally arrived at the border at 3p.m. To get through the border, it took us more than an hour and a lot of nerves due to the 50°C office. And now we have earned another nice stamp in our passport.

When we arrived, the owner of the backpackers informed us which activities are possible for the next day. Since we had to pay the activities in cash, we had unexpected difficulties to find an ATM that would actually accept our credit cards. The highlight of the evening was selfmade pancakes for dessert.

Day 12: A dog day Saturday

16 November 2013

Our guide Boka had said “Uno” for two minutes. He was staring at his only card and was about to beat me. He started his final move, raising his right hand holding the card, about to drop it when he suddenly stopped moving. His white link eye was paralyzed.  “Silence. Have you heard the lion?”, Boka whispered. Tobias, Viktor, Alaska, Boka and me stayed quiet. We heard the lion roaring. While everyone was scared by the far roar, I cheated and hid one of my cards. Without the lion, I would have lost the round. This Friday night roar announced pretty well the adventurous day waiting for us.
After a hard night marked by the noise of animals walking around the campsite, and self-proclamed-brave-survivors-but-too-scared-to-stay-out-the-all-night hiding in the nearest tent, we woke up at 5.30am, which is early for me but fine for the others, for a morning walk in the savanna and bushes. In the morning the sun is shining but not sharp yet. We walked all the morning in the green and yellow grass, in elephant steps, between baobabs and termite hills, living zebras and dead buffalos, under the yellow sun warming one side of our just-awaked face and impressed by our guides’ ability to spot zebras, giraffes, elephants, wild pigs, gnous and monkeys from really far. The bravest and me went on walking for two more hours between 9 and 11 while the sun started burning really sharply. “Molilo” (“it’s hot”) Boka repeats, teaching me tswana. “Hakuna matata” I answer with a French accent. Back to the campsite, everybody went to swim in the warm river. During the huge nap from noon to 2pm, some of us had no water anymore and were really thirsty. To survive, we boiled water from the river and drank the tasty green beverage. It was time to leave. After a last visit on an other island to see an elephant skeleton, we left this deserted island now full of our memories. The heat was acceptable on the boats.

We left our guides and climbed in trucks that led us through traditional villages on the way back. The roads were graveled and sharp. I lost my shoes.
And here we are leaving Botswana after a Saturday night spent remembering those first amazing ten days of trip in Africa. I have not got sick because of the water from the river. Not yet. But I feel like an insect is pounding eggs in my stomach. Help me.

“Ici meme, je sais que jamais je ne me rapprocherai assez du monde. Aux mysteres d’Eleusis, il suffisait de contempler. Heureux celui des vivants aui sur la terre a vu ces choses. Voir et voir sur cette terre, comment oublier la lecon?” Albert Camus

Day 10: Arrival at the Okavango Delta

14 November 2013

Today it was time to leave Ghanzi again. For some of the people it was not even hard to get up as it started to rain surprisingly into the optimistic camper tents (= the ones without rain cover). After a nice bush shower we hit the road. And we hit it hard as we got our first speeding ticket. We were 14 km/h too fast. But we used this incident to get to know the Botswanian Police and were even allowed to laser cars by our own. This is real integration 😉

The landscape changed obviously. There were less bushes and more trees, which tells us that we get close to Okavango Delta.

After our arrival at the nice backpackers, which was situated directly at the river, we chilled the afternoon in the pool, shadow or at the bar, until we had enough energy again to go to town and draw some money. In the evening there we started again our team cooking and prepared the backpacks for the next day, the Mokoro Trip into the Okavango Delta.

Day 9 – Off to Botswana

13 November 2013

The last Namibian day for our group. After losing my passport (yes, I am that girl from the first day that was merciless left behind) and realizing it only five hours before our departure, I had the pleasure to stay another week in good old Stellenbosch, phoning embassies and celebrating a couple of Goodbye-Parties.

Now, after a one-day-long journey with the Intercape Bus from Stellies to Windhoek, I finally arrived in Namibia, so the others could pick me up on their way to Botswana. Unfortunately my bus was late, so I was a bit afraid, the others would– again – leave me behind and I would have to start a humble life as a Namibian farmer’s wife. Fortunately they were also late. Tears of joy and happiness were running down their cheeks, when they saw me climbing out of the bus, finally returning to the group like the long-lost sheep.

So my journey continued – same procedure, different bus. We arrived in a camp in Ghanzi, where we had an original Botswanian meal consisting of fish and pasta. “Traditional bushmen” offered a little dance in exchange for money (plus tip), which a few of us went to enjoy, while the rest of us stayed to share childhood stories and a can of beans over the camp fire till late in the night.

Day 8 – Sightseeing in Windhoek

12 November  2013

Around 8am we started our drive from Swakopmund to the capital city of Namibia, Windhoek. After a short stop on the road we arrived at 1:30pm in Windhoek. Everybody was relaxed because of the short drive and the very good weather. We met a friend of Brandon’s at the German Church, who showed us the city center of Windhoek.  We then had a drink at the rooftop bar of the Hilton hotel and had a short look of the President’s residence. Some people visited the freedom memorial too. All in all, Windhoek is a very interesting historical city which still has a big German influence.

 

After the sightseeing tour, we split up; 10 people drove to a campsite and the other 10 people had the opportunity to stay in a private accommodation of local Namibians. Besides the fact that the house was a welcome change to the camping site, it was a great opportunity to gain further insights on historical and political facts regarding Namibia. For the evening, we went out to Joe’s Beer House, where we had delicious food such as zebra, springbok and oryx meat. After that fantastic dinner, some people spent the rest of the evening at the hostel’s bar and some went out in a Namibian bar. All of us fell asleep very fast after this day, tired from the many experiences of Namibia’s capital city.

It was a perfect end to our first week and our experiences in Namibia. Tomorrow, we leave Namibia for new adventures to Botswana.

Day 7 – Community project in Swakopmund

11 November 2013

Once again we started the day off with a run along the beach and saw a variety of local wildlife.  Dolphins and seals were swimming off the shore, while sadly, two seals lay dead on the beach.  Later, we were told that due to over-fishing, many animal s starve to death.  Otherwise, the run was uneventful.  From then, we all went our different ways around the town, exploring different antique shops and tourist stores before meeting up at a local coffee shop for some cappuccinos and free wifi. 

The main event of the day was community work in the Swakopmund Tierschutzverein, or local animal shelter, touring the kennels and cages before taking the dogs out for a walk on the desert dunes.  I don’t think anyone expected to be walking dogs in Namibia but it was a wonderful opportunity to explore the dunes in a different way and hang out with man’s best friend, the dog.  An hour walking in the hot sun was more than enough for both us and the dogs, so we returned them to the kennel and went back to the campsite for a delicious dinner of lentils and vegetables.  It is our last night in Swakopmund and has been a wonderful relaxing break from perpetual travel.  However, we are excited to get back on the road and explore Namibia’s biggest city, Windhoek.