Operation: GORILLAS

Following 5 dusty days on the road, our minds turned to something rarely done on our trip…showering! It is safe to say that hygiene and cleanliness has entirely gone out of the window. So with that in mind we rolled into Arusha, to the most pristine and clinical hostel we could find, Monjes Guesthouse. It had absolutely no character to the place at all, but it was fantastic to feel clean again. Unfortunately it took us only a few minutes to realize that where we thought we were getting sweet African tan, we were actually just caked in layers and layers of dust!

Despite being only around 20km from the base of Kilimanjaro, we had still actually never managed to catch a glimpse of our fate. Since we arrived in the area it had been constantly concealed by billowing clouds, making us nervous as we still had no idea of the scale of the mountain we are yet to face. The next morning we were on the plane from Arusha Airport to Entebbe in Uganda, and finally, a short while into our flight, the top of the mountain emerged from the clouds…it really is a sight to behold!

We touched down, grabbed our bags and headed to Jinja; the infamous adrenaline capital of East Africa where we were planning to stay for a week or so. This plan however was short lived as Ewan persisted that when in Uganda we MUST track gorillas in the mountains! And so the mission began…

Tracking Gorillas is no easy task, even before the gorillas are involved. You need to have a permit and bare in mind when reading this that permits are generally booked about 2 years in advance and the chances of securing them at such late notice was slim at best! Barely minutes after arriving at the Explorers backpackers in Jinja, we had Reception on the phone to the Ugandan Wildlife Authority (UWA) enquiring about any permit cancellations that fall during our small window of opportunity. Moses at the UWA had just received 2 permits for the 30^th August (perfect!), but that we needed to get money on the table at his office in Kampala – around 70kms away, before he parted with the goods. We agreed and began packing to leave. 5 minutes later the phone rang again, it was Moses to say that someone else had paid him the money…the game was cut throat! We were gutted, but not yet defeated…

So we made the rash decision to jump on the bus to Kampala, travel the 70km, and arrive at his office to see if we could get anywhere in person. After tracking down the right bus, a feat in itself, we headed off to Kampala. We both jumped nervously as Ewan’s mobile rang. It was Moses again, to tell us there were 2 permits to track gorillas available for the 28^th August, meaning we would be leaving the following day! Our spirits were higher but we still had a long way to go. We leapt off the Bus at the central station in Kampala, and jumped on a boda-boda (small scooter) to get across to the other side of town. The city is crazy, with no road markings or traffic lights, and thousands of vans, cars, cows, boda-bodas, pedestrians and bicycles all fighting for space on the same road. The ride was the most terrifying few moments of our lives! We made it to the office in the nick of time, with shaky legs and out of breath but the permits were ours! Next stop GORILLAS!

Safari Short Stories (2)

1. Sleeping with Lions

My personal highlight was on the second night when we camped in the Serengeti. We had driven far that day and had seen a multitude of animals, including a large pride of lions relaxing in the afternoon sun. As the day was drawing to a close we pulled up to our campsite where we would be sleeping that night. If ever you could describe somewhere as “the middle of no where” this was it. There was nothing to be seen for miles around but dry yellow grass with the occasional rock and tree and protruding from the ground. The campsite consisted of one “toilet” (hole in the ground), a flat patch where you could pitch your tent and a few tables at which you could eat. Aside from that there was no electricity, no bar and certainly no fences that stopped the animals wandering in… Once the sun had set, the stars came out in force and illuminated the tents that were huddled together in the middle of the clearing. We said our goodnights and went to bed, only to be awoken prematurely by a strange snuffling sound right near our tent. It sounded like it could have been a warthog or something similar, but we didn’t dare to poke our heads out to check. A little while later we could distinctly hear the deep growling of something larger, and more cat like... We froze in our tent, imagining lions walking by and investigating these funny new canvas bushes on the landscape. They passed without incident, but all through the night we heard various other unfamiliar noises and sounds. It reminded us we weren’t looking at animals in a zoo, but were actually incredibly fortunate to be guests in their home and sleep alongside them.

2. Monkey Business

In Tarangerie National Park, we stopped at a beautiful picnic site to eat our packed lunch. The site was surrounded on one side by trees and the other by a cliff that led down into a river where thirsty animals congregated to drink in the hot sun. Our guide Selma led us a free table at the corner and told us to sit down. He then proceeded to pick up some stones and hurl them at a nearby tree which was housing a number of hungry baboons, watching us take out our lunches. They scattered as soon as they saw him pick up the stones and when he returned he told us it was necessary to do this as we needed to “show them who was boss”, otherwise they would steal our lunch. He went on to tell us that baboons could tell the difference between African people and white people (called “Mzungus”). He said because the guides threw stones, they didn’t dare steal their lunch, but the Mzungu were easy targets and regularly had their lunch nicked. Sure enough, after a while a group of about 15 Americans Mzungus sat at a table right beside the wooded area of the picnic site. They were happily chatting away, taking photos and comparing packed lunches with each other, unawares of the imminent danger… Suddenly and without warning, two enormous male baboons with bared teeth and claws out, leaped from a nearby tree and bounded onto the table, landing right in the middle of the group! Mayhem ensued. Ladies were screaming, men were panicking, chairs were knocked over and children were running everywhere! All the while the baboons were howling and leaping around the table, grabbing as many lunch boxes as they could before the guides caught on and started hurling stones at them. Within seconds the baboons had jumped back onto the tree with their swag in hand and sat satisfied looking down on all the chaos, casually eating out of their packed lunch boxes as if their mothers had made them up for them that morning! If there is a moral to this story it is always throw stones at baboons before you eat your lunch, even if you live in a glass house!

3. Casualty on the Serengeti

This story isn’t funny, but just a big stroke of luck that we feel is worth writing about. On our Safari car, there was the two of us, a Brazilian and two English girls who were both doctors in Surrey. On our way to the Ngorogoro Crater, we saw in the distance some people on the road, breaking Safari rule number one: never leave your car. The reason for this heinous rule break soon became apparent. As we approached, we could see that their car had somehow flipped over, all the way off the road and lay on its side with its windows smashed, the doors and frame dented and bent and one of its tires burst. Two girls were sitting on the road, head in hands and a fair bit of blood on their faces. They were being tended to by the other passengers whilst the driver was looking shaken and conversing with someone on the phone. As soon as we pulled up beside them, the girls leaped out and ran over the casualties proclaiming “Everyone stay calm, we are doctors”. One of the girls Elaine, doing a good imitation of Mary Poppins, somehow produced a fully stocked medi-bag from her small rucksack and proceeded to clean their wounds and patch them up. Thankfully, after about 20 minutes of attention, the girls were as good as new and were able to get in our car so we could take them to the rangers office, where they would then get properly checked over. That night, the doctors were famous amongst the other Safari goers as the news had spread and we made sure that everyone (us included) bought them enough drinks as a reward for their heroism!

Safari Short Stories

A night in Dar Es Salaam was needed to recover from the ferry crossing, then we hopped on a 12 hour bus across Tanzania to Arusha, the gateway to the famous Seringeti and many other safari destinations! After a short walk down the high street we soon realized it would be no problem to book on a safari at late notice. With almost every step, a different sales person would come up to us and tug on our arms or almost shove their business cards up our noses, so keen were they to get our custom! We eventually settled on a company called Crown Eagle. They were running a 5 day safari that left 1^st thing the following morning with all food, camping gear, cook and guide included. As it was such late notice they were desperate to fill the places and so we got a very reasonable price! On the itinerary was the world famous Serengeti, the Ngorogoro Crater, Lake Manyara and Tarangerie National Park.

Instead of describing each day in detail we thought it would be more interesting to just give a brief overview and then tell some short stories of funny things that happened. Basically, the safari was incredible. We saw pretty much every animal you could dream of; zebras, wildebeest, elephants, giraffes, lions, leopards, cheetah, hyenas, countless deer/gazelle type animals and probably loads of others that I can’t think of right now. We camped every night and drove around the various parks, checking out the beautiful scenery and watching with wonder the many animals in their wild habitats. The best part was seeing the animals so free in their home as opposed to cooped up in a zoo or a cage. Watching the lions proudly prowling around in the long grass of the Serengeti, looking for their next meal was something special.

Hakuna Matata

It turns out “Hakuna Matata” (no worries) is not just a phrase from the Lion King! It is actually used all the time as a way to get around day-to-day dilemmas that occur all over Africa. For example, if the bus is late…”Hakuna Matata”, or if something is stolen… “Hakuna Matata”. It is perhaps because of this phrase that means a lot of governments across the continent struggle! It’s quite funny really and we’ve even taken to using it ourselves when things don’t quite go to plan.

So following the Full Moon we woke up to one heck of a hangover… Whilst both suffered from dodgy stomachs and a constant battle over the bathroom ensued, poor Ewan was struck down with fever and was bed bound for 3 days whilst the waves lapped on the shore just 30 meters away!

After a Malaria test (which showed negative thank goodness), and more tablets than you could imagine, we were both back on our feet. Until we boarded the boat back to Dar that is…

Just as we had almost recovered our appetites and felt strong enough to travel, the ferry tried it’s best to put us back to square one. It was a notoriously choppy crossing but we seemed to pick it on a particularly angry day! The waves were high and the boat went up and down, side to side and back to front, much to the discomfort of its passengers! Thankfully we hadn’t eaten anything that day so we could leave the sick bags intact! Others however weren’t so lucky…

Hakuna Matata!

High Tide

We arrived at Nungwi Guest House, a strange but welcoming place with cartoons of sharks and animals painted over EVERY wall! It had a small courtyard in the centre of the rooms where we met and became friends with a girl called Sita from Birmingham, and a ridiculous Italian guy called Miguel who showed us great places to eat, and took us down to the beautiful beach that evening. The beach was just like the pictures in the magazines, luscious white sand and crystal clear water, with bars along the waterfront. Gorgeous!

They filled us in on the plan for the Full Moon Party the following night, held at Kendwa Rocks, an infamous party hotspot for travelers and locals alike. We mentioned that we had found out about the party from some Irish girls we had met way back in Zambia, to which they replied “what… the dentists?”. What a small world, they had been staying with them just a few weeks previously!

After some excellent and remarkably cheap dinner at a local restaurant, we headed to Kendwa. We arrived to see hundreds or party goers stretching from one beach bar right across to the other side of the beach. We headed up to a lounge above the bar where we were reunited with the Irish girls and the festivities began!

At around 4.30am, we decided to stroll the half an hour back along the beach to Nungwi, where we had food and warm beds waiting. Our plan however was foiled as we were faced with high tide and no money for a taxi! Eventually we gave up and headed back to the party, where the crowd was beginning to disperse, so we made a nest on sofas with our gang and huddled there until 7.37am when the tide was low enough to continue on!

Paradise Isle!

On our arrival into Dar es Salaam, were again ambushed by taxi drivers, but keen to get the cheapest deal between 7 of us (the medics were heading our way), we haggled hard! Eventually setting on an truck with no sides or roof we headed into the bright lights of the big city. We had phoned ahead to the YMCA and booked a double room (lonely planet told us it took women too). I’m not quite sure what we were expecting, but we were both a little bemused and disappointed when we arrived and there were no red Indians, cowboys or traffic cops dancing out to meet us!

We woke early the following day, keen to leave for Zanzibar as soon as possible (we’d heard reports of muggings and thieves!) so headed for the 7am ferry. The weather was glorious and the sea was calm, so with the sunnies out and factor 15 on we were set for a relaxing few days on the paradise Isle!

Arriving in the port of Stone Town, we made first for our hostel where we downed our luggage and headed out to explore. The town itself was magical, with twisting alleys, and shops and markets that you could quite literally get lost in. The seafront was dazzling with white sand and turquoise sea, it felt almost Caribbean but with Arabic twist! The population of Zanzibar is 90%Muslim, so we were careful not to eat or drink in public, as they are currently fasting for Ramadan, to avoid scowls from the locals (many tourists didn’t seem to realise why the people were occasionally hostile). We were grumpy enough after a couple of hours without food in that heat so I don’t blame them!

Katie got over excited and bought elephants spoons, giraffe spoons and a couple of local paintings – the kind of purchases that when considered in hindsight seem totally absurd! Ewan took a more laidback approach and bartered fiercely for a giraffe painting and some baby elephants, and made some bargain buys.

Exhausted and hungry we headed that evening to the fish market at Forodhani Gardens on the seafront. It was mesmerizing, with row upon row of tables laiden with all sorts of sea creatures, lit by lanterns in the trees. After a feast we retired to get some rest before heading north the following day to the beach!

Tazara

Our stay in Mbeya was brief, and the next day we ventured about 30 minutes out of town to the Train Station to get the Tazara (Tanzanian – Zambian Railway). We had first heard about the train from a group of Irish girls in Livingstone who had been raving about it. It sounded like great fun so we decided it would be an interesting way to get to Dar Es Salaam, and would make a nice change to being stuck in an overcrowded, smelly bus for 14 hours…

We bought our tickets from the ticket office and waited patiently for the train to pull in.  When the train arrived, they didn’t open the doors at once, so a sort of ad hoc queue developed in the waiting room. When they did eventually open them, the queue vanished and it instantly became a free for all with baggage/children hoisted above people’s heads and everyone jabbering away in Swahili. After negotiating our way through the throng of people crowding to get through the door and reaching the actual platform, it turned out that the train wasn’t even ours and the Dar train was on the other platform! We searched around for a bridge or subway that would take us, but to no avail… When we were amongst the last people on the platform and getting very confused, this German guy came and asked us if we were heading to Dar. We said we were and he told us that we had to go “through” the train to get to the other side. Bemused, we hopped on the Zambia train, walked through the carriage and out the other side, dropping down onto the tracks. We picked our way carefully over the rows of train tracks (being careful not to get electrified) and joined all our fellow passengers on the other side!

Our train when it did pull in was great. The journey in total took 24 hours and so we each had little bunk beds in small dorms of four people. Once we got going, we befriended a group of five medical students from Liverpool who had been working in Malawi, they had lots of interesting stories to tell, in particular about how crazy it was during the Malawian riots. Apparently you could hear gunshots right outside their apartment… The train ambled on through the south of Tanzania, through national parks and conservation areas, through tiny little villages where all the kids came out and waved us by and past huge mountains, the like of which we hadn’t seen before on our travels through Zambia or Botswana.

Every now and then the train would stop in a village and the whole carriage would be instantly surrounded by traders trying to sell various things to you through the window. They sell bottles of water, fresh fruit, biscuits, jewellery – pretty much anything really. Whenever they saw us, they shouted “Mzungu, Mzungu!” which means “white person” and they would all flock to our room in the hope that we would buy some of their goods.

That night can only be described as very bumpy with an often interrupted sleep. Mainly due to the train’s constant shaking and it making huge, lurching, scraping noises every time we slowed down or sped up, akin to a stampede of metal elephants in desperate need of some oil!

However the next morning we awoke in good spirits, and found ourselves in one of Southern Tanzania’s most famous parks. Out the window as we had breakfast, we could see herds of zebra, impala and giraffes grazing on the plains and just going about their daily business, the same as you would see sheep or cows back home. It was brilliant to watch them, however the whole journey got quite funny when the lady tried to serve us tea in little saucers after our breakfast. If you have ever watched the Monty Python sketch “The ministry of funny walks”, try and remember the bit when the waiter brings in the tea on a tray, but he is doing such a stupid walk that the tea spills everywhere and is totally ridiculous. If you haven’t seen it then go on YouTube. But that is what it was like. Every time someone went to drink, the train would give an almighty lurch and the tea would spill everywhere! By the end, everyone was a bit wet and it became a sort of challenge to try and actually get some tea in your mouth without spilling it all over yourself/your neighbor.

When we eventually pulled in to Dar Es Salaam, the sun was setting and it felt like we were returning conquering heroes, so great was our reception! Every kid in the area had turned out to watch the train pull in and they were all screaming, waving and running around with excitement at our arrival. We pulled in and departed the train, happy to be on solid ground again but also having had a great 24 hours and definitely glad we had made the effort to join the Tazara!

Road Block

The next stop after the busy, noisy and dusty Lilongwe was the picturesque, serene and beautiful Nakata Bay. Nakata bay is a small village on the shores of the colossal Lake Malawi. Although people had mentioned to us that the lake was massive, nothing can quite prepare you for when you see it. It is like the sea off the coast of a tropical island – perfect calm blue water stretching as far as the eye can see in all directions, small boats floating along fishing and a range of birds flying over the water.

We got a taxi to our accommodation, a place called Mayoka Village, that had been recommended to us – and for good reason. The “village” is situated on a hillside overlooking the bay, with a number of little one room chalet type things right on the water’s edge. They also had a bar/restaurant, canoes/rowing boats that residents could take on the lake for free and snorkels that you could use to try and spot fish. After carrying our bags down the hill, we were enthusiastically greeted by Gary, the hostel owner, who was incredibly friendly. We had spoken to him on the phone and originally told him that we just wanted the cheapest accommodation (a dorm room) as we were on a budget. He waved us aside however and offered to give us one of the lakeside chalets for the same price as the dorm as he liked the look of us! It was only after we had dropped our bags and returned to the bar that we realized he was in fact pretty drunk. Come to think of it, I don’t think we saw him sober the whole time we were there… he must live a very chilled out life!

The chalet was the best place we had stayed yet. Literally opening its doors onto the lake, it had a comfy bed and plenty space to dump your bags and make yourself at home. At the front there was a porch/veranda area with deck chairs where you could sit and enjoy the sun. All this was around 1,000 Malawian Kwatcha each (this is currency, not a type of rare fruit…) which is around eight pounds. Bargain!

During our stay in Nakata Bay we pretty much did nothing… it was so good to relax after a hectic few weeks of dusty bus travel and hostels of various cleanliness. The highlights included swimming in the lake out to a small diving platform near our chalet and washing our clothes for the first time (don’t judge) by hand beside the lake as a washing machine is a rare occurrence around here!

After a few days however, it was time to move on and say goodbye to Malawi and its beautiful lake. The next stop was Mbeya, a town just inside Tanzania and the place at which the Tazara (Tanzanian – Zambian Railway) Train to Dar Es Salaam stops. Our plan was to board the train at Mbeya and go straight to Dar, from which you can easily get to Zanzibar where we would stay for about a week. The journey had a number of different components, first we had to get a taxi from the Bay to Mzuzu, a city in central Malawi. A minibus then took us to Karonga in the north of the country, where we got a shared taxi to the actual border. Once we had negotiated the border crossing and successfully got into Tanzania we jumped on a bus to Mbeya and finally a taxi to our accommodation.

The journey was largely uneventful however it is worth mentioning the minibus that took us to Karonga. These minibuses are designed for 3 people in the front seats, then 12 in the back, sitting in four rows of three. Anyone who has travelled in Africa however, will know how little this means… When we jumped on the minibus in Mzuzu, we were lucky enough to get seats at the back as it wasn’t quite “full”. As we left the town and started on our way north it soon became clear that there is actually no such thing as a “full” minibus in Malawi. At regular intervals we would stop and more people would hope on. Sometimes one person, sometimes two, sometimes they carried big bags that had to be crammed in and sometimes the women had children on their backs or sitting on their lap. At one point I counted 8 people sitting on seats designed for three. There was a large lady, somehow with five children of varying ages perched on her lap/back/any space available. Next to her was another large man who in turn had another grown man sitting on his lap. It really was crazy.

Perhaps the most memorable part of the journey was when we went through a “traffic police roadblock”. Unsurprisingly, we were pulled over for being over capacity. We were apprehensive, assuming that some people would have to get out and find alternative transport due to the bus being too full. This was not the case, our driver simply pulled out a wad of cash, handed it to the guard who nodded us on our way. 200 yards down the road we promptly stopped and opened the door in order to somehow cram a further passenger into the melee!

'The warm heart of Africa'

The following morning at 0800, we ventured on to the Zambian-Malawian border with an American guy called Matt we had met at Dean’s Lodge. The border crossing was fairly subdued in comparison with the last (less chickens, and no rivers involved)...all we had to do was sign our names in a visitor book and write our passport numbers! We spent a while daring each other to write Father Christmas, but decided eventually it wasn’t worth the risk.

After the border we took a bus to Lilongwe, the capital city of Malawi. There were already noticeable differences in the landscape from the previous to countries, rather than flat dusty roads we were traveling on windy roads through the hilltops and lush greenery all around. That said, there was still noticeable poverty there were still potholes everywhere which we’re beginning to find comforting!

On the ay we were briefed by a local guy on the recent riots that had been happening all across Malawi - Lilongwe, Mzuzu and Blantyre were the three main cities that had been hit. Sadly around 19 innocents were killed by police in the demonstrations. There is another riot scheduled for the 20^th, so we were sure to be out of there before it all kicked off again. We were told that the government is a mess and the President has been changing his priorities (apparently due pressure from his recent wife, a politician herself). Malawi, sadly has had a lot of bad press for having some of the highest rates of HIV/AIDS, and totally grim poverty statistics.

We rolled into Lilongwe at around midday, to a great backpackers called Mabuya Lodge where we found a group just heading out to a local football match with a local guy called James. They kindly invited us to join so we paid the equivalent of 30p entrance and went with them! The team was the Silver Strikers, they are a professional team in Malawi and James played for them when he was younger.

The people we met in Lilongwe were so generous and welcoming, and despite the alarming statistics, its nickname ‘the warm heart of Africa’ is thoroughly deserved. Having had a hectic couple of weeks of travel we decided to trek on for one more day up to Nkhata Bay, at the north end of the lake where we could stop to recoup for a little while!

Ramadan to the rescue!

We arrived mid-afternoon in Lusaka, the dusty and hectic capital city of Zambia. After managing to wade through the sea of sweaty bodies waving taxi keys at us, we managed to get to our backpackers, Broads Backpackers. One thing we have learned from this trip is that the word of the Lonely Planet is gospel… When a backpackers fails to appear in the guide you know it is a terrible sign! We arrived to meet a hilarious Estonian guy, and a Spanish couple who were sharing our dorm room, who filled us in with stories of goats and chickens being slaughtered in the campsite a few feet away…bizarre!

To get away from the smell of the towering rubbish pile and the swarms of flies that surrounded it, we decided to take the opportunity to find an internet café. We asked our receptionist where we could find internet access and he directed us left and then left again to Lui’s Logde. After an hour and a half of wandering the dusty streets, it began to get dark and we started to lose hope as there were no street lights and no one had a clue who Lui was!! Eventually a man and his children pointed out Lui’s (it was more like right and then the third right!). We were delighted to find Lui, until he promptly informed us of a power cut. NIGHTMARE!

So we decided to head straight on towards Malawi, and boarded the bus the following morning to Chipata, just inside the Zambian border. Busy does not even nearly describe how RAMMED this bus was! There were rows of five seats with an aisle, however in each row there were around 7 people, with children and luggage stacked high and totally filling the ailse! We saw the funny side and sat squashed for the first few hours, until we took a break for lunch in a town in the middle of nowhere. We tried without success to buy some chicken with US Dollars as we had run out of the local currency (Kwatcha), and alas we continued the journey with empty stomachs.

Typically the bus was running a good few hours late, and we were aware that we were going to arrive in Chipata after dark and with nowhere confirmed to stay! Thank goodness a group of 7 brilliant but a bit crazy Indian guys from New Delhi got on and were sat close to us! A simple solution to any problem in Africa is knowledge of Premiership Football, the Universal Language of Football has proven its worth on more than one occasion on our trip so far! Ewan and the Indian guys chatted on about football, then about their children, then about Cricket, then about Ramadan and Mosques, then they showed us lots of pictures…then finally they made it their mission to help us find accommodation! Following various phone calls with their Zambian friends they managed to get hold of the number for Dean’s Hill Veiw Lodge in Chipata and we were able to secure beds for the night. We also had a countdown until official sundown (the end of fasting for the day) at 6.05pm, and celebrated with them as they cracked open and shard with us their biscuits and fizzy drinks!

Leap of Faith

So we left the rest of the group and moved to our new accommodation in Livingstone, a lively place called JollyBoys. It had a great atmosphere and really cheap good food which was a winner! We met some really nice Irish girls who we said we’d meet up with again in Zanzibar for the monthly full moon party which is supposed to be brilliant!

The following morning we woke up at 0730 and met our faithful taxi driver called Herbert who we had befriended. He was taking us to the infamous… Victoria Falls Bungee!!! On the way he told us the tragic story of how his mother had been killed by a rampaging elephant (actually) which was really sad… but this was soon pushed to the back of our minds when we arrived at the jump. The Victoria Falls bungee looks over the Zambezi River and goes off a bridge with the falls crashing behind. It’s 111m high and only 3 people have died doing it… (joke). We had to get up really early as it was the only time they could fit us in was 8am, however it was far from ideal as we were supposed to be catching a bus at 9am! This however worked in our benefit as we were in such a rush to catch our bus, we didn’t really have time to get worked up and nervous about it. Ewan went first. Once all the straps and cables etc are tied and good to go you have to waddle to the edge and stand with your toes over, peering over into the gaping void below… The man holds your face and looks into your eyes and says “On three you are going to jump. Stare straight ahead, put your arms out at your sides and jump as far out as you can. Ready?”,

“No…”

“1, 2, 3 bungee!!!!”

And that’s it. You are off, hurtling towards the water at who knows how many miles an hour… It is exhilarating although not going to lie it is scary as… Katie went next and was equally as freaked out but completed it successfully and before long we were back in Herbert’s taxi and hurtling towards town to try and catch our bus. By this point it was about 0855 and there seemed a slim chance of making it. Herbert put pedal to the metal however and we shot over the various potholes and dents in the road at a fair speed. Herbert was so dedicated to getting us to our bus on time he even skipped a number of red lights on the way into town…   

We pulled up, breathless, at about 0915. Our bus was thankfully still sitting there as the driver was having an argument with somebody about something. We sneaked our bags on and found some seats at the back. Within minutes we were heading to Lusaka, Zambia’s capital having had a very adrenaline packed start to the day!

Vegetarian Crocodiles

The next stop was Livingstone, not only known for Victoria Falls (one of the 7 natural wonders of the world), but also as Ewan kindly likes to point at every opportunity, the founder (a fellow Scot)…Dr David Livingstone.

Our first stop on arrival was the falls…WOW. This was the most at home the Irish lass on our trip had felt since we started out. She was delighted that is did not only seem like it was torrentially raining, but it was also raining upwards and sideways due to the immense pressure of the water! Our guide hastened to point out that due to the dry season the falls are currently merely a trickle. Nevertheless we all headed back to the bus soaked to the bone!

But the water was the least of our worries…as we were heading back up the pathway a group of territorial baboons started to gather around us creating some kind of attack formation. We did as we were told and stayed totally neutral and carried on walking as if we hadn’t seen them, but they continued to advance. They grabbed two of the girl’s bags, but between us we managed to get away, totally shaken from our close Monkey encounter!

That evening we boarded a small ferry for the “Sunset Cruise”($35 for animal and free bar!). Needless to say it got totally out of hand, and the more hippos and crocodiles we saw, the louder the cheers got! It probably wasn’t the best preparation for our activities the following morning, which began with white water rafting on the ZAMBEZI!

We set off early and were greeted by our rafting guide, Boyd, a crazy Zimbabwean who was even more boisterous than Katie after a coffee! He asked us to hop out of the boat as soon as we arrived to get used to the seriously cold water and started shrieking with laughter and shouting ‘yeeeeehhaaaaaaa ZAAAAMMMBEEEZZIIII’ followed by ‘CROCODILE!!’ The rest of us feeling slightly uneased laughed it off as a joke, but when the first body was back in the boat to see a MASSIVE crocodile sliding into the water towards us panic set in! They dragged the rest of us in record time, meanwhile Boyd was still hooting with laughter in the end of the boat. The girls we were with were totally mortified, and remained so for the whole of the rest of the trip, despite Boyd’s attempts to convince them that crocodiles in the Zambezi are Vegetarians!

That evening we departed the group as our time on board the tour bus had ended. Sad goodbyes, however we had our next challenge to look forward to the following morning…BUNGEEEE!

Where Elephants Rule

Our next destination Botswana, we headed off into elephant country! Botswana is famous for having an abundance of elephants, and after crossing the border it wasn’t long before we stopped the truck to let a small family of them cross the road.

Our campsite that night was a place called Elephant Sands. Under the banner on the doorway read the slogan “Where Elephants Rule”… The campsite was literally in the wild, i.e. there were no fences or walls; it was basically just a bit of sand beside the road that you could come and pay to camp on. It was equipped with showers, taps and even a swimming pool, but for some reason they all ran with salt water. Once we had set up camp, the reason for the slogan soon became clear… There were trees that had been stripped of all their leaves, some trees that had been totally uprooted, and an old shower block that had been knocked down… We asked the owner why it was so chaotic and apparently elephants regularly walk through the campsite. During mating season, the males feel the need to practice head-butting things and so take out their pent up aggression on whatever is closest: trees, buildings, tents… It was slightly disconcerting that night, knowing that at any point an angry herd of elephants could rampage through and tear us all limb from limb! But thankfully none did, and we set off again bright and early in the morning.

Our next stop was on the banks of the River Chobe at Chobe National Park. That night we embarked on a sunset river cruise down the river. I say “cruise”, it was more of a floating tin boat that crammed in about 10 of us, all sitting very tightly. We saw lots of beautiful animals come down at sunset to drink from the river. Families of Hippos wallowed in the mud whilst crocodiles prowled around menacingly on the bank. A highlight was watching a family of elephants cross the river. There were five of them in total, two of which were tiny babies, only a few weeks old we were told. They lined up in single file with the biggest at the front, then the smallest, then the second biggest, then second smallest and so on. They crossed with the little ones holding on to their parents tails so they didn’t get lost in the water. At times, all you could see was a baby trunk poking out the water as the entire rest of their body was submerged. They safely reached the other side then slowly loped off as elephants do, seemingly unaware of us and the other few boats that had been watching their crossing with delight.

The next notable tale was the border crossing to get into Zambia. When someone mentions “border control” to me, I usually think of walking off a plane, waiting in line then nervously watching the grumpy man/woman stamp your passport and sometimes ask you random questions about how long you are staying in the country etc. Not in Zambia. To get into the country, you are required to cross the Chobe River on a ferry. We sorted out our passports etc, then proceeded to the “dock”. The ferry was a small boat, however there is a huge range of trucks, cars and people all waiting to cross at the same time. It is basically just a total rammy to see who can get on the boat first before it gets full. We piled on on foot, whilst our driver skillfully maneuvered the bus to the front of the queue and somehow got on without a problem. After that it was chaos – people running around everywhere trying to get on, cars/lorries beeping and chickens and various animals squawking and running around. Aside from this, guys in canoes were unofficially loading bottle upon bottle of vodka onto their canoe and furiously paddling them across. We can only suspect that they had paid off the customs man as it certainly didn’t look very legal. We got off on the other side and got back on the bus, just in time to see the whole process start again.

The Big Five

We set off with the group in a big overland truck. It was well equipped with two tables for playing cards, lockers to store bags and loads of space for storing our tents. The rest of the guys in our group were great and we wiled the time away on the bus chatting and getting to know each other. We were a mixed bunch with one Scot, an Irish girl, 4 from England, a Kiwi, 4 Australians, 2 South Africans, 2 Swiss and a Canadian.
 

Our first campsite was just outside Kruger national park in South Africa. It took near enough a day’s drive to get there, but when we did it was worth it. It had lovely clean showers and toilets, a great little bar and a picturesque view of as little lake with a river coming out of it – It was a far cry from when we camped at T in the Park in Balado a few weeks earlier!

That evening we were treated to a “South African Culture Night” which involved singing and dancing wearing all the tribal gears and songs etc with a bit of gumboot (Robbie) and even a bit of crowd participation at the end when Katie was asked to get up and Dance with a South African tribesman! We then ate our 2^nd amazing South African meal in front of the fire and under the stars in the traditional African way – with your fingers!

Our next day started at 5am as we boarded safari vehicles and headed into Kruger. We were made to get up so early as that is the best time to see lions apparently and it didn’t disappoint! Within about 20 minutes of being in the park we had seen 5 lions playing in the morning sun and a number of other creatures including buffalo, zebra and some pretty looking birds. However the animals seemed to dry up a little after this early buzz and we eventually gave up and went for some lunch.

After lunch things really got going… We saw heards of elephants, impala (like deer), loads of giraffes, hippos, chimpanzees, buffalo, warthogs and even a white rhino which we were very lucky to spot as they are incredibly rare. 

It was drawing to the end of the day and we were just remarking on how lucky we had been to see so many great animals when suddenly our driver Derek heard something on his radio, did a three point turn in the road, and shot off in the other direction at about 100 miles an hour. Whilst we clung on for dear life, we shouted at him what is going on?! He replied “leopard”, of which there are only around 1000 in the park … did I mention the park was the size of Wales!?

We stopped beside a small tree and there he was, just stalking along in the undergrowth. We saw him for about 10 seconds and then he was gone, but the hair raising drive was all worth it. To see such a rare and beautiful animal was amazing.

So we headed back to our campsite in very high spirits having hit the Kruger national park jackpot. Some people take weeks even months in Africa chasing “The Big Five” (Lion, Elephant, Buffalo, Rhino and Leopard) and we had just seen them in one day!

Small World

Our first experience of Africa was touching down in Johannesburg airport. After a brief heart-in-mouth moment when we were near enough the last people standing at the baggage carousel, all was well. We headed through to arrivals to find a taxi that would take us to Parktown, an area of Joburg where Helen, Fazel and their dog Rusty lived. Helen is an old friend of Ewan’s Aunty and had very kindly volunteered her spare room for us to sleep in for our first few nights on the continent!

Our taxi driver (who incidentally was fluent in 7 of SA’s 11 official languages) dropped at Helen’s beautiful house in one of the suburbs. As is the case with many people living on the outskirts of Joburg, the entire perimeter of the house is surrounded by barbed wire fences, electric gates and elaborate CCTV systems. It is slightly unnerving and seems real shame that half the city feel they have to live behind these huge walls in order to be safe. Anyways, we were greeted by the family with open arms and were instantly made to feel welcome. Fazel, (Helen’s Husband) decided he would give us a grand tour of the main sights of Joburg and as soon as we had dumped our bags off we were straight out the door again and being driven round various points of interest. We stopped at an old prison that was used during the Boer war, the constitutional court of South Africa and a number of other interesting places that Fazel seemed to know everything about! During our grand tour we also visited their son Yousef’s place of work. Yousef in short, helps young South African entrepreneurs get a foothold and helps them start up their own business. We met a lad who was brought up in Soweto township. He was starting a business centred on showing tourists round the main historical parts of the township and also the places where people live today. He very kindly agreed to take us round the following day so we could give him feedback on his new business! That evening we had an incredible home cooked meal by Fazel and Helen of traditional South African food and we chatted about various things going on in the world and about how when Helen and Ewan’s Aunty used to live rent free in an abandoned house in London when they were students (sorry Irene…).

The following day was an early start; we were collected at the house and driven to the South Western Township (Soweto). Soweto is famous for, amongst other things, the Soweto Gospel Choir who (who always play the Edinburgh festival), the poverty experienced by a number of its residents and it’s part in the anti Apartheid protests, in particular the protest by school children against the compulsory use of the Africaans language in Schools. Some parts of the township is good, nice accommodation however it is better known for the shanty towns and slums in which many people live. One of the first places we were taken was an area called Cliptown. Cliptown is one of the most poverty stricken areas and we met some guys who run a youth centre for young children. Although it was clear everyone we met lived in extreme poverty, they were all incredibly positive and friendly and couldn’t wait to tell us about the latest project they had started or how well their football team was doing! Next we visited the house of Nelson Mandela and were shown round by a nice and very informative lady. On the same street as Nelson Mandela lives Desmond Tutu and we were told it is the only street in the world to have house two Nobel Prize winners!

Next stop the Hector Peitersen museum. A brief history lesson: During Apartheid the government made it compulsory for kinds to use the language Africaans in schools. The children in the township hated this as they couldn’t understand it, which would be understandably frustrating… The children organized a peaceful march in protest of this new law and hoped that it would show the government how much they hated it. However, during the March, the police opened fire on the children and a number of them were shot and killed. It was a tragedy and started riots in the rest of the township. On the day of the March an 8 year old boy named Hector Peitersen, who wasn’t part of the protest, was walking home and got caught up the melee. He was shot and killed by the police, and became a symbol for the children and the rest of black South Africa in the struggle against Apartheid. The museum was really interesting and had a load of footage and quotes from the day. We then walked along the very same roads on which it happened. You can still see the bullet marks in some of the walls.

That night Fazel gave us a lift to the backpackers we were staying at that night and we said our goodbyes. The next stage of our journey is on an overland truck and will take us up to the Victoria Falls in Zambia. We met the rest of the guys we were going to be travelling with and found them all to be really friendly. Among them were two Loughborough alumni who graduated the year before us. It’s a small world!

Civilisation...

Africa Lesson 1 - When attempting to write a blog whilst traveling around Africa, be sure to take extensive notes as it may be a while before it is possible for you share any information via the internet!

We have just arrived in Dar es Salaam, the most build up city since Johannesburg, and between now and tomorrow evening we hope to have you fully updated on our adventures so far...

The last 4 attempts to update this blog have quite literally ended in entire village power cuts...woops.

You will be pleased to know we are alive and well and having the trip of a lifetime!

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