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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