Right after the COS conference (see "Seconf big fun thing") we set out for another few weeks of traveling. We hopped a plane from J-burg and landed in Livingstone, which is the Zambian side of Victoria Falls. April is when Vic Falls is flowing at its maximum capacity, and this year is an exceptionally “full” year. You’d think that’d be a good thing for sightseers like us, but in fact it’s actually too much water. The mist cloud rising up from the base of the falls is so enormous (over 1000 feet into the sky at times) that much of the falls is shrouded behind it. So most of the time we walked around in giant curtains of water, getting peeks of the actual falls here and there while the earth rumbled beneath our feet. Pretty exhilarating—certainly the largest, most imposing waterfall I’ll ever witness—but not much to take pictures of, and not that much to do in the way of activities. Rafting? Out of the question, as the river below was a raging torrent. Walking out on the rocks and islands above the falls? No way, as one slip would kill you.
So we cut our time in Vic Falls short by a day and went down to Botswana’s Chobe National Park, which is full of elephants and lions and pasty tourists packed into overpriced safari jeep tours. It was a beautiful place, but the freedom of movement within this park is very limited. If you don’t have your own reliable 4WD you need to sign up for a “game drive” or a “river cruise.” So we signed up and spent some time gawking at the wildlife and talking to other Westerners… and you know what? It was fun. I’m not too proud to admit it. Plus, it’s not everyday that you see warthogs roaming the grocery store parking lot or warthogs hanging around the town’s central bus station. And it’s not often that you watch the sunset from the banks of the fabled Chobe River.
Then it was on to some real adventure traveling. For the next week or so, our route took us through parts of Namibia and Botswana where there are no (or very few) public transportation options. So (and this is the adventure part) we did what the locals do: we hitch-hiked. It sounds crazy, but out there it’s quite common and safe and relatively easy to do, and it worked out well for us. We got lifts from long-haul truckers and locals and international tourists, from preachers and atheists and surly government officials… and every ride was its own little adventure. At one point we were in a tiny village looking for a ride to an exceedingly remote place in the northwest Kalahari called Tsodilo Hills, and we found a white South African ex-pat preacher cleaning out his church in preparation for a visiting group. So we spent a few hours helping him clean and in exchange he gassed up his land-cruiser and drove us out to the Hills—a drive that included 40km of really rough dirt road. All through the Kalahari and around the Okavango Delta area we rode on ferries, in backs of pickups, in cabs of semi trucks, and even in the leather seats of a fancy new Hummer.
But the highlight of Botswana was the Mokoro (canoe) trip we took in the Okavango Delta: 3 days and 2 nights of quiet gliding through some amazing stretches of flooded land in its northwest corner (around the village of Seronga). The Delta is an environmental treasure, and we’re thankful to have seen it.
After the Delta we made our way south and east across Botswana, stopping in the Kalahari town of Ghanzi (where I spent my birthday), and that’s where our hitching ceased: public transport was once again a viable option. The next few days were spent either waiting for kombis and busses or else riding inside them, traveling through the Botswana border town of Lobatse, then on to J-burg and then finally back to good ol’ Swaziland.
So, all 3 big fun things combined, that’s what we’ve been up to this past 5 weeks or so. In general, we found the people of Botswana to be exceedingly friendly and helpful and warm-hearted (much more so than some other Southern African areas). In fact, we found that we had to really adjust our “trust with caution and keep your guard up” attitude while in Botswana, because it just wasn’t appropriate there. No one hassled us (not even little kids asking for candy!), and no one was dishonest toward us. It was kind of amazing. We actually felt safer there than here in Swaziland. And though we spent very little time in Zambia (and only in the very touristy area of Livingstone/Vic Falls), we found the locals there to be kind and friendly and genuinely helpful. Not your typical jaded tourist town. I wish we had more time to travel all around Zambia. Like Botswana, it’s peaceful and stable and friendly, and yet its lush, river-rich landscape is very different from the semi-arid Kalahari terrain.
Anyone coming to Southern Africa that wants a unique and diverse travel experience would do well to look at routes through Zambia, Botswana and Namibia.
Anyway, it’s nice to be back in Zombodze, nice to be staying put for 12 straight weeks. Just enough time for us to finalize our ongoing projects and bid this latest home of ours a proper farewell. I’ll be posting pics, videos and accounts of these latest travels as soon as I can.
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