Milly and Mildew's Adventures in Africa

This post is about Whitney's trip to Botswana, and our travels through the region. The title will be clarified later in the Post.

Whitney Arrived at the Gaborone airport on December 8th, and as I promised I was there to meet her. I was a little late in arriving because I was attempting to clear up some visa concerns (I didn't succeed in the visa thing, so that part of my life remains in flux). After picking her up at the airport I got a taxi and took her back to UB after treating her to an iron brew, one of my favorite African treats.
On the second day Whitney spent in Botswana I took her to Main Mall to see the craft stalls that sell touristy type stuffs. we also visited the Botswana National museum which was small, but free, and quite nice. Whitney struggled to adjust to the heat. I can't blame her Michigan December and Botswana December are two different worlds. She survived and was quite a trooper through her tour of Gaborone. After that we met Onkabetse at Riverwalk and had some food at linga longa.
The tenth of December was the official beginning of our trip. We got up super early to walk to the bus station to catch our bus to Johannesburg. The bus ride was typical. The bus rides throughout the trip were hard for Whitney. She battled with road-sickness but hung in there. Once we arrived in Johannesburg we found a taxi and headed to our first hostel. The cab driver had no idea where it was but once we got there, we just relaxed.

(Our room at Jolly Boy's, the Rhino Room)

The next day we woke up caught the hostels shuttle to the airport and got on a plane to Zambia. The flight was unremarkable except that the flight was not direct. It flew first into Victoria Falls Zimbabwe, and then into Livingstone Zambia, this is interesting because the flight between Victoria Falls and Livingstone is 8 minutes airtime, the shortest flight I have ever been on. When we arrived in Livingstone we were picked up at the airport by our hostel and taken there. We spent the rest of the day settling in and looking around the little, dingy town of Livingstone Zambia.

(Livingstone)

The next morning we woke up early and caught a taxi to the Zambia Zimbabwe bridge to do bungi jumping. On the way we saw some baboons in dumpsters leading me to believe that Baboons are like the raccoons of Africa, but that would be exaggeration. We were accosted a little by two young men trying to sell us bracelets that were way too expensive but after a little haggling we did buy one, I know its bad to reward bad behavior but they were nice bracelets. When we checked in to the bungi jumping place we had to be weighed and were about 2kg overweight to do the tandem. That made us incredibly sad. We could have taken off our shoes and things to get us under the weight limit but that would have been too scary. I insisted that we both had to do individuals anyways, even though Whitney was really scared. We walked halfway across the stunning bridge to get to where we were going to jump from. Whitney asked (demanded) that I go first. I got strapped in with leg straps and a harness and the whole thing felt very professional and frankly safe, which I suppose is a good thing when I was about to jump off a bridge that is 421 feet above the water of the Zambezi River.

(The bridge we jumped from)

Once I was all strapped in I stepped up and the countdown began. The feeling of excitement mixed with apprehension was similar to sky diving but because I was alone I was even more nervous. 3...2...1... and I jumped.

(And I was away)

Whitney claims I had a push but I think I bungi jumped, as opposed to "Bungi-falling" as some Zambian we met called it. After they pulled me up I stood on a small platform beneath the bridge to watch Whitney jumped. I could tell she was crazy nervous but she did awesome too.
After our jumping experience we went back to Jolly Boy's Backpackers and just hung out. We were tired and got a chance to use the pool.
The following day we woke up even earlier and were picked up at 6:30 from our Hostel to go on an Elephant Safari. We got on a bus to Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park along the Zambezi river. When we arrived we met our fellow riders, three Australians and a couple form New York. We each loaded up on an elephant and were off. Whitney and I shared an Elephant. It was named Mashumbi and our guide's name was Eliah. Fortunately at the beginning they provided a poncho for each person because as soon as we mounted up the sky opened. It rained in varying degrees throughout our trek but that didn't dampen our spirits (ah, I kill myself haha).

(Nandi, Mashumbi, Me, Whitney, and Eliah)

The ride was wonderful, the only wildlife we saw was a Hippo (only it's ears) as it swam towards our Elephant train as we were crossing the Zambezi River. It was such a cool way to experience the Zambian Bush. Once we dismounted the Elephants we were served a full English breakfast and watched the video of the ride.
After breakfast and the short movie we returned to our hostel again exhausted and this time soaked. We were so wet in fact that by the time we went to leave the next day our clothes weren't dry and we had to pack them wet. When we reopened our bags back in South Africa they smelled awful. As a result Whitney nicknamed me Mildew and I nicknamed her Milly. Eventually the smell went away, although it took a while, but the nicknames stuck.
We took a quick nap before catching a minibus to the falls. We hiked around and saw some great views of the falls themselves.

(Some of the falls)

(Whitney put her feet in the headwaters at the top of the falls.)

They are a beautiful thing. We took a path down to a place called the boiling pot that turned out to be an incredibly difficult hike to a place, that wasn't worth the view, but it was interesting nonetheless.
The following day it was time to leave. We flew to Johannesburg, then took a bus to Cape town, a 20 hour bus ride! But it went quite fast. I slept better than I expected to. By mid-afternoon of December 15th we were in Cape town South Africa. That afternoon we hiked down to a place called the V&A Waterfront.

(V&A Waterfront with Table Mountain in the Background)

We ate a nice lunch, I ate fresh seafood (non-existent in landlocked Botswana) and visited the two ocean aquarium. It was a pretty nice aquarium with reef sharks, penguins, and fish, kinda what you expect from an aquarium. We also found the Peace Prize square where South Africa proudly displays its four Nobel Peace Prize Winners. I wonder if the U.S. does that?

(Myself and Archbishop Desmond Tutu)

(Whitney and Nelson Mandella)

On the 16th we got up early to go back to the waterfront to try to catch a ferry to Robben Island, South Africa's Alcatraz were Nelson Mandella was housed for 20+ years. Unfortunately there was absolutely no room on the ferry. Instead we caught a taxi down to Boulder's beach to see the African Penguins. This is the only place where there are Penguins in Africa and Boulder's Beach has a colony of 2,000+ penguins. It was quite fun and the Penguins were adorable.

(African Penguins)

After that our taxi took us to Table mountain. I don't know why but Table Mountain is a world heritage site. It is a very distinctive looking hill that overlooks the city and is apparently a "must-do" in Cape town, so we did it. It was quite nice and the views of Cape town were breathtaking.

(Cape Town From Table Mountain)

The following day we visited the Castle of Good Hope. As Whitney pointed out the Castle wasn't exactly what you expect. We could visit the dungeon and the torture chamber, the Governor’s quarters and other places but they were just empty with the exception of the Blacksmith's Shop which was recreated. It would have been nice if more of the areas had given more information and perhaps visuals about there intended purposes. There was also a military museum which told the history of the Anglo-Boer war (the War between the Dutch and the British) as well as the history of the South African army. That was really interesting and very well done. While we were there we saw the changing of the guards and the firing of the signal cannon. Not quite as impressive as the English version, but still quite cool.

(Changing of the Guard at the Castle of Good Hope)

We learned that the Castle is still used to date for some Military activity and figure that has some impact on why the castle is not more museumish. After the castle it was time to board a bus to Bloemfontein, this time it was only a 16 hour bus ride, but again I slept quite well and when I woke up we were in Bloemfontein.
From Bloemfontein we rented a car and headed to Moolmanshoek which is a private game reserve. The man at the rental place gave us bad directions and we ended up driving through Ladybrand and Ficksburg even though we didn't need to. Once we arrived we were immediately struck by two things, first how well our little VW (Speedy) did in getting over the roads, and second how beautiful the place was.

(Speedy)

The reason for being there was the meerkat experience, which was, in Whitney's own words, "Basically the reason for coming." (I think she was joking, at least mostly.) The night we arrived we had a wonderful dinner that reminded us we were way out of our league at this place, that is to say that backpackers don't stay at Moolsmanhoek, any place even nearly as nice, but it was an excellent change of pace for us.
The next day we woke up early (seeing a pattern?) around 5:00 to get to the meerkats before they came out in the morning. The meerkat experience exceeded even the grandest expectations. I honestly expected it to be hard to find them and then only be able to see them from some great distance.

(Us with the Meerkats)

That wasn't the case at all. We got very close, Whitney even fed and petted the Meerkats, which the guide said is very rare, after all they are wild meerkats. Then we just sat with them for a long time before finally we decided we should let the Meerkats go back to doing what they do.
Moolsmanhoek has an incredible number of horses and a significant amount of other animals such as zebras and wildebeests.

(Moolsmanhoek was made very beautiful by its horses and mountains)

We spent the rest of the day just enjoying the animals including a short, private game drive. Unfortunately we had to leave quite soon as the lodge was expecting a wedding party and had no vacancy.
We drove back to Bloemfontein in the afternoon. Once we got to the city we used the tourist center to find a small inexpensive lodging which was basically a furnished garage. I suggested that we should find the taxi station that we would be using the next day to get to Lesotho. That turned out to be an awful idea. That part of town, and in fact all towns, was terrible. People all over, cars all over, and none of either looked friendly. We finally got out after a very tense hour. Once we got to our accommodation we asked the nice lady, whose house we were in, where we could find a McDonalds in Bloemfontein. We ate dinner and lunch the next day at that McDonalds. I think that the preceding four months had been the longest period in my conscious life without McDonalds, and the food was worth the wait. I love McDonalds more than is good for me.

(Mmm, Mmm, Good)

The 21st we boarded a mini bus (Khombi) to Lesotho from Bloemfontein. We decided to put the suti-case under our seat and as a result the drive was very, very cramped. Fortunately the ride was only two hours to the Maseru Border. We then caught another Minibus to Malealea, where we would be staying. By the time we arrived in Malealea we were exhausted.

(Our Rondavel in Lesotho)

The next day we took a pony trek to the Botsholeo waterfall. The trek was 2 hours both ways and served as my first, ever, horse riding experience. I think i did quite well.

(The two of us with our horses)

(The Waterfall)

My horse's name was Brown Sugar. We learned later, from our soreness and sunburns, that a 4 hour trek was too long and the next day we only took a 2 hour trek around the 'gorge'. Both treks were really fun and unique way to see what has got to be one of the most beautiful countries in the world, Lesotho.

(Sunset in Lesotho)

On the bus ride back to Malealea I spent the time looking out the window and compiling some of the idea and thoughts I have had since I have been in Botswana.

(Our Khombi from Malealea to Maseru)

Looking out at what Americans would call shacks made me think about the process of development. As an American I can not imagine living in a shack in the hills with no electricity no indoor plumbing and no supermarkets. Living off the land is unfathomable to me. I think too often though, we assume that those who do live that way don't want, and would prefer to live like us. I have learned that that is not the case. The people I have met know how things are in other parts of the world and don't want that. That makes me think that this aid and development paradigm is seriously flawed, after all I have come to believe very strongly that you can't help those who don't want to be helped. Americans, and in fact every one in the First world, need to stop assuming that everyone would like to live like we do, because it just isn't true. I think any aid should be in the form of education so people can understand their options, and healthcare so people can live out their dreams but beyond that I think meddling is useless.
The 24th we caught a minibus to Maseru, the capital of Lesotho, and a plane to Johannesburg before picking up our rental car and driving all the way to Hlane National Park in Swaziland. We got into Hlane with ample time in the evening and were able to drive our car (Ellie) around on the dirt roads in the Park.

(Ellie in Kruger)




(Hlane's Hippo Pool had rhino's and hippos that you could get close to)

For dinner I had a "Hunter's Pot" which was Impala stew. That night we settled in by lamp light and found a scorpion on our wall. Whitney freaked out, but did kill it herself. I thought it was so cool, she disagreed.
The next morning we got up at 4am to do a sunrise drive. The drive was wonderful, we saw our first giraffes, rhinos, and elephants while driving around Hlane. We were quite pleased, and then the driver told us it was time to go see Lions. We drove into the Lion area (they are secluded for preservation reasons but still are very much wild) and searched for a while. We eventually came around a corner and bang there they were!

(The Lions)

The guide drove up right behind them until we were just feet from them. The group had a big male, three females, and two cubs. The guide said that the, "Male must be lazy, that’s why there are only two cubs." That was a wonderful experience. What a christmas morning. We went back to our room, opened our two presents, my parents had sent them from home with Whitney and packed our things and headed out.
Christmas day we spent at a nice little hostel in Swaziland outside of the capital Mbabane. When we got there the lady working informed us that they had been waiting for us for lunch, even though Whitney told them not to via email. It turned out that these three English people were grilling kebabs and chicken. We joined in chatted with them. They were really cool. Two of them were teachers in Qatar on Christmas holiday and one was a volunteer between high school and college. After our barbecue lunch we played sardines and other games and listened to a little Christmas music. It was a wonderful Christmas in Swaziland. During the evening I decided I really wanted to go to Mozambique. Whitney suggested that since we had a car we could go there after our time in Kruger as we had one day free, we agreed and the plan was hatched.
Following our stint in Swaziland we headed North, to Kruger National Park in South Africa. We intentionally entered the park at a far southern gate and took the opportunity drive through the park to get to our camp site. On that drive alone we saw elephants, giraffe, and tons of antelope.

(Us in Kruger)
(A defiant little Rock Antelope)

We got to our camp in time to check in and hop on our sunset game drive. This drive yielded 4 of the big five: Lion, Elephant, Rhino, and Buffalo.

(An African Buffalo)

The drive got very cold, very quickly as the sun went down and neither Whitney or I were prepared unfortunately. Fortunately a very friendly couple gave us their blanket or the whole ride would have been unbearable. The coolest thing we saw on this drive though was a hyena eating a dead buffalo and then tearing off a piece and taking it back to her cubs. After the drive we ate a meal of venison, but I couldn't figure out where it must have come from. The next morning we got up at 3am for another game drive. At this point we had seen four of the big five and were beginning to lose hope of ever seeing a leopard. I should mention that the Big Five got there name from big game hunters because they are the five hardest animals in Africa to hunt and today are often used as a metric for success in a safari. However just as I began to lose hope our game vehicle rounded a corner and a leopard was walking right down the road in front of us we pulled up along side and ended up about 2 feet from it before it cooly walked around us and into the bush a minute later another leopard, this time a female walked down the road.

(Our lucky Leopard)

It is very rare to see two so close together since they are solitary creatures. We were thrilled and were basically walking on air for the rest of the game drive. After we took a short nap we visited the gift shop and headed out. We took a direct path through Kruger towards the Mozambique border allowing for lots of turn offs to see more of the park. We got within 10 feet of a huge Bull Elephant and saw a lone, injured, female lion as well as zebras and hippos very close.

(The Bull Elephant)
(Zebras were some of my favorites)

We drove for about five hours and when we left, we agreed, Kruger is amazing.
Next we headed due west for Mozambique. We planned only to spend a very short time in Mozambique, but we wanted to put our feet in the Indian ocean. We got to the gate at customs like we had done before and got out of South Africa, then as we entered Mozambique they took our gate pass and waved us through without ever making us stop. I immediately knew something was wrong, we needed at least a stamp but I also knew going back wasn't going to fix the problem, not easily at least. Instead we hoped for the best and headed west. We navigated very successfully right through the Capital of Maputo and saw a sign with a boat on it. We learned that English is not an official language of Mozambique so the illustration was useful. We got off the highway and all of a sudden the ocean was upon us. It was beautiful.

(The Indian Ocean!)

We only got out long enough to take a few pictures, then got back in the car and headed back toward the border.

(We put our feet in.)

When we got to the border we crossed our fingers and handed over our passports. It is fair to say our finger crossing didn't work. The guy flipped through them a few times and saw no visa, because no one gave us one. He took our passports in the back and no one said anything to us for a couple minutes. Then someone came out and told us we were in trouble. They said "you entered Mozambique without permission and now you have to pay the penalty." I told him that it was there fault for even allowing it and we argued for a while then they disappeared again with our passports. They told we owed them 400 Rand per person as a fine, unfortunately we didn't have that much but we did have $80 which is equivalent. We handed it over and they informed us in US dollars it would $120, one third again as much as in Rand, well we didn't have that much either and we informed them of such. The border gate didn't have either an ATM or a bureau of exchange so they told us that the police would come and take us back to Maputo until we could sort out the problem. Being arrested in Mozambique, was NOT what we had in mind. I asked if there was anywhere I could exchange money and was directed to the duty free. Unfortunately the duty free had only Mozambiquan currency. I came back to ask how much that would be but no one was there to answer we stood around for what felt like forever before a woman walked over to us and asked us if we had been helped. We told her our passports had been taken. She went to the back and a minute later came back with our passports. She said that they would give us a visa and then stamp it out, because it was their fault. She asked that we please be careful in the future and be safe on our way. She took care of the whole thing with some of her colleagues fighting her, presumably angry that there extortion money was being taken away from them. Earlier we had borrowed the same ladies pen and she said "make sure to give it back." We did, boy were we ever glad we gave her her pen back. The whole ordeal took just over an hour and a half and through out the whole thing Whitney and I hung tough. I really learned a lot about myself in pressure situations and learned that Whitney can be counted on even in the scariest moments. After that we scooted back to Johannesburg and headed back to Gaborone.
On the 28th, Whitney's Last day in Africa we went down to Main Mall and Whitney got all Kinds of Souvenirs for her family and friends before heading to the airport.
I was very sad to see her get on the plane and head back to the US.

The approximate total cost of the trip including Whitney's plane ticket was $6100

That’s all for now,
Love to all,
Tommy

More pictures: (You don't need facebook to see these)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2023725&l=a6acc&id=40901950