mike & rhonda's latest adventure: Nobody Understands Me Anymore

Pocahontas tells me to get over it, but that's another issue and a story for another day :-)
My latest predicament is that after learning almost 100 words of Swahili and having a fun time with the East African locals surprising them with my new vocabulary, we arrived in Botswana to confused looks. No one seemed to appreciate my greetings anymore........Habari Ya Asubui (good morning) or Mi Mi Na Itwa Mike........apparently here and in South Africa (our next destination) I would need to restrict my talk to English (how boring), which is used frequently, or start working on several different tribal variations of Zulu.

We started off this chapter in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. Since it is just before the wet season is going to begin, the water volume was not as dramatic as it could have been but it was still impressive. The Falls are the highest of the major waterfalls (Iguacu is the widest and Niagara Falls has the most volume) so they are all equally impressive. It was also a good thing that we got to see them from the Zimbabwe side rather than Zambia since the best views at this time of year (and probably always) were directly in front of us as we spent 2 hours walking along the rim to see the vast number of picture opportunities. At the same time we found out that our tour, which ended up in Johannesburg, South Africa, had only 3 registered guests (the 2 of us plus a nice Australian), was still on with the services of a guide, a cook and a driver, so we had lots of personal attention and space on our 15 person vehicle. Our hosts told us the trip would be like a vacation for them since they had just come off a 15 person tour keeping them very busy all the way. It was a nice surprise.

Next up was a border crossing into Botswana, a country we came to appreciate for the direction it is heading (focus on the environment, infrastructure and agriculture). Our first stop was in Chobe National Park where we cruised the Chobe River and had good views of hippos, elephants, cape buffalos and crocodiles. Our campsite was near the river but our guide suggested we swim in the pool rather than approaching the river bank. We took his advice in the 35C temps that have become the norm in this country.

After that we travelled to the Okavango Delta where we spent several days in a remote campsite on an island in the middle of the 16,000 square km. wetland. We were delivered there via a mokoro (dug-out canoe) and a local 'poler' along a maze of channels on a quiet glide through reeds and day lilies (night lilies during the evening)....and one particular spot where the hippos liked to hang out. We had to carefully navigate around their playpen. Once our local delta guides (from nearby villages) had set up our mini campsite and dug a temporary toilet for us, we had morning and evening walks and mokoro cruises to different spots to view elephants, hippos, antelope and zebras. Although we didn't see a lion, we were awakened one morning at 5:30 am by the roar of a nearby male which prompted the guides to quickly get out of their tents and re-start the campfire which would apparently discourage the lion from getting any closer to us........or so they told us. The afternoons were quite warm so we had lots of time to relax around our campsite and cool off in a small swimming hole not far from our tent. On the final night the polers from our group and a nearby larger group joined together to entertain us with lots of singing, dancing and laughter around a campfire.

From there we had a long drive to the Khamo Rhino Sanctuary arriving in the mid-afternoon. After our camp was set up we went on a game drive with a local guide who knew all the hot spots to hit. Before long we were upon a Black Rhino beside a small pond that allowed a close-up view from a hidden bird blind. After that we saw numerous White Rhino's including a mom and a one year old calf that would have still been at least 3 times my body weight. With lots of other wildlife in view (giraffes, antelopes, wildebeests, wart hogs) a thunderstorm embraced us and we got drenched even under cover of the 4x4 as the torrential rain came in sideways. I retrieved our rain ponchos from my backpack a bit too late from the sudden storm but it still prevented the chill that our Australian friend received. He hurried us back to our camp just in time for a beautiful rainbow, and we changed into dry clothes and sat around a warm campfire.

The next day we drove across the border into South Africa and settled into a B&B in Soweto, a suburb of Johannesburg that is actually larger than the city itself with an approximate population of 4 million people.......no one really knows for sure. This was where the 'black' people were banished to in the mid-1900's when the white people in Joburg became concerned with their growing population and impact on 'their' community. Today we enjoyed a wonderful 4 hour bicycle tour of Soweto. We saw the slums and nicer areas, the former homes of Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela, and went to the memorial for the 600 high school children who were shot and killed in 1976 when they started demonstrating about the imbalance between the education system for white and black children. It was an insightful experience yet wonderful to see how the Soweto people have tried to forget the past and move forward. We were warmly greeted by all we saw on our cycle trip, especially the young children who were excited to give us high/low fives as we passed by.

We have now completed our major tours. While we have had some tremendous experiences along the way, we are also pleased to be back on our own schedule, moving along as we please. We have rented a car and tomorrow we will start heading towards Kruger National Park for some more wildlife adventures. Salakhi.