Last time I wrote I think we were in Livingstone, since then we have been travelling independently through Zambia and it has been nice to set our own pace and interact with the locals more.
We have met some really lovely people here in Zambia. I have found the people here to be so friendly, honest and always willing to lend a helping hand. Although we unfortunately didn't get to travel through Zimbabwe, we have met a lot a really nice Zimbabwean's in Zambia. Most of our guides on various tours and safaris have been from Zim, due to the high standard of training they get for guiding there. We have had a small insight into what life is like in Zim at the moment. I can't comprehend what they must be going through on a daily basis though, it's just so sad. In Zim the inflation rate is so high that their billion dollar notes are worth little, as a result people don't get paid because the money is worthless by the following day. They are living on IOU's. Their supermarket shelves are empty, apart from some toiletries and tea apparently (Nick would be fine though...I'm sure he could live off tea alone), basic commodoties like bread and sugar can't be found most of the time. All the people we have met buy 3-4 months worth of supplies in the neighbouring countries before they go home. I don't know how people who don't live near the boarder are coping.
The people of Zim are Zam are very similar, they share the same languages, landscapes, animals and culture across their boarder (the Zambezi river), but they find themselves in a very different situation due their leadership. Zim and Zam are like an example of ying and yang. Zim being lead by the very corrupt Robert Mugabe and Zambia was being lead by the good president Levy Mwanawasa, (unfortunately he died just over a week ago...it's such sad news for Zambia, as he was the complete opposite to Mugabe). He fought government corruption and when he entered parilment, at a time when Zambia was in a situation similar to Zimbabwe today, he turned the situation around and introduced true democracy. It's obvious he was really loved by the people here, everywhere we looked there were pictures of the man in restaurants and in taxi's. I can appreciate why Zambian's are so upset about his death and a bit anxious about the upcoming elections. I hope he is replaced by another Mwanawasa, not another Mugabe, as it makes a big difference for the average person here in Africa.
While in Zambia we did a 3 day canoe safari down the Lower Zambezi, which was great for spotting hippo's close up and a really nice way to see the animals. After that we headed to the capital Lusaka, then onto South Luangwa NP where we could pitch our tent in the tree tops and watch elephants and hippo's walk through the campsite while they ate. We also finally got to see a leopard too, the big five sightings are now complete.
We are now in Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania after a 46 hour train journey through some beatuiful places. We stopped in some small little villages on the way and were always greeted by lot's of very excited children screaming "muzungu, muzungu" meaning white person.
We have had some very funny times on the buses here too, but I think Nick is witting about that, so I won't double up.
Next we are off to Zanzibar, we leave on our ferry trip tomorrow.
I hope are well at home.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Animal Encounters and Botswana
Since the last blog we have travelled from the Atlantic Coast in Namibia to Livingstone in Zambia, via Etosha NP, and the Okavango Delta and Chobe NP in Botswana.
Etosha was an easy place for animal spotting. We just parked up by the waterholes and waited for the animals to come to us. We saw huge herds of various animals here. When the elephants arrived all other animals either stood back or would skittishly sip at the water, except for one particular rhino that we sat and watched late one night by a waterhole that was lit up near our campsite. This black rhino was obviously very territorial and made a big scene when anything would come to drink. There was a confrontation with another rhino as they passed each other, then a huge herd of elephants and a pack of about 10 hyena's came to drink and got the rhino more agitated, after a while more elephants came so there were about 30 all up and the one grumpy rhino. It tried to show the ele's who's waterhole it was, but the ele's just ignored it and splashed it with their trunks. Which made the rhino very very grumpy by this stage and he shook his head, grunted, turned to the ele's to mark his territory and then farted in their direction before running off. It was a very amusing night and I had to try very hard not to laugh out loud.
The Okavango Delta was one of the highlights for me on this trip. We got to experience this place by boat, 4x4, mokoro (dug out canoe), plane, house boat and on foot. We first camped in a village called Seronga where we met a local called Pauline, a 29 year old women who had been raped one night (by her child's father) and was now pregnant with her second child. Unfortunately she has since found out the he has AIDS and so she is now waiting for her second test result, the first was negative and I hope the second one is too. It is so sad and it broke my heart, but her optimism and attitude regarding her situation was inspiring. I don't think I will ever forget her.
AIDS is a massive problem in Botswana, it has the highest infection rate in the world. 36% of young adults have it here. In Seronga, pre-AIDS epidemic the life expectancy was 77 years old, now it's 31 years! At least Botswana's Government are actively tacking this problem with awareness campaigns, increasing the health budget and providing antiretroviral medication.
We took a flight over a small section of the delta and really got a feeling for how expansive the delta is. We spent another night on a very small island in the delta at a basic bush camp where we got round with the mokoro's. Our poler's for the mokoro's navigated there way through the water Lillie's, hippo grasses and hippo's. They also took us on a bushwalk who only had their experience to protect us from the animals, but they have been living there all there lives and really knew there stuff. At one point we came across some elephants, but we quickly had to retreat as they were a breeding herd with some babies. Most animals will do a mock charge first to give you a warning, but a breeding herd of elephants may not.
We got some really great encounters with lions in Chobe NP. We witnessed some stalking some sable (large antelope), we also got up close to a lioness that had killed a sable the day before and was still busy munching away. I got to see some elephants swimming too on a sunset Chobe River cruise.
We are now relaxing in Livingstone and enjoying Victoria Falls. We did a chopper flight over the falls and through Botoka Gorge just above the raging rapids of the Zambezi. I can see why it is one of the 7 natural wonders of the world.
Etosha was an easy place for animal spotting. We just parked up by the waterholes and waited for the animals to come to us. We saw huge herds of various animals here. When the elephants arrived all other animals either stood back or would skittishly sip at the water, except for one particular rhino that we sat and watched late one night by a waterhole that was lit up near our campsite. This black rhino was obviously very territorial and made a big scene when anything would come to drink. There was a confrontation with another rhino as they passed each other, then a huge herd of elephants and a pack of about 10 hyena's came to drink and got the rhino more agitated, after a while more elephants came so there were about 30 all up and the one grumpy rhino. It tried to show the ele's who's waterhole it was, but the ele's just ignored it and splashed it with their trunks. Which made the rhino very very grumpy by this stage and he shook his head, grunted, turned to the ele's to mark his territory and then farted in their direction before running off. It was a very amusing night and I had to try very hard not to laugh out loud.
The Okavango Delta was one of the highlights for me on this trip. We got to experience this place by boat, 4x4, mokoro (dug out canoe), plane, house boat and on foot. We first camped in a village called Seronga where we met a local called Pauline, a 29 year old women who had been raped one night (by her child's father) and was now pregnant with her second child. Unfortunately she has since found out the he has AIDS and so she is now waiting for her second test result, the first was negative and I hope the second one is too. It is so sad and it broke my heart, but her optimism and attitude regarding her situation was inspiring. I don't think I will ever forget her.
AIDS is a massive problem in Botswana, it has the highest infection rate in the world. 36% of young adults have it here. In Seronga, pre-AIDS epidemic the life expectancy was 77 years old, now it's 31 years! At least Botswana's Government are actively tacking this problem with awareness campaigns, increasing the health budget and providing antiretroviral medication.
We took a flight over a small section of the delta and really got a feeling for how expansive the delta is. We spent another night on a very small island in the delta at a basic bush camp where we got round with the mokoro's. Our poler's for the mokoro's navigated there way through the water Lillie's, hippo grasses and hippo's. They also took us on a bushwalk who only had their experience to protect us from the animals, but they have been living there all there lives and really knew there stuff. At one point we came across some elephants, but we quickly had to retreat as they were a breeding herd with some babies. Most animals will do a mock charge first to give you a warning, but a breeding herd of elephants may not.
We got some really great encounters with lions in Chobe NP. We witnessed some stalking some sable (large antelope), we also got up close to a lioness that had killed a sable the day before and was still busy munching away. I got to see some elephants swimming too on a sunset Chobe River cruise.
We are now relaxing in Livingstone and enjoying Victoria Falls. We did a chopper flight over the falls and through Botoka Gorge just above the raging rapids of the Zambezi. I can see why it is one of the 7 natural wonders of the world.
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