Overall impressions in Africa

With Jon and my time coming to an end here in Africa I wanted to talk a bit about how we have been traveling and some of the not-so-happy things we have seen.  While I could ramble on forever I will try to be direct.

First, our travels have all been by public transit with the exception of renting a car for one week in northern South Africa to visit Kruger National Park and the Drakensburg.  Public transit here is cheap, fairly easy to use, and allows a traveler an opportunity to meet locals and experience local life.  The primary form of transit are mini-vans that are registered to carry 14 passengers but more often carry around 20.  One might ask how - answer: people are crammed everywhere and there is no aisle.  Where the aisle was they have seats that flip down and people sit.  It is hot and uncomfortable and at times very wearing on one's patience.  Additionally, because Jon and I are obviously travelers they often try to over charge us.  We fight.  They give in.  They laugh, because they see it as a game, and we try to not have chip on our shoulder.  The "stations" are pure chaos most of the time.  People try to drag you to their van despite you wanting a different destination and you must really watch your things.  However, the most startiling thing we have discovered is how fast/ reckless people drive here.  It is breathtaking - in the worst way.  And by far the most dangerous aspect of travelling in Africa.

Second, corruption.  The corruption of the governments here is obvious.  At home our corruption is somewhat hidden, while here it is in your face.  By far the worst country was Zimbabwe, but we have seen it everywhere.  Traffic cops stop the minivans often, recieve their bribe and then we continue.  It happens mutliple times on a trip over an hour and at times the cops delay us for 30 minutes or so.  However, in Zimbabwe they actually made us turn-around, go back to the police station, wait for over two hours, and then let us drive.  At this point we had to drive in the dark which makes the reckless driving more intense.   There are billboards and propoganda encouraging citizens to refuse to pay bribes, report abuses, ect.  From what I can tell, these resources aren't used.  The citizens talk openly about how corrupt it is, how it should change, but feel helpless at making progress.  The exception again is Zimbabwe, where citizens do not speak openly and less directly refer to "better times".  Insulting President Mugabe and therefore his pawns could lead to intense punishment and the citizens are well aware the risk. 

Poverty is everwhere.  We have not posted many pictures of the people here because often times the moments we feeled moved by someone is because their strength is so apparent through their struggle.  It simply feels wrong to photograph. That being said, shanty towns surround every major city and are vast.  While we were in Nairobi, one was being bulldozed as they are considered "illegal dwellings" and the city had plans for building.  In reality that meant thousands of people being displaced who are already in a dire situation.  Other than the shanty towns, there are other daily reminders of our fortunes.  Clean water is a luxury.  The schools here often have wells out front where the kids (if their lucky) use a lever to pump water, or a bucket to dip into the water.  Of course those are the lucky schools, many do not have water and even more true is the lack of children attending school at all.   Children are required to wear uniforms to school and pay school dues.  As a result, many do not go.  There are children living on the streets in the city or working in the markets everwhere.  If a child is sent to school it is almost always the male child despite their age among the other children.  Its assumed the girl will marry and live with her husbands family so will be little benefit to her own.  Whereas a male will bring his wife to his home and is therefore a better "investment".   The homes here are often built from the natural surrounding materials.  Mud, bamboo, metal scraps, and leaves are the most common building materials.  Houses are often decrepit and are always very small. 

Racism.  People have asked what it is like to be white and traveling here.  In the north children, and some adults, would yell "mzungu" everywhere.  This translates to white person or rich person depending on who you ask.  Kids would run out of schools and at times just burst into tears.  However, we felt very little prejudice on a whole against us.  More common we felt we were treated like royalty when in actually we are just dirty backpackers travelling people thought of us as "wealthy Americans".  I guess to them its fair to say both are true.  White privelage was apparent and at times embarrassing.  However, here in South Africa the feeling is very different.  Apartheid may legally be over but its effect is like a punch in the face.  The seperation is distinct, repressive and racism on both sides obvious.  As whites we feel more vulnerable because we percieve ourselves as being viewed as the oppressor.  I told a white south African that we were traveling with the minibuses and it took him several minutes to understand.  Then he clarified "with the blacks? and your not dead yet".  However, that being said we have met nothing but nice people here, with the exception of the occassional white, racist piece of poop.   

More later....

Preview of Kruger National Park

Our latest National Park adventures



Mosi Oa Tunya



Jon and Carrie soaked at Victoria Falls

After leaving Lusaka, we pulled into Livingstone, which is right outside Victoria Falls on the Zambian side.  The falls, formed by the Zambezi River, is split between Zambia and Zimbabwe.  We stayed one night at a backpackers hostel and then the next morning we went to the falls.  The park on the Zambia side is named Mosi Oa Tunya National Park.  It is the native name for the falls and means "The Smoke that Thunders."  It is a very good name.  We could see the rising mist, looking like smoke, before we even entered the park.  Once inside the park we started hiking along the edge overlooking the huge chasm that the Zambezi pours into, stopping at the many viewpoints along the way.  Since we were there nearly at the peak of the rainy season the water is high and the falls are very big.  To say they thunder is almost an understatement.  That thundering of the water hitting the bottom of the gorge produces such a spray that not only towers high into the sky, but also makes it like you are walking in perpetual rain as you walk along the edge.  Views of the falls are great, if you can see the falls through all the mist.  Sometimes you only know the falls are there from the thick sheets of "rain" and from the incredible roar of all that cascading water.  It was unbelievable.

Banded mongoose

From Victoria Falls we caught cheap transport in a shared taxi to the Botswana border.  There we crossed the Zambezi River, which is the border, on a barge and entered Botswana.  After dealing with Immigration we caught a minibus into Kasane and found a place to camp for a couple nights.  The next day we were up to meet for a game drive at 5:45 a.m. into Chobe National Park.  We expected more people on our truck as we heard there were 16 going.  They were all put on one truck and we lucked out and had a whole truck and driver/guide, Moses, to ourselves.  Driving into the park there was elephant scat all over the road and we caught a glimpse of a hyena.  Then we entered and started our drive down the River Road.  There we caught a glimpse of a small herd of elephants on the Chobe River, which is the Botswana/Namibia border.  As we drove on we saw many impala and baboons.  They hang out together as the impala have a good sense of smell and can help alert each other and the baboons of any danger.  The baboons can obviously climb into the trees and therefore have better views and can help alert the impalas.  It is neat to see them together.  Then we saw many hippos out of the water and in the water.  The morning was cool so they could still be seen outside of the water.  There was also a small crocodile and cape buffalo.



Hippo along the Chobe River



We turned away from the river and drove through the brush for a bit.  There we caught a glimpse of a lion.  We had Moses back up and we confirmed that it was indeed a lioness.  We watched her through our binoculars, excited to be seeing her alone.  Moses pulled up to another spot for a better view and we saw that she was not alone.  There were two more lionesses and two cubs of about one year.  One lioness maybe only raised her head once while we were there.  One of the cubs was a male and we could see the very early start of his mane.  While we were watching the lions some impala came into the area, unaware that the lions were there.  The cubs perked up, able to watch and not be seen.  The main lioness crouched, lowering even her ears as to not be detected.  The impalas sensed danger and froze and sniffed into the air.  Eventually it was more than the female cub could handle and she jumped up and chased the impala.  There was no chance for her as she had not learned yet how to be patient long enough.  The impala made an easy escape.  After some time of the cub standing in front of our truck she went back to her mom and rubbed faces with her, almost apologizing for not waiting long enough.  Her mother forgave her and licked her as she fell onto her mother's front paws and gently batted her head.  It was an amazing sighting.  We traveled on as the lions started moving off into the bush to hide from us and the heat.  As we drove we saw more buffalo and hippos down by the river.  There were also three or four more lions we could barely see hiding in the shade from another truck.  There were many more impalas and baboons and we saw some kudu and giraffes.  Another highlight was that we saw many mongoose.  They were the banded mongoose and they are a very social creature.  They live in large groups and we saw maybe three or four groups and probably more than 50 individuals.  That evening we did an evening boat cruise and saw many more hippos mostly.  There were other animals but being on the river the hippos were the most visible.  We had wanted to see elephants in an area we heard were many elephants but they were away from the river at it was the wet season and water and food was readily available in many parts of the park and not just around the Chobe River.



Giraffe drinking

The next morning we caught a ride with three people from our boat cruise.  They took us to the Zimbabwe border and we all did what we needed in Immigration on the Botswana and Zimbabwe sides.  We were happy to have a ride as there didn't seem to be any public transit on the Zimbabwe side.  Greeting us on the Zimbabwe side, however, was a large troop of baboons.  There were also impala and less than five minutes from the border we saw two elephants.  They were right next to the road and we watched them until they seemed angered by our presence.  We carried on down the deserted and beautiful drive and saw some ground hornbill.  It felt like we were still in a national park.  Then we were dropped of in the town of Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.



Male impala



Devil's Cataract and the main gorge of Victoria Falls on the Zimbabwe side

The next day we walked from our hostel to Victoria Falls National Park.  It was similar to the park on the Zambian side but was surprisingly better funded.  There were actual informative signs telling about the history of the falls.  Even the entrance seemed more official than it had on the Zambian side.  The trails and the views of the falls were the same, though.  Like in Zambia, we had great views of the falls, especially near the edge.  As we walked further along the edge to the different viewpoints and closer to the Main Falls the spray took over and we were again soaked and left with sporadic views through the mist.  We walked out to Danger Point and had exhilarating views from the unfenced point.  The wind and the "rain" were strong and we stood on a rock with unobstructed views into the gorge.  What we could see of the falls was incredible.  What we couldn't see of the falls was incredible.  Again, when we couldn't see the falls we knew they were there by the perpetual "raining" from the spray and the extremely loud thundering that produced that spray.  We were in awe of one of the Natural Wonders of the World.  An incredible three-park adventure.

Stay tuned for what is now our latest National Park adventure: Kruger National Park in South Africa.