Africa Trip Report - Part 1

Here we go.....

GETTING THERE
Started out on May 3rd with a flight to NYC. To get myself in the African mood, read the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency book on the flight. I already love Botswana and I haven't even gotten there yet. Landed in NYC with the sunset out our window. Very pretty.

Overnighted in NYC thanks to lots and lots of Marriott Reward points. After spending the following morning walking around NYC, I took a cab back to JFK and took the EOS flight from NYC to Stansted, UK. Phenomenal flight! 48 seats in a 757... that is the way to travel. Despite the comfy seats, I had problems falling asleep. I think this had more to do with stress and nerves than the airplane or the seats.

Arrived at Stanstead airport outside of London and quickly found the bus terminal. It is not a large airport so there is not many places to get lost. Took the National Express bus from Stansted to Heathrow and which was a nice drive through the countryside. 90 minutes later, we were at Heathrow Airport. Finally found South African Airways, but their counters were not open yet. Bummer. I was tired and sweaty and I would have loved to get into the First Class lounge as soon as possible. So, I found a chair and waited and doozed and talked with some nice older ladies on their way to Romania. Eventually SAA opened their counters and I got checked in after a longer than should be necessary wait. What a mess that was. Totally unorganized.

In the SAA first class lounge, I got a shower (such a nice luxury) and was able to sit in some comfy chairs and relax. I had some time before my flight, so the lounge was well worth blowing all the mileage points on. Flight to Joberg was on a beautiful 747 and first class was in the nose on the main deck. Very nice large seats with this large side credenza. It was nice, but not quite as nice as the EOS flight. Again, I had problems getting to sleep, but eventually managed to get some zzzzs. Got to Joberg on the morning of the 6th and was picked up by our friends. They took me to their house where I meet up with my 3 other traveling companions who all arrived prior to me. After a brief nap, we had lunch which consisted of a game skewer of Ostrich, Kudu, Impala, and Warthog at some outside mall restraunt and later, BBQ and drinks at said friends house. This was so much better than a hotel near the airport. The next morning, we loaded into the car and were dropped off at Tambo International Airport for our Botswana Air flight to Maun.

MAY 7th
At the Maun airport, we meet our guide Richard A. and our two other traveling companions for the tour. Joining the four of us girls was Paul, an Aussie from Cairns, and Jim, another Aussie from Melbourne.

We climbed into the large Toyota Landcruiser with open sides and back and headed off for Camp Kalahari in the Makgahdikgahdi Pans. This was a very long drive. We saw our first Zebra and learned quickly that jokes and subsequent laughing scare off wildlife. At one point, Richard indicated there was a leopard under a tree along side the road. We all quickly got out the cameras and were waiting in anticipation as we approached the spot Richard had indicated.... only to discover the leopard was on a road sign. HA HA!

Box lunches were had in a nice shaded spot along the road, as were the first of many many many bush loo breaks.

We got to Planet Baobob as sunset was nearing and picked up our camp guide, O'Yapo, for the next two days. We followed him through the dusty roads, stopping a few times to get photos of the amazing sunset.

We arrived at Camp Kalahari after dark with the camp lit up with lanterns. We were escorted to our tents. I have camped quite a bit in my life, and this was certainly way nicer than what I was used to. Cots with large comfortable duvets. Mats on the floor with baggage racks and a night table with cans of Doom (bug spray) & Peaceful Sleep (mosquito repellent).

We had our first showers which was a bit surreal... warm water bucket showers surrounded by a open-roofed tent looking up at the night sky filled with so many stars. It was the only timed we showered at night and I am glad we had the opportunity.

The bush loo was also an experience. A toilet seat connected to a wooden box over a hole in the ground surrounded by a smaller open-roofed tent. Our first experience would have been fine except that the hole was dug at the same width at the box. I made the mistake of moving slightly and the whole box tilted. My friends got a laugh out of it as I screamed "I'm going in" when it happened. That camp staff was great and re-dug the hole for a better fit and that was the only drama.

Our campfire was called the bush TV. Loved that. We meet the rest of the great staff, had our first incredible meal, more bush TV and drinks, and eventually headed off to our tents for our first night on safari.

MAY 8th
We started off early with a quick breakfast of fruits and cereals. This would be the standard breakfast for the entire safari tour. We had a busy day in front of us.

We started with a safari drive looking for the meerkats. It seemed that we drove around forever with LOTS of stops to view ground squirrels. This probably sounds bad, but squirrels just don't excite me and we kept stopping to look at them. The multitude of *bleeping* ground squirrels quickly became a running joke for us.

Finally, we spotted the guy in the red stocking cap which marked the den the meerkats were staying at. And OMG, they were just adorable. We quickly climbed out of the vehicle and carefully walked closer to their den. This is apparently a newer group so they are not habituated to humans so we kept our distance.

There were 6 of them (apparently there had been 8 but two had been taken by snakes very recently) and we watched as they came out of their dens, warmed themselves in the morning sun, dug around for food, and generally were as cute as could be. They are a lot smaller in size than they appear on TV (Meerkat Manor). I was just so happy to see them in the wild. I just clicked away with photos.

One by one, the meerkats headed off for the morning hunt. It was cute that one little guy just didn't seem to want to leave the den and join the others. All the rest had moved on and we could see them in the distance as they kept stopping to look back at this one meerkat still at the den. We were all silently encouraging him as well to move along and join the safety of the rest of the group. Finally, after some trepidation, he quickly ran to join the others.

We also followed as they didn't go far... to another set of holes nearby. We watched for just a short while before leaving them to their day and heading back to the truck.

We continued on with the drive, seeing zebras and ostriches until we got to Chapman's Baobob. You could see it in the distance as we approached and it didn't look that big... that is until you got up to it. It is frickin' HUGE! I really loved the baobob trees... nothing like them in the US.

We drove back to camp along a large grassy plain. The roof was opened up by this time and we all stood on our seats to enjoy the fantastic view out the roof (and to escape the endless dust). Next thing we know, we are suddenly back at camp and ready for lunch.

After lunch, we had a wonderful walk with some San Bushmen. It was a young boy (around 16 years of age) and his uncle. They were amazing. When they spoke in their language with all the clicks and sounds, you didn't really care what they were saying, you just wanted to listen to them speaking in their wonderfully strange language.

They dug up a scorpion in its hole and held in in their hand. Why did they dig up the scorpions we asked? For food? No, they responded.... the kids usually dug them up to play with the critters. Yikes...digging up scorpions for the fun of it! I would never make it as a bushman.

They also started a fire the old fashioned way... twisting the stick and dumping the smoldering embers in some dried zebra dung (since it is mostly just dried grass). Then they yelled at the pile of dried grass and lo an behold... five minutes later, they had a nice little fire going. Somehow I don't think that yelling part will help me any the next time I am working on a fire on my next camping trip.

Finally, the bushmen showed us this game they played. It is hard to even describe it other than it is a form of Paper, Rock Scissors, but with lots of had movements and lots of sounds, clicks, and yelling. It is apparently called Lightning and Springbok. Each person would try to get the other person to make a certain hand movement. The kid bushman won both rounds at which point his uncle exclaimed that he doesn't play as much now as the kids do. Hee. Seems excuses like that are universal.

We got back to camp, had our 3:30 showers and were told were would be heading out to the pans for our ATV ride. We were told to dress warm and bring any necessary medicines with us. That should have been our first clue....

We drove to the edge of the pans, put on our colorful kikoys, got our instructions, and off we went. I was paired with my tent-mate and friend Diane and she started off driving. I just hung on the back trying to take photos of the vehicles in front of us and the pans with the setting sun. There is no amount of wide-angle lens that can adequately capture the vast expanse of those salt pans.

We stopped in the middle of nowhere for our sundowner. Amarula in the middle of the pans as the sun sets... is nothing better? As it got dark, we were told to walk 500 feet in varying directions from each other and to take in the stars and the pans alone. I set off to find my patch of solitude and laid down to watch as the stars appeared in the darkening sky. Someone here had mentioned once that out here, it seemed as if the stars had stars. What an apt description. The stars were as endless as the pans themselves.

After enjoying some time by ourselves, we got back on the ATVs, thinking we were headed home. Our second clue should have been that we didn't turn around, just kept heading future into the pans with only the lights of the vehicle lighting the way. We could see some lights way ahead of us, which I initially thought was maybe some lights from Jacks or San Camp. We got closer and eventually saw a campfire in the middle of the pans along with our dinner table. We were to eat dinner out in the middle of the pans. Awesome!!! They even brought out a bush loo tent.

We enjoyed a wonderful dinner under the stars and to warm us up, they put hot coals from the fire under our camp chairs. What a wonderful luxury. Warm bums while dining. Hee. After dinner, as we were all seated around the fire, we suddenly heard singing off in the distance. What was up?

We followed the singing past the bush loo out into the darkness. Suddenly a flashlight lit up a cot... just a single cot with bed coverings out on the pans. One by one, more cots were discovered. YAY... we were sleeping out on the pans overnight. I had heard about this, but was not sure if we would get to do it or not. I was beyond excited.

However, one of our group (Aussie Jim) was not pleased. He was actually upset about this and after talking with the guides and staff, they agreed to take him back to the regular camp. They later told us that in all they years they have been doing this, this was the first time anyone ever refused to sleep out on the pans.

We enjoyed some more campfire before heading to our solitary cots with the stars and clouds as our view. I couldn't get to sleep right away as this whole experience was just amazing. I just laid there in my cot soaking up the entire night trying to embed every little detail of the pans, the stars, the moonlight, and the lack of any noise in my brain.

What an awesome day!