Hippos for breakfast (Dec. 8/08 - Luangwa River, Zambia)

After a hot, restless sleep thanks to the noisy peacocks outside, we woke to a pair of hippos lounging in the water out front as we ate our breakfast. It was another long day of driving, as we traveled back up over the hills to the main highway, headed for Lusaka. We stopped at a shopping mall that could have been anywhere in the US so Francis could get some groceries and the rest of us could run necessary errands.

For the most part, the road was flat and straight, as we drove past countless tiny villages of thatched houses and roadside markets. We pulled over for lunch in the shade of a big tree, and after we finished, Ben and Kendra loaded all the leftover potato salad and bananas into a bowl and took it over to the crew of road workers who had been eyeing the big spread of food from a distance. It probably made their week!

At the end of the day, we pulled into a rough dirt road that skirted the Luangwa River. A few kilometres later, we came to a bush camp in the middle of nowhere only a few kilometres from the Mozambique border, which would be home sweet home for the night. It even had a nice bar and pool with a view of the river, and the local kids ran along the road hoping to play with all of us white people. As I was walking back to our tent, I heard a "pssst!" coming from the rock wall to my right, and I turned to see an adorable little kid motioning for me to come over. He said hello and then asked very politely if I had a pen I could give him. Turns out that kids ask for pens long before they ask for money or candy or anything else! Of course I could spare a pen, so I ran back to the tent and found a pen and a sheet of stickers from my stash that I had been saving for these encounters with local kids. I had to show him how to turn on the pen, and he was clueless about the stickers, so I peeled one off and stuck it on his hand, and another of the shiny yellow happy faces on his cheek. He was thrilled, said thank you in English, and disappeared again behind the wall. Half an hour later when some of our group came back from town, they were having a hard time figuring out what all the reflective yellow things were that all the kids were running around with on their foreheads. Too cute!

World's biggest potholes (Dec. 7/08 - Siavonga, Zambia)

After a lazy day today hanging around the camp, we said goodbye to 15 of our friends who were headed for home. Those who left were Annie, Thomas, Heidi, Walli, Rupesh, Sarah, Frank, Jorunn, Anita, Kristy, Carolin, Marie-Eve, Marc-Andre, Brian, and Matthew. The new group includes Joe Anne and Philippe from Williams Lake, Charlotte from England, Kendra from Conneticut, Lisolette from Sweden, and John from Ontario. The day would be a long day of driving, as we had over 500km to cover and apparently the roads are horrible in places, so it could be a slow ride. Turns out that was true - within a few miles of leaving Livingstone, the two lane paved road became a two lane sort-of-paved road with the world's biggest potholes and virtually a whole car width of a shoulder that has formed on both sides of the road since the rough gravel there is a far better ride than staying on the pavement. Raymond had to slow to a virtual stop every thirty seconds or so to ease the big truck through each bump with minimal damage and injuries to those of us being thrown about inside. We had to laugh at the "SLOW DOWN" sign posted at the start of a construction zone, and at the fact that they were merely refilling the potholes with dirt, which will wash away the next time it rains (probably this afternoon).

The scenery was pretty as we drove across southeastern Zambia - tiny villages of thatched huts and kids playing in the dirt were set amongst big leafy trees and gently rolling land. Small town came and went, each with impromptu markets set up on the side of the road, selling fruits, vegetables, baskets, and wood carvings. I was pleased to see several signs for World Vision funded development projects along the way, as I have sponsored a child through them for years and it was great to see some of their efforts at work. We went into a grocery store at the town of Mazabuka, where we saw yet again that there is a strong dichotomy between the two classes of people we’ve seen in our travels across Africa so far. Most people appear to be modestly dressed in simple clothing, wearing nothing trendy and often not even wearing shoes. These are likely the people who inhabit the smaller villages, living in stick huts without electricity or plumbing. The other half walks around in fancy clothes, sporting brand names and dress clothes, with nice hair dos and usually carrying a cell phone. There really doesn’t seem to be much of an inbetween class as you would expect.

Our attention was drawn to an anomaly on the horizon that we hadn’t seen in weeks - hills! Green forested hills came into view, and we soon turned south to pass between them. On the other side was Lake Kariba, which is really just a wide spot on the Zambezi River that was created when a dam was built in the 1960’s. The centre of the lake (river) is still the border with Zimbabwe, and our destination for the night would be a lakeside campsite at the town of Siavonga. The newcomers were given a lesson on setting up tents while the rest of us tried to set up and clean out the rest of the tents that got soaked the other day and would not be needed for the rest of the trip because of the smaller group. As pork chops sizzled on the coals, we spotted a massive hippo grazing on the grasses beside the lake about 150 feet from our tents! The signs around camp saying “watch for hippos” wasn’t kidding! It just carried on eating as we did the same, eventually waddling back into the lake as the full moon made an appearance.

Don't tell mom! (Dec. 5/08 - Livingstone, Zambia)

Today, we risked life and limb to go whitewater rafting on the mighty Zambezi River. It is apparently rated as one of the best spots in the world to do it, so nine of us daredevils from our group signed up for the ride. This decision may have been against our better judgement, but we wanted to do it anyway! I had been rafting once before, five years ago in Belize, but I was still very nervous, as Class 5 rapids are huge, dangerous, and quite honestly easily capable of flipping your raft. Ken, on the other hand, was a rafting virgin, so he was just excited rather than nervous because he didn't know any better! The safety briefing included rescue procedures for a capsizing scenario, so as we hiked down to our starting point in the Zambezi Gorge at the foot of Victoria Falls, the real nerves started to set in when we got our first glimpses of the frothy water below. We were split into 3 rafts: one with people we didn't know, another with Ken, me, and four other people, and one full of the rest of our GAP crew. We were loaded into the rafts and practiced paddling instructions, and then set off into the first of ten rapids. The first one was a nasty one where the river turned a sharp corner and the water slammed up against a rock face before continuing downstream. The trick here was to position your boat so that the raft rode close to the rocks to be carried overtop of the water bouncing off the rock that would otherwise flip your raft instantly. The first two rafts maneuvered through it effortlessly, and so we followed. The next ten seconds were a blur, as one moment we were paddling exactly as the guide instructed, and the next moment we were flying through the air and plunging into a churning mess of green water. I tried to swim up, hoping that up was the direction I was facing, but the bubbles around me were swirling in all directions and with no air in my lungs, panic set in fast as I needed to find the surface to take a breath. There was nothing I could do to prevent smashing into a rock if there was one, so all I could do was try to get to the surface. Finally, I popped up and I swallowed a bunch of the river trying to take a breath. I saw the other two rafts and the rescue kayaks paddling toward us, our upside down raft floating nearby, and orange helmetted people bobbing in the water all over the place. A girl that was in our raft popped up about ten feet away from me, and I was horrified to see that her face was covered in blood. She must have hit her head on a rock, or even a flailing paddle, as a deep puncture wound above her left eye was gushing blood. Everyone was quickly pulled into whichever boat was closest, and the first aid guy quickly assessed the injured girl an stopped the bleeding. She was concious and able to walk, so she and two other people were taken back to the side of the river where we started to hike back up out of the gorge to a waiting ambulance. A helicopter was available, but they didn't judge it to be necessary. Poor girl. What a way to start the day. My nerves were completely shaken, and though I was happy the rest of us were ok, my hands couldn't stop trembling. We reorganized into our original rafts, took a deep breath, and carried on.

The rest of our trip down the Zambezi was a wild ride of monsterous rapids and huge waves, but thankfully there were no more incidents. All of the rafts did capsize several more times though, and I would be lying if I said it wasn't terrifying at times! Each rapid was different, but some just made your heart drop as you fell into them, certain that you would be in the water within seconds and wondering why the hell we're doing this to ourselves! But the adrenaline rush was insane - zooming down a steep 10 foot drop and crashing through a wall of whitewater, getting pummeled by the river and pushed around by the churning water - it was a crazy ride! In between the rapids were lovely serene pools where we could relax and drift, taking in the amazing scenery. The walls of the Zambezi Gorge were vertical black cliffs of volcanic rocks about 100m high, with lush jungle vegetation along the top of the gorge and vines draping over the rocks. Since the river is the international border, Zambia was on the left, and Zimbabwe was on the right. People were bungee jumping off the bridge far above where we started, and a crowd of people had gathered on the patio of a lodge at the edge of the cliff to watch the crazy rafters below.

One of the rapids was classified as a Class 6, which the guides say is "bad for business" if they take people through it. So we crawled out of the rafts for a brief (and illegal!) visit to Zimbabwe as the guides took the rafts through empty. By the time we made it to the end, everyone had been thrown in by capsizing rafts, some three or four times. It was definitely an extreme ride, but the rush of blasting through the whitewater and realizing you made it through without leaving the boat is awesome. They actually had a video and a still camera guy in the rescue kayaks who perched themselves on the rocks above each rapid to catch the action as we went by. It was a steep climb out of the gorge, but they had cold beer waiting in the van at the top, so it was worth it. Everyone loved the trip, even those of us who were scared to death the whole time. Back at our camp, we watched the video set to music that they filmed, catching every capsizing and showing them in slow motion several times.

Later that afternoon, we all piled onto a big cruiser boat for an evening 'booze cruise' to celebrate the last night for most of our group. The open air view of the wide (and calm!) Zambezi above the falls and full of hippos and birds, plus the open bar, made for a fun evening. We danced in the makeshift nightclub after at the campsite, and enjoyed the last few hours with our friends. It's hard to believe that we are only at the half way point in our trip across Africa - and loving every minute of it!

Ferry crossing to Zambia (Dec. 4/08 - Livingstone, Zambia)

Today we were to endure the saga of crossing the Zambian border, which we were told could take up to 8 hours. After a quick stop at the local meat market (yes, to actually buy meat, nothing else...), we came to the end of what was an extremely long line of transport trucks, all lined up to take the ferry across the Zambezi River into Zambia. This ferry is the first part of the reason why the ordeal can take so long... Picture a small barge about a third of the size of the dinky Albion Ferry in Vancouver, with only a single lane for vehicles and a CAT engine strapped to each side for thrust. When the ferry is working (which is not always the case), it takes about half an hour to do the round trip from one bank to the other. The clincher is that it can only take one big truck and one or two smaller vehicles at a time. Needless to say, the 50+ transport trucks we saw waiting in the line could be in for a wait in excess of four or five days. And we thought the sailing waits with BC Ferries was bad! Luckily, Zambia values tourist dollars more than material imports (apparently!), as safari trucks like ours get to drive right to the front of the line. I sure hope all those truck drivers get paid by the hour!

On the other side, we lined up in the scorching sun to file through the one-window immigration office. It was a greeze for people who had arranged for the visa in advance, but we had been advised to get it at the border, so we had to wait it out. I had been regretting not getting it beforehand, as the rumor was that you had to pay double at the border - $110! But in typical African style, that info was completely false, as the lady just asked us to pass in our whole stack of passports with $50 US tucked into each one. She didn't seem to care about which nationality you are (British have to supposedly pay $140!), and this amount ironically worked out to be far less than it would have cost to buy it before. We considered that a score!

We hurtled down the highway, getting our first glimpses of Zambia, which was remarkably more green and forested that what we saw of Botswana. It was a short drive to Livingstone, where it seemed that a large proportion of the businesses were named after Dr. David Livingstone, the famous British explorer who was the first westerner to put southeast Africa on the map. Since our Botswanan Pula are of no use in our new country, we stopped at a bank in town to get some of the local currency. The Zambian kwacha has been severely devalued over the years, as the exchange rate is now 4390 kwacha for each US dollar! Ken got a kick out of the ATM machine's receipt, that stated his bank account balance in kwacha - and it had about six zeros in it! Apparently, neighbouring Zimbabwe's currency has devalued so much that the government actually started printing bills worth 100 billion Zimbabwe dollars! Vendors were actually selling these bills in town to tourists for one US dollar.

We left town and followed the river to the turnoff to one of Africa's most well known sites, which also happens to be one of the seven natural wonders of the world - Victoria Falls. Not only is the lush forest and steep cliffs surrounding the falls scenic, but the geologic origin of the falls is unique. Basically, Zambia is flat, so a 100m high waterfall would normally be impossible. But a series of cracks in the volcanic rocks have eroded over time, intersecting the Zambezi River and giving it no choice but to fall over the edge of the crack and into an ever deepening gorge that immediately takes the fallen water away in a perpendicular direction. This time of year is unfortunately not a great time to view the falls, as water levels are relatively low and only comparatively small amounts of water fall over and into the gorge. The main waterfall is on the Zimbabwe side (the river is the border), so all we could see was the clouds of mist that hovered around the corner.

By the time we made it to our camp for the next few days, it was raining, lightening-ing, and pretty much dark. Good thing we have this whole setting up and tearing down of camp thing down to a fine art!

Elephant crossing (Dec. 3/08 - Kasane, Botswana)

Before we hit the road this morning, we wanted to take a group shot of everyone in front of the massive Baobob tree behind the pool. It was the biggest tree I'd ever seen - even bigger than the massive Sequoias in Redwoods National Park in California. We heard that each person's armspan that it takes to encircle the tree counts for approximately 100 years of the tree's life. Well, we had 15 people linking hands, and even then we were about 5 people short. This sucker was about 2000 years old! Incredible. Raymond was telling us that scientists actually have a very hard time pinpointing the age of these trees since they are a succulent type tree that draws water up its tough interior fibres and doesn't form rings like most trees do. Carbon dating works, but samples taken from various parts of the tree can have vastly different ages depending on the particular age of those fibres. So the armspan method works for me!

As we've been traveling along the Trans-Kalahari Highway, we've passed through multiple checkpoints where officials are checking for meat and livestock as a means of reducing the spread of 'foot and mouth disease' into and within Botswana. Apparently this is a necessary measure since many European countries are regular importers of Botswana's beef because of it. Well we came to one checkpoint today that had us all shaking our heads after - they were concerned about the spread of disease via soil transported on people's shoes, so we all had to get off the truck, empty out all the luggage to dig out all our shoes, sandals, hiking boots, etc., then take our passports to a control officer who looked at them but wrote nothing down, and then stand for a moment on a chunk of carpet that had been saturated with some sort of solution that came out of a spray canister that was propped up beside the fence. All the shoes we were carrying simply had to be pressed by hand into the carpet. That was it, we were free to go. How ineffective though - shoes have tread, and the solution only touched the bottom surface of the shoes, rendering the whole effort more or less pointless. They should have just sprayed the bottoms with the sprayer they used to soak the mat. Anyway, we carried on.

The scenery ever since we entered Botswana has been pretty much consistent - flat, with green bushes and trees as far as you can see. Most of it must be no man's land, as there are no houses, no side roads, and very few towns. To be honest, there is very little to look at as we drove down the highway for hours on end. But just as Africa has been such a sequence of surprises for us, there was more in store for us. Everyone was just zoned out, reading or sleeping or listening to music, when suddenly someone jumped up and shouted "ELEPHANTS!!!" And as we spun around, sure enough, there were two enormous elephants standing under the shade of a tree that grew to within a few feet of the road. Raymond hadn't even seen them, so we passed the message along as we barreled down the highway so he could keep an eye out for them and try to stop if we see more. Sure enough, a few minutes later, he stepped hard on the brakes and threw it into reverse as five elephants came into view between the bushes, congregating around watering holes on both sides of the road. Two on the right side of the road just stood by the water, already covered with mud, while two on the left pushed each other around aggressively as they both tried to get into the water. It got even better, as a fe minutes down the road, Raymond came onto the intercom and said "elephant crossing!" as seven elephants strolled out of the bushes and across the road right infront of the truck. We weren't even in a game reserve or national park - these elephants are just roaming free, and in less than two hours, we saw 14 elephants on the side of the road. This is definitely what traveling across Africa overland is all about! (p.s. - We still can't help but think that elephants totally look like two people walking around in an elephant costume!)

Our destination for the day was the town of Kasane, at the entrance to Chobe National Park in the extreme northeastern corner of Botswana. Our campsite was outside of the park this time around, so to get in there and see the wildlife (supposedly the most dense and varied in Botswana), we cruised down the Chobe River on a boat for a few hours. Before we could even leave the dock, we were spotting hippos in the water. Far away at first, but later we were pulling right up alongside them. Such adorable creatures - most often just sticking their eyes, ears, and noses out of the water, but sometimes climbing over each other, walking out on dry land, and one even did a perfect big yawn right in front of us for the wide open mouth photo I was hoping to snap. Several herds of elephants meandered the riverbanks, baboons ran around on the grass, crocodiles lazed on the sand bars, and even the occasional water buffalo and wart hog. It was like sailing through a zoo - animals were everywhere! We were even treated to a beautiful sunset as we headed back to the dock.

Tomorrow we leave Botswana and cross into Zambia for one last night with the whole group before 15 of them leave and head home, at which point we will meet the five new people who will continue on with us all the way to Nairobi.

Back to civilization (Dec. 2/08 - Gweta, Botswana)

Sleep was more valuable than a walking safari for most of our group this morning, as only eight people showed up for the early morning game walk. They definitely missed out. The sunrise was gorgeous coming up behind the palm trees, and the smell of the savannah grasses covered in dew was so nice. We walked north for about half an hour and were delighted to spot six giraffes grazing against some bushes. They had obviously seen us before we saw them, and several of them continued to watch us as others wandered along. With binoculars, we could see that a bunch of zebras were hanging around with them, barely visible above the grasses and only coming up to the giraffe's knees! The rising sun made them easier to see against the trees, and we watched until they had all wandered out of sight. A herd of zebras crossed the field behind us as we continued on our walk and passed a couple huge old Baobob trees on our way back to camp. It was a short but awesome walk, and we had just enough time for breakfast before loading up the mokoros at 7am and headed back to civilization. The paddle back was so relaxing that we both fell asleep several times.



The next stop on our trip across Botswana would be an awesome campsite near the town of Gweta. From the road, it sounded like a pretty odd place - called "Planet Baobob Kalahari Surf Club", with a giant concrete aardvark at the road. But it was an awesome place - huge thousand year old Baobob trees to camp under, open air showers, a big pool, and a nice bar. Oh, and a watering hole out the back with a 6000 volt electric fence to keep the elephants out of camp! We cooled off with a swim and took care of some laundry before enjoying some drinks and a burger at the bar. Instead of frogs tonight, we get to listen to cow bells and braying donkeys from the adjacent field. Not quite as soothing as a froggy chorus, but we're in Africa so we can't complain!

Unspoiled Africa (Dec. 1/08 - Okavango Delta, Botswana)

The stars and the frogs were still out when we got up this morning, but by the time everyone was up and fed, the sun was up and we were on our way. We split into the same groups as yesterday, and two groupd set off into the bush behind the camp, while ours and another group crossed the channel by boat and headed off on the other side. The temperature was nice first thing in the morning as we marched through the grass, and within a few minutes, we were soaked from the waist down. A herd of zebras was spotted in the distance, and just after we spotted them, they stopped and turned to look at us. There were also three big animals called "tetsbies" that looked like big antelope but with no horns. We covered a lot of ground as we walked for over three hours, and along the way we found a huge Baobob tree (about 1000 years old!), a wart hog, some springbok, and as we were bushwacking, a huge crash happened relatively close to us, followed by thundering hooves of something galloping away. Our guide said it was buffalo - Cape Buffalo to be precise. We followed their tracks for quite a while, and eventually spotted two of them way off in the distance.

It was already super hot by the time we made it back to our boats at 8am, and Francis was nice enough to make scrambled eggs for us while we went for a swim to cool off. It was kind of fun to hear what other groups saw as they trickled in, and the highlights included wildebeest, baboons, impala, and a very rare and apparently very dangerous honey badger.

It was nice to have a whole afternoon to do nothing. I think the only things that were accomplished was a round of mokoro races and the almost-successful construction of a 13-person human pyramid in chest-deep water. By the way, one of the guides told us a handy rule of thumb to use when swimming in the delta and when getting up at night here: "If youo can't see the bottom, it's a hippo, and if you can't see the stars, it's an elephant"! When it was cool enough, we went out for a paddle upstream for a change of pace from walking in the bush. The sun was setting, which made the scenery so pretty as it reflected off the water lillies. The front mokoro was on hippo patrol, and the rest of us waited with cameras ready, just in case. No hippos were spotted, but lots of birds, dragonflies, and little white frogs were. We turned off the main channel to pay a visit to an old man who was living out in the bush to make mokoro canoes. He had fallen a huge mangosteen tree and was midway through carving it. Everything was done by hand, and he said it would take about 2 months to finish it. Traditionally, mokoros are normally carved out of a particular type of tree, which is now endangered. So people are using other varieties, or they are forced to buy fiberglass boats that cost five times more than it costs to buy a wood one. Interesting that that's backwards from the way things work at home - hand carved wood would be pricier by far!

We returned to the main channel, and in the process, the guide in our boat managed to get his pole stuck in the mud as the boat continued forward, and he was pulled backwards in a huge splash into the water. It was hilarious - these guys are supposed to be pros! Thankfully, he left us in the boat unscathed. We ended the day with baked beans and great conversations around the campfire, then once again, we were lulled to sleep by the frogs and the crickets.

Into the delta (Nov. 30/08 - Okavango Delta, Botswana)

The boat ride out into the Okavango Delta this morning was a fast, winding ride that reminded me a lot of the airboat rides in Florida. The waterways twist through the delta, not much wider than the boat in places and as little as a couple feet deep. It took about an hour on the jet boat to reach the spot farther into the delta where we met up with the dugout "mokoro" canoes. We loaded in day packs, sleeping bags, water, tents, matresses, food, etc. and were on our way. Each boat sat two people, some gear, and a local guy who stood at the back and pushed the boat along with a 12 foot pole (he's called a poler). The first hour or so was through a shallow swampty area where the path was only as wide as the boats. Tall grasses and lily pads lined the path, and water lillies were everywhere. Eventually, we broke out into the main channel, which was moving a bit faster, about 10 feet wide, and up to about 6 feet deep. Our poler's name was Kaka and he pointed out tiny little white frogs clinging to the reeds, and told us about all the hippos that he was watching out for as he paddled. That was why he was sticking to the edges of the wider pools, as the hippos like to hang out underwater in the deep parts. They're apparently the most dangerous animal in Africa, and often you don't even know they're there since they walk along the bottom.

Eventually, we pulled up to a beach and walked out onto our campsite that would be home for the next couple days. There wasn't much to it - an open area for a campfire and makeshift kitchen, little flat areas in the bush for tents, and a designated hole in the bush for the washroom. Finally - roughing it!

The clouds have mooved in, but it was still damn hot, so we decided to brave the water for a swim. One of the polers went out in a boat to check for hippos, and once we got the all clear, the first brave people went in. The water was great - cool, refreshing, and clean. Ben thought it would be a great idea to play "hippo chicken" and see who would swim upstream the farthest into uncleared hippo territory before chickening out. Needless to say, he didn't have any takers! We killed the rest of the afternoon by playing cards, reading, napping, and trying our hand at poling the mokoros. Ken was a natural, and one guy fell in. It was like a challenge on Survivor or something!

Several of the ladies who poled the mokoros here sat down with a pile of palm fronds and began to weave beautiful bracelets on the spot - they were so nice, and they only wanted 15 Pula for them, which is less than $2.50, so pretty much everyone picked one out.

We split into groups of five for a few hours, as the guides led us out into the wilderness for a game walk. Most of the surrounding land is flat and covered with waist high grasses with clumps of trees and the occasional termite mound (which we've seen up to 20 feet high, by the way!). We were reminded right away that we really are camping in animal territory, as hippo and lion tracks were found within minutes of leaving our tents. We walked for a long time and covered a lot of ground, studying the landscape for wildlife and watching the ground for the frequent anteater holes and hazardously huge piles of elephant crap. The guide showed us all kinds of plants that can be used as toothpaste and sunscreen, plus which animals eat what and how the elephants dig these big holes with their feet to get mud to smear on themselves. We climbed up onto a termite mound for a vista over the marshy area ahead of us, and right away we noticed big splashes in the pond about half a mile away. Hippos! With binoculars, we confirmed that two big tubby hippos were bobbing around in the water, with just their ears and faces poking out. We were pretty pleased to see hippos, especially from a safe distance!

We pressed on and soon spotted an elephant way off at the edge of the bushes, flapping its ears and munching on grass. We decided to try and get a bit closer, so we took off our shoes and waded through knee-deep swampy water to get a better view. When we got to a safe spot with a great view, there he was out in the open, reaching up with his trunk to collect fruit off a big fig tree. He didn't last long though - a split second later, he turned around and disappeared into the bushes. We waited for a few minutes, but figured that he had moved on. So we headed back in the direction of camp, stopping to check out a bird that looked like a grey cockatoo, to learn about how you can use the sausage-shaped fruit from a sausage tree to kill a crocodile, and to help Ken when he fell through the ground into a hidden aardvark hole. The sun set and turned the sky an electric pink colour as we headed back to camp and awaited dinner around the fire. We were also briefed on the procedures to use in the event that you have to get up at night to use the bathroom - with the possibility of lions and elephants outside your door, you have to be careful!

The frogs and insects launched into their nightly chorus as we fell asleep, the intensity of which was definitely a lot greater here than in any of the civilized camp sites we've stayed at so far.

Birthday in Botswana (Nov. 29/08 - Maun, Botswana)

Today, Ken celebrates his birthday in Botswana! It's also Annie's birthday, so they both got happy birthday Namibian postcards signed by everyone in the group, a birthday donut with a candle in it with breakfast, and a happy birthday song. Also around the breakfast table, we heard what has become the daily status updates on the digestive systems of those who have been having issues over the past few days. As we were loading up the truck, we found a bright yellow scorpion at the base of a tree, which Raymond identified as being very poisonous - you can tell by the size of their pinchers (small pinchers = very poisonous). A few people were watching a huge soldier ant running across the sand by the truck, and Robert (the guide from yesterday) walked over, picked it up, and licked it! He said they secrete a sour liquid from their rear end that the San people use to season their food. Lovely.

The road to Maun, in central Botswana, was straight and fast. We passed several control points for foot and mouth disease, where sometimes an inspector would come on the truckk to check our coolers for meat, while at others, the officials were all asleep at their posts, so we drove right through. The grass and trees became more and more green as we neared Maun, which marks the southern-most extent of the Okavango Delta.

A little geography info: the Okavango River originates to the north in Angola and flows south into Botswana. It once flowed into Lake Makgadyakgadi, which is now dry since tectonic faulting cut off the river, which now has nowhere to go. The river literally flows nowhere (not into the ocean!) and actually forms the largest inland delta in the world. The delta is a maze of lush waterways, and about a third of the huge area is protected in the Moremi Game Reserve. It is apparently a haven for all kinds of wildlife, including hippos, elephants, crocodiles, and tons of birds. Anyway, we get to spend the next three days exploring the delta by canoe, as we camp out on the islands and search for wildlife on foot. We stocked up on water in town and then set up camp at a site right on one of the delta's waterways, where we will depart from by boat tomorrow. This was yet another nice campsite with a pool, so we kicked back all afternoon and organized our gear for the journey tomorrow. We also spent the afternoon watching the many little monkeys that live in the trees within the camp. They ran around, swung from the trees, and had no problem with trying to break into our tents looking for trouble. The camp also has a nice lodge and bungalows, and a very nice outdoor restaurant and bar area under big trees overlooking the water, so we had a few birthday drinks there as the sun set on another pretty day in Africa.

Botswana bound (Nov. 28/08 - Ghanzi, Botswana)

This morning, we left behind Brent, Evan, Carole, Wayne, Elisabeth, and Stefanie. Brent is traveling on his own to Livingston before flying home to California for the first time in a year, Carole and Wayne are flying to Sri Lanka on Monday, Elisabeth and Stefanie are flying home to Ireland tomorrow, and Evan is actually joining up with another GAP trip that will follow three days behind us since the next leg on our trip was full when he booked. The newcomers include Anita and Jorunn (friends from Norway), Frank and Sara (couple from Ireland) and Brian and Matthew (from Calgary). Funny how our previous pair from Ireland (Elisabeth and Stefanie) was replaced by another pair from Ireland and our previous pair from Calgary (Wayne and Carole) was replaced by another pair from Calgary!

We drove east out of Windhoek through treed flats, spotting wild wart hogs and hartebeest along the road. We made a pit stop at a gas station right before the Botswana border, and when Raymond went to start the truck to leave, it wouldn't start. Turned out that the makeshift repair job the guys did on the battery when we broke down at the Tropic of Capricorn last week wasn't quite good enough. But the manly men of the truck worked their magic and had us on our way again soon.

The border crossings in Africa are interesting - unlike at home, you actually have to clear customs to leave one country, drive across the border through no man's land, and then clear customs again to enter the new country. As our luck would have it, the truck broke down again at the Namibia border crossing, so on the Botswana side (the Transkalahari Border Post), we finally got smart and left the engine running. The road was long and straight (but paved!) headed east, but all there was to look at was bushes on both sides of the road and the occasional horse, cow, and donkey grazing on the shoulder. Two hundred kilometres later, we turned onto a narrow dirt road and bounced through some pretty desolate bush land for about 20 minutes before arriving at a camp site that appeared out of nowhere. There were little thatched mud huts to sleep in, a big fire pit, and little thatched room stick buildings with showers and flush toilets. It was relative luxury in the middle of the Kalahari Desert - amazing!

The San Bushmen are the indigenous people who were some of the first to settle in Namibia and Botswana thousands of years ago. They are the ones you've seen in documentaries in National Geographic, and in the movie The Gods Must Be Crazy. Medium brown skin, short black hair, loin cloths and simple garments made out of animal hides, beaded jewellry, and the most expressive and knowing faces you've ever seen. Few of these natives remain, but some of them do live within a few kilometres of the camp. We were lucky enough to have the chance to go on a walk in the bush with them to learn about how they survive, and have survived for thousands of years, in the desert. Six of them joined us, who were members of two families - aunts, cousins, and a young teenage girl with her boyfriend/husband. They speak the traditional "clicking" language, which is fascinating to listen to, so they had a guy named Robert come along to translate. As we marched off into the scrubby bush land behind the camp, the teenage girl stepped forward and introduced herself and her family and friends. Without knowing a word of english, she stepped up to each of us and shook our hands as we told her our names and where we're from - which she tried to repeat. Very admirable, I thought! As we wandered, they stopped occasionally to plop down on the ground, start digging with a stick, and emerge a few minute later with some sort of root or plant that they use on an every day basis for everything from upset stomachs to arthritis and from headaches to contraception. Most roots would be boiled and made into tea, but some leaves and grasses were simply eaten, and other plants were grated or pounded to release a liquid or dye, for example, for tanning animal hides.

As a nomadic society, the San people had decided thousands of years ago that there would be a maximum allowable number of children set at three per family so that it was practical to lead a nomadic lifestyle, even with children. If you ended up with three children of the same gender though, you were allowed one more chance to produce a child of the opposite sex. As a result of this custom, they discovered a root that could be mixed with water and consumed that acted as a contraceptive for women. Recently, though, Botswana has been very open and proactive about educating people about sexual heath, family planning, and HIV/AIDS prevention, to the extent that they are providing even these primitive tribes with modern birth control pills and condoms. I read a statistic that approximately 40% of Botswana's young women are HIV-positive, and that by 2010, the average life expectancy will be only 27 years. Botswana's population is actually shrinking by 1% per year thanks to AIDS, and in 20 years, they predict that there will no longer be a working force in the country. It's all very sad.

Back to the walk - one of the men pulled out two roots from the ground. One, when chewed, is powerful enough to abort a pregnancy. The other is even more potent, and will permanently sterilize a woman. This was the same root used for tanning animal hides! We wondered if any of theses plants are used in western medicine, as they are natural and so powerful? The popular Hoodia weight loss supplement marketed in North America was discovered and used by the San Bushmen as they needed an appetite supressant for their long hunting trips. I read that they have recently been compensated millions of dollars by the Namibian government for their share of the profits derived from its sale.

One of the women dug around a scrawny little weed and unearthed an enormous spherical root that was about the size of a volley ball. This water tuber, when grated and squeezed in your hands, releases an amazing amount of water and lathers up into a soap-like froth that they use for bathing. Finally, the two men laid a stick across a small bundle of dry grass and rubbed a stick bacck and forth between their hands until the base of the stick began to smoke, and pretty soon the whole pile of grass was on fire! We looked at the nondescript desert bushes much differently as we walked back to camp, and felt both amazed at the resourcefulness of these people and somewhat guilty for living in such a privileged and easy society. Unfortunatley, these traditional customs and survival skills are dying out both as modern conveniences like water wells and purchased meat make life easier, as well a their lack of interest by the young generation of San to learn about their culture.

After dinner, we were invited to watch a traditional session of song and dance around the campfire. They clapped and sang as several people stomped rhythmically around the fire, wearing rattling seed pods around their ankles like maracas. Each song had a particular meaning - celebration after a kill, good luck after an unsuccessful hunting trip, lulling a baby to sleep, celebrating a girl's entry into womanhood, and watching baboons mating. Some of them were pretty entertaining, especially the last one!

We really enjoy learning about new cultures, and it certainly enriches a visit to a foreign place like this.