chopstick goes for a sail
01-22-2018
, 02:02 PM
After Halali, it was on to Namutoni, the camp at the eastern edge of the park. The water hole there was pretty sad, but did manage to get a sweet photo of some banded mongooses chilling under a safari truck to escape the mid-day heat:
headed south back to Windhoek after that to enjoy some sweet African fast food:
as well as making a stop at Namibia's central bank:
where I finally managed to locate those sweet fish coins I had been looking for:
that's a commemorative issue that was only printed for two years as part of a UN celebrated effort related to food security. A few other countries participated. I'd like to say that my interest in the coin was related to that, but really it's just a sweet coin with a fish on it that says EAT MORE FISH. Looking forward to using them as gifts for both fisherman and poker players.
The drive back down to Cape Town was relative uneventful. Found this hotel room extremely pleasing to the eye for reasons I don't really understand:
something about the blues / whites / browns and all the iron and wood, I guess.
There were a bunch of police roadblocks heading south thru Namibia. I think I went thru 11 total. Here's random dude at a road block trying to sell me some peaches:
Eventually made it back down to Cape Town:
where I decided to open my own biltong shop:
so yeah that's what I do these days. I live in Cape Town selling custom biltong. Who'd have thunk it?
headed south back to Windhoek after that to enjoy some sweet African fast food:
as well as making a stop at Namibia's central bank:
where I finally managed to locate those sweet fish coins I had been looking for:
that's a commemorative issue that was only printed for two years as part of a UN celebrated effort related to food security. A few other countries participated. I'd like to say that my interest in the coin was related to that, but really it's just a sweet coin with a fish on it that says EAT MORE FISH. Looking forward to using them as gifts for both fisherman and poker players.
The drive back down to Cape Town was relative uneventful. Found this hotel room extremely pleasing to the eye for reasons I don't really understand:
something about the blues / whites / browns and all the iron and wood, I guess.
There were a bunch of police roadblocks heading south thru Namibia. I think I went thru 11 total. Here's random dude at a road block trying to sell me some peaches:
Eventually made it back down to Cape Town:
where I decided to open my own biltong shop:
so yeah that's what I do these days. I live in Cape Town selling custom biltong. Who'd have thunk it?
01-22-2018
, 02:42 PM
The biltong business in Cape Town didn't work out quite as planned, so I ended up executing the plan to get a 4x4 and drive a loop from Windhoek -> Caprivi Strip -> Chobe -> Okavango Delta instead.
Met up with a Canadian in Cape Town who was looking to do the same thing and split costs. Had to teach him how to drive stick, which he very quickly mastered in a parking lot one afternoon, and then we both flew up to Windhoek to pick up this:
which would be our transport and home for the next three weeks.
It had two rooftop tents, which I'd never used before and quickly grew to appreciate over ground tents. Here's dude putting the second one on for the fourth time after the first three all had some kind of issue:
and here's what they look like when they are opened up and set up for the evening:
They each had about triple the room that the little tent I'm lugging around has, as well as built in thick mattresses. I like my air pad, but it was nice to have a huge built in mattress in these things. That photo was taken in Etosha, where we ended up detouring to on the way to Caprivi at the Canadian's request. Unfortunately it had just rained the night before we arrived, so the animals weren't at the water holes, though we did find a few here and there:
Met up with a Canadian in Cape Town who was looking to do the same thing and split costs. Had to teach him how to drive stick, which he very quickly mastered in a parking lot one afternoon, and then we both flew up to Windhoek to pick up this:
which would be our transport and home for the next three weeks.
It had two rooftop tents, which I'd never used before and quickly grew to appreciate over ground tents. Here's dude putting the second one on for the fourth time after the first three all had some kind of issue:
and here's what they look like when they are opened up and set up for the evening:
They each had about triple the room that the little tent I'm lugging around has, as well as built in thick mattresses. I like my air pad, but it was nice to have a huge built in mattress in these things. That photo was taken in Etosha, where we ended up detouring to on the way to Caprivi at the Canadian's request. Unfortunately it had just rained the night before we arrived, so the animals weren't at the water holes, though we did find a few here and there:
01-22-2018
, 02:49 PM
We didn't stay too long in Etosha due to the lack of animals. We headed NE up to Divundu which is at the western edge of the Caprivi Strip, and stopped at Ngepi camp which is right on a large river. The camp is great because they have lots of little spots like this:
along the river where you can chill out and watch the hippos do their thing.
They also had pretty sweet outdoor showers:
and the Mahango Park was about 20 minutes away, which had a ton of animals both big:
and small:
in an uncrowded setting along the river.
We also managed to come across a long dead kudu:
which we may or may not have pulled a couple of teeth from as sweet souvenirs.
there were also quite a few elephants that didn't mind us getting close:
along the river where you can chill out and watch the hippos do their thing.
They also had pretty sweet outdoor showers:
and the Mahango Park was about 20 minutes away, which had a ton of animals both big:
and small:
in an uncrowded setting along the river.
We also managed to come across a long dead kudu:
which we may or may not have pulled a couple of teeth from as sweet souvenirs.
there were also quite a few elephants that didn't mind us getting close:
01-22-2018
, 03:00 PM
After a couple of nights at Ngepi, we said goodbye to our fellow campers:
and did a little provisioning:
before exploring one more nearby area which ended up being the only road that we chickened out of:
due to having no clue just how deep the water was and not wanting to trust stick testing the edges.
It was time to move on anyway, so we headed out across the Caprivi Strip at that point. Saw some animals here and there but mostly just a bunch of small villages. Eventually we made it to the border where we crossed over and were almost instantly in Chobe Park. The original plan was to stay at a campsite in the park, but it turned out to be full, so we went with one adjacent to the park, which ended up being a far, far better choice once we found out where the original target campsite was located. It was waaaay deep in the park and we never would have made it there in time on our arrival day regardless.
Day trips into Chobe were great, with tons of elephants and hippos along the river:
that's an elephant walking along on the upper right past a pool full of hippos, one of which is out of the water chowing down on some grass.
We also lucked into finding a lion kill:
in this case, a young giraffe. You can't see the lions but they were chilling in the background foliage. Having gorged themselves on giraffe earlier, pretty much all they did was lay there and wag their tails every so often, so most of what we saw was just lion tails wagging. Every so often one would stand up and the lay right back down again. Guess digesting giraffe is tough work.
We went back to the kill the next morning hoping to see the lions having breakfast, but they were long gone and in their place were just infinite buzzards gobbling down rotting giraffe meat. So many flies. So much smell:
and did a little provisioning:
before exploring one more nearby area which ended up being the only road that we chickened out of:
due to having no clue just how deep the water was and not wanting to trust stick testing the edges.
It was time to move on anyway, so we headed out across the Caprivi Strip at that point. Saw some animals here and there but mostly just a bunch of small villages. Eventually we made it to the border where we crossed over and were almost instantly in Chobe Park. The original plan was to stay at a campsite in the park, but it turned out to be full, so we went with one adjacent to the park, which ended up being a far, far better choice once we found out where the original target campsite was located. It was waaaay deep in the park and we never would have made it there in time on our arrival day regardless.
Day trips into Chobe were great, with tons of elephants and hippos along the river:
that's an elephant walking along on the upper right past a pool full of hippos, one of which is out of the water chowing down on some grass.
We also lucked into finding a lion kill:
in this case, a young giraffe. You can't see the lions but they were chilling in the background foliage. Having gorged themselves on giraffe earlier, pretty much all they did was lay there and wag their tails every so often, so most of what we saw was just lion tails wagging. Every so often one would stand up and the lay right back down again. Guess digesting giraffe is tough work.
We went back to the kill the next morning hoping to see the lions having breakfast, but they were long gone and in their place were just infinite buzzards gobbling down rotting giraffe meat. So many flies. So much smell:
01-22-2018
, 03:05 PM
Chobe definitely deserves its top tier reputation, and I'm glad we went. There were tons of animals everywhere:
(look in the upper right hand corner of that one for a lol)
and out in the western edge of the park where not many people go, we saw gazillions of elephants, and found ourselves in an elephant traffic jam at one point:
We also came across a long dead zebra which we may or may not have continued the tooth souvenir policy with:
(look in the upper right hand corner of that one for a lol)
and out in the western edge of the park where not many people go, we saw gazillions of elephants, and found ourselves in an elephant traffic jam at one point:
We also came across a long dead zebra which we may or may not have continued the tooth souvenir policy with:
01-22-2018
, 03:10 PM
Even in our camp, there were a bunch of animals:
including one of my favorites - the banded mongoose. One of the baby ones ran right over my foot at one point to catch up with the others, it was pretty great.
We also did one of the river cruises, which I was not enthused about because I figured it would be mostly this:
but we went up on the top of the boat and there were only a couple of drunk South Africans up there. Everyone else was afraid of getting sunburnt I guess. Suited me just fine, because it allowed for much better photos unblemished by loleuros:
though it was impossible to get away from the other boats:
that was one very patient or more likely just very idgaf crocodile.
including one of my favorites - the banded mongoose. One of the baby ones ran right over my foot at one point to catch up with the others, it was pretty great.
We also did one of the river cruises, which I was not enthused about because I figured it would be mostly this:
but we went up on the top of the boat and there were only a couple of drunk South Africans up there. Everyone else was afraid of getting sunburnt I guess. Suited me just fine, because it allowed for much better photos unblemished by loleuros:
though it was impossible to get away from the other boats:
that was one very patient or more likely just very idgaf crocodile.
01-23-2018
, 07:47 AM
jj - it's pretty much just "don't be an idiot", pretty easy to get stomped by an elephant, chomped by a hippo, or eaten by a lion if you feel like checking out that way.
goldd - no vehicle, turned the 4x4 in at Windhoek and took the overnight bus to Livingstone. I'll take a taxi over to Vic Falls in a day or two and spend a few days there.
p4b - don't jinx me, bro! Symptoms usually show up 7-30 days after infection, so who knows at this point. Right now I feel proud and good. Strong enough to beat the world.
Going to try to get current before I leave the Vic Falls area, we'll see how that goes. The internet connection here is not the best.
While I would have had no problem just staying in Chobe for another week, we did have a bit of a schedule to follow in order to get the truck back in time, so we sadly left Chobe and headed south down the eastern border of Botswana. Stopped in a few small towns, and also checked out a few large pans, one of which was in the middle of a zebra migration:
must have been at least 1k zebras there, it was pretty great.
We ended up cutting west from the town Nata, and visited some more pans with less animals but a lot more massive baobab trees:
including this funky one:
this gives you an idea of their size:
they get pretty massive.
I was more interested in some close-up shots of the termite mounds that I've seen all over Namibia and Botswana:
according to a bush guide we spoke with, the mounds always point to the west, so you can use them to navigate in the bush. Not sure how accurate that is, definitely saw a couple that weren't pointing anywhere.
goldd - no vehicle, turned the 4x4 in at Windhoek and took the overnight bus to Livingstone. I'll take a taxi over to Vic Falls in a day or two and spend a few days there.
p4b - don't jinx me, bro! Symptoms usually show up 7-30 days after infection, so who knows at this point. Right now I feel proud and good. Strong enough to beat the world.
Going to try to get current before I leave the Vic Falls area, we'll see how that goes. The internet connection here is not the best.
While I would have had no problem just staying in Chobe for another week, we did have a bit of a schedule to follow in order to get the truck back in time, so we sadly left Chobe and headed south down the eastern border of Botswana. Stopped in a few small towns, and also checked out a few large pans, one of which was in the middle of a zebra migration:
must have been at least 1k zebras there, it was pretty great.
We ended up cutting west from the town Nata, and visited some more pans with less animals but a lot more massive baobab trees:
including this funky one:
this gives you an idea of their size:
they get pretty massive.
I was more interested in some close-up shots of the termite mounds that I've seen all over Namibia and Botswana:
according to a bush guide we spoke with, the mounds always point to the west, so you can use them to navigate in the bush. Not sure how accurate that is, definitely saw a couple that weren't pointing anywhere.
01-23-2018
, 07:57 AM
Uploaded this photo by mistake:
so not much to say about it other than lol random elephant.
We ended up making it to Maun with time to spare, and did the mokoro (dugout canoe) ride in the Okavanga Delta from near there. The access to the delta and the mokoro rides industry are all overseen by some local councils that divide up the work between the folks living in the villages so everyone can make some income. Our trip was pretty small, with two euros joining us. Here's what it looks like to be in the mokoro:
those are the euros that went with us. Two people sit in the mokoro, and the poler stands and propels the boat using a long wooden stick.
Here's what it looks like from inside the mokoro:
and you can go thru some tight spots:
the water isn't very deep, sometimes just a handwidth or so, sometimes about the height of a person. I had initially been iffy about taking my phone but brought a ziploc bag and never used it once. The ride was very stable.
We mokoroed out for about 90 minutes to a small island and got out for a bush walk. I was looking forward to this because it's one thing to see animals from a vehicle, but another entirely to walk thru the bush with them.
This one wasn't too exciting:
and we sadly weren't able to add to the tooth collection given that the guide was walking with us.
The animals we saw (hippo, giraffe, buffalo) were fairly skittish, so we never got very close:
but it was still a neat feeling to be walking along the game trails, seeing the tracks, etc. After a few hours of walking, we got back in the mokoro and headed back to Maun.
so not much to say about it other than lol random elephant.
We ended up making it to Maun with time to spare, and did the mokoro (dugout canoe) ride in the Okavanga Delta from near there. The access to the delta and the mokoro rides industry are all overseen by some local councils that divide up the work between the folks living in the villages so everyone can make some income. Our trip was pretty small, with two euros joining us. Here's what it looks like to be in the mokoro:
those are the euros that went with us. Two people sit in the mokoro, and the poler stands and propels the boat using a long wooden stick.
Here's what it looks like from inside the mokoro:
and you can go thru some tight spots:
the water isn't very deep, sometimes just a handwidth or so, sometimes about the height of a person. I had initially been iffy about taking my phone but brought a ziploc bag and never used it once. The ride was very stable.
We mokoroed out for about 90 minutes to a small island and got out for a bush walk. I was looking forward to this because it's one thing to see animals from a vehicle, but another entirely to walk thru the bush with them.
This one wasn't too exciting:
and we sadly weren't able to add to the tooth collection given that the guide was walking with us.
The animals we saw (hippo, giraffe, buffalo) were fairly skittish, so we never got very close:
but it was still a neat feeling to be walking along the game trails, seeing the tracks, etc. After a few hours of walking, we got back in the mokoro and headed back to Maun.
01-23-2018
, 08:22 AM
We drove up to Moremi Game Reserve from Maun one day, planning to spend the night there. Unfortunately the roads inside Moremi were really, really bad:
that photo doesn't even remotely do them justice. I tried to take a few to show how bad the roads were, but I guess I'm bad at photoing roads or something because the roads never look anywhere near as bad in the photos as they are irl. You'll just have to trust me when I say that there were lots of potholes the depth of our tires, deep sand, mud pits, etc. We only got stuck twice during the entire trip, and both times I got us out pretty easily by switching to 4x4 low gear, but I'm also a pretty cautious driver (especially with someone else in the car & in the backcountry of the African bush where someone else may not come by for days), so we never ended up in any truly bad spots.
We did see some nice animals in Moremi:
and got VERY close to some hippos, which in retrospect was probably not the brightest idea. No photo of that because I hightailed it back to the car (yeah, I stupidly got out) very quickly once they decided they were going to make sure I acknowledged that they were the boss of me. Yes, they are the boss of me. I'm not ashamed to say it.
Moremi was just too annoying to drive in, so we ended up making it only a day trip. We left Maun not long after that and went north up the east side of the Delta for another night at Ngepi, before heading back down to Windhoek with a stop at Waterberg Plateau which should be called Warthog Plateau given that it is warthog city. I love me a warthog, so I was enjoying it. We did a hike up to the top of the plateau and saw a little dik dik:
who decided we were lost and needed a guide. It hopped on the trail ahead of us and walked forward a bit, then turned its head and waited for us to catch up:
and kept doing that as we followed it along the trail for a while.
From there it was on to Windhoek to return the 4x4. We did stop a few time along the way to hand out some soccer/footballs to kids:
We had seen some kids playing with "balls" that they had made out of tightly wrapped pieces of cloth, so when we saw some inexpensive inflatable ones in a supermarket we bought all of them and started handing them out as we drove along. These kids generally have pretty much nothing and live in literal stick huts in the dirt. Their toys mostly consist of sticks and dust. The smiles on their faces when we would stop and ship them a ball were pretty fantastic.
So we made it back to Windhoek safe and sound. Canadian kept the truck a couple extra days to go to the dunes. I had already been, so I chilled in Windhoek enjoying hot water and wifi for a bit.
My Namibia visa was set to run out on the 21st, so I stayed until the 19th and then took the overnight bus to Livingstone (Zambian side of Vic Falls) where I am now. Been here for three days and have yet to go see the actual Falls. Probably doing that tomorrow.
Will spend a few days in Victoria Falls Town (the Zimbabwe side of Vic Falls) then it will be time to move on.
Not sure where I'm headed next. Was thinking Bulawayo, Zim to see the wild dogs at Hwange Park, but this is not a good time of year for that. Most likely not going to Harare (capital of Zim) as almost everyone has said not to go. Thinking most likely on to Lusaka (capital of Zam) which is kind of a bummer as I won't spend any time in non-VF Zim that way, but not sure I want to go chill in Bulawayo just to avoid that. There is an animal sanctuary there that looks cool.
After whichever of those, it's on to Malawi for a few weeks. Then most likely northern Mozambique. Would be nice to find a beach town to chill at for a few weeks while looking for a sailboat to Madagascar.
Unfortunately it's cyclone season right now so the odds of sailing to Madagascar are pretty low. Not sure it's worth flying there given the black plague and all. Need to research what the status of that is right now. Getting the plague would be sad times. Would be sweet to fly to Mad and sail back to the mainland tho, if that's possible. Preferably to Tanzania if I can swing it. So much research to do!
that photo doesn't even remotely do them justice. I tried to take a few to show how bad the roads were, but I guess I'm bad at photoing roads or something because the roads never look anywhere near as bad in the photos as they are irl. You'll just have to trust me when I say that there were lots of potholes the depth of our tires, deep sand, mud pits, etc. We only got stuck twice during the entire trip, and both times I got us out pretty easily by switching to 4x4 low gear, but I'm also a pretty cautious driver (especially with someone else in the car & in the backcountry of the African bush where someone else may not come by for days), so we never ended up in any truly bad spots.
We did see some nice animals in Moremi:
and got VERY close to some hippos, which in retrospect was probably not the brightest idea. No photo of that because I hightailed it back to the car (yeah, I stupidly got out) very quickly once they decided they were going to make sure I acknowledged that they were the boss of me. Yes, they are the boss of me. I'm not ashamed to say it.
Moremi was just too annoying to drive in, so we ended up making it only a day trip. We left Maun not long after that and went north up the east side of the Delta for another night at Ngepi, before heading back down to Windhoek with a stop at Waterberg Plateau which should be called Warthog Plateau given that it is warthog city. I love me a warthog, so I was enjoying it. We did a hike up to the top of the plateau and saw a little dik dik:
who decided we were lost and needed a guide. It hopped on the trail ahead of us and walked forward a bit, then turned its head and waited for us to catch up:
and kept doing that as we followed it along the trail for a while.
From there it was on to Windhoek to return the 4x4. We did stop a few time along the way to hand out some soccer/footballs to kids:
We had seen some kids playing with "balls" that they had made out of tightly wrapped pieces of cloth, so when we saw some inexpensive inflatable ones in a supermarket we bought all of them and started handing them out as we drove along. These kids generally have pretty much nothing and live in literal stick huts in the dirt. Their toys mostly consist of sticks and dust. The smiles on their faces when we would stop and ship them a ball were pretty fantastic.
So we made it back to Windhoek safe and sound. Canadian kept the truck a couple extra days to go to the dunes. I had already been, so I chilled in Windhoek enjoying hot water and wifi for a bit.
My Namibia visa was set to run out on the 21st, so I stayed until the 19th and then took the overnight bus to Livingstone (Zambian side of Vic Falls) where I am now. Been here for three days and have yet to go see the actual Falls. Probably doing that tomorrow.
Will spend a few days in Victoria Falls Town (the Zimbabwe side of Vic Falls) then it will be time to move on.
Not sure where I'm headed next. Was thinking Bulawayo, Zim to see the wild dogs at Hwange Park, but this is not a good time of year for that. Most likely not going to Harare (capital of Zim) as almost everyone has said not to go. Thinking most likely on to Lusaka (capital of Zam) which is kind of a bummer as I won't spend any time in non-VF Zim that way, but not sure I want to go chill in Bulawayo just to avoid that. There is an animal sanctuary there that looks cool.
After whichever of those, it's on to Malawi for a few weeks. Then most likely northern Mozambique. Would be nice to find a beach town to chill at for a few weeks while looking for a sailboat to Madagascar.
Unfortunately it's cyclone season right now so the odds of sailing to Madagascar are pretty low. Not sure it's worth flying there given the black plague and all. Need to research what the status of that is right now. Getting the plague would be sad times. Would be sweet to fly to Mad and sail back to the mainland tho, if that's possible. Preferably to Tanzania if I can swing it. So much research to do!
