Oh The Things You’ll See

Just a collection of random trip thoughts and experiences.

When we arrived at our first camp in the bush, the host was showing us our room when a spider crawled across Jeff’s face. It apparently had dropped down from the ceiling onto his head and then took a walk. Of course it gave everyone the yips but it didn’t appear poisonous and was despatched forthwith. We also had other critters stop by…

Our favorite product find on the trip was in Zambia. It was a cold drink named “Ama SipSip”. We howled because the name so perfectly embodies the expression of thirst – “Ama thirsty so Ama SipSip”. It comes in four delicious flavors!…

Here’s Jeff at Shoprite in Zambia. We enjoy exploring grocery stores in other countries…

By the way, Kwacha are kool!

When we were driving to the primary school to deliver school supplies children along the way would enthusiastically wave at us as we drove by. We soon joined in and were waving at everyone we saw. At one point a clutch of young schoolchildren were waving and running towards our truck when one of the youngsters tripped and fell flat on his face as he was waving and then burst into tears. Awwww! These kids managed to stay upright…

Just as we saw in Nepal and Bhutan, China Aid was everywhere providing assistance. The Chinese are supplanting the U.S. as the world’s guarantor. An entire generation (or two) is growing up thinking that the Chinese are who you turn to for help when you need it, and that help doesn’t come without strings. Many of the world’s rare earth elements come from African mines and Zambia is the world’s 2nd largest copper exporter…

Mosquitoes were not an issue for us in Zambia or Botswana. Neither country is in the yellow fever zone, so no shots needed, but it is advisable to take malaria pills. However I never was bitten and sweet, sweet Jeffrey only got two bites. Nevertheless malaria is mean and better to be safe than sorry so take the pills if you go…

Because they don’t really know what’s out there at night, after dark (and before sunrise) you aren’t allowed to walk outside your room unescorted. So after dinner you just have to signal to a camp staff member that you’re ready to go to your room and they grab a flashlight and walk you back. Spooky! But once you’re in, you’re in for the night because there are no in room telephones.

The exterior walls in the room in our last camp were just floor to ceiling screens. This included the bathroom and so it took a bit of adjustment to go in there and see right out into the bush. Sometime there were flocks of birds – guineafowls – pecking around and other times, like in the middle of the night, you could hear hippos yawning and snorting along with other bush night noises. I can’t say I liked it, but it certainly was an experience!…

One of the coolest things we’ve ever done was to arrive at our destination on the Zambezi River and be taken to our lodge by speedboat. Our brains couldn’t process that experience fast enough so you just had to take it in as it was happening. Unforgettable!…

By the same token within hours of arrival we were back out on the river looking for wildlife and found a herd of elephants drinking at the river. Talk about pushing all of your worries right out of your brain! At that moment nothing mattered more than watching the elephants be elephants…

Victoria Falls was arresting and incredible and loud and wet and frightening and beautiful. Seeing them fulfilled a lifelong dream and they did not disappoint – Niagara doesn’t come close. So go see them if you can, you’ll be just as enthralled as we were…

All the wildlife we saw was amazing but giraffes were the coolest. My heart skipped a beat every time we saw one. My one disappointment about the trip is that we didn’t see a Journey of Giraffes, only singles, pairs, or trios…

Zebra butts! Whenever you saw zebras, as if on cue, they would turn around and show you their butts. Of course we really just wanted to see their gorgeous faces!…

It was interesting how even after just a few days you could spot wildlife and knew bird species like a pro. Even being able to identify animal droppings!…

“Elephants being elephants”

You just can’t accurately express the wonder you feel when you’re just a few feet away from wildlife. We had elephants amble past our safari truck so closely that we stopped breathing. We had lions so close that, if you wanted to, you could reach out and pet them (and then be mauled!). We were so close to a Nile crocodile that it splashed us as it scurried away. You don’t forget those experiences…

Get ready to be bounced around. I’m sure you’ve heard it before but riding around in a safari truck can be exhausting from all the tight holding on your doing as you bounce through the bush. It’s called an African Massage and it’s no joke…

Don’t overlook the birds if you go, they have their own beauty and some are really incredible. Also don’t overlook the plants and flowers. Most will be new to you and offer their own interest and beauty…

A surprising behavior we saw in lions – when they had to go to the bathroom they would get up and walk away from the Pride to do their business. We didn’t imagine they were that civilized…

We saw no snakes despite being told of the existence of cobras, puff adders, and black mambas…

”You don’t forget those experiences”

We dined under the stars in the bush in Botswana. It was a very special evening that our camp setup for only the third time this year. They dragged everything they needed to serve cocktails and a three course meal in the bush about 20 minutes away from the camp. Incredible!

It got brrr cold after dinner so they provided everyone with slankety sort of blankets.

I took the best naps I’ve ever had in Botswana. Our room at Vumbura Plains was all screens and so the breezes off the delta gently blew through our room. Mixed with the absolute quiet made for some delicious naps…

Warthogs were so ugly that they were cute. Extremely shy, when they felt like you were too close they’d raise their tails (which looked like a pom pom on a stick) and trot away as fast as their little piggy legs could carry them. Also when they forage they kneel down on their front elbows…

We tried to do a hot air balloon ride at sunrise but were foiled by the winds…

We did get a neato helicopter ride out of it though.

We flew right over the advancing flood of the Okavango. Very cool.

They weren’t kidding about African sunsets – they are stunning…

We created a 2019 Africa playlist on Spotify. Here’s the link if you’re interested…

Cessna Caravans aren’t as scary once you’ve flown in one. Oh they are cramped, but they are quite enjoyable to fly. Since you’re only a few thousand feet in the air you can actually see things that you can’t in a jetliner…

Maun Airport is mass chaos in a safari suit. It is filled with people either headed into the bush or coming out of the bush, and it all happens within a 3-4 hour period because the bush planes turn and go back with new arrivals after dropping off people who are leaving. Steel yourself if you pass through and whatever you do take your time at security, don’t rush even though people are pushing…

We didn’t really take to South Africa like we thought we would. We had a lovely time, and it was beautiful, but it’s not someplace we’d hurry back to. Can’t quite put our finger on it, but I think it might be because it’s too much like here. English is widely spoken, restaurants have comparable menus, people are friendly, everything is very recognizable. The only perceptable difference was they drive on the left. I think we like a bigger cultural challenge…

Speaking of restaurants, food and drink were incredibly cheap in South Africa. A vegetarian tasting menu at a top restaurant in Franschhoek was under $70. In Chicago that would have been a minimum of twice the price…

Alcohol was also inexpensive. A mixed drink ran around $4-5. We saw many wines by the bottle in restaurants that were around $20! Of course you could spend more, but you could go pretty far down the list before the pricing got serious. Divide by 15 to get an approximate price in U.S. dollars…

Ubers were unspeakably cheap in Cape Town. A 20 minute ride in an UberXL was around $6. Shorter rides in UberXLs were $3-5. There was zero reason to rent a car or find a taxi…

I think our favorite activity in Cape Town was walking through the Kirstenbosch Gardens. One of the world’s most significant, so if you’re in Cape Town make sure you see them…

Lordy it’s far. Total flying time down was 24 hours (the full travel time was 35 hours which included a 9 hour sit in Doha, Qatar our connecting point). Coming back was also 24 hours flying time. You have to fly east through 7 time zones and then south for 10 hours (and then the same on the reverse). Over 22,000 flying miles. So you really have to want to go, and you really need to schedule some time for a trip like this. But do it if you haven’t, it’s definitely a life experience!

We had a wonderful trip, very different than our usual trips where we try to see as much as we can. In this case we had time to relax and enjoy our surroundings. At the same time I don’t feel like we missed out. We’ll have to try to incorporate more of that in our upcoming trips.

Thanks for coming along with us, we hope you enjoyed the pictures and stories from our trip. We’ll see you again for our next trip!

Jeff + Alex