Apr 2008

Well! An unexpected turn of events - internet in Etosha! We are on a quick bakery stop on our way out of Etosha National Park and they happend to have internet. This means I happend to down a sausage roll and hash out a blog for all of you loyal readers. Just a side note: DELICIOUS sausage roll. German colonization of Namibia is turning out to have its advantages.

Alright - so much to catch up on. Where to begin? Let's start where we left off....

I promised to tell you how Skanky and Grubby, like a modern day Batman and Robin, saved us from border doom in Zambia. As it turns out we were stopped by a shady policeman for some bs reason or another and they threatend to hold us at the border until we paid some ridiculous amount to pass. Ironically we had just passed one of the many "Stop Corruption in Zambia" billboards about a mile before hitting this "police stop." Anyway, our new guide Annie was getting quite the run around before those of us driving with Skank realized what was happening. After cursing in Afrikans, Skank makes a mad dash to the overly crowded border and demands to talk to the police chief. They tell him that the chief is at the road stop. Nice. So we fly back to Annie who is all fired up and Skanky (barefoot but in a posative turn of events not shirtless) gets out of the car ready for what we have come to recognize as a classic Skanky police block encounter. Usually this involves a bit of yelling, some storming around, maybe a few hand gestures and ends with him giving the officer a cigarette, they share a laugh and we drive off. This time it required a little more palm greasing than a cheap cigarette. In comes Grubby - a regular Livingstone man about town (with decidedly hobbit looking feet). He quickly gives us the number of the real police chief which Skanky calls immediately to explain the situation. Here is the part of the conversation that we heard, "And YOU have these men who do not know the law stopping us as we are LEAVING the country for no reason. Now explain." After a pause he hands the phone over to the busted bad cop and it takes about 30 seconds before we are back on the road. I guess the anti-corruption campaign is making some headway at the senior levels. About 20 minutes later we were crossing over into Botswana by ferry. Note that "by ferry" means we all pile on to a large pontoon and go about half a mile. It sounds much more romantic (and less diesel-y) then it really is.

The next day we headed out into the Okavango Delta by traditional wooden canoe- a very reed-y, marshy, strange part of the country. We bush camped there for a night and headed back the next day. I'd write more about the experience but it mostly involved Colin and I running down to the stream to get water and running back every time we heard a hippo snort. I will never forget bottled water again. Shout out to Erin and Brendan for supplying us with the water bottles with filters. We really put them to the test and yes, they do filter out hippo dung and dragon flies. Mmmm.

We followed the trip up with a scenic flight over the Delta the next day. Seriously, if you ever come this way you must do the scenic flight. It's THE BEST way to appreciate the Delta. Both Colin and I (jaded already) were a little underwelmed with Botswana until we took the flight. Seeing this crazy landscape which looks like a golf course/swamp/free range zoo from above was magical. Ah, Botswana. Never judge a book...

Our Botswana adventure ended with what may have been our riskiest move yet: We let Skanky cut Colin's hair. In the dark. After he'd had at least 4 brandy and Cokes. Not our most rational decision of the trip. It really didn't look bad at first. Of course we were looking at it with a $5 flashlight...looked a bit more, oh I don't know, bowl-y in the morning. Col has since cleaned it up a bit but I wouldn't be surprised if the shears come out again before the trip is over. It was a nice parting gift from Skanky. He left the next morning and we would be lying if we didn't say that we were sad to see him go. The good news for us and readers alike is that he'll likely make an appearance again in the blog. We will be visiting his parent's farm in South Africa and we may meet up with him in Cape Town. And who knows...he's talked of visiting us in Chicago when he's next in the States. Fun for all. Skank - if you are out there - we miss your Mrs. Balls.

Like I mentioned I'm in a bakery in Namibia which means we just finished several days in the northern part of the country. We had some noteworthy camping experiences and I expect, as we prep for our 3 days in the remote bush, that I'll have more to report when I return. Given my limited computer time here I can't expound on the details but I will leave you with this bit of advice: Mongeese love socks and jackals love baked goods. Both were lost to these scoundrals while we prepared out dinner. On a posative note the warthogs in our camp just wanted to hang out. And who's not down with hanging out with warthog?

Alright - must go get water and supplies before heading out into the bush. Quick shout out to our April birthdays: Finn Navs, Dupee (aka: Pat), Dan, Liz and of course Mr. Africa Bush Colin Gildea. Much love to all! Stay tuned...

Hi everyone. Sorry for the lack-o-blog lately but we've hit a serious internet drought here in Namibia. I'd love to tell all of you work procrastinators that our blog will soon be offering a good excuse to put off doing timesheets but alas, we may be out of luck for the next week or so. There is just absolutely no where to crank out a good blog. Darn you Africa. Anyway, we have breezed through the somewhat boring Botswana (like driving through Kansas with the bonus of elephants) and have made our way to Namibia. We'll be spending some time in Etosha National Park before hitting the road to do some serious bushcamping. Considering there will be no water supply where we are headed, the liklihood of an internet cafe in our future is slim. Please hang in there with us as we promise thrills, chills and spills once we get connected again. And someone remind me when I get back to the blog to tell you how Grubby and Skanky got us out of a sticky situation at the border. Yes, they may have their rough spots but those guys are nothing if not resourceful. God love 'em.
Alright - hang in there. Must go stock up at the store on Cokes and chutney chips. The outback is going to be rough enough without having to sacrifice the Mrs. Balls Chutney Chip addiction I'm currently nursing (note to my Dad: you may have some Mrs. Balls coming your way....)
Fingers crossed we'll be back to blog...

Well, our 4-day stay here at Livingstone/Victoria Falls is just about over, and since this is a major tourist hub, there was plenty of entertainment to be had...

Right out of the gate on the first day we decided to take early morning microlight flights right over the Falls, which turned out to be a fantastic decision. The weather for our flight was crisp, clear, and most importantly windless - perfect for microlight flying. So up we went simultaneously in separate planes in these tiny (hence micro), seemingly weightless (hence light) aircraft. Having never been in a microlight before, my first sensation was how exposed you are to the elements in the air. No ceiling, no windows, just two wings, an engine and the wind in your face (oh, and don't forget the pilot).

Right after we were airborne, we could see a long plume of mist (aka "smoke") emerging from the Zambezi River ahead, and the smoke gradually grew bigger and bigger as we approached the Falls. The pilot then took a slight left maybe a couple hundred yards away so that we could circle around and and see the Falls from the front. From just a few hundred feet above, the entire length of the Falls was laid out in front of us... quite an impressive sight. Plunging into the gorge below and stretching horizontally for almost a mile, with the smoky mist hanging in the air above, this was an amazing way to see the Falls for the first time! Before landing we did a few circles around the national park to see our favorite safari animals from the sky. Nothing beats a view of an elephant charging through the forest from above.

After the flight we made our way to the entrance of the Falls on foot to see how things looked from the ground. Our first impression here was the sound, which we were unable to hear from the microlights. It truly lives up to what the locals call Mosi-O-Tunya: "The Smoke That Thunders." Seriously, you can feel it's presence before you can see it... a powerful rumble that just sounds imposing. Seeing the Falls was spectacular as well, particularly because you can get so much closer to them than we would have thought. We were drenched in no time just from the mist, and we even managed to see a few rainbows as well.

After a day of relaxing and trying to save money (Zambia is expensive), we went for an "adrenaline day" at the Gorge with our newly arrived travel mates, Alex and Jo. Another picture perfect day, spent at the cliffs along the picturesque Bakota Gorge, basically reenacting detours from the Amazing Race. In fact, one of the activities, the Gorge Swing, was actually featured on the Race in 2000.

We started things off by abseiling down into the gorge. We then upped the ante a bit with two goes on the Flying Fox. This involves putting on a harness which is strapped to a cable that stretches from one end of the gorge to the other, then sprinting off the edge of the cliff. The rope attached to the cable is pretty short, maybe a few feet long, so you end up flying across the gorge Superman-style along the cable. This was extremely fun and had the not-to-be-underestimated benefit of us not having to climb back up the gorge afterwards (a steep, 30 minute climb in 85 degree heat).

This all led up to the adrenaline climax - the famous Gorge Swing. Like the Flying Fox, the Gorge Swing involves a cable stretching from one end of the gorge to the other, with you attached by another cable. The cable attaching you, however, is 160 feet long. It's essentially a bungee jump down into the gorge, right next to the cliff. The major difference is that instead of bouncing back in the air like you would after a bungee jump, you swing out into the middle of the gorge. Once you're all strapped in, attached and ready to go, you step to the edge of the cliff and dangle your toes over. After an irresistible look down and a deep breath, you count down... 3, 2, 1... and take the step of faith into a 3.5 second free fall. Falling about 100 times faster than you had imagined (they say up to 180 km/h... get out your mile-to-km charts) you are yanked (literally... we got some minor whiplash) back into reality when your cable catches and then there you are, swinging in the middle of the gorge. A great experience, but one which will definitely require a visit to the chiropractor when we get back...

Today, our final day, was somewhat disappointing in that we were unable to cross the border into Zimbabwe due to the uncertain political situation there at the moment. So no lion walk, so seeing the Falls from the other side, and no dinner feast of warthog, zebra, etc. I guess it's a small price to pay considering the conditions many of the Zimbabweans are facing today. Hopefully their election results will be resolved soon and (fingers crossed) they can move forward to a better situation. As an alternative we were able to schedule a walking safari in which we saw rhino, elephant, and giraffe on foot at close range. A great day.

We've enjoyed our stay in Livingstone immensely. Not only did we get to stretch our adventure sports muscles but we took a much needed break from camping. Ah, fresh towels, a bed and air conditioning. Life is good. We'll miss you, Livingstone!

On to Botswana next... The free internet ends here but we hope to post again soon!

After a week of camping in the bush we've finally rolled into the symbolic halfway point: Livingstone, Zambia. Home of Victoria Falls - a World Heritage Site for those of you keeping track. We've spent the last two days in transit; rolling across the plains of Zambia with our guy Skank. Fans of Skanky will be glad to learn that we've scored an extra 5 days with him as he's now driving us to Maun, Botswana. But let's not talk about that now - gets me a bit misty eyed thinking our days with him are limited.

To keep thoughts of our break-up with Skank at bay, I've been thinking a lot lately about how we've changed while on the road. I'm not talking about deep, spiritual change. More your garden variety change. For example...

Last night at the campsite there was a television with cable channels. Aside from a random viewing of "Paperazzi" at a campsite in Eldoret and an occassional cricket match, this has been the only non-local television we've seen in close to 2 months. The withdrawal symptoms for me have been noticeable. We settled in to watch a glorious hour of E! Entertainment TV at the campsite. Heaven! About 15 minutes into the show Col and I came to same conclusion: we didn't want to watch it. Is this POSSIBLE? We didn't want to watch TV???

Now I've heard that it takes 30 days to break a habit. This has proven true with my nail biting. I'm now clean. Easy to do while in Africa. But can you detox from pop culture?? I mean, any day of the week before the trip I would have eagerly sat down in front of the tube to watch Renee Zellweger's E True Hollywood Story. Last night I couldn't even make it to her marriage to Kenny Chesney. And I can't believe I don't even want to know what J-Lo named her twins. What kind of monster have I become? Or is this a better me? Hmmm. We didn't say much about it but I know we felt the same way - it just reminded us of things we don't want to be reminded of. I'm pretty sure we'll go back to our tv loving ways when we get home (we are currently maxing out on the TIVO storage) but for now Col and I agree that we'll stay away from the boob tube. One exception: African soaps. They are made with the equivalent of a camcorder and we find them endlessly entertaining)

Some of those things we don't want to be reminded of are the social must-dos we've managed to put aside while in Africa. Like showering everyday or putting on make-up. We've really redefined what clean means. This could be directly related to travelling with Skanky for 6 weeks. Note that we are having dinner with one of his friends while we are down here. The guy's name? Grubby. You can't make this stuff up, people.

Another one of those changes that I've noticed is our reaction to things that we may have found disgusting or absurd before. For instance, Colin said to me the other day, "I had seven frogs in my shower. How many did you have?" This seemed like a very normal question to me at the time. Likewise, when I said to him, "hmmm, I don't know how I got this hippo dung all over myself" he didn't even blink an eye. As a matter of fact, the keyboard that I'm typing this on has a nest of some very large insects I can not identify under it. At one point I may have reacted by running away. Instead I just think "yay! free internet" and let them swarm about.

One thing that still freaks me out is the notion of certain types of bug bites. I think I mentioned the infamous mango worm a few posts back. The insect that lays eggs in clothing, bedding, etc. in humid areas and then the eggs hatch in your face? Yeah, well, I had a mango worm scare the other day. Nothing to worry about, false alarm, but the idea of having one of these is terrifying on two levels: 1) I would have a worm growing in my face and 2) Skanky would be the one taking it out. With his pocket knife. As it turns out the mysterious week old bite that had taken over half of my face has since receded. A relief for me and for those who will be subject to photos of me on this trip. The worst part about it was the swelling and the constant poking of Skanky's finger in my face going "oy! it's really red!" or "yaw, we'll have to keep an eye on it. Does this hurt?" Just for the record, I would have let him take out the worm. There could be nothing worse then knowing it was stuck in my cheek.

Alright, hope that didn't gross anyone out. I promise that our next post will be jam-packed with adventure and absent of bugs. We are gearing up to take advantage of the many activities here in Vic Falls. We may even cross the boarder into Zimbabwe (pending political situation) to go on a lion walk and delight in the Fogo de Chao of game meat. Warthog is supposedly "to die for" but I may just stick to a variety of impala.

Until then...stay away from the mango flies or I'll have to fly Skanky out to take care of them for you!