This is Africa

As I begin to write this, I must tell you that I am looking across a pond at a father and three baby ostriches eating and drinking at the edge of the pond. Flocks of birds are flying, and dozens of termite mounds are poking out of the grass, like small monuments at an overgrown cemetery.  Everyone else in camp is having a siesta, so I am alone on the open deck of the lounge with my feet on a table, sipping a cold drink. Heavenly.

 We are in Africa. The trip here was painless, as painless as 22 hours of travel can be. We all had aisle seats, decent food, and many, many movies to choose from. The one crying baby was more whiney than screaming, and we hardly noticed him after the first hour or so.  We arrived Sunday afternoon and  spent our first night at a charming hotel with excellent food and a lush garden. Roger attempted to go for an early morning stroll, but was advised not to leave the grounds. He explained that he had no money, so robbery would not be an issue, but out host explained that people would kick him since he was a foreigner. Good to know. He showed his maturity by NOT going out. Way to go, Rog! We have met an interesting man who went to Nepal in his 20's and never left...he's been there 30 years, and he and Roger shared memories of the hippie cafes from the 70s. He's in Africa visiting his wife, a physician in Madagascar, before he heads back to work. Fascinating.

 We transferred hotels to meet our tour group, and spent out first afternoon on a tour of Johannesburg and Soweto, a township where 3 1/2 million black citizens were forcibly relocated in the 1970's, and has since become a city in its own right. Jet lag and a historically confused  tour guide made it less interesting than it should have been (or, as Roger says, more interesting).  We did wave to Nelson Mandela, who was recuperating at his home. I am pretty sure I saw him peeking out an upstairs window when we shouted to him. I think he waved back.

Our group tour, Ultimate Africa, focuses on staying in tented lodges and seeing African wildlife, so it seems like a good idea to give you a snapshot of a typical day. With few exceptions, ALL of our time here is similar to the day we'll outline here.



View from Camp

Wake-up calls have either been drumbeats or a cheery "Good morning, tent three!", and have usually been at either 5:00 or 6:00 am. A half-hour later is continental breakfast at the main lodge, and a half-hour after that we board the Land Rovers. The trucks have two or three rows of tiered seating, a canvas roof, and open sides, all the better to see the animals. Our driver/guide changes every day as do our seats, so we get as much variety as possible with our vantage point and with the expertise of our guide. We drive for hours over a maze of roads through woods that sometimes look a lot like the Upper  Peninsula of Michigan, minus the pines. There are other stretches that look surprisingly like golf courses, with widely-spaced trees, shrubs, sand traps, and water hazards that have hippos instead of geese. Some of the landscapes look like farmland that has been abandoned is is covered with small trees that appear to be poorly pruned orchards.  That is done by the local elephants who eat the sides and tops of small trees, giving them a stunted look. Other areas are filled with the trunks and branches of huge fallen trees that the elephants have uprooted so they could eat their delicious leaves when other food was scarce. What has amazed us is the variety of landscapes and the lack of the typical African landscape imprinted in our brains by old movies: vast plains of  golden grasses or dense jungle with Tarzan -sized vines. I'm sure that they are here somewhere, just nowhere we have been.

 After a few hours of driving, seeing animals, and "learning and discovering", we stop for a short break. Men and ladies have separate bushes to use the "loo with a view", and the guides set out coffee, tea and cookies. Then, back into the vehicles until we return to camp about for brunch at about 11:00 am, followed by siesta until 3:30 or so. High tea is at that time, and we relax with snacks and beverages while we get a lecture by one of the guides about pertinent topics. Then, we clamber back into the vehicles for another game drive. During the game drive, we stop for a "sundowner", beer, wine and cookies.

The roads deserve some description. Nearly all are two-tracks at best. One park had put in gravel roads a couple of years ago when they built the gravel air-strip. Many of those roads are impassable at time of high rain, such as right now. At one point, we drove down a deeply rutted gravel road and it disappeared directly into a wide, swift river that had a small set of rapids, followed by a road coming out on the river's other side. Isaac, our guide, laughed and said in his James Earl Jones voice, " Those rapids are really the bridge on this road. Maybe we will not go this way today."  Good call, Isaac.

Because we are here during the rainy season, many of the roads are extremely muddy and rutted. Others are completely submerged, and driving down them gives us the feeling that we are driving down a river, or through a large pond. One group was stuck twice in one day. At one point, they all had to get off of the truck in the dark while Wallace, the trip leader, cut tree limbs with a machete to stick under the offending tire until they were able to finally move. One expression we have heard often here is, "This is Africa", which explains everything from the impassable roads, to intermittent electricity, to cool hot water, to huge changes in travel itineraries. The group traveling immediately before us missed 3 days in one of the parks because it was too wet to fly, or, more accurately, too wet to land.  One must be flexible here or it may not be a pretty picture.

Dinner is Served

When the afternoon game drive is finished, dinner is served. Like all the other meals and snacks, the food is plentiful and delicious. As tired as we are, I fear that we aren't burning off too many calories bouncing on the seats in those trucks. All of the lounge and dining areas at the places we have are open to the outdoors, and every lodge has had stunning views. By the time dinner is finished, Wallace gives us a schedule for the next day, and we make our way to our tent. Of course it isn't safe to walk without an escort to protect us from the animals. In Zimbabwe, they are armed with rifles with ammo the size of chunky dry-erase markers ( obviously a teaching reference). We head off to bed, usually too tired even to read. We climb under the mosquito netting, cover up with the warm blankets (yes, we are in Africa in the summer, so cool weather just doesn't seem right, does it?) and pass out. That wake-up call comes before you know it!