So sorry for only now writing about the end of spring break! Suffice it to say that things have really picked up here in Cape Town with the arrival of Spring and the final weeks of the semester. I am freaking out a little about accomplishing everything on my bucket list before I leave, and I have already committed myself to definitely making it back to South Africa some day. I can't pin point what it is about this part of the world, but it pervades your consciousness, and somehow, you wake up one morning and realize that you are desperately in love with i
And now to finish off the tales of Spring Break. The morning leaving the Delta, we retraced our mokoro rides back to the station, piled our things back into an overland truck and met up with our bigger safari overlanding truck back in the town of Maun in Botswana. That day we traveled to elephants sands. The campsite, situated essentially in the middle of nowhere felt like heaven. We all showered for the first time in a few days, under taps that were akin to being spit on, but felt like heaven. Clean and refreshed, we relaxed around a giant campfire with drinks and watched the watering hole. Elephants Sands was named for the fact that elephants stop and drink at the watering hole there frequently. While we didn't see any elephants then, at one point there were some impala that visited the watering hole. Definitely my favorite campsite of the trip.
That next day was spent traveling to and enjoying the first part of Chobe. The ride itself was amazing. I can't imagine another place where one can drive for several hours and not see a single person, car or village. More incredibly was the amount of wildlife that we passed. On our journey we saw elephants, including a herd with a little baby that was too young to know how to use its trunk properly yet- so adorable! After riding through what seems to be the end of the world, it is almost disconcerting when, all of a sudden, we turned a corner, and began to see stoplights, buildings and a fully functioning town. This was the outskirts of Chobe National Park. Our campsite was great again, right on one of the tributaries of the river, and we all took a opportunity to relax around the pool for a while. As our tour leader Ruth says, "it's Africa, all of the campsites NEED to have a pool." This is so true, technically we were traveling in what was still "winter" although it is more apt to name it the dry season to summers 'wet' season.
That evening, we took a wonderful sunset game viewing cruise in Chobe, at one point, I actually stopped taking pictures of elephants because I had seen so many of them. The sunset was gorgeous again, as all of them seemed to be during the trip, and seeing the variety and quantity of animals was truly incredible. Along the river there were several large waterfront restaurants that made me think of places along Lake Winnepesauke, if not for all of the African wildlife.
The next morning we took a safari ride through the national park itself where I saw my first wild lion! It was really exciting, as only about 12 lions live in the entire park (and it's quite large). We saw 3/4 female lions sleeping with a recent kill that they had made. It's a little disgusting, but lions will actually sleep on top of the animal that they had just slaughtered. Sometimes I think I am learning too much about nature here, first all of the lessons about animal poop in the delta, and now about feeding and killing habits of large cats.
In addition to the lions we also saw plenty of baboons, warthogs (who have really delicate and dainty looking legs), giraffes so close we could have reached out of the vehicle and touched them, more elephants and plenty of impala and antelope. Later, we packed up camp again, and headed for the border of Zimbabwe! Crossing was a curious experience. At several points, all I could think was "This is Africa." The border crossing amounted to a building with fences around it in the middle of a semi-arid "wasteland". It took a long time for our entire tour group to be stamped through, but the visa we all received was beautifully colored and made the process and waiting around in the hot sun totally worth it.
I promise to finish with tales from Zim sometime soon. Victoria Falls was incredible!
Thanks for reading,
xoxo
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Monday, September 12, 2011
Spring Break Part 1- Cape Town- Okavanga Delta
I'm not sure if I'll be able to accurately describe how amazing my spring break experience was. If I had to choose, it would hands down be the best weekend of my life, I saw amazing things and met some really great people. Most of all, I fell head over heels for southern Africa. Nothing I have done in my life has ever been like this trip.
Here I'll describe the first part, covering days 1-4.
We left early Friday morning from Cape Town and flew to Jo'Burg. I could write an entire entry about the differences in air travel between Africa and elsewhere, but I'm saving that for another time. The most interesting part of the flight was how the announcements were in both English and Afrikaans. Our first day was mostly spent in the overland truck, driving from Jo'Burg to our first campsite in Botswana. It took much longer than usual, as there was a massive forest fire outside of Pretoria that slowed traffic to a standstill at some points. It was really interesting driving through a lot of South Africa that I hadn't seen before. It looked much more "African" than the Western Cape. We crossed the border, and made it to our campsite after midnight. I learned how to set up a tent, and fully appreciated how useful a headlamp was.
The next morning, we set off again for our next site. Unfortunately, the other truck broke down, so there was a bit of a delay, but as a travel day there wasn't much lost. Moving further into the wild was very strange. I have never before driven anywhere for over 4 or 5 hours and never seen another person, or a town. The truck frequently stopped to let cattle and other animals cross the road in front of us.
The next day our adventures really began. We packed up the truck early, and each only took a day pack with essentials into the delta. We drove in open air safari vehicles about an hour into the bush, where we reached the Mokoro station. Mokoro's are traditionally made from hollowed out tree trunks, and are captained by "pollers" who essentailly act like a gondoler.
We laid out our mattresses and sleeping bags in the mokoros and headed into the delta proper. Riding in the mokoro was unreal. There are water lilies everywhere and everything is so peaceful and gorgeous. Pictures don't do it justice. It took about two hours to reach our campsite, where we set up tents and learned more about the delta and the pollers and natives who are still born and live there. They grow up with nature, can track animals and seem to have a connection with the land that is difficult to describe. The time in the delta was filled with mokoroing to a swimming hole to keep cool in the middle of the day, game walks where we saw elephants and zebra, hanging out by the campfire, not showering, and viewing hippos from a mokoro right before sunset. I cannot recommend experiencing the Okavanga delta enough. It is unlike any place I have ever been and probably will ever be. It was a definite highlight of my time in Africa.
Our last night in camp, the pollers sang traditional Botswanan music and danced for us. While there was a language barrier, as the songs were in Tswanan, it was easy to follow along. The dances tended to act out story lines. My favorite involved a man who was obviously a play boy and all of the women he wronged. We reciprocated with renditions of the Star-Spangled Banner and Party in the USA. I have some videos that I will try to upload later.
I will post more about the next part of my trip later!
Happy reading!
xoxo,
Sara
Here I'll describe the first part, covering days 1-4.
We left early Friday morning from Cape Town and flew to Jo'Burg. I could write an entire entry about the differences in air travel between Africa and elsewhere, but I'm saving that for another time. The most interesting part of the flight was how the announcements were in both English and Afrikaans. Our first day was mostly spent in the overland truck, driving from Jo'Burg to our first campsite in Botswana. It took much longer than usual, as there was a massive forest fire outside of Pretoria that slowed traffic to a standstill at some points. It was really interesting driving through a lot of South Africa that I hadn't seen before. It looked much more "African" than the Western Cape. We crossed the border, and made it to our campsite after midnight. I learned how to set up a tent, and fully appreciated how useful a headlamp was.
 |
| Our truck! Home for 11 days |
 |
| Outdoor shower at the first campsite. |
The next morning, we set off again for our next site. Unfortunately, the other truck broke down, so there was a bit of a delay, but as a travel day there wasn't much lost. Moving further into the wild was very strange. I have never before driven anywhere for over 4 or 5 hours and never seen another person, or a town. The truck frequently stopped to let cattle and other animals cross the road in front of us.
The next day our adventures really began. We packed up the truck early, and each only took a day pack with essentials into the delta. We drove in open air safari vehicles about an hour into the bush, where we reached the Mokoro station. Mokoro's are traditionally made from hollowed out tree trunks, and are captained by "pollers" who essentailly act like a gondoler.
 |
| mokoro "station" |
 |
| Andrew and I with our "poller" |
 |
| campsite in the delta |
 |
| mokoro's parked at our camp |
We laid out our mattresses and sleeping bags in the mokoros and headed into the delta proper. Riding in the mokoro was unreal. There are water lilies everywhere and everything is so peaceful and gorgeous. Pictures don't do it justice. It took about two hours to reach our campsite, where we set up tents and learned more about the delta and the pollers and natives who are still born and live there. They grow up with nature, can track animals and seem to have a connection with the land that is difficult to describe. The time in the delta was filled with mokoroing to a swimming hole to keep cool in the middle of the day, game walks where we saw elephants and zebra, hanging out by the campfire, not showering, and viewing hippos from a mokoro right before sunset. I cannot recommend experiencing the Okavanga delta enough. It is unlike any place I have ever been and probably will ever be. It was a definite highlight of my time in Africa.
 |
| sunset in the delta |
 |
| water lilies |
 |
| zebra we saw on the game walk |
 |
| Beauty making a traditional woven bracelet |
 |
| traditional woven goods |
 |
| Hippo! |
 |
| sunset from the Mokoro |
 |
| water lillies might be my new favorite flower |
Our last night in camp, the pollers sang traditional Botswanan music and danced for us. While there was a language barrier, as the songs were in Tswanan, it was easy to follow along. The dances tended to act out story lines. My favorite involved a man who was obviously a play boy and all of the women he wronged. We reciprocated with renditions of the Star-Spangled Banner and Party in the USA. I have some videos that I will try to upload later.
 |
| pollers singing |
 |
| living the life in a Mokoro |
I will post more about the next part of my trip later!
Happy reading!
xoxo,
Sara
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