We have completed the Africa segment of our trip. 88 days and 9 countries. Countless memories and more stories than we will ever be able to tell. We have shared a small fraction of our experiences with this blog and have captured further sights with our pictures. Regardless, neither the blog or our pictures can holistically capture the experience we have had over the last three months. Words can't fully explain and most often cameras and pictures were not an acceptable thing with locals, so we will have the experiences in our mind to share with all of you when we meet again. We have put together the lists below as a summary of our experiences and we hope you enjoy!
Things We Learned
-Chad is an extremely hard name to pronounce for Africans, Colleen is rather easy (odd as there is an African country named Chad)
-Africans Love Enrique Eglesias (especially cab drivers), and Rihanna and Beyonce....a lot...other western pop music you will hardly hear but they love those three
-Rwandans in the capital of Kigali LOVE buffets
-If someone tells you to turn left you have a 50/50 chance of going the right direction (thank goodness for hand gestures)
-Che is idolized everywhere...he is currently pictured on a book cover in our hotel next to Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela
-African oranges are green
-Muzungu is everyone's favorite word (means whitey, and people reminded us we were white every chance they got)
-Just because you pay for a plane ticket, have a confirmation and receipt doesn't mean you actually have a ticket
-Your chances of surviving a Tanzanian bus trip are pretty low, they drive over 90 MPH and the busses look like something out of the Mad Max movies
-You can barter any clothes item if you run out of money
-If you are hungry enough lemons can be eaten as a meal
-Don't take a good pair of sandals for granted
-When there are no other options, your body and mind are able to overcome unthinkable situations
-Never underestimate the value of human kindness from complete strangers
-Never have more than 1 beer in a local bar (trust us, we learned)
-Only eat in restaurants that are crowded....high turnover means less chance of getting sick
-Word of mouth is HUGE in the travel circle in Africa, learn from other's mistakes...and try not to make them again yourself
-There is always room for one more on a Mozambique bus if they have money
-African babies don't cry. Our hypothesis is that they are conditioned to not receiving what they want.
-You don't need much to be happy in life...pretty much we were reassured this every day we met people
Top Africa Lists
Favorite Sight: Soussevlei (Sand Dunes), Namibia
Best Sunset: Addo Elephant Park, South Africa
Favorite Food: Zanzibar
Friendliest People: Lesotho
Best Beach: Kendwa Beach, Zanzibar
Favorite Big City: Cape Town, South Africa
Favorite Small City: Rhodes, South Africa (Chad enjoyed the small town fly fishing crowd more than Colleen)
Least Favorite Town: Nampula, Mozambique
Best Beer Selection: Mozambique...actually found something besides light lager there
Worst Touts: Nhkata Bay, Malawi & Tanzanian Bus Stations
Place We Wish We Had More Time In: Uganda
Place We Could Have Spent Less Time In: Malawi (that darn ferry)
First On Our List for Our Next Visit: Ethiopia
Cheapest Room: $4.22, Colleen's birthday night
Longest Bus Journey: 17 hours (honorable mention to the 58 hour ferry which does not qualify)
Number of times Colleen ate beef byproducts: 1 (damn beef gluten in South African jelly beans)
Countries we were awaken by the morning call to prayer: 9, every one!
Most Expensive Country: Botswana at $121.32 per day, this number is slightly skewed as we were only there 2 days and had the rental car and expensive lodging
Least Expensive Country: Mozambique at $60.58 per day, days are cheap when you cant find much food!
Current Average Cost Per Trip Day: $79.22, well below our $100 a day budget which is a relief
Currently we are in Goa, India and enjoying every minute of our first country in a new continent. Internet is more prevalent here than in Africa and we will be in touch.
-Chad& Colleen
Showing posts with label Botswana. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Botswana. Show all posts
Friday, June 5, 2009
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Back to South Africa
The border crossing back into South Africa from Botswana was our shortest one yet. This time the guard told us he was going to be the second black president of the USA 8 years from now when Obama was finished. We did not want to burst his bubble and tell him it was an impossible feat as he was not born in the USA.
We headed south and west from the border and into the capital city of Pretoria. Our destination was the Mozambique Consulate with the goal of securing our visas. We arrived only to be told we were 20 minutes too late and had to return the next day. We had the full day ahead of us so we headed to the local university area of town for some shopping and hit up an actual laundromat for the first time in weeks. We hoped to camp near the friendly university area but heard through the grapevine that the backpackers we intended to stay at had a reputation for theft so we headed outside town to a campground.
The next day we were granted our Mozambique visas (the cost was over 2 times what the guide book listed but at least it was processed the same day!) and headed south for our last few nights camping with the rental car. Our destination was the town of Clarens in the most well known mountain range in South Africa, the Drakensburgs. If the Drakensburgs were the Rockies of South Africa then you could call Clarens the
Aspen. We arrived to find the quaint town we expected tucked against the mountains but were a little overwhelmed at the number of high end accommodation present. We spent 2 days in Clarens, hiking and hanging out. The town even had a small microbrewery, which made Chad extremely happy. We had 1 night left before we had to head to Johannesburg to return the car, so we decided to go to a national park that a couple had recommended to us farther south in the mountains, Royal Natal. The scenery was absolutely breathtaking and we were able to fit in a 5 hour hike up a gorge. All in all it was an excellent park and we wished that we had a few more days to spend there.
After 30 days of living the high life in the Land Rover, the time had come to return him. We have been so lucky to have such a safe and reliable car for the past month and it has afforded us countless opportunities that we never would have had with a tiny 2 wheel drive. Camping for 30 days was not nearly as hard as we had expected, and it has been nice to wake up every day outside. Tomorrow we head to Mozambique and the next leg of our African journey. We are extremely excited for the next 2 months and have no idea what to expect. What we do know is that internet is going to be very scarce, so there probably won’t be a lot of pictures posted. Stick with us though, we will post when we can and you can expect a massive upload of pictures when we arrive in Asia.
Car/Camping Stats:
Kilometers Driven in Dougie (yes Colleen named the car): 8,635
Countries Visited: 4
Highest Road Toll Paid: $9
Number of Birds Hit: 5 (they fly into cars so they actually hit us)
Average Bed Time: 8:30pm(hey it gets dark here early and there are a lot of bugs!)
Average Wake Up Time: 6:45am(easy to get up early when you go to bed early)
Average Hours of Sleep: We’re guessing 5, the ground is really, really hard here
Times we were asked what nationality we were then when we told them they tripled the price of entrance or accommodation: Around 10
We headed south and west from the border and into the capital city of Pretoria. Our destination was the Mozambique Consulate with the goal of securing our visas. We arrived only to be told we were 20 minutes too late and had to return the next day. We had the full day ahead of us so we headed to the local university area of town for some shopping and hit up an actual laundromat for the first time in weeks. We hoped to camp near the friendly university area but heard through the grapevine that the backpackers we intended to stay at had a reputation for theft so we headed outside town to a campground.
The next day we were granted our Mozambique visas (the cost was over 2 times what the guide book listed but at least it was processed the same day!) and headed south for our last few nights camping with the rental car. Our destination was the town of Clarens in the most well known mountain range in South Africa, the Drakensburgs. If the Drakensburgs were the Rockies of South Africa then you could call Clarens the
Aspen. We arrived to find the quaint town we expected tucked against the mountains but were a little overwhelmed at the number of high end accommodation present. We spent 2 days in Clarens, hiking and hanging out. The town even had a small microbrewery, which made Chad extremely happy. We had 1 night left before we had to head to Johannesburg to return the car, so we decided to go to a national park that a couple had recommended to us farther south in the mountains, Royal Natal. The scenery was absolutely breathtaking and we were able to fit in a 5 hour hike up a gorge. All in all it was an excellent park and we wished that we had a few more days to spend there.After 30 days of living the high life in the Land Rover, the time had come to return him. We have been so lucky to have such a safe and reliable car for the past month and it has afforded us countless opportunities that we never would have had with a tiny 2 wheel drive. Camping for 30 days was not nearly as hard as we had expected, and it has been nice to wake up every day outside. Tomorrow we head to Mozambique and the next leg of our African journey. We are extremely excited for the next 2 months and have no idea what to expect. What we do know is that internet is going to be very scarce, so there probably won’t be a lot of pictures posted. Stick with us though, we will post when we can and you can expect a massive upload of pictures when we arrive in Asia.
Car/Camping Stats:
Kilometers Driven in Dougie (yes Colleen named the car): 8,635
Countries Visited: 4
Highest Road Toll Paid: $9
Number of Birds Hit: 5 (they fly into cars so they actually hit us)
Average Bed Time: 8:30pm(hey it gets dark here early and there are a lot of bugs!)
Average Wake Up Time: 6:45am(easy to get up early when you go to bed early)
Average Hours of Sleep: We’re guessing 5, the ground is really, really hard here
Times we were asked what nationality we were then when we told them they tripled the price of entrance or accommodation: Around 10
Botswana
The border crossings are beginning to become somewhat of a routine. Three hours outside of the Namibian capital of Windhoek we pulled up to the boarder checkpoint, presented our documents, paid a small entry fee, had the car searched and listened to a guard comment in admiration about Obama.
Given our limited time with the vehicle, Botswana had not received the highest priority (most all there is to do and see in Botswana is in the far north) and we were using it mostly as a transitional point from eastern Namibia back into northern South Africa. Once through the border, we headed out across the vast flat open space that is the Kalahari. The desert covers a good portion of northern South Africa as well as all of southern Botswana. During our 400 mile trek across the desert, rest stops and towns were few and even cross roads were a rarity. One thing that was plentiful was the livestock in the road. We were not really sure who they belonged to (there were no sheppards in sight) but every handful of minutes we had to slow to a complete stop to let the cow, donkey, geep (yes I said geep = part goat part sheep), cross the road. It kept the drive entertaining and comical as there was no radio and our only other entertainment was adjusting the air condition.
Despite the uneventful drive, the scenery was beautiful with vast desert shrubbery stretching uninterrupted by houses, fences or other roads. We had the town of Kang noted about 300 miles into our drive arrived by mid afternoon only to find the town was only a petrol station with camp sites (gravel parking lot) in the back. We had camped next to petrol stations before but this one seemed to have too many people standing around with nothing to do besides eye us and our car so we headed further down the highway. There were no towns marked on the map for the following couple hours and before we knew it we were watching the sun set in the rear view mirror as we headed east. We began to get slightly worried as we had no idea where to head for the night. We were within a couple hours of the capital but heading into an unfamiliar large city late at night was not an attractive option. We came across a petrol station sometime around 8PM whose owner offered to let us stay behind the station for free (again too many people standing around with nothing to do staring at us) but also noted a hotel further down the road that should have rooms open. Although we had the tent and the hotel cost 4 times the normal cost of a campground, we decided not to break our cardinal rule (compromising safety) and grabbed a room. After camping for 4 weeks sleeping in a tent on hard ground, the warm bed and hot shower were a treat.
We awoke the next morning refreshed and headed into the Botswana capital of Gaborone to stock up on some much needed supplies. Gaborone is more of a business center than a sight seeing destination but the downtown business area sported some tall buildings and well groomed parks. Botswana gained independence in the 60s and not too long after, diamond deposits were found and the economy has been riding that wave of wealth for the past couple decades. The conversation today is around how they will transition much of their economy now that the diamonds have run dry.
From the capital we headed south to our destination for the day, Mokolodi Nature reserve, and arrived just before noon time. We were lucky as the day prior and day after they were booked full but we were able to secure a site for one night and by early afternoon we were out on a self guided tour of the reserve. About 20 minutes into our drive down a rocky dirt road we came across a group of giraffes feeding. It was quite the rush to see the creatures in the wild for the first time as one blocked our path forward down the road while others loomed 20 ft tall far above our heads. From there we moved on through the park and had our first glimpses of wildebeests and zebra. Just as we were arriving back at camp at sunset we stumbled upon a small pack of elephants to cap off the day! The rhino and hippo are still eluding us but we hope to spot them in the coming weeks.
Our time in Botswana was short lived but we hope to return again and see the sights that the northern half of this beautiful country has to offer.
Given our limited time with the vehicle, Botswana had not received the highest priority (most all there is to do and see in Botswana is in the far north) and we were using it mostly as a transitional point from eastern Namibia back into northern South Africa. Once through the border, we headed out across the vast flat open space that is the Kalahari. The desert covers a good portion of northern South Africa as well as all of southern Botswana. During our 400 mile trek across the desert, rest stops and towns were few and even cross roads were a rarity. One thing that was plentiful was the livestock in the road. We were not really sure who they belonged to (there were no sheppards in sight) but every handful of minutes we had to slow to a complete stop to let the cow, donkey, geep (yes I said geep = part goat part sheep), cross the road. It kept the drive entertaining and comical as there was no radio and our only other entertainment was adjusting the air condition.
Despite the uneventful drive, the scenery was beautiful with vast desert shrubbery stretching uninterrupted by houses, fences or other roads. We had the town of Kang noted about 300 miles into our drive arrived by mid afternoon only to find the town was only a petrol station with camp sites (gravel parking lot) in the back. We had camped next to petrol stations before but this one seemed to have too many people standing around with nothing to do besides eye us and our car so we headed further down the highway. There were no towns marked on the map for the following couple hours and before we knew it we were watching the sun set in the rear view mirror as we headed east. We began to get slightly worried as we had no idea where to head for the night. We were within a couple hours of the capital but heading into an unfamiliar large city late at night was not an attractive option. We came across a petrol station sometime around 8PM whose owner offered to let us stay behind the station for free (again too many people standing around with nothing to do staring at us) but also noted a hotel further down the road that should have rooms open. Although we had the tent and the hotel cost 4 times the normal cost of a campground, we decided not to break our cardinal rule (compromising safety) and grabbed a room. After camping for 4 weeks sleeping in a tent on hard ground, the warm bed and hot shower were a treat.
We awoke the next morning refreshed and headed into the Botswana capital of Gaborone to stock up on some much needed supplies. Gaborone is more of a business center than a sight seeing destination but the downtown business area sported some tall buildings and well groomed parks. Botswana gained independence in the 60s and not too long after, diamond deposits were found and the economy has been riding that wave of wealth for the past couple decades. The conversation today is around how they will transition much of their economy now that the diamonds have run dry.
From the capital we headed south to our destination for the day, Mokolodi Nature reserve, and arrived just before noon time. We were lucky as the day prior and day after they were booked full but we were able to secure a site for one night and by early afternoon we were out on a self guided tour of the reserve. About 20 minutes into our drive down a rocky dirt road we came across a group of giraffes feeding. It was quite the rush to see the creatures in the wild for the first time as one blocked our path forward down the road while others loomed 20 ft tall far above our heads. From there we moved on through the park and had our first glimpses of wildebeests and zebra. Just as we were arriving back at camp at sunset we stumbled upon a small pack of elephants to cap off the day! The rhino and hippo are still eluding us but we hope to spot them in the coming weeks.
Our time in Botswana was short lived but we hope to return again and see the sights that the northern half of this beautiful country has to offer.
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