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Part B - Africa

July - August 2017
A 31-day adventure by Rae Read more
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  • TravelerPart B - Africa
    Day 1

    You are not in Kansas anymore Dorothy

    July 29, 2017 in Kenya ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    London -> Dubai-> Nairobi overnight and my feet were ready to hit the ground. Exiting the arrivals hall I am met instantly by Sarah and her pitch. "Lady lady lady my sister, where you go, taxi, you need taxi." And as simple as that Sarah threw the dollars in her pocket and whizzed me and my bag through the crowd of people holding up signs with names on them into the safety of Michael the Christians car. The GPS was stuck circling on the screen and the gospel music was so loud I couldn't here the hum of the traffic alongside me. God willing we will be there in half an hour he said. It wasn't much longer than that so God must have been feeling pretty good today.

    On the way into town I noticed a large open space in the distance with what looked like a giant open aired market. I could see lots of coloured plastic structures and tarps and LOTS of people so I was keen to get a closer look on the way past, only to discover on closer inspection it was a suburb. Probably not a formal one as we know them, but it was clearly a town where people lived and not a market in site. They were all living under makeshift plastic houses and being 6am were all starting to get up and about to start their days.

    Gratefully, my hotel checked me in early, and with an awesome pot of Kenyan coffee under my belt I managed a shower and some shut eye and I am now getting sorted for the start of my tour tomorrow night. Tonight I am going for dinner at Carnivore, a restaurant as the name suggests that involves eating meat, all sorts of it and plenty of it. At the same time I booked a day trip for tomorrow to a local elephant and giraffe sanctuary so by this time tomorrow I would have seen my first African wildlife of this trip (the cat at my table in the restaurant today at lunch doesn't count).

    I just looked out of my room window and saw a group finishing their tour. The Intrepid truck is outside and that, and a small dome tent, will be home for me for the next month. Jambo Kenya, I am here so let's have some fun!    Read more

  • TravelerPart B - Africa
    Day 8

    Happy Birthday to me

    August 5, 2017 in Tanzania ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    Most of us will remember the milestone Birthdays, I still can recall what I did for my 18th, 21st, 25th, 30th and 40th Birthdays in great detail. But of course the ones in between are harder to seperate. This year for me though, will be as memorable as any of those major milestones.
    It was the year I found myself in a remote village on the foothills of Mt Kilimanjaro with 24 people from all corners of the globe. We have come together with a common love of nature and and acceptance of the simplicity of life here.

    We are sleeping in tents with thin mattresses, there is very little connection with the outside world via the internet and our transport that we spend up to 10 hours a day driving in is not exactly comfortable. Yet, the human spirit is still so evident. We get excited to find a hot shower, toilet with toilet paper, hand wash is a pure gift and a cold beer is enough to make the grown men, and a few women, cry (refrigeration here is a cooler box, no ice).

    So last night at our camp with all of the above, I was treated to a Masai song delivery of my cake. On the cake it was written, "Happy Birthday Raelene Dyer" in pink icing and the cake was made from stone ground flour, probably maize. They grow the corn, take it to another part of the village for grinding, light the fire, and somehow a cake to feed 24 people with pink icing pops out the end.

    The traditional Happy Birthday song was sung by the group with the mandatory speech required at the end. We toasted family. This is my Intrepid family and they have been such a blessing. I also toasted my family (and that includes friends) back home. Before the cake was served there was one last song.

    Happy Birthday Kenyan style (sung by our leader Patrick (Pato). It's goes like this ... [insert deep masculine African accent]....

    Happy Birthday to you
    I went to the zoo
    I saw a black monkey
    And I thought it was you.

    Nailed it Pato, just nailed it.    Read more

  • TravelerPart B - Africa
    Day 15

    The long drive home

    August 12, 2017 in Tanzania ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    On the truck yesterday I overheard a discussion between two English passengers about the heatwave in England back in June. And as we do, I thought back to myself swimming in the Thames, getting sunburnt at Royal Ascot and popping the top on the Campervan to let the breeze in because it was too hot to sleep. It also feels like it was so long ago, holidays have a habit of that as I am fairly sure that if I were to ask anyone who was in Melbourne if they remember the big chill of June 2017, they would say it hasn't ended! But for me it seems so long ago due to the amount of ground I have covered.

    Yesterday I set off with my new group for the longest drive of the trip so far. We left the powder white sand of northern Zanzibar at 7.30am, spent two hours on a ferry (I stared at the horizon for 1 hour and 50 mins before being drenched by a torrential downpour) then two hours in gridlock traffic in Dar es Salaam (me awake, everyone else asleep) before driving another 9 hours to camp. It was a no lunch day and we were given 10 mins in a mini mart to buy snacks before getting back on the truck. Snacks means biscuits or cassava chips. I also found a can of chilled sparkling pineapple juice. Winning.

    Our camp is in a national park and one of the best camps so far. There are hot showers, a restaurant/bar, swimming pool and, so the sign says, wifi. But let me say, that it's African wifi. I have now learned the true meaning of that. I am told it costs an establishment $250 US per month to maintain a wifi connection, and needless to say, many of these places have issues with "the network" when you arrive so you take the signs with a grain of salt.

    The group are heading off shortly on an optional game drive and I am staying put as we have another 6 hour drive this afternoon to our next camp. Not even the pull of the animals could make me want to break down the tent in the dark today. So I am sitting here with all the activity happening around me, just happy to be able to stand still for a couple of hours in my own company. Very few people get to experience even a fraction of what I have done over the past couple of months and I haven't lost sight of how fortunate I have been to have taken this trip. I also haven't lost sight of the fact that it's not over yet.

    The rest of the long drive home is jam packed with life changing experiences. We will see lots more animals, we get to spend a couple of days off the grid again at Lake Malawi, we are donating clothing, bedding and lots of goggles (a fellow passenger is a gym/pool manager and brought them with her) to some people in Malawi and the final stages will be visiting some of the places we went to 20 years ago in Zimbabwe. I still have memories of Bulawayo and the Rhodes National Park and of course Victoria Falls. It will be sort of a homecoming before coming home.

    If there was ever a way to wrap up the long drive home, then I would say this is picture perfect. But please, no cassava chips today.    Read more

  • TravelerPart B - Africa
    Day 17

    Natural therapies

    August 14, 2017 in Malawi ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    A couple of weeks ago in the Serengeti I came down with a cold and a cough. In my medical kit I had some antihistamines and paracetamol so I dosed up the best i could and just got on with it. Over dinner one night my guide asked me why I hadn't told him I was sick and I said I had medicine and was going to be ok. He shook his head gently and said, but I could have given you elephant dung tea and you would be better now. Elephant dung tea fixes lots of things. The worst had passed so I stuck to my own remedy.

    Our truck is an enormous imposing vehicle with shock absorbers that could withstand a major earthquake. It bounces all over the road like a rubber ball and I have seen it flip a human or two into the aisles while taking a corner on a mountain in Tanzania, or across an undeveloped patch of road in Malawi. I have bruises in random parts of my body from banging into the walls and despite the overly sedentary lifestyle of long drives, my arm muscles are still able to hold me stable. And even though this sounds like the stuff of nightmares, this experience is known as the "African Massage".

    This morning though was the kicker. I rose early to catch the sunrise and fish market on the beach, it was beautiful and I was sitting peacefully when a lovely local man sidled up beside me and pulled up a patch of sand. After the mandatory, where you from .... ohhh kang-gar-rooooo conversation, he asked where was my husband? I politely told him I don't have one and without skipping a beat, he told me "I can help you". Now it's not every day someone comes up to you on the shores of Lake Malawi and offers a solution to the obvious problem of not being able to find myself a member of the opposite sex, so I curiously asked "how will you help me"? Mr Malawi then told me for $20, he would take me to see the village medicine man. Dr Malawi (medicine man) would mix up a Potion and I would have to drink it and a husband would appear, just like that. Knowing I have nothing in my medical kit that can produce the same result, I asked him if the potion had a name. "Yes, it is called Love Potion........number 9".

    Of course it is. Pass the elephant dung....    Read more

  • TravelerPart B - Africa
    2
    Day 20

    Same game different plain

    August 17, 2017 in Zambia ⋅ 🌙 28 °C

    When I think about the highlights of my time here in Africa I would need a pretty big piece of paper to write them all down, but there is one constant that hasn't changed from the first time I was here in 1997 to now, and that is the game. Not the game as in football or politics but of the animal variety. And simply, my love of it.

    Only ten minutes ago I was laying in a hammock overlooking a river when a deep guttural sound came from down below me. I glanced up to see a hippo and a zebra on the bank and dropped back to my restful state. We are camped among the animals at the moment and while you need to remain vigilant, so far the only injury I have sustained was self induced (refer nasal rearrangement in the photos). The humans and the animals are living in harmony with one another.

    There are lions, elephants, zebra, antelope, monkeys etc in each of the game parks but somehow the setting makes it feel different. For example the lions of the Serengeti were mostly females protecting their cubs and had them hidden away in the bushes, they were incredible to spot because they were so well camouflaged, but today I saw a mother lion proudly displaying her baby while she cleaned it after the evening meal and the cub then feeling comfortable enough to explore the area on its own before giving Dad a playful nudge. The family were no more than 3 metres from me in the safari truck.

    Giraffes look totally different when grazing from the tall trees to how they look wandering across the grassy plain. When they are eating they look like big tall symmetrical animals but walking along they are out of shape and almost vulnerable looking. But on the backdrop of grass you can see their beautiful markings so much clearer.

    Zebra in the Ngorongoro Crater appear to be brown and white strips but the same Zebra a few countries further south seem to be black and white. On this plain they seem to run more than their northern brothers who stood in packs hugging each other.

    Tonight we are doing a night game drive. It will be my first one and I am told we will get to see the animals in another light again. They will be hungry and perhaps on the hunt. The hyenas will be circling for scraps and the bird life should be abundant on sunset.

    And the monkeys.. naughty here, naughty there and just plain naughty everywhere. I love them too.    Read more

  • TravelerPart B - Africa
    Day 24

    Intrepid challenges

    August 21, 2017 in Zimbabwe ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    For my Intrepid families past and present, and for those who have lived as part of an Intrepid family this one's for you...

    Life on the road is precious time when you leave the routine and comfort of home and swap it for a life way more adventurous. It usually involves lots of animals in their natural environment, villages, townships and experiences you just don't get at home. You meet amazing people from all corners of the globe with a variety of backgrounds and all in all, everyone just gets on with doing what the itinerary has on it for the day and the other responsibilities that being part of a participatory camping tour requires of you.

    As with any part of life though, life on the road can also be challenging in more ways than one. I have my own set of challenges that I am about to share, these may not have bothered others and things I haven't listed may have been the biggest for others. I am keen to hear your lists as well!

    1. Getting a good nights' sleep

    The deep, wake up refreshed kind of sleep. It seems such a natural part of the day but over the past 4 weeks there have been some hurdles to overcome (or not) in order to get some good sleep. Things like, leaving your tent zip slightly and I mean slightly undone and spending the night listening to a swarm of mosquitoes who shacked up all around me. Going to sleep in one layer of clothing only to discover that Africa in winter is freezing to the bone and your bladder decides it's ready for a short call at 1.34am. Your 2nd mattress you so smugly displayed on day 1 is a fraction of the size of the main one and you keep rolling off, particularly if over inflated and when you phone dies in the middle of the night and your alarm doesn't go off at 4.30am for a 5am roll out, leaving around 10 mins for a total pack down and a cup of tea before another long drive to do it all again.
    I have at times chosen to upgrade to a room. On that, I have absolutely no regrets.

    2. Hot Showers

    Each day our guide gives us information about where we are staying and it goes pretty much like this ... Jambo Jambo, welcome to Paradise Valley Campsite. Tonight we have facilities with hot showers, wifi and a human watering hole where you can buy your..........drinks. We then pitch the tents and head off to enjoy the facilities with the following chorus shortly being sung back from the crowd. Does anyone one know which tap is the hot one? Can anyone get the wifi to work? Does anyone know where the bar man has gone? I jagged a hot shower the other night after several fellow campers told me of their ice cold experience. I felt a little bit guilty and like a lottery winner all in one. We stayed at the Habitation of Hope campsite last night. Unfortunately all hope ran out at the same time as the gas for the hot water.

    3. African wifi

    See above. Buy a sim. Pray.

    4. Physical inactivity

    Nothing creates the need to snack more than physical inactivity. Several hours of sitting on the truck moving only your bum cheeks to remind you they are still there sets off the part of the brain that tells you if you don't immediately eat a bag of salt and vinegar chips and wash it down with a ginger beer you might not make it to dinner. It's life and death, therefore you snack.

    5. Mental inactivity.

    A big one for me. I have practiced being in the moment by looking out the window and counting any trees with coloured flowers, trying to spot animals (even when in places where there are no animals), and being generally appreciative that I am staring at something other than Microsoft Outlook. My iPod has gone around the playlist so often it sounds like commercial radio and it was on one of these drives that myself and two fellow passengers decided we need to up the game.

    We are now involved in several personal challenges that need to be achieved each day or in the case of the "most interesting photo of a clip on kangaroo" challenge, this is to be judged in Victoria Falls by the trip matriarch Rose.

    The list is long but some of the challenges include, the "Octo flap" this is the skill of being able to effectively flap 8 coffee mugs dry at the same time. This one was proudly achieved this morning.

    We have the Masai blanket challenge and that is for any one of us to be able to get Pato to willingly offer us his Masai blanket. Not achieved.

    The Flap Lap, a mental and physical challenge of running one lap around the truck while flapping two plates without another passenger making a comment about what you are doing, coming to a campsite near you tonight, and ...

    The Jambo Fact, standing up on the truck and commanding the attention of the rest of the truck by confidently hollering Jambo Jambo, something about Bulawayo .... and sharing a historical fact.

    If nothing else it is keeping us insanely amused. We giggle like school girls and the days seem to go faster. Now does anyone have any salt and vinegar chips?    Read more

  • TravelerPart B - Africa
    Day 28

    Twilight

    August 25, 2017 in Zimbabwe ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    To effectively meditate the mind needs to be able to sit for a prolonged period between being awake and being asleep. Very few people will claim to have really achieved a meditative state but when you really think about it we do witness this in many ways, sometimes occasionally and other times on a daily basis.

    There is the state somewhere between sobriety and drunkeness, the time that seems to hang between the day and the night, the start of the day when it is light but the sun is yet to appear, and the gap between work and home where time seems to stand still albeit for a brief moment. You are not quite there yet but you have also left the recent past.

    Zimbabwe, but more specifically Victoria Falls is my twilight.

    I still have several days left on my 10 week break but my mind is very much shifting to being at home. Though I am consciously somewhere in between. Today and tonight I said goodbye (for now) to the people who I have lived with almost 24 hours a day for the past couple of weeks. I also did this only two weeks ago. I love the hellos but the goodbyes are much harder. For this moment in time only we have seen what we have seen, met who we have met and photos may help explain but really it's situational. That is the same for everyone, so while I have been in this reality I am also aware that everyone else has been in theirs, their own meditative states that only they can explain.

    So back to Vic Falls. One of the 7 natural wonders of the world. Victoria graced us yesterday with a fine mist on our faces to sooth the heat of the day and in one brief moment she shone her rainbow across the gorge to remind us why she sits proudly above many other beautiful bodies of water on the wonders list. I felt peaceful and in no hurry to be anywhere in particular. Just totally in the moment.

    For me, Vic Falls is the perfect place to sit between home and away. Tonight I took a cruise with some others from my group along the Zambezi to see the sunset. I have eaten good steak, drank a Bombay Sapphire and Schweppes tonic, and this morning for the first time since Lake Malawi, I tasted coffee.

    Tomorrow I am planning to spend my last day here not being annoyed by and maybe even enjoying the barrage of sales people outside the gate with their stone carvings asking where I am from, to not be at all bothered by the red dust that has soaked into my skin and my clothes, and somewhere in middle of it all enjoying the tranquilly (or not) of an African Day Spa where I have booked a body scrub to remove the Serengeti and a massage that doesn't involve the seat of the truck.

    So thanks Africa for the amazing days, nights and every bit in between. And to all those who were there along the way, thanks for the memories. It's been fantastic. I hope to see you all again sometime in the twilight zone.    Read more

  • TravelerPart B - Africa
    Day 31

    Lesson for the real world

    August 28, 2017 in South Africa ⋅ 🌙 18 °C

    I was not a particularly good high school student. Mum says it's because I was bored and she is right, I just didn't find much of the content all that interesting or consider it particularly relevant for my future. So by and large, I tuned out. But there was one lesson that I do distinctly remember, it is still clear to this day and it's relevance has become much deeper over time.

    It was just another ordinary school day sometime in 1984 and I am sitting in the auditorium next to the library. I recall being towards the back because there was a TV on and the lesson was to watch the program BTN (Behind the News) and write our thoughts about it. The back was where I usually sat but on this day I was drawn to what was on TV and had to move to see it in more detail. They were talking about this thing that was happening in another part of the world, where white people and black people all lived in the same place but they had two sets of rules. The whites could do whatever they wanted to but the blacks were not allowed. There were suburbs only for the whites and the blacks had to live where they were told to live, and the thing I remember the most was that there were white buses and black buses and the blacks were not allowed on the white bus and the whites didn't want to go on the black one. At the end there were lots of questions and mostly around whether it was ever going to change, with the sentiment that day being that it wouldn't. White people are the superior skin colour and thats life. This was my first introduction to Apartheid and a lesson I would keep in my mind indefinitely. As a 13 year old all I remember thinking at the time was thank god I am white.

    Fast forward to another ordinary day in August 2017 and I find myself on Constitution Hill in Johannesburg. It was here that Nelson Mandela spent part of his prison time but also a place where ordinary citizens were imprisoned and dished out regular punishments in accordance with their skin colour. The white prisoners were protected and fed well, the coloureds and Indians (thanks to Mahatma Ghandi) had half the rights but the black Africans were publicly humiliated and starved. Long periods in solitary confinement were common with no real crime being committed. To pass the time and make their lives easier they created artworks out of their blankets and the guards would judge the art each week with the winner being provided with a little bit more food.

    Nelson Mandela was a strong freedom fighter for his people. Much has been documented about the Nobel Peace prize winner and his long and tiring fight (or walk) to freedom. He deserves every accolade he has ever received and there would be few people who have lived that have made such a significant contribution to human rights. But today it occurred to me when I saw a young white school girl put her arm around the shoulders of her black friend, did even Nelson Mandela have any idea that he was not just liberating his own people but everyone who would live in the future South Africa? I am not sure even the great man himself could have foreseen that outcome.

    So to my class of 1984, actually things did change. Apartheid was abolished in 1990, there were 4 years of civil unrest where more people died post Apartheid than during that period and during that time there was a change in the government leadership which resulted in Nelson Mandela being released unconditionally and taking a seat in parliament. The peace negotiations began and in 1994, the ANC lead by Mandela won the first democratic vote in South Africa. He finally saw his dream to lead the country and the benefits can been seen clearly today. That is not to say that there isn't still a divide but it's no longer legislative and really it's still early days.

    Oh and one final thing. Nelson Mandela didn't win the Nobel Peace Prize on his own. He shared it jointly with the white leader FW De Klerk who stood bravely to reject the ways of his people in order for all South Africans to experience freedom. He deserves a notable mention too.    Read more

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