The Easter Vacation Novel- One Day at a Time

Where to even start!  I am safely home from a whirlwind tour of Southern Africa.  It was an amazing trip that I was able to share with even more amazing people. I have so much to tell you, so I guess I will just start from the beginning.

Day One, Saturday, April 4th- Travel to Joberg.

I was not in a great place the day that my “vacation” was to be starting. I had been having serious stomach issues for a few days and it was only getting worse the morning of my flight to Johannasberg. The night before I left I was completely miserable, I couldn’t even imagine surviving a flight and then hopping on a bus tour for 7 days! It wasn’t looking like I was going to be able to make it on a plane so I made an emergency doctors appointment and got on some drugs fast. Turns out I had a pretty knarly Lower Intestinal Infection, I was super dehydrated, and had been running a fever. Great way to start my vacation.

Anyhow, I filled my prescription on the way to the airport. I was a little worried about missing my flight- we were running late now. Turns out, I didn’t have any reason to worry because my flight was delayed 2 hours. I got a free meal voucher as an apology from the airline, but I knew my stomach wasn’t ready for food, let alone airport food so I skipped out and just waited patiently. I was starting to feel a little better, but the moment I stood up to board the plane I knew it was going to be a long hour and ten minutes. Man was I right. I have never been so miserable traveling, and I am pretty sure I was making the people in my aisle a little nervous.

When I landed, late, I was worried that my pre-planned ride to the lodge wouldn’t be there any longer, and I was right. I called the lodge and they told me not to worry, that someone was on their way to find me.  Three hours later they showed up.

By the time I finally got to the lodge I was so exhausted and really sick, but it all went away for a few minutes in my excitement to see Victoria!  I was so happy to see her, but after checking in with the tour group and getting plans set for the morning I hit the sack and passed out hard.

Day Two, Sunday, April 5th- Leaving Joberg

 I woke up early on Sunday morning and had some time by myself. I tried to use the computers at the lodge to post an entry, but it kicked me off before I was done writing and could post. I grabbed a muffin and some juice with Victoria, Sarah and Betsy. Sarah and Betsy work for an NGO called Samaritan’s Purse in Maputo, Mozambique. Victoria brought them and Chris, a teacher from Vicotria’s school. She teaches a bunch of stuff- Chemistry, Health, The Bible, and he teaches Math so they have become good friends too.

We hit the road just before 730am and started the first, very long leg, of our journey. Around noon we made a stop, in true South African fashion, on the side of the road, under a very lonely tree, for some lunch.  Then it was back on the road.  We ended up driving all day, crossing out of South Africa at the Groblersbrug border crossing and reaching Palapyeto in Botswana stay for the night.  The 12 hours straight of driving helped force us all to get to know each other and our group was pretty incredible. Apart from the 5 of us, there were 5 nurses from Canada who had just finished their 2 month residency in Northern Mozambique, and 3 Peace Corps members who had been evacuated out of Madagascar recently and would soon be returning home after having to cut their 2 year contracted stay short. There was also a couple from Australia who just love to travel, and another Aussie- Gavin, who was taking a year off from working in finance to travel and see the world. It was a very nice troop of humanitarians.  Every one looked out for and respected one another, and it made for a very enjoyable atmosphere. Our dinner at the campsite was incredible and just added to the anticipation of great things to come.

Day Three, Monday, April 6th- Keep up the Driving

Another early morning and quick breakfast got us moving further north and west through Francistown, Nata, Gweta, and then finally into Maun just outside of the Okavango Delta.  We pulled into the campground and set up our tents. Another amazing dinner and a hot shower was all that was keeping us from hitting the sack early to be ready for the trek into the Delta the next day.

Day Four, Tuesday, April 7th- This time, we will move ourselves

It had been two straight days of driving and I was getting restless. My stomach had settled and I was really ready to not be in the seated position any more than I had to. Needless to say I was ecstatic to hear we were about to spend 3 full days in the middle of absolutely no where with only our feet and our makoros as means of transportation.

We were picked up at the crack of dawn and drove for over an hour to reach the waters edge. On our way we had to cross the buffalo fence that actually runs nearly the entire length of the Africa continent to keep the buffalo from entering into farming territory. The fence is minimal, but extensive in its length and is used for the sole purpose of keeping hoof and mouth disease, of which buffalo are carriers, from eradicating all of the cows in Africa.

Once we got to the water, it was just a matter of minutes before our gear was unloaded and packed into the waiting makoros. A makoro is a boat traditionally carved from a single piece of wood from the trunk of the Sausage tree. For a single boat to be made, a tree needs to be at least 80 years old in order to be large enough for carving. Unfortunately, the Sausage tree is not entirely water proof and the lifespan of a makoro is about 7-10 years. Not exactly a resource conserver, so many makoro polers have switched to fiberglass boats. No matter- Frank (Muhomutz by his tribal name- which is what we called him) was a great poler and we reached the campsite after about an hour.

It was incredible. We all were amazed at our surroundings: The power of the sun and the water. The height of the reeds and the crystal clearness of the water. The skill of our polers who seems to have no problem negotiating each other and finding just the right channels (each only about a foot wide) to get us to our camp.

It being the third day of our tour we had the “setting up camp” thing down to a science and were enjoying the afternoon in no time. Afternoon is a relative term, and in this part of the world it consists of siesta-ing between the hours of 10am and 4pm when the sun is just too hot to do anything. We spent the day relaxing, swimming, learning to pole a makoro, and then got ready for our sunset bush walk.

We left promptly at 5pm, in small groups traveling in separate directions, with our own guides. Our guide for the evening was Timba. The walk was a short one, just under 2 hours, and we were only gone long enough to see the sun dip below the horizon. Once that happens, the ground immediately starts to cool and everything starts to come alive again, and everything is hungry. Everything includes lion. We moved quickly and in very tight formation back to camp. It was AWESOME.

Day Four, Wednesday, April 8th- The Long Bushwalk

When the announcement was made that we would be waking up at 5:00am again, it was clear that there was going to be a pattern on this tour: Early nights, and even earlier mornings.  This day proved to have reason for the early start, and was totally worth it.

We had the choice of a short, medium, or long morning bushwalk. Naturally, Victoria and I wouldn’t be caught dead on anything but the full-out longest bush walk you can sign up for. Which is exactly what we got. We left at 5:30 and were supposed to return at 9:30am so we could enjoy a proper breakfast and be out from under the sun before it got too intense.

Our group was lucky. Since we chose the long walk, we took a few makoros off the island that housed our campsite and went to another piece of wilder land (if that was even possible). Well, once we hit land we walked, non-stop, off trail, seemingly towards nothing, surrounded by incredible nothing, and every moment was breath-taking. I wish I could use up all of the bandwidth allowed for this month to post pictures and give you an idea of what I am talking about (click the link at the top of the page for a few choice photos). Victoria was freaking out the whole time that we were literally in the middle of nothing. There was nothing in the distance but the sun and grass. There was nothing where we were but the sun and grass. And if we had to get back to camp, there was just absolutely no way we could have found our way.  Good thing we had the coolest guide ever to keep us safe and keep track of where in the world we were. C-Company was his name, don’t ask me where that came from, but his village was a 10 day makoro ride from this spot in the delta where he worked. Many of the indigenous people here who work with foreigners will chose a random name or phrase and use that in place of their actual name which is usually too difficult for most people to say without completely butchering it. I usually ask if I can do my best with their real names, but C was cool.  He was literally too cool for school. I was a little intimidated, and I found out why. C was actually descendant of the Masai. This tribe is really the only untouched African tribe left on the whole continent. They are the glamorized African tribesmen you see on TV with the big hoops in their ears and lips. They are the only people allowed to hunt the animals without permit or persecution and they live completely off of the land. They wear basically nothing and walk barefoot through the bush with spears taller than they are- which is saying something because they are the tallest people group to be found anywhere in Africa. It was really fun trying to keep step with him. We walked with him casually through the bush, as if we were walking down the street, and you’d think he was moving at a snail’s pace if not for the fast that for every step he took we each took three to just keep up.

3 hours in we saw him: a beautiful bull elephant moving into denser bush just 100 meters away. We started to follow him, but he went into a group of trees that would have put us on dangerous territory, so we decided to stop.  Fortunately, we weren’t far from the next sighting. Just across a valley and on the other side of a small pond were 2 more large, very old, bull elephants. We crept our way across to them, scaring a lone female wildebeest in the process. As we neared the elephants Victoria really started to freak out. We stopped about 50 yds away and sat within some brush just watching them. When the wind changed and the elephants were alerted to our presence, Victoria was ready to go. All the while I have the biggest grin on my face and I want to dance- I held off (only for a few minutes lol). When they started to walk toward us, we stayed very still and very quiet. When they reached the ground not 20 yds from where I stood, we had to back away. They walked calmly by and towards the water, and it was so fantastic. Two old friends out for a morning stroll. Beautiful. I was giddy and got to do my little dance.

We walked out of the area and took a break for water. We hadn’t realized until then that the sun was getting up there and that the long sleeves were coming off. I glanced at my watch and it was already 9am! We started to head quickly back to camp and didn’t even turn to look back (except to take photos with an elephant skeleton) until we had reached the makoros that had taken us out at 5:30. C had brought us straight back, as the crow flies, not at all the way we had walked out, to the amazement of each of the 5 in our little hardcore bushwalkers group.  The whole experience was fascinating and exhausting. We returned to camp the only group to have seen anything and enjoyed our hard earned breakfast and nap.  The rest of the day was much like the first, swimming and relaxing and enjoying the wildness and quiet of the place. That evening we took another bushwalk for the sunset and danced the night away with the locals teaching us song and dance full of rhythm and life. There is no way my words can do justice to the awesomeness of that day.  Chris took video, which I hope to some day get my hands on. The whole thing was completely out of this world, genuine, and so fun.

The entire time we were in the delta we had a full moon and stars that reached all the way to the horizon. You could hear the jackals and crickets singing at night and nothing else for miles.

Day Five, Thursday, April 9th Leaving the Delta

The early morning routine was the same, with our last sunrise bushwalk. I decided to stay at camp to have some devotion time after realizing that I hadn’t been alone since arriving at the beginning of February. We had coffee and biscuits, packed up camp and makoro-ed right back to the edge of the delta to our awaiting ride back to main camp.  We were given the option of taking a flight over the delta and Victoria and I couldn’t resist. When are we ever going to be back here?

I could have skipped it to be honest. It was really beautiful, don’t get me wrong, and the sheer size of the thing made me wonder how we saw any animals in the first place, but it wasn’t the best hour of my life. It was a cute little single prop, 6 seater, with no air circulation in the back- which is where my seat happened to be. Pair that with the plane being lighter than the air currents pushing it up and down at any given time, and of course with a stomach on the short end of recuperating from sickness, that by the time we landed I was a different color entirely from when we took off.  Naturally, it was time to get back on the bus to head east for Kasane.

The drive was too long to do in one day, so we stopped in Gweta for the night.

Day Six, Friday, April 10th- More driving, of course

 The whole day was driving, right up until about 4pm when we reached Kasane. We set up camp and were promptly picked up for a sunset wildlife cruise of the Zambezi River along the shores of Chobe National Park. It would have been a great chance to actually see the wildlife- being a wildlife cruise, except for the 30 spring breakers from Cape Town sharing the boat with us who apparently didn’t get the memo because they had been drunk since they left school.  We did manage to see some birds, including the Great African Fish Eagle.  When we made our way up the river we came to a bank where there were a pod of hippo and an elephant. It was beautiful. I was having a great time, trying to ignore our rowdy company and focus on the click of my camera when I discovered the last straw. A small family boat near to us saw my enthusiasm and said to me “you guys are just too late, you missed the leopard”.  I was just a little pissed- knowing that it was the raucous our crew caused that scared the rarest seen animal in Africa away and I had missed my chance to get a glimpse.  When we were nearing the next bend I couldn’t help myself and yelled at the entire boat to please be quiet, that some of us had paid to see the animals, not to get wasted and scare them away.  I felt a little bad about it, apart from the 4 apologies I got and the support of my entire tour group. That is, I felt bad until one of the girls in the drunk group fell over a bunch of chairs.  It was ridiculous. Spring break 2009, wahooo! idiots.

Day Seven, Sat, April 11th- Chobe, truck break down, off to Vic Falls

 5 pages into this post and I think you know the next sentence:  Another early morning.

We were picked up at 5:30 am for a morning game drive through Chobe National Park. The drive could have been better, it was very crowded and most of what we saw was impala- the “fast food” of the bush. Its everywhere and everything eats it, and funnily enough it has a white “M” painted on its backside. Other sightings included koudu, buffalo, hippo, warthog, fox, and vulture.

After the game drive we were set to head for Victoria Falls, but our truck broke down for about an hour. Since our drivers are amazing they managed to make us good as new and we were off in no time. Actually, it may have been longer but I passed out on the truck the whole time- even when they were jacking it up to get underneath it! See, because we were traipsing through some of the worst Malaria zones in the country I was taking a pill to keep me from catching the nasty disease. One of the side effects is extreme sensitivity to temperature. Victoria was feeling hot all the time. When we left on our morning game drive it was really really cold and I broke out into hives! I had never had that happen before- good thing half of our group were nurses and have benadryl! After popping two of those bad boys I was out for the count.

 Unfortunately, the delay put us in Victoria Falls much too late to do much of anything. Since we weren’t advised to be outside of the gate of the backpackers after dark, we took a walk into and around town to stretch our legs before having dinner and chilling with the group before going to bed.

Day Eight, Easter Sunday, April 12- The Falls

Officially, Saturday night had been the last day of the tour so we had a great sleep in until 8:30am Sunday morning before heading to church in the residential area of Vic Falls city. The night before we had asked around and found out about Celebration Christian Church. It was the perfect start to a perfect day. We spent the whole day exploring the falls- which were too huge for words, then had a night of drumming lessons and traditional Zimbabwean food.

The only way I can describe the falls to you would be to say that there is nothing so powerful that I have ever seen that would amount to something greater than the water in that place. Even if it weren’t flooded higher than it has been since the 1960s it would still be incredible. The water is enormous and moves so fast. The sheer scale of the place is boggling and hard to comprehend. The pictures we took look fabricated and the words I could write about it sound so small. Victoria Falls is one of the seven natural wonders of the world. Having seen it, I feel an intense drive to see the other 6 if that is the standard for the beauty and wonder it takes for a place to make the very exclusive list.  I have seen some beautiful places, but this place just couldn’t have been real.

Day Nine, Monday, April 13^th- The rest of the town and get out

We used Monday as a day to see the rest of Victoria Falls. We walked around town, visited the open market and traded for souvenirs, and tried to get plans nailed down for a way home.  This proved harder than expected and made for a much more exciting, if not entirely too drawn out, trip back into South Africa.

Our travel over the course of the next two day went like this:

Monday- overnight train from Victoria Falls to Bulaweyo, Zimbabwe

Tuesday- arrive 3 hours late in Bulaweyo at 10am, find and catch an overcrowded bus to Johannesburg leaving at 1pm. Hit the SA border at 5:30, get fed up with waiting for the overcrowded bus to be cleared through customs, 830pm, find a new ride into the country. Get stopped 5 times in the first hour of driving into South Africa by border patrol, having to get off the bus each time to show passports and to have bags searched (things are so bad in Zim that people are crossing illegally by swimming the river then hitching rides in buses like the one we were on)

Wednesday- 3:45am arriving at a missionary guesthouse in Jo’berg. Set our alarm for 6am, call taxi to take us to bus terminal. 8:45am- get on bus to Maputo, Mozambique. 10:30- bus finally leaves after being delayed. 6pm- arrive in Maputo.

A full 48 hours of travel.  Thank the good Lord for our protection. Here are some things that Lonely Planet (a travel guidebook) had to say about our chosen (and only choices) way of traveling home:

 “Trains are very slow and the tracks and trains are in desperate need of servicing and parts. Serious accidents continue to occur.” – we found this to be true. Although our train made frequent and long stops in the middle of no where, for no apparent reason, we did not hit anything or have any actual mechanical trouble. The same train the day before was not so lucky, nor was the elephant it hit at full speed.

“In reality, train time tables are constantly changing and trains are not particularly safe for tourists and are frequently used as traveling brothels.” – we found this to be true. Though we were safely locked in our cabin the entire duration of the trip, the one time we did leave the compartment was to use the toilet (which itself served to remind us less of the worst locker room you could imagine and more of the holocaust). While I was waiting my turn it was very clear that men were getting off the train only to bring women back on with them. Sketchy things were going down, fo sho.

“Unemployment and general desperation mean its not nearly as safe as it once was” – speaking of Bulaweyo, Zimbabwe. Good thing we were only there for 3 hours.

In any case, the whole thing was worth it. By Wednesday evening Victoria was home and I was happy to accompany her. I was able to spend two full travel- free days with her and we had a fantastically healing time. I am forever in her debt for putting the whole trip together- finding the tour company, getting a group together, and including me.  She helped me to realize just how much I really needed time to myself.  The time off from work that I was able to spent this Easter break would not have been nearly as valuable without her presence. Being able to spend time with such a close friend in such a far off place did wonders for my heart. Thanks V.

Since this post is already the longest post ever in the history of blogging, I won’t write too much more.  I just want to thank you all for your prayers of safety for the trip. God was everywhere. I will be sharing more about that and more about things I was able to take from the trip when I can write more this week. Please check out some of the photos I have posted. I hope my account of the trip makes up for the lack of posting I have been able to do in the last few weeks.

One last thing.  Elections are coming up this week on Wednesday the 22^nd of April.  Durban has already seen a handful of riots and many people have been killed in the weeks leading up to this. Marches, both scheduled and spontaneous, are happening all over the city and suburbs. Students have been stabbed in their classrooms at universities. A friend of a friend was beaten to death by a 4lb hammer, stabbed twice in the heart with a screwdriver, rolled up in a carpet and set afire this past weekend by his employees who did not share his political views.  A home 4 houses up the street was attacked this past weekend- the father was shot in the shoulder (is doing fine now) and his youngest daughter (who goes to the primary school we work with) was shut in the bathroom as the house was ransacked.  I can assure you that our home is safe and well protected, but that is not to say that danger is not just outside our walls.  The team and I still leave everyday and take children to parks and reserves that are public places for anyone to use. Please pray for the safety of the team and the children in our care. Pray also for peace in Durban and other major cities of South Africa this week during elections. I don’t believe this country has ever seen a truly fair election and Dave has actually witnessed a government computer miss-tally vote numbers being directly inputted to the system right before his eyes. Please pray that the people of this country vote for its best future- not that I would be able to even start explaining who that might be. Let’s leave it in the hands of God.

Please pray also for Victoria and her continued happiness and ministry success working in Maputo with the missionary school there. Chris, Sarah, and Betsy are also in my prayers.

Ill be posting more soon. Love you all. Don’t forget to check out the pics!!

And one final thing: 

SHOUT OUT TO MOOSE- 5^th FASTED COLLEGIATE TRIATHLETE IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!