Spring Break 2008!

Dumela! (hello in Tswana, the official language of Botswana)

Last Sunday, I returned from an amazing Spring Break trip (I always get confused looks when I say Spring Break here because in reality it was Autumn Break) to Botswana, Zambia, and Zimbabwe!!! I wish that I had the time to continue traveling around this part of the continent, but unfortunately I had to go back to school – but I guess I shouldn’t complain since this is still beautiful Cape Town. Anyhow, I’ve been so excited to share the adventures of my trip with everyone... I apologize in advance for such a lengthy post! Also, if you would like me to invite you to view my photo album from the trip, or just want to say hello, shoot me an email at bef2102@barnard.edu. Anyhow...

On Friday, the 21st of March, I left Cape Town with my housemate Taylor to embark on a 10-day tour through Botswana, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. We flew to Johannesburg, where we boarded onto our tour bus with 16 other (American) students, 2 student leaders from UCT, and a Zimbabwean cook. The bus was not your typical tour bus, for it looked more like a truck with huge windows that we had to keep open so as to not die from heat during the week. The first day was full of traveling, as we drove for a straight 12 hours through northern South Africa and Botswana. The drive wasn’t too exciting until we saw animals chillin’ on the side of the road as we approached the border of Botswana – the main attractions being warthogs and a giraffe! We reached the border around 7:30pm when it was already dark, and all of us were required to get out of the truck at the extremely sketchy South African border post to have our passports stamped. This was followed by a short 5-minute drive to the Botswana border post where we had to get out again and pass through its immigration. My first hours in Botswana were spent sleeping in the truck as we continued to drive to our first campsite. When we arrived at the sight, we all set up tents in the dark, ate dinner, and went to bed.

The next day, we continued our drive north through Botswana. This time I had lots of time to view the country, and for hours and hours, the scenery did not change. Botswana is extremely empty and flat, with miles and miles of tall grasses and trees – the most exciting scenery I saw was a plateau, a couple of rural villages (actually very interesting), oh, and some elephants on the side of the road (when we got out to go to the bathroom in the bush, we had to be quick so as to not have any dangerous encounters). In the late afternoon, we arrived in the city of Maun, which is not what I would classify as a city, as it was practically deserted and contained only a handful of shops on a main dirt road – compared to the rest of Botswana however, it is quite substantial. There, we were each required to buy a 5-liter bottle of water to take into the Okavango Delta the next day since we would not have sanitary water to drink while there. When we arrived at the camp, we packed our packs for the upcoming two days in the Delta, took a swim, ate a delicious meal, and went to bed by 9PM – we always were in bed early and up at the crack of dawn.

In the morning, we were picked up by a large safari truck, into which we packed our food, water, sleeping mats, tents, and bags for the next couple of days. On the hour drive to the Delta, I spent the time talking to our wonderful cook, Cosmas, through which I learned more about the current political and economic situation in Zimbabwe – I feel that we created a special bond throughout the trip, and I can only hope that he will take me up on my offer to stay with me when he visits America someday. Anyhow, when we got to the Okavango Delta, which is the largest inland delta in the world and which contains 95% of all surface water in Botswana, we were met by guides who had to take us for a 1 ½ hour ride in makoros, which are tiny dugout canoes that are pulled with giant poles, to get to our campsite. It was amazing to see how the guides knew their way through the small channels of the delta. As we were being pulled, we could hear the roars of the hippos, and as we arrived at our campsite, the hippos were sitting in the water staring at us, where they remained during our stay. When we got to the site, everyone set up camp, including the 10-15 guides from Botswana, who stayed with us during our time – this made for an awesome experience! Norman, who is originally from one of the rural villages around the delta, taught me how to pull and steer the makoro, which was so difficult! However, I was determined to get better and he eventually allowed me to pull him around the delta. Of course, he quickly became my favorite guide, and he even carved an elephant into a nut for me as a gift to take home.

During the day, the guides took us by makoro to a section of the delta where we could all swim together, and not be eaten by hippos. We were also taken on various nature walks, where we hoped to see lots of animals, but only managed to see a couple of baboon who came alongside our tents, and of course, more hippos (a new favorite animal of mine). At night, we sat around the campfire for a delicious dinner cooked by Cosmas and talked with one another. I enjoyed spending time with the guides, and even managed to learn a card game from them, which they called “Casino.” However, I definitely missed the part of the rules where you communicate with your partner because they spoke to each other in their native language – but it was fun nonetheless. The last night that we were there, the guides performed traditional dances and songs around the fire. After they finished, we did some of our own performances; we taught “The Chicken Dance,” “The Macerena,” and “The Hokey Pokey,” and sung songs such as “I Will Survive” and “Build Me Up Buttercup” (the boys even blessed us with their rendition of “I Want It That Way” by the Backstreet Boys). I also performed a step dance routine, which became a big hit for the remainder of the trip – I started to teach routines during rest stops. We also took turns singing our own national anthems. At the end, we all played limbo together by using the makoro stick – I still haven’t lost my skills as I triumphed in the game. Our time in the Okavango Delta was absolutely amazing and one-of-a-kind. There were no distractions and no routines – just us, the guides, and nature. When we left, I looked forward to getting back to toilets, clean water, and showers, but I could have continued without...

On our way out of the Delta, our bus got stopped at two different security checkpoints, at which point everyone was required to get out of the bus and step onto a mat covered in disinfectant, which they seriously believe will stop the spread of Hand, Foot, and Mouth disease. I found this process hilarious (there is a picture in my album)! Our next stop, after a lot more driving and a night of camping in Nata, was Chobe National Park in Botswana. Here, we went on a sunset game cruise (I saw the most beautiful sunsets on the trip) and a morning game drive to see a variety of different animals throughout the park. I saw impalas, giraffes, elephants, kudo, jackals, lions, and even a buffalo about 12 feet from our safari vehicle! At our campsite outside of Chobe, I witnessed the most beautiful night sky that I have ever seen – just hundreds and hundreds of glittering stars covering the pitch black sky.

After Chobe, we proceeded to the border of Botswana and Zambia in order to visit one of the seven natural wonders of the world, Victoria Falls. When we got to the border, we had to drive our truck onto a ferry in order to take a 5-minute ride across the water to Zambia. In Zambia, everyone was required to get an expensive visa for entry, but it was worth it. When we arrived at our campsite, which was approximately a 10-minute drive from the Falls, we quickly set up camp so that we could get to the Falls in time to view the sunset. As I was setting up camp, I noticed that there were monkeys all around the campground – sitting on people’s tents, in the trees, running around (one even found its way onto our bus) – I figured they looked small and harmless so I went really close to take a picture, which turned out to be an awful idea as it started to bear its teeth at me. Pretty soon, we were all running away from the monkeys, and spent the remainder of our stay avoiding them (I found a number of different routes to get to the bathroom).

On our drive to the Falls, you could see the spray from miles away – they are so enormous that when the water hits the ground, it sprays back up higher than the Falls themselves! Thank goodness we wore our bathing suits underneath our clothes because we got absolutely soaked while walking around the paths above the Falls. It was so gorgeous and so much fun! We sat and watched the sunset from one of the banks right above one of the waterfalls. The next day, I got up bright and early to go bungee jumping with Allison. The bungee jump is located on the bridge above the Falls, which connects Zambia to Zimbabwe. Bungee jumping was amazing – the scenery was gorgeous as I dove right into a full rainbow circle outlining the water. I can’t even begin to capture my feelings in words – but I did take a video, which still cannot do the experience justice. After jumping, we proceeded to go to Zimbabwe, which was not part of the trip as it is on the U.S. State Department Travel Warnings list – despite warnings against it, we went there the day before the elections, and it was perfectly safe. The Falls from the Zimbabwe side were magnificent – there were rainbows everywhere and you could walk the entire kilometer that the Falls extend! We also went to a market in Zimbabwe – this is where we had our closest look at the effects of the current situation in the country. The market was empty, and all of the vendors spent time trying to bring us to their store (which all sold the same items). We could pay in any stable currency since their money has no value – my friend even bought a $10,000,000 bill from a guy for a bar of soap (the soap was definitely worth more). We were told to take items to barter – I traded some shirts, containers, candy, gum, pens, tampons (they were desperate to have anything and everything). It’s difficult because you want to help everyone, but you just can’t – it was incredibly overwhelming and I was exhausted by the time I was done. I did get to speak to a couple of the people about what they thought the turnout of the election would be – I was surprised by their optimism, but I guess in the face of the current situation, people need to keep alive the hope for change. It will be interesting to see what happens...

The final day of our trip, Allison and I went to the Gorge for more adventure activities, where we abseiled (bounced down a cliff with ropes and a harness), did the Flying Fox (a zipline that you fly Superman-style over the Gorge), and did a Gorge Swing. For the Gorge Swing, you freefall off of the cliff until the slack of the rope catches you, after which it rides like a swing. I did one fall tandem with Allison, where we held onto each other and fell backwards off of the platform (I almost flipped us over!), and one by myself where I simply stepped off of the cliff – definitely against all common sense, but it was thrilling! After the day of activities, we went back to the campsite where we got ready for our sunset booze cruise as a final hurrah. As I watched the sunset with my friends, we reminisced about all of the highlights of the trip – I was so fortunate to have this experience. I will never forget all of the wonderful memories... cheers!