A fine specimen
Scatterlings of Africa - inspired by the hit from Johnny Clegg, we felt it an appropriate name for our trip.
After much deliberation from a number of friends, we finally settled on a final crew of 3 distinguished gentleman, namely Murray Kuiper, JR Hume and Brent Dickson. Ray Hume will be joining us half way at Dares Salaam for the final 2 months.
Our basic route is the reverse of Nick & Kylie’s, starting this Sunday (31st Jan) with Nambia, followed by the northern parts of Botswana (swamps), into Zambia with a short stop in at Mana pools in Zim. From Zambia we’ll be making our way up the shores of the Great Lake of Malawi and into Tanzania. After a brief visit from our better-halves and some friends in Zanzibar, we’ll be trekking up the Tanzanian coast & into Kenya. Reaching as far as Mombasa, we then revert back into Tanzania for the short lived trip into the Serengeti & a hike up Mount Kilimanjaro. From the peaks of Kili we’ll be making our way back through Kenya & into Uganda to brave the rapids of the White Nile & hopefully spot ourselves a rare Silverback in the forests. From Uganda we’ll start making own way back to civilisation down the Mozambique Coast, just in-time for the kick-off the soccer world cup!
Our intention is to update this blog on a weekly basis, so please feel free to add some comments, as it will be great to hear from you. In an effort to become familar with the site & merely learn the basics of ‘web-design’ I thought it would be appropriate to upload a picture of the Great Bryanston Lion, more formerly known as Bonnie. From the above picture, there is a splendid shot of Bonnie in her natural habitat, along with her personally chosen mohair rug, settling in for a long afternoon nap. Hopefully within the next week, we’ll be encountering a less vicious lion of Etosha….
Desert dunes, mysterious misty mornings, strange geriatric-like plants, rolling moonscapes and lots of wonderful company - this is what Swakopmund had in store for us!
With both sets of parents and us, we had two full (and slightly nervous) cars traversing this unusal landscape.
Chilly nights were spent in cozy restaurants, reliving the days’ adventures
Just when we though that the Namibian landscape couldn’t get stranger… it did! We are now in Etosha with Wes & Jan and the bleakness is quite overwhelming..
The main pan is just a grey bowl of dust that carries on forever, the odd ostrich emerges now and then from a distant mirage. Elephants are pasted with white mud and herds of animals hovering tentatively on the edge of the watering holes, waiting their turn for a little drink.
This semi-arid conservancy is where the desert elephant roam. We have seen a few, as well as endangered lack rhino and loads of oryx, which must be Namibia’s national animal - they are EVERYWHERE!
Here, as well, the landscape is breathtaking - plateaus and valleys extending all the way west to the skeleton coast, rocky rubble rivers and spots of luminous green every now and then where springwater reaches the surface
A giant’s playground. Honeyed grassfields dotted with seemingly random piles of rocks, it looks like a baby giant has been playing in his sandpit. The Branderg is a phenomenal landscape of bulbous granite bursting through the sandstone - a place where the Mountain Damara roamed over 5000 years ago, inscribing the many caves with engravings and paintings.
After one day at Livingstone - Victoria Falls, with its new Spar, shopping mall and South African style restaurants, we decided we were not ready for civilization YET… so I passed up a day of tea and scones at the Livingstone Hotel to make tracks for the wilderness and moonscapes of Namibia. Obviously Nick was only too happy to obilge!
We are now in the Caprivi Strip, sloshing through marshy 4×4 tracks and drowning in elephant sunsets.
We spent five days in Mana Pools, camping along the Zambezi River, the air heavy with wild jasmine. Walking around freely amongst the big 5 seemed a bit crazy but we did it anyway because it was allowed. We also tried our hand at fishing but were completely unsuccessful – where are the zimbos when you need them?
What can I say? We are being absolutely SPOILT rotten by Coral and Andrew! We have met them at Mutinondo – a lodge in the wilderness of North East Zambia. Here we drink tea while watching the sun rise, go for long walks and chilly swims in the waterfalls, eat lots of home cooked, hearty food and giggle around bonfires!
A highlight was a pancake picnic in the bush after a horseride (Nick and Coral definitely need lessons on how to keep their horses under control haha)
Also very special, was the chance to see Andrew and Coral’s farm – taking a peek in the dairy and cheese factory.. watching an orphan calf run for the very first time, and a languid, boozy lunch at one of the neighbouring farms.
After climbing climbing climbing in our car, we set up camp at the top of the plateau. Its FREEZING here, so we are either huddled by the fire or hugging each other tight to stay warm! The great thing about Nyika is that, unlike other parks, here you can walk around. This helps to reduce ‘car claustrophobia’ and we have got really close to roan antelope among other buck – poekoe, reedbuck, etc. A very pretty place.
