Southern Africa 4x4

We arrived in Johannesburg (Joburg) in time for the peak of the fruit season and ate mangos by the boxfull while staying with the welcoming John & Ilse. Glenn was put to work in the kitchen. John & Ilse introduced us to "kloofing" in the Magaliesberg; canyon walking with some superb swimming holes.

We worked on our South African vernacular. Traffic lights became "robots" while "petrol", "how izzit?", "100 percent", "brai" (bbq) and "bakkie" (pick-up truck) began to roll off our tongues.

Joburg was about shopping for our expedition. we made 3 trips out to the Afrikaner town of Randfontein, west of Joburg where we purchased our vehicle. We now introduce "The Persian God", our Mazda 4X4 bakkie; Mazda was apparently a Persian God. Our single cab bakkie cost us 60,000 rand (1996, 112,000km) and has a 3.0 litre engine which should get us throught plenty of sand if it does not empty our pockets of petrol money before then.

We live out of the back of the bakkie. We carry 5 20 litre petrol gerry cans, 150 litres of water containers and 2 spare tires for remote sections. Gone are the days of lightweight travel; we have folding chairs, 2 folding tables and a ton of gear organized in plastic tote boxes. One of the boxes is labelled "U" for utility but as we don't use the "U" box everyday, it is called the "useless" box. The kitchen gear includes a pressure cooker and a wok. The wok is controversial as Sheila believes it is excessive. The cook thinks it is essential Kalahari equipment. It is used once a week so it is stored in the "useless" box.

The wonderful Molopo Game Reserve was our first major stop. Few people have heard of or visited the reserve (250 km north of Vryburg on the Botswana border). This remote southern Kalahari reserve is an arid savanna region of grass and thorn trees with plenty of game. The camping was superb and we did not meet another vehicle while driving the sandy tracks over 8 days. Our desire to roam the grasslands on foot was tempered by an encounter with an angry, vocal puff adder and later an impressive irritated yellow cobra. "Ladies first. No you first!"

The Persian God faced its first challenge; a clogged fuel filter signaled water and dirt in the petrol tank. A 'general dealer' (country store in the "bundu") owner cum mechanic and his team of helpers removed and cleaned the tank outside the shop on a dusty road where the only traffic was the occasional catttle truck or more often a donkey cart. 5 hours later, the Persian God ran like a dream. Glenn commented "we could have done that if we had to". We hope we don't have to.

Down the road at the Kalagadi Transfrontier Nation Park, we drove amongst the spectacular red Kalahari sand dunes. Whilst we saw plenty of game, we enjoyed the smaller critters at the campsites; a spectacular gekko, tree mice living in a tree above our tent and a "familiar chat" that become a little too familiar by flying inside the bakkie cab. It is the tail end of the rainy season; we enjoyed an amazing thunderstorm in the desert.

Over at "the place of great noise", Augrabies Falls National Park, we decided to get off our rear ends and embarked on a 3 day hike. Umbrellas were esential gear in the desert with the chance of rain at zero percent. Early morning starts allowed us to reach the hiking huts by mid-day so that we could sweat in the shade in the 34C heat. We are now fully thawed out from the Canadian winter. The terrain was varied and rugged (boulders, sharp rocks and soft sand), especially for these two who are gettting used to sitting in a bakkie instead of pushing pedals on a bike.

FOR THE RECORD

2002 tent nights; 24

kilomtres driven: 3,200

swimming pools enjoyed: 9

South Africa banana index; 25

number of wild mammal species seen and identified: 38

Firstly we would like to dispel rumors emanating from Toronto that we have been cooking our roadkill springbok on our engine block. The truth is that springbok are just too fast for even the Persian God and we have not been able to hit any. We have purchased springbok meat a couple of times and recommend Namib springbok stir fried with black bean sauce, cooked on the always controversial wok!

From the town of Springbok, South Africa, we crossed into Namibia and followed the Orange river. We dabbled in canoeing and stomped along the Fish river but the real excitement was that we used our umbrellas in the rain.

Further north near Aus, a male ostrich put on his courtship riual for the benefit of Glenn whose red shirt apparently triggered the exotic dance.

We climbed, with umbrellas, in the Tirasberg mountains, wile staying on an ostrich farm (Koiimasis). the owner instructed Glenn to remove his red shirt, otherwise the free range male ostriches (in breeding season) might pose a health hazard.

We ventured to World's End (Wereldend) for 2 nights and wandered the red dunes. It was beetle mania out on the dunes; cool beetles and plenty of foxes live at the end of the world.

Up at Sesriem and Sossusvlei, home f the spectacular world's largest dunes, it was impressive even the second time around. Yes, those umbrellas wandered the dunes under a blazing sun. In the 3 years since our last visit there, they have paved the dune access route and added a swimming pool to the campground. But adventure remains a part of the big dunes; procuring a campsite when the campground is "full". The Europeans have discovered Namibia. A week later, we are still pouring sand out of our shoes.

Over at Naukluft Mountains we were amazed by the greenery and flowers and found the kloof (canyon) walking on the Olive Trail to be as good as anywhere in the world. Over at the small campground, we awaited the afternoon arrival of the naughty baboons but were rewarded by a night time visit of a pair of genets (tree climbing cats) instead.

We entered the tropics. The Namib desert is considered to be "gravel desert" so at the Ganab waterhole campsite which is described as "dusty and exposed...on the gravel plains", we found tall luxuriant grass. The summer rains have transformed the area into savannah dotted with camel thorn acacia trees. Oryx, zebra and springbok herd and even warthogs grazed nearby; in a sea of golden grass; Africa at its best.

For the second time on this trip, we have been on the back roads for a 2 week stretch. We managed to eat fresh vegetables everyday. The purchasing department goofed by underestimating the client (Sheila) demand for canned fruit for desserts, so we made our way back to civilization.

Windhoek is at a higher elevation so we are finding the 25C days a little chilly. We are wearing our fleece jackets. brrrrr....

QUOTABLE QUOTE

• "You are lucky to be here in the rain"; farm woman along Orange river whose daughter first saw rain when she was seven years old.

FOR THE RECORD

2002 tent nights: 38

Kilometres driven: 4950

Swimming pools encountered: 11

Namibia banana index: unknown ( we have not been in any towns)

Number of wild mammal species seen and identified: 44

In Windhoek, we stayed with Shirley (Namibia, 1999) and set out from one thirst-land to another thirst-land (Botswana) on tar road through Maun. We dodged cattle, sheep, ostrich and almost bagged meat for a goat curry on the Orapa road.

Our night along the Boteti river was noisy from the sounds of zebra and wildebeest and regular lion roars throughout the night.

At the CKGR (Central Kalahari Game Reserve) it was all about semi-desert creatures; cheetah, caracal, bat ear foxes, aardwolf, giraffe, springbok, oryx, jackal and gecko. Lions heard often but not seen. However the surprise of the CKGR was a group of touring South Africans who generously filled our cooler with chicken, fresh cilantro, oranges and even a bottle of red wine. Yummy and thank-you!

We passed through Lehlakane where the highlight was finding iceberg lettuce before heading onto Sowa Pan. The pans are vast former lakes which now amount to sticky mud covered by a layer of salt. We spent a couple of days on Kukoro Island beneath a baobab tree which could be described as on the large side of enormous. Driving on the pans is considered exciting and it is, as your tires sink into the mud while you try to keep the speed up. Slowing or stopping can mean sinking into a quagmire. We had a few exhilarating moments but kept close to shore for the most part.

At the Nata Lodge campsite, the poolside bar and palm trees were a backdrop to the evening entertainment; bushbabies patrol the camp looking for food. They are prodigious jumpers and these particular ones were curious enough to enter our open bakkie but shared a distinct aversion to camera flashes.

Our next adventure was the obscure, rarely traveled "hunter's road". It is a road in name only. It starts out as a single file elephant trail and finishes 200km further north following a grown over cut line between Botswana and Zimbabwe. We cannot recall seeing the "No Unauthorized Entry" sign. As we bashed along in first gear our wheel-wells became coated in elephant dung. Elephant trails abounded, we heard elephants breathing at night but in 3 days we did not see a single one of Botswana's 120,000 jumbos. This is akin to wandering the streets of London for 3 days and not seeing a single double-decker bus.

At the Kazuma Pan area (Botswana side) we camped along an elephant highway (on-going strike, no elephants as yet) while 6 giraffe reversed our voyeuristic roles and watched us take our daily bucket bath. Finally in the Leshomo valley, approaching Chobe river, elephants appeared in large numbers. In Kasane, we camped a little ways back from the river as a woman was attacked by a crocodile while she slept in her tent a month earlier.

We had heard repeated warnings about visiting Zimbabwe, all from people who had not visited that country. Rumours abounded about security,high food prices, lack of fuel and high costs of entry. Although Zimbabwe is economically and politically bankrupt, we have found it peaceful, with food and fuel widely available. We've had many Zimbabwe people tell us how happy they are to see us (tourists) as we are few and far between.

Our 2 weeks in Hwange National Park were like staying in a 1,000 USD exclusive reserve; we saw our first other tourists on our 4th day in the park. Whilst we saw plenty of game including hunting lions, Hwange was all about elephants. On some days we over 500 of them. We watched elephants feed, drink, bathe, swim, spar and wrestle; they are animated. We slept with them, bathed with them and dined with them. We slept 3 night in the Masuma hide where hundreds drink each night some 15 metres away. Our evening meals were accompanied by the sounds of elephants drinking and elephant flatulence. Our wine had a bouquet of elephant dung.

The town of Victoria Falls is a great place to meet people; touts, money changers and trinket sellers hound the few tourists. We've been in the Vic Falls area for 4 nights and have not seen the falls yet; we set out with good intentions one afternoon but got a good deal on a all-you-can-drink booze cruise (no one fell off). Day 5: we visit the falls: wet and magnificent!

We've been staying at an exclusive campsite 10km upstream alongside the Zambezi in the national park; Kandahar Campsite. No terrorists but we have been under attack several times; vervet monkeys in search of food. They comment on our lack of generosity by bombing us with pee and poo. Their aim is poor. The Zambezi river levels are very high so fishing is poor. Nontheless it is exciting: watching for crocs by water and elephants behind you by land. With the greenery, grunting hippos and plethora of birds, you don't have to catch anything to have a good fishing day on the Zambezi.

In mid-June we left Victoria Falls along back roads through rural Zimbabwe onto Matsuadona National Park. We traveled the road from hell; slow going, rocky river beds, intransigent elephants, heat, tsetse flies buzzing around the bakkie so we kept the windows closed until we reached the calming shores of Lake Kariba. There were plenty of elephant and hippo but few lions as the water levels remained high driving the lion's main diet of buffalo deeper into the bush.

Over at Chizarira National Park, we watched the amazing mountain climbing elephants at the Mucheni Gorge and we met up with our friends Kathy and Addy also with a bakkie. We travelled with them till mid-August.

We became acquainted with the shadier side of Zimbabwe; a war veteran slashed a tire because we did not give him enough money, money changers tried to pull a fast one on us and one of the 2 petrol stations in Vic Falls ran out of fuel, thereby creating an impressive queue at the other filling station. It was time to move onto Namibia.

FOR THE RECORD

Namibia Banana Index: 18

Botswana Banana Index: 12

Zimbabwe Banana Index: 25 (before loss to sneaky monkeys)

Zimbabwe Banana Index: (at offical exchange rate): 3

2002 Tentnights: 70

Kilomtres driven in the Persian God: 8,600

Wild mammal species seen and identified: 60