Dr. Livingstone...I presume

The young local guys are all crowded around me. They are laughing and joking and asking me "Are you really going to jump...Aren't you scared?". Scared, no, nervous yes, excited..big time. Where am I and what am I doing. Well, for that, you have to go back a bit.

Remember Grade 7 geography and the sections on Africa. Explorers tramping about and 'discovering' all sorts of things about the big continent. The story of Dr. Livingstone and the Zambesi River always struck me as very exotic. I have about 10 places in the world that strike me like that (Constantinople, Baghdad, Timbuktu, Agra, Edo, Tanganyika, Lake Titicaca, Victoria Falls, Giza).

So I am visiting my good buddy Dave in Botswana and it is only a hop, skip and jump of about 700 kms up to Victoria Falls. The draw is like a magnet. I just can't ignore it. I take off about 5:30 Friday morning and hitch-hike into Maun and hop on a local bus to Nata, about 300 kms east.

Now this little excursion can give you a good look into just who I am. I like getting going early. I like hitch-hiking. Love going to new places, enjoy hostels as much now as when I was a kid. I enjoy not really knowing what is going to happen. Let serendipity lead the day. The ride (Alex) knows my host and works at the same hospital. He passes the hospital and drives 4-5 kms out of his way to help me get the early bus. I have this kind of luck the entire trip. Is it luck or just the result of opening your brain and letting the day take shape? Who knows.

In Nata, the first bus is stuffed full, so I start looking around and see a guy ready to jump into a safari vehicle with gear, but no people. Likely a re-positioning trip. I ask him if he is going north and it is the start of a new friendship. My buddy is Thula and from Zimbabwe ... and going to Victoria Falls. I was planning to stay in Kisani, Botswana and try and book a day trip to Vic Falls, thus saving the $75 visa for Zimbabwe, but hey! Thula is going where I want to go.

In Vic Falls town, I get booked into Shoestring Backpackers, definitely a hard-party hostel. I am in a great mood. My roomies are Americans doing 4 months in Africa, a Vietnamese guy doing a 3 month trip and a Korean guy doing the same. I enjoy the pool, buy some hand bracelets from Elijah and drink a fair amount of beer.

Saturday morning, Thula drops me at the bridge over the Zambesi. It is also the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia. The local hustlers are all over me like a dirty shirt. Even more aggressive thatn the Vic Falls guys.. and that is saying something. No big deal, I am in a really good mood, most of the guys can handle a bit of humour, and I am actually buying some small things, as this is the end of a long trip and I won't have to slag this stuff around much longer.

From the bridge, I get my first glimpse of Victoria Falls. But that is not why I am here. Sure, I'd come just for the Falls, buy hey! They have a 100 meter bungy jump here. I can't pass that up.

So I walk over into Zambia, get all registered and gussied up in shackles and webbing and come back to have the 15 or so loc al kids all gfawking at me and trying to shake my hand. I had asked Isaiah the manager if they ever offered freebies to these kids, as the cost to them would be astronomical. He said yes, but there were never any takers. The locals think the tourists are complete loco to jump off a good bridge.

My only other bungy was in Vancouver Island and it was a mere 50 meters. Pffft! Barley worth jumping off you say. Well, in Nanaimo, I suffered from something called jelly-knees. You have the nerve to jump off, but your knees go all soft as you stare into that hole and the jump is more like a flop.

I was determined to fly out strong on this jump, especially now that I had a big contingent of locals cheering me on. Most people figure that bungy jumping hurts. No, not in any way. There is only one hard part, and that is the full second it takes to commit, bend and leap off the bridge. And make no mistake about it, 110 meters is bigger than 50 meters. That one second took it's toll. I jumped well, the knees held and the drop went quickly. But that one second was terrifying. After Nanaimo, I was extremely keen to go right back up and jump again. After Vic Falls, I was finished. That was a BIG hole to jump into. Whew!

OK. Now I am done, as high as a kite and the day stretches ahead of me. I wander over to actually look at the Falls. The site is beautiful, stunning. I am as happy as one hombre can get in one days. The trip, the friends I am making, the locals I am talking to, the scenery, the getting to an exotic place on the earth, the bungy. Oh My! What a day!

Later, I end up at the Victoria Falls Hotel. Old style elegance, with a view of the bridge and Falls. I also meet up with Thula and we work on his safari website for an hour or so, have a beer and agree to meet on Sunday to start me back to Botswana. I will be doing web-based stuff for him from Canada when I get back.

On Sunday, I take a car, then gypsy cab, hitch-hike, bus, bus, combi and macorro canoe to get back to Maun. It has been one hell of a weekend. I am quite pleased with myself.

View from Hotel



Victoria Falls - The Bungy Jump




Victoria Falls - The Tour

Botswana Bayou

I've more time in Botswana yet, but it has been a busy few weeks. Buddy Dave meets me at the airport, we walk over to Bon Arrive (Maun is a small place) for a welcome beer and I meet a number of people who I will interact with over my time here. Klaus who runs the joint, Allan who runs Sedia Hotel, Jon who will be one of my hosts and will take me into his camp in the Kalahari and Dapanhi , a Finnish guy who dies in a car accident the next day. We all play golf on Allan's home-made, 4-hole course at the Sedia and spend the day eating and drinking beer. Welcome to Botswana

MAUN, the Sedai Hotel and the THAMALAKANE
=========================================

I have been staying in various places along the Thamalakane River and been out on a fair number of boat and canoe (macorro) trips. Lots of birds, wildlife, a hippo, some alligators. We go out just before sunset. Just magic. I have been doing some web-based work for Allan at the Sedia and have had my share of food/beer on his coin, plus a few nights in one of the rooms. Nice way to spend time



KALAHARI
========

Jon has a game farm that he is building in the Kalahari. It's about 9 kms by 4 kms. I was lucky enough to visit it and start seeing some wildlife, like zebras and impalas. It was a tough few days.



LOCAL WEDDING
=============

David is a food friend of a local man (Monks) and we were invited to his wedding as special guests. Very cool way to spend time.




DELTA SAFARI - Trip of a Lifetime
==================================

An African Safari. What can you say. Cannot tell you how happy I was for this to happen. It was as cool as you think it would be and more. The view of those open savannahs and the variety of wildlife. Just magic. Memories to last a lifetime. We had a great little 'croo. The safari managers, an exceptional guide, 4 porters and of course a gaggle of Canadians (Nova Scotians, no less...david, me, Susan and Pat)



Botswana Safari

Free...... Nelson Mandela

Flying into Johannesburg with very mixed feelings. have always wanted to come here, yet the city is known to be quite dangerous to those on foot in the downtown area. Hard to believe I will visit a place and not go downtown...baut that is what happened. I figured once I got the lay of the land, the reality would no be as bad as reported. Unfortunately, all signs pointed to staying away from the downtown, even in daylight. Too weird.

My purpose here is to get to Botswana, so may not see much of South Africa. This is too bad, but this has been true throught this trip. Everywhere I go, I am missing things. I tend to focus on what I see, not what I miss.

The more you travel, the less you it actually seems to be. I've been on the raod 8 months, travelled mucho kilometers and really am just chicken-scratching my way around the planet

Stayed at a funky hostel and did a trip to the Apartheid Museum and a small walking tour of a Soweto slum. The museum setup the slum very well. I do not like the concept of canned tours and certainly not a slum, but somehow this all worked very well.

The Apartheid Museum blew me away. I have been aware of the news out of South Africa for many years, but the reality doesn't really hit home.I knew Stephen Biko died in detention, but really, what did that mean to me? The reality, scale and scope of apartheid (especially in the years prior to all the laws passed in the late 40's) is breathtaking. Like a slow forced genocide. Not unlike what is done is so many other places in the planet at any one time. Humans can be astoundingly cruel to each other.

Our guide introduced the 3 of us to his friend that lived in one of the many Soweto slums. Soweto's population is around 4 million people, obviously not all slums, but also with no real downtown, industry, etc. It was the SouthWesternTownship and was created to keep a large population close enough to Jo'burg to work there, but not actually live there. Our guide was trying to show up 2 thinsg, the conditions that people live in, but also the sense of community that each little ghetto has.

The only water here was a public tap for each group of about 40 families. Each group of 5 families shared what we would call an construction site toilet (locked with 5 keys). This replaced some fairly static toilets. There was no electrcity just big batteries and a battery re-charge center. But there was a daycare, kindergarten school, rec center (it had lights) and gallery. Like a little village, just a really poor little village. We got introduced to a lot of people and stepped into a few places and homes and stores (tuck shops). All around, a very cool and enlightening visit. Was very glad that I decided to go. Felt odd walking around, but the people there realize that tourism is a valid way to generate money.

Did lots of walking and running in Jo'burg. I was 5 kms from downtown and still all the properties were compounds with electric razor wire and all the signs said 24 HOUR ARMED RESPONSE. This means that the boys show up with guns in a truck. Forget calling the police. Interesting town. Drove thru downtown once. It was un-settling.

OK. Off to Botswana and who knows what. Picture is buddy Roger, who travles with an iron. Go figure.