Living the Dream!

I will warn you that this entry is going to be quite long. I sincerely apologize, and I completely understand if you don't read all of it (or any of it), but if you have the stamina, I think you might enjoy my account of trekking through the Okavango Deltas and Nxai Pan National Park! All of the entries below are copied out of my journal with which I kept extensive record of the days' events. By the way, I have been uploading pictures to an album on Facebook. This link will allow you to view what I've posted so far... enjoy!!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2020941&l=6acb7&id=30001818

Sunday 2/24/08
This is the life! Cool breeze, full belly, the great outdoors and people taking care of our every need! Ok, so the last part is a bit over the top, but it's nice to be catered to once in a while. This morning, we drove to the Gaberone airport in a red combi playing Alicia Keys and other wonderfully overplayed R&B artists. I began the first "Number One Ladies Detective Agency" book (again) at the airport and nearly finished it by the time the plane landed in Maun. For those of you who have not heard about this book, it details the exploits of Botswana's first and only female private detective (fictionally speaking), and it a true delight to read, plus it gives you a wonderful look at Botswana culture. Interestingly enough, despite it's reputation for poor customer service, we were given a drink and a packet of peanuts during the short plane ride to Maun. That's better than many American airlines can boast!
The airport in Maun to my surprise was quite a bit nicer than Gaberone's airport, which speaks wonders to the impact of the tourist industry here, which is quite developed when compared to Gaberone. Indeed, the town of Maun, as we drove through it in a less exciting white combi, was largely made up of tourist shops boasting to have the finest handmade pottery, woven baskets, fabrics, etc. in all of Botswana.
Our base camp, called Audi Camp was our destination for the night, as our official safari trek would not begin until the next morning. The camp itself epitomizes "African tourism". The bar/restaurant/lounge area equipped with a pool and extensive sitting areas is all beautifully decorated in a traditional, rustic yet expensive style. The floors are made of multi-colored flagstone, and the lounge overlooking the pool is abundantly furnished with sturdy wooden couches padded by large, very comfortable orange cushions. After settling into our tents, which are large and furnished with a nighstand and two cots, we ventured over to the lounge to relax for a few hours before dinner. A large portion of the group jumped in the pool to splash around, but I was perfectly content to sit on the veranda chatting with the other non-swimmers.
Dinner was a delightful reminder of home with spaghetti, salad and rolls, with ice cream and chocolate sauce for dessert! After dinner, we sat at the dining table playing Hearts and sipping ice water before retiring to our spacious, yet stuffy tents for the night. Before bed, my tentmates, Alyssa and Whitney and I ventured into the beautiful bathrooms to brush our teeth and I myst say that I have never seen so many bugs (and even a frog) in one toilet stall in my life! Note to self: do not use the restrooms at night whenever possible!

Monday 2/25/08
Morning came as a welcome reprieve rom the hot, sweaty night and I thoroughly enjoyed the hot water and spaciousness of the roofless showers. Words cannot describe the incredible architecture that adorns the Audi Camp bathrooms! The continental breakfast too surpassed all my expectations, offering toast, pancakes, scones, muffins, granola and yogurt, corn flakes, fruit salad, cheese, ham, a variety of juices and lots of tea and coffee. Breakfast alone made the trip completely worth it!
Following breakfast we prepared our overnight packs for the mokoro trip on the Okavango River, and then we all met in the reception area at 8am for departure from Audi Camp. The sight which greeted us in the dirt parking lot was unbelievably cool! The safari jeep that was to take all twenty of us to the deltas was HUGE! It was the monster truck version of a safari jeep (which is no compact car itself). We loaded up our packs and off we went, living up the tourist image, waving to people as we thundered down the road and snapping thousands of pictures of absolutely everything! There were cattle, goats and donkeys everywhere on the roadsides, and on quite a few occasions we were forced to come to a near stop to wait for a stubborn animal to move out of the center of the road. After a while, we left pavement behind and turned onto the sandy side roads that would lead us into the heart of the Okavango wilderness. At one point, we passed through a small village along one of the many veterinary fences that partitions Botswana into wildlife areas and domestic, cattle-grazing areas, and it was here that several of our guides who live in the area jumped on board. We then passed through the quarantine fence and set off into the wildlife zone. Almost immediately we saw giraffe, ostrich, zebras, and even a glimpse of an elephant as it disappeared into the fringes of the trees. This was undoubtedly my favorite part of the ride as we did a significant amount of off-roading/sliding around in the sand while thorn trees thrashed at our arms and faces. It was amazing! Finally, we came upon the edge of the Okavango River where the rest of our guides waited to pole us through the deltas! We were two to a canoe (called a mokoro) with one poler per mokoro. At first we were certain that we would tip over the side of the mokoro, but it was like riding a bike in that once you find your balance it feels like you've spent your whole life on the water! We were set up in a comfortable reclining position with cushions behind us, and despite the leakage of water into the boat that soaked my pants about twenty minutes into the ride, I felt like I was lying on a beach chair floating on the river! We saw no wildlife, but the vegetation was very nice and we came in very close proximity to a hippo as evidenced by the grunting and splashing sounds that seemed to be just beyond the wall of reeds. We finally landed at some obscure destination which I am convinced I could never find again, and after erecting our tents we had lunch which was a mix of traditional and Western foods with potato salad, carrotslaw, coleslaw, chicken and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. There were also tea, coffee and biscuits for after lunch during the siesta, which I discovered to be a delightful tradition despite the fact that I was drinking a hot beverage in the middle of the African summer! We also discovered the largest spider I've seen yet in a tree above our campsite! Although we couldn't get close enough to touch it, I would say it's at least as big as my hand, legs and all!! TTFN!

Tuesday 2/26/08
There is nothing more liberating and yet so luxurious about showering under an open sky with a cool breeze filtering through the gentle stream of warm water raining down from the faucet above! But I'm getting ahead of myself...
Our hippo companion remained with us on the river for the entire afternoon yesterday, and was still wallowing seemingly right next to us as we poled our way back down the river this morning. After yesterday's siesta in the afternoon, several of us went back out onto the water where our guides taught us how to mokoro in an area where the current wasn't as strong. Despite a few harrowing moments involving Alyssa and I attempting to slide past each other when we were switching places and nearly tipping the boat, it was really fun and I think I actually got the hang of it!
A cup of tea and about thirty minutes later we all headed out for our evening game walk. The walk itself was quite arduous as we were following hippo trails through brambles and tall grasses, but the sights were well worth the hour-long trek. On the way to the hippo pool which was our intended destination, we saw lots of different types of birds and our guides pointed out a tree that had huge seed pods that looked like sausages. The tree was fittingly dubbed a sausage tree, and a preferred option when making the mokoro. I learned later that the mokoro industry is threatened as of late because the sausage trees which produce the best quality boats require twenty to forty years to reach maturity, but the mokoro only last five years.
When we arrived at the hippo pool, there was a family of hippos resting just below the surface of the water at a distance of about 100 yards from us. We could just see the tops of their heads, and at times the baby hippo's head would emerge from the water as his mother, on top of whom he was riding, would come up for air. It was really cute to see the set of little ears emerge followed by his little head, and then an identical but much larger set up ears and the top of the mother's head would appear shortly thereafter. My pictures do not do the sight justice, but it was incredibly exhilarating to be in the presence of these seemingly docile creatures in their natural habitat.
On the way back to camp, we spotted monkeys frolicking in the trees, and crossed paths with a young puff adder (a fairly deadly snake that in the adult stage is not something I ever hope to encounter!). Dinner was a bit more traditional, with rice, salad, spicy beef stir-fry and peaches-and-cream for dessert! Like I mentioned before, this was five-star camping for sure! After dinner our guides and cooks entertained us with traditional song and dance, at which point we attempted to reciprocate the gesture by singing "traditional" American pop tunes. They enjoyed the hokey pokey, chicken dance, and the macarena, but we struggled through off-key renditions of Proud Mary, the Fresh Prince of Belaire, Lean on Me, I Want it That Way (Backstreet Boys I believe), and a smattering of rap/hip-hop songs that thoroughly entertained us but were less than pleasing to the ears of our guides!
We sat around the fire for several more hours talking and sipping tea before retiring to our tents for the night. We couldn't retire without going one last time to the toilet however! Allow me to attempt to convey to you the awesomeness (poor grammar I know!) that was our toilet! As you set off down the path, you grab the toilet paper and small shovel. Twenty yards further on, you come to a deep rectangular hole freshly dug by our guides that morning with a fold-able chair over the top of the hole. The unique feature of this chair is the seat which is actually a plastic toilet seat. So out here, on a random island in the Okavango deltas, not only do we have gourmet meals, we have our own private outhouse with a view! It feels quite strange to pee on a toilet seat in the middle of the forest, but when in Rome....!!
I spent a hot and short but restful night in a tent with Alyssa, and we rose at dawn for a delicious continental breakfast (including yogurt and granola!), and then we packed up our campsite for the trip back out. The trip back down the river was brief but relaxing, and our safari truck was waiting for us in the same spot to whisk us out of the bush. We saw a good deal more wildlife on our way out including zebras, giraffes, eagles, storks and a black cobra that entertained the idea of attacking our tires for a second before realizing that the truck was significantly larger and more dangerous than it's own venomous fangs.
Our next stop was a small village of Bayei tribesmen who welcomed us into their homes and demonstrated various aspects of rural life including cooking, music, the bedroom, and various traditional medicines used in treating minor ailments. A young woman who spoke English very well was our guide and she allowed us to taste the various berries and grains that they eat, and several of us participated in crushing sorghum seeds (a grain that makes porridge, a staple food for rural Batswana) and attempting to balance a clay pot meant to carry water on our heads. That was really difficult, and those pots have to weigh at least ten pounds without any water in them! I really enjoyed the bit on traditional medicine. It is so amazing what people have discovered in this world for curing anything from a headache to colic in a young child! I am a bit disappointed that I wasn't introduced to this earlier because my original research intention was to examine the prevalence of traditional medicine in the midst of Western influences on "proper" medical practices. Our final stop in the tour was a make-shift gift shop where the wares of the craftsmen and women were sold for very reasonable prices, and I had no qualms about spending my money to support these people in their way of life. They even tracked who had made each specific item so that person would receive the money directly!
We then returned to Audi Camp for the evening, ate salad with cold meats and cheeses, and then sat around talking and relaxing long into the evening. The night was uneventful aside from frequent and numerous animal noises, and the roosters started crowing long before the sun decided to creep into view. TTFN!

Wednesday 2/27/08
I'm sitting in a portable chair, legs crossed, a light breeze blowing my hair around my face, and watching the most breathtaking sunset I have ever seen in my entire life. I will attempt to describe the scene before me, but I don't even think my pictures will do the sight justice. The clouds are flung artistically across the sky, reflecting the glowing ember that is the setting sun on the horizon of the trees. The sky is alight with a rainbow of pinks, yellows, blues, grays and oranges. On every horizon are the undulating beaches of the Nxai Pans, each decorated with a thick layer of small green trees and the occasional lone Baobab tree, towering over the landscape. Down teh beach and into the pans the remnants of summer rains reflect the light of the sunset and the green of the surrounding vegetation. It is breathtaking and utterly indescribable. If I have to pick one event in my entire Botswana experience that has made the entire trip completely worth it, it would be this moment.
I will digress from my reverie to recap the events of the day, as I have exhausted my limited vocabulary's capacity to capture my surroundings...
This morning brought another delicious meal at 7am followed by frantic packing for our three-day trip to the Nxai Pan and Makgadikgadi National Parks. Once our guides had finished wiring the trailers equipped with all of our camping supplies to the safari trucks (we were to take two this time), we piled in and set off down the road, wind blowing, dust flying and our spirits soaring (cue cheesy inspirational music!). Three hours later, windblown and gritty, we turned off the paved highway and onto the sandy trail of the Nxai Pan National Park. We saw two elephants and a springbok (small deer-like creature that is really cute!) on the main road, and then turned off onto a smaller trail deep into the bush. Thirty minutes in we stopped at a dried up watering hole next to the road to investigate what looked like thousands of tiny, moving clots of dirt! In fact, they were frogs! Some as small as my thumbnail with bits of tail left from their tadpole days, and others as large as my fist that were busy burrowing into the moist ground. There were literally thousands clambering over the top of each other in a frenzy to go nowhere, and our guide told us that during the rainy season, the frogs reproduce in mass in these watering holes, and as they dry up, the frog spawn mature and disappear into the mud to hibernate until the next rainy season! Brilliant! We stopped a few more times after that to look at more elephants and gemsbok (larger antelope-like creatures with a big stripe down their front and long spiraled horns), and we were about to reach our lunch destination when a girl on my truck spotted a small speck moving towards us in the distance...
I will take a moment to explain what the Pans are. They are dried up saltwater lakes (or one really really big one depending on how you look at it) that run for miles in every direction. During the rainy season especially, they will become muddy, and begin to fill in places, and this can make for some very precarious driving, even in the boat-sized trucks we were riding in.
The speck we saw turned out to be a very tired and thirsty Canadian man named Glenn who was visiting Botswana/South Africa/Namibia with his girlfriend Alina, and their Afrikaner guide Pierre. They had been on their way north to Victoria Falls, and decided to stop briefly in the Pans to check them out. Unfortunately, their lack of planning and a bit of misguided bravery from their guide had landed them entrenched in the mud in one of the pans. They had been stuck for two hours with no food or water and no idea if they would even see another person that day. So Glenn and Alina hopped onto our truck and we drove over to the area of the Pans where Pierre was knee-deep in mud trying to dig them out. We were only able to reach him after driving for several minutes around the edge of the Pans until we found a spot that was dried up enough to prevent our vehicle from getting stuck. I applaud our guides for knowing exactly which areas were not safe to forge through, and we were never even remotely close to getting stuck in the Pans. That aside, we finally reached the four-wheeler, attached its bumper to ours, and pulled it out in a matter of minutes. We then invited them for lunch so that they would not have to drive for another three hours before getting anything else to eat or drink.
Lunch was served amidst a large cluster of Bains Baobab trees, and I will say again, I have never seen anything like them in my life! They are broader than any redwood tree I have ever seen, and the bark looks like something out o a fairy tale. It was absolutely surreal.
After lunch, we said goodbye to our Canadian friends and completed the final leg of the six hour trip driving along the edge of the Pans to our campsite. The site was just off the Pans in a clearing that featured a lone Baobab tree. We arranged our tents in a tight circle around it and for bathrooms, our guides erected two square tents with no roof that each sported a portable toilet seat, toilet paper, and a shovel (and a hole of course). To add to our luxurious accommodations, we had dinner at a table with a tablecloth and lanterns to light our meal! Short of having running water and electricity, I'm as comfortable here as I am at UB! I've now come back to the moment when we went down to the Pans and watched the sunset over the next horizon of trees. Once the sun had set and we had eaten our meal, we walked back out onto the beach to see the most amazing starlit night I've ever seen. Even the milky way was clearly visible. We laid there attempting to point out constellations and shooting stars, and listening with tremulous excitement to the lions roaring in the distance (our guides said they were less then 2km away!). The evening was cool, quiet and pure heaven. I was disappointed that I had left my mosquito net at Audi camp because I briefly entertained the idea of setting up a makeshift transparent tent right there on the Pans so I could watch the stars all night! TTFN!

Thursday 2/28/08
Happy Birthday Alex Trow!!!!!!!!!!
This morning we departed early to go into another section of the park that reminded me of nature films about Africa, with watering holes and wild plains stretching out for miles. We saw many animals during the course of the day, including way too many species of birds to recall, zebras, jackals, elephants (who were quite shy), giraffes, eagles, a leopard tortoise, two male lions (less than fifty feet from us!), a cheetah, and a black mamba (poisonous snake) that thought it could take on our jeep, but quickly admitted defeat and scurried into the tall grass. We drove back to the pans as the sun was beginning to dip towards the horizon and enjoyed another gorgeous sunset on the beach. That night we were unable to see the stars because of a rainstorm, but the sound of the rain on our tents was quite soothing. TTFN!

Friday 2/29/08
Happy Leap Year's Day!
I failed to sleep well in the stifling tents, but I'm getting accustomed to the sleep deprivation and it fails to dampen my spirits with everything that we are experiencing this week! Today we packed up camp and headed to Makgadikgadi National Park which is much more of a wilderness area and contains quite different vegetation from the Pans. The drive to our campsite was a bit wearying seeing as how we had spent the last two days sitting in the trucks for six hours plus at a time, but we did get to pass through another cattle fence and into a rural village that was straight out of a national geographic with mix of thatch huts and colorful clay houses. We drove for another thirty minutes before crossing the cattle fence again (going back into the wilderness area) where our campsite, Menoakwena camp was situated. Menoakwena means tooth of the crocodile, and the man that runs it, a native Kenyan (white man), is a very cool, very conservation-oriented guy named David. This is the website describing the camp: http://www.kalaharikavango.com/. They are basically a permanent portable camp from which people can take safaris to see game, or they can just stay in the camp and watch animals come to the watering holes sitauted about fifty feet below the camp. If you are ever interested in going on a safari, or just learning about the sustainability plan that David has enacted in order to preserve the watering hole for the wildlife and employ as many local Batswana as possible, you should check out the website! Very cool, and some great pics as well!
The lodge itself is luxury camping with high-quality tents, flush toilets and bucket showers (supplied by several water towers situated in the camp), a bar, a pool that circulates through the watering hole and is purified as it comes back into the camp, and ample space for cooking and watching the animals come to drink. The entire camp is set on a ridge overlooking the park and watering holes, and it was so wonderfully peaceful just to sit there as lightning storms flashed in all directions around us, and a few small animals played near the water. If I'm ever rich and have free time, I will definitely be back here! TTFN!

Saturday 3/1/08
March already! It rained all night last night, and aside from a leaky spot in the roof that dripped on me all night, it was a lovely night! I did have to get up to pee far too often, but the sound of the rain pelting on the tent always lulled me right back to sleep. The morning game drive was quite fruitless, although we got to see hippos from very close up, an experience that was as invigorating as it was terrifying, and we were all glad to return to camp for a brief lunch before heading back to Audi camp. The ride back was riotously fun with lots of off-key singing and very creative song rewrites. The only interruption was going back through the "security checkpoint" where they searched our bags and scrutinized our passports, but did not check the voluminous cargo space of our safari trucks. What they were searching for, I have no idea, although there was speculation that they were looking for illegal immigrants.... in our backpacks....
We finally arrived back at Audi camp at 4:45, glad to be able to shower and relax after an exhausting five days in the sun. One of the girls, Lindsay, was going to be celebrating her 21st birthday on Sunday, so there was much drinking and general merriment that went on until midnight when we all sang her happy birthday and immediately proceeded to fall into bed, exhausted. I am very sad that this vacation has to come to an end because I am anticipating all of the things that need to be done when I get back and this is soooo much better! TTFN!

3/2/08
At last! I finally slept all the way through the night!! I'm still sleep deprived, but I feel significantly more rested than I have been all week! Today is our final day of vacation, and it ends at one pm when we depart for the Maun airport. Thus far today, I have contented myself with sleeping in until 7:20am, eating a delicious breakfast, and lying on the couch catching up in my journal. Next, I will go back and pack, write postcards, read if there's time (I'm on my way through the Number One Ladies' Detective Agency for the second time), and eat lunch! Lovely! TTFN!