Journey’s Over

Fall has arrived at our Home Sweet Home

We are at home now.  And we were wiped out after the grueling trip home.  Even Barbara, who somehow manages to sleep in economy class seating, is tired.  We are not quite back to normal.  This morning found us both wide awake at 3 am.  At least that was the time when Barb asked if I was sleeping, and I quickly responded NO.  That means that our internal body clocks are somewhere over the Bermuda Triangle.  I’m hungry in the middle of the night, and collapsing into sleep around 6:00 pm.  In all my years of traveling, this is the worst trip for fatigue and jet lag ever.  In truth, for the first few days home, it’s hard to separate whether fatigue or jet lag is the issue.

I have tried to drive on the wrong side of the road only once since getting back.  I have repeatedly signaled my intention to turn left or right by turning on the windshield wipers, and have washed the windows when I intended to turn on the high beam headlights. 

But  - what an incredible trip we had!  We have tried to share with you along the way many of the things we saw and did.  But many times, 3000 words wasn’t enough to really tell all of the stories, so we had to pick and choose.  We are surprised at how many people viewed our blog. We had almost 2,000 viewings from countries all over the world!  Writing the blog, and sharing with you, was fun for us.  It was a way for us to journal what we were seeing and doing. 

Phinda and Etosha and Chobe and the Okavango come immediately to mind when I say what an incredible trip it was.  The Namibian dunes, and the visit with Buisman are also highlights.  Even though we saw almost every animal imaginable (except the elusive leopard), we can’t say enough how the people were really the highlights on our trip.  There was the staff at the Dock House that took such good care of us at Cape Town.  And our safari with Brett and Will and Ebron making it all seem easy for us.  There were our new friends that joined us on the safari.  And after three weeks of camping, we appreciated the pampering we received from Jonathan and Kim at Elephant Camp.  And Dumi, our guide at Phinda, was great.  In most of the places we went, no matter which country, it was just a pleasure to deal with people, even with the language and cultural differences.

Canoeing down the Orange River in Namibia

Overlanding was a great experience.  It’s wonderful to have someone else drive, and worry about all of the logistics.  Our professionals were just that.  They knew their stuff, from driving to plants and animals and history.  And Ebron, our cook, was a great camp chef and took our vegan diet in stride.  Good hot food makes a lot of difference in how you feel.  Barb and I would definitely do it again, and would definitely consider Africa-in-Focus again.  But we might choose a different season and perhaps some new countries farther north.  We both loved the safari, and considered the difficulties to be part of the experience.  We actually liked the camping out part, even after three weeks of it, but were disappointed with the few indoor accommodations offered on the bus trip.  When we paid for “upgrades” that worked out well (the tree house at Guma Lagoon).  When you’re camping, a good mattress, and bag or comforter, makes all the difference in a good night’s sleep.  And a good night’s sleep makes a major difference in how one feels.  We couldn’t be more pleased with our sleeping pads.

One of the very first things that one notices, no matter where you go, is the high level of security that is maintained in most places.  There are security personnel everywhere.  Many are armed.  All homes, hotels, and camp grounds have elaborate high fencing, usually barb-wired, and often electrified.  In some places this is due to the animals, but in most cases it is to protect from criminal activities.  From that you can guess that there are many people who are quite poor, who will steal when they can.  The shanty towns in the cities are quite large in area, and the hovels are very small, so there must be a large population there.  But in all of our travels, we never had an encounter with anyone that made us feel threatened.  However, just like New Orleans, there are streets you don’t walk at night. 

Of course, there were difficulties.  The one that provided the most trouble was an issue with credit/debit cards.  Our debit card got “eaten” by an old style ATM machine in the early days in Cape Town.  One of two credit cards was compromised and has over 20 fraudulent charges.  Our credit card company spotted the pattern and turned the card off.  They have great computer screening to watch for these crimes.  But once they turned it off because I typed in the wrong PIN at an African ATM.  I got the card turned back on, just in time for the real fraudulent charges to occur.  We finished the last 5 weeks with only one card, carefully guarded, and not enough ready cash. There is so much computer fraud that when the incoming computer’s site is seen as African, security protocols go to the highest level.  We had to reset numerous passwords.  And then once, when we were still in Africa, they turned off our only remaining credit card account because an auto bill pay occurred from the states.  It’s frustrating, but just a part of modern travel.

I highly recommend a GSM global phone for any adventure of this nature.  If you are staying in just a few countries, it is easy to get a local prepaid “sim” card which makes calling incredibly cheap.  We travelled to too many countries for a local sim card to easily work, but I did negotiate a global plan with Verizon before leaving the USA. (Verizon does have one GSM capable, non-smart phone available).  Along those lines, local data 3G and 4G data plans are very cheap also, so a GSM smartphone and/or an iPad can be cheap if you can use one carrier.  Roaming is expensive.  Several times during the 7 weeks, we had to talk to banks or other companies to get access to our accounts, reset passwords, and forewarn the banks of legitimate charges that might actuate their fraud logics.  And once, in the middle of an African swamp, after an amazing day, we found a spot on the island that had cell coverage.  Of course, we called the “kids”.  By the way, texting remains relatively cheap, so we used that a lot with the family.

Skype works and it is great to use when the internet is available.  Audio only Skype is best.   Video Skype takes so much bandwidth, it can practically shut down a local internet.  In Africa, wireless technology has brought modern communications to very remote places.  Almost all homes or remote stations will have cell and text coverage at someplace on site.  They have leapfrogged past fixed wire comm as too expensive and gone straight to wireless.  And they seem to be able to “target” small area locations such as a farm house.  Our intrepid safari crew seemed to know all of the locations.  In the middle of a Namibian high desert, I have a picture of Ebron the cook sitting atop a house sized rock, as he leaned against another rock.  It was a pose that from a distance seemed quite contemplative, as if he were deep in meditation.  He was facing the east, just as the sun was rising over the horizon.  In the quiet of that early morning, it seemed fitting to sit so peacefully, watching the beautiful sunrise.  However, there was something about the pose that was not quite right.  When I put the binocs on him, I could see that he had his smart phone in hand and was e-mailing and texting.  It seems that high on the rock was the only good signal for many miles around.

Sunrise at Brandberg Mountain with 'big rock' in background

Ebron checking emails on 'the rock

South African drivers are usually very skillful, although to an American they may seem random in their actions.  But it’s not so.  There are a very few 4 lane roads (usually toll roads), and everyone stays to the side to let others pass.  But they do the same on three lane and even two lane roads.  Many of the two lane roads have good paved shoulders.  You are EXPECTED to drive on the shoulder when someone comes up behind you.  They may flick their lights at you to get your attention, and then they will say thank you after they pass by turning on the caution/emergency lights for about three blinks.  Even big three trailer rigs will move over for you.  South Africa had very good major roads.  Anything less than major is like stepping down to county road level.  Many of the roads that were not national level are gravel and dirt, but still useable.  Outside of SA, national level roads can be dirt.  If a road sign says 4WD required, you better believe it.  They know what they are talking about. 

For a rental car on good roads, I was very pleased with the Toyota Corolla.  It has enough trunk space to take all of our bags, although it was like a jigsaw puzzle that had only one answer to make it happen.  Getting around is more difficult.  You can’t completely trust the maps, nor the GPS.  Typing in actual GPS coordinates was the most reliable way to make it work.  Too often, they had the name of the destination in GPS memory but a wrong location for that place.  And the road signage runs from okay to non-existent.  We missed lots of turns trying to figure that out.  Even when there are signs, the name of the same place will differ depending on whether the english name, afrikaner name, or local tribal name is being used on that particular map, or that particular sign.

The cost of most things was definitely cheaper than here in the states.  Our taxi ride from the Cape Town airport to the hotel was the equivalent of North Bend to Sea-Tac (about 40 minutes).  It cost about 30 dollars with tip.  Here in Seattle, it is $38 without the tip to go just from Sea-Tac to the ferry, (less than 15 minutes).  Food and lodging was the same.  Except for some very high end places, it was always surprisingly less than the states.

Proteas at Kirstenbosch Garden

I thought I would tell more people stories on this summary, but seem to be running out of steam.  Africa is a great place.  The animals are incredible, and should be seen.  The variety of plants and birds is amazing.  The Cape region of SA is a floral region of its own, Kirstenbosch Gardens is one of the best places to see the plants and flowers of the region.  All of the other floral regions are continent sized.  In only three weeks, our “birder” on the safari saw over 350 birds that he had never seen before.  He is from Montreal, and international travel for birding has been a lifelong obsession.  He probably bagged even more since he was staying two more weeks in Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Spotted Eagle Owl at Kirstenbosch Gardens

One more person to thank - COUSIN CATE.  She helped make this trip incredibly special with her knowledge, and with her generous help.  HEATHER: it was great to visit with you, and to get to know you.  In the southern vernacular of Leon’s youth (and Cate’s) - “Ya’ll come soon, ya hear?”

Leon & Barb - back on a wet and windy Bainbridge Island, USA