The Last Day

That is today, tying up some loose ends, leave for airport tomorrow at 04:30 GMT. (yikes!) Return book to the library, drop off the electric kettle at house 29. Turn in the radios and dsl modem. Cell phone down to zero credits, buy N200 for any last minute calls.

In the news, one building collapsed last night during heavy rain. The trouble in the Delta has entered an ominous new stage, now the rebels are blowing up the oil wells. This results in a huge fire that can burn for days, fed by the escaping gas and oil. (Remember John Wayne in Hellfighters?) Chevron had one blown up last week, Shell two more over the weekend in the Forcados estuary (picture). Shell has suspended all operations in a large area. Recent estimates are that about 500,000 barrels per day of production has been shut in.

I kind of picture the plane taking off through the fires and explosions and then we are into the clear air. Actually, with the recent rains, it'll be more like soaring over a soggy mess. Impromptu lakes everywhere, some have become permanent enough to be growing cat tails along the banks.

What's the difference between a lake and a pothole?
When the lake is in a road, it's a pothole. Or is the road then in the lake?

Had a little get together saturday evening to celebrate the various comings and goings in the neighborhood. As the government and unions continue to reduce the number of expats in the oil companies it seems like just about everyone I know is headed somewhere else. Some to cushy locations like Perth where there are massive gas fields being developed, a lot back to Houston and then maybe another posting if things pick up again, some staying here for another year or two anyway. The way this all works, there's a kind of inevitability that you will meet again, so there aren't any really permanent good byes, just so long for now.

So, so long to: Jesse, Tina, Moses, Ishmael, Lucky, Monday, Precious, Iloho, Martins, John, Cindy, Joie, Hugh, Roger, Debbie, Harold, Ken, Greg, Jeany and Jay, and Joy and Ryan and to all the others whose names I am forgetting. See you soon.

The TV generation

Standing amongst the wreckage, packers at work.

For those of you with a more visual bent, I've uploaded some pictures from our recent trip. I'm not a nature photographer, I don't shoot for National Geographic, I just point and shoot my aging little Canon S300. Mostly I take a picture like writing down a note, something to remind me of a place or event, and sometimes the images are worth a look.

Even on my low bandwidth connection, I got them all uploaded in a couple hours, including two power cuts. Picasa managed to restart without any prompting on one of the two opportunities. Another hour to add captions and here you are. I hope you enjoy them.

Empty

Footsteps echoing in an empty house. The truck left yesterday with everything, Jesse and Tina took away the rest as gifts for their service. Smoke in the backyard, I've been burning everything confidential, bank statements, phone bills, anything with a name or address or account number. Feels like the last days in a conquered city, get rid of everything and pretend to be an innocent bystander. At least there are no bodies to bury.

Jesse took me over to Ilasan to exchange some U.S. Dollars for Naira. Today's rate N156 per dollar, quite a bit lower than recently. The road was worse than ever, gigantic pot holes filled with last nights rain. Some kindly citizens had put sticks in the water to help avoid the deepest places. I will never understand why the vendors in that thriving market don't spend some cash and fix the road. Do they expect people will always come, no matter what the risk of sinking into the mud?

The area boys that normally demand payment of "radio tax" were not around. Jesse informed me that they have been stationed at the one intersection for the past couple of years at least. At least as long as he's been driving oyibos to that market. A steady line of tippers (dump trucks) were coming from the beach side, churning the road into a rich brown muck.

I had been feeling anxious and worried about moving, now I think about that book title, "The Incredible Lightness of Being". I've never read it, but the title suits my mood perfectly. My things are gone, I'm homeless and something is going to happen that is going to happen. I'll get on the plane next tuesday morning and just fly away.

I hear Walnut Creek has a new hardware store. Something to look forward to. This evening I think we should take a walk around the neighborhood.

Game viewing

So enough about all that logistics stuff, you go on safari to see animals, so what animals did we actually see?

As I mentioned, each place has different habitats and therefore different animals. The picture is along the banks of the Chobe River (Botswana) in the afternoon when the elephants come down to drink and splash and make a mess in the mud and dust. They really seem to enjoy it, especially the babies who are not too skilled yet with their trunks, so they just lay down and roll around in the mud while the adults are happily flinging mud and/or dust all over themselves. I find these groups really fascinating, they are made up mostly of females and their young. They are constantly touching and snorting and communicating in ways we can't begin to understand. The small babies must think the world is made out of legs since they are kept to the inside of the group as the older ones keep a close watch out.

Chobe game lodge being along the river has lots of elephants, hippos, and crocs. Some of the crocs are just huge, laying in the sun digesting whatever they had eaten and not bothering about anything. Inland we also saw lots of different antelopes, impala, kudu, bushbuck, waterbuck etc. Our guide was Moses and we had seven people in our land rover. He took us all over the place through the bush, always looking over the side of the car to pick up any footprints that he could see as we went. We did see a couple lions from a distance, it looked like they were sneaking up on a kudu, so we sat an watched for a while. The lions split up and went at the kudu from different sides, but in the end the kudu sensed their presence and decided to move somewhere else. The lions laid down for a nap.

Did you know that lions can sleep for 20 hours a day? Life at the top of the food chain.

Chief's camp, being in the middle of the Okavango Delta, was starting to dry out after the rains. The areas of open water were shrinking and turning into lush grasslands. The low hills covered in bush and trees were drier still. Our guide was Ishmael. This place was teaming with lions, the first drive we were on, within a couple minutes we were parked amongst a group of lions dozing on the lush green grass. We were also lucky enough to see a couple of different leopards. One highlight was seeing all of the "big five" within a two hour period. Then on the way back to camp we got stuck in the mud, and the three other jeeps sent to rescue us also got stuck and then the farm tractor too. A real circus as darkness fell. In the end we stepped out onto some pieces of wood and got to dry land where the last remaining jeep was parked. The guides apparently had quite a night getting things sorted while we enjoyed dinner back at camp, complete with a visiting elephant, that casually tore apart a nearby tree in search of some tasty leaves.

Mola Mola was drier than either of the previous places, although the Sand River had water in it. The same basic animals were seen there, but a lot more of them. Instead of a solitary rhino, we followed a heard of about 20 one evening and were right in the middle of a large herd of buffalo as they calmly munched their way along the riverbank. Although known for their aggressiveness, our guide, Lucky, assured us that in a large herd they are pretty calm. One feature of the buffalo is the lack of a mock charge. The typical rhino or elephant may make a move but will likely pull up once the point has been made. The buffalo on the other hand doesn't stop once he gets going, time for the driver to be on his toes.

We saw a rhino demonstrate with a large group of lions. The lions were laying around after gorging on a giraffe that they had killed. For some reason, this one rhino decided to chase the lions, he made a mock charge at each one in turn making the lion get up and trot out of the way. When the rhino was satisfied, he would then choose another lion as target and and chase that one away. Maybe the rhino had been friends with the giraffe?

In all these cases, the animals almost completely ignored the vehicles. A lion might raise his head and then return to snoozing, the rhinos simply went on grazing. The guides were careful about how close we came and it seemed pretty close sometimes. It's not that the animals are tame, they are just going about their business ignoring these weird wheeled contraptions that are sometimes around. I think for the animals it's a reasonable deal, they just have to put up with a few tourists in return for having free rein in their natural habit. And at night, they can be as wild and free as they can be.

Safari Camps

On our trip we stayed at three different safari camps/lodges. Chobe Game Lodge in Chobe National Park on the Chobe River, Chief's Camp on Chief's Island in the Mombo Concession of the Moremi Game Reserve, MalaMala Main Camp in the Malamala reserve adjacent to Kruger National Park. The first two are in Botswana, the third in northern South Africa. If you poke around those web sites you can see the rates, they are very high, at least to my thinking. So what do you get for that?

Each one is different, of course, but the basic idea is the same. The goal is to see wild game. And to get yourself fed in between. Each has a morning and afternoon "game drive" as part of the package. In the morning, that means getting up at 06:00 (depending) for coffee/tea and breakfast and then piling into your assigned vehicle. In general, you are assigned to a guide for the duration of your visit who drives you, takes meals with you and is your main contact with the camp.

It was pretty cold on the morning drives, so blankets and hot water bottles were provided, but you better have brought warm clothes. The guides know the areas where the different animals have been seen recently and also coordinate by radio if one sees something that would be of interest. In the evening, the drive can start out pretty warm, but as the sun goes down, it can get pretty cold again.

The daily schedule we followed at Chobe is pretty typical.

06:00 - wake up and down to breakfast (some lodges bring coffee to your room too)
06:30 - morning game drive
10-11 - back to the lodge (or later)
12:30-14:00 - lunch and general hanging around, nap if you like
15:00 - tea/snack
15:30 - afternoon game drive
sunset - break for drinks/snack
18:30 - back at lodge, shower and rest
20:00 - dinner
22:00 - sleep (or so)

As you can see, there's not much slack time, and at those prices you don't dare just sleep in and do nothing now do you? Most people stay for two or three nights. You will arrive at about lunch time and have the afternoon drive, then morning and afternoon subsequent days and then the morning drive on the last day. To me, two nights is a bit short and three nights is a bit long. Keep in mind that you are with your guide and your group for a long day and it can get a bit wearing. There simply isn't time to just chill.

I've been very specific about the names of these places, there are many similarly named camps that can be very different. Each of these places has it's own personality.

Chobe Game Lodge has a main building with dining on the terraces, the rooms are in duplexes with view of the lawn and down to the river. The area is fenced so there is no restriction about walking around at night, meals and drinks are included. There is a TV in the upstairs bar, important to us with the UEFA final scheduled while we were there.

Chief's Camp is 12 canvas tents/cabins along a small river adjacent to a central building with a large deck. The "tents" do have mostly canvas walls but are about as untentlike as you can get with full bathrooms, indoor and outdoor shower, electricity, and coffee/tea brought in the morning to help wake you up. Not fenced, so your guide walks you home after dinner, all food and drink included, no TV but internet is available. I was surprised to see a hyena one morning on the path in front of me on the way to breakfast, I was assured there was no danger, but it did wake me up.

MalaMala Main Camp is has a central building with thatch roofed duplexes containing very nice rooms overlooking the Sand River. Not fenced so walking is restricted after dark. Large deck on main building for lunch or afternoon hanging out, very pleasant. Dinner is served in the Goma, a large area enclosed with a reed fence. This time of year there was a wood fire in the center and hot water bottles and blankets for the diners. One TV, internet available, all food but not drinks included.

The natural habitat surrounding each camp determines what types of game are most likely to be seen and at what times. The guides are well trained and experienced both in locating and viewing the animals and in taking care of the guests. Next post, I'll try to talk about what we saw and where.

Back in Lagos

Got back friday night in a pouring rainstorm. Got the suitcases in the front door and the power went out. Took the generator guy quite a while to get it fired up, now I know how long the emergency light can run on it's battery, about 15 minutes. Welcome home.

I had been lugging around a couple large Zulu baskets, very beautifully made, but not that convenient on the airplane. I was glad to put those away. The zebra skin at least fit in a suitcase. Looking at it now, I think it probably looked better on the live animal.

Note to self: Avoid watching "Air disaster" marathon on TV before a trip like this. We traveled on a lot of different airplanes and just for fun I kept track.

Lagos (LOS) to Johannesburg (JNB) on South Africa Airways 747. Not a very new airplane, but good enough and the meal was a chance to get some decent beef for a change.

JNB to Livingston, Zambia (LVI), British Airways 737. It was great to see the mist from Victoria Falls above the dry brown savanna from way off in the distance. I can't imagine what Mr. Livingstone was thinking floating down the Zambezi river with that cloud of mist ahead and the roar of the falls getting louder (1855). I understand they landed on an island at the brink of the falls and took a look over the edge. It is spectacular and the wind blown spray made me the wettest I've ever been in the shortest amount of time. Should have rented the poncho for two dollars from some of the enterprising locals that had setup shop on the trail.

People naturally were asking us where we were from. When I would say California, inevitably they would exclaim "Schwartzenegger!" or as at the Zambezi river ferry, "Governator!". I bought a 100 trillion dollar Zimbabwe note from that guy just for grins. It's worthless except as a tourist curio since they have completely given up on their own currency. Maybe I should have bought a bunch since I now see them on ebay.

Kasane, Botswana to chief's camp in a Cessna caravan. A 14 place, single engine turboprop with expanded luggage hold. I swear the pilot, Ludwig, looked about 16 years old. After all our stressing about the 20kg weight limit that was in the brochure, our friend Ludwig just glanced at the pile of luggage on the runway and said OK. I was looking over the pilots shoulder checking out the instruments and also had a great view of the Okavango delta for the 40 minute flight.

Chief's camp to Maun, Botswana in a Cessna 210. A 4 place aircraft, single piston engine. Operated by Mack Air. What a treat, we flew at about 700 feet AGL and our friend Homi, in the front right seat got to wiggle the controls a little under the watchful eye of the slightly older pilot.

Maun to JNB in an ATR 42-500, dual turboprop. Air Botswana, we got a packet of biltong with a drink for a snack, really spicy. Perhaps if I had read this accident report, I would not have thought the same of Air Botswana. Wiped out the most of the airline in one shot.

JNB - MalaMala and back, BAe Jetstream 4100 dual turboprop, operated by SAA Airlink. Interesting to be in a plane small enough that it where it matters where you sit. No biltong, just a soft drink.

JNB - CPT and back, 737. Similar feeling like SFO to an LA area airport, commuters heading home for the weekend.

JNB - LOS, 747 -400. Sat upstairs next to an empty seat. Pretty nice and less engine noise than downstairs. It was setup for pretty good legroom too. A little gift got us the empty seat, my wife had a pair of Confederations Cup tickets that we couldn't use, turns out the agent is a football fan.

At Mala Mala

A quick note from the safari front, using the single internet PC in the lodge basement at Mala Mala. All these lodges have at least a minimal internet connection but who wants to use it? We are on the go from wakeup at 06:30 for the morning game drive, then back for lunch, then out again in the afternoon at 15:00 for the afternoon drive. Dinner at 20:00 and then crash into bed. And punctual too, like the tourist army.

We are seeing lots of animals. Record setting "Big Five" sighting in under two hours at Chief's Camp. That's elephant, rhino, buffalo, leopard and lion. The ones that can kill you back if you are hunting them. Lots of score keeping going on, not to my taste, I'm more in tune with the five year old who's with us who sees a big spider as just as interesting.

In Joburg we went to the finals of the IPL tournament. Paid $80 each for $5 bleacher seats and had a ball. The stadium was packed and we were surrounded by friendly folks. Despite the captain (Adam Gilchrist) being out for a "duck" on the second ball, the Deccan Chargers managed to hold on and win. Since each player only gets to bat once, the best player being out without scoring is a real blow. Afterwards, we left before the Bollywood concert that followed the game. I may have to rewrite some of my previous thoughts on this game.