Category Archives: The First Adventure

Posts from the first overland trip in 2014

Namibia Side to Side

We crossed into Namibia without much hassle, the Trans-Kalahari border post was empty and relaxed. It was a bit of a drive to Windhoek, so we decided to stay the night at a midpoint – in Gobabis. We found a nice enough looking “restcamp” but from the first moment of being there I felt uneasy. The attitude of the staff and the manager, the strange tiny camp plot, the “park” with various antelopes fenced in, probably getting fat to be put on someone’s plate later for dinner, and the lonely ostriches hanging out by the fence, probably longing to escape. They had internet, they had a bar, and they had a restaurant, but when we decided we wanted some dinner, the service was absolutely appalling, trying to find out what stuffed tomatoes were stuffed with or whether we can get the salad without cheese – all of this was met with an annoyed shrug. We settled for fries, potato wedges and salad – the salad dressing was creamy-looking, and when I asked for simple oil, the lad went and “hid” and kept looking at me across the room to see whether I had forgotten about him yet. Needless to say, we didn’t pay much attention how well we cleaned our camping spot when we left.

We planned on only staying in Windhoek one night, but then we realized it was the beginning of the weekend and the South African embassy would not be opened until Monday. We plopped ourselves at the Cardboard Box – a backpackers’ place with tiny camping spots, but it was good enough and they had draught beer. In the meantime, we managed to explore the center of the city, even with me still limping and walking with a stick. The city is clean, very empty and has nice little parks and German churches. We had lunch at a place called La Marmite, and they had pretty good West African vegan dishes. Afterwards we even allowed ourselves to be swept up by the touristic vibe and we bought a pillowcase with a cheetah face on it from a souvenir shop. At the end of our walk we got heavily rained on, and because of my bad knee, we couldn’t exactly run home either.

German church in Windhoek
German church in Windhoek

The embassy visit was disastrous, and you can read about it in the previous blog post. After discussing our new plans, we made our way lazily to the coast, to the city Swakopmund. The journey there was amazing, and here Namibia was finally opening up its infamous landscapes to us. First the gravel road became mountainous, with dead, dry and scarce vegetation, the sun beating upon us as we stopped for lunch. Then the scenery slowly flattened out until it became huge expanses of flat plains with zebra and gemsbok grazing in the heat haze. Eventually we came upon Swakopmund and saw sandy dunes in the distance just south of our campsite, which was right on the beach. The temperature drop was unbelievable, as the sun was still blazing but the cold Atlantic winds made us shiver.

Jonathan about to fall into the ocean
Jonathan about to fall into the ocean

We finally made it to the other side of the African continent, the other ocean! The waves were huge, covered in seaweed and other debris, and the water very cold. We couldn’t resist going for a dip, although the other campers looked at us as if we were mad. With my bad leg I couldn’t exactly walk in – I had to rely on Jonathan for balance and support (and breaking the waves with his back!).

Jonathan on the pier in Swakopmund
Jonathan on the pier in Swakopmund

The center of Swakopmund looks like a quaint little German holiday town. The next morning we visited the Namibian Wildlife office, stocked up on food for the fridge, and then took a leisurely walk up to the pier, from where we saw huge red jellyfish, most of them dead, with bits torn off and floating on their own together with seaweed. We also saw a dead baby seal on the beach, so of course I got excited and took many pictures.

The world's lowest bench, in Swakopmund
The world’s lowest bench, in Swakopmund

Waking up in the morning was impossible, the outside temperature was freezing, the wind was strong, and the sun hadn’t come out yet, but we powered through and drove out to Walvis Bay, where we saw a lot of flamingoes in the lagoon. Then we took the road into the Namib sector of the Namib-Naukluft National Park. We didn’t end up seeing the sand dunes in Egypt, but we saw them right here, bordering the ocean. Huge mountains of yellow sand, especially seen in the heat haze, is everything you imagine about desert mirages. The first part of our trek through the park was just that – dunes, desert landscapes, no life. But as we drove further inland, the flat desert gave way to lonely rocks and rock formations, not quite mountains but big enough to be in awe of when we stopped for lunch at one of them and sat under the overhanging rock, almost like in a cave. The desert became more populated by antelope-type animals, as the ground became more covered in thistles and dry grass. Eventually we came upon our camping spot – official camping but with very few facilities – a picnic table, and a toilet that we were only too happy to ignore – the stench was nauseating. While we set up camp, I noticed there were a few black birds being nosy about our stuff, and as soon as I got out an apple, the birds became overly excited, I thought this was going to turn into a scene out of Hitchcock’s “Birds”! I gave them the core of the apple and they spent the next few hours eating it. Then we encountered another rock-dwelling creature – a rock hyrax. We didn’t know exactly what it was – a fat mole-like creature with big front teeth and grey/brown fur, eager to find out whether we were going to be friendly, and sure enough Jonathan fed the hyraxes some pieces of cabbage. One of them was so brave, he actually took pieces of cabbage out of Jonathan’s hand!

Jonathan feeding the hyrax a piece of cabbage
Jonathan feeding the hyrax a piece of cabbage

The next day we drove through even more mountainous areas, in some parts the hard rocky trail reminded us of the lava field in the Danakil Depression. We came out of the official “park” area, and drove through the Gaub pass – a very intense curvy mountain pass, the hills looked like fillo dough, layered pastry eroding away, and the road felt like a roller-coaster. We camped at Agama River Camp and made a camp fire, where we barbecued mushrooms, carrots (only for Jonathan – I hate cooked carrots!), tomatoes, onions, and made nice potatoes in the hot sand. There were warthogs walking around, and we believe a jackal visited our bin in the night.

Leo flying among the red dunes
Leo flying among the red dunes

We drove out early in the morning to Sossusvlei via Seskriem to see the famous red dunes. The scenery really did not disappoint, and no matter how amazing the pictures, I don’t think they could ever do justice to the eerie landscape in this part of Namibia. We even climbed a dune, me with my wonky bad leg. There were so many colors everywhere, the sand sea is all colors between blue, yellow, white, grey, orange and red, and in some places you can just spot the outlines of the mountains in the intense heat haze, as if the mountains are actually floating in the air, like flying islands.

Leo, Jonathan, dunes
Leo, Jonathan, dunes

We had to drive all the way back to Swakopmund, it was long, tedious and uneventful, mostly because we hate driving back on the same roads, but in this part of Namibia there aren’t really many other roads one can take without making a huge detour. We camped in the same place again on the beach, and the next day headed out to the Skeleton Coast park. We knew that to gain passage for overnight, we had to have reservations at the only place open at this time of the year – a rather expensive lodge with no camping. We decided to get a transit pass instead and be out of the park before the gates close. Before we actually went to the park, we drove through the coast, visiting Cape Cross with the seal colony, and went to look at the seals.

Dead seal baby and an adult seal rubbing up on the wall
Dead seal baby and an adult seal rubbing up on the wall

In some ways it is amazing – there are thousands of seals here in a small cramped space, and you get up close and personal with them (the smell! I will never forget the smell), but the seals are loud, they fight all the time, they are violent, and they are all in this small rocky space by the water, with dead baby seals everywhere. The scene was not for me, I got sad and grossed out and had to wait in the car. We camped for the night just 45 km south of the park gate, at Mile 108 campsite, which was huge, completely deserted, and the only facilities were flushing toilets and tiny sinks with salt water. The coast was particularly cold that day, I sat wrapped up in my warmest “Panda” jacket, whereas Jonathan even attempted a swim! Attempted – among jellyfish debris, huge foaming waves and dead seals on the beach.

Bits of jellyfish on the beach
Bits of jellyfish on the beach

We drove to the Skeleton Coast Park the next morning and spent the morning and part of the afternoon there – and it was truly magical. The road is isolated, we saw only a couple of tourist cars the whole time. The sand is mostly untouched (one is not allowed to drive on the sand, but unfortunately some people do – the tracks remain there for a hundred years!), the ocean is wild and angry, and there is nothing but desolate desert landscape in any direction you look for hundreds of kilometers – you can see how unfortunate one would be to be stranded here after a shipwreck, the name “Skeleton Coast” becomes crystal clear when you are there. We saw the remains of one shipwreck, the lagoon (pink!), and some other odd curiosities, but the weirdest thing we encountered was when we approached Torra Bay, and then turned east to exit the park through the other gate – the traveling sand! There was very strong wind, and the light fine white-yellow sand was traveling across the road, resembling mist, creating the most ghostly landscape for those driving through it. We got covered head to toe in the sand, I was shaking out my head all day and still I think I still have some sand on my scalp.

Jonathan trying to take pictures of the sand moving in the wind
Jonathan trying to take pictures of the sand moving in the wind

Of course how can I talk about our visit to the Skeleton Coast without mentioning my mustache. Sometimes we pass our evenings playing cards, and sometimes we play for some sort of forfeit. At Mile 108 campsite I lost and the forfeit was to have a drawn-on mustache all day next day, and speak with a funny Hercule Poirot-like French accent. The mustache was fabulous but the accent I am afraid I could not do very well, so it just came out very strange and made Jonathan laugh a lot all day. However, it played up nicely with my clothes resembling a pirate and we took some silly pictures, of course.

The mustache was born
The mustache was born

As we drove more east, the landscape started looking like Mars – huge red desolate mountains with deep shadows and little vegetation. We drove to Bergsig crossroads, and then proceeded a bit southeast, before getting stuck in sand while looking at a dune eating a huge rock, then turning back and heading north to Palmwag, where we camped at a rather nice (but posh) lodge/campsite. A black cat came to rummage through our sink at night, but otherwise the stay was uneventful, and today we drove to Opuwa, where we started seeing a lot more of Himba people, this being the frontier town between the wild north and the rest of Namibia.

Panda, Leo, Cheetah - we are a traveling zoo
Panda, Leo, Cheetah – we are a traveling zoo

We are heading to Epupa Falls (almost on the border with Angola) then driving through the northwest corner, where the roads are supposed to be very rough and the journey long and excruciating, and after that slowly trickling down back to Windhoek. Only just over 2 weeks left of our journey, seems forever ago that Jonathan was in the hospital in Ethiopia, or I was throwing up in the Sahara desert after taking malaria medication on an empty stomach.

Vegan Zimbabwe: Interview with Harare Vegans

A few months ago I came across a peculiar website – “Vegan Friendly Products” in Harare. Immediately I emailed the contact provided on the site, and got a reply from Louisa Ndlovu. She explained to me that what they have is a multiple parts juncture: part wellness centre and lifestyle change coaching, part health shop, part restaurant (V Delights) and an organic garden. We were very intrigued and decided to change our plans to include a stop in Harare to meet up with Louisa and her family, and to interview our next vegans: in Zimbabwe!

Zimbabwe Vegans meet Troopy and Katana
Vegans in Harare meet Troopy and Katana

The compound they have is beautiful: there is a large garden with shade and a few tables, and in the back they have some vegetables growing, such as tomatoes, cabbage, spinach, beets, and so on. They have a small shop with all vegan products, such as flour, nuts and seeds, gravy powder, cereals, dried vegetables, a few oils, and many others. They also have a restaurant with various menus, and a health clinic in the back as well. Their clients include many of Harare’s high profile people who want to change their life around with a plant-based diet, which is the primary drive for being vegan for Louisa’s family. Vegan Friendly Products is a relatively new business, but it already has a lot of clients and the people involved seem very passionate about their work. We were received with lovely pies, smoothie and tea (the tea was so good we ended up buying a whole packet for the car), and we chatted to Louisa and her sister Sicelesile about them becoming vegan, their passion for healthy living, and even an idea to have the world’s first vegan police force. We also met another vegan, Morathi Howie, who is originally from North Carolina in America, so of course we had to have a quick interview with him as well.

Katana: How long have you been vegan?

Sicelesile: This is my ninth year that I’ve been vegetarian. Initially I became a vegetarian, then I became vegan, I went back to vegetarianism, now I am vegan.

Louisa: As for me, I became vegetarian in 2008, and by the end of 2011 started being vegan, and by the end of 2011 my whole family was vegan.

Katana: You said you have three children?

Louisa: I’ve got three children. A seven year old, three year old and two year old. The two year old was already born when we were vegan, the three year old was semi-vegetarian then vegan, and the first one we transitioned between meat and vegetarianism.

Sicelesile: She used to eat KFC!

Louisa: “You are the one who taught me meat!” but it happens with kids. My husband is vegan also.

Katana: When did you start the business?

Louisa: We started this business in June this year, that’s when we moved into this place. Prior to that we had a shop, moving around, like a moving shop in our car with the healthy food stuff. Then we decided, as a family, me, my husband and my sister, to grow out this passion into something we believed could serve the world. We realized that many people are suffering from lesser diseases that come from appetite. If you control appetite, control the taste buds, and educate, at the end of it all we will be in a position to deal with certain things that even the medical field is trying to deal with but by giving people drugs. Drugs to just suppress symptoms but leave someone with another bad condition. So you’re talking about blood pressure, cancers, diabetes, weight loss, obesity, asthma.

Sicelesile: You name them! I refuse to call them diseases.

Louisa: They are lifestyle conditions.

Sicelesile: They come from negligence of the laws of nature. What we do here is to reverse that process. We don’t treat symptoms, like my sister has already said, but we do root-cause analysis, look at the whole lifestyle, including not just food but exercise, if you have clean air around you, if you drink the correct types of drinks, if you rest enough. It’s a holistic approach to treating diseases.

Katana: Sorry to backtrack a little, how did both of you decide to become vegetarian and vegan?

Louisa: For me, first of all, my husband was obese as I said before, and when he did his lifestyle change, because I am the one who spends time in the kitchen cooking, I was supposed to cook three different meals, one for him, one for the kids, and one for myself, because we all had different needs. In the process I developed a problem, I couldn’t conceive at that time. And as I interacted with many health reformats, I was also educated to believe that if I change my lifestyle, I would get rid of those problems. One day I said I am going to go this route, I am not going to cook separate meals for anyone, I am going to eat what he eats and the kids will eat what he eats. It will save me time and everything else, and if it works, then it works. And apparently for me it worked, I am a mother of three, I would have just been a mother of one then, if it wasn’t for my lifestyle change. Doctors told me my ovaries were destroyed and I couldn’t conceive, but once I did my lifestyle change, it worked for me. My husband was obese, you saw him, now he is skinny. Because this thing worked for us as a family, we stayed with my sister’s choice. Initially when she came from the UK, we didn’t support this thing. We thought she was weird.

Sicelesile: They hated holidaying with me! They complained every single moment, like “you’re so weird, we’ve paid so much money just eating these leaves.”

Sicelesile holding Leo and Louisa in the back
Sicelesile holding Leo and Louisa in the back

Louisa: What happened was that we thought we had one common ground. We understand how we should eat and how we should live. Why not come up with a business model that will help serve the world. Since it has worked for all of us, then we decided to take it to greater heights. For me and my sister, we already abandoned the former employment, so we are full-time here. Our passion is here, our life is here. My sister used to work for a big company, but she left. I used to be the head of IT, and I left. And it’s working out for us, many people come through here, through the wellness center, we have clients which give us repeat business, and people give us good testimonies.

Sicelesile: As for me, I became vegetarian when I was in England. I’ve always been small-framed but I’ve always had a problem with a big belly and I had terrible skin. I had acne, and I used to spend so much money on make-up. When I decided to become healthy, I was a McDonalds and KFC addict. I had a loyalty card for Nandos! I loved my meat and I worshiped it. But I realized that the direction my life was going was not good, and I started learning more about healthy living. Growing up I always learned about healthy principles, but I thought “That’s just for the religious people, not me.” At this point in my life I decided to try it to see if it worked. And when I did, my life changed. I used to hit the gym every morning and evening and run 3-6 miles a day, but it wasn’t really registering in my belly. But when I became vegetarian, things changed, and when I became vegan, it became even better. Now I don’t even wear any make-up, and I don’t spend so much money on it, instead it goes to the nuts and fruits and vegetables that I enjoy eating. Being here for me is like a dream come true. I love being a software engineer, but this is my passion. This is one of our fundamental beliefs, that we treat our body as a temple, so when we are here, it is first a health ministry, only then a business. We enjoy seeing every single person that walks through this gate, showing them the love and seeing them recover. This is priceless, it’s a hobby, it’s a passion, it’s a calling for us.

Jonathan: Does Zimbabwe produce most of its own food?

Louisa: It’s kind of small-scale, so it’s not sufficient for everyone’s needs. We basically depend mainly on South African products, for example take sunflower seeds. We grow them locally, but because of the economical situation, we don’t have the equipment to process them. What happens is we farm the seeds here locally, then they send it over to that side, then we buy them from that side, because we cannot process them on our own. Things like sesame seed, now some local farmers are doing those for us, so we can get those locally, the moon bean, they are growing it locally, but it is probably an issue of educating people, what they need to farm. People have the mindset to farm more profitable crops, because it will give the farmers more money, but now as we educate many of the people who are visiting our center, they are willing to partner with us in farming what we think is the right things to grow.

Jonathan: Growing things that people can eat straight away. What happens in Europe and America is the land is used to grow huge amounts of corn, only to be fed to farm animals, instead of growing directly food for consumption.

Katana: What would you hope for in the future for the people of Zimbabwe in terms of what they eat?

Louisa: What I realize is that the world has become so fast these days. People like chasing money, but one thing that can bring down a business man is sickness. Once you’re sick, you can’t continue to chase that money. So because of that love for money, people are willing to do a lifestyle change, to reform and to see their enterprises grow. Like I said before, we don’t have ordinary people coming here, so because we have those influential people here, one of the guys was even saying he would invite us to their spheres of influence. Once you get through the “big bodies”, the message will spread on a larger scale. One of the projects we are looking at currently, although it is still in its infancy, is driver fatigue. Because we were both in IT, we can partner with other people in IT and look into reducing road carnage. According to Zim statistics, 85% of road carnage is linked to driver fatigue and human error. We are saying, as vegan friendly, we know certain foods trigger tiredness, fatigue, dizziness, and all those kinds of things. We are coming in with the mindset that if a driver follows our dietary requirements, they can be free from fatigue. The companies of those trucks transporting between Zimbabwe and South Africa would rather have their drivers on a vegan diet than be involved in putting in special gadgets that get triggered by driver’s fatigue and get sent to the central system, and it becomes a criminal offense. We are hoping to get a breakthrough.

Sicelesile: The part she left out is that we want to be the ones supplying those meals to the drivers, so that we can deliver them at strategic points, a meal that’s full of vitality and that will actually keep you awake.

Jonathan: That is an argument for going vegan I haven’t heard before.

Sicelesile: The first thing we are hoping is to start with the police vehicles, suppose like this December. Let them be on the program, have the drivers eating our meals. They could have two samples, the people on the program, and people that are not, and evaluate afterwards.

Jonathan: So we have the world’s first vegan police force!

Louisa: Hopefully! We believe in this, and we’ve put so much effort into it.

Sicelesile: It should change the nation.

Tea and pies at Vegan Friendly Products
Tea and pies at Vegan Friendly Products

Katana: What about you, Morathi, how long have you been vegan?

Morathi: I’ve been vegan since I was 20 years old, about 17 years. I turned 37 on the 22nd of October.

Katana: How did you become vegan?

Morathi: I became vegan when I went off to college in North Carolina Central University. It was the path that chose me. Some friends grabbed me up and they said “Hey, did you know that you can eat a better way, did you know that this is not good for you?” Of course, I denied it at first, and then the truth hits you once they teach you about it, so then I learned, as I was with my friends, how to transition into being a vegan.

Katana: How do you find being vegan in Harare?

Morathi: It’s excellent. Basically all the food is organic, mostly. It’s better than any food that you can get outside or any other country that I’ve experienced so far. I love it, and they (pointing to Louisa) made it so much easier, as they opened up a new restaurant (V Delights). I think that once you put it in your mind that you don’t really need the food supplements, you can do the fruits, everything that comes out of the ground, and you can lead a very good vegan life here.

Katana: And have you travelled a lot around other African countries?

Morathi: Yes, I’ve been to Zambia, I’ve been to Ethiopia, South Africa, Egypt, a little bit of Dubai, and of course Zimbabwe.

Katana: How do you think Zimbabwe compares in terms of vegan eating to other countries in your experience?

Morathi: If Zimbabwe could get the fresh squeezed juices like Egypt has, then they’re going to be amazing, but we are going to help Zimbabwe to get to it. But especially the living here, it’s the most peaceful country that I’ve been in my whole entire life. Very very peaceful people: people make the environment and this environment is heaven on earth, I love it.

(not) Cape Town update

We have an important update about our trip.

We are not going to Cape Town at this point in time. Yesterday we went to the South African High Commission in Windhoek to apply for a visa for my (Katana) passport, being one of the unlucky few nationalities that require a visa to enter South Africa. The pre-story is that we knew this, of course, and we originally thought it wouldn’t be hard to obtain a visa in any of the capital cities we were going to go through, such as Nairobi, Dar es Salaam, Harare or Windhoek. We were told by fellow Russian travelers in Nairobi that a South African visa is hard to come by, because they require a plethora of documents, and the people we talked to got their visas back home, in Europe. This wasn’t really an option for me, but to be safe we went to the SA High Commission in Nairobi, where they told us of many documents that I would have to provide to apply, but also said the visa can be obtained in any SA High Commission in Africa. The same story happened in Dar es Salaam. We were reassured we can definitely get a visa in Windhoek. We also sent an email to the Windhoek SA High Commission, but never got a reply – although their website states that they do visas, and that they should reply to emails. Weeks passed and we found ourselves in Windhoek, fully supplied with all the supporting documents, ready for battle.

We got to the High Commission, got the application papers (they still failed to mention or ask anything…) and only when we waited in line, and finally got to the window to apply for the visa, we were told that actually they don’t do visas for non-Namibians and non-residents, basically they don’t issue SA visas to tourists traveling through Namibia. We tried to explain that we did indeed try to get in contact with them and that their colleagues in other High Commissions led us here, that their website is incorrect, and that the only way to know is to be told when it is too late. At this point the lady actually turned her back to us while I was mid-sentence, and walked away. When she came back, I again tried to explain our situation, looking for either sympathy, understanding, or who knows what, but she cut me mid-sentence again by starting a chat with her colleague. Besides the ridiculousness of this “rule”, the inescapable dread of “what do we do now” and the incompetence of the High Commission to inform travelers of any such information, her rudeness was really the icing on the cake. We left so angry but what is to be done?

We weighed our options: do I fly home for a few days to get the visa, do we waste time and gas driving to Gaborone (again not knowing for sure whether they issue SA visas either) and waiting for 5+ days, do we separate and Jonathan drives to Cape Town alone? This wasn’t really an option because we set out to do the trip together, therefore we will finish it as a team as well.

Our new plan is more simple. We will spend the rest of the trip in Namibia, getting to really know this amazing and beautiful country. We bought tickets from Windhoek to Cape Town for the same day as our flights out of Cape Town. Transiting through the airport I shouldn’t require anything, and might even get a visitor’s permit for the day. This way we don’t waste our tickets out of Cape Town to London. We leave Troopy in Windhoek for a few months, and in the near future will come back (maybe Easter?), having acquired a SA visa in my “home” country, we will then drive down to Cape Town and complete the mission. It is a shame to be treated this way, and a shame to break our plans, but it is exciting to make new plans and to get to see things we weren’t planning on seeing in Namibia, and in the end, what is a trip without complications? A less memorable one!

Central Kalahari

It was the morning in the heart of wilderness in Botswana. We woke up uneasy, the night was full of noises – there was a thunderstorm and heavy rain, and some sort of animal, like a bat, kept attacking the sides of the car. As we slowly got up and started making coffee, the campsite got overrun by bees. Not necessarily angry bees, just very annoying and persistent. They kept coming into the car or hanging out by the open back doors, so much so that we had to run away from them twice.

Butterflies feeding frenzy on elephant poo
Butterflies feeding frenzy on elephant poo

The main big dirt road was covered in elephants signs, but we only saw cattle and horses. We got on to the main highway back to Maun, and in the city went to the Choppies supermarket again – it has become our favorite, although they don’t sell alcohol. We bought some canned foods, seeing as how we weren’t sure whether the veterinary fences and checkpoints to the Central Kalahari Game Reserve would let us through with fresh produce. Among the cans was something called “Hot Chakalaka”, and let me tell you, the name does not get uttered without Jonathan singing “Chakalaka-laka-laka” and doing a silly dance. The cool thing about the branded Choppies chakalaka is that it has the sign “vegan” on it!

We had a short discussion where we were going to stay before our epic Kalahari journey, but the opportunity presented itself in the form of “Drifters” campsite just about 50 km from Maun east. There were no other campers, but we had a lovely chat with the owners/managers and spent a pleasant evening camped on the bank of the river.

Sunset camping at Drifters
Sunset camping at Drifters

The next day we had a very early start to drive to the Matswere gate of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. This involved driving down the paved road, and then turning directly south, and I mean 180 degrees south, down a dirt road alongside the “buffalo” fence (some controversial form of foot-and-mouth disease prevention they have in Botswana with the cattle/wildlife fences). The drive was a bit bumpy but went by quickly, especially as we encountered a kudu inside the two parts of the fence! He followed our car, matching our speed, for about 500m, and then as easy and graceful as ever could be, jumped the fence and was off into the forest. I guess the fence doesn’t really work on all animals.

And then we were at the Matswere Gate, picking up a photocopied map of the northern part of the reserve, and we were off into the wilderness for three days!

Matswere Gate - off into the wild!
Matswere Gate – off into the wild!

The first half of the first day we drove around without seeing vast amounts of wildlife together. By the way, here is something you should know about us traveling vegans: we did not have a picture book to identify the different animals, so we partially made them up: bambi to describe small antelopes, springooks which are in real life called gemsbok, impala and puku were interchangeable, and there was one particularly annoying type of bird that would fly up as we drove past it and cackled at us for some time until we picked up speed and it couldn’t keep up: we called it the clockwork bird. Jonathan is convinced they are not real birds at all, but rather strange devices for spying or some such nonsense. And of course the doggy-foxy things which are in reality three different varieties which we weren’t sure about when seeing them: wild dogs, jackals and special African foxes.

Giraffe behind wildebeest - all behind a curtain of rain
Giraffe behind wildebeest – all behind a curtain of rain

This part of the Kalahari desert is not what you would typically think of as a desert: it is covered in thorny bushes and short trees, the pans are open expansive spaces of short yellow grass. Some parts of the reserve look completely dead, burned, parched, while others are thick luscious greenery.

Wildebeest
Wildebeest

The long yellow grass is so inviting to felines that it is a real shame not to be able to spot them, they are very good at hiding and morphing into surroundings. On our first day we saw many types of horned-hoofed animals, such as gemsbok, impala, wildebeest, kudu, hartebeest, as well as many birds, both heron-like and vulture-eagle-like. We saw foxes and jackals, giraffes, and one lioness! Towards the late afternoon it suddenly started raining, and we drove without seeing anything out of side windows. When the rain cleared, we came upon Phokoje Pan, near our campsite, and  saw a huge herd of gemsbok, with another huge herd of impala and some wildebeest all grazing together in the open. The gemsbok were making huge dust clouds because the males were running around like mad, fighting each other. We stopped to take photographs of the double rainbow that had formed above Troopy, and the scenery was spectacular.

Double rainbow on the pans
Double rainbow on the pans

As we pulled ourselves away and were ready to drive the last 500m or so to our campsite, we came upon an animal, probably hartebeest, legging it at incredible speed first on our left, then crossing the track and disappearing off on the right side. I thought to myself that it must be something other than us, and of course immediately we see it: a lion! We slowly drove up closer and stopped, with the engine off, to admire the great feline. She was all alone, which is very unusual, and not very interested in the huge herds of dinner that were grazing on the pan, nor the hartebeest that ran away from her. She kept picking at something on the ground, possibly finishing the last bits of her latest meal. She looked over a few times at us, but again seemed vaguely uninterested in us, mere humans. Eventually she finished and slowly wandered off into the bushes. It was a bit unnerving to discover that our “campsite” was slightly uncomfortably close to the sighting of the lioness.

The lovely feline
The lovely feline

These campsites in the park are truly completely wild: they have a hole in the ground and an empty bucket where I guess you are supposed to pour your own water for showering. There is also a fire pit, and nothing else. The great plains of the Kalahari, everything it encompasses, all the dangers, all are out there to get you while you sleep!

It had just rained, so there was a stampede of millipedes in the wet sand where we parked. One of them was trying to climb up my foot, and then I sneezed really loud and it actually got scared and curled into a ball! What strange creatures. We had no visitors in the evening, but I can’t say with certainty about the night – I slept like a log.

Bat-eared fox
Bat-eared fox

In the morning we packed up quickly and drove back to the pan, to see if we could spot the lioness again, but alas, we weren’t so lucky. The herds of antelope were still there, munching away and dozing off in the morning sunlight. It was actually a cold, wet morning, not the usual desert weather of course, but then the rainy season is just coming to Botswana now. We drove through Piper Pans, spotting many more foxes this time, and what looked like a dragged trail on the sand from the side of the pan into the thick bushes – possibly a cheetah or a leopard, but impossible to see through the vegetation. When we got closer to Xade, southwest end of the reserve, we started seeing more and more traces of elephants. After Xade we drove to Xaka, our campsite, only to get confused by the lack of signs of any kind in this part of the park, and the lack of the “hole” facilities at this camp. In some ways it is better that way, instead of using the smelly spider-covered “hole” that many campers before have used. The terrain near Xade and Xaka is similar but it seems the rains have gotten here first: the scenery was more green, the grass was full of vitality, and the thorny bushes were particularly nasty, especially to Troopy’s sides. The sandy track was covered in a thin layer of wetness, which actually made the sand less tricky to drive on.

Having a snack on the side of the road
Having a snack on the side of the road

The next morning we packed up really quickly and drove to the nearest watering hole to spot any animals, but there were only birds. We had a quick breakfast and had a long (or so we thought) drive ahead of us to the Southern gate. The track was truly isolated at this point, there were many footprints on the track, some including cats and elephants, but we didn’t see anything until suddenly I spotted an elephant’s back and ears in the bushes. By the time we reversed the car, he was already gone. We met two German cars in a convoy going the opposite direction, but that was it for people in that part of the reserve. It started raining more heavily towards lunchtime, and soon the tracks became more muddy than sandy, the car was sliding from side to side or jumping up and down from the fresh tracks of the German car. It was around this time we also realized that the previous day, when we stopped for a snack, we forgot to put our cardboard box back in the car, embarrassingly littering the reserve with the box which contained a pair of Jonathan’s vegetarian shoes, a water bottle and some socks and plastic bags.

Kudu
Kudu

Before hitting the Southern Gate, we passed one of the very few San villages still left in the reserve. One of the few issues Botswana faces as a country is the re-settlement of the San people from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, and it is still a raging human rights debate. We also saw giraffes again and the odd antelope-type animals, but as soon as we exited the reserve it was all cattle again. We had a very long, wet, miserable drive from the southeast point of the park down south to the main highway, and then from there to Kang. We got to Kang already in the dark, and had a very hard time finding accommodation, as it turned out later, because of the power cut. But what an exciting and beautiful storm it was that brought the electricity down! As the sun was starting to set, coloring the sky red and orange, there was a huge thundercloud in front of us on the massive straight flat road. The orange sun and its surroundings were underneath the cloud, behind a wall of rain, and the thundercloud was a menacing dark purple and blue and heavy on top. There was spectacular lightning as well, and the whole ordeal felt like the end of the world. The best bit – we had to drive through it.

The awesome sunset storm
The awesome sunset storm

In Kang another strange phenomenon happened – after finding a few accommodation spots in the dark, we were told twice that the place was full – but then a kind manager in a guesthouse took pity on us and let us stay in a communal part of the establishment with a clean room, TV, shared (clean) bathrooms and a lovely rowdy crowd outside – all without working lights! Jonathan was so tired from the whole day of rough driving that he fell asleep mid-cider. I was too busy getting the knots out of my hair to notice.

Kalahari wild watermelon - we didn't end up trying it
Kalahari wild watermelon – we didn’t end up trying it

The next day I lost one of our bets – we decided it would be fun to find out what would happen if I didn’t talk for 24 hours. I immediately lost it in the morning, because I woke up and asked what time it was. Then we tried to do it again during the day, and I lasted one hour. I have a cold bucket of water coming to me at some point when the knee heals. We drove to Ghanzi, with tons of millipedes and dung beetles on the road and (the latter) hitting the windscreen. We even saw a vulture devouring a small feline on the side of the road! From Ghanzi we went to stay at Thakadu Camp – and at night one of the other cars got broken into and their camera stolen! Lucky it wasn’t us. There were also a billion strange bugs inside and outside of Troopy, we spent the last hour before bed basically butchering them – sorry fellow vegans! But massive flying ants and beetles of all sizes landing on your face when you’re falling asleep is just about the most unpleasant thing there is. The next morning we headed to Namibia!

Rain (Victoria Falls to the Aha Hills)

4th November

Thunder is rumbling across the savanna just like elephants don’t. The storm clouds are all around us and their winds rush through the parched camp in dusty turbulent gusts – a clear warning of an imminent deluge. The rainy season is not here yet, but all the signs are that its coming soon.

We are in Botswana for a second night before heading across Chobe National Park towards Maun. Tonight we’re at the Senyati Safari Camp – where we have our own individual toilet, shower and washing up block. A tiny lizard just scared Katana as it hid from the weather under her pillow as she was lying on our little veranda. Still in the early stages of recovery from the rafting injury, she’s doing well but its a bit rough. The knee is very painful and can’t bend yet, and its awkward and exhausting getting in and out of Troopy, the bunk and walking about with a stick. Luckily she has me to wait on her hand and foot!

Running Repairs at Senyati
Running Repairs at Senyati

After the rafting, there was the bungy jump. I was a bit nervous doing that after the previous day’s drama, but its a jump I’ve been looking forward to for over a decade so it had to be done. I even took Leo with me. As it turned out, it was a great jump – the scenery was pretty special, with the Zambezi churning through the gorge below in green and white breaking waves – and the hot weather made for a nice smooth bounce on stretchy elastic!

Taunting the Zambezi
Taunting the Zambezi

8th November

Thunder is rumbling round the limestone hills just like the elephant who was here just before us probably didn’t. It seems I never got to finish or post my last blog above – internet access has been very patchy, and we have been travelling around Botswana’s more empty spaces. Tonight we are again camping wild, at a place called ‘The Dancing Spot’ in the Aha Hills of Botswana’s North Western Kalahari. We are the only people to have come here since the last rain, but some big round prints in the raindrop-speckled sand suggest a very big elephant came through earlier and poked around the rubbish someone had tried to bury. By the look of the sign, elephant dancing is boisterous! We have a campfire going, which survived the last thunderstorm and we hope will deter too much interest from wildlife…yes, I’m still nervous after the last elephant encounter! It is good to get away from the tourist circuit though – and this place is very much off the beaten track.

Elephant Deterant Fire

Meanwhile, I have to admit that Katana was not the only casualty in Vic Falls – Troopy was also the victim of some tired end-of-day poor driving on the campsite – whilst discussing where to park I failed to notice an overleaning tree and we rolled back into it – pushing the spare wheel into the back door. A new door is required at some point, but it all works still so will be OK for now. Also – the driveshaft oil leak came back, and when it was taken apart we found the bearing had not been correctly installed at Toyota Kenya, so we are lucky I guess not to have had a more serious failure. In any case, we had the oil seal replaced in Vic Falls, but by the time we had travelled 70km to Botswana, it was leaking again! I’m hoping we have the problem solved this time though – and we had a good time at the garage in Kasungula where I went to try and buy the tool to do the job myself, but ended up helping their mechanic do the job and promising to send them my copy of the Haines manual when we get to Cape Town – very friendly guys there, who were very impressed by the good old Haines manual. If we get to Cape Town without the oil leak recurring, I think they’ve earned it!

After Vic Falls we stayed in Kasane, where we ran into the French couple we first met in Malawi again whilst stocking up in the supermarket (we have met them 6 times now, as I write this!). The campsite by the Chobe Riverfront was roamed by Warthogs, Baboons and Pythons that we saw, and apparently crocodiles which we didn’t. Then after stocking up and getting Troopy sorted we went on to Senyati, where we sat in the bar and discussed the route through Chobe, but in the end decided that a rough road for 2 days through the park was a bit too soon for Katana’s healing knee. All this time we were cooking our own food – we are definitely now back in the world of big, well-stocked supermarkets which makes things easier to be sure of vegan meals, but is also somehow disappointing – its as if we are already being slowly transitioned back to things we are used to in London. We are often nostalgic for Ethiopian food, and even the ‘charms’ of Wadi Halfa!

After another night at a lodge with a swimming pool and a nice meal out at the restaurant for a change, we diverted from the route to Maun and headed into the Makgadikadi pans on sandy tracks for a day of wildlife watching and experiencing the wild open grassy plains of the savanna. No lions were spotted, but we did come across a group of meerkats – another first for the trip.

Meerkats do not sound Russian...
Meerkats do not sound Russian…

After some playing making fresh tracks we then raced 10km across a (dryish) salt lake, running ahead of a thunderstorm – I didn’t want to find out how sticky it gets when wet . We also dropped by a huge, 7-trunked, 500 year old Baobab tree and were suitably awed. Then the rain caught up with us and we slipped and crawled out of the pans in the mud, picking up a puncture but making it to Planet Baobab for the night.

This week has been about travelling onward, seeing Botswana, and letting Katana’s knee heal properly. That is not to say we haven’t done anything but travel by car – today we drove out into the wild North West of Botswana and visited Drotsky’s Caves, which necessitated a bit of mountaineering to get down into the stalactite and bat filled caverns.

We have booked our passage through the Central Kalahari National Park – staying at 2 campsites in the park on the way South. These campsites are 1-group-at-a-time arrangememts so it will be just us and the lions. Hopefully no more close encounters with elephants! We’ll check in with an update once we come out the other side.