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‹ Previous (25/08/2007) MONTH Next (2007-10-24)› ‹ Previous (2007-07-21 - Namibia) COUNTRY Next (2007-09-28 - Botswana)› South Africa Kruger National Park (see on map) 25/09/2007:
Yesterday in the morning we had luck. We found a group of cars stopped with the passengers observing a small pond apparently empty (apart from some turtles). Through the open windows, we asked what they were observing and they answered us that there was a lion among the thickets. After a good while looking we could decipher an enormous face of the lion among the branches. After little some antelopes approached to drink the water of the pond. But they were restless, sniffing the danger - maybe they did not like to feel so observed - and at the minimum they jumped scared. But little by little they kept approaching to the water and some started to drink. I thought that the lion would expect more antelopes there to be drinking, but suddenly it jumped from his hiding place and hurled against the antelopes, with the bad luck for one of them that slid in the water, losing a precious time, infinitely valuable, because with four crossings the lion thrown it self on it killing it in the middle of the foamy pond. The rest of the group of antelopes, stopped at a hundred meters, observing their fallen colleague and probably trying to remember forever not to be catched in a similar ambush (but for sure that will repeat). Observing a lion hunting and killing - and to photograph it –has been the height of our expectations, because of that the rest of the visit in the National Park of Kruger, yesterday as well as today, seemed and felt rather drowsy. Anyway, yesterday at dusk, right before arriving on the exit, we observed a cheetah looking for pray and a big rhinocer with a baby. We also observed yesterday many other animals, but not as interesting as a lion hunting and killing. Maybe the most interesting of today, a grey and rainy day, have been the hippos and a hyena that was dying next to the road. And for the last 100 kilometres, before arriving on the exit, we have not seen even antelopes. Near the exit we have found a 4x4 full of tourists and their driver and guide has stopped us to ask us. - Have you seen any animal? - No - we have answered. The guide made a worried face and the tourists of resignation. Probably, we have gotten tired of 10 daily hours of driving with the sight put on the sides of the road, but it has gone well, because part of the desires of visiting other costlier parks in other countries has been turned off. Botswana Serowe (see on map) 28/09/2007:
In Barcelona there is the saying: "Barcelona is good if there is money", and about Botswana could be said the same, although the two places can not be compared. The big touristy attractions of Botswana are the nature reserves, but we will probably not visit any, because the prices make it inaccessible. On the other hand, Botswana does not differ too much from Namibia, with good roads, at first sight, very arid landscape and plain, with fences along the roadway, and also plains and the villages’ large but little populated. The differences with Namibia are the sporadic presence of small villages of houses made of mud and roofs of straw and the numerous veterinary controls that can be found along the road. We entered Botswana avoiding Gaborone, the capital in the south, in order to save ourselves some hundred kilometres of road. So, the first stop has been Serowe, a town without any interest (as all the other ones that we have crossed), but that contains a museum with free entry. The museum, very simple, exposes different objects and photographs of the previous royal dynasty of Botswana, which had a strong British influence although it was poverty-stricken according to the European royal standards,. In the museum I met a Rasta boy with long hair, called Scobie, which confirmed me that, as every Rasta-man, he is vegetarian and smokes marihuana. Afterwards I showed interest on his country and he explained to me that Botswana has an extension superior to France but it only counts about 1.6 million inhabitants. Botswana would be a poor country if it were not through the excellent mines of diamonds (and of other minerals and metals) that has, that fortunately the government inverts for the benefit of all the population, with good roads, schools, hospitals... Anyway, the lack of work also affects Botswana, and according to Scobie, the government could do more. Afterwards Scobie explained to me that the people keep the tradition of the "kjotla", a place where the neighbours are brought together and they can express their opinions without restrictions. As it seems, the government holds contact with the "kjotles" of the different villages in order to define the policies of the future of the country. Kasane (see on map) 30/09/2007:
I thought that we would not enjoy the natural attractions of Botswana, but it has not been like this. Yesterday, following our path towards the north, we diverted towards the small people of Sowa with the intention of visiting Suda Pan, an immense plain of salt. We crossed the town and continued through a path with a big poster: "private path". At the end of the path there was a big factory of salt without access to the salt works. I asked to the guardian if there was some path to visit Suda Pan and he indicated another path with another poster of "prohibited entering" that I ignored again in spite of the complaints of Alexandra. Luckily the path took us to the plain (not completely of salt), where many gnus grazed. Today, we have reached Kasane, the people next to the border with Namibia, Zimbabwe and Zambia. It must be the only place in the world where 4 countries converge and besides there is a border crossing in which you can decide in which of the other three countries to go (at least from Botswana). Near Kasane is Chobe National Park, and with the excuse of going to the border of Namibia, we have crossed it through a road of transit. Although the road does not pass near the river Chobe where the animals are going to drink water, we have seen quite a lot of elephants and some antelopes, pigs, zebras, buffalos and baboons. Zambia Livingstone (see on map) 01/10/2007:
Even if we have enjoyed Botswana for the last 5 days, today in the morning we have crossed the border towards Zambia, trouble free but yes with many costs: 20 € to cross the river with the ferry; 30 € of rates to enter the car in Zambia; 50 € of the compulsory third party insurance; 10 € for the tolls up to Livingstone. As we reached Livingstone (without finding any toll) we have taken 1 million Kwacha (200 euros) from an ATM, we have bought a new card for the phone and we have connected to Internet. Ben and Maria had written a message in which they explained to us that they had resigned from the hostel in Zambia due to the problems with the owners. We were not lucky cause because they left the lodge we haven’t been able to visit them in the Nature Reserve where they worked because today they crossed the border towards Botswana and for sure we have passed without seeing each other on the road. The main motif to visit Livingstone it’s the fact that it’s close to the Victoria waterfalls. In 1855 David Livingstone arrived to these marvellous waterfalls and he named them Victoria in honour of the queen of England (that was sponsoring his journey and many others). David Livingstone established contact with the natives of a village called Mukundi and also our guide book recommended visiting. We have left towards the village circulating through a dirt track that they were fixing, but in a moment we have blocked because the protection that I installed in the basses of the engine was too low. Alexandra became hysterical, screaming and crying and I had to threaten her that if she does not calm down we would go immediately to Lusaka so that she can take a plane. Luckily, there have only been necessary about 15 minutes of works with the shovel (which a worker of the road has carried out) to unblock the autocaravan. Then we have followed the road of sand at a high speed not to return to block but I kept being calm with the protection (Alexandra kept sobbing that we would block again). The visit to the village has not been too different to the hikes through other villages in Africa, but it has been nice to have a guide that was explaining me that the home of the head of the village is called the house of the sleeping lion, she showed me where David Livingston met the head of the village, or the small prison of the village where the violent drunkards are confined 2 or 3 days. The village has 7000 inhabitants and when asking the guide of what they live he has explained me that basically from tourism, so, the activities and the structure of the village have to be quite different to the ones observed by David Livigstone 150 years ago. 02/10/2007:
When arriving to the Victoria waterfalls we had an unpleasant surprise that I did not expect: it was dry season and the flow of the river Zambezi was at only 5% of its maximum. Only in the part of Zimbawe the cascades maintained an important flow lifting a white mist. The advantage - if it can be called like that - is that we have been able to walk on top of the waterfalls crossing barefoot small segments of river that led to the precipice. In any case, in spite of the few water, the environment is spectacular and still to imagine the cascade with all its force it is even more. Imagine a large river of 1,7 kilometres of width that flows through a big plain. But unexpectedly, in the middle of the plain and in front of the river a crack of 108 meters of height appears and the water of the Zambezi is precipitated into the crack, continuing its tour, from there, through a narrow throat. You can also imagine the show from the words of Livingstone: "Only the angels are capable of creating places as marvellous as this". Lusaka (see on map) 03/10/2007:
Yesterday we spent the night in a road away from the road to the outskirts of Livingstone, on the way to Lusaka. At night an old man from the farm next to the road passed and he told us that we could sleep there without problem. This morning the old man came again and asked me whether i could pay him anything for the parking place, but I have explained to him that i could not pay him anything (or almost anything), since our budget in such a long journey was so low that it did not allow us not even to sleep in camping. The man has understood my explanations and without being annoyed has started to give me conversation, explaining that he has a group of 50 cows, although 3 years ago he had 200 more that died due to a plague. After returning to the road and covering a hundred km, we have stopped in some town that had a super market. I have gone out to take photos and to buy bread and it has surprised me the kindness of the people, that cheerfully asked me about my country and afterwards they cheered up even more if i photographed them. Mid-afternoon we have found a poster that indicated "fort Monze, national monument, 17 km." My guide book did not have any information about the fort, but in the roadmap it was marked. So, in spite of Alexandra, we have entered through a dirt track that crossed different small villages of houses made of mud and straw, where i asked about the direction towards the fort. The people always answered me very nicely indicating the direction, although that has not been sufficient, because we have gotten lost. Finally a man has offered to accompany us but, as I already knew that Alexandra does not want anybody to go up in the autocaravan, I have told him that we would find it alone. But we have not found the fort, although the research has been a good excuse to discover the pretty places and the calm life of deep Zambia. Returning from the excursion, I have exploded with Alexandra and have declared to her that I am tired of her lack of optimism and of interest to know new places and new people. I was decided to break the relation once arrived to Lusaka. But later, the tension has been softened and we have decided to give each other a new opportunity. 05/10/2007:
Arriving to Lusaka we saw a group of women breaking stones, I stopped to take a photo and to ask how much it costs a heap of stones - only 10 €. When I returned to the car Alexandra asked me why i had not asked them whether their husbands also worked. Good question. In the rest of countries through which we had passed those that brake stones were the men. Maybe this is one of the motifs that in Zambia the women try desperately to get married with white men to go out of poverty. In any case, this situation is also happening in other countries, but in Zambia we discovered it thanks to Mick and Isaac, two Jews that have different businesses in Zambia. Isaac, despite being white, is born in Botswana. He explained to me that his family was friend of the previous royal dynasty of Botswana and of the first president of the country and could therefore assure that Botswana is one of the few countries of Africa without corruption. On the other hand, Isaac had worked for a lot of time as professional hunter, hired by Europeans and Americans who wanted to shoot any type of animal, including lions or elephants. Although he said that he would never do the same again, he defended the controlled killing of animals in order to create an environmental balance. I did not want to argue in a too hard way with him, after all in Europe we had exterminated almost all the wild fauna. Now, Isaac has a company of extraction of material on open mines. These days he was expecting a contract to be signed for the next five years and therefore he has spent quite a lot of time with us, looking at the television or showing us the chaotic traffic of the city. When entering in the city we had loaded the autocaravan with diesel (more than one Euro per litre), but today there were many queues in few gas stations, for the fuel was being finished in all Zámbia because the government did not pay for two months the fuel that was imported across Tanzania (the official reason was that the refinery is broken) Mick originates from Israel and before arriving to Zambia has gone half the world creating businesses. Mick as well as Isaac explained to us that Africa is still a virgin land with many opportunities of business. Anyway, the Chinese are keeping most of the market. The Chinese companies arrive with their managers but also with their own workers that work for a price even lower than the Africans (1 $ per day) and are much more efficient. The Africans think that the Chinese workers are convicted, and perhaps they are. Today at night we have gone out to party with Mick and Isaac. We have met one of the girlfriends of Isaac, a very attractive and nice black girl. Mick said that tonight would not go to bed with anybody, for although he is married to a girl that lives in Uganda, in the morning will arrive one of his girlfriends from Zambia. Anyway, really, if Isaac had wanted he would have been able to take the girls that he wanted to the bed, because they were throwing themselves on them, and would also have been thrown on me if it were not because of Alexandra holding my arm tight and throwing fierce looks to any girl that dared to look at me. 07/10/2007:
It has been a very interesting weekend. On Saturday we loaded the 4x4 of Mick and Isaac and, accompanied by their girls, we directed ourselves on dirt tracks to a lodge on the edge of the large river Zambezi, the same river of the Victoria waterfalls, although in the waterfalls it seemed almost dry. We have well relaxed swimming in the pool, fishing in the river, cooking barbecues... When returning today in the afternoon, Isaac has shown his rough character with the Africans, insulting them as "monkeys" to the smallest setback that was caused. In some moments, Mick tried to soften his aggressiveness with humour, although the bitter aftertaste in the mouth was not so easy to be eliminated. It seemed impossible that Isaac could have such an affable and collaborative character sometimes and to be so repulsive in other moments. Maybe, if I had been born surrounded by blacks and with an education that encouraged in Africa my white superiority I would also probably have the same character. Anyway, it does not stop being strange that he has so much antipathy towards the blacks but he can not live out of Africa. 14/10/2007:
We have spent another relaxed week in Lusaka, expecting the power supplier to arrive from South Africa, fixing a problem of the car (we have changed a bearing of the alternator that made the belt screech), carrying out the visas to enter in Malawi and Tanzania (the Romanians do not need visa for Tanzania) and met very interesting people. First we met Jonathan, a boy from Zambia that works as marketing manager for an important company that imports paper from South Africa. Jonathan was complaining that his boss was Indian and that 90% of the owners of companies in Zambia were Indians. Jonathan did not feel too well treated by the company and that's why he planned on creating his own company and taking the customers of the one where he was working, but he needed money and the banks did not let him any. Jonathan seemed a very responsible boy, working and of confidence, that's why I asked Mick if he wanted to invest in his project, but he answered me: - The number of Zambians that can be entrusted can be counted on the fingers of a hand, besides, if he plans on fucking his boss, he can also plan on fucking me further on. Yesterday, Jonathan invited us to eat in his house (a small dining room where he had an office table and a small room with two beds, for whether he had guests). During the lunch he explained us that he had been born in a very humble family, orphan and without economic possibilities to go to school, but a nun, observing his aptitudes, paid for his studies, till he reached a business school in Ireland, but could not finish the first course of university because the nun died. After eating he has accompanied us to the neighbourhood where he was born, camp Linda, where 1000 inhabitants lived without school, hospital, running water,... Even like that, the people were very open and happy with white people (or "muzungus") visiting them. Today we have met a Spanish guy. He Has left us his card in the windscreen when observing the Spanish plates of the autocaravan. We have called him and we have met this afternoon. The man was called Pedro and has come accompanied by a girl born in Zambia called Debbie. Pedro works for one year now in Zambia directing a computer programme for the ministry of finance. Off of record, Pedro has commented that in the government of Zambia there is a lot of corruption, for example his company had to pay before being granted the project. We have kept conversing on policy comparing our opinions (he has a franquist background and me a background of Catalan feeling), also on religion comparing my opinions to those of Debbie (I opined that one can be been mystic without having to believe God). Pedro commented that the Europeans, when they arrive to Africa in general have the complex of being white, a feeling of guilt for the poor situation of the blacks, however the Africans (or Zambians) have the complex of black, a feeling of misfortune that believe is provoked by the whites. These two complexes are combined so when the whites, they start to help, at the same time the blacks try to be make the most of it, then the whites realise that the unfortunate situation of the blacks is provoked by themselves and the complex finishes. Pedro and Debbie explained many cases to us to show this reality: • They had a guard that stole them 7000 € throughout a year, little by little. In the end they caught him with all the receipts of currency exchange in the pocket. • They had another guard who gave them a cheap excuse not to come to his night shift. Afterwards, he came after three days explaining that he had had to attend a funeral (Jonathan had also explained a similar anecdote of other workers). • Debbie has a gardener that whenever he can, takes the car without her permission to visit his friends and denies it afterwards (even if they have caught him sometimes). • In the school of Debbie they needed a professor. A girl that was recommended arrived for the interview, but instead of showing minimal interest on the work she was only interested to know the salary and when it will be increased (did not seem interested in giving anything in exchange for the money that she would get). They explained many other similar anecdotes to us, and the pity is that Jonathan, being African, also confirmed to us partially this way of being of the Zambians: they are very warm, little troubled, help each other, but at work are very vague, little responsible, liars, dishonest, undisciplined... For this motif, to all in all the businesses the owner always has to control that he is not being robbed and that everybody works (this is what we observed). And, in the same maybe due to this there is no industry in Zambia. Anyway, Pedro and Debbie also explained that the Zambians get very little (for example the personal guards of the ministers only get 100$/mth) and that probably makes them think on themselves and not on the company. It’s like a fish that is biting its tail. It is a pity, but after these months going all over Africa I think that the opinions of Pedro and Debbie are not too far from the reality. In general the Africans do not have the same values as the Europeans do, in this capitalist world this values would be very useful to them. --- After not taking for quite a lot of time the pulse to the world, I interviewed Jonathan who said that the main problem of the world is the mentality of the people that are usually pessimistic obstructing the progress and the attainment of goals. Educating for the individual independence would be the solution. The Zambians are not poor materially but they are poor in mentality. He tries to be different and thinks that this is a good way of affecting his environment. The main problem in Zambia is the education that is very expensive and the high % of unemployment due to the lack of industry. The solution would be to receive investors that generate work and to try to make the banks trust more the enterprising Zambians. Jonathan feels happy personally, but, not when he observes his environment, because the Zambians are not free economically yet. He would be happier if there was more work to develop Zambia. Jonathan thinks that the secret of happiness comes from God. Malawi Liwonde (see on map) 16/10/2007:
In Mali and Niger we had a lot of heat with the sun shining from the centre of the sky, but we are now crossing once again the vertical line of the sun and fortunately the temperatures are much more temperate. I feared that we would encounter 40 degrees in temperature and that the inversion in foods that we had made in South Africa would be lost. We had bought two big boxes of cans of groceries to save ourselves from buying the same products at double prices in the countries more in the north. But if we follow the itinerary towards the north, will soon leave the sun towards the south and will be in winter and the foods will be saved. 18/10/2007:
According to the travel guide, Malawi is the warm heart of Africa, a country to be visited obligatory for the beauty of its landscapes and the cordiality of its inhabitants. Anyway, Lilongwe has not complied with the expectations, perhaps because it is only the capital and the reality of the country is not represented. Lilongwe is not a touristy place. According to the guide book it was recommended to visit the main market, but this did not exist any more, although the area was a mishmash of shops and activity. We have also visited the Natural Shrine, where the guard of the entry has warned us about the danger of thieves hidden among the bushes and about crocodiles near the river. But I haven’t seen anything (no animal at least). The most interesting thing of this visit has been the tension of whether I found these dangers, so i was with the knife open ready to jump behind and run away through the path between the bushes. In any case, Lilongwe has been a good point to solve a couple of problems of the car (for its low cost): changing a peace of the brake that was completely used up and raising the protection of the car installed in South Africa not to touch the ground. Cape Maclear (see on map) 21/10/2007:
Cape Maclear was only about 100 more kilometres in the south of the route by the coast of Lake Malawi towards Tanzania. However, although Cape Maclear astonished us, we would probably not have gone there if we had known the state of the road. It took us about 4 hours to cover the last 70 kilometres on a track that reminded us of the roads of Cameroon, or worse Gabon. Anyway, from Lilongwe we had the opportunity to enjoy the landscape compensating the fatigue of the journey. Along the road, most of the land was cultivated, with women, men and children working the land with hoes, or others walking or pedalling with bicycle for the side of the road loading the cultivated products. On the other hand, the houses and the small villages followed one another, with small shutdowns selling fruits and vegetables and others selling other products made by hand: floor mats, sofas, beds... It gave the impression that, on the contrary to what they had explained to us about the Zambians, the Malawians cannot be blamed of being lazy. This would be a good reason to explain why Malawi is a relatively prosperous country without having mineral or fossil resources. Although we were surrounding the Malawian lake all the time, we could not contemplate it until we arrived to Cape Maclear, a small village settled in front of some islands that highlighted the unreachable horizon of the lake. It would have been complicated to put the autocaravan near the beach unless we had not camped in a "Lodge", but we found a very economic, calm, very pretty and frequented one. And there we have been able to relax ourselves all the weekend, reading, conversing with other travellers (there was a Swedish couple that were carrying out an itinerary similar to ours on bicycle), walking through the village and the beach, and doing snorkelling (swimming with feet of duck and glasses). Swimming alone through the beach of the village I have been able to observe small fish, snails and dirt that would stay there forever due to the lack of waves. I would have probably seen much more interesting fish if I would have hired a small boat towards the next islands, but we have to keep watching with the budget and so I have discarded it. Yesterday in the afternoon I went out to walk through the village. A boy from the village started to accompany me giving me conversation, but I explained to him that i could not give him money for his company. He seemed disappointed at first, but he accepted to come in the end and we kept walking (I ended up giving him a tip afterwards). The boy, was called Solomon, explained the meaning of the words that the children addressed me: "do a photo me", show the photo" to me" (I do not remember the original pronunciation). If i photographed a group of women or men working, they would have normally asked Solomon why, who – by his own initiative - explained to them that I worked for an ONG, who had delivered balls to the school of the village and who after the journey would send the photos to the school. Although it opened me the door to do the photos that I wanted, I did not feel comfortable with this lie, because when somebody asks me i normally attempt to explain that I travel for many months and that I can not send the photos. We were walking through the beach, where the children played; the women washed dishes, clothes or children; and the men fixed nets or played Go or cards. We returned walking through the centre of the village, crossing the cemetery full of goats, and visiting the cinema of the village: a home of straw where the people paid about 5 Euro cents to see a film on DVD on a normal TV. Little before arriving again to the "Lodge", Solomon told to me that i resembled Chuck Norris, the actor of cinema. I would not have given any importance if a little further another guy called me again "Chuck Norris". Afterwards I explained it to Alex, but she told me "The only resemblance with Chuck Norris is that you are both very ugly". Parc Natural de Liwo (see on map) 22/10/2007:
If we wanted to avoid the horrible track that took us up to Cape Maclear, we had to circulate about 100 kilometres more in the south, and we did it without thinking twice. On the other hand, this not foreseen stretch would allow us to visit the Nature Reserve of Liwonde (economic as those of South Africa). We slept at the entrance of the Park and this morning very early we have crossed the gate. We have covered quite a lot of kilometres on a dusty track without seeing almost any animal, but when we have started to see them it has been great. The road went by the side of the river Shire (which obtains the waters from lake Malawi) where crocodiles and hippopotami swim and every type of antelopes, quite a lot of wild pigs and also elephants graze, one of which scared us a lot. We were circulating observing how two young elephants were fighting, when one of them has suddenly separated and he has started to be moved towards us. I have changed quickly on reverse gear while Alexandra screamed with all her energy provoking the elephant stopped and started to move the ears. More ahead we have found some other elephant that did not seem satisfied too much with our presence and we have ended up deducing that the elephants in this park are not used to the cars as in the other parks. The entry of the park was valid for 24 hours, so, I have decided to spend the night in the park, in spite of the disapproval of Alex, who was convinced that one of the elephants would attack us during the night. But it has not been like this, some strange shout of some animal has only woken up us without any consequence. ‹ Previous (25/08/2007) MONTH Next (2007-10-24)› ‹ Previous (2007-07-21 - Namibia) COUNTRY Next (2007-09-28 - Botswana)› |
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