ON THE ROAD AGAIN

BIG GAME ADVENTURES
SWAZI ADVENTURES:
A Blog in Two Parts

Big Game Adventures
Continuing the theme of the previous blog, "trips", we headed to the second of my raffle win game parks, Nkomazi, the holiday weekend in January.

It is located on the Komati river close to the Swaziland border surrounded by....almost nothing: 10 platform tent cabins; 3 vehicles; 15,000 hectares and no public traffic.  You park your car near the entrance and are picked up for the half hour ride to the camp.  We went on one of the weekends of bad rains and flooding, ignoring travel warnings, and as result had little traffic and only 4 other people at the park.  The scenery/topography/geography was stunning, the three young couples running the park passionate, and the food surprisingly good considering the limited number of guests.  There were only four of us on the game drives and a guide who gave little thought to staying on the dirt roads.  Lucky for us - he got us within twenty feet or so of a pride of lions: a full-maned male, two male cubs, two female cubs and an incredible alpha lioness.

Wrong lioness....

We spent an hour just parked and watching.  As long as we talked quietly and stayed within the confines of the vehicle it was safe (or so said the guide). As the vehicles are open this is important.  And because the lions are big - really big - and get bigger the closer you get.  Apparently they are used to the vehicle but are extremely sensitive to movement or anything out of the ordinary, even just putting your arm outside the vehicle.  It was an incredible experience and did much to offset the power and water outages of the past two years.

A sampling of our 60 Minutes:



This area of the southern Africa is the "Cradle of Civilization".  It is stunningly beautiful.  One has to wonder why anyone would migrate north to hotter and more barren climes.  Although, perhaps, the presence of predators provided some incentive to move on.  

Because of the vast open areas and plains within the  park, there are huge herds and many varieties of antelope we have not seen elsewhere. 

These plains also serve as smorgasboards for the lions.





We reluctantly left this beautiful experience and headed back to Maputo until.... the the holiday weekend in February!  When we were in Swaziland last May we had visited the Ngwenya Glass Factory (http://www.ngwenyaglass.co.sz/), a small glass factory originally started by Swedes.  It had fallen into disrepair, was resurrected by a South African family, and now employs and trains local Swazis and secondarily supports the economy and ecology by buying and recycling glass collected by locals.  I had seen a chandelier that I found intriguing when we visited last May and had regretted not buying it ever since.  In the interest of enhancing a sustainable economy for Swaziland, we decided a trip back was in order.  In all fairness, Swaziland is quite nice: gorgeous countryside (according to friends from Montana it is just like Montana), extremely friendly people, English-speaking (albeit heavily accented), good roads and real stores.  Africa lite.  We spent a couple nights in a mountainous, heavily wooded area not far from the capital, Mbabene, and were able to do some hiking in addition to shopping at the glass factory.  Suprisingly, or not, the light fixture was still there.  It is now packed and waiting for a good home in the U.S.

This part of Swazi is within an hour of the Nkomazi game park and like the game park is part of the "Cradle of Civilation".  It also has beautiful land areas and a fascinating ancient history.  Intrepid traveler and purveyor of all things off the beaten path, I decided I wanted to visit the oldest mine in the world and the Bushmen rock paintings.   Off we went, the good roads becoming  not so good roads. 

Ngwenya Mine is a UNESCO world heritage site(http://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5421/).  They have determined by archeological investigation and carbon dating that haematite mining was begun at least 42,000 years ago.  Limited mining continues.  Haematite produces red ochre and the area is defined by its red color.  There is a small musuem, a bit of a hike to an overlook, and no tourists.

The haematite/ochre was used by ancestors of the San bushmen for rock painting.  So to complete the circle we headed off.  "Take the highway (4 lane tarred road) to the exit for the dam (two laned tarred), take the road to the right at the dam (two lane dirt) and follow the signs (dirt path that sees maybe 2 or 3 vehicles a year).

Continue to the end (a somewhat wider patch of dirt)."  So we did.  A few small abodes, many cattle and a small Welcome Shack.  After a few minutes a woman comes up, we sign the register (waiver?) and follow her down a path.  She is wearing flip-flops and proceeds merrily along.  We are wearing shoes slightly more substantial and still work to keep up.  To say we followed a path is a bit of stretch: down a hill, through the pasture (close the gate behind you so the cows don't wander in), over the rocks to a small cavern.

The paintings were of the minimalist school, but very interesting.  They told the story of the bushmen (red people) coming to the area, followed by the Bantu (black people) with their domesticated animals.  The bushmen fled and the Bantu took over.

Having sweated out, literally, the drive and the climb to the paintings, we can began our trek back to the highway and Maputo.  We - or at least our car - took the signage to heart; unfortunately on the hill and not the dale part of the journey. 

We were climbing a steep, winding part of the road when we both hear a rattle, looked at each other and simultaneously said "That can't be good".  The next minute the car dies. 

A water hose has broken and the radiator is boiling.  A long story short, a small bus finally comes by and stops, one of the passengers offers to help, hikes off to the nearest residence and comes back with water and a pliers.  The hose is spliced and jerry-rigged and the radiator filled.                                          

We get to the top of the hill and once again stop.  A call to the Swazi Peace Corps director who helps us arrange a tow and then  wait.  We were quite the local attraction.  Carl opened the cooler and had a beer but there was no way I was risking having to pee at the side of the road watched by 25 men.  Four hours later the tow truck arrived and we drove back to Mbabane: me, Carl, and two workers who maybe had taken a shower once in the past couple of weeks.  We spent the night at the PC Director's, hired someone to bring us back to Maputo and left the car for repairs, although we really didn't have much choice on that.  We were assured the car would be ready in a couple of days.  Eleven days later it actually was ready.

On the positive side, the Health Unit at the Embassy was sponsoring a contest to see who could walk the farthest in six weeks.  I logged in quite a few miles.

POST SCRIPT

So maybe this is a blog in three parts.  We were so intrigued by Nkomazi we decided to risk the trip with the car and return on the holiday weekend in March.  Well, St. Patrick's Day, but I am part Irish (O'Doran to tell the truth).  We were once again treated by fantastic drives and several liaisons with the lions.  We also had the same "I can go anywhere" driver and go everywhere we did.  Everywhere to the point of being stuck, being stuck in lion hunting territory after having just seen the lions.  There were five of us plus the driver.  The two women were put on lion watch while the men got out and tried to push.  No luck; well, some luck because no lions appeared.  The driver had to call for a tow (hmmm...this seems to be a new theme for us) and we hunkered down in the vehicle with the driver gun in hand.  The other vehicle arrived and we all got out to lessen the weight, the other woman and I still on watch.  As we were getting back in the vehicle we both looked over our shoulders and saw two of the male lions looking back. It begged the question of the location of the females, the real hunters in the lion kingdom.

We also have put a contract on a new townhouse in Ballston/Arlington.  Another long story of unfortunate/fortunate events, but it was a property we had our eye on and had to make a commitment in two weeks.  This has been a challenge from halfway around the world and we are making decisions based on less than reliable internet and downloaded pictures the size of my big toe.  And we thought the lions were scary....

  American lion

The Blog(ger) is Back

Wow - it has been six months since I last posted anything.  How time flies.  Six months in Maputo is like comparing dog years to human years.  And to think that a year and a half ago I wasn't sure I would survive even six months.  But yes, we are two-thirds into the 30 month commitment.  Carl will have had three birthdays and I will have had two.  We are balder and silver-haired - respectively; older and...older.

So, to recap the past eight months in a nutshell:

What has changed?
A trip to to the states
A trip to a game park
A trip to Paris
A trip to a game park

Seems to be a common thread.

Oh, and a new grocery store opened.  Bigger but not always better.
And two more Peace Corps Volunteer groups have established themselves throughout Mozambique with minimal attrition.

What has not changed?
Power outages
Transformers exploding
Water outages
Spinach outages
And the road construction continues...

We did a whirlwind trip to the states in September that included bookend Ben time in Atlanta, a week in California that included all the family, a quick visit with Carl's sister and family and Carl's father, as well as time in the DC area.  It provided another opportunity for a four generation...

and uncle photos

And yes, Ben does have a mother. I appreciate the estrogen balance.

While we accomplished a lot of the had-to's, we did not get in nearly enough of the want-to's.  Although if we had known we were taking a five week trip, instead of a four week trip we might have planned somewhat differently. Our return trip from Atlanta to Johannesburg was canceled after sitting on the tarmac for three hours, the flight was aborted and 250+ passengers were relocated to hotels.  We spent the next week at the Atlanta airport Hilton with a daily trip on the hotel shuttle to the Delta counter to pick up hotel and meal vouchers and check on next available flights.  On the positive side, it gave us more Ben time.

And on the sixth day...we fanagled two seats on the second to last row of the plane, said good-bye to the Atlanta family and headed back.


AND ON THE 15TH DAY - the power came on and has stayed on for a full 8 hours, so here we go again.  I may be back in that states before I finish this chapter.

At a charity event event sponsored by a South African based travel company that caters to ex-pats in Mozambique incapable of access to - or just incapable of - managing their own travel arrangements, I won two trips to two different game parks (we also won two beanies and 100 Rand in gift certificates to a SA grocery store which bought us exactly two pounds of parmesan cheese, no small thing).  We did the first trip in November.  It was a small establishment abutting Kruger.  Hot as Hades when we were there, but only 12 rooms and with access to a less traveled part of Kruger.  So, if lions were spotted, which they were, only three other jeeps instead of twelve or fifteen came racing up as well. 

After that, a few more weeks of the same old, same old: boil water when the power is on, buy as many greens as possible when they are available, strategically place candles and matches throughout the apartment, choke down the dust from the construction on the street, hold your nose while passing the garbage piles, and survive 9 hour work days (and on the fifth day USG in Mozambique said "Thou shall work only 4 hours"). 

Then..,Paris, City of lights, Christmas decorations, good food, culture.  This was our first Christmas ever without family, but Paris was pretty good compensation.  I was desperate for holiday cheer - the only decorations here were in the ex-pat oriented mini-mall and the plastic tree at our Chinese masseuse's. We rented a small efficiency on the banks of the Seine, one block down from Notre Dame.  It was heaven - and confirmed for me that Paris is absolutely my favorite City.  Decorations were abundant,

Santa  (and Santa wanna-bes)evident  

and the food and wine to die for.                    

We strolled the large Christmas Markets on Montmartre and the Champs Elysee and found some smaller neighborhhood markets as well.

We spent our days walking, enjoying

 previously visited tourist sites as well as exploring new neighborhoods, revelling in the paved sidewalks and only occasional piles of dog poop.                  

A new addition to the Paris

scene - and not just for tourists -

 locks personalized with the initials,

names, dates, etc. of couples and

attached to the bridges. Voila!- there

was actually someone selling locks

on site as we

strolled across the bridge.   

Those assured of everlasting love throw the key in the Seine.  We kept all three keys...

Warning to sons: three keys to be bequeathed.  Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to locate said lock "P&C". (size does not matter?)


I found a small tree at the flower market and we had an enjoyable Christmas Day, doing our last meanderings through the City and flying back to "MOZAMlicious" at 11:30 pm. Next year we hope the tree is bigger than the hats and more importantly, more than two people are in the picture.

After two weeks of trying to get this completed, my "African" instincts are to send this while I can - who knows what the next day, hour, minute will bring.  My increasing admiration for Peace Corps volunteers who live with uncertainty on a daily basis.  Mozambique has had horrific flooding in the past two months - many Mozambicans and 18 PC volunteers displaced. 

We had one bad day of flooding in Maputo, but because our apartment is high we were spared water damage, just experienced the obligatory water and power outages.

In the (belated) and immortal "words" of my grandson: May you have a "trauma free" year.

*this blog was done "Mozambican".  Dec 25th = Feb 25th to March 3rd????

To be continued (kind of like watching Downton Abbey, eh??)  Stay tuned for the second Game Park and Adventures in Swaziland!!!  Ciao, ciao

What I did on my winter vacation

We have crossed the halfway mark of our Peace Corps tour.  Not quite the same initiation as crossing the dateline or the equator - no certificates or hazing (hazing is daily life and does not require any special occasion).  Instead we celebrated by leaving with another trip to Cape Town (it took me three trips but I have realized it is Cape Town, not Capetown).  We had a two week window and debated seeing something else on the bucket list, like Victoria Falls, but I desperately needed something to DO and once you look at the Falls, then what?  Travel within Mozambique is ridiculously expensive.  While the beaches are gorgeous and isolated, again, then what?  No longer being a sunworhshipper, a beach would be nice to come back to, but after a day of DOING something.

The western cape of South Africa is seductive and while we went back to some familiar haunts we also explored new areas, including three historic villages, two of which remain essentially unchanged and continuously inhabited. It was mid-winter and although fairly cool, we only had half a day of rain - and almost no tourists. 

What I did on my winter vacation

Below is our hotel, the Victoria and Alfred, as seen from the top of the ferris wheel.  It is a renovated warehouse with a two-fer view of both the waterfront and Signal Hill/Table Mountain.  The red eyesore in the center is a figure constructed from Coke cartons that was erected for the World Cup and symbolizing god knows what - world domination?  We were fortunate enough to witness the start of its demise as they began dismantling it before we left.  In this case, things go better without Coke.

 Now if it had been diet coke cartons it might be a different story.

In addition to our standby activities - "We enjoy candlelit dinners and walks on the beach" -

we discovered some new, off the beaten path sites.  Three of the most interesting were the District Six Museum, a musuem housed in an old church on the site of a resettlement area; the Bo-Kaap District; and the Christian Barnard Heart Musuem.  District Six was historically a "colored" area that incorporated many ethnicities and racial mixes, somewhat similar to Harlem in that it was a vibrant neighborhood rich with music, art, and a strong sense of belonging.  As Cape Town developed so did the need for white neighborhoods and a "resettlement" program was instituted and later accelerated by apartheid.  Residents were moved far out of the city and a once cohesive neighborhood now splintered into warring factions and racial groups.  Ironically, the cleared land was never rebuilt.

The Bo-Kaap area starts at the edge of the City Center and climbs up Signal Hill at the far end of Table Mountain.  It is populated largely by descendants of the Cape Town's original Muslim slaves.  It is undergoing renewed interest because of its prime location, although whether this will prove to be a a positive or a negative thing for current residents remains to be seen.  It is characterized by its colorful houses, historical architecture, and a small museum.



A brief reference in a guidebook to the "site of the first heart transplant" caught my eye.  Both of us clearly remember when this happened and decided it was a must-see.  It is housed in the original hospital in a residential neighborhood and provides an excellent overview of the history, research and circumstances leading to the first transplant operation, as well its ensuing publicity, controversy, and consequences.  It includes background information on the donor and the first transplant patient and a comprehensive look of the technology of the time.  For a  Health Channel junkie, this was nirvana.



*Apparently Cape Town is known for its state of the art mannequins.  The two operating rooms - one for the donor and for the recipient - were amazingly life-like.  Move over Madame Tussaud.

Dr. Christian Barnard was a complex man.  The result of an operation that was for him simply the next step in transplant research and method was a life of celebrity, notoriety, and for some, infamy.  The quote below is one of his best legacies.




We also took a day and visited the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens.  To call these botanical gardens is to call the Redwoods a forest preserve.  Well, almost.  It covers an extensive area up the slope on the back side of Table Mountain that incoporates a wide variety of flora and hiking trails.  We even discovered a back hiking route to the top of the mountain. 

It's a small, small world

One of our last nights in Cape Town we had made reservations to eat at one of our favorite restaurants.  There was a couple seated at the table behind us, only the man's back visible to me.  We could hear bits and pieces of conversation, notable because it was clearly Americans.  One of the voices was disturbingly familiar.  I kept saying "I know that voice".  So Carl was discreetly trying to lean to one side and I was discreetly trying to lean the other hoping to catch a glimpse.  Turns out it was someone from my Falls Church book club and her husband.  She had not told me she was coming as it would be like telling someone visiting New York to stop by and see someone in Colorado.  It was a wonderful surprise and a highlight of the trip for me (or perhaps a measure of my desperation for adult conversation and political discussion?)

Perusing the wine list and other amusements

And we were off.  Our road trip was determined by my love of history and our mutual love of wine, punctuated by a stop at the actual southernmost point of the continent, Cape L'algulhas.  The history came from two old villages and the wineries from our new favorite wines.                                                                    

First stop, Vergenoud, an historic working winery and homestead now open to the public.  This is not a homestead in the "go west young man" sense.  Think plantation on steroids. Acquired originally under nefarious circumstances, it is nonetheless beautiful and showcases a number of buildings in the Cape Dutch style.  And the wine ain't bad.

 

Next, Arniston, a seasonal beach community and the working fishing village of Kassebai.  The dwellings date back 200 years plus and are still inhabited.  They gave been declared a national monument.

And on to the real southern tip - the Cape L'Agulhas -  and not as previously reported from last year's trip - the Cape of Good Hope.  It is a desolate, cold and windy but fascinating point of land.  It is also an up and coming area for wineries.  And the wine ain't bad. 

We climbed, literally, the lighthouse.  And we paid to do it! 

           

We then continued on and up to the toward the northeast corner of the Western Cape.  The Western Cape is like a microcosm of the U.S. in terms of the variety of the topography and vegetation.  Heading north the land was defined by big sky and sheep.

Our trip included stops at wineries, a couple nights in the town of Stellenbosch, the wine area of Robertson, and two historical villages, Elim and Tulbaugh.  Elim is an old Moravian community established in 1824, still limited to those who follow its religion and relatively unchanged in construction.  It is notable in that it housed freed slaves and the legacy of the Moravian/native black mix is evident in the descendants.  It is fairly isolated and the population fairly small on a year-round basis and definitely shows its age.  Tulbaugh was destroyed in an earthquake in 1969. Many of the historic buildings were destroyed and and since restored.  Both are wine country areas as well.  And the wine ain't bad.



Wish there was more to show and tell from Maputo.  Work continues at a frenzied pace on the road in front of our residence.  I am sure somewhere, somehow there is a master plan but it is not evident on a daily basis.  Sometimes they have have someone directing traffic, sometimes they don't.  Sometimes you can drive both ways, sometimes you can't.  Sometimes they cut the water and power lines, sometimes they don't.  They grade the road then come back and dig a channel through the middle.  There is no linear thinking, only a roller coaster ride of loops and turns.  One night we came home in the dark and could not find the driveway.  We had to park and walk back.  A pile of dirt had been dumped on a neighboring driveway and that was now our entry point.  Four wheel drive is not just for the game parks...

Carl did get to meet President and Chelsea Clinton.  He was in Maputo to discuss his Foundation with the President of Mozambique and wise enough not enough not to spend the night.  A small group went to the airport and met with him briefly in the President's personal lounge. Carl had to wear a suit and everything. Thought President Clinton was quite engaging but that he looked like he had aged quite a bit.  And he had only been in Maputo for less than a day.

We continue to learn about the history and current events of southern Africa and look to how this piece of the world puzzle affects our daily lives, the lives of its inhabitants and its impact and implications for the U.S. and others, and most importantly, its future.  It is a different paradigm and certainly a challenge for Type A persons who rely on logic and deductive reasoning.  If I return thinking in circles, it may not be just a factor of old age.