D&D in Africa

Beware of Twende Overland Services, Cliff Hunter and Claudia de Vries!

Admin — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 16:29:20 +0000

After an absolutely awesome trip in Africa our experience is now overshadowed by some terrible actions of the company we bought our car from called Cape Overland Workshop cc. trading under the name of Twende Overland Services cc.
Having returned the car and returned home to Switzerland we waited for their quote for the repurchase price. The quote never came but instead reports from other customers that the company had disappeared from their premises in Cape Town and neither Cliff Hunter or Claudia de Vries as owners were to be found. We started numerous futile attempts to contact them and find out what is happening and where the money is that they owe us. A week later we got a very short e-mail stating that Cape Overland Workshop cc. aka Twende Overland Services is bankrupt and mockingly offering ‘apologies for any inconveniences caused’. Damn, you cause us 116’000 Rands of inconvenience – and no, I don’t accept that apology!!!

We have now engaged lawyers in South Africa to get our car back, which is in their possession but which is lawfully still our property. It’s to be seen how successful that is going to be. I’m very skeptical…
(By the way: If anyone tries to sell you a Blue 2001 Toyota Hilux DC KZ-TE 3.0l Turbodiesel with ca. 233’410 km on the clock and a CA 663 047 registration, DON’T BUY, that’s o u r car!)

Because of my experience I would like to discourage anyone from doing any business with Cliff Hunter, Claudia de Vries or any of their numerous companies. We find it very odd that two days after we handed over the car, the company suddenly disappears and is later bankrupt. Smells very fishy to me and if you don’t like getting ripped off, avoid the following entities, which are connected to these persons:

Twende Overland Tours and Travel CC (registration no. 2006/101758/23)
Twende Africa Travel Services CC (registration no. 2005/034604/23)
Cape Overland Workshop cc. (in liquidation!!) AKA Twende Overland Services cc.(www.twende.co.za or here is their Facebook Group)
The website Overlanding Africa, offering travel services, is led by Claudia de Vries: http://www.overlandingafrica.com/ as this profile shows.

The services of Twende Overland Services were solicited to us by Drive South Africa (www.drivesouthafrica.co.za) which I would like to discourage people from doing business with as well. Obviously they are very careless in choosing their business partners. Frankly they did not give a hoot about their recommended partner ripping us off. So if you don’t want to end up with a disaster like ours, steer clear of the folks at Drive South Africa.

Link to this post and thus enhance my search ranking if you want to help other travellers finding this advice! Let’s join forces to make it harder for thugs like these to rip-off well meaning travellers!

Mozambique 2: Inhambane – Palms in Paradise

Admin — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 13:16:31 +0000

Our second longer stay in Moz was on the beaches in Inhambane where we finally found the tropical paradise we were looking for. We drove down from Vilankulo and headed first to Tofo, which is supposedly the main backpacker drag in the area and offers the best surfing. At first we didn’t find Bamboozi Backpackers because it’s a long way off, but some other people showed us the way in return to getting a ride on our back bumper . The accomodation didn’t impress upon first sight. The whole place is located behind a huge dune that separates it from the beach. We got a very basic reed-hut with two beds because we didn’t feel like camping. The hut was ok but the beds were a disaster – my back still hurts when I think about it. The weather had turned foul again and it was very windy and c o l d… I was not impressed… Luckily we met two american girls on the second day and they had one of the nice Chalets up on the hill .

The weather did not improve on the second day, quite to the contrary a thunderstorm swept across the beach. We spent the day playing Settlers with the americans. They had two extra beds in their Chalet and in return to cooking a nice prawn curry that night we were invited to stay. On the next day the weather had completely changed and all was set to go on a Ocean Safari with the local Dive-Shack a bunch of South African ‘cougars’, the american girls and us set of in a pontoon boat to find the famous whale sharks. Launching the boat through the surf was quite a challenge. The swell was still high from the storms and it was a bumpy start. At first the expedition did not look fruitful – no whale shark anywhere only a few dolphins jumping near the rocks. We drove far to the south until our spotter suddenly called out that he had seen a large shadow. The skipper maneuvered in front of it and everyone jumped in. I was disoriented for a second but then I saw the huge animal, the largest fish in the world, swimming straight toward me! I waited until it was passing under me and paddled with my fins like mad to keep up. The whale shark moved his tail veeery slowly from side to side but it took quite some effort for me to keep up! I swam on the side of the shark for some time and got to study every part of it. Suddenly I realized that there was almost noone around me anymore! Above the water I could see some snorklers of another boat getting out of the water but my own boat was nowhere to be seen. I looked back the way I came from and was relieved to find our boat popping up behind the waves every few seconds. As soon as I started waving my arms they saw me as well and raced over. Apparently I was the only one still in the water and they nearly forgot about me… Cheers to Martin for reminding them!

I spent the rest of the day laying in the hammock or lazing on the beach. For dinner we decided to head to town and give a place called ‘Casa de Comer’ a shot. It turned out to be a fantastic place and we had some of the very best food on the trip sofar. It was so good we decided to come again tomorrow and booked four of the freshly caught tuna steaks that were the next days special. On the way back to Bamboozi we quickly joined into the party at another Backpacker and moved to the vibes of the local band. It has been a while since we had a proper party!
The next morning brought another fine day and we slept in for a change. Today we wanted to head over to Barra, which is another beach in the area. After having another one of the gorgeous pancakes in the restaurant, we left Bamboozi for good and made our way over to the Barra Lodge. The beach there is much more secluded and not as windy and wavy as at Tofo. Palmtrees line the beach and I finally got the feeling of being in a tropical paradise. I arranged two dives for the next day and spent the rest of the afternoon reading and walking along the beach.

The diving on the next day was fantastic! I can strongly recommend the dive center of Barra Lodge – they were by far the most professional I have seen so far. Because I did not have sufficient training for deeper divesn I got to go to a more shallow reef (Serengeti) just 1km off the beach only together with one instructor. Shortly after having descended to the reef I already saw a Blue Spotted Ray and some baby Lionfishes. Further along we also saw the rare Frogfish, a swarm of about 50 Squids (!), an Octopus, a Zebra Morray, a Stingray and loads of other more common fishes. It was an awesome dive! Unfortunately I don’t have an underwater case for my cam so there are no pictures . We returned just in time to make the breakfast buffet. For the second dive I joined another group of divers going out to a reef called ‘Mike’s Cubbard’ which is a little deeper and further out. It’s always a bit more stressful to dive in a large group because you keep looking for your buddy and you need to take care not to bump into anyone, so it was not as enjoyable as the first dive. But I still saw some interesting sealife, including Cleanershrimp and a colorful Nudibranch. The rest of the afternoon went by quickly with a few of the 1.50$ Gin Tonics and a long walk along the beach. On the walk I noticed many small blue jellyfishes that were washed onto the sand. I later found out that these were a variant of the very poisonous Portugese Man-o-war whose tentacles can get up to 10m long – good that we stayed well clear of the little beasts!

Blue Bottle Jellyfish

Unfortunately our time under the palms of Inhambane came to an end and we carried on with our journey to Maputo, the capital of Mozambique and a bustling african city with lots of character. Driving into the city is a bit of a nightmare with dense traffic and markets sprawling far out into the street all along the inbound main artery. We didn’t feel like hostelling or camping and went for a ‘real’ hotel for a change. But before we got to try the nice comfy bed we went for a little stroll through the ‘Beixa’ (read Beischa), the oldest part of the city and the one immediatetly around our hotel. We visited the famous train station (a very quiet place i must say..), saw the oldest building, the Fort built by the Portugese and the lively municipal market with its many colorful foodstands. I liked the place! It’s a nice change after the rather bleak cities of Lusaka and Lilongwe, full of life, colour and sound. Of course the contrasts of rich and poor are extreme and the city is not particularly safe (always take a taxi at night!) but we found a lively artists scene and beautiful colonial architecture, mobile phone operators invest in large new officebuildings and you can see development here and there. Unfortunately we did not get to taste the nightlife very much but I hear it is excellent.
Because I did not want to miss out on the world famous Kruger National Park we left Maputo the following day already and headed to the border of South Africa.

Downtown Maputo

Trainstation

Natural History Museum

Mozambique 1: Gorongosa National Park, Vilankulo and the Bazaruto Paradise

Admin — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 07:53:02 +0000

From the Mountain in Malawi we finally arrived in the last new country of our trip: Mozambique. Torn in a long civil war the country has only relatively recently been opened to tourists. We heard mixed reports about the border crossing procedure and the popularity of ‘spot fines’ (read bribe) among border officials. But our uneasiness proved to be unwarranted and the bordercrossing went smooth as and quick. With lifted spirits we took the long drive on the bumpy dirt road to Mocuba under the wheels. Near Mocuba we hit the main road running from North to South through the whole country. Since we don’t have an endless amount of time on the trip anymore we decided to miss out on the north of Mozambique and instead concentrate on the southern parts. We wanted to cross the Zambezi on the same day and stay somewhere close to the road shortly after. The road was now superb, there were even markings and cats eyes! Although they are busy building a huge new bridge over the giant stream the crossing of the Zambezi is still being done on ferrys! When we pulled up on the rivers edge we were luckily the first ones in the line and waited for the ferry to come and pick us up. The ride is quite an event when the aged and worn ferry points upward into the current and revs up the four diesel engines sending black clouds of smoke into the sky.

On the long dirtroad to Mocuba

An enormous bridge over the Zambezi will eventually replace the aging ferrys for the main north-south axis of Mozambique

Eventually we reached the other side and continued to one of the few accommodation options of the area. The night was quickly over and we were back on the road to reach Gorongosa National Park in time to do an afternoon gamedrive. Gorongosa was once a jewel among the game parks but also fell victim to the devastations of the civil war. It was here that RENAMO, one of the conflict parties, had their headquarters! As a result the whole area was heavily mined and the animals were killed, eaten or fled in panic. But now that the conflict is over there are efforts under way to revitalize the park again, rebuild the infrastructure and introduce new wildlife. For this to succeed the park needs visitors and that together with the beautiful landscape was the main reason why we decided to go there. Unfortunately we learned that there was no camping available at the moment as the Chitengo Camp is in reconstruction and all the construction workers are occupying the camping area. We insisted and tried to make a deal but to no avail, all we were offered was a 100$ bungalow. Although not in our guidebooks, we heard that there would be someone offering camping outside the park and that we should try there. Sure enough Piet van Zihl is operating a not yet opened campground on the site of his Envirotrade Project. He offered us to stay in one of the large tents with proper beds and only asked for a donation to the project in return! I was absolutely stoked and my slightly bad mood of having been turned away at the NP disapeared. In the afternoon we went on a gamedrive through the park. Much still needs to be done in terms of game but we got to see different antelopes in fairly large numbers, amongst them some new ones like the small Oribi. We also saw quite some bridlife with a Crane being my favorite amongst them. Other highlights were absolutely huge crocs that silently slid into the water as we pulled up on the riverbank and a lone Elephant bull bathing in a small lagoon. The animals are still quite shy and not used to humans. The Elephant was also quite agressive, instantly charging us as soon as he was aware of the car.

Entry to Gorongosa National Park

White Heron

What we identified as an Oribi

A lone Elephant Bull

Apart from the wildlife, I found the landscape in the park amongst the most varied we have seen in any game park. Floodplains are bordered by the yellow Fever Trees and suddenly you find yourself driving through high grass or lush tropical rainforest with palmtrees. Here and there we spotted the ruins of buildings. One of them must have been a favorite spot for a sundowner overlooking the game roaming the floodplains. You could still make out the bar and the laughter and ring of glasses of past times was almost audible.

Ruins of the former Campo des Leoes flanked by two fever trees

What once must have been a prime lookout and perfect sundowner spot.

On the next day we drove down to Vilankulo and we were eager to dive into the tropical waters of the indian ocean. Unfortunately the weather turned sour for the first time in the whole trip. A real beach-feeling would not come up and it was quite chilly. We originally wanted to stay on one of the islands of the Bazaruto Archipelago just of the coast of Vilanakulo but the affordable options in our guidebooks all closed or went upmarket. We politely declined the offer of ‘Azuro’ that wanted 600$ per person per night for their luxury bungalow… Instead we settled for Baobab Backpacker that offers halfway decent camping and is the only option directly on the beach (and they have 2$ rum-coke’s )j. Vilankulo itself is not really appealing and is quite shabby.

Bridge across Rio Save

Dusk in cloudy weather at Vilankulo Beach

Boats beached during low tide

Because of the weather there was also no diving and so we had to sit it our and wait. Luckily there was a busload of DJ’s from England in our backpacker, that was en route to the Lake of Stars Festival in Malawi. They prooved to be quite fun and ensured a raging partynight.
On the third day the weather finally cleared and we awoke to blue skies and turquoise waters. Today was dive day!! I was super eager to head out to Two Mile Reef and the Bazaruto Islands. Two dives were scheduled, one in the morning and one in the afternoon with a lunchstop on one of the islands. The dives were quite spectacular with one devil ray, four seaturtles (!) and loads of different kinds of fish. The bad weather of the previous days stirred up the water and therefore the visibility was not great at 7 to 8 m.
Lunch on the island then totally lived up to the high expectations of a tropical paradise. White sand and pristine waters teaming with life are backed by palmtrees and other greenery. It was a sight that instantly makes you smile and gives that overwhelming feeling of joy but I guess you have to be there to grasp its full effect on ones emotions .

White sands and pristine waters of the southern tip of Bazaruto Island

Me taking the plunge off the big dune

Martin in the air

Beach of Benguerra Island – Paradise

The wait to be able to go diving put us somewhat behind schedule and we took to the street again the next day in the direction of Inhambane for some more beach paradise…

Malawi 3: Mulanje Mountain

Admin — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 10:14:37 +0000

Our last stop in Malawi would be our visit to the Mulanje Mountain Massiv. Millions of years a go a bubble of hot magma streamed to the earths crust and cooled slowly, forming erosion resistant granites and syenites. Over time the material around the bubble eroded away leaving only the Mulanje Massiv towering above the plains around. The flanks of the massiv are extremely steep, leading up to plateau like areas that lie inbetween the various peaks. The highest peak is called ‘Sapitwa’ in the Chichewa language of the locals, which means ‘don’t go there’. With 3002m it is the highest peak in southern Africa and of course we wanted go there . Unfortunately Martin did not feel very well since the night before and so Jacqueline and I set off alone with our porter ‘Billiet’ the next morning. The first ascent onto plateau level was strenous and I was soaked in sweat from the relentlessly burning african sun. We took the Chapaluka Path up the mountain which often runs among trees and crosses streams. The landscape is phenomenal with the steep cliffs towering above, rainforest like vegetation near the streams and the loud sounds of thousands of crickets in the air. After almost two hours of steep climbing we reached the Chambe Basin where the vegetation changes to fir trees and forests of the famous ‘Mulanje Ceder’. We still had three hours ahead of us to the Hut at the foot of Sapitwa which we reached just after 14.00h. I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the huts. A solid construction of wood, a large single room with a fireplace in the middle. Because only one other hiker was there, we managed to score one of the few sleeping mats and spent the rest of the afternoon lying on the veranda holding our feet into the cool mountain breeze.

Me on the steep climb up to the plateau level

After the first steep ascent the landscape opens up to the up and down of the ‘plateau’

The next day started in the wee hours of the morning when we crawled out of our sleeping bags at 4 am. We joined Rob, the Englishman we met in the hut, for the climb to Sapitwa Peak. The early start ensured that we could do the ascent in the cool morning air and escape the heat. It was a magical climb in the dim light of the dawn seeing the surrounding mountaintops bathed in the first golden rays of the sun. After a first steep ascent followed a long part over, past and under huge round boulders. Here and there the path led through depressions with low knotted trees that were full of lichens hanging from the twisted branches, while the sound of our footsteps was muffled by the thick layer of moss covering the ground. It was a very mystical atmosphere in these thickets and made the ascent to the sacred mountain even more special. At the top we had an awesome view of the surrounding massive. Unfortunately the view into the distance was obscured by a thick haze that covered all of the plains. From this high up the dirty air below becomes visible that all the bushfires and old diesel engines running on salad oil pollute. I took another deep breath before we started the descent – the sun was gaining in strength by the minute and even on 3000m it started to get hot.

Dawn on the ascent to Sapitwa Peak

Me on one of the large boulders near the summit

The peaks of the Mulanje Massiv seen from Sapitwa Peak

3000 m above sealevel!

Me on the summit of Sapitwa the highest Point in Southern Africa

After descending to the hut and resting for a short wile to recover our strength from the 5 hour summit tour, we continued to walk to Chambe Hut. On the way we passed a huge forest fire that seemed to have gotten completely out of control. The whole side of the valley was on fire! After we had traversed the burned area we reached the other side of the fire. There we found a small band of people that seemed to be trying to get the fire under control. Four women were sitting on the path, each with a bucket of water in front of her. They had carried the water up from Chambe Hut, which was still 20 min walk away. In the bush we noticed three men with something resembling pesticide sprayers, which they were obviously using as fire extinguishers. But the sheer size of the fire made them look tragically ridiculous with their little watersprays. I felt sad for the destroyed beauty of the forest being burned away, but I realized that there was nothing they could do. It would need massive resources like helicopters or planes to douse a fire of this size and I doubt that anything like that existed anywhere in the whole of Malawi. On the final stretch to Chambe Hut I noticed a few fire barriers cutting up the mountain slope and my anxiety that the fire might spread to the hut was calmed. The hut was great again and we spent the rest of the afternoon learning how to play the Bao Game from our porter and the hut warden.

Scorched earth after the bushfire had burned all the grass

J., our porter Billiet and me learning to play the Bao game

Chambe Peak as seen from Chambe Hut

On the last day of the hike we only had to descend back down to Likhabula. On the way we made a little detour to a waterfall with a large pool at it’s base and washed off the dust from the hike. When I returned to the Forest Lodge I went to buy a pocket Bao game made from Mulanje Ceder and played a round with Martin over a beer. Tomorrow we will head east to Mozambique and the Indian Ocean marking the completion of our traverse of the African continent.

Steps ground into the bare rock by thousands of bare feet using this path to carry timber down from the mountain.

Likhabula Falls – a refreshing place after the sweating in the hot sun

Malawi 2: Lake of Stars and Sea of Green

Admin — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 09:52:18 +0000

Right now I’m sitting on the patio in front of an old colonial mansion that once was the home of the owner of the Satemwa Tea Estate. Today the mansion is for rent and offers super relaxing stays in the middle of rolling hills on the flank of Thyolo mountain that are painted in a lush deep green colour by the thousands and thousands of tea bushes. We drove down here from Cape Mclear yesterday where we have spent the last 4 days chilling at the beach, snorkelling and diving in Lake Malawi. We met a bunch of Medicine Students from the Netherlands and England and it was great to meet some fellow travelers. I liked the place in Cape Mclear a lot because the lodges are scattered all along the ca. 5km long beach and are fully integrated into the local village of Chembe. So you could sit on the terrace, sipping a cold beer while watching local fishermen tending to their nets, women washing clothes and children fooling around in the clear waters of the lake. One time we were relaxing at the beach and suddenly we hear singing and chanting from nearby. I went over to see what was happening and found a large group of women of all ages singing and dancing to the rhythm of the drums. Upon asking I learned that they were welcoming some people from a nearby island who bring wood for the festival to the honour of a local chief that was to take place the next day. I could make out the boat of the woodgatherers in the distance, slowly ploughing forward. It was terribly overladen with stacks of wood and people and had hardly any freeboard. Just before they reached the safe shore the inevitable happened and the boat sank! The passagers jumped overboard to swim the last few meters, towing the flooded boat behind. The little drama did not worry anyone and instead of the boat to come to the singers, the singers just moved along the beach a little to go welcome the arrivals.
Of course the lake itself is also a great attraction and the National Park protecting the area is classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The lake is one of the largest in Africa and in its waters 508 species of fish in all colors and shapes have evolved, many of them endemic to the location. We discovered the underwater life on a kayaking and snorkelling trip around one of the nearby islands. We also splurged a little on a casual dive to explore the deeper areas and found the famous Mouth Breeder Fish that keeps the small fishes in his mouth for protection. At night we would hang out with the Meds and enjoy the tropical climate with a few drinks at the Gecko Lounge. The four days were super relaxing and a great change from our usual fast moving routine. I’m looking forward to the beaches in Mozambique where I want to do some more diving.

Fishermen on Lake Malawi

Fishing Boat – The lanterns at the back attract the fish at night

Children from the Chembe village

Turquoise waters with millions of colorful fishes at Otters Point

Fish Eagle

Sheraz and Elfrieda on our kayaking trip

The welcome dancers

Silver waters

Sewanga Tea Estate

Our very own mansion on the Tea Estate. And we had our own cook!

Malawi 1: Bordercrossing nightmare and a good helping of african bureaucracy

Admin — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 12:05:51 +0000

Getting to the next country of our trip proved to be quite a challenge. It started with the hell road between Mfue and Chiapata to get from South Luangwa to the border. I had a bit of an upset stomach and the bumpy ride did not aid my wellbeing. At least I knew what to expect and Dinu was nice enough to take over my part driving. Shortly after Chiapata we reached the border and exited Zambia without problems. We moved over to the malawian border offices and handed our passports to the immigration official behind the counter. He quickly flicked through the pages and handed it back to us whith the question: ‘Where is the visa for Malawi?’ We answered that we were informed that we could buy it at the border and that we would like to do just that. Without comment he pointed to a faded and torn notice hanging on the window of the counter. In short it said that no more visas would be issued at borderposts… ‘Great…’ He informed us that we would have to go to the ‘nearest’ embassy to apply for a visa there, but near meant almost 600km away in Lusaka. I honestly thought we were screwed, but after overcoming the fist shock of the prospect of going back to Lusaka we put our money on the fact that you can always talk about anything in Africa. We begged for some kind of an exeption, a provisional visa or something, just anything to get us in the country and avoid having to drive back to Lusaka (which would have included another 300$ pricetag for entering Zambia…). The official was hesitant, called us to the back into the office and said he needed to consult with his fellow officer. At that point we were getting quite certain that we could do some dealings here. After a lot of talking, apologizing and arguing for our case we managed to score a temporary entry permit under the condition that we would get a proper visa in Lilongwe the next day. At least we were allowed to enter the country and wouldn’t have to drive back to Lusaka! Dinu completed the Customs procedure to get a temporary import permit for the car and off we went. As in Zambia one has to purchase a third party liability insurance in Malawi. Not that anyone could ever make any claims for it, but you have to have it anyway. We read in our guidebook that the premiums were much lower when the insurance was bought in the main centers instead of at the border. So it came that we drove by the shacks of the insurance agents waiting just after the border and headed toward Lilongwe. But of course it cannot be that simple… A few kms inland we were stopped at a police checkpoint. The officer, of course, asked for our insurance. We showed him the third party insurance we had got in ZA, which is also valid for Malawi, and said that we would get the Malawian insurance in Lilongwe. That did not satisfy him: ‘It is an ofence to drive without insurance in Malawi. Your car is impounded and you are under arrest.’… Great… We tried to play nice, apologized and offered to just drive back and get the insurance, surely then there would not be a problem. Not so in his view… He wanted to ‘escort’ us to the insurance agents and said that the offence of driving without insurance would not go away. We returned to the insurance shacks where an eager broker was already waiting with a sly smile on his face. I would not be surprised if he called us in to the police… We got the insurance, offloaded 7000 Kwatcha and drove off again. We hoped that we could now talk our way out of being arrested. Not a chance, the guy was relentless and his sarcastic cheerfulness drove me nuts. I asked what the fine would be that the court, of which he constantly talked, would dish out. I tried to get an estimate of what a ‘spot fine’ (read bribe) could be. He seemed receptable to my offer to pay the ‘fine’ directly to him and we settled on 35$ if the matter would be resolved. Welcome to Malawi, having been arrested for the first time in my life and nearly loosing our car to some underpaid but overconfident police officer.

Martin’s new ‘Casino’ Watch

Nice furniture, but unfortunately too big and heavy for us to take home

I kinda had enough for the day and was happy when I could throw myself into the hammock at the hostel in Lilongwe. Tomorrow we would have to go to the Immigration, the Mozambikan Embassy and the Toyota Dealer and it would be another stressful day. Getting the Visa for Moz was a breeze, very nice guy doing our visa express for the price of normal delivery time. But the immigration of Malawi was utter chaos with running from one desk to another, getting a stamp here, paying something there and always waiting in between. In the end it took us three hours to get the Malawian visa and cost us astronomical 70$ each! Luckily the service on the car went well and nothing needed major repair. At the end they even whashed the car! Anyhow, I was ripe for the island and eager to hit the road to the lake.

Zambia 3: South Luawanga National Park

Admin — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 09:53:33 +0000

Since we had already spent a lot of time at the lake Kariba, we decided to only spend one night near Lower Zambezi National Park. It turned out to be very hard to anyway and the canoe tour we originally had in mind would have been very expensive. Never the less I really wanted to do something on the mighty Zambezi and so we drove to the confluence of the Kafue River and the Zambezi where a Lodge offers camping. We also booked a Fishing Guide and boat for the afternoon. We drove out to the Zambezi and started to fish for small fishes which would then be the bait for the Tiger Fish that we were after. But because our worms were not very good, really small and thin, we only had lots of nibbles but no real bite. In the end the guide caught one and we could start to fish for Tiger. We let the boat drift along with the current and fished along the way. On the shores of the river people were busy washing clothes, small children played in the water of a little side stream and fishermen in traditional dug out canoes crossed our path. We also saw many hippos that grunted when we drifted past and here and there a croc slid silently into the water. On a small reed island in the middle of the river we spotted a herd of Elephants that indulged on the reeds. Unfortunately the one bait fish was all the fish we were to catch. I had one bite from a Tiger Fish but it did not hook enough and got away. The mighty river, the landscape and the wild game made up for it though and we were quite contempt when we drove back to the campsite. Tomorrow we had a very long drive to Petauke in the east of Zambia ahead of us.

Returning after a fruitless fishing expediton… at least the sunset over the mighty Zambesi was breathtaking!

We left early and made our way up to Lusaka. We saw the tanker again that we had already seen when we came down as it was just beeing pulled out of the trees on the steep valleyside. Crazy these truckdrivers…
In Lusaka we stocked up on food, money and supplies, tanked for an enormous sum and were off again on the Great East Road. The condition of the road was good and we made good progress. We planned to head up to Petauke where we would decide which route to get to South Luawanga. It was a very long day driving the 550km up from the LZ and when we finally pulled into the only Lodge in Petauke it was almost dark already.

Pulling the truck back up…

Luangwa river (note the car wreck of someone thad did not make the curve…)

Two boys selling big bags of charcoal for cooking along the road.

One of many bushfires we passed that day

Driving at night is nothing special in Europe but here it is outright dangerous. It’s almost impossible to spot potholes, there are always people walking or cycling along the side of the road, livestock can cross anywhere and truck drivers seem to think its fun to drive with no lights on. We were exhausted from the long drive and just wanted to eat and go to bed. Then came another T.I.A. moment when we had just sat down in the restaurant and got the menu. Zack and the lights were gone – power outage. At least they were still able to cook and so we had our first candlelight dinner in Africa . The lodge does not offer camping officially and so we had to camp on the carpark. Next tu us another Hilux was parked and behind it someone had also pitched a tent. It belonged to a Geologist who searches for minerals in all of southern Africa for mining companies. It was interesting to talk to him and he had a few good stories from far off places. He spends lots of time in Mozambique for work and so he was an excellent source of information on road conditions and attractions. He also recommended us not to take the Petauke road to South Luawanga but do the road via Chipata instead. Last time he travelled the Petauke road it took them 10h, they were going convoy and the road was really bad. Facing the prospect of having to wait for up to a week for help should we break down on that road, we decided to go via Chipata the next morning. The road from Chipata to Mfue and the park is a pure nightmare, the worst road by far we have seen until now. We praised the strength of good ol Rafiki that took the hits from massive potholes and bumps like a champ. After more than 100km we stopped in a small village to buy some fruit from the market. Suddenly Dinu notices that we have a flat back tire. We got the local ‘Tyre Mending’ guy working on a bicycle under a tree nearby and he was able to find the hole and fix it. As usual in Africa all we needed to do was to have the necessary parts to fix it, they new how but did not have the material. Having missed one hour we carried on into Mfue and Flad Dogs camping where we set up camp under a shady tree directly on the banks of the Luangwa River.

Some dudes under a tree fixing our tire.

Bunch of fat Hippos lazing about in the murky waters

Luangwa River

Flat Dog Camp is a cool place to stay because the campsites include a wooden platform high up in a tree where you can put up the tent. Because our tent is fixed to the car we took out the mattress and put the moskito net over it. It was great to sleep in the tree right under the stars. During the night Hippos and Elephants walk through the campground and you can hear them chew on trees or sausage tree fruits. One time I woke up in the middle of the night, finding Dinu already wide awake next to me. He whisperd exitedly: ‘An Elephant shaked the tree!’ We listened into the dark, hoping the Elephant would not tear down our hideout. Everything else was quiet and we could hear the wheezing sound of the air blowing through the trunk ot the nightly visitor standing right below us. This was just one of several experiences with the many Hippos and Elephants that roamed the camp at night. Flatdogs als has the nicest security guards. We met Edwin the fist night of our stay. They have a very hard job, starting at 16.00h and going home at 7.00h. We talked to him about his job, his family and our trip. Since we had again a lot of whashing to do we inquired if maybe his wife would like to earn some money by doing our washing. To our astonishment he offered to do it himself, saying that it would be boring during the night anyway and that he liked to do washing! And so we awoke to the smell of a full load of freshly washed clothes hanging on the poles underneath our camp in the tree.

Our Camp in the tree.

The specialty of South Luangwa NP is are the walking safaris. Here it is possible to explore the park and the wildlife guided by a game ranger and watched after by another ranger who is armed. I was very eager to do such a walk because we have always been driving around parks so far and I liked the idea of getting more immersed in the wildlife. The next morning at 6 am we set off into the park. I joined another group while Martin stayed back in camp to chill for the day. The walk was brilliant with the very competent guide pointing out interesting things along the way. Mostly he talked about small things that would be easily overlooked when driving, such as hyena footprints, dung beetle nests, birds, termites or droppings of various animals. It was fascinating to learn about all these things! I loved the walking safari and right after our return booked myself on the next tour the following morning.

On walking safari in the park

Bushsnake – an avid climber

All in all I liked South Luangwa NP a lot. There is a lot of wildlife almost everywhere, the animal visits to the camp were freaky and fascinating at the same time, the walking safari taught me lots about the african wild and the landscape of the park is breathtakingly beautiful.

Sundowners on an old riverbend

Dusk of the last day in the park

Zambia 2: Siavonga highlife and Lake Kariba

Admin — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 16:30:15 +0000

Da die Strecke nach Siavonga am Karibasee ziemlich lang war, entschieden wir uns im Moorings Camp auf halbem Weg zu Ã¼bernachten. Vor allem die unglaublich schlechten Strassen liessen es nicht zu die Strecke in einem Tag zum fahren.

Der Camping war nichts besonderes und da wir die einzigen Gaeste waren, verbrachten wir den Abend an der Bar mit den Eingeborenen. Schon bei der Anfahrt sahen wir, dass das Haus des Besitzers unglaublich eingezÃ¤unt und bewacht war. Der Herr an der Bar erzaehlte uns dann im Verlauf des Abends, dass der Besitzer in diesem Jahr Ã¼berfallen und umgebracht wurde, weil er kein Geld vorweisen konnte, als die Einbrecher auftauchten. Nach dem Ãœberfall wurden die TÃ¤ter zwar schnell gefasst, aber anstatt sie ins GefÃ¤ngnis zu stecken entschieden die “OrdnungshÃ¼ter” diese laufen zu lassen und aus dem Helikopter heraus zu erschiessen… Mit einem gemischten GefÃ¼hl gingen wir schlussendlich zu Bett und probierten zu vergessen, was uns gerade erzÃ¤hlte wurde.
Am nÃ¤chsten Tag ging es nach nach Siavonga. Auf dem Weg entdeckten wir, dass die zambischen Strassen nicht unbedingt die sichersten sind. Die Mehrheit aller Lastwagen standen entweder am Strassenrand, waren um einen Baum gewickelt oder lagen irgendwo in der Schlucht. Der spektakulÃ¤rste Unfall, ein am Baum hÃ¤ngender Tanklastwagen vor dem Abgrund hÃ¤ngend, durften wir leider nicht fotografieren. Die Polizei konnte an mir mit der Kamera am Unfallort nicht so viel gutes sehen und so fuhren wir weiter… Aber auf dem RÃ¼ckweg konnte ich aus dem fahrenden Auto ein Foto machen.

In Siavonga entschieden wir uns fÃ¼r den Eagles Rest Camping. Nicht unbedingt luxuriÃ¶s, aber dafÃ¼r schÃ¶n gelegen, direkt am See. Am spÃ¤ten Nachmittag machten wir uns auf zum Staudamm, welcher den Sambezi staut und somit den Karibasee aufstaut.

#wir sind etwas hinterher mit den EintrÃ¤gen hier, deswegen den Rest des Karbia Erlebnisses in Kurzform: Wir traffen zufÃ¤lligerweise auf Jason, dem das beste Hotel von Siavonga gehÃ¶rt und er lud uns die folgenden 3 Tage zu allerhand tollen Aktionen ein: Tubing, Wakeboarding, Essen, Partying und eine Ãœbernachtung auf dem hoteleigenen Hausboot! Es war ein riesen Spass! Thank you again Jason and Crystal, it was excellent meeting you! Die Bilder dazu unten:#

“Last Chance Garage” wo wir unseren Startermotor reparieren liessen

The girls and me

Serious action when Martin took to the reins – check the beer spilling!

Sunset over Lake Kariba

Martin rockin’ the waves

Airtime for Diego

The whole crew of the Lake Kariba Booze Cruise

Zambia 1: Bordercrossing with currency problems and Victoria Falls

Admin — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 13:38:43 +0000

Crossing the border proved to be an interesting experience. In the no-mans land on the Botswana side of the river, a bunch of guys wanted to help us with the formalities on the Zambian side for a nominal fee of 20 Rand (ca 3 CHF). At first we politely but persistently refused but after a while we figured it was really cheap and they seemed to know what they were doing concerning the extremely confusing process. We agreed with a guy calling himself ‘Mel Gibson’ (they give themselves english names to be understood by tourists and often choose the names of celebrities, we met ‘Kennedy’ sometimes later ). On the other side they shuffled us from counter to counter ‘sign here, pay here, give them this paper over there’ and in the end we did cross without much hassle. During the process we realized that we had no clue about the exchange rate of US$ to Zambian Kwatcha. Because they paid some things in one and others in the other currency that was important and we asked some of the officials for an estimate. 3400 or 3560 Kwatcha to the Dollar was their answer. When payment time came they first wanted to rip us off with a rate of 2500 to the Dollar! We loudly protested and said we would know our stuff. All they said was that there was a spread between buying and selling course… Of course there is but it is by no means that large. We insisted on a rate of 3400 to the Dollar and it took a looooong while until we had them somewhere near that. It was getting to be a quite uncomfortable situation and in the end we settled for a rate near 3200. You might think why bother, how much money can it be about… Well, entering Zambia set us back a mere 300$… Zambia, we found out, is more expensive than Switzerland. Incredible… Petrol costs 3$ the liter, all food (exept the maize meal that the villagers eat) is outrageously expensive and a 15 minute ‘ultralight’ flight over the Vic-Falls would have been 150$.
We felt a little down because we were ripped off (we later found out that of course the right rate would have been 3400) and drove into Livingston. At the ‘Waterfront’ there was no more space for us so we settled for the ‘Bushcamp’, but for me it added a little to my not so perfect mood. After checking in and settling down a little we set out again to look for a place we could do laundry (handwashing just doesn’t get the white stuff clean…). After asking around for ages we found a place. But hold on for their price: roughly 80 CHF for 10kg of clothes – and that was the discount ‘Backpacker’ Rate. We refused and cleared out to go to the Vic-Falls. We forked over 10$ each at the entrance to the ‘National Park’ around the falls and set of on one of the walkways. Because the dry season is now at it’s climax there was very little water and much of the falls were actually dry! Only further down, where the main falls were on the Zimbawean side could we see some spray mist from large waterfalls. We decided against crossing into Zimbawe to see them because it would have cost 100$ each to do it (30$ Visa for Zim, 20$ entry to the ‘park’ on the Zim side and another 50$ for getting a new Visa for Zambia). Although the falls are not as spectacular with so little water, walking across the edge over to Livingstone Island becomes possible. It’s not quite an official path but lots of people do it. Its quite cool to stand on the edge of the drop to the pool 108m below and imagine the thundering watermasses that drop here in the wet season. We watched the sun set behind the mist of the main falls and made our way back to safe territory and the camp.
We decided against Kafue NP in favor of visiting lake Kariba, so the next day we were to drive to Siavonga on the lake Kariba (just a quick spoiler until I have written the post about it: it was amazing and turned out to be three days of high-life .

Victoria Falls – in the dry season… in the back are the main falls which unfortunately are on Zimbawean territory.

Dinu on the edge of the falls

Diego on the edge of the falls near Livingstone Island

Botswana 6: Chobe National Park

Admin — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 14:43:03 +0000

To reach our first destination in Chobe NP we first had to drive 120km over bumpy and windy trails that were extremely sandy at times. But almost before we had really started the day had another highlight in store for us. After leaving the Moremi GR through the North Gate the track runs along the picturesque bank of the Kwai River. Because of some swampy areas we had to do small detours to drive around them and it was on one of these detours that we suddenly drove up to seven Lions laying spread out on the grass! It was two mothers with five young ones in their adolescence. The mothers watched patiently while the young lazed about or played with each other. The morning light was just perfect for amazing shots of the beautiful animals. Game wise the rest of the drive was rather uneventful, some Elephants and Antelopes as usual, but it was mainly the scenery that caught my attention. In the Delta we were mostly driving in quite dense bush or even forests but now on the way to Savuti the landscape opened up into the huge Savuti marshes, which are all that remain from a huge lake that existed here thousands of years ago. As soon as we had crossed one of the sand ridges that used to form the shore of this lake we descended into the Savuti Marshes and the landscape opened to a grassy plain. Sometimes the dry grass on either side of the road was higher than the car and it felt like driving through a tunnel.

The mother keeping a watchful eye over her lazing offspring.

A young male Lion yawning into the morning light

We were lucky to get a Reserve Campsite, not because there was to little space, but because the ranger didn’t seem to be very happy about our request. The day was extremely hot and the sun was baking down on us. I realized that I had drank way too little and had to lay down for a while curing my headache. It was so hot we were sentenced to inactivity and only late into the afternoon we managed to mobilize for a short gamedrive. Savuti is famous for it’s Elephants and we saw a lot of the gray giants. Some were even rummaging around the campsites of some other campers, feeding on trees right next to their tents .

Me on Bushman Hill near Savuti, in the back the dry savanna of the Chobe NP

Despite the soaring heat and the height of the dry season some trees still flowered beautifully

We got up early the next day to tackle another 120km drive to the northern border of Botswana and the Chobe River. Progress was good because the road was much better than the day before and we arrived at the Gate for the northern section of Chobe before lunch. The drive to Ihaha was spectacular. The main trail runs somewhat inland, but small gamedrive trails lead all along the winding curves of the river. The scenery is breathtaking and the concentration of animals is simply fantastic. There are literally animals as far as you can see on either side along the river. Herds of Zebra, Elephants, Buffalos and Antelopes roam the plains and drink in the river. Ocasionally a few Giraffes come to quench their thirst and flocks of birds fill the sky above. The campsite at Ihaha is right on the edge of the river and you can watch game right from the camp. A herd of Elephants passed right by us in the hammocks, only 4m or so away! For me Ihaha was one of the best campsites we have been on so far.

Paradise – Chobe River – Game as far as you can see

Herd of Elephants on drinking and grazing on the river

A Buffalo herd at dusk

Unfortunately we could only stay for one night and so we went on the next morning. As long as we were still in the park we followed the game drive paths to combine travelling and game drive. And we got lucky once more! Two large female Lions were walking along the riverbank and then suddenly a male comes around the bush in front of the car! We stayed until the Lion trotted back into the bushes and continued on to Kasane. There we resupplied on food and fuel and continued to the Kazalunga Ferry over to Zambia. Although this is the only bordercrossing from Botswana to Zambia there is only a ferry to cross the Zambezi River! A huge line of trucks, 5km long, extends before the ferry. Supposedly next year they will begin to finally build a bridge, but who knows, T.I.A.

Large male Lion coming around the corner on our morning drive at Chobe River

Rafiki on the pontoon over the Zambezi to Zambia