Botswana the beautiful - days 1 & 2

I promised I'd add more on Botswana at some time and now that I have more photos it seems as good a time as any. I've covered the main details of the trip so I'll use this as an opportunity to add photos so you can see what we saw - in a small way.


Lonni looks pretty cheerful while we're still on the ground as Dan (the pilot) gets organised - a slightly different story in the air although she appeared outwardly calm, if not exactly loving it

Botswana is a land of vast open spaces and large tracts of unspoiled wilderness. Four fifths of the country is covered by the Kalahari Desert and on our trip we skirted it constantly. Our trip however began at Maun, known as the gateway to the Okavango Delta. We flew in a light aircraft to Xakanaxa with Lonni slightly apprehensive and Jeremy in the back just about ill. However, as we weren't very high the flight gave us an excellent bird's-eye view of the delta formation. Dan explained that it was rather like a hand with fingers extended. The land surrounding the channels is very dry at this time of the year as October is the hottest month for the region. So sandy, hot, windy sometimes and very dry, some areas with grass and some just bare sand without a blade of grass to be seen between the low trees. And it was very exciting as we were coming in to land at Xakanaxa to see elephants in the shade of the trees, just near the airstrip.


Part of the delta as we fly over

Our first two days were spent in the Delta, but also in the Moremi Game Reserve. We saw plenty of game - even on the drive from the airstrip we saw quite a few animals and birds, the first being the ubiquitous impala - fast food as Kaiser calls them, for the Big M (like the golden arches) on their bums.


The ladies delicately cross our path


A clear view of the Big M

Game abounds in Moremi - birds of all sorts, including lots of water birds, elephant, lion, red letchwe, waterbuck, lion, wild dog, hippos, cocodiles, zebra, giraffe, hyena, warthog, baboons and so on and so on. We found quite a few different species on our first afternoon game drive, including lions.


Can you see the lion just a few scant metres away in the shadow of the truck?


Maybe now?

Of course the first night in camp we had the adventure of the lions very close by. Shelley told us she was so scared that she held her gum in her hand for two hours because she was afraid to even chew!

The camp awaits us for breakfast

On day 2 it wasn't long before we saw our first elephant ambling quietly from the bush and across the grass just in front of us. This lone bull really didn't pay us any attention at all although later in the trip we would definitely experience a couple of close encounters of the elephant kind.

Out for a leisurely stroll



Storks hunt for small fish and frogs in the delta waters

These baby francolin were right on the sandy track - it's a good thing that Kaiser has such sharp eyes

Mum, or maybe Dad, kept a close eye on us and called the chicks to order

On day 2 we also took a boat ride down the river. We saw very little game on this outing, but there was the great experience of seeing two elephants in the water having a playful little struggle. Of course there were lots of birds. And we had the unforgettable experience of taking a swim at the "safe swimming spot", which actually meant that it was shallow enough to see the hippos or crocs coming, not that they weren't there! The water was surprisingly cold but very refreshing in the heat of the day.

Reeds, grasses and papyrus line all the channels

Once the elephants had finished with each other one of them thought that we were getting a little too close

Taking a threatening stand

There was plenty more of course - Moremi is 18,000 sq. km. and covers the tribal lands of the Batawana people - the landscape has not only the waterways but also reed beds and mopane and knob thorn forests. I hope to be able to go back and see it after the rains when it is green and lush, but it is really worth seeing at time.

I'll put up more photos when I can - tomorrow is an early start to catch my flight to Addis Ababa - I have to be up around 4.15 am so I should finish packing and get to bed. Today has been a quiet day getting sorted out and ready to head for Addis tomorrow.

Thinking of you all

lots of love

Lyndall

A special day

Kathele

Yesterday I was privileged to make the journey around 160 km north of Nairobi with David and Solomon from World Vision to visit Kathele, his family and his community. Kathele is one of the two children I sponsor through World Vision and it was a very rewarding experience to come and meet Kathele and his family, to visit his school and his community and see what community development work is underway in this area of Kenya.

We began at the local WV office where I met Rose, the local project manager and was also able to meet Gregory, one of the local community volunteers who are responsible for the children in this area. I had seen Gregory's face in a photo I was carrying with me, but I had thought he was Kathele's father! Some initial major misunderstanding that was soon sorted.



Gregory with Kathele and his older brother

After hearing about the work of WV in this area we all headed off to Kathele's school where the children greeted us effusively. I was certainly an object of significant curiosity! Kathele met us on the way into the school grounds and as soon as I opened my door he jumped onto my knee with a big smile. Gregory tells me he is "bold one" as often children are initially afraid when meeting their sponsors and some even cry. The teacher told me he is an "active" one, he is at school sometimes when she arrives at 6.45 am!

The head teacher was away but I met Veronica, the teacher on duty and, completely surrounded, we talked for a while as the boys collected their school bags. As we were leaving the children sang a small song and were very enthusiastic in their "hellos and goodbyes". We drove for some kilometres to get to Kathele's actual small community and to the small "pre-school" that provides kindergarten classes for the children before they go off to attend the larger primary school. I asked Gregory if the children walked to school each day and he said "yes, of course, it's not far". A very different perspective from that of our Australian resource-rich communities.


Pre-school, African style


The children sing for me

It was important to WV and the community that I visit this small one room building, as my community gifts have enclosed some of the ends of the building (previously open to the weather), have added a door, have allowed desks to be constructed for the children (who previously sat on the dirt floor) and a chair and desk for the teacher, who also sat on the floor. They are also presently building a toilet for the children and hope in the not too far distant future to be able to put a floor down. It's quite transforming to see what a difference such a relatively small amount of money can make in a community like this, and how learning and care can still happen without the hundreds of thousands of dollars that we spend being available. This kindergarten has:

• no window glass, no ceiling or wall linings, no floor (there's loose dirt of course)
• no water
• no toilets
• no books
• no playground
• one teacher who cares deeply about the children she teaches
• parents who care enough about education to make sure that their small children (from 3 up) make the long walk each day
• dreams for the future

How patient might I be in future with parents who complain because they can't park right outside the front door?

After leaving the kindergarten we drove another couple of kms to Kathele's home. I was extremely warmly welcomed as an honoured guest.


I sit under the shade with Kathele, Josephine his mother and Joseph his father, his grandfather and two brothers (one older, one younger).

We began with soft drinks ("sodas") and talk and then an exchange of gifts. We had stopped at the supermarket on the way and purchased a significant amount of staple foodstuffs - maize meal, corn flour, rice, cooking oil, bread, biscuits, potatoes, drinks etc. - and I had also brought a small gift for the boys. Unfortunately the box of books and posters etc. that I had sent from Australia had not arrived so I had to improvise in Nairobi. So the big school got 3 soccer balls (Africans are football mad), the small school got another soccer ball and a koala picture that I had with me, Kathele got a soccer ball for himself and a couple of T-shirts and little books, simplified fables in English. Even the grandfather read the books. And it called on all my resources to tell the story of the tortoise and the hare to a small boy with no English! Lots of hand actions!

The family in return very generously gave me a bead necklace, a woven bag (one of the traditional ones that you would normally carry by putting the strap around your forehead - I had to demonstrate by actions that my neck wouldn't cope with that strain) and two wood carvings, one of two giraffes and one of a Masai man. They are beautiful. Kathele kept making sure that my necklace was sitting right for the rest of my stay.


With all my finery and special gifts

Food was then served and all the ladies present (relatives and community including the village head lady) had obviously been cooking up a storm - there was chicken, a meat stew, soup, rice, chapattis and a great cabbage and tomato and onion dish that was delicious. More sodas too.

Before we ate a lady brought a jug of water and a dish to all and we washed our hands in almost a ritual way. No towels, but the day was exceptionally hot and they quickly dried. We all ate with our fingers in the traditional way (take a small piece of chapatti, or make a rice ball and use it to scoop up some of the other food, then pop it all in your mouth) although there were spoons available if needed. Chickens and dogs clean up the spillage (although the dogs were visitors, brought by relatives). I was told that this was traditional Christmas feasting and only done on special occasions. Guests and those at the "top" tables were served first, then everyone else. Everyone certainly ate up big and seemed to really relish the food. And I felt pretty special.

After the food there were speeches, from the villagers and the head woman, then I had to make one and then David from WV made one too. A prayer or two completed the agenda. Oh yes, and the crowd sang a special song about how blessed they were - Africans seem to know how to harmonise instinctively and love to sing - everyone joined in.

Then it was time to go and as we left the crowd followed us, singing and clapping in a traditional send off.


Kathele says goodbye



Farewell from the crowd

I suspect that Kathele hasn't had the opportunity to be too close to anyone white before (although the teacher told me that there had been US AIDS workers at the big school) - a little hand would creep out from time to time and rub the skin on my arm, or hold my hand, and my glasses, ring and bracelets were very closely examined. He also brought me out all his school books to show me how he was doing.

Josephine goes about a kilometre and a half to collect water every day (on foot) and they are building another two rooms for the house, which currently has one room. The existing room will become the kitchen when they are finished. The rooms aren't joined together, just located close to each other. They have planted silky oaks around the house compound and farm in a small way - maize and vegetables such as peas and beans. The plants are only watered by the rains.

Such a different world, and people who have so little by western standards and yet who still revel in the joy of living and of family and friends.... It all makes you think

love to all

Lyndall

The bums of Africa

I swore that we saw so many animal bums when on safari (despite the best intentions of all of our guides) that a series should be published. It's quite a unique look at African wildlife.

There goes a wildebeest

A delicate and feminine female kudu takes a backwards look at us

Mama Ostrich takes off - females are brown, males are black

We saw lots of elephant bums - but then you can hardly miss them!

The maribou stork nesting deep in the waterways


Taking a relaxed stance in the mud pool

The short and the tall of it

The older orphan elephants can down a bottle like this in around 15-20 seconds - they have 3 of them each

On Tuesday I met up with Steve again and we headed for the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust Elephant Orphanage. This is just on the outskirts of Nairobi in an area called Karen (you guessed it, after Karen Blixin, the Out of Africa story, the whole area was her farm) and so was a quick 25 minute drive.

Steve told me he had been here at least a hundred times so left me to head on in and meet the baby elephants. Feeding time is open to the public from 11.00am to 12 noon each day. The babies were absolutely adorable and very playful. After guzzling their milk they headed straight for the mud pool where they pushed and shoved and rolled and romped for the rest of the time. They also had a soccer ball to play with and one in particular delighted in kicking it into the crowd - quite a few people went home splattered with red mud!

Enjoying the cooling mud bath

Stretching right out to make sure that the belly gets cool too!

Just a tiny snack to complement the milk

Making sure they are thoroughly covered

One of the babies decides to join the crowd

The keepers answered any and all questions and explained the other programs that the trust runs, including animal rescue and anti-poaching units. They obviously do important work.

On the way out there was an opportunity to sponsor a baby - needless to say our family now boasts two young elephants - Lempaute (read all about her at http://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/asp/orphan_profile.asp?N=164 ) and Lesanju (find out about her at http://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/asp/orphan_profile.asp?N=162 ). It's really not very expensive to sponsor one of the orphans for a year - I encourage anyone reading to have a look and give it some consideration.

From the tiny to the tall - the next stop was the Giraffe Centre, which is on the corner of the Nairobi National Park. The giraffes are in the park but come to the Centre for feeding by hand. The Centre also has an education unit and you can learn all about giraffes from the staff.

Two of the giraffes who were there for hand feeding

A unique chance to get a really good look at these elegant animals

Looking me right in the eye

Getting up close and personal

Here I am part of "a giraffe sandwich"

One of the rangers insisted that I be the person in the giraffe sandwich while he took some photos. Both hands were filled with pellets, arms crossed and then open your hands and hey presto - the sandwich is made!

After the Centre visit Steve and I went to the Rangers Restaurant in the National Park and had a very good and rather long and leisurely lunch, whiling away a few hours in interesting conversation. He really was an excellent companion and the day was another fascinating day spent in Kenya. I am convinced however that I will have to come back here too - there is so much more to see and I have not even made a scratch on the surface.

The rest of the day and night was spent - you guessed it - on photos and I am getting caught up to some extent. Need to sort some out and have them printed to keep some promises - they'll need to be posted off all over Africa.

Better go and get to it - will fill you in on today's adventures sometime tomorrow..

lotsa love

Lyndall

PS - another post that I will update from time to time with photos being added tonight - keep an eye on The Bums of Africa!

Only in Africa!

I think the train only runs once a week


The traffic is held up by a herd of goats




The traffic is held up by a herd of zebra

The unforgettable people of Africa

Kaiser Rams

I reckon you could almost write a short story (or maybe a novel) about Kaiser - our guide in Botswana. He set the scene for the rest of the trip very early on - when he met us at the small airstrip in Xakanaxa he introduced himself as our garden/camp boy who would be setting up our camp and doing our washing. That had the 4 of us fooled most of the trip to camp and after changing his story more than once he had to work hard to convince us eventually that he was our guide. Kaiser is:

• a joker (as seemed to be all our guides, I think it's an African thing to so enjoy a "trick" - there were ongoing jokes about lollipops, paved roads, paying for the experience and lots more)
• a great cook
• an extremely knowledgeable guide
• an excellent tracker
• a first class organiser
• a father of two boys
• a HUGE story teller (half the time you don't know what to believe)
• very entertaining
• a local Motswana (from Khwai village) whose totem is the elephant
• an all-round "good bloke"

Kaiser certainly played a big part in making our Botswana journey the amazing time it was and for me he's certainly unforgettable.

Steve Murugu Ndaiga

Steve, a Kikuyu man and resident of Nairobi, was my guide in Kenya. He is, as he tells me, older than he looks, and is an experienced and knowledgeable guide and fascinating companion. He completed a four year university degree to be what he is today, and has a family, with one baby daughter named Amani, the Swahili word for "peace". I've learned so much about Africa and Kenya and its peoples from Steve. He's both intelligent and astute, and our conversations ranged from politics (Kenya, Australia, the US), through current affairs, history (where exactly was the Garden of Eden?), cultural practices, marriage customs, indigenous peoples of the world and their cultures, food, wildlife, conservation, climate change, health care and the AIDS crisis in Africa, language lessons (asanti sana Steve), to varied aspects of Australian life, and many more topics, all enlivened with a fine sense of humour, an open honesty and a gentle manner. As well as that I'm sure he could drive in the London to Dakkar rally! And doesn't he have a great smile?

The Great Rift Valley

On Saturday night Alfred and I arranged that the next day I'd have a day with Steve (the guide who collected me from the airport) in the Rift Valley, visiting Lake Nakuru and the flamingos. Steve duly collected me on Sunday morning and we set out on our drive of around 160 kms to the northwest of Nairobi, past Lake Naivasha and the other one (the name of which I told Steve I'd never remember) and on to Lake Nakuru.


I have to say that the drive itself is definitely an experience. For those of you who have visited China, just imagine that China with even more chaos and worse roads and less patience! Except for Steve of course, who kept me perfectly safe and seemed to keep his head when all around us everyone was losing theirs... A massive amount of roadworks (a major initiative of the government) - and I mean miles and miles and miles at a stretch - and everything all two way with heaps of trucks, buses and crazy matatus (vans that carry around 12 passengers and are a cross between a taxi and a bus, well known for their crazy and reckless driving) all made it something very different to sit back and enjoy...



Matatus pass a truck on both sides in the thick dust - and yes, the road is two-way! At least the roadworks keep the speed down.


You are out of Nairobi very quickly - Steve tells me that if from the centre you drive in any direction for around 20-25 minutes you will be out of the city - a very concentrated city of an estimated 4 million. The trip down the escarpment gives you a brilliant view of the valley itself and we made a stop part-way down at a viewpoint for me to take some photos. The areas for snapping the view are all filled with small shops and businesses and the walkways built to stand on might not quite meet our idea of building regulations.



The viewing platform...


But the people are friendly and informative and all trying to survive however they can (there's no welfare in Kenya) - it all adds to the experience.



This is Patrick who was selling fruit at the view stop and who told me lots about the area and insisted that we have our photo taken together.


After a long and winding road we arrived at the spectacular Lake Nakuru and its surrounding national park. The sight of the flamingos is just awesome - maybe a million, who could possibly count? And pelicans - the large white pelican, very lovely - gulls, Egyptian geese, cormorants, all sorts of water birds. As you drive down to the lake edge you might pass zebras, buffalo, monkeys - lots of game, quite a bit of which has been introduced but is very much at home here.



The flamingos with buffalo in the background... and without buffalo...



Splish splash I was taking a bath....


After I had my fill of the flamingo experience (the sound and the sight are really very spectacular and it was hard to tear myself away) we went on a game drive and I saw some new species including some white rhino. Then came an exciting radio call to say that a LEOPARD had been spotted so we raced across a fair distance and joined all those who had heard the word. By the time we arrived the TWO leopards had come down from the tree and were in the grass but it was still an amazing thrill to see them and they are truly magnificent. Steve tells me I am a very lucky lady, it is rare to see one leopard and extremely rare to see a mating pair like this as they are not at all social.




A very tasty late lunch at the Sarova lodge in the park and then a sighting of a rare (and endangered) Rothschild's giraffe and we were back over the roadworks and headed for Lake Naivasha on the road home. We were able to take a boat trip there and we spent about an hour out on the water with birds and hippos and watching the animals on the island in the lake (the place where the movie Out of Africa was filmed). Steve only told me after we got back on land that he's "water phobic" so he was very brave to come at my invitation.






I guess that when I asked Steve to come with me on the boat trip and he said "that would be lovely" it was something in the way of the guide being very polite to the client....



The African buffalo and the white rhino...



After the boat trip we headed back up the escarpment and home. It was a wonderful day and only helped by my guide - Steve is one of the most interesting and knowledgeable people I've met anywhere and is excellent company. His company, Kenya Wildlife Tours, are lucky to have him and I'd happily recommend him to anyone who is thinking of visiting Kenya as a guide.

Better go, it's getting late and I've another big day tomorrow



lotsa love to all



Lyndall



PS - I spent Monday getting photographs copied and sorted and bought myself another laptop - the prices are good here and I couldn't get any other sort of storage device so I bit the bullet. I had another wonderful young Kenyan man help me out - thanks Kiprono - and also thanks to Dennis who loaded the software. It's easy to make friends in Africa. I'll tell you more about Tuesday's fascinating day (mostly spent with Steve again) later - tomorrow I head northeast out of the city about 165 km to visit my World Vision child Kathele and his community which will be another day to remember I'm sure.

PPS - I'm going to add two postings that I will update on a regular basis, one about the people that Lonni and I met, and that I meet and enjoy, and another about incidents and images that could only happen in Africa. I'll update them fairly regularly so keep and eye on them...