Date: Friday, October 02, 1998 11:42 AM
Subject: We are here.
Hello everyone.
Just wanted to let you all know that we arrived today right on time. It
has been a very long journey and we are all bushed.
Bob & Tammy
Ricky is fine and says hi! We didn't have any trouble through customs nor
getting Ricky out of the country. My parents also say hi.
Ed.
Please let your parents know that we arrived safely and are doing well.
Dave.
Here is the email that I will be at. I will be leaving for the feast on
sunday morning.
Apart from that news there is not much else to say. Feel free to keep in touch. (at least reply to this email so that I know that it got through.)
Have a great sabbath
David
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Date: Friday, October 02, 1998 12:57 PM
Subject: Re: We are here.
Dear Bob and Tammy,
It's 9.45pm, we have had a delightful supper (roast chicken etc) and
everyone has fallen into bed. Ricky can drop you a line in the morning. I
hope that he can sleep through the night.
Thank you so much for the gift you sent. We really do appreciate it. We'll keep in touch.
Regards, Helen
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Date: Tuesday, October 06, 1998 10:20 AM
Subject: Off to Vic Falls
Dear Bob and Tammy,
Thought I'd let you know we had a good beginning to the Feast. It was good
to see the youngsters at the feast embrace Ricky into their activities.
He's enjoying it greatly.
The gang left early this morning from Rustenberg to head up to Vic Falls. Haven't heard from them, obviously, and I'll only see them again on Friday when I go back to the Feast Site and they return from up north. It is excessively hot in Zimbabwe at the moment. Our Feast location has wonderful weather.
If I hear from anyone I'll let you know.
Regards. Helen.
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Date: Monday, October 12, 1998 12:34 PM
Subject: Sawubona
Hi.
Ricky wanted me to let you guys know that we got back from the feast safely. He says it was pretty cool about the deer [that Grandpa got hunting]. It is also goot to be out of a tent. (He is now safe from baboon hooligans)
We had a really great trip and went to Vic Falls in the middle. We went to Sun City, Hwenge Game Reserve, Hiking, saw many elephant and even Lion. Will tell you more later.
It is late now and we are going to bed.
Regards
David & Ricky.
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Date: Thursday, October 15, 1998 10:59 AM
Subject: Zimbabwe trip
Dear mom and dad,
this is a rundown of the feast and the Zimbawe trip which Mr. Botha wrote
up. Thought you would like it. We are leaving tonight for the Kruger Park.
We will be back on Sunday night. Having a great time.
love, Ricky
I have just come back from what would certainly be the trip of a life-time for most people. In Africa, it is just what we exploring types do.
My son David and his wife, Lynne, arrived for a three week visit from Salem, Oregon. They brought a 13 year old boy [celebrating 14th birthday in South Africa], Ricky, a friend of theirs, with them. So it has been our pleasure to show them a bit of Southern Africa.
The first thing we did was to attend a South Africa rugby match. If one can imagine an America football game, with no padding or helmets, and all fifteen players in each side of the rugby game, having to play the full eighty minutes, then you may get the idea. It is a rough, physical game, to say the least. There were fifty thousand spectators, the noise was incredible, and the game really tough. It made me think that, over the years, it has taken tough people to survive in Africa, and as long as we continue to breed them this tough, we will survive.
Two days later, we left, with our caravan, as we call it here, a camper, pulled behind our Mercedes. We were heading west, about two hours west of Johannesburg, to a place called Rustenberg Kloof. "Kloof", is an Afrikaans word which denotes a gully into a mountain. This particular one runs about a mile into a very rocky mountain, and has a small river cascading down though it. It is a very pleasant spot and is now a holiday resort. We attended a church conference up there. I said it was just a holiday resort, but when Ricky was woken up at six in the morning by a baboon in his tent, he quickly realized it was different in Africa. I had told Ricky that baboons don't like onions, so out he went, that day, and bought some onions. The next night he left an onion for the baboon. The baboon took the onion, then did not come back to the tent. Baboons are very funny, and quite intelligent. If they had tested the food at one of these tent "restaurants" and they did not find it acceptable, they will tell the rest of the baboons in the troupe, so that after that, you have no more baboons coming to your tent. Some people put out hot chilies for them. I have found onions work just as well.
From Rustenberg, we headed further west to Botswana. From Gaberones, the capital, we headed north. Botswana is one of the wealthiest African countries. They have a higher per capita income than any African country, because of the very rich diamond mines. But when you get into the rural areas, you see that the wealth is concentrated in a few hands. The rural peasant still lives as his ancestors did hundreds of years before him. All you see is subsistence farming with goats and donkeys. The rains had not arrived, so the lands still lay uncultivated. But the people seemed happy and well fed.
Our destination was the northern most point of Botswana. That is where four countries meet, Botswana, Namibia, Angola and Zambia. From there we made a sharp right turn, east along the Zambesi river, into Zimbabwe on our way to one of the seven natural wonders of the world, the Victoria Waterfall.
In the north of Botswana, we saw the biggest corn fields I have seen anywhere in the world. Corn is the staple diet of most African, since it was introduced into the continent from the Americas, by the Europeans. These large fields must produce a great deal of the needs of the Botswanas. We also saw our first elephants on this trip. We only saw two, then a groups of six. The group could have been bigger, but we were in a hurry to cross the border into Zimbabwe. Huge herds of elephant migrate between Zimbabwe and the Chobe and Etosha national parks in Botswana.
As we headed down into the town of Victoria falls, it was already dark. We were still fortunate to see more elephant. We had left our camper in Rustenberg, so pitched our small tents at a camping resort, on the bank of the Zambesi river.
The Zambesi is the fourth largest river in Africa, after the Nile, the Congo, and the Niger. Where we were, it is about a mile wide. It has its origin in Angola, from where it heads south, then swings east, over the Victoria Falls, through the Kariba and Cabora Bassa dams (enormous dams built for hydro electric power), on its long journey, through Mozambique, to the Indian ocean. Where we were, was about half way down the river.
The next morning we were woken up by the baboons. That is regular in Africa. They dig everything out of the trash cans, then explore the tents. Ricky had left another onion outside his tent, and sure enough, a baboon had taken it.
After breakfast we headed for the Victoria Falls. Words fail me to
describe these falls. They were discovered in the 1800's by Livingstone,
the son in law of Moffat, a missionary. Moffat is known for his Moffat
translation of the Bible, which he did in a place called Kuruman, just
south of the Kalahari desert. How a scholar could sit and translate the
Bible in the middle of desolate Africa, is amazing.
Of course Livingstone never discover the falls. The African knew it was there long before that. It is like saying that Columbus discovered America. We know the Indians were there long before that. But our history is very Eurocentric.
The Africans called the falls, "the water that thunders". It is 1700 metres, just over a mile, across, and plunges down over a hundred metres, almost three hundred and thirty feet. But that's all just facts. You start viewing it on the south side, where the Devil's Cataract swirls by and plunges downward. You instinctively flinch and want to draw away from this ferocious fury. It is scary.
The next view sight gives you a slight glimpse of the main falls, just a hint, from the side. Now it gets exciting. It is breathtaking, yet you now know there is so much more.
Then you get to the direct view of the main falls. You walk right to it, and you stop, and you stare. No one says anything. It is just too overwhelming. For a while you just stand there in total silence. Silence, that it, from speaking, but no silence from the thunderous roar of the water dropping down into the gorge. The spray ascends three hundred metres into the air and forms a rain forest east of the falls. Two rainbows added to the beauty of the sight.
The falls were formed by a geologic crack straight across the path of the river. This allows you to stand on the one side of the crack and view the falls straight on. The river falls down the crack, then flows north, before, at the northern point of the falls, it flows east again. It means you have view sights over a mile long stretch. The further you walk along this the more your gaze moves from the water tumbling down, to looking down this enormous gorge. Further, down river, we could see visitors body-board surfing down a stretch of the rapids. Others were doing white water rafting. There are eighteen massive rapids, going down river, and the journey on a raft takes all day.
They also have bungee jumping of the Victoria Falls bridge that connects Zimbabwe with Zambia. No one was jumping on this day. The last time we were there I saw three people jump. I could barely watch. Imagine tying rubber ropes on to your legs and plunging head long down a hundred metres gully, and hope all goes well.
We spent a few hours shopping in the Victoria Falls town. No me. I don't shop. But my guests did. Mainly for carvings of animals made by the natives out of indigenous woods. Exquisitely made and inexpensive, especially when you have American dollars.
At four in the afternoon, we were met at our tents by a Zimbabwean who had booked us seats on the sunset cruise. At four thirty, we boarded a eighteen seat, double-decker, river boat and headed, first, down river, toward the falls, then up river on a long, slow cruise as the sun slowly went down. This is the time the animals come to drink. What a sight, this beautiful green, tranquil river, with the huge elephants and buck coming down to drink. Then you have the hippos, cavorting in the water, with their huge mouths, gaping open. A pack of African wild dogs were yapping on the bank. It is unusual to see these puppy-looking, but very ferocious animals. What a glorious setting, the sun going down behind the palm trees, me, sipping a Zambezi beer, one of the best. If there is any experience that could be called paradise, this must be it.
It is always sad to leave Victoria Falls, but also exciting, because we're heading to Hwange Game reserve, one of Africa's greatest elephant parks.
We entered the park the wrong end, from the north. It is not the way the tourists go. I like to explore, so came in from the north. It was not the best idea, but I had never been on this road, so wanted to see what it looked like. The rains had not arrived. They normally reach this area in November. So the northern entrance was on a long dry, corrugated, dirt road. We hit a big bump and ended up with our exhaust dragging on the road. We looked in the trunk or our car for some wire to tie it up with. Normally one would find a wire coat hanger, that great, all purpose repair instrument. But we did not have one. So we used some wire tent pegs to secure the tail pipe.
Finally we entered the actual park. We had spent an hour just traveling through wild Africa. It wasn't long before we spotted a Sable antelope, right next to the road. This is the most elegant of buck, black, with some white, and those metre long horns curving backward. What a proud animal. We saw some elephant, and some Kudu, the antelope with the massive curled horns.
Then our car's exhaust fell off again. We had just gone over another severe bump. David and I got out of the car, carefully scouting around the car. We were now in a game park and you don't take any chances. It was all clear, so we proceeded to tie the exhaust up. This time I used the boot laces of David's hiking boots. They did a much better job. And off we went.
Ten minutes later Ricky shouted, "lion". I had seen nothing, concentrating on the missing all the potholes in the road. I was sure he had been mistaken. Many times you would think you saw something in the grass, which may turn out to be an ant hill or a log. I stopped and reversed. Wow! A huge male lion lay right next to the road under a tree. Only Ricky had seen it. I will never forget the expression on his face as he said, "I saw a lion." Cameras came out and pictures were taken. Then David said, "He can't be alone." He and I instinctively looked to the other side of the road, and there, under a big acacia tree, was a whole pride of lions, a beautiful big male, and several lionesses. They were only thirty yards away from us.
As it got later in the afternoon, and we got closer to the main watering holes, we started seeing more game. Elephant, African buffalo, zebra, wildebeest, Kudu and giraffe. It got more and more exciting. Then we got to the main watering hole and there we saw a huge herd of elephant. The park officials had build a thatched view site on poles, about ten feet off the ground, where you can sit and view this wonderful site. I counted eighty elephant, then stopped counting. One group would be spraying themselves with mud, to keep the insects off, then go over and have a drink, then slowly trundle off, to be replaced by another herd. I am sure over two hundred elephant came through there in the two and a half hours we were there. There were also buffalo, and blesbuck, and a ten foot crocodile who had to walk away from the traffic. He did not seem too pleased. There were many small elephants. This was the first time I saw baby elephants suckle. Then there were the big daddy elephants. You could tell they were daddys, they seem to have five legs, if you get what I mean.
We had to leave as the park closed at six. At the main camp we had supper under the African sky, birds chirping all around us. It had been hot during the day, but now it was cooler. We sat and ate, and discussed the day's adventures. Some times it is very good to be in Africa.
From there we headed on our all night trip to the South African border.
We got there at three in the morning, slept till five, and at five thirty
headed across. The countryside was magnificent. The rains had already
reached these parts, everything was green and luscious. We stopped for
breakfast, then lunch, finally arriving back in Rustenberg at about three
in the afternoon. That was the end of our first African exploration. The
next will be to Kruger Park.
Till then, bye to you all. Daniel
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Subject: Kruger Park
Date: Tuesday, October 20, 1998 12:05 AM
Well, we're back from the Kruger Park. Let me pick up the story.
We (me, Helen, David, Lynne, and Ricky) left here at 1.00 am on Thursday night. What a ridiculous time to leave. We should have left at midnight, but there was a good movie (The Crucible, about the witch hunts in Salem, Massachusetts) on TV. It only finished at midnight, so that is why we left at one. The whole object of our leaving during the night was so that we would arrive at the gate of the Kruger Park at sunrise. I have learnt, over the years, that the best game viewing is in the early morning, and late afternoon, so by arriving at the gate in the early morning, you effectively give yourself a whole day in the park.
We were not disappointed. Despite the fact that it was raining heavily all the way on the six hour drive to the park, and most people would have thought we were nuts to be heading off, we had a good drive. I should say, I had a good drive, and the rest had a good sleep to the park. Once, into the park, the fun began. Ten minutes later we saw the first of what is called "the big five", (lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo and rhino.) Two huge rhino were standing right next to the road. What a beautiful, and quite a rare sight. They just stayed for a minute before bolting away. Half an hour later, another of the big five, a lioness, eating away at a piece of Impala. The impala is a beautiful (Ricky, "All of them look perfect".) deer, at the most a hundred pounds. There are thousands of them in the park, so after a while, you just drive past them. But, when you see a few dozen of them, all browsing quietly, yet totally alert, it is a most beautiful sight, and we must have seen that over a hundred times in the three days we were in the game reserve.
We were pulling our camper/caravan, so we stayed on the main tar road in the park, heading north from the southern most entry into the park. The speed limit on the tar road in the park is 50 kilometers per hour, 40 on the dirt roads, which is fine, because the slower you go the more you see.
Not long and we saw a family of Kudu. The male Kudu has beautiful, twisting horns, one twist for every year, so when you see one with several twists, it is a majestic old bull. We saw one like that at a distance on our second day.
We saw so many things, but I will have to write about it later, as we have just decided, because of the beautiful day we have today, Tuesday, to head for the Drakensberg, (Dragon's berg), a sheer drop in the escarpment that runs throughout eastern South Africa. It is actually a continuation of the great rift valley that runs the whole length of Africa, starting with the Red sea, continuing south, including the great lakes area (Victoria, Nyassa, Tanganyika) the great game reserves of Kenya and Tanzania, then south, forming a chain a mountains that run through Zimbabwe and South Africa. By the time you get to South Africa, you are left with only the western side of the valley, a phenomenal escarpment that drops three thousand feet to the east. Tonight we will, hopefully, sleep on the top of that escarpment, at over 11 000 feet above sea level.
So, I will continue this story tomorrow. Daniel
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