New Year's Postcards

A few postcard entries, to greet the new year, and a Happy New Year's wish to our families, friends, and followers!

Delta waters, mosquito-laden, outside our tent 

Red Zone:  "Are you taking?"  That's the question at the Old Bridge Backpacker's Camp in Botswana, situated on the southern edge of the Okavango Delta, one of the world's largest inland deltas.  It's late December, the rains have been falling in the north in Angola, and the deltas are pulsating with bird life, animal life, and, yes, mosquitos. Here, in the Delta, rainy season waters end their southward flow, dribbling into meandering streams and trickles before evaporating out on the huge salt pans to the south.   This is malaria country, to one person, the "Red Zone," and apart from road accidents, malaria is the biggest risk to a land traveler in north Botswana.  As this was a last-minute visit for us, we had not seen a doctor to get a prescription for prophylactic anti-malaria medicines, which, in any case, have non-trivial side effects.  In fact, we had consciously opted against anti-malarials in Indonesia. But here, in the so-called Red Zone, surrounded by stagnant fresh water, the risk seemed much higher than when anchored off a dry island on our boat.  We were not "taking."  Instead, we were slathering ourselves in 40% DEET cream, and hoping for the best.  After a few days, with buzzing sounds in our ears, and in a nervous state of constant vigilance, we decided the risk was too great, and we packed up and headed south, away from the Red Zone.  Next time, we will plan ahead, and answer "yes" to the question:  "Are you taking?"

Waiting for the bus, outside our hostel in Victoria Falls

Tribes:  My travels as a young adult tended to be on sailboats, where you live on a boat, or crash on someone else's.  Thus, it wasn't until our trip to Vietnam last year that I stayed in a hostel.  The rooms are cheap, generally clean, and typically located within walking distance of the main attractions.  More importantly, though, they tend to be inhabited by people whose values and lifestyles are similar to those of a cruising sailor.  Years ago, my friend Mark referred to people who share these attributes as members of a tribe, and the moniker seems apt for the sailing/hostel crowd:  we are members of the hostel tribe.  Earlier this year, in Sydney, and now here, in Zimbabwe and Botswana, we stayed in several hostels and again, enjoyed the ambience, interaction with fellow travelers, and amenities -- common kitchen, common lounge areas, etc.  They can be a bit noisy in the late evening hours, but for the most part, when traveling in new places, we're happier sleeping amongst our tribe than we are in a sterile hotel room in a sanitized section of a strange city.

A donkey cart on a highway with a 120 kph speed limit.

Road Hazards:  It's pretty clear to me and Jennifer that the most dangerous thing we've done on our sailing trip is driving the roads in South Africa and Botswna.  The "main" highways are typically only two lanes, undivided, lack shoulders, and are filled with trucks and cars each driving the speed limit of 120 km/hour, or about 75 mph.  Those factors in and of themselves might not be bad enough, but then you need to know that many of those on the road are relatively inexperienced drivers ... driving cars of questionable heritage and upkeep.  The "official" radio station in South Africa, SA-FM, was all over the story that over 1100 South Africans had been killed on the nation's roads in December alone.  That's an annualized rate of over 24,000 deaths -- 2/3 of the US figure, even though South Africa's population is only 1/6 of the US population, with far fewer roads and far fewer miles driven.  It doesn't help that South Africans often share the road with cattle and donkeys, or that the number of cars, trucks, and drivers is growing much faster than the road infrastructure.  We'll be glad to be back at sea, where it's safe -- and there are far fewer donkey carts.

Circles and strands of barbed wire, atop a wall

Fences:  When we arrived in Richards Bay, we were immediately struck by the degree to which white South Africans relied on fences for residential security.  Not just any fences, but sophisticated barriers of steel-tipped, razor-wired, electrified contraptions that defy unauthorized entry.  At the game parks, fences again were prominent, this time to keep the wild animals inside the reserve and away from local cattle grazing grounds.  In the veld, villagers also deploy fences -- to keep the livestock in at night, and thus protected from predation.  Even in the townships, fences demarcate one shack from another, and the brick dwellings from the tin-walled dwellings.  Fences are big in South Africa, but a few days ago, on our way to the American consulate to get some additional pages in my passport, we saw the quintessential paradox:  on one side of the road, a correctional institution, well-fenced in, with the expected walls and barbed wire, and on the other side of the road, a fancy golf course, whose fence was plainly more secure than the prison's fence -- higher walls, a dozen electrified wires, and sharper tips on the fence posts.  Two fences.   One to keep the inmates in, the other to keep the proletariat out.  Welcome to South Africa, so to speak.

Christmas on the Zambezi

Batoka Gorge, Victoria Falls Bridge in background.

White water rafting the Zambezi River is one of the highlights for rafters of any caliber.  For us amateurs, it was an all time, life time, top five.  Just after the 1.7 kilometer wide Victoria Falls, the mighty Zambezi River enters the narrow Batoka Gorge.  Jon and I rafted  more than twenty rapids in succession for the next 24 kilometers..... it was an awesome way to spend Christmas!

Quoting Wikipedia (is that allowed?): "The Victoria Falls are considered the boundary between the upper and middle Zambezi.  Below them the river continues to flow due east for about 200 kilometers (120 miles), cutting through perpendicular walls of basalt 20 to 60 meters (66 to 200 feet) apart in the hills 200 to 250 meters (660 to 820 feet)  high.  The river flows swiftly through the Batoka Gorge.  It has been described as one of the world's most spectacular whitewater trips, a tremendous challenge for kayakers and rafters alike....Over the distance of 240 kilometers (150 miles) below Victoria Falls, the river drops 250 meters (820 feet).

Jon and I paying close attention.  I'm not scared!

It is serious business, proven by any number of videos you are free to peruse for yourself on You Tube.  Prior to departure, we were given a rather serious briefing from our guide Ilam, aka "The Terminator."  It covered the details of the short rescue, the long rescue and the proper manner of proceeding down the rapids if, or more likely when, one is ejected and becomes a "Zambezi guppy."   Ilam counseled us to count to 10 if we were ejected, and to expect to have air again at that point.  If we reached 100, we were to go back and start over, because we were counting too fast.  The hardest part, which they forewarned us, was the hike down into the gorge and the tortuous hike back up and out of the gorge at the end our run.  My quads are still sore.

This poor bloke took a face plant, but was OK.

The Zambezi has a number of Class 4 and 5 rapids, which means rocking and rolling.  There was one class 6 on our run, but we had to walk around it because it is too dangerous.  Ilam told us that two kayakers have attempted it, but the "outcome was not good."  We didn't ask.  For us, all the rapids were fun and our raft, with Ilam at the stern, never over turned.  The same cannot be said for the other three rafts that accompanied us.  Fortunately, all those over turned or ejected were rescued, either by us or by the kayakers who accompanied us for that purpose.  It should be noted that our guides, the kayakers and the photographers along the way were all really cool guys.  They spend five days a week on the river, some for years, and were really good at what they seemed to love doing.  Thanks to them, we had a safe trip down the river, and have these photos to remember our Christmas on the Zambezi.  Thanks, guys!  And a happy new year to our new Zimbabwean friends, and to all of our family, friends, and blog followers!

Our raft going successfully through a class 5 rapid.

It was an awesome run.

Merry Christmas from Zimbabwe!

Devil's Cataract, Victoria Falls

A few days ago, finding ourselves with a securely-situated boat, safely tied up at the Royal Cape Yacht Club, we rented a car for a few weeks and decided to travel north to the confluence of the Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Zambia borders to check out one of the seven natural wonders of the world:  Victoria Falls.  Like others in that august category, such as the Grand Canyon and the Great Barrier Reef, it is impossible to describe or adequately capture on film the magnificence of the Falls, described as the longest sheet of flowing water in the world.  We spent the morning walking up and down the length of the falls, getting periodically drenched by the spray lifting upwards over 100 meters from the bottom of the gorge, and shouting to make ourselves heard over the din of the falls.  Factoid:  the annual water consumption of New York City falls into the gorge every 3.5 days.

The Botswana-Zimbabwe border crossing 

It was a hard drive getting here; Victoria Falls is 2400 kilometers – about 1600 miles – north of Cape Town, through increasingly dry and desolate landscape. We transited two borders – Botswana and Zimbabwe, each crossing requiring us to fill out a myriad of forms for our visas, our computer and camera, and our rental car.  Happily, and consistent with the reports of other travelers, we experienced no requests for “extra” payments – only the slightly bored and somewhat patient interactions of customs and immigration officials the world over. 

The roads were, on the whole, excellent, although as we moved into the more rural areas of Botswana, the highway warning signs focused on the need to watch for wild animals straying on the roads, and, to watch for potholes big enough to swallow a car.  We passed several elephants grazing along the two-lane, undivided highway, and were forced to stop for a group of 9 giraffes crossing the highway in stately leisure. 

Once in Victoria Falls, there were additional warnings about the road conditions.  In fact, my all-time favorite Lonely Planet sentence reads as follows:  “Mugging is not such a problem in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, but at dawn and dusk wild animals such as lions, elephants, and warthogs do roam the streets away from town center, so take taxis at these times.”  We’ve got a rental car, and since we are staying away from town center at the Victoria Falls Backpackers hostel, we drove to a local resort last night to listen to one of Zimbabwe’s finest musicians, Victor Kunonga, play for the well-to-do at the fancy Elephant Hills Resort in a Christmas Eve concert/dance. We kept an eye out for lions, but were spared the need to brake for wildlife.

The Zambezi River; Victoria Falls is just upstream on left

This morning, Christmas morning, we woke early to join a group rafting the mighty Zambezi River.  After a strenuous walk down a 900 foot cliff, we launched the rafts at the base of Victoria Falls, and over the next 5 hours, ran some 25 rapids, including a number of 4, 4+ and 5-rated rapids, as the Zambezi continued its eastward run to the Indian Ocean.  It is fair to say that for Jennifer and me, each experienced rafters, that the Zambezi’s combination of sheer rain forest cliffs on either side, its volume of water (we were the last run before the rainy season’s required cessation of full-river expeditions), and the number and intensity of its rapids made running the Zambezi a top five adventure experience for each of us.  What a way to spend our first Christmas away from our kids – while we miss them dearly, this was a nice way to take our mind off the distance between us this Christmas.  

Of course, we also miss all of our extended family, as well as our friends, and we wish you all a very Merry Christmas from Zimbabwe! 

Some additional pictures of Victoria Falls; once we regain internet access in a few days, we'll post photos and stories from the rafting trip, as well as our upcoming trip to Botswana's Kalahari and Okavango Delta areas.

Main Falls, Victoria Falls; Zambia is on the far shore

Rainbow Falls, Victoria Falls -- to the right of Main Falls

The Zambezi falls into a 1.7 km long crevasse, creating Victoria Falls

Rainbow at Devil's Cataract:  Peace on this glorious Earth!

Knysna Is Lovely

Jon and I sailed into Knysna on Tuesday, November 29th, to escape an impending blow from the west.  There are not many safe harbors along that section of South Africa's eastern coast, and we tried on Monday to come into Port Elizabeth, a day's sail north of Knyzna.  However,  reports from other sailors who were already there advised against it.  The marina in Port Elizabeth (PE) was crowded and, given the howling winds, the docks were undulating in a manner that can only be described as manacing.  Our friends on A Small Nest took video before leaving as soon as they could -- it's hilariously funny, if you get a chance to check out the link.   So, we made a U-Turn just outside the PE harbor, dodged a whale and a few penguins and decided to take a chance on entering the narrow pass, known as The Heads, that leads into the Knysna Lagoon.

Inside the marina, inside the lagoon

We thought we would be there for a week at the most, assuming the next weather window would arrive soon...we waited for seventeen days.  The advice from South Africans for navigating their coast is to be patient; wait for favorable weather; and do not go out in anything but favorable conditions.  Those who do not follow this advice are guaranteed an uncomfortable journey at best and a disaster at worst.  South Africa's National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) made over 500 rescues at sea and saved over 1100 people in 2010.  It is an amazing organization of nearly 1000 volunteers who risk their lives to save those who get caught in the treacherous seas that frequently occur along the coast.  The seriousness of this advice cannot be understated, and several boats we were familiar with have been rescued coming around to Cape Town.

Grey Heron

And what a lovely place to wait.  Knysna is in the heart of an area along the coast called the Garden Route, which runs from Mossel Bay to Plettenberg.  It is a region known for its biodiversity from old growth forests to the many species that come into the lagoon to spawn, to the world's most endangered sea horse.  The marina was home to several Grey Herons and Cormorants and a few Egyptian ducks.  The occasional seal also made his presence known within the marina.  While we all managed to coexist peacefully and a good part of the lagoon is a National Park, dedicated to preserving its eco-system, the human population around the area is growing, so the stresses on the environment are likely to continue.

The Knysna Sea Horse lives in the shallow grasses of the lagoon and is most at risk from nearby human pollutants.  It is only about 20 millimeters long, but we were able to see several in aquariums.  They can change colors like chameleons, their eyes move independently, their tails are like monkeys' and can hold on to grass, and the males have pouches like kangaroos so they can bear the babies.  Simply put, they are really cool.

Knysna Yacht Club

The local Yacht Club embraced us foreign invaders, welcoming us to their Wednesday evening happy hours and dinners.  The local sailors could not have been nicer.  Mark and Pauline met up with us shortly after we arrived inviting us to happy hour the next day.  Wayne and Tracy had us to their boat for dinner.  John and Lynn took us to lunch and for a hike in the forest.  Roger, Herbie and Dudley helped us with boat logistics.  We managed to attend three happy hours and were treated once to a brilliant triple rainbow after a brief rain shower.

The Waterfront

The marina abuts the waterfront, one that was beginning to dress up for Christmas.  It was full of shops and restaurants, as was the town itself.  Jon and I both felt like we could have been in Berkely or Sausalito, California, or Providencetown, Massachusetts.  Organic, holistic and chic were easy to find.  Knysna is also a tourist destination and given that it was summer, school holidays and Christmas all rolled into one, it was a bustling place.  A group of us from four boats took three dinghies across the lagoon to the gated community of Belvedere.  While it fancies itself as a pretty exclusive neighborhood, we invaded the "private" jetty, climbed over the gate and explored the old Anglican church and graveyard as well as the quaint Victorian resort.  No harm, and we were tolerated, but I could not help wondering what the reception would have been like if were not white yachties.

Busi preaching her heart out.

Some of us also attended a new church founded by an evangelical woman who was from Zimbabwe, via Johannesburg.  Busi had been preaching here for only four weeks, but her small congregation had a home, a sound system, and a growing membership.  She was fervent in her faith and deeply committed to helping people whose lives were languishing in drug addiction and alcoholism.

Next to the storefront church was a night club, called Zanzibar, which had this sign posted at its door.  Such signs are common in commercial establishments, but few are this harsh.  All businesses say they have the right to deny entrance to anyone and often one has to be buzzed in through a security door to enter, reflecting a fear of being robbed.  The denial of any liability made be wonder if this was perhaps a very litigious society so that businesses felt compelled to make customers bear all risks.  Perhaps it is their culture -- or legal system -- that without such signs they would be sued out of existence.  In any event, I do not get the impression that plaintiff attorneys are very successful in South Africa.

Finally, we had the pleasure of meeting Khosanati, a Zulu who worked at a nearby hotel and, though he was currently on holiday, he was looking for extra work.  He polished the stainless steel on our boat, and shared with us some of his life story.  We learned that he lived in section of Knysna called the White Location, which is ironic because everyone who lived there was black. Khosanati was one of the nicest and most gentle persons we had the pleasure of meeting in Knysna.

Designations of racial origin are part of the daily conversation in South Africa, something we are getting used to. In this post-apartheid, nation, the issues of race continue to occupy center stage in national political and economic debates, debates which take place openly and explicitly.  White Location is a shanty town, meaning that its inhabitants are, in the legal sense, squatters, building their humble homes on land they do not own.  Their ramshackle homes are very small, close together, and are made out of found wood or tin or any materials available. Some have electricity, few have running water.  Such communities are quite common in South Africa and they stand in sharp contrast to the affluence of the Knysna waterfront and Belvedere.

I will not venture to explain why these paradoxical juxtapositions are so common in South Africa, a country of two faces:  a wealthy, first world country on the one hand, and, on the other, a poor, third-world country.  But at a minimum, I can say that there continues to be a severe lack of affordable housing combined with high unemployment in most of the areas we have visited, seventeen years after apartheid was abolished and political power went to the African National Congress.  As we know in America, legal equality often unfolds much more quickly than social and economic equality.

Arrived Cape Town, South Africa

Table Mountain

After a blessedly uneventful two day motor sail from Knysna, we tied up at the Royal Cape Yacht Club in Cape Town, South Africa this morning at 7:30.  After a few days of settling in, we're going to do some land travel, and then meet up with some friends who arrive in early January.  Happy holidays to all our friends and family!

IDG rounded Cape Agulhas

Today, at 8:20 am local time, ile de Grace rounded Cape Agulhas on their way to Cape Town. Cape Agulhas is the southernmost point in Africa and it will be the southernmost point of their journey around the world (34 degrees 55.3 minutes south).

Headed for Cape Town

Our long awaited weather window has arrived.  We plan to depart Knysna at 6:30 am Friday morning (local time), about one hour before high tide.  We will be leaving with our fellow cruisers from A Small Nest, Go Beyond, and Tutatis who are all headed for Simonstown in False Bay, but we plan to continue on to Cape Town and expect to be there by mid-day Sunday.

Screenshot from webcam; IDG in last place as we leave Knysna's Heads

We will pass Cape Agulhas, the southern most point of Africa.  Between Cape Agulhas and Cape Point (the Cape of Good Hope), we will pass the oceanic convergence of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.  That's pretty cool......

Waiting for a Weather Window

The narrow entrance to Knysna is known as "The Heads."

We arrived in Knysna on Tuesday, November 29th thinking we would be here for one week at the most before we continued our journey down the South African coast.  It has been eleven days and, so far, it looks like we will be here another week before we get an appropriate weather window to leave.

An appropriate weather window means the following:  the wind will be from the southeast to northeast and forecasted for no more than 20 knots; sea swells will no be more than two meters high; barometric pressures will not be too low; there will be no bad weather coming from the west; and, these conditions will last for at least three days.

Our next run will be to either Simonstown or Cape Town, and to get there, we must round Cape Agulhas, the southern-most tip of Africa and the place where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet.  Right now, it is rough out there!  Winds are over 30 knots, and can gust over 40, causing high ocean swells that can topple sail boats.  When the winds are westerly, which is often, due to frequent Antarctic low pressure systems, it is not only pointless to try to sail head on into maelstrom, it is dangerous.  So, we sit and wait.

Knysna Lagoon has many shallows.

And there is probably no nicer place on the planet to wait for a weather window than Knysna.  After we "surfed" through the narrow entrance to the bay, known as The Heads, we carefully navigated shoals and shallows across the Knysna lagoon, around the narrow peninsula known as Leisure Island, to the far right side of the bay at the Knysna Marina and Yacht Club.  Our boat is well protected, and we are in a sunny, beautiful, and friendly town in the heart of what is called South Africa's Garden Route.

It's rough out there.

We will post another blog on our adventures here, but we wanted to give you an update on our lack of progress down the coast.  Yes, we are enjoying Knysna and the surrounding area, but we are also waiting for safe weather conditions before journeying back out to sea.  If you wish to help us hunt for that weather window, you can go here. On the left hand side, select Indian Ocean and then click on South Africa to Seychelles.  You can then download a zip file of the most recent weather forecast for wind, pressure and wave.

That's what we'll be doing every morning, trying to find the magical window to continue our trip west to Cape Town.  We hope we're there by Christmas; until then, we're "stuck" in Knysna.  There are worse fates.

Our Week of Safari

A few days after we arrived in Richards Bay, South Africa, we left our boat in the good hands of our friend Geert and spent a week at some wild game reserves in KwaZuluNatal Province.  We visited four.  We spent one day, with our friends Keith and Catherine, at St. Lucia Estuary, which runs along the Indian Ocean coast up to the border with Mozambique.  The Hluhluwe/iMfolozi Reserve covers 96,000 hectares, inland and is due west of St. Lucia.  It was once two separate parks that have since been united, giving the animals a much greater range.  The names are Zulu, and Hluhluwe is pronounced Shloo-shloo-wee.  Finally, we spent three nights at Ithala Game Reserve, which is on the southern border of Swaziland.  Each park is unique and we feel very fortunate to have been able to visit them, although we could have easily spent much more time there and also visiting South Africa's largest and most famous game reserve, Kruger National Park.  Someday, perhaps, we can return.  Until then, some pictures:

Early morning and late afternoon are the best times to see game, and going with a guide is preferred.  You cannot leave your vehicle in these parks, because the land belongs to the animals.  Like the lions, we slept during the middle part of the day.

The savannah is punctuated by Acacia trees; the grass grows about 3 feet high -- perfect to hide in if you are a predatory cat.

The African state-run game reserves offer these rondovals for lodging -- modeled on the traditional Zulu houses.

Looking out over Ithala Game Reserve

Guinea fowl, otherwise known as the "bush chicken."  About 18 inches tall, and quick to scamper because it "forgets that it can fly."

We often saw groups of three giraffes, each giraffe in a group within sight of the others in the group.

A giraffe can only lean over like this for a few seconds before the rush of blood to its head causes it to lose consciousness and die.  Drinking quickly becomes an essential part of living.

Two of six lions we saw resting on a hillside.  These are immature males.

Guides always carry rifles when walking in the bush -- even for short distances.

Impala

Traditional Zulu baskets, sold at a craft market in one of the game reserves

A troupe of elephants headed across a river.  Elephants bathe daily, and herds are guided by the senior female of the herd.

The male bull of the herd often forages alone, as the herd, led by the oldest female, grazes as a group.

A young elephant

This elephant lost part of its tusk.  We saw one bull knock down a tree, making his meal easier to get eat.  We realized he could make mince meat out of our little car, so we stayed at the recommended safe distance.

A Cape buffalo cow, often seen in herds of several hundred

Two young male Impalas, playing.  Single males tend to herd together, while the dominant males have a small herd of females to keep happy.

An ostrich

A Nyala Buck

Kudu Buck

A pair of zebras, which tend to move in groups of a few dozen.  Usually, wildebeest are nearby, relying on the zebra's good eye sight to warn them of predators. 

White rhino -- probably a female given the size of the horn, since male rhinos' horns are usually broken off in battle

The large estuary/savannah just west of the Indian Ocean -- in the St. Lucia game park

The Indian Ocean border of the St. Lucia game reserve

Female Nyala

Cape Buffalo

A waterbuck, gazing across a pond of hippos at us.

Hippos wallowing in a shallow pond at the St. Lucia game reserve

A Warthog stares us down.