The Laughing Nomad

On the way back to Maun Botswana in the Safari truck, Rod explains that the area around Maun is in the fastest growing area in the southern hemisphere because of the discovery of diamonds and with it comes the technology to make plastic-there is paper and plastic everywhere.

Gary says the safari owners have tried to start campaigns to clean up the plastic but the grocery store clerks, for example, will put individual chicken pies in plastic, several of these go into a plastic bag and that goes into another plastic bag at the check-out counter. So it hangs in trees like Christmas ornaments, gets caught in bushes and fences and clutches the sides of the roads. Actually it reminds me of Los Angeles freeways. We get to quickly check email before driving on to the Truck camp.

All over Africa we have seen references to preservation of culture, celebration of diversity and unity in diversity, themes familiar to us as westerners.

May 31 Sitatunga Camp
We hit the showers and camp again that night at Sitatunga. It feels like we are back in civilization again; I fall into George�s arms saying how happy I am to see him again! He loves it. The other riders party in the bar but Bob and I hit the sack as we will be up before daylight to hit the road again.

The Makoro Trip through the Delta
By the time the 1300 km long Okavango, southern Africa’s third largest river, enters Botswana from Angola, through the Caprivi Strip in Namibia, it begins to spread and sprawl as it is absorbed by the air and Kalahari sands and disappears in a maze of lagoons, channels and islands covering 15,000 square km-the size of Massechusetts.

We walk through black primal muck in bare feet for several yards and very very carefully climb into the canoes or Mekoros, shallow-draft dugouts that are hewn from ebony or sausage-tree logs. Two passengers sit low or lie in the canoe with baggage between their knees and a poler (ours was a barefoot 16 year old with tiny dreads) stands in the stern with a ngashi-a pole made from the Magonano tree. The poler negotiates the labyrinthine waterways on the two-hour ride through the reeds and yellow and blue lilies of the shallow Delta to our camp on a Delta island. The sound of the poling is rythmic-the ride quiet
and restful.

After setting up the tents Bob and the rest of the group went on the two hour sundown walk to sight animals. You are not going, the guides ask me. I say, no I am going to stay here and be quiet. They all smile knowingly-this they understand. I stay in camp, lean up against a downed dead tree and meditate myself into Bliss. When the trekkers return we have dinner. The polers sit with us-their daily rations are 500 g of mielie meal, 250g of white sugar, six tea bags and salt and powdered milk. But when we have all dished up Rod offers them each a portion of what is left of our dinner. I sleep out under the stars that night with Rod and the polers and some of the others-Bob in the tent.

The next day included a four hour animal walk and swim in a swimming hole but I stay at camp again. We discuss the use of the word “togs.” New Zealanders use it meaning a swim suit and the English use it to refer to any clothing.

That night we sit around the fire and the polers entertain us with Hippo stories and magic tricks. I crawl into the tent with Bob this night because I am tired of sleeping in dirt and wouldn’t you know it-that�s when the animals all came through the camp during the night-lions, jackals, elephants, zebras and hyenas bringing all their different voices with them. I now realize the polers all sleep around the campfire for a reason…

Wed May 29-30 , 2002 Can't stop in Maun to check email because nothing opens until 10am. Gary takes us into the Delta on his Safari wagon with two long seats back to back ... [Continue reading this entry]

Tues May 28,2002 To Sitatunga Camp near Maun Botswana Up at 5:30 again. Had wieners, eggy bread (French Bread) with honey and canned spaghetti for breakfast. James is doing his usual antic-body stuff ... [Continue reading this entry]

May 27, 2002 We see the 3000km of 1.5 meter high "Buffalo Fence" along side the road on the way to Okavango Delta in Botswana. It�'s actually a series of high-tensile steel wire barriers ... [Continue reading this entry]

The border crossing from Zambia into Botswana is at the border post of Kazungula. The truck ride on the Kazungula Ferry across the Zambezi River is not much of a hassle. Rod ... [Continue reading this entry]

Sun May 25, 2002 Up at 5:30 for the sunrise micro-light (motorcycle with wings) ride to view the falls and the geologic formation left by them over thousands of years. The half hour ... [Continue reading this entry]

We pull into camp outside Lusaka, the capital of Zambia. We listen to CNN...TV for the first time in weeks and hear yet another warning about terrorism in NYC...funny-Josh never mentions anything in ... [Continue reading this entry]

In Australia, New Zealand and South Africa your car "hoots" not honks. Hoot, I tell them, is what an owl does! Rod says Geese "honk" and cars "hoot!" We laugh. ... [Continue reading this entry]

Tues May 21-22, 2002 Long Drive to Lusaka the capitol of Zambia Up at 5 am again and on the truck by 6:30. Take the whole day just to drive to Lusaka-about 12 hours or ... [Continue reading this entry]

May 20, 2002 Then to Yellow Chicken Campsite and dinner in the dark. The charming camp, in the middle of a huge 40 year-old German farm, is run by a Brit and his wife who ... [Continue reading this entry]

2002 Rod warns us the roads in Zambia are even worse "shit" than in Malawi-which we found hard to believe but he was right. Most of these roads we are on are not paved. ... [Continue reading this entry]

May 20, 2002 Up 5 am and out 6:30. Most of the day is spent traveling to Zambia. A bridge is out on the road south so we have to double ... [Continue reading this entry]

Time, Walking, Women, Waiting, Matatus and Plastic In Africa these things work together in a synchronous whole says Ryszard Kapuściński in "Shadow Of The Sun." Rattle-trap matatus-minibuses that serve as public transportation-all seats and the space in between and ... [Continue reading this entry]

Sun May 19th 2002 Village Walk Africa does not really exist. Africa is a geographical name for a continent. Africa is made up of countries but people, especially in rural areas, don�t ... [Continue reading this entry]

That night Rod has arranged for us to have dinner at the home of a local family. We each take a bowl and spoon from the truck and are led down a series ... [Continue reading this entry]

Sat 18th 2002 Town of Mzuza We get off the bus and go to the market in Mzuza to buy clothes for the Cross Dressing Party at Kande Camp-we have drawn names of ... [Continue reading this entry]

When we pull into the camp compound there are three trucks aready there-drifters.com, ontheaway.com, and Africa.overland.com written in huge letters across the sides.The camp bars in Africa are open-air like they usually are ... [Continue reading this entry]

We are headed to Malawi Lake which is huge-of Malawi�s 118,000 sq km 20% is taken up by the long narrow lake which nearly runs approximately 500km down the length of the thin sliver ... [Continue reading this entry]

We stop at a small town for supplies and "toilet stop" near the Malawi border and to spend the rest of our Tanzania shillings...scores of young boys in dirty and unbelievably tattered clothing surround ... [Continue reading this entry]