Clouds roll in threatening rain along the Danube River. Fortunately, the weather gods were kind to us. The river had flooded the week before our arrival due to heavy downpours upriver.
Today marks the beginning of our Great River series. The inspiration for it is our trip down the Danube from Vienna to the Black Sea that we just finished while traveling with Peggy’s brother John and his wife Frances.
Along the way, we traveled through Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania, all countries that I had never visited except Croatia. (Peggy had been to Austria, as well: Way back in BC…As in before Curt.) Other than the Romanian apple that got us in trouble with US Customs and a cold I picked up and undoubtedly shared along the way, our trip in a riverboat with the GoHagan travel company was quite good.
Knowledgeable (and often humorous) local guides led us on tours through cities, towns, churches, castles, and palaces while providing historical background that ranged from Mongol and Turkish invasions, to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, to the Russian Communist occupation following World War II.
We watched horses prance, people dance, and consumed at least three times as much food as we usually do. An ancient village with roots going back 5-6 thousand years and the beauty of the Carpathian Mountains of Romania/Transylvania wowed us.
Dracula/Vlad the Impaler called the Carpathians home. While we found the Impaler’s castle fascinating, I think Peggy was more excited to discover that the Cantacuzino Castle (where we stopped for lunch) serves as the site for the Nevermore Academy of the Netflix series Wednesday, a take-off on the TV series, TheAddams Family, of yore. How much does she like the series? Well, she has binged on it. More than once. Her scream of delight when she saw a sign promoting the castle as the series’ location led everyone on the bus to turn and look at her. I felt like I was married to a smitten teenager.
The Cantacuzino Castle that serves as the as the location for the Nevermore Academy of the Netflix series Wednesday with a view of the Carpathian Mountains of Transylvania in the background. The leaves were just beginning to turn as we made our way through Romania.The castle of Vlad the Impaler, aka Dracula, in Transylvania.
One great river doesn’t constitute a series, however. And we’ve promised a series which brings up what our criteria are for defining a great river. There are the normal factors, i.e. length and volume, but I would also add history and in beauty. The Nile is a great example for history, while the Colorado River on its run through the Grand Canyon is one for beauty. Both are mind-blowing.
There is one criterion that is strictly ours: We have to have floated on the river. For example, Peggy and I have crossed the Mississippi, Missouri, and Columbia Rivers numerous times from their headwaters to where they flow into the ocean. But our only personal experience has been to take photos and explore their history, with folks like Mark Twain and Lewis and Clark serving as our teachers. Peggy is known to stick a finger or toe in on occasion, however, “to test the water.”
In addition to the Danube, the series will include the Colorado, Amazon, Rhine, Nile, Zambezi, and England’s Trent and Mercy Canal— not a Great River perhaps, but Peggy and I had a blast navigating it in a 60’ long 10’ wide narrow boat, stopping at pubs along the way.
Our private 21 day trip through Grand Canyon National Park by raft was filled with beauty, adventure and fun.We explored the Amazon River out of Manaus, Brazil for a week on the Amazon Clipper, a small boat that we shared with four other couples plus crew. We dined on piranhas for dinner that night, the ones we had caught in the afternoon (carefully).Our trip up the Rhine River had it all: Charming towns, Medieval castles, towering cathedrals, bucolic countryside and history. Plus, we took our son, daughter, spouses and grandkids with us.Horus, the Falcon God of ancient Egypt in the Valley of Kings. The Nile is lined with such treasures.The Zambezi River of southern Africa brings its own magic ranging from water buffalo, to hippos, to crocodiles, to lions and numerous species of birds.An underpass on England’s Trent and Mercy Canal. “Low bridge, everybody down.” —Erie Canal song
Since we have already blogged about these experiences (other than the Danube) in the past, I’ll simply do a summary post or two on each one that focuses on photos. The Nile may include more since there were several blogs that I ran out of time to do after the trip last year.
Next week, a quick look at the incredible beauty of the Colorado River through Grand Canyon National Park. After that, we will start on the Danube.
This apple is a dangerous criminal, an illegal alien attempting to slip into the US from Bucharest without a passport. I am using it here to hide my identity as it is interrogated under the bright lights of the law in a US Customs Detention Center at Dulles Airport. I can still hear the questions, over and over: “Are you or are you not an apple? Did you or did you not come from a former Communist Country? Where is your passport? Is it your intention to destroy America’s apple crop and replace it with foreign apples? What about oranges, grapes, turnips, and petunias?” Petunias?
Peggy and I were innocent victims. The apple was using us for its nefarious purposes. The staff at our hotel in Bucharest had slipped apples into breakfast paper bags when Peggy and I, along with her brother John and wife Frances, checked out at 2 AM. They had included a sandwich made up a slice of cheese and a slice of ham on white bread without any condiments, plus— the piece de resistance— a two-bite muffin. I’d eaten the sandwich and muffin on our ride out to the Bucharest Henri CoandăInternational Airport. I was suspicious of my apple, however. It had a not-right feeling. I tossed it into a trash can. Let the Romanian authorities deal with it.
Peggy, on the other hand, had visions of eating the apple somewhere along the way on our seemingly endless journey as a defense against starvation. She slipped it into an extra bag she was carrying for gifts and the apple immediately burrowed itself into the bottom of the bag, where it hoped to be forgotten. I can’t blame it for not wanting to be eaten, but apparently it had other motives as well. I don’t know what John and Frances did with theirs. I’d watched Frances cut up lots of them on our trip down the Danube, however. As for John, it probably depended on his political assessment of the apple. Had he thought of it as liberal, or radical, he would have consumed it on the spot, down to its very seeds. Had it been Libertarian, he would have coddled it, possibly even slipping it into Texas where the laws are different (not really, when it comes to US Customs).
We had a 4 hour layover in Zurich where the apple would have been consumed except we were traveling business class and could hang out at the Swiss Air lounge where all sorts of goodies were available for eating. Likewise, we were fed two full meals on our flight from Switzerland to Virginia. The apple continued its happy and secretive existence in the bottom of the gift bag— until we were in the middle of a massive crowd of people slowly making our way toward the passport check stations. It was then that Peggy saw the sign: “All travelers entering the United States are Required to Declare meats, fruits, vegetables, plants, seeds, soil, animals, as well as plant and animal products (including soup or soup products) they may be carrying. The declaration must cover all items carried in checked baggage, carry-on luggage, or in a vehicle.” The food might contain dangerous pests. Not declaring it is a crime subject to fines up to $10,000!
It was an “Oh poop,” moment. Oh well. Having lived in California for many years, we were used to border checks for fruit. We either got rid of it before entering the state or declared it if we hadn’t. I’d stopped being overly concerned when the border checks were frequently unmanned. If we declared fruits, the guards told us to throw it into a nearby trash can, or eat it. So much for the dangerous pests.
When we reached passport control, Peggy bravely pulled the offending apple out of her bag and explained why she had forgotten it. “Here, you can have it,” Peggy offered with one of her dazzling, disarming smiles. “Or is there a place I can toss it?” The agent reacted like Peggy was offering her a dead rat with the bubonic plague. She grabbed Peggy’s passport and locked it up in a plastic box for Peggy to carry. “Follow that red line to Custom detention,” she told her. Suffering from guilt by association, I was directed to go with her.
We opened the door and a very stern looking fellow took Peggy’s passport and glared at the apple. We were told to go sit on the side with a lot of other people. We would be allowed to go when and If the agents found no more apples in our luggage, which, at the time, was going around and around on the Swiss Air’s luggage carousel. “Can I go pick up the bags and bring them back here?” Peggy asked. “No” was the terse reply. “You will not bring fruit into the country,” we were reminded again. We were very close to being criminals. Agents would go collect our luggage so we wouldn’t try to escape.
A sign declared we were to take no photos or record any conversations. I understood why. Four agents were standing in the back of the room sorting through a pile of garbage four feet high and four feet across, carefully pulling out each piece and examining it. I certainly wouldn’t want my photo taken doing that. I hoped that they were well paid. As for the no photos, I wasn’t going to take any photos of their secretive activities, but I really did want a photo of the apple.
I pulled out my MacBook Pro and opened Photo Booth. Positioning my apple where I wanted, I pushed the red cameral symbol. BEEP, BEEP, BEEP the computer went as it counted down. The wasn’t an ‘Oh poop’ moment. It was an “Oh shit” moment. I imagined guys with guns rushing over to grab me. I quickly closed my laptop and waited. Nobody seemed to have noticed. The problem was, I wasn’t happy with the photo.
Out came my laptop again, this time with the sound turned off. I positioned the apple just so (as you see it above) and snapped another photo. The only thing I could see in the photo that might be considered in the no-take area was a TV that featured Mr. Potato Head on the left and an orangish looking guy with horns on the right. Satisfied, I put the laptop away and we waited. And waited. Another family of four was in the same strait we were. The daughter had brought a closed package of beef jerky to give to her brother, which was apparently a crime even more serious than ours. Her father was roaming around like an angry bee.
A half hour passed, and then an hour, and then an hour and a half. Each time the agents brought in luggage, Peggy and the dad would jump up to see if ours was included. Nada. Once the agents brought in 20 pieces from a French airline. Who knows what that was about. Maybe the French were trying to smuggle in a hundred pounds of Foie gras. The French fellow they were holding couldn’t (or wouldn’t) identify any of the luggage. I felt for all of the passengers who were wondering where in the heck their luggage had disappeared to.
Finally, the dad went over to talk to the “Big Guy,” who stood about five feet tall, and asked if he could go out with an agent and identify his luggage. Maybe the fellow was feeling a little guilty about the dad’s long wait with children. He said yes. Peggy, who knows an opportunity when it knocks, ran over and requested the same privilege. Five minutes later Peggy and the dad showed up with the luggage that the agents hadn’t been able to find in two hours. Ten minutes later our luggage had been scanned, Peggy had her passport back, and we were free to go. It was one AM in Bucharest. We had been traveling for close to 24 hours. All’s well that ends well. We had been worried that the following photo may have shown our fate.
Peggy is threatened with having her head cut off at Vlad the Impaler/Dracula’s castle in Transylvania. Our guide, whose name was also Vlad, was wielding the ax. That’s it for the day. Next up, we will start our Great River Series, including our adventure down the Danube River.
This is a view of the Cape of Good Hope as seen from on top of Cape Point. Portugal’s Bartolomeu Dias was the first to round it in 1488. He named it the “Cape of Storms,” for good reason. Ten years later, Vasco da Gama followed the same route and then sailed up the coast of Africa, prompting King John II of Portugal to rename it the “Cape of Good Hope.” It opened a sea route to fabulous wealth of the spice trade in India and the Far East.
Today marks my 25th and final post on our African Safari. As you read this, Peggy and I are driving between Carson City, Nevada and the Central Coast of California where we will spend the next two weeks exploring Big Sur, Carmel, Monterey, Pinnacles National Park and the surrounding area. The visit will kick off our next series: A three month, thousand mile journey following the Pacific Coast through Northern California, Oregon and Washington— one of the world’s most beautiful coastlines.
But first, a wrap up on South Africa where we will visit the Cape of Good Hope, Cape Town and Table Mountain.
We took a full day excursion from Cape Town down to the Cape of Good Hope. Along the way, we were entertained by the ostrich, snakes, penguins and a lizard that you have already met in previous posts. This is the end of the road— as far as you can drive on the south-western coast of Africa without getting wet.This is Point Cape, just east of the Cape of Good Hope. Looking west, we had the view of the Cape that I showed in the first photo.This lighthouse was built was built in 1859 on Da Gama Peak, the summit of Cape Point, 780 feet (238m) above sea level, to protect sailors from the dangerous rocks off Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope. It seemed like the ideal location. Unfortunately, it was often hidden by fog. A modern lighthouse is now located down Cape Point at 275 feet (78m). The hawk was a bonus.Our drive down to the Cape of Good Hope provided this view just south of Cape Town. We also saw this young caracal with its impressive long ears near the Cape. Our guide Johnathon was very excited and told us this was the first caracal he had ever seen in the wild. A member of the cat family, it hunts almost exclusively at night and is rarely seen by anyone! We were lucky. I moved quickly to get a shot before it disappeared into the brush.This rather impressive Peninsula Granite Fynbos wasn’t going anywhere, however. Peggy and I could take our time photographing it. It’s endemic to the Cape Town region and nowhere else.I managed to sneak up on one for a close up…And another. Now, back to Cape Town and the Springboks. I’m not talking about the attractive South African antelope known for its pronking, taking several 6 foot high leaps into the air in quick succession. I am talking about the South Africa’s Rugby Team that had just won the World Championship and was booked into our hotel for their Cape Town celebration.A large crowd had gathered around our hotel and was waiting their arrival. The police opened their cordon to let us through. Several people thought we were related somehow and snapped our photos. A number of teenage girls waited nervously. One actually managed to get a selfie with one of the stars. She tried to be cool when taking the photo but immediately screamed afterwards. So much for cool.Our guide, Jonathan, took us on a tour of Cape Town and Table Mountain in addition to taking us down to the Cape of Good Hope. Here, he is talking about the colorful homes in the small community known as Bo-Kaap that I featured at the end of my last post.The original residents of Bo-Kaap were descendants of slaves imported by the Dutch from Malaysia, Indonesia, India, and Sri Lanka during the 16th and 17th centuries.Because of their cultural heritage, Bo-Kaap is primarily a Muslim Community. Even the mosque was brightly painted, matching the brightly painted homes.One of the homes.It seemed that each one was painted a different color.A final exampleWe found this artistic elephant in Bo-Kaap…And this man selling freshly caught fish from the back of his pickup.Johnathon also took us to the Shimansky diamond jewelry shop where we watched diamonds being cut.The diamond cutters showed us two of the diamonds he was working on. Judging from their size, I’d say they were a bit beyond my budget. Quite a bit.Any trip to Cape Town should include a trip up to Table Mountain, the dramatic backdrop for the city. We got there by going up this tram.Almost there…Looking back at Cape Town from Table Top Mountain.Our hotel was mixed in among these tall buildings. View of the top of Table Top…And another view. A number of flowers demanded their photos be taken.Including one I had never seen: a peninsula conebush. The cone is tough and will only open and release its seeds as a result of fire. Cala Lilies were an old friend.These flowers created a pretty bouquet among the rocks.Peggy shows the mist rising up on the ocean side of Table Mountain. Her hair shows that it was accompanied by a breeze.This little beauty, an orange-breasted sunbird, was waiting for us as we neared the end of our time on Table Top Mountain.After all of the great people, incredible wildlife, and striking scenery, I think it is only appropriate that we end our African safari series with the small hyrax on Table Top Mountain, seemingly waving goodbye to us. The next morning we began our long air journey back to Virginia. I hope you enjoyed this series. We were ever so glad you decided to come along. Next up, an introduction to our thousand mile journey following the Pacific Coast.
I promised more sunsets as I continue the wrap-up on our African safari. This one was on Lake Kariba in Zimbabwe. Today, I will be focusing on those photos from Lake Kariba, Chobe National Park and Hwange National Park that were blog-worthy but didn’t fit into our earlier posts.After sunset, it’s time for moonrise. Right? We were entertained by a full-moon at Lake Kariba one night, when we out exploring later than usual. That’s a weaver bird nest on the right, BTW.I was curious about how my new camera would handle a close-up.This was our houseboat on Lake Kariba.Numerous islands were on the lake.Most of the islands were covered in vegetation. This one featured acacia trees. Rangers from Matusadona National Park next to Lake Kariba took us on a trip back into the park that I covered in other posts. But I missed this photo of impala and zebras running. We found that the wildlife at Matusadona was much more skittish than it had been at other national parks. I figured it was because they saw far fewer tourists, either that or there were more poachers operating in the area. We woke up at 5:00 on the morning we were supposed to return to port because the boat was rocking and rolling. A major storm had come in overnight that none of the weather forecasts had predicted. This photo was taken from where we were anchored close to the shore. Big waves were rolling on the lake. Lake Kariba is the largest manmade lake in the world by volume. The captain took the boat out, looked at the waves, and brought the boat back in. It was too dangerous. There was talk of bringing another boat in that could handle the waves better. Eventually the waves calmed down enough that the captain was willing to make the trip. It was a rough crossing. We knew how rough when we tried to walk and when the liquor bottles came tumbling off the shelves in the bar. We survived!While we in Africa at the wrong time to see the massive migrations that take place, this herd of Cape buffalo moving along the Chobe River gave us a feel for what it might be like.A closer view of the Cape buffalo. A jackal in Chobe National Park.Here I am with the warthog at our lodge on the Chobe River. You can see how close I was and how unconcerned he was about my presence. There were several photos of this fellow when I did my post featuring warthogs. This photo provides a look at what much of the terrain looked like in Chobe National Park away from the river. We had stopped for a snack and potty break. You are looking at the restroom. It was called wander off into the bush where you couldn’t be seen and hopefully not eaten.Samantha demonstrates how to headload toilet paper. Guides make a tremendous difference in the success of any tour and Samantha is among the best that Peggy and I have ever had. She was knowledgeable, efficient, and fun. Hats off to the Collette Travel Agency for hiring her. The waterlilies along the Chobe River were magnificent. Before moving on to Hwange National Park, here’s a photo of sunset over the Chobe River.We stayed at Iganyana Tented Camp when we visited Hwange National Park. The swimming pool where the elephants came to drink while we were eating dinner is just off to the right. Iganyana is the name for the African painted dog. This one was located in a shelter designed to provide care for the painted dogs that had been injured. This was our tent, which was quite comfortable, glamping at its best! The dark spot to the right of the trail was where the Cape buffalo left its calling card.Terry Anders, who co-owns the Iganyana Tented Camp along with his wife Sheona, took us on a safari walk through the area surrounding the camp. He and one of his staff were both armed in case of a wildlife attack. Here he stopped to talk about termites. Peggy’s brother John and I were persuaded to sample what the termite mound tasted like. Dirt. Large termite mounds were found wherever we traveled in Botswana and Zimbabwe, as they were in West Africa when I served there as a Peace Corps Volunteer. We called them bug-a-bugs in Liberia.Cal Nyer, a photographer and videographer from the Collette Travel Agency joined us on our journey through Botswana and Zimbabwe and added a lot to our trip. Here he has climbed the stump near the Iganyana Tenanted Camp that the lions had climbed up to escape the rampaging Cape buffalo that I blogged about. I can pretty much guarantee that the lions got up there much more quickly than Cal. But had he been chased by an angry Cape buffalo…I’ll close today with this photo of Cal and me. Next up: South Africa and our last Safari post. Bo-Kaap is a colorful neighborhood in Cape Town South Africa.
When David Livingston, the seasoned Scottish missionary and explorer, first came upon these roaring falls, one of the largest in the world, he was so impressed he named it after Queen Victoria, England’s long reigning monarch. To the natives of the region, however, the falls were Mosi-oa-Tunya, or “Thundering Smoke.”
I tried, I really did. This was supposed to be my last post on our African Safari. But when I looked through the last thousand photos of scenery, people, and a catch-all-miscellaneous that I considered blog worthy, I just couldn’t do it. Eventually, I got the thousand down to 82. I’ve divided them into three posts. Today I will focus on Victoria Falls and the surrounding area. The second post will wrap-up Chobe National Park, Hwange National Park and Lake Kariba. The last post will feature South Africa.
We arrived at Victoria Falls at the end of dry season when the water flow was close to its lowest. Imagine what this looks like at the height of rainy season! Based on its combined width, 5,604 ft (1,708 meters) and height, 354 feet (108 meters), Victoria Falls is considered the largest waterfall in the world. In April, when the river flow is at its peak, the spray sometimes reaches a height of over 2600 feet (800 meters) and can be seen from 30 miles (50k) away.A trail leads along the Zambezi River showing the main falls and several others such as this one that are part of the complex.Same falls, different view.Peggy absolutely loves falls. Whenever we are near one, we detour from our selected route. She was one one happy camper.Another view from where we were sitting. During rainy season, this view would be wiped out by the spray.And a close up. Can you hear the roar?Walking along the trail, we came on these jewels.The Zambezi River continues to cut a canyon. Eventually, this may be an island. For now, the river flows out, around this promontory, and on.We went on a dinner cruise on the Zambezi River above the falls. Clouds were threatening a beginning to the rainy season. You have already seen crocodiles, hippos, and various birds from this cruise on earlier posts.Peggy and I really liked the contrast created by this dead tree and the greenery behind it.Another view of the trees along the Zambezi.Our evening cruise also brought us a spectacular, ethereal sunset. It was one of many we experienced while we were in Africa. We will be featuring more of them in our final two posts.A view of the hotel we stayed at in Victoria Falls. This is the hotel where I was visited by the mongoose.The trees surrounding the hotel were bursting in color.We traveled with a great group of people on our safari through Botswana and Zambia. These are three of the friends we made along with Peggy’s brother John and his wife Frances joining us for a final photo in our Victoria Falls hotel. On our way to the airport to fly to South Africa, our guide, Samatha, took us to see this huge baobab tree on the outskirts of Victoria Falls. Peggy provides perspective on its size. This tree is estimated to be around 1200 years old. Its circumference is 73 feet and height 78 feet. A tree this size can hold over 120,000 liters of water, over 31,000 gallons.Another large baobab tree stood next to the giant.I took a photo from the base of the tree up. The scarification is likely caused by elephants that love to feed on its bark. That’s it for today. Our next post will feature final scenes from Chobe National Park, Hwange National Park and Lake Kariba.View along the Chobe River in Chobe National Park, Botswana.
We saw only a handful of the numerous species of antelope found in Africa but the ones we saw were magnificent, such as this handsome male kudu that came in for water at the Iganyana Tent Camp where we were staying next to Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe.And brought his family of five with him including this mom and her baby.He watched over them as they drank.His spiral horns will continue to grow until they have made 2 1/2 twists. Note his large, and I think, beautiful ears. Their large size enables them to hear approaching predators. The horns of mature male kudus are used in traditional cultures as musical instruments.His female companion with her large brown eyes was as beautiful as he was handsome. A final family shot. Here’s a fun wrap-up fact: The sport of Kudu dung-spitting is practiced in southern Africa. (Think of watermelon seed spitting contests.) The winner is the person who is able to spit one of the antelope’s small, hard pellets the furthest. Our guides demonstrated for us. None of us volunteered to join them. I read that the world record is 51 feet. That person must have had one heck of a tailwind.Waterbuck: “Imagine sitting down on a freshly painted toilet seat,” our guide told us. Waterbucks are easily identifiable by the prominent ring around their tail as this female shows.A male waterbuck along the Chobe River displays his ring. This photo shows his impressive horns and rather attractive fur. When excited, the skin of a waterbuck secretes a greasy substance called “greasy kob”. It stinks so much it serves to discourage predators but it also serves as waterproofing when the waterbuck jumps into water as an escape route.Impala: The impala is another African antelope with a beautiful set of horns. We saw more of them than any other antelope.We found these elegant animals in fairly large herds. The buck behind was chewing on something.We came on this herd when we were out for an evening drive in Hwange National Park. Something had obviously alerted them. If they had spotted a predator, they would have been out of there at speeds reaching 50 miles per hour with prodigious leaps of over 30 feet in length and 10 feet in height. We were privileged to watch them leaping and running away from us at Lake Kariba. It was poetry in motion.Wildebeest: Wildebeest travel in large herds. We only saw one. Africans like to say that the wildebeest was the last antelope God created and he had run out of parts. So he took the leftovers from other animals including the stripes of zebras, bodies of hyenas and heads of buffalo and created the blue wildebeest. We found this fellow when we were on a safari hike in Hwange National Park.Later that evening we found him digging in the dirt to create a dust bath. I couldn’t help but wonder about where his spare parts came from here.He became a blur as he took his ‘bath.’ He certainly seemed to be enjoying it!Tsessebe: This was another strange looking dude. The straw in his mouth reminded me of a stereotypical country bumpkin. Tsessebe are nothing bumpkin-like when it comes to running however. They’ve been clocked at 60 mph(100k).Steenbok: And the final antelope we saw. It’s southern Africa’s smallest antelope, standing about 20 inches tall at its shoulder. It is a common but solitary animal. We found this cutie hidden alongside the road in Hwange National Park. Another view. Note the small horns and large ears. We weren’t sure what created the small scars. Our next post will be a wrap-up on our safari featuring the varied scenery, places we stayed, and the people met. Victoria Falls
This is something you don’t see every day: An elephant being carved. Our guide Samantha, who had taken us to the fishing village, decided that visiting an African artists’ workshop in Victoria Falls where various African animals were carved out of wood and stone would also be interesting to us. It was located in a junk yard that offered car and truck parts for sale. Multitasking. We arrived close to noon and lunch was being prepared.Was this lion catching a snooze?A rhino, small elephant, and African fish eagle near completion.A close up of the rhino’s head.This regal-looking eland is about to get its tail. Note the fine detail. This is the work of a master carver!A carved water buffalo was for sale in downtown Victoria Falls. Samantha told us it would cost a lot more to ship it home than it would be to buy it.We were amused by a carved crocodile chasing a welded warthog.I used the elephant head a a teaser for today’s post in my last blog. Peggy provides perspective in this photo. Several stone carvings decorated a sculpture garden.I don’t think that they were for sale.I suspect that lots of folks will find this carving ugly but I felt it was powerful and modern.This painting would feel right at home on the walls of our home.I bought a small warthog from this woman. I figured Bone would like it. And Peggy bought a piece of art made from reeds. That’s it for today. My next post will feature African antelope we encountered on our safari.A curious kudu.
Children anxiously awaited our arrival at the tribe fishing village we visited on Lake Kariba. Which one was trouble? Grin
When the Zambezi River was flooded in the 60s to create Lake Kariba, several villages of Tonga people were flooded— without compensation. Some of them were later granted limited fishing concessions on the lake. Our guide was eager for us to meet Africans as well as wildlife and arranged a tour of one village located on an island. I found the people and village life quite similar to what I had experienced as a young Peace Corp Volunteer in West Africa 50 years earlier. Following are some of the photos that Peggy and I took.
Life continued as usual in the village during our visit. The bathtub.The dish washer.And dish dryer.Child safety seat. How much safer could one be?Transportation system.Mainstreet.Housing construction varied. This one was was made of round mud bricks.The construction process. We watched as bricks were added.A different technique.Both methods would eventually be finished off with this solid clay covering, which I assume withstood rain.Roofing materials varied as well. This was a traditional covering. The reeds were purchased from a nearby town and brought in by boat.Modern tarps of various kinds were more common.This came as a surprise. You may have noticed it on our ‘Main Street’ photo. A solar panel makes lots of sense. Roof decoration? It’s possible that this hippo jaw was present to scare away evil spirits.A more modern store featuring the latest in sugar-free drinks! “Same great taste.” Even in 1965, the then small town of Gbarnga, Liberia where I served as a Peace Corps Volunteer had a Coke billboard. And one for Guinness.The chief of the village (blue shirt and leaning on post) took us on a tour where cooking, house building and fish net mending were demonstrated. The man in the cap talking is the captain of the houseboat we lived on while exploring Lake Kariba. This demonstration was how the Tonga cooked fish.Mmm, mmm, good! Since fishing was the primary source of income for the villagers, fish were also their primary source of food. The village’s fishing boat fleet.Mending fishing nets was an ongoing, daily process.Fish caught for sale were salted and dried.Close up.A different drying rack.Fish filet! Yum.After a steady fish diet, eggs might make a welcome substitute. Or chicken? How about duck?Peggy taught one of the children to make the Peace sign. The kids were an absolute delight.How did she do that?And here Peggy was teaching them the ‘A wuni kuni ki yo oonie’ song and clapping game. Everyone of our grandchildren, nieces and nephews will immediately recognize this. Peggy, a retired and well-loved elementary school principal, had a large group of the children with her wherever she went in the village. I’ll close today with a photo of two of the children who had adopted John. He skipped up to the village with them!
Peggy and I are on the road again. Tomorrow we start our journey west where we will be taking three months to travel up the West Coast from Big Sur to Olympia National Park camping out in our travel trailer as we go. I will blog about the trip as we go! Hopefully, I’ll be able to wrap up Africa and the Everglades on our two week drive across the US. I’ll continue to read blogs and respond to comments as time allows.
Cape buffalo are dangerous, no doubt about it. But what makes them so? The look alone says “Don’t mess with me.” The eyes, the horns, the ears and even the nose speak of danger! We were safely ensconced in our boat on the Chobe River. Did I mention that the buffalo are great swimmers…Size matters. The big bulls can weigh up to a ton. The really big ones can reach over 6 feet in height and 11 feet in length.Which, in no way, means that you would want to mess with a thousand pound female…And then there are the horns. No one, not even a lion, wants to be hooked by one.They are the boss. That is actually what the horn structure is called. The solid shield created where the horns meet is so tough that it can withstand the pressure of another large male crashing against it!They attack as a group. You won’t be dealing with one. It could be the whole herd. They protect each other, including the young, the old and the sick. The largest males form a circle around the vulnerable with their horns pointing out. When a calf cries in alarm, the bulls come charging.Terry, the co-owner of the Iganyana Tent Camp where we stayed on the edge of Hwange National Park, told us a story about this downed tree. His brother-in-law came to visit and went out for an evening walk. He called Terry and asked for a pick up because he heard lions. Terry jumped in his truck and rushed to the scene. He didn’t have to worry about the lions. They were up as high as they could get on the stump as the herd of buffalo ran in circles under it, threatening instant death if they dared to come down. That’s how scary they are. The week before we arrived, a herd of around a thousand came to visit the camp and stayed until 11 that night, Terry told us. No one could go back to their tent until the buffalo left! One of them left its calling card on the pathway up to the tent we were staying in. Peggy and I had a hard time imagining being in the tent while the herd roamed around outside.We were out for an evening drive with our guide when we came across the herd crossing the road. “Be quiet,” the guide told us. “Be very quiet.” The guide waited until there was a break and dashed through it.What our guided didn’t tell us was that the herd was coming to graze in the same field where a surprise party was being hosted for us! While Peggy made horns, I checked out the tree for a possible escape. Just in case, you know. I’m happy to report that the buffalo happily munched away on their side of the field while we drank on ours. Fortunately, there was a sufficient supply of alcohol with a great motto. Enough that Peggy changed her approach to making horns. That’s it for today. The next post will be about a fishing village we visited on an island in Lake Kariba, and a carving camp we shopped at in Victoria Falls.A few of the children from the fishing village gathered around me and demanded that I take their photo.
“Snake? What snake? Let me at it!” It’s hard to believe that this cute, friendly looking mongoose lying outside my door at our lodge in Victoria Falls could be a deadly enemy to snakes, or anything, except bugs…A pack had arrived on the lawn while I was “home alone.” Peggy had gone out with our group to a local in-home dinner while I was catching up on some much needed rest. The mongoose were all busily hunting for insects except for the one that was taking advantage of our warm balcony. I think she took offense at my comment…“Who dares to say I can’t take on a snake?” I thought I’d provide her with some options…How about this one? We heard our next door neighbors yelling as they dashed out of their tent cabin on the edge of Hwange National Park. They had a visitor, this long olive green fellow that looked like a black mamba. Black mamba’s are long, skinny, and can be more olive colored than black. They are one of the most feared snakes in Africa. I grabbed my camera and ran over to photograph it before the staff showed up and kicked me out. Getting up close and personal with a mamba might not seem too smart but I’ve been known to lie down in front of rattlesnakes so I can get good headshots. Grin. But hey, I turned 81 yesterday and I’m still here. Turns out it was a grass snake, but boy could it move fast. The staff came armed with brooms.Or how about this large black snake? It looked scary enough when we came upon it near the Cape of Good Hope. It’s nonpoisonous, however, and good at capturing gophers and mice. The next snake we discovered close by was different, a worthy opponent of of my visiting mongoose. It’s scientific name is Bitis ariens, and with a name like Bitis…The puff adder causes more fatalities than any other snake in Africa and is responsible for 60% of the snake bites in South Africa. With long fangs, a venom that kills cells, and the ability to swim and climb trees, it was not a snake to be messed with. Note its forked tongue and puffed out cheeks.It headed off for the grass and we were glad to let it go. We saw several other reptiles that didn’t push our heart rates off the charts, including a six-foot long lizard.We spotted this monitor lizard on the banks of the Chobe River in Botswana. They can reach 6 1/2 feet in length and are known for standing on their hind legs to monitor their surroundings, thus the name. In addition to being the largest lizard in Africa, they are the only lizard with a forked tongue. Some specialists argue that this makes them more snake than lizard. They are also supposed to have a high IQ— for a lizard. Apparently, they can be taught to count up to six. One clever thing they do that I read about is lay their eggs on termite nests. The termites cover them up and the nest provides protection and heat regulation. When they are born, they have a ready supply of termites to eat. It hardly seems a fair way to treat your host.We found this colorful lizard on a rock near the Cape of Good Hope. It’s a southern African rock agama.It disappeared over the edge, but then poked its head up to watch us.We were up on Table Mountain next to Cape Town, South Africa, when we spotted this interesting, “armor-plated” lizard. It’s called a black girdled lizard.I’ve always liked tortoises. I wasn’t expecting to see any in Africa, so this leopard tortoise in Chobe National Park came as a happy surprise.We also found another one. Check out its attractive shell. Males compete for their lady loves by bumping into each other. They also pursue and bump into females until they agree to mate. But mainly, both males and females wander around and graze on grass and other herbaceous plants.And now back to mammals and the competition for cutest animal. We thought that the mongoose featured on top might win, but that was before we met a hyrax up on Table Mountain.As I mentioned in my last post, hyraxes have a number of physiological characteristics that make them more closely related to elephants and manatees than to the rodents one would expect. They are found throughout Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East.And just how cute are they? Our sister-in-law, Frances, couldn’t resist buying a cuddly toy hyrax for her new granddaughter.Speaking of cute, this small velvet monkey showed up at a restaurant overlooking the Victoria Falls gorge where we had stopped for lunch. I think he was looking for a paw out. That does it for today. On Wednesday, Peggy and I will take you back to the Everglades. On Friday, it’s all about Cape buffalo. On Wednesday, we’ll return to the fantastic birdlife of the Everglades and the Bald Cypress National Preserve plus throw in some crocodiles, alligators and dolphins.
Wandering through Time and Place 