In the Footsteps of the Bushmen

In The Footsteps of the Bushmen

The weather was glorious and as we set off early in the morning on Christmas Eve. There were six in our party, including the ‘happy Finns’, a young Finnish couple so nicknamed because they were always smiling. Lunch and water packed, our guide assured us that it was a relatively easy hike up the trail and wouldn’t take us more than 3 to 3 ½ hours to get to the rock art and about 3 hours to come back down. We had already spent time in this ethereal landscape when we had taken the spectacular drive up the Sani Pass into the country of Lesotho (“the roof of South Africa”) the day before. The pass is the highest in the country at 2865 meters. It was breath taking with stunning views in all directions.

We hiked slowly, enjoying the scenery and listening to our guide tell us about the history of the area. We hiked through rolling fields and grassland, skirting wooded gorges with the magnificent high basalt cliffs in the background. This is a magical and otherworldly landscape, straight out of The Lord of the Rings. When I mentioned this, our guide agreed and said it was because Tolkien was originally from South Africa. A little trivia that I had not known.

There is evidence that this area of the Drakensberg Mountains has been occupied for thousands of years. We were on our way to visit one of the numerous San rock art sites in the area. The San were the oldest inhabitants of southern Africa where they lived for 25,000 years. Those living in this area are believed to have migrated from present day Botswana. They were part of a larger diverse group of peoples who shared common linguistic connections. The name “Bushmen” comes from the early Dutch settlers and loosely translates into the word ‘bandit’ or ‘thief’.

Four hours had passed and we still had a long way to go. By now we were getting hungry and wondering why we were not there yet. Fortunately, you can drink from the streams at that altitude because there are neither domesticated animals nor humans living up there. At least water wasn’t going to be a problem.

Five hours later we finally reached our destination. There were three sites of Bushmen art, all painted on rock over hangings. The pictures were amazing, beautiful and colorful. They had been painted roughly 4,000 years ago. On one, a great hunt was depicted. Other segments showed us a glimpse into their daily life. Our guide told us that for the Bushmen, the paintings weren’t just representations of life but also held the key to the supernatural world. The shaman painted images of the animals that they held as sacred. By doing so, they also harnessed its spirit and thereby were able to enter the spirit world.

We ate our lunch under one of the overhangs. The vistas were gorgeous. No highway or buildings off in the distance to break the magic spell. It was easy to imagine a world before the intrusion of modern man. To think that a group of San Bushmen had sat where I was sitting and had looked over the same great expanse made me feel very small and insignificant.

Night Drive

Night Drive

I have been fortunate to do quite a bit of traveling on this vast continent over the past few months; a month in South Africa, a week in Zanzibar, a few days here and there… Shortly before the rainy season descended upon us, I traveled north to spend a few days in the southern region of the Luangwa National Park.

The locals used to call this area of Zambia ‘the crowded place’ because of the massive herds of elephant and hippo that populated the park until poaching in the 1980’s decimated their numbers. Thankfully, that is in the past. The animal population has rebounded since strict government intervention and conservation laws have been put into place.

I flew into the dusty, sleepy village of Mfuwe located 20k outside of the park gate. It was still early but the day was hot and getting hotter. After checking into the Mfuwe Lodge, I spent the day lounging indolently around my chalet. It was too hot to do much else but my veranda looked out onto the lagoon and I was able to observe small groups of zebra, antelope, and elephant come out of the bush to take a long drink. To my amusement, Baboons chased each other through the grass and rolled in the mud.

At teatime, I gathered with the other guests in the lounge in great anticipation. The lodge is famous for the elephants that tramp across the reception area on their way to the mango trees on the other side of the building. And sure enough, just as promised, a group of elephants trotted up the path from the lagoon and straight into the reception area. Cameras clicking and camcorders whirring, we stood in awe as they marched single file past the desk and gift shop and back out again on their way to the mangos. You can see this for yourself by clicking on the following link:

http://www.africatravelguide.com/articles/the-elephants-of-mfuwe-lodge.html

As the brilliant sun sank in the west, we climbed into the open 4 x 4 to set off on our night drive. My traveling companions were a mother and daughter from Perth, Australia and the three of us had the entire touring car to ourselves. We jostled slowly along the dirt paths as we made our way through the woodland to the river. A huge herd of water buffalo crossed the track ahead of use, kicking up dust and forcing us to stop until they had passed. Wildlife is plentiful and the park is home to fourteen species of antelope, as well as Thorneycroft’s giraffe, found only in the South Luangwa Valley. With such an abundant food source its no wonder that the big predators survive well here.

Night descended quickly and we were soon enveloped by the inky blackness. The driver drove slowly, the spotlight making great swaths across the landscape. “There” the driver pointed…two hyenas trotted across the plain. As we drove on we spotted elephants, a leopard in a tree, a group of startled puku staring into the lights, and a majestic male lion relaxing under a tree with his mate. Nicki, the young Aussie, asked our driver if he would stop and turn off the lights so we could observe the brilliant night sky. We leaned back and sat in silence looking heavenward. After several minutes the driver turned the lights back on and I heard a loud gasp as we all sucked air; eight lionesses surrounded our vehicle! We held our breath as they stealthily moved around the car, sniffing the air and keeping their eyes on us the entire time. They were so close I could have reached out and touched one! What beautiful and powerful creatures. It felt magical and dangerous at same time. They soon lost interest and sauntered off disappearing into the blackness and we continued on our night drive.

In Search of Pride

In Search of Pride

I was asked to tag along on a reconnaissance mission to check out Treetops School Camp as a possible field trip alternative for our students. Treetops Camp is located deep in Kafue National Park on the banks of the Lufupa River, a 7 hour drive north-west of Lusaka.

http://treetopskafue.webs.com/

Our group of seven left on a gorgeous hot Friday afternoon crammed into the school mini-bus among ‘cooler-boxes’, mosquito netting, backpacks, cases of beer, water jugs, and jerry cans filled with extra gasoline. We meandered through the Friday traffic, finally hitting the open highway 40 minutes later. Jacaranda trees dotted the landscape, their branches in brilliant violet bloom. Beers were cracked open, 80’s rock music turned up, bags of ‘crisps’ passed around, and finally we were on our way…

Kafue National Park is the second largest and most underdeveloped park in all of Africa. It is roughly the size of the state of New Hampshire. Our route took us through the village of Mumbwa and we entered the park through the Nalusanga gate. We still had about a 3- hour drive ahead of us; most of which would be in the dark. Once inside the park the road became horrendous, a swath of hard packed mud. As we made our way, the van jostled, tossed, and spun us around like a salad mixer. But…our first wildlife sighting was a leopard! Unfortunately, we only got a quick glimpse as it streaked across the road! I took this as an omen of good things to come. Finally we arrived at the bush camp, ate a hasty dinner and promptly went to sleep.

The next morning, I awoke to the sound of hippos on the riverbank, just a few meters from my bed. Following a good camp breakfast, we set off on a game drive following the road north across the Bussing Flatlands to the edge of the Busanga Plains. The Lufupa River floods during the summer season, creating a huge floodplain that is richly inhabited by a diverse group of animals. Herds by the hundreds, buffalo, impala, antelope, wildebeest, red lechwe, and zebra, all populate the vast plains. With such an array and abundance of food available, it’s no wonder that there are lions and we were in search of a pride. A pride of lions consists of a group of related females, their offspring, and three or four male lions. We were told that a pride of 14 lions lives in the vicinity of the Treetops Camp!

At first, the road took us through an eerie landscape, much of it barren and dotted by large baobab trees and grey termite mounds. It looked to me like an abandoned cemetery filled with falling down headstones. There were patches of green brush and a variety of acacia trees. A landscape dominated by miombo woodlands. Warthogs ran in and out of the bush directly in front of the Land Rover while baboons and vervet monkeys watched us pass by with curious faces. Vultures perched atop trees waiting for the heat of the day to carry and propel them through the air. We watched hartebeest, puku, kudu, reedbuck, bushbuck, roan, and sable, as they crisscrossed our path.

We had been told that a small pride of lions had killed and gorged themselves on a wildebeest the day before and could now be found lying around somewhere, sluggish and lazy. We were on a mission to find the pride. Finally, we spotted them! Way off on the horizon of the plains, barely discernible without binoculars, a small pride of lions. Slowly, the Land Rover bounced over the plains. There they were in all their glory, two massive males and one female. And yes, they were ‘just chillin’. They were not interested in us at all and seemed bored by all the attention we were giving them. This allowed us to get very close. What an incredible animal! Their beauty and the inherent power they represented enthralled me. Afterwards, everyone wanted to know if this had been my first lion sighting as though it was a rite of passage for anyone living in Africa. Oh yes, I thought, …with pride.

Treetops Kafue National Park Zambia

Namibia: Land of Enchantment

According to the Lonely Planet Africa guidebook, “Namibia is one of those dreamlike places that make you question whether something so visually orgasmic could actually exist.”

Reading descriptions such as this and hearing other people‘s travel stories fuelled my wanderlust. I wanted to see this place and so six of us decided to travel to Namibia over our spring break.

Things didn’t start off so well. We arrived at the airport on Saturday only to be informed that Air Namibia had cancelled our flight. They had not notified us and we were forced to book another flight on a different airline in order to make our connection in Johannesburg later that day. Living in Africa, even for such a short time, we have all come to expect such mishaps. There is a saying here that you must take to heart otherwise you will drive yourself crazy with frustration: “Europeans have the clock but Africans have the time”. Oh, how true that is!

We finally arrived in the capital city of Windhoek late that evening. The next morning we set off for the resort city of Swakopmund. The five-hour drive took us across a rugged, barren and isolated landscape. It reminded me of New Mexico, the land of enchantment. This too, was a country filled with captivating beauty.

Swakopmund is a seaside city sandwiched between the Atlantic Ocean and the soaring sand dunes of the Namib Desert. It has been described as being more German than Germany. I have to say that this is true. Very ironic, considering that Germany lost all her colonies after WWI and this part of southeast Africa became British. Everyone speaks German, road signs and menus are in German, there are German delis, bakeries, breweries, restaurants, bookstores…The grocery stores are stocked with German products and brand names such as Haribo, Tobler, Lowenbrau, Dallmayr, Nutella… My traveling companions and I could hardly contain ourselves! We were positively giddy by all the choices available. Eloise bought 11 pounds (we weighed it) of pumpernickel bread to bring back to Lusaka.

The desert has always fascinated me and the dunes that we were going to play on did not disappoint. They are part of the Namib Desert that stretches more than 1,200 miles along the Atlantic coast. One of the first things we did was take the Living Desert Tour, a fascinating and educational experience. We learned about the eco-system and how various critters can survive in a place that hasn’t seen rain in 4 years. We saw chameleons, snakes (very deadly), scorpions, jackals, lizards, and strange insects. Our guide explained that the surface of the dunes vary in color due to the various particles carried by the winds and also the direction of the winds. The heavier materials tend to rest on the top of the dunes. To me it looked like the swirls of a marble cake. Absolutely beautiful!

All of us had different ideas on how to spend our time so we did our own thing during the day, meeting up later for a good meal. I went on a camel trek and watched the sun rise over the dunes. I kayaked with the seals in Walvis Bay, walked along the desolate seashore and listened to the pounding surf. Namibia was a wonderful experience. I thought of it as a ‘reconnaissance’ trip since I plan on returning to explore more of Africa’s youngest country.