As before, here are some of my favourite photos from Mana Pools, Zimbabwe. Enjoy.
Most of our time in Mana Pools was actually spent in canoes. This was a fantastic way to experience the Zambezi River. The one animal that has done extremely well in this area is the hippopotamus. I must admit I really had little knowledge of this animal. Boy, were we going to get an education. There were hippopotami everywhere. I mean everywhere. According to Nick there were approximately 5000 hippopotami in this area. I think we saw all of them. Most people think of hippopotami as ugly looking and they are often portrayed as comical animals. Nothing could be further from the truth if they are angry. Mothers are extremely protective of their calves. This was a time that we were required to paddle furiously to assist our guides. We had no problem with this. We were educated that they are actually extremely anxious animals and often are very reactive based on fear. We had a fascinating study each day on how not to elicit this behaviour by our guides. They were extremely adept at observing their behaviour as we approached them and the trick was to read their behaviour and always give them space or access to deep water in which case they preferred to avoid you. In the water hippopotami only keep their eyes and the top portion of their head visible. Then they suddenly disappear and this is when you need to worry. They can stay underwater for between 10 to 20 minutes at a time. With the glare on the surface of the water they are completely invisible when submerged. Most incidents occur when they suddenly breach. If this occurs beneath your canoe you will be overturned. Most of the fatalities occur because unbeknownst to us most Africans do not know how to swim. They usually drown after being overturned. On rare occasions you can get a predatory hippopotamus which purposely overturns your canoe. This is a frightening experience. Hippopotami have huge teeth and are quite capable of simply snapping through the fibreglass canoes.
Danni and Tanya
Imposing Hippo
On one of our particular canoe outings we were gently paddling through the Zambezi. It had been a hot afternoon and we were all quite relaxed. Richard and Danni were in the last canoe. We had just passed a particular pod of hippopotami. We later found out that Richard and Dani had just been talking about how uneventful our paddling experiences had been up to that point and how lucky we had been (Richard had been in Africa on this exact adventure approximately a year ago when he had witnessed a hippopotamus attack on a canoe in front of him. It had made quite an impression on him). Little did he realize he was about to have a similar experience. I remember suddenly hearing a yell followed by a huge splash. As I looked behind I saw their canoe overturned with Dani calling out to Richard who was separated from the canoe but amazingly was holding his very expensive camera above his head and paddling with one hand crazily to get back to the canoe. They apparently had been overturned by a very angry and predatory bull hippopotamus who was known to be prone to this type of behaviour. Dani, our most inexperienced guide, did a superb job of handling the situation. The back right-side portion of her canoe had been damaged and bitten through by the hippopotamus. However, she and Richard emerged unscathed. We were even able to joke about it afterwards. Nick was most impressed that in this situation Richard was able to keep his camera from getting submerged at all. It was in perfect working order. Unbelievable. Nick shook Richard’s hand. Richard seemed to be upset that we did not capture this experience by video. We almost beat him senseless. Certainly capturing the experience was the last thing on our minds. It is hard to suppress an overwhelming urge to dive in and swim towards the capsized canoe. This is definitely not the thing to do. Nick instructed us to paddle our canoes and create a protective wall around the overturned canoe and individuals until we were able to right the canoe and get them back in. We paddled to a close sandy island and called back to the main camp to get a new canoe as this one was damaged and would not be able to continue with us on our adventure. I must admit we had to think a little about whether we wanted to continue. After reflection we decided it was best that we should. Unbeknownst to us Dani’s parents- who had come up for several days to spend time with her- had been actually following in a vehicle along the shoreline. They witnessed the whole thing. Later Dani told us that her parents were somewhat concerned with her choice of occupation from a safety point of view. I am not sure this experience helped in that regard. We continued on our way and I am happy to report that we had no further such experiences for the remainder of our time.
Richard's Near Miss
I still recall the paddle on our final day. One always becomes sentimental on the final day of any journey. This day was particularly warm and after paddling for a couple hours in the morning suddenly all three canoes were stopped. We were in a beautiful sandy and reedy area with no hippopotami in sight. We were suddenly informed that it was time to go for a swim. I was all for it. I was feeling a little overheated at that point. Suddenly Nick produced a small soccer ball and informed us that we would be playing “Pig”. The purpose of the game is to pass the ball along as quickly as you can to other members who are standing in a circle. If you dropped the ball or threw it poorly you were awarded one of the consonants of the word pig. After three misses or poor throws you spelled the word “Pig” had to bend over exposing your backside and then the other players got to throw the ball at your backside. If they missed they joined you. After all members had thrown you started all over. What a great game. We played like little children for about 45 minutes. A great time was had by all. We then got back into our canoes and paddled back to our final campsite. We simply drifted for the last kilometre to fully enjoy our final paddling adventure. The light was beautiful as the sun was setting on the Zambezi. There was no wind and the water was like glass. We were all in heaven. What a great way to finish off our Mana Pools safari. I think we will all remember that final kilometre forever.
Hippo Damage
June 21 the next morning we said our goodbyes to the camp staff, Danni, Tanya, the children, Nick and Desi. We were transferred to a nearby dirt airstrip for our Wilderness Air scheduled charter flight back to Victoria Falls Airport. The African Safari adventure of our travels was over. We then boarded a charter flight back to Johannesburg. At this point we said our goodbyes to Teresa and Richard. Teresa was heading back to Calgary with two overnight flights. We gave her our condolences. Richard was proceeding back to England to spend some time with his parents before heading back to Calgary. It was hard to say goodbye after all of our wonderful experiences. Anna and I were proceeding onwards to spend 10 days in Cape Town.
Our Best Sides!
Anna Playing "Pig"
As I mentioned previously, the experience in Mana Pools was different in terms of animal sightings compared to Botswana. We saw a lot less animals on our game drives. However, two experiences in particular were interesting.
As we were looking for animals to photograph one morning suddenly Nick stopped the truck and said I can see lions in the distance. Guides must be provided with different spotting skills compared to ours. We seem to be adept at only spotting Starbucks locations. We could not see what he was looking at. He instructed us to get off the vehicle and get ready to track the lions. Surely he must be kidding! He cocked his rifle and off he went with us in tow. After walking for a while suddenly we saw a pride of ten lions walking along the edge of a sandy rut. It was amazing he had spotted them from the track. We proceeded into the bush to see if we could get closer. The bush was relatively thick and Nick frequently looked at the tracks in the sand to get a bearing on the lions. He kept pointing out the footprints and clearly describing how many lions and in what direction they were traveling. We kept agreeing with his assessment but for the life of us had no idea what the dirt was trying to tell us. I must admit I did poorly in tracking during my studies in Canada. Unfortunately, after approximately 30 minutes, we decided the lions had given us the slip and we proceeded back to the vehicle. We were not unhappy with this outcome.
Lions on the Prowl
On another day, we again drove out from our mobile camp stopped the vehicle and then started to proceed through the bush. Nick was aware of a pack of wild African dogs in the area. These are the rarest African predators and are endangered. We certainly had an experience in Botswana to observe them but with at least eight other vehicles this detracted from the experience. If we saw this pack we alone would be present. We were all very excited. After 15 minutes Nick suddenly stopped as he had spotted the pack. There were approximately 8 dogs leisurely sitting in the sunshine. In order to get closer he instructed us to get as low to the ground as possible. The dogs must have been smiling as six of us slowly creeped towards them on our buttocks through the dirt trying to miss their droppings. This however allowed us to get quite close to the dogs and get some great photographs. This was the den site of this particular pack and apparently there were three puppies present. We did get a chance later to walk close to the den site but it was extremely well protected and camouflaged and we never did see the puppies. What a special experience. It really pays to have a professional guide.
The Wild African Dog
Also known as the Painted Dog
Nick with Pangolin
As we arrived June 17 at the airstrip we were greeted by Nick Murray our 42-year-old professional guide from Zimbabwe. Nick was born in Zimbabwe and attended university in South Africa where he graduated with a BSc in Zoology. He informed us during this trip that he was working on a Masters degree based upon the local wild African dogs. We were lucky that a pack was present in the area and we had a good chance of observing them in their natural environment. He has guided throughout Zimbabwe and had toured Mozambique, Zambia, Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Tanzania. He is very experienced in wildlife management, game ranching and game capture. From 1995-1998 he was a freelance guide in various lodges and camps in the Kariba, Hwange and Mana Pools areas. Nick is now based in the Zambezi Valley at Vundu Camp which is the only semipermanent campsite in Mana Pools. The main lodge is set in a canopy of riverrine trees on the bank of the river. It is raised 10 feet off the ground with a thatched roof and was definitely an ideal place to enjoy our dinners and cocktails. On-site accommodation included eight large tents again with en suite showers and flush toilets. This would be our home for the next two days. We were very lucky the first night when we were informed by other guides that a Pangolin had been spotted so we ventured off in a flurry to look at this prehistoric looking animal. It is extremely rare to see this elusive animal. Nick had not seen one in 15 years!
This camp experience was going to be different than the one we had in Botswana. We were certainly going to do game drives but the focus here would be on canoeing the Zambezi River for a good portion of our time. In addition to Nick (and Desi, his wife and also professional guide as well as his two adorable children Tate and Jed), we also had two female guides in training- Danni and Tanya- who would assist him with guiding individual canoes. For our outings we would use three canoes-one canoe with three people and the other two with two. In most cases we were not required to paddle except in certain circumstances. I will come to this. You may not realize how extensive the training is to become a professional guide. The entire process takes up to five years. The breadth of knowledge they must acquire is extensive. Usually guides in training will be mentored by a professional guide such as Nick.
Tanya, Teresa and Anna on the Zambezi
For the first two days we would be based out of Vundu camp and then the following two days we would travel to two different mobile camps. Again, our itinerary was consistent. We usually got up at 5:30 AM with a light breakfast and coffee and then went on a morning game drive. We would return to camp briefly and then prepare for our canoe trip. We usually had lunch at a beautiful rest stop along the shoreline during our canoe trip. We did not have the two-three hour break in the middle of the day that we had in Botswana. We would usually arrive back in camp late afternoon or early evening, shower, and then sit down to a wonderful meal followed by sitting around the camp fire regaling our adventures of the day before going to sleep.
One does not realize how many individuals it takes in order to run a remote camp. In the background we had six staff responsible for providing for our needs. They were always extremely polite, efficient and made us feel like we were at home. This left us to focus on experiencing the landscape and concentrating on photography. This is the only way to see wild Africa.
The Staff at Mana Pools
In this post I promise to be less verbose and more visual. I have included some of my favourite photographs from the Botswana section of our Africa adventure. Enjoy!
I thought I would describe mobile tenting to you so you would understand how we actually experienced Botswana. We were provided luxuries in camp but were still very close to the land. One was able to absorb the awesome, majestic grandeur of the African landscape and its wildlife. To us it seemed the best compromise. We were not that interested in staying in luxury lodges or necessarily completely roughing it. The mobile camp site was private and led by a truly professional guide. He was completely interested in making sure you had a real wildlife experience. The tents were 12 x 16 feet, with insect proof windows, comfortable single cots with fresh linens and duvets with private verandas. There was also a private attached en suite bathroom tent with a separate hot water shower and pit toilet. We were fortunate in that we were the only three in our two mobile camps so we received personalized service. It was winter in Africa so the temperatures were cold in the morning (the first morning we had frost) but warmed up to the mid-80s in the afternoon. There were fewer mosquitoes and the temperatures were much more conducive to touring as opposed to mid-40°C temperatures typically experienced in summer. One of the nicest surprises we had was climbing into our beds the first night to discover a hot water bottle to make our sleep more comfortable. What service.
Flo's Kitchen
Typical tent site
Our daily itinerary was consistent. Wake up time was 6 AM. Wash basins were placed outside the tents with hot water to freshen up before we begin another day of adventure. We usually had breakfast before we departed. After our morning game drives we returned to camp with refreshments and freshly baked goods and then rested until a superb lunch was served. Because the temperatures were quite warm and there was little animal activity in midday you would stay in camp for approximately 3 hours prior to the afternoon game drives. You were not allowed to go outside the confines of the camp due to the risk of animal attack. This was a bit of an adjustment for me but it did force me to relax and enjoy the experience. Usually during our evening game drives we would stop for a sundowner which included wine and freshly prepared snacks. This was my kind of wilderness experience. Because we were in a game reserve the rules stipulated we had to be back in camp by sundown. Evening game drives were not permitted. Also, we were not allowed to drive off the main tracks but Brian was very accommodating when required to better view animals as long as he did not encourage other vehicles to follow. Once we returned in the evening we freshened up and then had a superb meal personally presented by our camp chef Flo. We loved Flo. Her meals could have been served in any high end restaurant. Freshly prepared fruit salads, curries, roasted vegetables, local meats (kudu, chicken, beef, crocodile) simply seasoned but delicious and desserts to die for (cheesecake, puddings, chocolate mousse, freshly baked cookies and cupcakes). We then sat by the ever present campfire reviewing the adventures we had had that day. After an appropriate nightcap we ventured back to our tents and fell into blissful slumber with animal calls in the not too far distance.
Our dining tent, chandelier included
An open 4 wheel drive vehicle was used for all game viewing. Because there were only three of us, we had the ability to move back and forth to maximize our chances of getting photographs. Brian was very experienced in positioning the vehicle to get the best light which demonstrated to us his experience in dealing with photographers. You cannot realize how important this is in photography-light and location are everything. Clearly, African safaris are transitioning from the classic hunting camps to photography. I would say it is almost mandatory to have a naturalist guide. It is so easy to get lost and you often run onto roadways that are submerged in water making passage impossible. It was not an uncommon occurrence for us to pull out self drive vehicles that had ventured into water and then became stuck. After a while we thought we should’ve charged for our services. According to Brian, self drive touring- mainly by South Africans- is of concern to operators such as himself. Many of these individuals are inexperienced and often travel together which reduces the chances of having a true wildlife experience in addition to getting into all sorts of trouble. He does feel the fees for these individuals should be significantly increased to detract them from undertaking these ventures.
Our trusty Toyota Land Cruiser
I cannot believe how many animals we saw in this part of Botswana. In my next post I will provide pictures for you to enjoy.
Our tents in Moremi
Another stuck self drive!
Richard and the Toyota
Finally the day had arrived. On June 8 we flew from the International Airport in Johannesburg to Maun, Botswana. When we arrived we were met by our Capture Africa representative and pilot Chris who appeared to be the Doogie Howser of the pilot industry. Teresa was concerned enough that she had to ask his age. We never did get a straight answer but when she guessed approximately 22 he said “that’s about right”. We were convinced he was about 17 years of age. He was a very capable and friendly fellow. Just before we were to clear customs Richard went through his bags and discovered that his video camera was missing. Apparently this is a very common practice on Air Botswana. The baggage handlers simply go through bags and take what they feel they need. There was a warning sign stating not to keep valuables in your checked in bags. We should have heeded this advice. Richard lodged a complaint with the local Air Botswana representative but this was to no avail. Live and learn. This is why you should strongly consider having your checked in bags shrink-wrapped which is a service they provide for 5 dollars US at the airport. Teresa and I had nothing stolen.
Maun Airport, Botswana
Aerial view of the Okavango Delta with airstrip in background
Chris our Mack Air pilot
After clearing customs, we boarded our small plane operated by Mack Air and had a pleasant flight of approximately 40 minutes to Moremi Game Reserve within the Okavango Delta. We had a nice aerial view of the area we were going to spend the next four days in. We landed on a rough airstrip and were met by our first naturalist guide Brian Gibson who operates his own company called Capture Africa. With his wife, Hildrene, they have grown their small mobile operation since 1997. Brian is responsible for leading the tours and the actual camp operations while his wife is an extremely capable operations manager and brilliant chef who teaches the camp chef to make absolutely outstanding meals. Their website is http://www.capture.africa.com. If you are coming to Botswana please consider Brian and Capture Africa. Generally you have to work through an agent usually based in the United States and we used The Africa Adventure Company. Their website is http://www.AfricanAdventure.com.
Our Botswana Naturalist, Brian Gibson
Once the greetings were concluded we hopped into the Toyota Land Cruiser (the 4 x4 of choice) and ventured off into the wilds. It took us approximately 2 1/2 hours to actually get to our first mobile camp. The number of animals that we saw on this drive was absolutely outstanding. They included lions, cheetahs, wildebeest, elephants, impala, kudu, baboon, giraffe, hornbill and numerous birds I will never remember. This was going to be good. In my next post I will describe what safari mobile tenting is all about.
The day we fly to Africa has finally arrived. Teresa and I are very excited. We had a leisurely breakfast, nice final walk and hired a cab to get to the airport (which was about the same price as the tube ride). After clearing security and walking towards our gate, I felt a pat on my back and thought they had finally tracked me down and as I turned to face my oppressor I was greeted with the friendly face of Richard Berry.
Richard Berry is a professional photographer who lives and works in Canmore, Alberta. I met Richard several years ago after taking one of his photography courses as I developed an interest in capturing some of my experiences through photography. Richard is both an excellent photographer and teacher and has definitely assisted me in improving my photographic technique. Over the years I attended several of his photographic tours to numerous exciting locations and we became quite friendly. If you are interested in learning more about photography, I would certainly highly recommend Richard and his photographic courses and tours that he offers. His website is http://www.richard-berry.com. Once you get on Richard’s website also check out his blog regarding this trip as well as his Facebook page for other fantastic photographs. Many of you have commented on my photographs and they are a direct result of Richard’s teaching and guidance.
As I mentioned previously, I never enjoy overnight flights but we had another one from London to Johannesburg. We arrived in Johannesburg and stayed in a hotel which was very close to the airport. We only had about 1 1/2 days before we had to fly out again. After getting settled in we decided to take a tour of the city of Johannesburg and Soweto. This was arranged through our hotel. We had some initial concerns because after we were picked up by two individuals we were driven to the centre of Johannesburg with very little information and stoned silence to all of our questions. We suddenly stopped outside of a jail on Constitution Hill and simply sat there. Richard asked “ what’s the plan” at which point they told us we were actually waiting for our guide. We all breathed a sigh of relief. Our guide Modeno ended up being very verbose and entertaining. He seemed quite put off that we were not going to spend more time in Johannesburg as opposed to venturing out to both Zimbabwe and Botswana.
Kalabash drums in shop, Johannesburg
We initially did the city tour of Johannesburg with a very interesting stop at a shop that sold specific potions made up of animal byproducts and roots. Several of the dried animal byproducts,bones and roots were proudly displayed. The shop also contained numerous interesting cultural artifacts including spears, drums and religious items. Apparently downtown Johannesburg has numerous immigrants from other African countries and in certain locations can be quite dangerous. There apparently is a lot of drug traffic that occurs as well. We visited Kalabash stadium which was one of the venue sites for the 2010 World Cup. I must admit I did not feel as safe in downtown Johannesburg as I did in Soweto (which stands for South Western Township).
Kalabash Stadium, Johannesburg
Study of Johannesburg, Apartment Building
The tour of Soweto proved to be much more to my liking. It was fascinating to see beautiful homes still lived in by Desmond Tutu, Winnie Mandela and other notables beside shacks without running water or electricity. Apparently Soweto has approximately 2 million people and Johannesburg has 4 million. All of this makes for a very big city. We also visited the Hector Pieterson museum as well as the beautifully painted Orlando cooling towers. Believe it or not these were painted from artists who hung by ropes along the sides of the cooling towers. How they accomplished this I have no idea. Hector Pieterson, age 13, was killed in 1976 after students led an uprising in Soweto against the requirement to learn Afrikaans. The photograph of his body being carried became front-page news around the world. The museum certainly was an appropriate homage to his memory.
Common accommodation in Soweto
Afterwards we returned to our hotel and prepared for the next phase of our journey to the wilds of Africa. This was going to be the part of this journey that I was really looking forward to. Excitement was starting to build.
Orlando Cooling Towers in Soweto
Hello everyone! I am sorry for the lack of posts on the blog-travel has been hectic and we just arrived today in Victoria Falls-which has internet- from the wilds of Botswana which does not. I will attempt to bring you up to speed with several posts while we are here.
When I left you Teresa and I were going to go out to Hampton Court via a boat cruise. We were all prepared to depart only to find out the water conditions were poor and the cruise that day had to be canceled. Bloody shame as the Brits would say! We had to scramble and quickly made our way to the tube to get to Paddington station so we could catch a train to Bath which was our original plan. It was nice to sit on a high-speed train after all of the walking we had done. We could learn a lot from London regarding public transportation.
We arrived in Bath and were greeted by showers and a shopping mecca if you like that sort of thing. I was shocked at the number of stores and it seemed to be designed for extracting cash. I began to wonder if the Roman baths were really in this town.
Bath...a retail outlet?
We had a nice walk about town after some pub food that was really well priced (one of the few things that was). One of my favourite things about England were the pubs. Great beer and reasonably priced food-great combination. Teresa had been to Bath before so she ventured off to shop and I visited the Roman baths and yes, they really do exist!
Beautiful Bath
Emerald Green Bath Pool
I am glad I looked past the commercialism of Bath as the tour of the Roman baths was fascinating. They have done a great job of presenting and preserving the archaeological site and relating what Roman life was like to visitors. The architecture was beautiful and the baths certainly looked inviting (no I did not take a plunge).
Beautiful Bath Architecture
Bath Cathedral
We only had the afternoon to tour so we hopped back on the train to return to London and had a nice relaxing dinner at Paddington before we ventured back to our hotel as we were leaving for Johannesburg the next day. As we got back to our hotel, the rain started and as Teresa went off to her room I elected to have a final walk around St. James Park. What a great walk. The crowds disappeared and I allowed myself to get soaked as I walked through the park and tried to absorb as much of the London experience as I could before my departure. I ventured past a misty Big Ben and settled into my bed after a hot shower ready to dream of our upcoming Africa adventure.
Ornate Facade
Tomorrow we will join up with Richard Berry, our professional photographer guide, and start our Africa adventure with an overnight flight to Johannesburg (oh joy) before we venture into the wilds of Botswana. Stay tuned.
Morys Musing 