Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Best of Africa - South Africa

(June 9th-July 3rd, 2009)

So, as I have mentioned before, Abbey and I left the truck and decided to fly straight to Cape Town from Swakopmund. That was really a good thing to do, first because we could not stand being on the truck anymore, and second, because I had more time in Swakopmund to go Skydiving again!

Once we got to Cape Town, we met up with 2 Dutch guys we have met in Namibia. Dennis and Henk, Dennis’ dad, were traveling around Southern Africa for the past 4 weeks and Cape Town was their last stop. They took us around and we did have a blast. We went to Cape Point, Cape of Good Hope, Simmon’s Town (to see the penguins), Hermanus (to see the whales), Stellenbosch (to drink wine), and to several sightseeing spots, restaurants, and bars in Cape Town. Abbey and I did indeed enjoy our time with them.

Once they left, Abbey and I continued to explore the city center on our own. I started getting very sick and a little tired of being on the go for so long. Abbey went back to Australia after few days and I took my things and went to Hout Bay, a beautiful beach town only 20 minutes from Cape Town, and decided to stay at Uncle Roger's (Justin's real uncle) place for a little while (3 weeks).

During my time in Hout Bay, I took a full week break for intensive resting in order to get better from my flu and body exhaustion. I was also able to do some online catching up with everything and everyone.

Once I got better, and seriously it took me a lot of sleep and medicine, I started doing great stuff again, including spending a weekend at Uncle Roger’s farm, an incredible place at the top of a mountain, only 45 minutes from Hout Bay, where accordingly to him, is the place where the angels live, and accordingly to me, he is totally RIGHT!

Uncle Roger also took me on a tour to one of the townships in Hout Bay and we had a fantastic time drinking beers and playing pool with the locals over there. It was really a lot of fun!

Now I’m getting ready to go for my next and last journey in Africa – Mozambique. I truly believe it will be extraordinary and I cannot wait to be there… and I guess after that, I must go back to the often called “real life”…

The following are two little movies for you to enjoy. The first one is from this trip and the second one is from my trip to South Africa two years ago.







Beijos, Gi

Friday, June 19, 2009

Best of Africa - Namibia

(May 31st - June 9th, 2009)

5. Namibia

In Namibia, we started our journey going to Etosha National Park for more game drives. Even though it was a great place, I had to skip some of the rides because I could not get excited anymore from spotting wild animals. They were literally everywhere and in big quantities.

After Etosha, on our way to Swakopmund, we stopped at the Cheetah’s Farm for one night. I was a little skeptical about going there and spending more time spotting cheetahs from a distance but after not even 15 minutes in the farm /camp site I realized that that “game” experience was going to be different. Once we got there, on our way from the truck to the toilets, we passed by several cheetahs and cubs that were standing right by the fence.

After eating, the guys from the farm took us to see their cheetahs and that was very special. Being a “people” person and not an “animal” person, once we got close to the two amazing cheetahs they had in their backyard, I took a good distance and seat down on the lawn to try to take some great pictures of them. Not even 2 minutes later, while I was still preparing my camera, one of the cheetahs started walking on my direction, and before I could stand up and run, she was already licking me all over. SERIOUSLY!!!!!!! Think about someone having a heart attack without being able to express it. That was me!!!

As soon as she started licking me, I thought I could feel her teeth as well because it felt so harsh, but then, the guys told me that it was only her tongue I was feeling and that I should relax and enjoy the free body scrub. SERIOUSLY AGAIN!!! Instead of taking her off me they were all laughing and enjoying watching me panicking. After maybe 20 minutes of “free body scrub” I stop minding it, and actually, I started turning around so she could work on every part of my back… It was priceless! Just Amazing! After that, we went to feed the wild ones and it was also really incredible. What a gorgeous animal!!

My last stop in Namibia was in Swakopmund, where I stayed for almost a week. Abby and I decided to leave the truck, spend more time in the city, and after that fly straight to Cape Town.

In Swakopmund, a very little and charming town, we went skydiving and quad biking in the Namib Desert. Quad biking was very special, but in my opinion, there is nothing you can do in your life that feels better than skydiving. The way I have been describing it for the past 15 years, when I first did it in Brazil, is that “it is so orgasmic and feels like having sex with the angels”. All the girls laughed at me when I said that, but ALL OF THEM adopted “my saying” to describe their skydiving experience as well.

Incredible country! Amazing experiences!

Here are some photos from this part of the trip. Enjoy it!


Best of Africa - Botswana

(May 25th - 30th, 2009)

4. Botswana

Before putting my Africa itinerary together, the only thing I knew was that I had to go to Botswana and Namibia. For some reason, because I really did not know much about these two countries, I felt that they would definitely be the highlights of my whole trip. While spending 2 weeks travelling around Botswana and Namibia I could not stop thinking that I was completely right!

In Botswana, we went game driving and game boating in the Chobe National Park. I must confess I was not too crazy about the game drive. I guess that besides the fact I was very sick on that morning I also have done more than 10 game drives throughout this trip and it got to the point that it started getting old. However; the game boating was just SUPERB. Beautiful scenery, animals everywhere and very close by, and just before ending the ride we were also able to witness one more magical African sunset.

After Chobe we headed to Maun, the little city very close to the Okavango Delta. Ok, here is the painful truth: It does not matter how precisely I try to describe my experience there, you will never be able to really get it. You must go there to see, feel, and live that place for yourself. It is really spectacular.

We got to one of the “shores” of the Delta and met with the guides that were going to take us on a mokoro (little wooden canoe) to the middle of it. After one and a half hours ride, we arrived at the place that we were going to be bush-camping for 2 days/nights. While we were there we enjoyed the surrounds to the fullest. We went swimming, enjoyed several game walks, took mokoro lessons, and during the evenings we just relaxed by the camp fire and listened to the locals singing for us.

I was lucky enough to have the best guide ever there. K.T. is a young guy from Botswana with so much passion for his country and his work and an incredible willingness to make your experience in Okavango Delta unforgettable. On the second day there, during a very relaxing afternoon, he took me for a mokoro ride. Everybody else stayed in the camp. We were talking non-stop while going through the Delta exquisite water channels. He told me about his family, religion, traditions, government, passions, dreams, and plans for the future. I guess I shared all the same topics with him but the plans for the future :)… It was just so cool to see how much both of us were learning from our completely different backgrounds.

After riding for more than one hour, he stopped the mokoro in the middle of one “pool” and asked me if I was going to be able to stand up without turning the canoe over (it is really the least stable thing you can be in). Without knowing why he asked me that, I said yes and started standing up and turning around to see what was going on. For my surprise, or maybe I should not be that surprised since we were in the Delta, there was this massive Hippopotamus right in front of us. Seriously less than 3m/9ft away… I could barely breathe. I was paralyzed and astonished by the beauty of that moment. Once the Hippo went under the water and we could not see where he was anymore, we came to a consensus that the best thing to do was to leave right away and we did. On the way back he stopped in the middle of the channel and got some water lilies. Not even 3 minutes later I had around my neck this beautiful necklace made out of them. During our ride back to the camp we continued with our conversations and it was a lot of fun.

Once we got to the camp, almost sunset time, everybody was around the fire having some drinks. We all thought that it could be a good night to have more drinks but unfortunately we also realized we did not have a good supply of it with us in the camp. Not even thinking twice, I went to K.T. and asked him if he could take me to the village to buy some drinks and without hesitation he surely said yes.

Since we just had little time left before it got dark, he literally flew the mokoro through the channels and took us only 30 minutes to do the same route we had done in one and a half hours the day before. At the village the drinks were very expensive and I did not have enough money to get what we would need for that night. I ended up spending ALL of our daylight time negotiating with the locals in order to get what I was looking for. I was indeed able to convince them to sell me everything at cost price and all seemed to be going very well till I realized that the sun had set and that we had a long way to go back to the camp site.

Not even 2 minutes after we started our mokoro ride back to the camp, we were stopped by a Hippo right in front of us. Do not ask me how K.T. saw him, but I’m so glad he did. We had to back off, wait a little, and then try to find an alternative way to cross to the other side. At that point I just closed my eyes and hoped for the best. Luckily, K.T. found a way to pass the hippo and we continued with our journey. During the entire ride back to the camp I seriously thought I would die being eaten by a hippo. I guess since this is the most common death in Africa, people would not be that shocked…

But honestly, even though it was probably the scariest moment of my life, it was indeed one of the most amusing ones. After we passed the hippo and I opened my eyes again, I was mesmerized by the magnificence of my surroundings - the red and orange colors in the horizon, the incredible light from a crescent moon, the massive amount of stars covering the sky, the beautiful flora that helped forming the fascinating water channels, and the incredible natural soundtrack from the Delta. It was indeed surreal and definitely a moment I will never forget. Thanks to K.T.’s evident confidence that he would take me back to the camp safe and sound I was able to “relax” and enjoy the ride…

Opps, I almost forgot to mention that during our last day in Maun we also went for a 45 minutes flight over the Delta at sunset time. It was pretty nice and a great way to really get a good and real picture of the whole place.

Here are some photos from this part of the trip. Enjoy it!


Thursday, June 18, 2009

Best of Africa - Zambia & Zimbabwe

(May 15th - 24th, 2009)

3. Zambia and Zimbabwe (and the train ride)

As I have mentioned on my last posting, when I was in Tanzania, I’ve decided to skip the trip to Malawi and stay in Zanzibar longer than the overland group. After 2 weeks enjoying my well deserved (it was really well deserved) break in Kendwa Beach, I had to catch a 3 days train ride to Zambia to meet up with the truck again in order to continue with my Best of Africa trip.

The train was a real “African” train (I do not like labeling things but unfortunately I cannot find a better way to describe it now) and the journey was just unbelievable. During those 3 days, we were riding inside game parks and spotting many wild animals and making regular stops in little villages where the locals would come to our windows to sell us all types of food. It was also very good to be able to spend a lot of time chatting with other travelers and locals on board. Indeed a very interesting culture-exchange opportunity!

On May 18th, I arrived in Lusaka (Zambia) and joined the overland group again. It was great to reunite with all of them. Next morning we headed to Livingstone (Zambia), where we had 4 free days to do whatever we wanted and/or could afford.

There, I did the “Elephant Trail”, where I was riding BOP, this massive 7 tons animal, for about one and a half hours. It is amazing how a creature that heavy can be so gentle and sensitive. It was a very special experience!

I also did a microlight flight over the Victoria Falls, and as you will be able to see from the pictures I got, it was breathtaking. Of course I would not miss the bungee jump experience as well. I’m always looking for some adrenaline fix and I guess throwing myself out of a 111m/365ft bridge was a great way to get it…

After Livingston we went to Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe) and there we had few more free days. I decided to spend those days more involved with the locals and their regular activities. I joined our hotel hostess’ in her projects with the street kids, learned a lot about the Lion Alert’s great mission (lionalert.org) , took drumming classes, and just had a blast hanging out with the local girls while having manicure and pedicure :) ...

Here are some photos from this part of the trip. I hope you will enjoy it!