Sail Eagle'sWings - Punta Gorda Life: August 2016

Wednesday, August 31, 2016

More Pictures from our Early Morning Game Drive

See previous story below. Here are some more of Richard's pictures from our early morning game drive, Chobe National Park, Botswana -

Hippo Asleep in Bush

Lion Fifty Feet Away

Convergence

This is what happens when someone spots a lion!

Baboon Grooming

Lion Fifty Feet Away

Liions

Can You See The Lions?

Lions Far Away

Joanne with Guide

You Can Take the Girl Out of the City But...

Buffalo

Young Baboon

Impalas on the Chobe River Flood Plain

Hippo on the Chobe River Flood Plain

Sable Antelope

Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Our 3rd Safari: Chobe National Park Botswana

Elephants appear before our Jeep at sunset at Chobe National Park

After a short boat ride from the country of Namibia, we cleared Customs and arrived at the beautiful resort, Chobe Marina Lodge in Botswana. This is our last opportunity for going on a Safari in search of Africa's wonderful roaming animals. Chobe National Park is the 3^rd park we've visited.

If you snooze you lose! Our wake-up call was 5 AM this morning for a 6 AM departure. We blearily sipped coffee and ate muffins provided and hopped on our jeep in search of lions and other early risers. Our guide took us over sandy unpaved roads to the wetlands of the Chobe River, where animals go for food and water. We were rewarded with lions close to the road. Word got out quickly and before we knew it, there was a Jeep Traffic Jam close to them. Richard got some great pics with his new close-up lens. We continued on spotting giraffes, elephants and even a hippo out of the water, which is an unusual site, since they lurk mainly in the water.

On the prowl!

At 9:30 AM the fun was over. It was time to return to the beautiful resort for a huge breakfast with most anything you could desire. The rest of the day was free until our next Safari scheduled from 3:30 to 6:30 PM. We relaxed, went shopping, etc. Life in Botswana is wonderful. Just one more day and we will say goodbye to some of our group of 12. Not everyone paid to go on the “Add On” trip to Cape Town – but we have. So, our trip will continue until Sept 7.

Nice Kitties

We have great internet connection here and are watching a tropical storm coming at west Florida. Here's hoping it won't strengthen into anything too bad!

Baobab Tree and Zambezi Fishing

August 29 - I elected to ride in a Safari truck while Joanne walked three miles to a meeting point in the bush. We then all hiked a short way to a 2,000 year old landmark Baobab Tree. The tree is quite unusual looking -it looks upside down. However, to the African people it is considered a tree of life because large amounts of water are contained in its bark. The tree has a sad history because the South African Army tied local people to it and tortured them during the Namibian war for independence. They also used the tree as a lookout.

We tried a new mode of transport, an ox cart! The village people use ox carts to carry heavy cargo back and forth. But, this time we got to ride in one in the return trip to our lodge.

This afternoon a veteran of the Namibian War for Independence who spent fifteen years in the bush described the very difficult times and suffering of the people under South African rule. He ended his saga by stating that life was very pleasant now. Considering how little these people have, life must have very difficult indeed under apartheid.

We went fishing on the Zambezi River in the late afternoon. Richard had the touch because he reeled in 2 big cat fish. Maybe he should try fishing back home in Punta Gorda! Yesterday, Harold, one of our fellow travelers, caught a cat fish that we had for lunch. It was surprisingly good.

This morning we stamped out of Namibia and into Botswana. We are now at the Chobe Marina Lodge, Kasane Botswana. This afternoon we head out for a game drive in Chobe National Park. See pictures below.

View from the River Channel

Ford Ox Cart

Ox Cart

Baobab Tree

Riding Back in the Ox Cart

Richard Catches a`Fish

Matters of the Heart

Love Story done the African Way

Our guide, Thompson, related what happens here in matters of the heart.

When a man starts to date, his parents do not want to know about any of his girl friends until he becomes serious with one of them. At that point, the man approaches his Aunt. (An Aunt can only be the father's sister. By the way, the mother's sister(s) are considered his additional mothers. For instance, the Older Mom (sister of his mother) or the younger Little Mom (sister of his mother). Likewise, his Uncle is only his Mom's brother(s). His father's brothers are additional Dads to him.

When he wants to marry, the man's Aunt and Uncle give him advice as to approaching his beloved parents and in negotiating her dowry. In this part of Africa, his bride is worth COWS. For instance, the girl might be worth 8 cows, but he will try to negotiate her price down to 5 cows. By the way, all men in Africa try to acquire at least one cow when they are teens. They work hard to afford the cow and once they acquire it, it stays at his parent's land and hopefully breeds with bulls and before he knows it, he'll have two or three or more cows. This is his worth (his savings account) since there are no banks in the countryside.

The big day comes and the man and his uncle and his aunt go to the girl's parents and broker the deal. In our guide's case, he negotiated his wife for 8 cows. Five cows were given once they consented and other other 3 were delivered to her parents 5 years after their wedding.

When the cows are delivered, they are considered married. Typically, they will have a church wedding sometime later. The bride goes to her new in-law’s home. She does chores for them and reveres her husband's parents. In return, they give her small gifts for her new home. After all this happens, she is free to move into her new husband's home.

Everyone in this part of Africa is from a village and they value their heritage from that village. Even if they move to a big city, they are expected to bring their children back to the village to learn about their heritage and experience village life. This occurs at school breaks or holidays.

Hope you enjoyed Love African Style!

A Far Away Place

Yesterday, August 27, we were in 3 different African countries! We left our
pretty hotel in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe and traveled 1-1/2 hours by bus to Botswana. At the border crossing we were stamped out and our visa reviewed by the Zimbabwe crossing guards. Continuing on, we road approx 300 years to be stamped in by the friendly Botswana immigration authorities. We explained that we were only transiting through on our way to Namibia. Back on another jeep we traveled 45 minutes to the border crossing and were checked out once again. Finally, we walked a short distance up a dirt hill to the Namibia customs area and they stamped us in. Whew! It wasn't over yet. We transferred to a 25 ft river power boat for a ride through a meandering channel that connects the Chobe and the Zambezi Rivers and then down the Zambezi to our final destination, a lodge on the Impalila Island, a slender eastern arm of Namibia. Impalila means the far away place.

Sunset on the Zambezi River

The lodge appeared suddenly in a bend of the river. Kaza Safari Lodge is very pretty and we have our own private little African hut that is gorgeous with a large king-size bed with a deck overlooking the winding river. After checking in, the group went for a sunset cruise. We spotted hippos, crocodiles and unusual birds e.g., the Goliath and black herons, African skimmers, yellow bul-buls and even a monitor lizard. After a lovely dinner under the bright stars, we called it a night.

African Skimmers

The next day began with a 3 mile walk through four of the local villages to learn about how the people live. There are 2,000 people on this small island who work as fishermen, cattle farmers and in other assorted trades. As in Zimbabwe, they live in small villages in huts that they build with termite mounds or with stones and mortar. Most use candles at night; a few are lucky enough to afford solar panels or generators. It made us feel so grateful for everything we have. It is like looking back to a time that just doesn't exist in the U.S. The people seem happy. Little children came out to greet us and wanted to be picked up or hugged. As the guide explained, they don't know anything else. People barter for goods. Since this country has more money than Zimbabwe, they do have free schools for the children and a clinic staffed by 3 nurses.

It's Sunday today and the guide pointed out a small Catholic church. He said most of the people are Christian. It seems like everything slows down here on Sunday. We have another boat ride planned for this afternoon. Tomorrow they will take us fishing and if we are lucky, we will snag their local delicacy, a tiger fish. They promise to cook it for us if we land one!