Easter Trip to Mozambique and Swaziland (delayed post)

My Favorite Way to Camp

Before final exams, I traveled to Mozambique and Swaziland with a friend from Davidson for Easter Break.  Beginning at 5 am we flew to Johannesburg to pick up a 4x4 Truck that would become our home for the next 10 days! Not only was the truck equipped with a refrigerator, portable gas store, emergency equipment, water hose, pots & pans, and sleep bags but it also had a fold-out tent on the top of the car! (Best way to travel!)

I’ve stolen the idea of high/low from our family-dinner-table conversation to blog about our trip! (For more pictures of my trip click here!)

Mozambique Highs: (visited Maputo, Casa Lisa, Vilanculus, Tofo/ Inhambane, Barra, and Pande)

Bazaruto Island

-          Driving almost 3,000 Km (1,860 miles) in three different countries ( I drove for a total of 10 min in which I ‘learned’ how to drive a manual car)

-          Camping à easy minus brief encounters with spiders in the trees and bats in the toilets

-          Vilanculos à amazing beaches with wonderful snorkeling at Bazaruto Island and Two Mile Reef
-         Scenery à expansive fields of cashews, corn, rice, mangos, and bananas

Fish in the Market

-        
  - Markets à Each town through which we drove had a small but dense collection of buildings or shacks compromising a Market where the atmosphere was both lively and hectic! In the Vilanculos, I had a dress made out of local fabric.

-         -  New Friends à We met people from NC, Washington DC, South Africa, Israel, and all over Europe. Being typical Davidson students, after meeting a young couple from Brussels our dinner conversations included the pros/cons of capitalism in Africa, the role of the markets, whether or not education and health care are human rights, and the importance of freedom.

Baobab Tree in Vilanculos

-          Easter à We watched the Crucifixion Reenactment at a local high school attached to a church across from the Old Market in Vilanculos. 

-          Food à abundant amounts of peri-peri chicken, prawns, and rice!

-          Local Lifeà the people were extremely friendly and we enjoyed practicing our Portuguese! One night, walking back from the market, we passed a gathering of locals watching a Jackie Chan movie outside for a fun, community event.

-          Ocean Safari à swimming with whale sharks and manta rays in Tofo/ Inhambane.

Women Making Food in Pande

-          Visiting Matt (a Davidson Peace Corp Volunteer) à driving to rural Pande, meeting Matt's pet donkey, sleeping in our tent outside the village to the amazement of the local children, walking to the river and masongas/fields, meeting Raul and others in the village

Mozambique Low:

-          Getting a ticket in Maputo (there are high levels of police corruption and they stop you on the side of the road and require bribes)

Swaziland Highs: 

Things to Do in Swaziland

-          The beautiful (yet, out-of-place) Botanical Gardens and Malandela’s for dinner

-          Visiting Gone Rural Craft Shop, Swazi Candels, Rosecrafts, and Baobab Bitak, the viewpoint from the top of the mountain passage, and the local hot springs

-          Enjoying a hip-hop, socially conscious concert by a Congolese artist at House on Fire

-          Shopping at the Ezulwini Market à we were 2 of VERY few customers for the day so we spent a couple hours looking around and speaking with the people at each ‘stand.’ After 9 days of camping, my favorite comment from one of the women was “sitah, can I do your hair?” J Clearly it was time for us to get home and take a real shower!

Upon arriving back in Cape Town, I went directly (after showering of course) to dinner with Dean Terry who was visiting South Africa!!! We had a lovely dinner at the Mount Nelson’s Planet Restaurant and were able to talk about my travels and his first few days in Cape Town. The next day I was blessed to spend the day with Dean Terry and his tour group in which we visited Signal Hill, Chapman’s Peak, Hout Bay, and Simmons Town/False Bay to visit the Penguins. It was absolutely wonderful to spend time with him in Cape Town and it was my first visit from a ‘family member!’        

(For more pictures of my trip click here!)

Traveling in Namibia

Sunrise in Namibia

Home

In June, I spent 13 days at home for my Dad’s 50^th birthday, brother’s high school graduation, family reunion/celebration that included my sister’s college graduation, 4 days in Miami for my college roommate’s wedding, and 1 brunch in DC to see friends, classmates, and former colleagues. I didn’t sleep much but it was my only visit to the States until 2012! Upon returning to Cape Town I spent the last weeks of winter break working on my thesis and organizing academic and volunteer logistics before one last ‘holiday’ to Namibia! (For more Namibia pictures click here!)

Sunrise on Dune 47

Namibia Highs: (visited Sossusveli, Swakopmund, Spitzkoppe, Waterberg Plateu, and Windhoek)

-         Officially learning how to drive a manual car thanks to Chris and Rachel!

-          Waking up at 4:45am to hike Dune 47 before sunrise! (Hiking sand dunes are MUCH more difficult then they look… let’s just say one of the other hikers stopped to cry half-way up!)

-         Watching every sunrise and sunset J

-           Climbing at Spitzkoppe

-          ‘Proper camping’ à cooking over a fire and setting up a tent by scratch (unlike Mozambique)

-          Eating apple strudel in Solitaire

Sunrise at Spitzkoppe

Namibia Lows:

-          Forgetting my sleeping bag but being saved by Rachel!

-          Camping at night in Namibia in winter was freezing!

-          Driving on dirt roads in a foreign country in the dark while attempting to watch out for game

-          Getting our 2x4 stuck in the sand at Spitzkoppe after it overheated (fortunately, the local Namibians were absolutely wonderful and saved the day!)

-          Having our bus from Windhoek to Cape Town break down making the return trip last almost a full 24 hours (thankfully we were WELL stocked up on snacks and made friends with the entire Intercape Bus Staff!)

Brief Perspective on Life in Namibia

In my limited travel experience in sub-Saharan Africa, I have found that majority of hotels, bed and breakfasts, and camps sites are owned by White Africans or foreigners. Although Mozambique, Swaziland, Namibia, and South Africa are majority Black, in the ‘tourist industry’ it appears most of the wealth is still held by Whites for various reasons that I won’t detail here. That being said, we had an interesting conversation with one of our Black Namibian tour guides and I wanted to share a little bit about his life in Northern Namibia:

Vincent* is from the Hararo tribe and works as a tour guide at a popular tourist location in Namibia. On the morning that we met for our hike, Vincent had learned that his grandfather passed away and that it was necessary for him to return the 125km home for traditional preparations and ceremonies. He was concerned about asking for time off because he is allotted only 2 days of leave a month to go home and visit his family which includes 8 sisters, 1 brother, 1 son, and their respective families. Being that his parents previously died in a car accident; following his grandfather’s death, Vincent became the eldest in his family and was concerned that if the Village Elders were to appoint him as head of the household (instead of his brother) then he would no longer be able to work and provide for his family.

Unemployment and poverty are high among the Harao people who were forced from their lands during colonialism and now reside in the more arid parts of Namibia which negatively impacts their access to both food and water. The people are extremely resourceful and (1) make square houses with termites and cow fat, (2) eat mice mixed with sour milk, and (3) use extremely creative methods such as ash to purify water.  Unfortunately, the literacy rates is still very low as many cannot afford the R350 per term school fees for their children; for example, Vincent’s monthly salary is roughly R650 which must provide for both himself and his family. After receiving a grade 11 education, Vincent tried to help his son and other children in the village learn to their alphabet and numbers by writing in the dirt. Although he can’t pursue his childhood dream to become a water marine scientist, Vincent is doing the best he can to one day be able to send his son to school.


*Vincent's name was changed for the purposes of this blog

Top of Waterberg Plateau 

  

Spitzkoppe

Chris on Sand Dune 47