Journal Entry 56

September 22nd, 2005

"Botswana"

 

ASPHALT
What's new? Another camera is stolen. I'm vegetarian again. No more tent. I've injured my esophagus (it's better now). And I've been through six countries since the last update. Nearly all on asphalt, as I've passed into the more-developed south of the continent.

TWENTY-NINE
Left off around my birthday, 13th of August. Non-eventful. Highlight was treating myself to a bowl of cornflakes. Still in Malawi, hung out with a local musician and took an all-night bus, listening to Brian Eno and Kraftwerk and Yo La Tengo and getting some good thinking done. Was I really 25 when I left home?

BLACK PENS, PETROL, AND SUGAR
After a few days in the south of Malawi, I shortcut across Mozambique en route to Zimbabwe's capital, Harare. I was surprised to see that it's a clean, modern, safe city with manicured gardens and plenty of wide open space. And cheap...if you change money on the black market, that is. It's not the starving backwater that you'd think by watching news. Actually, you wouldn't know anything's wrong, aside from the fact that every ATM in town has 50 people waiting to use it, the currency devalues weekly, there's no petrol at any gas station, and you can't find black pens or sugar in any shop (my observation).

MUGABE'S MESS
Criss-crossed Zimbabwe. People pointed out to me all the areas that had been victimized by 'land reform', in which white farms were repossessed by war-veteran squatters. It's been disastrous. You're driving along and see beautiful green fields, complete with irrigation systems. And then you see a scrubby brown prairie. And the guy next to you says that two years ago, it looked the same as the other field. Now it has two mud huts and a small vegetable patch. And this year, President Mugabe has made things worse, destroying (predominantly black) settlements and displacing thousands. But regardless, Zimbabwe's nice. The stone ruins of Great Zimbabwe are the oldest remains after the pyramids in Africa. Bulawayo, the country's second city, is lovely. Food is good, nice restaurants are cheap, transportation is decent (first-class overnight train cost me $4), and people are friendly.

A BIG WATERFALL
Victoria Falls, on the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia. I visited the Falls on both sides--bigger than Niagara Falls. Saw elephants and buffalo at a watering hole. Ate crocodile, impala, kudu, ostrich, and warthog at a fancy restaurant. I went with two German girls I met and our bill, with drinks was 1.590.000 Zimbabwean dollars. In 1998, the exchange rate was $1 = Z$11. 2000, it was up to Z$50. Earlier this year, it was Z$6000. When I arrived it was Z$18.500, and a day later went to Z$24.000, while the black market rate was Z$40-45.000. Crazy. And we complain about inflation in the West...

CAPRIVI STRIPPING
Exit Zambia, enter Namibia. The Caprivi Strip is a 'handle' similar to the one on Oklahoma. I went through this and down lots of MMBA to the capital city, Windhoek. Quite modern. Saw 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.' Prices take a major jump once you get this far.

EXPLODING TIRES AND BIG DUNES
Rented a car with two Japanese guys (one who I met in a hotel back in Rwanda!) and we raced off into Namibia's desert. Massive tire blowout on the rental car. Bummer. But good apple pie while waiting for a new one in a little middle-of-nowhere petrol station. The sand dunes at Sossusvlei are awesome! Red, brown, white. Tallest in the world supposedly. And there are these strange salt pans with blackened sunscorched trees rising out of white cracked earth with the dunes as a backdrop. Eerie.

BACK ROUTE TO CAPE TOWN
I moved on to Luderitz, a cold windy German town (Namibia was a German colony at one time) on the Atlantic Ocean and a strange, abandoned diamond-mining ghost-town in the desert named Kolmanskop. Then caught a hitch with a German dude and his 4x4 truck. We paralleled the forbidden 'Sperrgebeit' diamond mining zone, seeing wild Namib horses, the beautiful Orange River, and desert mountains...all en route to the South African border. There, I got a lucky 800km (500 mile) hitch in the back of a red pickup, all the way to Cape Town, South Africa, much of the way past rolling fields and wildflowers (it's springtime here!).

AFRICA'S SAN FRANCISCO
Well, that's my impression of Cape Town, anyway. A beautiful port city, backdropped by a 1000m high plateau. Colorful homes, historic buildings, nice gardens, a ritzy waterfront, trendy bars and cafes. Saw penguins, slept in a bed (most of the past 1.5 months has been in my tent), walked all around town and up the Table Mountain plateau. Somewhere along the line, my new digital camera got kiped. Bummer.

HALF-BLOOD PRINCE
I've come quickly through South Africa. I stopped in a village called Hogsback, where I spent five days relaxing and taking walks in the forest amid waterfalls and low mountains. Finished an amazing book called 'The Wind-up Bird Chronicle' by Haruki Murakami, and read the latest Harry Potter book. Did lots of cooking as well. And now I'm in Durban, visiting my friends Doug and Ruth--my earliest 'travel' friends--who I met in Norway on my post-University trip in early 1999.

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A DIFFERENT BREED
Everywhere you travel, you meet a different type of traveller. To generalize, most people here are on a (much) higher budget than myself, do lots of tours I can't afford now, and either rent a car or take the 'Baz Bus'--a tourist bus service that takes you door-to-door to backpacker hostels across the country so you don't need to deal with things like meeting real Africans and local transport. It seems so sterilized. None of this is bad, but it's not what I'm in the mood for now, which is why I'm moving quickly again.

PARADOX
Much of my recent time has been in what I'd call the African New World. Orderly, clean cities. I've heard people call it Black Europe, but that's not the case. It definitely has a New World feel. With the English influence, I'd compare to Australia, even the USA. In fact, lots of the smaller towns are quite creepy feeling (to me), so I'd go as far as to say it has the feel of a demented Outback in places... Nowhere in the world have I seen all three versions of the three little pigs' houses (straw, stick, and brick) in such close proximity than in South Africa. And strangely, the country where you get the least hassle and attention happens to be where I feel the most out of place in Africa.

STAR WARS
I finally saw the latest in Harare, Zimbabwe--August 20 I think it was. So the winner of the when-will-I-see-the-new-Star-Wars contest has been sent the promised postcard. Okay, here's a new one: I'm leaving Africa soon. I'll send a postcard to everyone who correctly guesses the first non-African country I set foot on. Just send me a quick email with a guess! Hint: it will be in 3-6 weeks. Probably.

'I'd be smiling and chatting away, and my mind would be floating around somewhere else, like a balloon with a broken string.' (-Murakami)

 

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