Lower Zambezi, Higher Cost

December 10, 2008 · Leave a Comment 

Africa’s national parks differ a lot from country to country and they are run in very different ways, so I never know what to expect next. In South Africa and Namibia, the parks are over-organized operations with gates, curfews and strict rules, though I found them somewhat bendable despite constant ranger patrols. In bureaucratic Botswana, the seemingly dead plains of the Kalahari Desert are empty from any regime, and, even though certain things are frowned upon, you can easily feel one with the animal kingdom... [Read more]

Private Parts in Zambia

December 5, 2008 · 1 Comment 

I am far from a nun, extremely comfortable with my body, and if you describe me as “shy” in front of anybody who even remotely knows me – they’d laugh in your face. That said, I would like to think I’m all about respect. Respecting other cultures and their degrees of modesty are highly important during the sort of travel I enjoy most. However, in Africa I officially declare myself confused by modesty regulations and locations of the private parts.

On the surface, Africa doesn’t... [Read more]

Leaving Namibia, or How to Find a Pangolin

November 21, 2008 · Leave a Comment 

I hate to leave Namibia – it has been so good to me. But my last days
here weren’t without memorable adventures. I wondered if the day would
come when Columbus would drown in the thick mud it often has to go
through. And that day nearly came.

Mamili National Park was going to be the last on my list in this
country. It was almost completely flooded and looked deserted. A few
successful river crossings finally led to an unsuccessful one. My team
and I found ourselves... [Read more]

Border-less Wildlife

November 18, 2008 · Leave a Comment 

On the little stretch of Caprivi, where the colonial politics of the
past have arbitrarily divided the land into Namibia, Botswana, Zambia,
and Angola, wildlife knows no borders. The river here serves as the
divide, and its name changes every hundred miles or so. Birds here are
as colorful as I’ve ever seen. Carmine bee-eaters sunbathe on low
branches, and I photograph them in all their magnificence as they let
me get surprisingly close. Neither them nor the elephants that cross... [Read more]

Caprivi People

November 15, 2008 · Leave a Comment 

Namibia differs from Botswana like day from night, except for
Namibia’s Caprivi Strip. On a map, it looks like the neck of a guitar,
and stretches for over three hundred kilometers west to east, although
it’s only thirty to seventy kilometers wide. Along its seldom used
roads are scattered tiny mud-huts and skinny livestock. Most of the
structures are round, with a frame of thick branches and walls made of
cow dung-sand mix. Once I asked villagers if they’d ever attempted... [Read more]