3 Weeks in Africa

Welcome to a blog about my adventures in Africa. I spent a total of 3 weeks in Southern Africa, visiting a total of 4 countries (Botswana, South Africa, Zimbabwe & Zambia) and have some great experiences to share. About half the time was spent working and the other half doing the tourist thing.

As it would come to pass, an opportunity to work in Africa presented itself through my work with Accenture. With the economy in a downturn and consulting service opportunities drying up, I was presented with a chance to work on a feasibility study for an infrastructure monitoring project for the government of Botswana. That consultant talk for proposing a solution for better understanding how the development of roads, bridges, buildings, etc. is progressing. My first reaction was "where is Botswana?" I knew it was in Africa, but that was the extent of my Botswana knowledge. Initially I wasn't too excited about the job but knew that the consequence of not accepting would have most likely led to losing my job. I did some research and discovered many great things about this region of Africa. The more I learned, the more excited I became.

Going to this part of the world required some preventative measures. I had to get inoculated for hepatitis (series of 3 shots), tetanus, adult polio, measles, mumps, rubella and typhoid as well as take oral medication for malaria. I was also warned to take preventative measure regarding water, food and avoiding mosquitoes. I turned out that a lot of this was exaggerated as this part of the world is more developed than I was led to believe.

I arrived on March 15 after flying from LA to London (10 hr), to Johannesburg (11 hr) and finally to Gabarone (1 hr). Fortunately I was able to enjoy the perks of business class for most of my traveling. The first week was spent working with the Botswana government. We spent time with several departments to get a better understanding of current system technologies and capabilities so we could present the best solution. I worked with Jim Weaver, a senior manager for Accenture from Cleveland. There were 3 other Accenture colleagues (Ray, Rionach & Alan) working with the government on another initiative that were from Ireland. I had a great group to hang out and enjoy my time in Botswana with. My knowledge of Ireland (and Cleveland to some extent) was exponentially increased.

Here is a picture of Glory from the Gaborone Accenture office with me outside of the office of the President. Glory was helping us with the feasibility study as well as providing local knowledge about anything ranging from directing us around the city to where we should (and shouldn't) eat. She really went out of her way to make our stay more enjoyable.

The first weekend there allowed us to get out and explore the areas around Gaborone. On Saturday, March 21, we went to Mokolodi, a game park just outside of the city. I went with 4 of my Accenture colleagues. This would be my first chance to see some local wildlife.

We saw many warthogs at this and other parks. These can be very aggressive and they attack by ramming with their very hard forehead.

We saw a couple ostriches at this park. It turned out that this would be the only time I saw them. I did have ostrich for dinner in Cape Town; tastes like a lean steak. They served it medium rare and it was my favorite dinner the whole trip.

Here you see a Kudo running across the road. They are good size (much larger than deer) and I saw them at every park I visited. I also ate Kudo later in the trip. It has a gamey taste but was pretty good.

These hyena were the only ones I saw on my trip.

They had a couple elephants at this park. There were trainers right next to them, so they were half way tame. Although, apparently they had to put down a male last year as it killed two trainers in this park. There is something called the big 5 when looking for African wildlife. The elephant is one along with the rhino, leopard, lion and buffalo.

This was the highlight of this park. We all got to pet the cheetahs. They had been raised since they were cubs and were tame. Although I had the crap scared out of me after it rolled on its back, put both paws around my arm and proceeded to put its teeth around my wrist in a playful manner. I thought for second that it was all over. No chance outrunning one of these....

On Sunday, March 22, I went to Madikwe with Jim Weaver. Madikwe is just across the border in South Africa. It was about a 2.5 hour drive there with most of it on treacherous gravel roads. This is a much larger park than Mokolodi and has several lodges that provide a place to stay, eat and game drives. It turned out that one of the lodges was owned and run by a retired Accenture partner that gave us a great deal. It was just Jim and I with two guides and the owner.

Upon entering the park we were immediately greeted by a heard of zebras. We would see a bunch more during our game drive.










Along with the zebras, we were greeted by a couple white rhinos. This one looked like he was considering ramming our car. He was bigger than our car. This was the only time I saw rhinos. The second member of the big 5 I saw.

We were able to make it past the rhinos and treacherous roads and get to the lodge. This was the crew minus myself. From left to right was the two guides, Jim and Goos (owner). That was a hill we went up to get a look at the park and maybe spot elephants and rhinos.






The animal we saw the most at this park was giraffes. Here are two of them checking us out. They are very majestic animals and we were able to get really close to several of them.








Overall I did 4 game drives and the guides we had at Madikwe were the most knowledgeable and interactive. Here the driver stopped, picked up a chameleon and put it on my hand. You could see it change colors as it expanded and contracted its skin.

During the drive, we stopped and got a closer look at a dung beetle. It was rolling this ball of, well dung, down the road. This beetles are very strong and our guide showed us by pressing a stick against it. You could feel it pressing back against you.

The king of the jungle. We stopped about 50 feet from 2 male lions. This one was yawning as I took the picture. There was a herd of impala nearby, but male lions typically don't hunt. There only job is to protect the territory. The females hunt for the males in return for protection. Another member of the big 5.

This was the sun setting on South Africa as we drove back to Gaborone.














The following week we were able to wrap up the required deliverables for the government of Botswana and present our solution on Thursday. Everything went well and there was immediate interest that has a great chance to become an implementation opportunity soon. Because we were able to present our solution on Thursday, we were able to get on to our tourist activities.

The plan was to drive to Kasane, Botswana and visit Chobe National Park and Victoria Falls. This is a small town on the Northern border. It was a 900 km (560 mi) and took about 12 hours to drive. I wanted to do the drive and see the country , so Rionach and her boyfriend Farid, rode with me. Jim had to stay behind for another presentation on Friday morning. He would fly up and meet us. We were warned to get there before dusk as there are elephants that wander on to the road. Most of the road was good but we came across stretches of the road where it look like it had been cluster bombed. There were potholes that were bigger than our car and required us to drive in the ditch for a bit.

This is where we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn going north. For those of you geographically challenged; the Tropic of Capricorn is where the sun appears directly overhead at the winter solstice (usually December 20). It is 23.5 degrees South of the equator. In the Northern hemisphere we have the Tropic of Cancer that is the exact opposite.

We were warned of elephant crossings and we weren't disappointed. Here are a couple that had just crossed the road in front of us.

Along with the elephants, we also saw baboons and this bird which is a groundbill I believe.

We made it the Safari Lodge in Kasane early in the evening on Friday, March 27. The facilities were nice and very picturesque as it was right on the Chobe river. There were many monkeys and some warthogs right in our complex. Neither really seemed to pose a threat. Although the monkeys were very adventurous and would run into an open room or steal food off the buffet.

On Saturday we got up and took a shuttle to Victoria Falls. It was about an hour drive and we went to the Zimbabwe side to see it. You could see the mist rise hundreds of feet in air as we approached. This was the end of the rainy season and this year had been an exceptionally rainy year. I don't think we were really prepared for what we were about to see.

There were many monkeyes as we entered the falls area. This one let me get really close for a picture.

This is the first part of the falls we saw. The amount of water going over was incredible. The ground rumbled. The power you see and feel is amazing. This was one of the few areas that gave us a clear view of the falls.

This is looking further down the falls. At its peak in the rainy season, Victoria Falls is the largest water fall in the world. This was definitely one of those times.

This is looking further down. You can see the mist rising up. The falls are 1 mile wide and rise 360 feet. So the mist rises up at least 360 feet and falls as rain on the edge. Estimates put the mist to a height of 2000 feet. It is called the smoke that thunders. Much of the falls was hidden by this mist. A visit during the dry season would offer a much different view.





This is a bridge that crosses into Zambia to the North. It is at the end of the falls.

At first I questioned having a poncho on because it was dry. That changed quickly as I was completely soaked by the time I got to the end of falls. Fortunately, I was able to keep the camera somewhat dry.

After the falls we visited a craft village in Zimbabwe. I had a chance to interact with some of vendors. If you unaware of the dire situation in Zimbabwe, I think I can some it up with one figure. The unemployment rate is 95% and there currency is completely worthless. I got the feeling that the vendors were the lucky ones and it appeared that many don't get to eat often.

On Sunday, we got up to catch a 6:00 a.m. game drive. The animals are typically more active in the early morning and evening. We went into Chobe National Park. It is the 3rd largest park in Botswana and is the most diverse.

I had to include this picture. There were so many monkeys in our complex and here is one that looks a little tired.

Here are a couple Cape Buffalo. We saw a bunch of these on our drive and later on our boat ride. The buffalo are one of the big 5.

Here is a male impala. They were everywhere and was the animal I saw the most in all my game drives. This was another choice in our buffet at the lodge. Not too bad...
We spotted a few mongoose on our drive.
This was the highlight of the game drive. That is female lion and a jackel watching anxiously. There was a couple lions with a kill in the bush. The jackel was waiting for the lions leave so it could have some leftovers.

Our game drive was about 4 hours. We went back to the lodge and relaxed before we went out on the boat ride on the Chobe river. This would turn out to be the best wildlife viewing on the whole trip.

Here we have a small crocodile stalking a monitor lizard. Crocodiles hate the monitor as it feeds on crocodile eggs. The lizard was able to get away on this occasion.

Here is a family of elephants. The 2 young ones were rolling around on the bank of the river as we watched.

We saw many Hippos. Here a couple were going at each other. I assume they were a couple of males fighting over territory. Hippos are supposed to be the most dangerous animal to humans in this area. They are massive and can easily capsize a boat. They can also hold there breath for over 6 minutes, so you never know where they'll pop up.





This was the sunset we enjoyed as we made our way back to the lodge.

We got up on Monday and made our way to Livingstone, Zambia to catch our flights. We had to cross on ferry and catch a shuttle on the Zambia side. We were able to stop at a craft market in Livingstone for a few minutes to grab some more gifts before we went to the airport. We all flew to Johannesburg. This was the end of the vacation for everyone except me. Jim started his journey back to Cleveland. Rionach and Farid went back Gaborone. I continued on to Cape Town, South Africa by myself.

I arrived in Cape Town on Monday night, March 30. It was dark so I had no idea what I was in for the next morning. I stayed at a bed and breakfast (Blue Waters) in Camps Bay. It was owned by an Accenture partner in San Francisco, so I got a great rate during my stay.

On tuesday I woke up and caught a tour bus that circled around the city. Here is a picture looking back at Camps Bay. The clouds were hanging over the mountains in the morning and provided astonishing views.








I spend a couple hours on the water front part of the town. Here is a picture looking towards the downtown with devil's peak and table mountain in the background.

After I got back to Blue Waters, I was able to enjoy a great sunset over the Atlantic Ocean from my room before going to dinner. That is where I had ostrich and springbok.











During my time at the water front the previous day I did some research on going shark diving. When in Rome... Cape Town is the great white capitol of the world. So I got up at 5 a.m. on Wednesday to catch a 2.5 hour shuttle to hopefully come face to face with great whites. The ride was very scenic. There were mountains and wine country all while you travel along the coast.

This is where we got briefed on how to not get eaten.

Our boat was the one in the middle. There were other shark diving boats that launch from this location.

Heeerrree sharky sharky.... This guy is chuming for sharks. Basically they mash up fish and mix it with water to attract the sharks.

We had a cage along the side of the boat. The water was very cold, so we had to wear full wetsuits.

Our first shark of the day.

The great whites got up right next to the cage, sometimes bumping it a little bit. All in all, I saw 4 while I was in the water. The largest was 12 - 13 feet long. These animals are the ultimate killers. I was litterally a foot away from them as they swam past me. They would have there mouth open showing there razor sharp teeth. A somewhat terrifying experience.

After I survived the sharks, I had half of Thursday before I had to catch my flight and begin my journey back home. The intent was to go surfing in the morning and get to table mountain before my flight. Unfortunately, it was windy and the surf was blown out. This almost was a blessing as it gave me a chance to drive to Cape Point. Cape Point is an 1.5 hour drive South of Cape Town.

The drive to Cape Point had many spectacular views along the way. This was typical coastal view along the way.

I was greeted by some baboons in the Cape Point park. It was very windy and there were clouds blowing over the mountains there.

Unfortunately, if I was going to make it Table Mountain and catch my flight, I couldn't spend much time at Cape Point. I probably missed the most incredible views by not having time to take this path and look out over the point to the South. I could have easily spent most of the day here. It is a rather large park.

After only about an hour at Cape Point, I turned around and sped back to check out and see Table Mountain.

Table Mountain sits right next to Cape Town. It rises over 3500 feet above the city and provides amazing 360 degree views. Many people actually hike up the mountain, but even though the intent was there, I had to catch the cable car.

This is looking down on Camps Bay where I stayed.

Here I am with city below me. I only had 30 minutes to spend up there. Once again, I could have easily spent half the day there.

After 2 hours to Johannesburg, 11 hours to London, 10 hours to LA and a 2.5 hour drive to San Diego; I made it home.

This was an incredible trip. I tried to capture as much of experience as I could with this blog. I have many more photos and stories I'll share if you're interested.