Fuck Arusha. Period.
Arusha is the Worst City I Have Ever Been to
4/30/2008 11:55:48 PM - Day 44 - Arusha, Tanzania
A fitting farewell to Arusha, the worst city I have ever been to.
Fuck Arusha (read the review for the worst city on the planet).
I have been here for less than 24 hours and I already hate this town. It is the worst place I have ever been in all of my travels. The town itself isn't that bad as much as the people in it. There are individuals known as touts that I have already mentioned in previous BLOG post who will approach you on the street trying to sell you some junk or somehow scam you out of your money with over inflated prices on hotel rooms and safaris. Being the starting point for trips into Tanzania's famous game parks, Arusha is crawling with asshole touts creeping out of every crack in the street with the ubiquitous "Hey friend, where are you from?" At which point they try to scam you on some bullshit Safari.
I tried the old "See-co-neen-geen-a" trick that I learned in Dar es Salaam on these fuckers but it was no use. As soon as I shaked one there would be another one on my tail seconds later. This can get a bit tiring after walking around the town for twenty minutes. Motherfuckers won't take "no" for an answer. I even had one lowlife piece of shit wait for me outside of any stores I went into only to start following me again as soon as I walked out. I repeatedly told this guy "no, no, no, no, no, I don't want to buy whatever you are selling, leave me the fuck alone". Eventually, after being followed for 6 blocks and a couple of stores I flipped and told him to quit wasting his time and get the fuck out of my face. He then told me that people in Tanzania don't act "rude" like I just had, maybe "in Kenya" (whatever the fuck that meant) but not in Tanzania, because when they do, they get shot. Great, now I got locals threatening to shoot me. I wasn't too worried about it, but you never know with desperate fucks like that. He finally left and as I headed back to my hotel, sure enough another dumshit in aviators calling himself "Bush Daddy" came up to me trying to get me to buy a safari.
You would think that such a touristy city like Arusha would have more of a police presence to take care of assholes like this so that the tourist don't have to walk around constantly getting harassed, but there aren't any police in site keeping these assholes in reign so when you walk around Arusha you can pretty much expect to deal with this shit. My guide book said that the touts were the biggest annoyance in Arusha, sometimes even getting violent, but I shrugged it off thinking I had already dealt with the worst in Zanzibar, boy was I wrong. These guys in Arusha are on another level of "toutness". I am sure some of these guys have some hard luck story but that doesn't change the fact that they are fucking rude and have zero respect for traveler's such as myself not even acknowledging us when we say "no".
To make matter worse, every time you get in a taxi the fucking taxi driver will also try to sell you on safaris, hotel rooms and future taxi rides as well. There is no escaping it in this town, everyone is trying to wheel and deal you and it makes for a very un-enjoyable experience. Add to that my rude hotel staff in my super over priced room (Impala Hotel) and you get one angry tourist such as myself thinking Arusha is the worst city on the planet.
I was determined to do what I had set out to do though and go on a safari into the Serengeti. I walked around to the reputable safari operators as stated by my guide book to get some price quotes. Every single one said that I would have to pay around $1,500 since I was going by myself since there was nobody around to join me and share the cost thanks to it being rainy season. $1,500 dollars, fuck me! On top of that it was a national holiday in Tanzania the next day so they wouldn't be able to send me off till after then. Alright, fuck it, I was here to go on a safari and that was what I was going to do! I pulled out the Visa since I didn't have any money because none of the ATMs were working with my MasterCard save one that would only let me pull out $200 a day, and the safari operators all told me that I would have to pay at least half of the cost upfront in cash. Fuck! That would mean I would have to wait in town for a couple extra days while pulling out $200 a day from the one ATM in town that I could find that worked. This was just great, not only am I in the worst city on the planet about to pay out the butt for a safari that I don't really even want to go on anymore, but I would have to stay even longer while I pulled money out of my account at a snail's pace. Needless to say, I was more than pissed off by this point. I told the safari operator that I ended up choosing that I would be back once I had all the money squared away. Even though I hate Arusha, I was willing to spend some time there while I saved up my cash.
I attempted to switch to another hotel (not many hostels here) and when I got to the new place, a hotel that also doubles as a Chinese restaurant, I thought it seemed alright. As I was walking out one of the people working there came out to ask me what I thought of the place. It was a local guy and that should have been my first cue because soon after he was trying to see me on a safari. Is there no safe refuge from these fuckers!? I was inside a hotel and was still getting hassled! Fuck Arusha!
I went back to my original hotel with the rude front desk staff (Impala Hotel) and decided to get some sleep and calm down. I logged on to the net with my computer and had some emails from work back home in Orange County, CA. Seems that they needed a rush job done on a lot of stuff, and when I say rush, they needed it done yesterday. The stuff they needed done would take at least a couple weeks of hard work in which case I wouldn't even be able to leave the hotel to do any type of touristy stuff, much less going into the Serengeti to camp out for a week. This left me at a cross roads.
I could go on with the safari as originally planned and get as much work done before hand thus possibly angering my employer and risking any future work I had lined up with them. Keep in mind, I was already going to be paying an arm and a leg for a safari that I was only going on at this point for pride's sake. Two, I could do the couple weeks worth of work here in Arusha staying in a city that I hate more than getting a swift kick in the nuts as I bang out the work that I need to get done. Or three, I could say fuck it, go on to my next destination which was Cairo to get this work done there and have everything squared away with my employer while at the same time getting the hell out of the worst city on the planet.
Keeping my employer happy had priority because as long as I am working, I can use the money from work to pay for my trip and not have to dip into my savings. With that in mind, I could travel indefinitely so keeping things on the level with work is the number one priority. That being the case, I decided to go with the third option. I simply had to push my pride aside and accept the fact that going on this safari wasn't worth it to me if it meant having to stay in this shithole of a town for a couple of weeks and spend $1,500 on the safari itself not to mention paying the super inflated price I was being charged by my hotel with the rude front desk staff. I had already gone on a safari in Botswana, and although I had fun doing it, going on another one for $1,500 wasn't worth it, especially if it meant having to stay in Arusha for a couple more weeks.
I realized that I didn't want to go on this Safari anymore, and there isn't any point staying in the worst city of the planet a day longer to do something you don't really want to do.
I contacted my employer and told them I would be moving on to Cairo where I could get all the work they requested to be completed done.
Hopefully the local government hires some type of security for the tourists that go to Arusha so that they don't all have to get constantly hassled, but I highly doubt that will happen anytime soon. For any of you who plan to come to Arusha to go on a safari take my advice, have everything pre-booked so that you don't have to spend one second out of your hotel in this shit hole of a town.
Sorry for the rant, I've had a rough day. On a good note, getting to Arusha ended up being somewhat cool since even though my flight from Dar es Salaam was super late, I ended up being the only person on the plane meaning I had my own private propeller plane! It doesn't have as cool as a ring to it as having "my own private jet", but here in Africa, jets are for pansies!
It's now the late evening and I just got off a bus from Arusha to Dar es Salaam. The bus ride thru Tanzania was crazy to say the least since we ended up getting stopped at a military checkpoint where they found a giant duffle bag full of coke in the under carriage of the bus. Great, the surprises just don't seem to end. "That's Africa". The person who the bag "belonged" to was no longer on the bus having gotten off at an earlier stop (they must have only wanted it transported) but the soldiers wanted to keep the bus driver's friend in custody for questioning. A small bribe later and he was back on the bus and we were on back on our way to Dar es Salaam. I'm tired, I'm pretty broke since I can't seem to find working ATMs and I have a lot of work to do. I am looking forward to getting out of Sub-Sahara Africa for a change of pace in the Arab world but most importantly, I am glad to be the fuck out of Arusha, the worst city in the world.
Video of Arusha as I was leaving. Notice about two/thirds thru it some passangers are loading their bags onto the bus while getting harrassed by the locals. Fucking assholes never give it up here.
|
|
If only it would stop raining.
Wonder in Zanzibar
4/29/2008 3:22:39 PM - Day 43 - Zanzibar, Tanzania
A dhow skimming along the coast of Zanzibar. These boats are still very much used today.
With my ticket already booked I headed out to Zanzibar. The touts at the harbor didn't bug me that much this time since I already had my ticket and was able to go straight to the loading area. The ferry ride in was pretty nice and gave me a chance to reflect on my trip thus far. Upon arriving you have to get another stamp on your passport even though Zanzibar is part of Tanzania. These African countries sure are stamp crazy and if this keeps up I am going to run out of room pretty soon in my passport for stamps and visas. My guide book told me that the touts in Zanzibar were pretty aggressive, especially for people right as they get off the boat. After I got my stamp, a guy came up to me and asked if I needed a taxi. Not wanting to deal with all the touts, I offered what I thought was a fair price to which he agreed. As we walked out of the harbor I realized I made the right decision since waiting directly at the entrance of the harbor like a gang of piranhas (I guess my driver had some special pass since he was inside the entrance) was a huge group of touts hassling every tourist that walked out. They didn't pay me any attention though since I already had a taxi.
I didn't want to risk possibly staying at another "asylum" like I almost did in Dar es Salaam, so this time I booked a bit of a pricier option. It was a place called the "Baghani House Hotel" (read hotel review) and it was really nice. The staff was super friendly and the place was oozing with character. By the time I got situated it was a bit late so I grabbed a bite to eat at a local place and went to sleep.
The next day I wandered around the labyrinth of alleys that make up Stone Town (read city review) in Zanzibar to get a feel for the area. It was pretty interesting with just enough room in the alleys for two people to walk shoulder to shoulder. The whole time I had to dodge people coming from a myriad of different directions along with the occasional maniac on a scooter. Also, being the rainy season in a tropical place like Zanzibar, it would start pouring rain intermittingly throughout the day. It was hard to tell when it would rain and when it wouldn't since once second it could be sunny and five minutes later there would be a torrential downpour. I simply got used to the idea of carrying an umbrella around with me any time I left the hotel since it was almost guaranteed to rain every day. This was kind of a bummer since Zanzibar is supposed to have some stunning beaches that I would have liked to have visited, but being here during rainy season means that simply isn't much of a possibility. Oh well, it's not like I haven't been to the beach a million times back home in Southern California.
I was really enjoying Zanzibar, but there isn't much to see there and you can see all of Stone Town within a day. Also, being the romantic and exotic place that it is, it seems a lot more suited to couples then to solo travelers such as myself, so after spending a couple days there I took a flight out to Dar es Salaam where I would catch a connecting flight to Arusha, Tanzania to go on Safari in the Serengeti.
Right now I am waiting here at the airport in Dar es Salaam because like usual there is some sort of problem. At the time being, my plane is for some reason not here like it is supposed to be so I have been waiting here for the past couple of hours while I wait for my plane to arrive. Once again I can hear a voice somewhere saying "that's Africa".
A video of the flight out of Zanzibar. The weather finally cleared up so you can get a good view of the beautiful coastline.
|
|
Welcome to Thunder Dome!
The Post-Apocalypse in Dar es Salaam
4/27/2008 9:54:12 PM - Day 41 - Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
I found the contrast between the run down bulidings and flashy commercialism fascinating.
I woke up pretty early to catch my flight from Livingstone, Zambia to Dar es Salaam (read city review), the largest city in Tanzania. I was looking forward to Tanzania because that is where you go to visit the Serengeti on a safari as well as the Zanzibar archipelago. Flying into Dar es Salaam I noticed that it was pretty overcast outside which I welcomed as a relief from the intense African heat. When I got out of the plane I realized that there was going to be no respite because it is humid as hell in Dar es Salaam. It has been one of the most humid places that I have thus far visited. Going thru customs was kind of a pain in the ass and I had to pay around $100 for a 90 day visa.
I didn't have that much cash on me at this point because I had used most of it up in Zambia since I couldn't pull money out of any of the ATM's with my MasterCard so my first order of business upon arrival was to find an ATM. Sure enough, all the ATM's at the airport only accepted Visa. Once again I was cursing the customer service at Washington Mutual for misleading me about my Debit MasterCard working just as well as a Visa overseas. I found a taxi and told him that the only way I could pay him was if we found an ATM that would accept MasterCard. He said it wouldn't be a problem and two ATM's later I was finally about to withdraw money. You can't imagine how much of a relief that was. Not having any money in a foreign country can be a bit nerve wracking.
He asked where I was staying and told me he knew a better hotel nearby. This is usually a scam that taxi drivers have in order to get a commission on their passengers by bringing them to a hotel that they have a deal with, which usually results in you paying a higher cost for the room to pay for their commission. I politely declined and told him to take me to my hostel. I asked him to wait outside when we arrived once I made sure I would be able to check-in since I didn't have a reservation. I had to walk somewhat into the center of the hostel to get to the reception. The place was called something like YMCA Christian center (a lot of hostels in sub-Sahara Africa are run by religious groups). Walking into the hostel was enough for me to realize that I didn't want to stay there. It was poorly lit, had water dripping from the roof and smelled really bad. I felt like I had walked onto the set of a bad horror movie.
I went back to the taxi driver and asked him to take me to the place he knew of. It was called the "Sleep Inn Hotel" (read hotel review) and was actually relatively nice and affordable. When I got there I was exhausted so took the rest of the day to get situated and get some shut eye.
The next day I headed over to the harbor where the ferries that go to the Island of Zanzibar are located. I read buying your ticket before your departure was the best route because the "touts" (super aggressive guys who want to sell you something, like ferry tickets) were pretty bad at this spot and would be all over you, so unless you wanted to deal with them while you had a huge backpack on, it was better to get your tickets in advance so that when you arrived at the port to depart to Zanzibar you could go directly to the boarding area. Sure enough when my taxi pulled in guys were asking me what I needed to buy and trying to sell me everything from tickets to hotel rooms before I had even gotten out of the taxi. The taxi driver told me a little trick though that I found pretty useful so far during my stay here in Dar es Salaam. When you get approached by one of these overly aggressive touts just say "See-ko-neen-geen-a" which means "another time" in Swahili and most of the time they will laugh and say something like "good one" since I guess most travelers never bother to learn any Swahili. I guess this is what the locals say to one another. They usually leave me alone after this so to anyone going to Tanzania, I recommend learning this phrase as you will probably find it very useful.
I decided to walk back to the hotel from the harbor to get a good look at Dar es Salaam. I found the walk back pretty interesting. A ton of the buildings were super run down and dilapidated, and this would contrast greatly with bright and flashy commercial signs that were all over the area. I felt like I was walking thru a post apocalyptic city. I found it all beautiful in a strange sort of way. I also went to see some of the sites of the city that were listed in my guidebook, but they were pretty unimpressive and I think the best part of Dar es Salaam is seeing the city itself.
I did find a little restaurant that the locals frequent though. I got there around noon and the owner told me that they don't serve food until 130pm. I guess this is pretty typical at the places the locals eat at in Sub Sahara Africa, food is only served at certain times in the day. When the food was ready I only had two choices, rice and chicken or rice and mutton. I got some rice and chicken, and let me tell you, it was one of the best meals I ever had and cost less than a dollar! It was a pretty large portion and it was also very spicy which is right up my alley. I think I can get pretty used to this food and prices. After doing this, there wasn't much left to do in Dar es Salaam so I headed back to my hotel to get some work done on my laptop.
Tomorrow I leave for Zanzibar. I don't really know what to expect but with a name like Zanzibar you know the place has to be cool!
A short video of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. You can hear the muslim prayer towards the end of the video.
|
|
Nothing Like Having Elephant Butt in Your Face
Surrounded By a Herd of Wild African Elephants
4/23/2008 11:33:16 PM - Day 37 - Chobe, Botswana
A bull elephant in Chobe staring me down. He was the dominant male of the herd.
I don't think any big trip to Africa can be considered "complete" without a real African safari. I took a look at what activities my hostel in Zambia offered, and one of them was a daytrip to Chobe National Park in Botswana. Perfect, not only would I be able to go on a safari, but I would also get the chance to visit another country! Sign me up! I remember when I was a little kid going on "safaris" with my cousin in my grandma's backyard, and now I was going to get to do the real thing.
There were two cool Brazilian guys also going from my hostel, so we all woke up at the butt-crack of dawn to start our drive to the Zambian and Botswanan border. On our way to the border, we had to drive thru one of Zambia's national parks where we saw a giraffe on the side of the road. Up until this point, I'd seen cows, goats, sheep, etc., but never a fucking giraffe! The driver said that you could see giraffe's pretty often with the occasional rhino or lion. Can you imagine driving home from work to see a rhino right in the middle of the road daring you to play chicken? Or maybe a lion pack right after a fresh kill? Wild stuff, and seeing how close in proximity humans live to these animals out in the bush of Africa brings things into perspective about what daily life is like for some of these people.
The border itself can only be crossed by boat since none of the neighboring countries have been able to agree on the financing for a bridge (at this particular crossing, Zambia, Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe all share borders). The process to get across wasn't too bad since our driver helped guide us thru. Once at the border we waited around for a bit for a small speedboat to show up at which point we met one of our safari guides. Soon we were all (minus the driver at this point) on the other side of the Zambezi River in Botswana. The truck that picked us up was also the same truck we were going to do the land safari in. It looked pretty burly with four rows of bench seats that all rested a foot higher than the seat in front of it. It also had a large canopy over head that was not only for shade, but also to throw off some of the animals that you might come across on the safari by giving the illusion that the truck was one big solid object in the hopes that they wouldn't want to charge or attack it. In all honesty, the sides were open, so if a wild elephant or lion wanted to attack us, it wouldn't have any problem running us thru or tearing us out of the truck. The driver even said that when we got near any of the animals in the park to make sure not to move because doing so would destroy the illusion created by the canopy and could have disastrous, life ending results.
The entire day trip actually consisted of two safaris. The day's itinerary was that we would group up with some other people who were also going on the safari at a swanky lodge that was on the park's grounds. From there, we would ship out on a little speed boat to do a river safari along the Zambezi. After that we would come back to that same swanky lodge to have lunch, and then end the day doing a land safari into Chobe in the same truck that picked us up initially after which we would go back to the border to be boated back to Zambia.
Soon we were all loaded up on a boat and cruising down the Zambezi River with our guide pointing out anything of interest. Initially, this only included plants and birds. I personally didn't find that part very interesting but I was really enjoying the experience of boating down the river. Then the guide said he spotted a herd of elephants far down along the bank of the river. I looked but didn't see anything. I then pulled out my binoculars (I bought a small pair right before I left) and took a look. Sure enough, there was a herd of elephants down there. Motherfucker had some great eyes, or perhaps my eyes are really fucked up from staying at computer screens all day long. Either case, we were soon headed down that way to get a closer look. We arrived and got to spend a good ten to twenty minutes just watching the elephants do their thing. It was really cool being able to see elephants in the natural environment instead of in a zoo or standing on brightly colored pedestal in a circus act. They went into the water, drank a bit, some just stood there, and others rolled around in the mud to cake themselves up for protection from the hot sun. There were also a couple of babies who were having a blast in the water and mud, rolling all over the place and playing with one another.
Soon the dominant male gave the signal, and just as soon as they appeared, the herd disappeared back into the bush to go about their daily activities. Our boat then pulled back and we started exploring the Zambezi once again having no idea what we would run into. I think that was the best part of the safari was that you ventured into the unknown not knowing what kind of animal or scene nature was going to present you with. This was wild, untamed land and we were only visitors. I found this to be very invigorating and this theme was part of the whole reason why I went on this world trip in the first place in order to add the element of the "unknown" back into my life to destroy the residual buildup of monotony that life seems to shovel at you. There is nothing wrong with having the normal day to day life, it however is not for me at this point of my life.
On the river we came across a bunch of different types of birds, crocodiles, alligators and even the most deadly animal in Africa, the hippo. A lot of people don't realize it, but as far as animals go, hippos cause the most deaths in Africa each year. They are fiercely territorial and won't hesitate to charge your ass and chomp you in half. Our guide told us Hippos don't have the ability to jump, so if you can hide behind something you should be alright (in case any of you run into any hippos anytime soon).
After the river safari we went back to a nice lunch at the posh lodge we originally left from. It was good, but the best part was that the lodge's restaurant opened up into the park and didn't have any walls, resulting in wild monkeys running along the rafters of the lodge's restaurant just waiting for the chance to get your food. They jacked a couple people but no monkey successfully separated this man from his food.
After lunch we headed out on the safari truck to do the overland part of the trip. This was by far the more exciting portion of the outing because you literally didn't know what you were going to come across around every corner since the "bush" was so high. There could literally be a herd of wild elephants feet away from you and you wouldn't be able to see them. Plus, we no longer had the safe buffer of water that separated us from all the land animals during the river safari. Finally, the truck was open with no doors so there was an added element of danger in that regard. The guide told us that there were also lions in this park, so I only hoped if we ran into any the driver/guide would know what to do to keep our asses safe.
Chobe has the highest concentration of elephants in the world, and that being the case it wasn't long before we ran into a herd spread out directly in the middle of the road. We slowly crept up until they were on each side of the truck and stopped there for a few minutes to watch them and take some pictures. The babies were hamming it up playing with bushes and swinging branches around in circles with their trunks. Soon we were off again towards the Zambezi River and as we rounded the bend onto the bank of the river we ran right into the middle of another herd of wild elephants! This time though, there were some HIGE bull elephants and the driver couldn't go in reverse because of the incline of the hill and he also didn't want to risk startling the elephants. We couldn't go right or left because we were sandwiched in between the bush and the Zambezi, and we definitely couldn't go forward because we had an entire herd of wild elephants blocking our way. All we could do was wait.
This turned out to be the highlight of the entire safari. The herd of elephants lumbered forward with the largest bull in the lead. Eventually they had us completely surrounded and simply stood there staring at us. A couple of them went into the water to play, but the biggest bulls stood directly next to the truck. I also happened to be sitting on that side of the truck and let me tell you, my adrenaline was thru the roof! Picture this, you're sitting in a truck, there are no doors, nothing but air separates you from a herd of Wild African elephants, and you have the biggest bull elephant of the herd within arm's length of you. This was my situation and I thought it was awesome! Maybe it wouldn't have been so cool if the bulls decided to charge the truck at which point I am sure a couple of us would have died instantly leaving the rest to navigate their way back thru the bush and legions of other wild animals before reaching the lodge and relative safety, but after a couple of minutes the herd abruptly left giving everyone the chance to let out a sigh of relief and leaving us all with some great pictures.
I unfortunately didn't see any lions on the rest of the safari but we came across a bunch of impalas (not the kind bouncing on hydraulics), hippos, giraffes, crocodiles and warthogs. After a couple of hours we were soon headed back to the border to begin our trip back to our hostel. We separated from the people in our safari that weren't staying at our hostel, and soon it was only me and the two Brazilian guys headed back on a boat to the Zambian side of the Zambezi River. It turned out to be an awesome trip, and I am really glad I was able to do it. Not only did I get some cool pictures as well as being able to see some amazing animals in the natural environment, but I also got the chance to enjoy a new and exciting experience, and that's the kind of thing that you can't put a price tag on. Memories.
|
That's a whole lot of water.
Victoria Falls
4/22/2008 2:22:51 PM - Day 36 - Livingstone, Zambia
A double rainbow from the Zimbabwean side of Victoria Falls. Probably one of the best pictures I have taken on this trip so far.
Zambia was the first landlocked Sub-Saharan African country that I was going to on this trip, so I didn't really know what to expect. The main reason I had chosen to come here was to see Victoria Falls, which are by some measures (not the highest), the largest waterfalls in the world. Flying into Zambia, you could actually see the mist rising from the falls from the airplane. Right now, there is a ton of water flowing thru the falls since it is the "rainy" season in this part of the world.
Getting into Zambia was a pain in the ass. First off, the airport in Livingstone (read city review) is tiny. When you arrive, you fill out an immigration card like normal, but I had to wait in line FOREVER to get it approved. It seemed like there were taking ages with each person's passport. When they got to me, it only took like two minutes though. I was a little confused as to why they let me right in (maybe because I had cash in hand) but made the rest of the tourist wait, but I didn't stop to ask questions and happily strolled past customs to make my way to my hostel, "Fawlty Towers" (yes I know, "Fawlty" is spelt wrong) (read hostel review).
I got there yesterday afternoon, so I had the rest of the day to do the one thing that I came here to do, which was go see the falls. Getting to the falls from the town center is a ten minute cheap cab ride, and getting into the tourist area itself isn't expensive either. The sound of the water crashing on the base at the bottom was deafening and could be heard miles away. When I finally got within view of the falls I was pretty impressed. The view was amazing, and words won't do it justice so make sure to check out the pictures and video I included in this BLOG. The one bad thing was that since it was rainy season, there was so much water it was throwing up a thick cloud of mist obscuring your view of the face of the falls as well as the base. Plus, you get soaked walking around the trails in the tourist area near the falls, but it makes for a fun experience. You can rent a waterproof parka from an onsite attendant for about $1. A friendly tip for any of you that may ever come out here during rainy season, bring an umbrella.
By the time I left, it was still light out, so I wanted to go see the falls from the Zimbabwean side. I headed over there as fast as I could to check them out. The walk over there was interesting. You pass a ton of semi trucks that are waiting to get into Zambia. I guess most of them have been waiting for a couple days. Why the process to get a semi truck in is so time consuming, I don't know, but it sure does suck for those truckers. There are also monkey and baboons all over the road! If you have any food out they will run up and snatch it right out of your hands! Some girl was eating a sandwich and sure enough, a huge baboon jumped up and stole it from here while she let out a high pitched yelp. They are also ugly little mother fuckers, especially the baboons with their big pinks asses that resemble pictures of advanced syphilis infections you see back in school.
I got to the Zimbabwean side to see the falls and it was much better then on the Zambian side. It's too bad Zimbabwe is going thru so much upheaval right now because I would have liked to have actually spent a decent amount of time in the country, but every day I read CNN is another story about how they are having serious political problems right now.
Seeing Victoria Falls is one of those things you simply have to do if you are in this area of the world, and I am really happy that I changed my plans to see them. I have a couple more days to spend here in Livingstone, and during this time I am going to head out to Chobe, Botswana to go on a safari. I'm really excited about this and will post pictures and videos from it as soon as I am done!
|
How'sit! Time to go, go, go!!!
Goodbye South Africa
4/21/2008 12:56:31 PM - Day 35 - Pretoria, South Africa
Waiting in the airport in Johannesburg before I leave South Africa.
I finished up my time in South Africa by spending a couple of days in the capital Pretoria (read city review). In terms of sites, there really isn't much that was of too much interest to me in Pretoria, but the weekend was coming up and I heard the nightlife was pretty good, so I decided that having not gone out very much on this trip, I would like to at least go out once in the capital city. Also, Pretoria is very close to Johannesburg ("Jo'Burg"), and that was where my flight was leaving from. I would have actually stayed in Johannesburg, but every South African I met told me not to spend any time there if I could help it because there is nothing to see and it also happens to be one of the most dangerous cities in the world. As I traveled, I met many travelers who had visited and every single one had a story about how they knew someone in their hostel who had been mugged or they had been mugged themselves. I did some research of my own online, and saw that Jo'Burg was actually listed quite a few times as being in the top three most dangerous cities in the world. I had to drive thru there though on the way to Pretoria, and I was looking forward to seeing what a super "dangerous" city actually looked like.
Driving thru was fine, I didn't know what to expect, but I didn't see anything out of the ordinary in Jo'Burg save the fact that almost every single house had layers of razor wire and electric fence surrounding the outer walls. I was in a little shuttle that the Baz Bus sets up for people going to Pretoria. It was me, a local South African lady and another traveler along with the driver who was also a local. Right as we begin to pull out of Jo'Burg on the way to Pretoria, the fucking car stalled. The driver pulls over to the side of the road and lifts up the hood and simply stares at the engine, occasionally tapping it with his finger. The way we stalled, it seemed like we ran out of gas and I told him this, but he dismissed this thought being positive that it was something else. The other passengers said the same thing, but he was sure it wasn't the gas.
Perfect. The sun has almost set and I am stranded on the side of the road in Johannesburg, one of the most dangerous cities in the world. Just fucking perfect. What a fitting end to my trip in South Africa. One of the other traveler's looks at me and says "That's Africa". At this point, what else could I do but laugh.
Eventually the driver's supervisor showed up after a tense hour of waiting on the side of the road. He didn't even look at the engine before pulling out a tank of gas to fill up our car. When he was done, he walked over and started it up with no problem, gave us all a smile, said something to the driver and then went on his way. I looked at the other passengers and we all shook our heads while most likely thinking the same thing: "Told you it was the gas you fucking moron."
I finally made it to my hostel, 1322 Backpackers (read hostel review) a couple hours later then I had expected. Being as late as it was, I decided to call it a night and get myself situated at the hostel. The next night, I got some of my web development work done. After a day of "making that money", I decided for once, I was going to go out and cut loose. Up until this point, I hadn't gone out to any real clubs or bars since my first week in Cape Town and figured I might as well as see what the capital of South Africa had to offer in nightlife, especially since I probably wouldn't be going out that much for awhile considering my coming stops were thru East Africa and Egypt, not places that are known for partying. I ended up meeting a cool Dutch and English guy at my hostel, and we headed out to town.
The Dutch guy was meeting up with a girl so he separated from us when we got to the bar area leaving me and the English guy. The bar area in Pretoria, also known as Hatfield Square, was pretty cool because it was so centralized. It was one huge square that was filled with bars and clubs. When we got there, we were in for an unexpected special treat, a live Boer Rock Show, and when I say special treat, I meant a couple hours of ear splitting agony. This band fucking sucked, but a couple drunken locals seemed to be having a good time as they stumbled in front of the stage. One thing I noticed right away was that, unlike Cape Town, this place seemed to be pretty "de-Facto" (voluntarily) segregated. I did not see a single black person in the masses of party goers anywhere in site. I guess what I heard about this area of South Africa not integrating as well as the others was correct.
The night was a typical party night mainly consisting of people watching while slamming drinks with my English buddy. I noticed that a lot of the South African guys would have no problem fitting in with the gay and metro crowd of America with their too-tight white pants, pink T's, streaked salon hair and gator skin shoes. I did meet one guy who was supposed to be a "real" South African Boer. He was a nice guy, spoke only Afrikaans and dressed like a "redneck" (no offense to any rednecks out there). Right after I met this cowboy, some girl started tripping out on my American accent asking me if I was "faking" it to "sound cool". I told her that I wasn't, and thought to myself that for once, it was nice to be the person with the "cool" accent. Right after that one of the sissified locals came up with his fro-hawk and tighty-whitey pants and said "I have only one question for you, do you think Bush blew up the Twin Towers?" I laughed and told him no. "Ok, that's all I need to know" and he stormed off. This is the kind of shit I have to deal with traveling around being an American. People are always asking me about politics and trying to convince me of their outlandish internet conspiracies that center on America. It's fucking ridiculous. Then there are some people who act as if I get phone calls from the President asking me how to handle foreign policy. How the fuck show I know? Do you see me on TV giving the President advice? No, so quit asking me all these stupid fucking questions about why my government does this or that because chances are, I know just as much as you. It's so very tiring, and by that point of the night, I had seen enough collar popped polo-shirts and muffin tops to last a life time, so I headed back to the hostel.
There wasn't a ton to see in Pretoria, so the last day I only worked on this website (yes, I am still working on this website) and did more web development work for my company back in California. Now it is the 21st, and I am sitting here in the airport in Johannesburg as I wait to catch a flight to the next country on my itinerary, Zambia. I originally didn't plan on going there, but they have Victoria Falls, and there is no way I am going to miss out on seeing Vic Falls if I am in the area.
I've also had a bit of time to reflect on my time here in South Africa with mixed feelings. I have done some pretty amazing stuff here and seen natural beauty that I thought existed only in movies and story books. However, all this was overshadowed by the looming threat of crime and violence. Never being able to walk around at night and constantly having to look over your shoulder gets laborious. I actually just finished talking with a South African here who just got visas for himself and his family to live in Canada. He seemed pretty sad to be leaving South Africa, but he said that things were simply getting too bad and unsafe, so much so that he thought leaving for a safer place was in the best interest of his family, even if it meant leaving his beloved homeland. This was a common theme I came across this past month in South Africa. South Africans that have the means to do so are leaving the country in droves, I'm not saying that all of them are, but a lot that I met were. Crime in South Africa is a serious fucking problem.
I'm happy I made it out of here ok (even if I was only here for a month). I did some really cool stuff: played with lion cubs, went dolphin watching, did the world record bungee jump, almost killed myself (maybe not super amazing but memorable) and met some wild characters. Now it's time to start the next leg of my adventure as I jaunt up East Africa. I know it is going to be real exciting, I only hope that everything goes smoothly so I can leave the saying "Its Africa" by the wayside.
|
Crime is a Serious Problem in South Africa.
Conversation in Durban.
4/18/2008 6:03:11 AM - Day 32 - Durban, South Africa
I was only in Durban for one day because of how my schedule worked out with transport. That being the case, I didn't do much of anything while I was there, which to be honest, I don't mind too much considering there isn't much to see there and the crime rate is astronomical. I did get a chance though to have a good chat with the guy working at the bar at my hostel, "Happy Hippo" (read hostel review) about the issue of crime in South Africa. He was a local who had grown up in Durban his entire life, and because of that, felt relatively safe there considering how fucked the crime issue was. In any big city, you have to stay informed as to what is and isn't safe, regardless of what country you are at. Of course, you'll be able to get away with a lot more walking the streets of Paris then you would walking the streets of Johannesburg, but still, you have to stay informed. The best way to do this is to talk to the locals or the hostel/hotel staff about what the "rules" for the area are. If they tell you not to go somewhere, don't go. He told me a story how a German couple was finishing a round the world trip in South Africa, came to Durban and asked what to do. The staff told them some ideas, and also let them know not to walk in one particular area during the day or night near the hostel. The dumshits walked thru that area anyways, and got robbed of all their stuff.
Going thru high crime areas like South Africa, really makes me appreciate what I have back home. That's one of the best things about traveling, it makes you appreciate the little things you have back home that you take for granted, like being able to walk around the streets at night. I know there are many places back in the States that you can't do that, but in South Africa, there is pretty much nowhere that it is safe to walk around after sunset. The few times that I found myself walking back to the hostel at dusk, the streets would be virtually empty.
|
I wasn't expecting to see one of those on this trip.
I Saw Dolphins and Dead People.
4/17/2008 11:42:34 AM - Day 31 - Port St Johns, South Africa
Dolphin watching on the Wild Coast near Port St Johns.
I was looking forward to visiting Port St Johns (read city review) and actually being in somewhat of a town after visiting so many obscure, off the path places previously. I was starting to miss things like grocery markets and paved roads. Like Coffee Bay, Port St Johns is also on the "Wild Coast" in the Transkei of South Africa, and also like Coffee Bay, it is about a two hour drive into town from the nearest city. There were three of us for the ride in which included myself, an American girl who had just arrived in South Africa to volunteer (the tiny amount of Americans I meet in South Africa almost always seem to be here to volunteer), and our driver who was a local Xhosa man. Driving into town, I saw the same familiar things you get used to seeing in Xhosa land: Xhosa huts dotting the landscape, rolling green hills with dramatic scenery and multitudes of goats, sheep and cows grazing alongside the road, or sometimes standing right in the middle of it. Our Xhosa driver told me that in his culture, you are not considered a "man" until you have you own hut, and herd of sheep, goats and most importantly, cows, and that until you do have all of those, no woman will take you. I don't think that same approach would work to well back in the states, but hey, you never know!
I asked him if there were a lot of accidents because of all the livestock that you constantly have to maneuver around while driving on the back roads of the Transkei and he said that yes, there are accidents all the time, but mostly involving alcohol, and almost always being fatal. I heard earlier in my trip that alcohol related car accidents were a big problem in Africa. Shortly after asking him that, we turned a corner and I saw a sight that I will never forget.
Immediately prior to turning the corner, you could see a bunch of people leaving some type of party. He said that someone had been married, so they had a huge party in celebration, which is why there were so many people in the area. It was unusual for me to see so many people because for the majority of the ride, the land was nearly uninhabited save the occasional hut and group of livestock. As we went around the bend right after the party, we could see some 500 feet in front of us a mass commotion. People were all over the place, on both sides of the road, some in the middle of it with clothes and crates strewn all over the ground. It all looked very unusual, but we couldn't see that far ahead because it was somewhat misty and overcast that day. As we got closer, I began to hear it, the howls of infinite sadness. Until this point, I have never heard anything like it but in the movies, and I will never forget it. It wasn't the controlled or sometimes uncontrolled sobs and wails that you might hear at a funeral, it was the sound of unadulterated grief, pain and shock. As we got closer, the wailing became louder and I could also hear a buzz of distressed voices. We very slowly began to swerve in and out between the people and crates that were on the road. We had just come upon the immediate aftermath of an accident. No sooner did we get halfway thru this did I see victims laying on the floor, being cradled by others as they bled out of multiple wounds, some with their eyes shut, and at that point, I could only imagine if they were still alive or not. There were other cars on the side of the road as well that looked like they had gotten there minutes before us, maybe from the party, maybe just by chance, but it seemed that they were there to help. As we almost made our way out of the fray, we came across what was once a very nice BMW, now with a bunch of front end damage with blood splattered all over the windshield. Our driver told is this was the car of the town mayor. He shook his head saying "This is not good." He then said that the victims were probably drunk which is why they got hit. We finally made it out of the commotion and rode the rest of the way back to the hostel in silence.
I'll never forget those bodies, twisted, bloodied, lifeless and the looks on the faces of the people who were cradling them, a mixture of tenderness, disbelief and agony. The look someone would have the instant they had lost someone they love, having to hold them as they died. I'll never forget those screams.
This is probably old hat for EMT's, Police Officers and Emergency Room staff, but up until this point, I had never seen anything like this and it really shook me. I came on this trip to see and experience new things, but this wasn't something I had planned on seeing.
I finally arrived at my hostel, Jungle Monkey/Island Backpackers (read hostel review) and decided to take it easy for a day or two. Not so much because of what I had seen, but I had a good couple of days to spend here and I had a bunch of software engineering work that I needed to get done for my company back home. I took it easy for awhile and got situated.
After a couple days, the hostel started giving off a really weird vibe, almost as if something strange was going on there. It could have had something to do with the fact that the hostel covered a ton of ground and was near empty. It also didn't have any type of safeguards to keep unwanted people out, so there was no real sense of security. There were also stray neighborhood dogs that would run around the hostel grounds at night making everyone uncomfortable. In fact, one night, out of nowhere I heard a cat (they also had like three cats at this hostel) shrieking like crazy along with dogs barking. The owners ran over there and soon a couple of the stray dogs came bolting out. It seemed that the stray dogs decided to kill one of the cats that night. However, the cat wasn't completely dead, just mauled to the brink of death, and one of the owners, the one who really liked that cat, had to take it to someone to put the cat down. Besides that, I never saw anything totally out of the ordinary, but I simply couldn't shake the feeling that something strange was going on. I could have just been paranoid though, and the owners were nothing but nice, and all in all, I enjoyed my stay at the hostel, but I couldn't shake that feeling.
Since I was going to be in town for a couple of days, I decided I didn't want to eat the dinner at the hostel restaurant every night, so I headed into town to pick up some groceries. It's funny, because before I left on this trip I picked out all of my clothes so that I would be very low key since I wanted to fit in with the local population as much as possible. Walking around a town like Port St Johns, you realize quite quickly that "fitting in" is going to be a bit difficult when you're one of the only white guys in town. At first I was a little uncomfortable from this (I guess this is what minorities feel like in America in some areas), but eventually I got used to it. Nobody really talked to me, and I went on as I pleased. The grocery store itself was quite interesting. This was the first one I had been to outside one of South Africa's major cities, and it was very different from what I was used to. It was a very large grocery store, but many of the shelves were barren. You didn't have much variety either in terms of what was there, and fruits and vegetables were very hard to find. Plus, they didn't get their loafs of bread in a wrapper like you do in most places, but instead simply got an unwrapped, uncut loaf of bread that they would toss it into their cart. The prices were pretty good though.
After a couple of days doing work on my computer I got a bit restless and wanted to do something so I asked the owners of the hostel if there were any activities going on that particular day. They said that a boat was going out to go Dolphin watching, and that there was still room on it if I wanted to go. The price was pretty reasonable, so I was in.
A group of about six of us, along with the captain went out onto the Indian Ocean from Port St Johns on a little speed boat. The boat would haul so it was pretty fun. Going up and down the Wild Coast of South Africa was awesome. The scenery was straight out of a movie, very dramatic cliffs topped with green pastures along with deserted beaches. The captain said that he knew the dolphin's route in the area, so after going about an hour down the coast, we hit the jackpot, a "mega pod" of dolphins, or in other words, a hell of a lot of dolphins. We started shadowing them up the coast, and the dolphins actually seemed to enjoy it. They would swim up right alongside the boat and speed up, then slow down, and finally speed up again, almost daring us to increase speed to keep up with them. When we did start going faster they would swim directly in front of the boat zigzagging in between one another. You would occasionally see a baby jump out of the water. The way they swam along our boat, following us, speeding up and slowing down, didn't seem instinctual, and I can see why dolphins are looked at as some of the smartest creatures on the planet. After boating with the dolphins for awhile, they headed farther out to sea, so we headed back into Port St Johns. The water had also gotten a lot choppier as the wind picked up, so the captain said now was the time to head in otherwise we would be running a risk if we waited any longer. When we finally arrived at the mouth of the port, the wind was really going and the waves had increased a good amount in size. We were going to have to speed into the port while at the same time dodging the waves that were going to be crashing behind us. The captain moved the boat into position, let it float there as he timed the break of waves that were crashing towards the port, said a prayer and gunned it. We were flying across the water, and soon we were in the break. Waves were forming on all sides of us while the captain dodged them going this way and that. These waves were forming pretty fast though and one of them caught up with us and we ended up riding that one all the way back into the mouth of the port. It was a really exciting experience!
That night, the owners were kind enough to offer throwing a fish Braai (BBQ) for the guests of the hostel, we only had to get some of the side dishes. They picked up four huge fish that the local fisherman had caught that day and one of the guests, a really cool German guy that I met was a chef back home, so he pulled out all stops preparing the fish, side dishes and desert. When it was all done, it ended up being one of the best meals I have had on this trip. It was really cool of the owner's to do this for everyone and also of the German guy for cooking everything up.
Now, I have been here in Port St Johns for a couple days, and I leave shortly for Durban where I will be for only one night since I don't have any time to spend due to the Baz Bus schedule and the date of my flight out of South Africa from Johannesburg. I feel like my stay here has been pretty eventful from the get go. It was a very beautiful place, but it's time for me to go.
|
I'm in the African Amsterdam.
Go to Coffee Bay if you like to smoke, drink and surf.
4/12/2008 12:31:53 PM - Day 26 - Coffee Bay, South Africa
The Xhosa hut I stayed in whlie at Coffee Bay.
Coffee Bay (read city review) was my first stop in South Africa that was in the Transkei district on the "Wild Coast". The Wild Coast got its name from Portuguese sailors because of it was a pretty dangerous part of South Africa to navigate around with many Portuguese boats sinking on this leg of the trip. Many South Africans told me that I should skip visiting the Transkei since it was the poorest district of South Africa, and with that came some crime. I wasn't deterred though, many backpackers come here every day and never have a problem, so why should I be worried? As long as I have common sense, I am sure I will be fine.
I had to get dropped off at an intermediary town where a shuttle from the hostel I was staying at, "Coffee Shack" (read hostel review) was going to pick me up. It was a two hour ride into Coffee Bay where I got to see a good deal of the country side as well as a bit of Xhosa culture with all the Xhosa huts, sheep, goats and cows that dotted the countryside. Xhosa is the name of one of the African tribes that live in South Africa. There name might be hard to say because the "Xh" of the name is actually said with a click of the tongue. I always thought that people were being ignorant racist when they started imitating what they thought African speech to be by making a multitude of clicking sounds, but even though they are still probably ignorant, they probably don't realize that in truth, there are some people in Africa that actually do speak with clicks. I got to hear a good deal of Xhosa speak during my stay in South Africa and there language wasn't completely riddled with clicks, but you would hear a clicking sound with relatively frequently along with the normal type of talking that we are all used to. One of the Xhosa told me that the "Sand People" (that's what he called them) of Namibia actually speak with a lot more clicks in their language.
I finally got to my hostel and they led me to my double which was actually a Xhosa hut. I thought it was kind of cool to be sleeping in a hut in Africa, you don't get that chance very often. All in all the hut was nice, with a green concrete floor, one rug, one chair, and one queen sized bed, but at night there were all kinds of Geckos crawling across the huts rafters that would occasionally shit on my bed. That was pretty gross, and I was really worried about waking up in the morning with a nasty surprise in my mouth, so I would go to sleep with the covers over my head. The doubles here are super cheap, so I figured I might as well spend another $5 a night and get one instead of a dorm so that I could get some work done (I am doing web development while I am on the road).
The hostel I am at, Coffee Shack is a party animal's paradise. They have pretty cool activities every night and I have never seen weed being smoked and sold more openly. Since this town is so secluded and off the beaten track, there is little to no police presence here. Maybe that's why the South Africans told me to skip it? Because of that, I got guys trying to sell me weed everywhere I go for dirt cheap prices. I asked about the prices once out of curiosity and found out that a decent amount could be bought for less than the price of dinner at the hostel. Couple that with some decent surfing that you can find in the area, and I ended up meeting a lot of surfers who came to Coffee Bay who surfed all day and smoke and drank all night. In fact, the only unspoken rule of the hostel was that you couldn't smoke indoors, so when you would walk around the hostel grounds at night, you would see people everywhere lighting up and drinking beer. I might as well have been in Amsterdam. To give you an idea of how open it is, and how cheap the price of Marijuana is, I was playing pool in the bar one night when someone came up to the guy I was playing with and asked if he knew where he could go to get some weed. The guy I was playing with was a white South African who had lived in the area for a bit, and said "Brotha, it's the Harvest man!" He then pulled out a large bag of marijuana and said "Help yourself bro, take as much as you like!" The guy who originally asked was a bit stunned "Are you sure? Can I give you some money or something?" The South African said "No bro, help yourself! It's all free! Take as much as you like, and here are some papers to smoke it with." He laughed and finally said "Welcome to Coffee Bay!" That's Coffee Bay for you.
This really isn't my scene though, and I only went out to have a couple drinks and play pool one of the nights since I have been such a downer lately spending most of my time working on my web development. After a couple nights, I was ready to go, so I have my stuff here packed up before I leave for Port St John's. Port St John's is also on the Wild Coast and is supposed to be a really beautiful place, so I decided to spend a couple nights there since I have been on the move pretty constantly lately.
|
Simply Not in the Mood
I'm Looking for More Than a Party
4/10/2008 11:36:46 AM - Day 24 - Cintsa, South Africa
Getting ready to leave Cintsa.
I was looking forward to visiting Cintsa (read city review) since a couple South African's that I met in Cape Town wouldn't stop raving about how awesome the place was, but the reality turned out to be less than what I was lead to believe…at least for my current state of mind. Cintsa is a great place to go if you want to party your ass off. It is a small, secluded beach town that is only really popular with backpackers since it is on the Baz Bus route and has one hell of a hostel there, Buccaneers Backpackers (read hostel review). In all actuality, Buccaneers Backpackers is more a resort than hostel with its restaurant, pool, huge bar with dance floor and many other amenities that you wouldn't expect at a hostel.
However, considering that I just got out of a serious relationship, I am not really in the mood to go partying. Some people like to go on a wild binge of booze, sex and/or drugs after getting out of a serious relationship. I'm not one of those people. That doesn't mean that I spend my whole day sulking in the corner, but I don't find self-healing at the bottom of a beer bottle. Once I got to Buccaneers Backpackers, and saw that is was basically a huge party resort, I started making plans to get to my next destination.
I had originally planned on spending a couple nights here, but since the Baz Bus only came on certain days of the week, and today was one of those days, I decided to leave sooner than later instead of spending a couple extra days waiting here for the Baz Bus to come by again.
Cintsa is a really nice place, and I can see why a lot of people have a ton of fun here. I'm simply not in the mood right now to party like a rock star so I am going to head out and see if I can't find something else out there on my travels. My next stop is Coffee Bay, which is also supposed to be a huge party place, but like Cintsa, a ton of people I have met on my travels keep going on and on about how awesome the place is, so if I don't at least check it out, I'll feel as if I could have possibly missed out on something wonderful.
|
Maybe not, but they do seem to enjoy their pipe weed
In Hogsback with Hobbits
4/9/2008 11:22:16 PM - Day 23 - Hogsback, South Africa
Hiking Hogsback was very nice. A little creepy at times, but nice.
I first read about Hogsback (read city review) while doing research online on places to visit in South Africa before leaving on my trip back in California. I came across a travel BLOG where the writer couldn't stop saying how awesome it was to have visited the area that was the inspiration for J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings". This peaked my interest. Lord of the Rings was one of my favorite book series (I'm sure most of you have seen the movies) that is set in some pretty wild environments, so if there was an area that inspired Tolkien to write the books, then that area should be pretty amazing as well, right? After getting a bit excited, I also saw that it was on the Baz Bus route (traveling thru South Africa you're pretty much confined to stops on the Baz Bus route unless you want to take your chances with their public transportation which is known for being super dangerous). Then I did some more research, and found out that the whole story of it being the inspiration for Lord of the Rings was a bunch of bullshit. Tolkien was born in South Africa, spent a couple years there as a baby, then left to England when he was somewhere between three and five years of age (depending on your source). Tolkien himself even said that he got a lot of his inspiration from England and other countries in Europe. Oh well. Hogsback still had some pretty amazing scenery, and it was the only mountainous area that I was going to be able to visit on the Baz Bus route because of time constraints, so I said why the hell not and made plans to visit.
Getting there involved taking the Baz Bus to East London (a crime ridden shithole) and from there, a shuttle from the hostel I was going to be staying at, "Away with the Fairies" (read hostel review) (kind of a fruity name but it goes along with the Tolkien theme that the town likes to promote even though it isn't true) would pick me up along with anyone else headed that way to take to Hogsback. I was the only one going that day, so I got a couple hours to spend on a nice drive with the driver, a tall, skinny black dude from Hogsback named "Itty" who had many interesting views on global politics like; "President Bush will never leave office! Mark my words, he will be there forever and we are all scared of him!" Relax buddy, the United States isn't the typical African authoritarian regime that you are used to. He wasn't having it though, and was dead set on his beliefs.
I got settled into Hogsback, dropped my bags in the bar and went to check in. An English guy named James was working the bar/front desk (I later found out he was the owner) and he asked me my name.
"James Mattis."
"Cool. Where are you coming from?"
"I was in Port Elizabeth at Lungile and before that I was staying at Ubuntu in Jeffrey's Bay."
"Ubuntu?"
"Yeah, I was staying at Ubuntu."
"Ok...let me check you in then" he hesitantly replied while giving me a sideways look.
I was a little confused as to why he was acting so weird, but whatever. You never know what kind of people you are going to meet on the road. I checked in, changed some of my clothes, and set off to do what most people do in Hogsback. Hike!
I met a cool Dutch pyromaniac (this guy loved fires) in my room named Stephen, and the two of us headed out on the trails. It was pretty damn beautiful out there and I can see why some people end up mistakenly believing that this area was the inspiration for "Lord of the Rings". The trail led directly into a huge wooded forest with ancient trees completely wrapped up in vines. The trail was at the top of a mountain, so occasionally an opening would appear on the side of the trail revealing a picture perfect view of the forest and valley below. This was all accented by the monkey howls that you would hear emanating from the forest canopy above.
After that, we headed back and I met the other two guys staying in my dorm room, Staffan and Edward. They were two crazy ass guys from Sweden who were both around 21 years old. They would ask me random ass questions with a smile on their face like "If you were a cat, would you lick your own balls". How do you answer that? That night we all went to the hostels bar and did some drinking with the rest of the guests at the hostel. It was actually a pretty lively scene with a lot of drinking going on and plenty of characters to meet. Also, many of these people were smoking weed like it was going out of style. You get all types in the mountains.
While having a drink the owner of the hostel, James came up to me and chatted for a second before asking:
"You're name is James Mattis...right?"
Yes, my name is James Mattis.
"Oh man!" He exclaimed with a laugh, "You'll never guess the story I have for you!"
He told me how he had just gotten an email earlier that day that was being passed around to all the hostel owners in South Africa from the owner of Ubuntu, Jamie, saying how just a couple of days earlier, a guy who at one point went by the name "James Matthews" had stolen a ton of money from another hostel guest then left the hostel in the middle of the day before anyone had realized what he had done. He had literally just read this when I walked into the hostel in Hogsback to check in. When I told him my name was "James Mattis" with my American accent (they don't get very many Americans in South Africa so our accent can throw them off) and had just stayed at Ubuntu, he said the first line that went thru his head was "Oh shit! The thief is here, and the guy is big! What the fuck am I going to do!?"
He said he started freaking out thinking he had a big man of a thief in his hostel, and was about to grab some of the other staff to figure out how to handle me when he looked over the original email that Jamie from Ubuntu had sent out. At the very bottom, it said something along the lines of "Don't mistake 'James Mathews' with 'James Mattis' the American who had also stayed here". He laughed telling me how that final line just saved us both from a heap of confusion.
We all laughed about it for the rest of the night. I made sure before I left to have him forward me the email so that I could put it up here on my BLOG for you all to read. It is a funny situation, but I really hope I don't get to other hostels on my travels here in South Africa and get mixed up with this asshole going by the name of "James Mathews" because there is no telling what kind of trouble that will cause me.
Here is the original email that the owner of Ubuntu sent out to all the hostel owners about the thief:
SUBJECT:
NOTICE OF BILKER & SERIOUS THEFT FROM DORM
BODY:
We were hoping that you can forward this mail to all your clients and maybe the BSA. We had an incident here this weekend that I think affects us all.
A man booked in with us, James Smith, on Friday afternoon, kept to himself most of the day but did join us later in the evening and had a few beers with us and the other guests. He was very well dressed and well spoken. He claimed to be British, a broker working for his dad’s company and came from Mozam doing his dive masters. He is on around the world trip for 7-9 months. His name James Smith.
Or James Alexander Smith. After the nights pool and chatting he went out with some guests, had a goodnight came back and the next day after breakfast went down to the beach. He was booked in for two nights, but after the first morning nobody had seen him. On Sunday he was suppose to book out and we were a little worried cause we have not seen him thinking that something might have happen to him. The dorm that he was in was full but after some time saw that his bag was not there.
On his book-in-sheet he said that he was going to Knysna so I called a few places, Knysna backpackers told me last week a James Mattues, also did a runner and stole R1000 from one of the guests. The description of the man was the same and the lady there said he came from Cape Town and did the same thing, but then he had a South African accent and his name Andrew Mattes!
We asked everyone in the dorm to go check if they still had all valuables; the Brazilian boy that slept next to him had all his money stolen!! All the money that he had worked for in Aus, (peeling potatoes), 6months $7000 aus dollars and R3000 SA. Yes, silly to have so much money on him in a dorm but the damage has been done and this boy is devastated, he was going home and getting married.
The BILKER owed us Over R350 for accom and meals. When he went out he even borrowed R200 from a guest here to buy drinks.
We have to work together and try to catch this guy!!!!! He got very luck here so I don’t think he will maybe do it very soon but keep your eyes open for him the next few months!!!!!!!!!!
I think the name JAMES SMITH, is not much to go on, but his description is really important....
White male, Medium height, ok built but has something around the waist, not fat, dark shaven hair (pretty much bald), sometimes with reading glasses on, big blue eyes, well dressed, well spoken a very nice guy, (so don’t be fooled), wore a light blue knitted beanie, British accent or South African, goes by the names James Smith, Andrew Matthews, James Matthews, drives his own car, tells you that he is a broker and works for his dad’s company. Loves diving and has been in Mozam doing his dive masters. Looks like he is moving up the coast. He also asked my staff over the phone if we were busy because he felt like a party, adamant to sleep in the dorm, told some people he came on BazBus and others that he had his own car. I am positive that he drives his own car.
He does not make a lot of conversation and here he sat in the TV room watching movies, he is not really very touristy, not interested in activities.
WE had an American James Mattis here he is a web designer and sits in front of his laptop a lot. With tattoos so don’t mistake the two, American James is well build
Our runner James has a little more around the waist.
Thanx for your help lets get the word out to our staff ASAP, put him were he belongs.
If any body encounters this guy, please let us know immediately. We can confirm his identity and hopefully then get the police.
Thanks a lot,
Jamie & Lis
Ubuntu Backpackers
J-Bay
|
Living the Dream
I Held Lion Cubs Today
4/6/2008 8:27:16 PM - Day 20 - Port Elizabeth, South Africa
Me and one of the little puff-balls.
One day, some time ago, during lunch I was sitting in my office at work in Orange County, California contemplating my future trip to South Africa. I had a million things going thru my mind, one of them being "I wonder what kind of cool things there is to do in South Africa?" I was looking for the kind of things that you could only do in Africa, the things that make Africa such a unique and mysterious destination. As I sat there mulling it over, an idea popped into my head, "I wonder if you can hold Lion Cubs in South Africa?" Shit, why not, it is Africa right? I typed my question into the all knowing Google and a list of answers appeared in front of me like presents ready to be unwrapped. In less than a minute I had my answer…"Yes".
I don't know why, but the very thought of holding a lion cub really moved me. I think it was a combination of a lot of things, but I think the main reason wasn't so much the fact that I could hold a lion cub as was the idea that I would be given the opportunity to do so many amazing, wondrous things that I never dreamt possible by going on this trip. It truly was going to be an adventure.
After my research, I found the best place to hold lion cubs; Sea View Lion Park in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
My stay in Jeffrey's Bay was coming to a close. My feet were much somewhat healed up from my surfing accident, although I was still bleeding thru my socks whenever I wore shoes, however I could walk on them with minimal pain. I ended up staying in Jeffrey's Bay one more night then I had planned since the fucking Baz Bus completely forgot to pick me up even though I had a seat confirmation with them. Luckily the owner of the hostel I was staying out helped me out and gave me a private room for the price of a dorm since he was such a nice guy and understood the fact that I had no control over the current situation. Thanks Jamie! The next night I arrived in Port Elizabeth at my hostel, Lungile Backpackers, and on the following day I made arrangements to head on out to Sea View Lion Park.
I got a good deal at the hostel even though I was going to be the only person going, along with the driver who was a pretty cool local named Ricky. Sea View Lion Park is about thirty minutes out of town along the coast with you guessed it, a great "Sea View". Once you enter the park entrance though, you start to see a bunch of wildlife freely roaming the grounds. I saw Zebras and Giraffes all over the place. It made me wonder if they let the lions roam freely too? Using common sense, I brushed that thought off. I was soon walking around the park, and first went to go check out the adult Tigers and Lions that were inside some nearby enclosures.
They were pretty easy to find. You only had to follow the sound of lion roars and squealing children. Once there, I looked the enclosures over and started having doubts. Just recently some kid got killed in California by a tiger that jumped a huge moat and scaled a giant fence. The fences here were nothing more than some weak looking steel fence with a secondary, shorter fence. I think the shorter fence was electrified, but that is only an assumption. These fences weren't very reassuring, but what are you going to do? It's Africa. Besides, it makes for a more exciting experience!
I got within arm's length of the tigers and lions. There were a lot of them, and it was really cool to be able to get that close up to them. I remember as a kid going to the zoo in San Diego and straining to get a peek at the tiger they had there which was close to impossible since he was always hiding in this little cave that was out of view, but here, I got a great, unobstructed view of both Tigers and Lions. They are pretty majestic animals. Very graceful, and they had a distinct sense of regality to them. Truly the kings of the jungle.
After I got my fill staring at the adult lions and tigers, I was ready to go play with the cubs. After a five minute drive I was at the cub's area. We pulled up to the cub's center, which has a restaurant at the entrance before you enter the enclosure. I lucked out though since it was close to empty since I had shown up around closing time. It cost like $10, and they would have a guide show me around the adolescent lion enclosure. Adolescent? I thought I was going to see the cubs? Then I found out that you can play with both the adolescent lions, as well as the lion cubs for an addition $5. Hmmm, play with adolescent lions…Sounds a bit dangerous, but what the hell, how often will I get this chance.
I paid my money and was soon led into the adolescent section by one of the lion trainers. There were three adolescent male lions in there: Deacon, Pieter and Mathew. Firs t thing he told me was to make sure I didn't turn my back them. If you turn your back on a lion, they'll pounce on your instinctually. He also said that I shouldn't have to worry about getting bitten, scratched, mauled, killed, etc. because the lions are trained from birth not to hurt humans.
Walking in the enclosure was an experience! At first they didn't seem to notice me too much since they were all staring at some little kids that were with a family watching the lions from outside the enclosure. The trainer told me that lions will always go after the weakest prey, therefore at the moment, the little kids had the lion's attention since it was close to feeding time! After some instruction from the trainer, I got to pet the lions and even did a bit of playing when I unknowingly turned my back on one of them (let me see you keep track of three lions at once) and he tried to pounce on me. I luckily saw him at the last second and moved out of the way so all he was able to do was swat my ass. Cheeky bastard! It was all good fun though. I got some great pictures, got to spend time with three lions and even got a paw print on my ass from the experience. Soon my time was up though, and I was off to see the cubs.
They have the cubs in this tiny little enclosure that overlooks the ocean. Three little fluff ball lionesses that were rolling all over one another. It was a very cute sight! Another trainer led me in, and soon they were rolling all over me. Grabbing my feet, then biting one another and chasing each other all over the enclosure. I got to pet them, play with them, and the trainer then told me to go ahead and pick one up…Really? I can pick them up. "Sure! I'll even take a picture for you." I bent down, curled both of my arms underneath one of the cub's soft bellies and gently lifted the lion cub up. At this very moment the world ceased to be as I stared into the past seeing only myself, in an office, in Orange County. I was holding a lion cub.
I fulfilled a dream.
|
I'm barely two weeks into my trip...just great.
I Almost Died Today
4/3/2008 5:36:00 PM - Day 17 - Jeffrey's Bay, South Africa
Hanging out with some of the surfers at my hostel. Great guys!
Wow, what a day.
I'm here in Jeffrey's Bay (read city review), South Africa at a hostel named Ubuntu Backpackers (read hostel review). Jeffrey's Bay is one of the biggest surf spots in the world. I do a little surfing back home so I decided that since I was here, I was going to head down to the beach to and hit the waves myself. The guys at my hostel recommended I head out to the "Point", since it was a good break and not overly crowded like some of the other breaks.
I rented my wetsuit and board (there is no way I am carrying my surfboard with me around the world) and I was soon on my way down there. As I was walking along the beach to the Point, I noticed that in order to get out to any of the breaks, you would have to navigate yourself over huge, jagged rocks, the kind of rocks that will kill you if you get slammed up on them. I saw some of the locals going out to the breaks, and even they had a hard time going over the rocks. I was really hoping that the Point was going to be easier to get out to, and when I finally arrived, I found out that wasn't going to be the case.
As I stood there trying to figure out how I was going to get past the gauntlet of treacherous rocks that lay between me and the break, the idea of turning back and calling it a day crossed my mind. I figured that it would be common sense to go out with someone from the hostel who knew what they were doing instead of trying to figure out the best path thru this wall of giant rocks, but lacking common sense, I said fuck it, I am already here, spent half an hour trying to find the place and I have my wetsuit on and my board in hand ready to go. I watched one local paddle out, saw that he went thru a channel that cut across the wall of rocks diagonally, and after asking another local about it, found out that was the normal way to get out to the Point. I got in the water, made my best judgment as to what direction diagonally would be best to take that mirrored what I saw done earlier, and started paddling out.
This was a mistake. I should have gone back, or at least watched a couple other guys do it, but being the adventurous person I am, I took the risk and started paddling out thru a wall of dangerous, armour piercing rocks thru a channel that I had no idea about other than what I saw from one person swimming thru it a couple minutes earlier.
I started paddling out when it looked like the last wave from the set had finished crashing. No sooner did the next set come in did I fell the fins from my board gliding across rock. Shit! I didn't navigate this channel correctly and now I found myself gliding over rocks with a set of waves coming in that were seconds away from smashing down on top of me. Alright, don't panic. I started heading back in the direction I came when the first wave hit. Smash! I felt the board take the brunt of the force as it hit the rock beneath it. Then I felt something. I was paddling, but I wasn't going anywhere, and on top of that, my right foot was getting tugged on. FUCK!!! My leash was caught on the fucking rock! I could see the next wave come in. Smash! This time my board was sliding all over the place because my foot was anchored to a rock that was tied to the board destroying any control I had over the board while putting me off balance. Then another wave came in. Smash! I could feel my hands and feet getting cut up as I tried my hardest to regain my balance using the rock as leverage. Alright, my leash was stuck, I didn't know how caught up on the rocks it was, but it was wedged deep in there. I need to free my foot as soon as possible. Smash! More cuts, more pain, starting to panic here. Calm down. Untie the leash. Smash! More cuts, more pain, adrenalin shooting coursing thru my body. I grab for the leash, but it isn't coming undone. I keep grabbing, keep pulling. Smash! Now I am really getting cut up. I look around as I am anchored to this rock in the middle of the ocean. I see people on the beach watching me, but there is nothing they can do. If they came out to try and help, they would only get hurt themselves. Smash! For some damn reason, my leash isn't coming undone. I'm pulling in both directions and nothing is happening. Smash! I'm such an idiot! Why the hell did I not wait to paddle out with someone who knew this break? I can't believe that this may be how I go. A couple weeks into my big trip and I die, anchored to a rock in South Africa thousands of miles away from home. All it was going to take was my board (which I no longer had control of) smashing into my face knocking me out, or a big wave coming in slamming me into the rock and that would be it. I would be dead. Smash! I could feel my hands and feet being torn apart from the sharp rock to which I was stuck to as I struggled to get free while at the same time keeping site of my board which now was as much as a danger to me as the rock to which I was anchored. Finally, I saw that I had survived the set that had just done a number on me, which meant I had a short amount of time before the next set of waves came in to potentially finish me off.
Calm down. Calm down. Why isn't this leash coming off? I dipped into the water a bit, felt for the leash (I couldn't feel my feet anymore) and gently pulled on it in one direction, then the next. It was off. Hallelujah! Now to get back in before the next set of waves came barreling over me. I couldn't feel either my hands or feet at this point and I only hoped that I hadn't lost a toe or finger on the sharp rocks.
When I finally got back to the beach I felt exhausted and was in total pain. I looked at both my hand and feet. All fingers and toes were still intact. Now I had to walk over the beach and thirty minutes on the street back to my hostel with shredded feet and no shoes or sandals. It was excruciating. On my way back a middle aged lady looks at my bloodied feet and says "you should have worn booties. My husband wears booties and they protect his feet from the rocks." I could have thrown my board at this moron if I was a lesser man. Thanks for pointing out the fucking obvious. That's like telling someone who is about to die from a gun wound to the chest they should have been wearing a bullet proof vest.
After a very painful walk, I finally make it back to the hostel. The staff member who was working took one look at my hands and feet and gasped. There was blood everywhere. She went and grabbed a first aid kit, and helped my clean off and dress my wounds. After cleaning it all up, I could see that all the cuts were clean and deep, and I knew they would take a long time to heal. Great. Nothing like carrying around a backpack in Africa when you have cut up feet.
Some of the guys at the hostel offered to take me out to go surfing the next day, to show me how to get out to the break, but I passed. I need my hands and feet to heal up ASAP and walking on them anywhere isn't going to help.
Next time I find myself in a foreign area, looking to take another risk into a potentially dangerous situation that I know nothing about, I'm going to use a bit more common sense and do some research. Nobody is invincible. I'm not invincible. For now though, I'm going to have beer and get some sleep.
|
Yowwwzzza!!!
I Just Did the World Record Bungee Jump
4/1/2008 6:23:00 PM - Day 15 - Storms River, South Africa
Just what the hell are the bungee operators in the front doing? I think the black dude on the left is just as confused!
I came to Storms River (read city review) for one thing, and that was to do the World Record Commercial Bungee Jump at Bloukrans, Bridge. It is the highest commercial bungee jump in the world, and there wasn't a chance in hell that I was going to miss out on that!
I left Wilderness late in the afternoon to arrive at my hostel, Dijembe Backpackers (read hostel review) in the evening. The hostel was really nice and covered a lot of area. They also had the best dinners I have had yet since leaving on my trip. I got in and after settling down, first thing I asked about was how to go about doing the Bungee Jump. Soon I was setup to go jumping the next morning.
I got to the bungee jump area in the afternoon with a couple other people from my hostel that were also jumping. Looking at the bridge, it was a little intimidating, but to be honest, I wasn't very scared. In fact, I was pretty sleepy and couldn't stop yawning. I've already bungee jumped before, so that may have had something to do with my level of excitement. You'd think I would be sweating pure adrenalin considering I was about to jump from the highest bungee jump in the world, but I could have easily curled up and taken a nap. I think a lot of the fear from bungee jumping is the fact that people are worried that their gear and harnesses are going to fail resulting in them becoming a tourist pancake on the ground below. I had no fear of that though. I knew that people do this jump all the time, and will continue to do it when I leave, and that being the case, it is as safe as can be. Once you understand that, and the fear of death or injury dissipates, jumping off a bridge doesn't seem like such a bad idea.
We were lead out to the middle of the bridge, strapped up, and jumped off one by one. Soon it was my turn. I walked up to the edge of the bridge and stared deep down below into the abyss. That was probably the best part. Standing, on the edge, with no guard rail in place to protect myself as I stared into the endless chasm below. I could have stood there for awhile enjoying the sensations of every chemical and impulse my body sent as it screamed at me to step back to relative safety. However, other people had to jump, so soon I heard the "one, two, three" and I made the leap of faith into the canyon below.
It was a nice jump. I got quite the thrill from it, and would do it again, but like a lot of things in life, nothing can compare to your first. Maybe the next time I'll have to look into base jumping.
Other than that, I am really liking things here in Storms River. The hostel is really nice, the food is great, they have a pool table, the internet connection is fast and they have a good bar. I think I'll stay here another day or two before I leave for Jeffery's Bay to do some surfing.
|