Rik and Ruth in Africa 2022

Toward the end of my trip to Africa, I found my face was hurting a little, and I couldn't think of why. Then it dawned on me, I was smiling way more than usual. I was smiling so much that my face actually hurt a tiny bit. It's still happening now that I'm home again. The animals were such a joy to see. The scenery was something out of a storybook I read as a child - background art that I never dreamed I would be a part of real life. The smells were a bit overwhelming at times; the food, the scent of the greenery around me, the elephant farting right beside the safari Jeep. But the biggest impact was from the people I met. Our guides were exceptional people, so positive and filled with positive energy, wanting so much to show me what Africa is really like.   This is Dee, our first guide with Andrew, our Kirstenbosch Gardens guide. From a distance, there seems to be a tendency to paint a large area with one brush while the area closer to us is painted with finer and finer...

After commiserating with Ruth about how our eyes have been feeling, I looked up the humidity - thinking it might be a possible cause. The humidity in Fredericton right now = 96%. The humidity here in Victoria Falls = 19%. Yips; probable cause. Our last full day in Africa. *sigh* To make full use of our last day, we slept in and then I decided to go on a hike to the Big Tree. Ruth sensibly stuck around the hotel and read. The baobab tree is about 3 km from our hut. As I set out on my journey with $27 in my pocket for emergencies and a small bottle of water, I ran into the usual characters who try to hustle you for money changing to local currency, the sculpture and craft hawkers etc.  The road had a dirt path on either side so I smartly choose to walk on the right side facing oncoming traffic. I eventually found the entrance to Victoria Falls National Park. And then Andrew showed up beside me. He started chatting me up, telling me he sold souvenir...

A bus picked us up at the hotel and then picked up 8 others and drove us as far as the Botswana border. During that drive, I saw a baboon drop from a tree, three metres to the ground. So cool. Like a cat. The border crossing to Botswana was quite an interesting experience. It looked like the place got shelled last week. There were gutted vans everywhere; it looked like a junkyard. No photos allowed. We were dropped at the Zimbabwe side of the border and when we all figured out how to get through the three customs and health department checkpoints, and wiped the mad cow disease of our footwear lol, the Botswana side of the border looked worse. Like it had been nuked. Our driver and van seemed OK though, and after about a 20 minute drive we were at Chobe National Park. We had one last toilet break here at the gate, where the toilets had no water other than that in the toilets, no toilet paper, no seat on the toilet, a malfunctioning water reservoir at the back of the toilet, ...

Guess who lined up at the open bar first for our Zambezi River sunset cruise? Then we kicked back to enjoy the drinks, scenery, and food. Oh, may I introduce Evan? In case you haven't met him. The sun was setting. The elephants were swimming ashore. Crocodiles were dozing. And the sun set even more. There were also hippos, and many other common, everyday, grazing on your backyard kinds of animals. Ruth and I got dropped off at BOMA after the cruise. It's an entertainment, dinner, drumming, dancing event place. The Zimbabwe tribes were singing and dancing. We ate caterpillars again but this time they were soft and in an onion sauce, and this time we got a certificate for eating them. A highlight for me was a djembe drum circle that included everybody in the place. It was mayhem. But a pretty good drumming lesson. Every night on this trip...

After a number of days with temperatures between 35 and 41°, a thought occurred to me. I've felt like something has been wrong with my eyes; they just feel weird. I figured out what's wrong. If there's any breeze at all, it feels like somebody has a hair dryer on the hottest setting, turns it on, and points it at your eyes. I'm just gonna shut up now and let you enjoy some photos of Victoria Falls. This bridge connects Zimbabwe and Namibia; it was built in about 1904. It was built to last 100 years, but when they examined the bridge after 100 years they recertified it for another 100 years. As long as only one car at a time crosses. After we viewed the falls from all the viewpoints, there were a bunch of schoolkids getting a class photo taken.  Ruth asked if she could take a photo of all the schoolkids. They said yes but we want you in the photo too. And then, some of the sta...

Flying on African airlines is significantly different from flying in Canada or the US or Europe. Everything is on Africa time.  The airport at Johannesburg is very nice and modern; the airport at Victoria Falls - not so much. I mean it's not a rathole, but you get a sense that everything is dodgy. You walk from the plane to the airport, the border control people are efficient but there's just a very anxious vibe.  Our flight was late boarding. They borrowed some other airline's plane, picked up some random staff hanging around the airport, and put us on a bus that took us across the tarmac to board the plane. One wing on our fastjet plane looked like it was going to shake off. The snacks on board were one size fits all; a juice box, bottled water, sour cream and onion Pringles, beef jerky with a toothpick in the package, and a crunchy Kit Kat made in Poland or somewhere. That Kit Kat didn't last five seconds. But we made it to Victoria Falls! Arrive at our h...