Leaving for Botswana
8 April, 2005
One feature of our evenings in Zambia was the
awareness that hippo or elephants could be entering the grounds. This wasn't
just of interest to us: the three dogs also were vigilant, and periodically
Ellie, the border collie, would break out barking, ears pricked, and then spring
out towards the presumed animals. At other times, Chumba, the young African
mongrel, would bark aggressively, setting the other two off, and then shirk away
if it seemed that he may actually have detected something. Occasionally, if
Ellie was especially convincing, we would get up and look around with a
spotlight in the area she indicated. We never did see elephants or hippo (even
though there is little doubt that they were about) but on the last night we saw
a bush baby, its presence initially given away from afar by shining red eyes in
the spotlight.
The name of the lodge is Liyoyelo, which means place of comfort, and as we headed away we were aware that our next few nights were to spent under canvas. We drove out of Zambia, crossing into Botswana at Kazungula. This is found at the confluence of the Zambezi and Chobe rivers, which was apt, and is a point at which four countries (the other two being Zimbabwe and Namibia) meet.
As we approached Kasane we were evidently in a different sort of place. Although most of the housing was very meagre it was predominantly block work and tin rather than mud and straw, and Kasane itself could easily be confused with towns from more developed places like Hawaii. Somehow, even more than the use of modern building materials, the presence of sealed roads seems to impose a geometry defined by a citizenry that dominates its environment, even before the roads are dense with motor traffic.
The locals in Kasane bought their stew and pap (the local word for mealy maize) at the local Spar, in much the same way that locals line up for pizza slices, sandwiches or baguettes in Spars around the world. My impression so far, in fact, is that Botswana reflects the successful Maui-ization of Africa. Its beautiful places are sensibly protected and the population has geared itself towards providing services at various levels of opulence, with the distribution skewed to the high end, for tourists with corresponding budgets. The sense of a people at one with the land has disappeared, though I'd bet that if we went to the right spot we could find San descendants employed in providing the local equivalent of a Lua (and if you can't yet you'll be able to soon).
And this is a good model, right? From Kasane we drove to a nearby lodge, this time a Hawaiian-style affair. The staff wore uniforms in a Disney-like stylisation of Being African. Thatch umbrellaed bars, turquoise lined concrete pools with running water, gift shop with soft toy versions of The Big Five and resort-logo shirts... We had lunch there (to be fair, the food was fresh and excellent) and left the (air-conditioned) Safari Experience to set up our tents on a patch of land owned by the resort further along the Chobe. Our pitch among the trees was occupied by vervet monkeys and a couple of banded mongeese when we arrived. After erecting the tents we returned to the lodge and set out on a 3 hour river cruise. It was awesome. The river itself and the surrounding plains and bushland are stunningly beautiful. From the boat we saw dozens of elephant, hippo and baboons, a couple of crocodiles, a monitor lizard and countless exotic birds. There were a few similar boats on the river doing similar cruises, and they actually looked quite picturesque. More than this, while it's sort of nice to be the only European around some places (such as Maramba market), who are we kidding? The school of travel reporting that disdains locations that others the same as us also enjoy is a con. It's good that they're making money out of sensitive exploitation of the river, and doing it so nicely.
After the cruise we met up again with Alan and went to dinner at the lodge. This was a buffet with a stand of African food alongside global fare. I had too much: warthog (delicious), kudu (tender but not as tasty), impala sausage (too gamey), lamb curry, creamed spinach, oxtail (the Botswana national dish) and, of course pap with spicy sauce.
The name of the lodge is Liyoyelo, which means place of comfort, and as we headed away we were aware that our next few nights were to spent under canvas. We drove out of Zambia, crossing into Botswana at Kazungula. This is found at the confluence of the Zambezi and Chobe rivers, which was apt, and is a point at which four countries (the other two being Zimbabwe and Namibia) meet.
As we approached Kasane we were evidently in a different sort of place. Although most of the housing was very meagre it was predominantly block work and tin rather than mud and straw, and Kasane itself could easily be confused with towns from more developed places like Hawaii. Somehow, even more than the use of modern building materials, the presence of sealed roads seems to impose a geometry defined by a citizenry that dominates its environment, even before the roads are dense with motor traffic.
The locals in Kasane bought their stew and pap (the local word for mealy maize) at the local Spar, in much the same way that locals line up for pizza slices, sandwiches or baguettes in Spars around the world. My impression so far, in fact, is that Botswana reflects the successful Maui-ization of Africa. Its beautiful places are sensibly protected and the population has geared itself towards providing services at various levels of opulence, with the distribution skewed to the high end, for tourists with corresponding budgets. The sense of a people at one with the land has disappeared, though I'd bet that if we went to the right spot we could find San descendants employed in providing the local equivalent of a Lua (and if you can't yet you'll be able to soon).
And this is a good model, right? From Kasane we drove to a nearby lodge, this time a Hawaiian-style affair. The staff wore uniforms in a Disney-like stylisation of Being African. Thatch umbrellaed bars, turquoise lined concrete pools with running water, gift shop with soft toy versions of The Big Five and resort-logo shirts... We had lunch there (to be fair, the food was fresh and excellent) and left the (air-conditioned) Safari Experience to set up our tents on a patch of land owned by the resort further along the Chobe. Our pitch among the trees was occupied by vervet monkeys and a couple of banded mongeese when we arrived. After erecting the tents we returned to the lodge and set out on a 3 hour river cruise. It was awesome. The river itself and the surrounding plains and bushland are stunningly beautiful. From the boat we saw dozens of elephant, hippo and baboons, a couple of crocodiles, a monitor lizard and countless exotic birds. There were a few similar boats on the river doing similar cruises, and they actually looked quite picturesque. More than this, while it's sort of nice to be the only European around some places (such as Maramba market), who are we kidding? The school of travel reporting that disdains locations that others the same as us also enjoy is a con. It's good that they're making money out of sensitive exploitation of the river, and doing it so nicely.
After the cruise we met up again with Alan and went to dinner at the lodge. This was a buffet with a stand of African food alongside global fare. I had too much: warthog (delicious), kudu (tender but not as tasty), impala sausage (too gamey), lamb curry, creamed spinach, oxtail (the Botswana national dish) and, of course pap with spicy sauce.
Posted: Sat - April 9, 2005 at 08:28 PM
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Published On: Feb 08, 2006 06:20 PM
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Published On: Feb 08, 2006 06:20 PM