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South of Perth

8/29/2017

 
After a couple days in Perth, Sunday morning we headed south down the coast of Western Australia  to visit the beaches and Margaret River wine country.  But, it wasn’t quite as simple as that. 
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The Perth City to Surf race was in full swing and the course ran right in front of our hotel.  All the surrounding streets were blocked off.  Bags in tow, we snaked through the runners twice before we reached a location Uber could meet us and take us to the airport to pick up our car.  Fortunately we pack so we can walk-a-mile without strain (backpack and medium sized roller bag) as that’s just how far we walked.  A voice inside my head kept playing a loop, “I’m getting too old for this.”  But I guess I’m not as we made it without difficulty.  Thank goodness for roller bags!
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Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse
​After the sketchy start on our journey , things looked up.  The rental car is large and comfortable.  Roads are excellent and traffic light.  With only an occasional reminder to stay on the correct side of the road (the left) we were off on our adventure.  Randall had downloaded maps to his phone so we could use GPS without consuming data. 

First stop:  Mandurah for brunch on the pier overlooking a beautiful harbor.  Next, a leisurely drive down the coast through karri forests with occasional glimpses of the coast.  To say that Australia has a lot of beaches is a gross understatement.  Not only do they surround the island/continent, but from what we’ve seen they are all soft sand and spectacularly beautiful.  Of course we stopped for walks on the beach and photos of the local lighthouses.
We spent our first night in a holiday park on the coast in Busselton.  Accommodations in this neck of the woods tend to be family holiday parks, much like we’d have stayed in when traveling back in the 50’s.  Most are spotlessly clean cabins which include kitchenettes and are run by very friendly and helpful locals.  If you’re looking for Hyatt or a 5-star resort, this is not the place for you.  But if you’re looking for laid back, beautiful and uncrowded beaches, great wines and lovely people, come!
​Our second day south of Perth we passed through towns with names like Yallingup, Cowaramup and Prevelly/Gnarabup.  We were torn between the natural glory of the beaches and the Margaret River wines this area is known for.  True to our philosophy of life as “and” rather than “or”, we managed to do both.  We stopped at three wineries, sampling multiple varieties including the Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon this area is so famous for.  The tasting rooms are intimate, wines fabulous and tastings free unless you want to try to “premium” stuff, which of course we did.  This is like Napa and Sonoma in the 70’s.  Well, not quite.  Wine is expensive here – the least expensive bottle we saw was $20A ($16US), but $50 - $130A was more typical.  
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Voyager Estate
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Weeuwin Estate Winery
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Xanadu Winery
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One more surprise...  Most of the world's truffles now come from Australia and are hunted by dogs rather than by pigs as has been traditional.  Of course we had to stop for a sample! Leave it to the Aussies to combine truffles and wine.

I've been thinking back to what the local said to us the first morning, "Don't tell anyone about us.  We don't need more people here."  I believe I failed meeting his request.  This is one fabulous place to visit and live.  Come check it out.  

We're staying near the Perth airport tonight. Tomorrow we're off to Darwin in northern Australia.

Victoria Falls

11/24/2016

 
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​Last stop on the main tour is Victoria Falls.  We're here during the dry season so the flow over the falls is relatively small.  You might think this would be a disadvantage, but it isn't.  When the flow is heavy, there is so much mist visitors are soaked and can't see anything.
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Lyn and Mel
We spent our first afternoon on the veranda of the iconic Victoria Falls Hotel.
Mary Ann, Byron, Karen, Randall and I selected a "Walk with the Lions" option we'd found on the internet before leaving home.  This is a lion rehabilitation and re-introduction organization.  Very young orphaned lions are raised by people until about 24 months of age, when they are released in a controlled environment where they learn to hunt and survive on their own.  They cannot be released to the wild because they have developed trust for humans.  Their offspring have no interaction with humans and once they learn to hunt from their parents they are released to the wild.
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We enjoyed our farewell dinner on the Zambezi River.
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November 2 departure date friends
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Elephants cross the river just in front of us.
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Zimbabwe

11/23/2016

 
You've heard enough about our camps and game drives.  How about a little about our cultural interactions?

While in Zimbabwe we visited a local homestead, a compound which is home to an extended family.  But before our visit, we stopped at a grocery store to buy basic foodstuffs for the family.
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Pat and Carole's cart is loaded with large bags of ground grains (oats?) which is a mainstay of the local diet.
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Byron and Mary Ann also added some extras including dried fish - a delicacy in the local diet.
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Karen, Steve and Jennifer buy the basics plus peanut butter and a few other treats.
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Loading the groceries into our van.
When we visited the family they introduced themselves, showed us their homes, offered us coffee and cookies, and told us about their lifestyles.  This extended family is proud of it's traditional culture but is ensuring their children are well educated.
We're greeted by the entire family
Basic cooking supplies - oil, salt and honey
Carole loves the baby goat.
Karen and Steve try their hands at pounding (grinding) corn.
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We're graciously thanked by the family.
We also visited a school which the Grand Circle Foundation helps to support.  There are 800+ students.  Most classes have 40+ students.  We visited a pre-school and 6th grade classrooms.  We were astonished at the level of math (geometry) the 6th graders were studying.  When we asked them what they wanted to be when they grew up, the most common response was pilot.  

​Zambia - The Country and Culture

11/22/2016

 
Zambia is a country of almost 15 million people with English as the official language and many tribal languages.  It is bordered by Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Malawi Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia. 

The earliest known inhabitants of Zambia were the San, a group of hunter-gatherers who relied on stone tools to hunt antelope and search for fruits and nuts.  Zambia was the San people’s favorite hunting ground up to the 4th century when other tribes from the north began arriving.  The new tribes were the more technologically advanced Bantu people.  As they migrated south they turned the hunting lands into farmland and the San were slowly edged out.  Decedents of the San still live in this area and are known for their unique “clicking” language, but most of the other tribal dialects are derived from the Bantu language.
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Dr. David Livingstone
The first European explorers arrived in the late 1700’s followed shortly by the first British explorer, Dr. Livingstone, of “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?” fame. 

Vast copper deposits were soon discovered and Northern Rhodesia (as Zambia was then known) was declared part of the British sphere of influence in 1888.  In 1964 the Republic of Zambia was formed as an independent country. 

​Initially Zambia was a one-party socialist country which appeared to work.  The economy improved and Zambia took a leadership role among African countries seeking independence.  But copper prices fell, government corruption became rampant and in 1991 the constitution was changed allowing for a multi-party system.  Fortunately, in the last 6 years the economy is turning around and we find Zambia to be a relatively stable and wealthy African nation.
During our “Learning and Discoveries” we learned about the local culture.   Though specifics vary from tribe to tribe, they have many things in common:  respect, close extended family, large families (many children) are valued, etc.

Being polite is very important:
  • If one is more than 6 months younger than another he/she approaches with downcast eyes and kneels when talking with the elder.
  • Similarly the wife approaches her husband and kneels before him when talking.  
  • They greet everyone in public, not just those they know.  This was confirmed by the friendliness of the people when we visited local markets.
Eye contact is unusual.  Our camp staff and guides have had cultural training to learn to be comfortable using eye contact with us.

At puberty boys and girls are taken to the boma (an outdoor enclosure in each village) for puberty rights.   (Boys are taken together separately from the girls.) 
  • Boys:  Groups of 30-100 puberty age boys have 3 months intimation.  They are circumcised and have a 6 week healing time.  They are also taught to hunt, take care of themselves, survive in the village, build a house, etc.  When they emerge after 3 months they are considered men.
  • Girls:  Similarly girls have a 4-5 weeks intimation during which they become women.  They learn to cook, do house chores, and to look after themselves, husband and children.  After this time they can no longer be “friends” with boys and are told, “Boys have long snakes between their legs and if you’re bitten, you’re dead.”

Most marriages are still arranged today.  Sometimes the families make the arrangements without conferring with the potential bride and groom, but more often today couples choose one another. 
  • Boys and girls don’t date publicly; they meet secretly so others don’t know they are getting to know one another.  That way, if it doesn’t work out girls aren’t thought to be “loose”. 
  • Once the couple decides they’d like to get married, the boy goes to his uncles (not parents) to tell them he has met someone and wants to get married.  The uncles go to the boy’s parents to tell them.  The uncles then go visit the girl’s family to propose marriage.  They present the bride’s family with two plates with money in between.  If the family opens the plates, they are accepting the proposal.  Once proposal is accepted by the family, there is negotiation of “novolo” (dowry), generally paid in cattle.
  • If the girl gets pregnant before marriage, the boy is charged “damage” in addition to the dowry.
Chitenge is a 2 meter length of colorful cloth.  Single girls wear it below their belly button, wiggling their hips when they walk.  “Unavailable” women (married or widowed and not looking) wear it above their waist and don’t wiggle their hips when they walk.  The chitenge is also used as head-wear, to carry baby on back, etc.  ​​

​Kafue National Park and Lufupa Camp

11/20/2016

 
Because we've had sporadic internet service, my blog posts are a bit behind.  I'll catch up - eventually.  Stay tuned.
Our fourth camp is the Lufupa Camp at the confluence of the Lufupa and Kafue Rivers in Kafue National Park – Zambia.
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To get from the Okavango Delta in Botswana to Kafue National Park, our home for 3 nights, we took a safari vehicle, followed by a small plane, then a van to the Zambezi River where we took a small boat-ferry to Zambia, another van to the Livingstone Airport where we boarded another small plane which took us to a dirt airstrip where we met our Kafue safari vehicles.  The entire journey took us a grueling 9 hours, but it would have taken us more than 18 hours to drive it.
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Inside view from our bush plane
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Small boat private ferry across the Zambezi
Along the way we stopped at a local village market.
Kafue is Zambia’s oldest park and is by far the largest – the second largest national park in the world and about the size of Wales.  It has been little developed until recent years and is still a raw and diverse slice of African wilderness.
The game here is less habituated to humans and safari vehicles and is therefore much harder to spot.  However, we had excellent guides who lead us to multiple antelope, countless bird species and 3 leopard sightings.
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Year old leopard
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Not our vehicle this time - lucky us!
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