Joburg Day

September 14, 2013

What do you get when you combine 30,000 people, 16 South African bands, 12 hours of non-stop music, and 30+ degree-weather? You get a sold out Joburg Day; one of the biggest music events in the country, and a symbol of the freedom and youthfulness of the city of Johannesburg. A sampling of some of the artists we saw: an all-girl folky-band (Blackbyrd), an Afrikaans rapper (Jack Parow), South Africa's own Nickelback (Prime Circle), a one-man-band (Jeremy Loops), the winner of Idols South Africa (Elvis Blue), and an acapulco beat-boxer (Morgan Beatbox). A mixed bag indeed, which attracted a mixed crowd of spectators (and made for some fantastic people watching...); overall a very entertaining day! 

FOB...We're Famous

September 7, 2013

JHB Live is a website I use often to find out what's going on in the city and to read reviews of events and restaurants. When the page loaded on one of my usual perusals, it took me a minute to realize I recognized some of the faces in the cover photo. Awesome. 

And so, clearly we went to the Festival of Beer (FOB). With the arrival of spring in Joburg, it's never a bad idea to spend the day outside at a picnic table drinking beer (or cider, in my case). And even though we didn't get a chance to test out the giant beer pong, I'll still give them points just for having it.  Fun times in Jozi!

Namibia Part 7: The Salt Pan

August 29, 2013

Zebra in Etosha National Park

A trip to Nam would not be complete without a visit to Etosha National Park. At least this is what we were told, and who are we to argue with the locals? And so, Etosha made our itinerary. The name means "Great White Place of Dry Water", as there is a massive 5000 square kilometre salt pan in the middle of Etosha. One of the incredible things about Etosha is that unlike other places where you strain to see a zebra here or an elephant there, the herds are hundreds strong, and they all congregate together at the water holes (think Noah's ark, except rather than two by two they come by the dozens/hundreds). Because the environment is so dry and barren, the watering holes are the life-lines of the animals here. Here are a few of the highlights of our Etosha experience:

Black-backed jackals- these two came running from opposite directions and seem to be greeting each other as if they hadn't seen each other for awhile. 

On the off chance that you're still interested in seeing pictures of elephants after Damaraland's play-by-play... here's one in Etosha. 

One of the coolest things about Etosha is the fact that so many different types of wildlife come together at the watering holes.

 It was as though there was a stand-off between the giraffes and the elephant...then all but one of the giraffes decided to move on, leaving one the fend for himself!

Between the cover shot and this one, I couldn't decide which one I liked better (and this guy appeared to have both ears in-tact, unlike the poor soul in the cover image). 

 Making his way across the plains...it's not often that I'm able to get a clean shot of a giraffe as they are often obscured by trees and bushes, so I felt the need to share this small victory.

Playing with the late afternoon light (me, not the giraffe).

We stayed at a rest camp inside the reserve, and they have a little watering hole that visitors can sit at 24-hours a day. Visitors are not generally allowed to wander about game reserves after dark for obvious reasons, but the viewing spot here is tucked away and the animals would have to work pretty hard to get to it, so it seems they make an exception. It was a cool spot to sit and wait for whatever happened to come by...we saw several black rhinos over the course of our two days here (note the token black rhino in the photo, above), so we weren't complaining!

We cracked open a bottle of wine and watched the sun set over the watering hole...

I couldn't get enough of the Namibian skies...so many colours.

This family of white rhinos came by for a drink shortly after the sky turned black (I struggled with taking photos of moving animals in the dark...these two images are the closest I could get to clear shots).

Three spotted hyenas trying to see what they could scrounge up in the early morning.

One kazillion zebras all trying to drink from the watering hole at the same time. 

Putting my telephoto lens to the test!

Clockwise from top: the "beach" on the horizon is actually the ginormous salt pan Etosha is named after; zebra crossing; these clocks were at every rest camp and gate to the reserve, as they only allowed self-drivers into the reserve once the sun was up, and everyone had to be back out by the time the sun set; how could I not capture M and I in our ridiculous ponchos? It was a cold game drive...; watch out for pumbas; and in case we ever forget which reserve we were in....

Having a few German beers in Nam's Capital city, Windhoek (English: the Corner of Wind) before heading back to Joburg! So long Nam, it was an absolute pleasure!

Namibia Part 6: Desert Elephants

August 28, 2013

Desert elephant in Damaraland, Namibia

Somewhere, sometime, I heard about "desert elephants". I had no idea where they were or how you go about finding them, but I was intrigued. 

Although not a separate species from other savannah elephants, these elephants are special because they have actually adapted over time in order to survive in the dry arid desert conditions. They have proportionately smaller bodies and slower metabolisms, longer legs for walking great distances, and their feet appear to be larger since their legs are skinner (from all the walking) and their footpads are splayed out from spending a lot of time walking on sand. They are able to scale mountains and sand dunes in order to find water sources, and can go up to four days without drinking water. They roam freely in search of food and water, and will travel upwards of 80km a day in order to reach it. 

And low and behold, these elephants can be found in north-western Namibia. Aside from the small population of these desert-adapted elephants living in Damaraland, Namibia, there is only one other group of these elephants in the world: they live in Mali, North Africa. 

While I was extremely keen (M would say this is putting it mildly) to see these elusive and extraordinary elephants while we were in Namibia, I knew it would require a lot of luck. Luck is not something I deal well with. Big surprise, I like things that are sure-bets. But, I could not resist at least trying. And wow, am I glad we did. That moment of first laying eyes on one of these rare elephants coming through the desert's valley and watching him slumber over the dry, dusty, craggy rocks (and knowing the rest of his heard had to be close by), is not something I will soon forget (see the cover photo, above).

While the purpose is to track (and find!) these desert elephants, Damaraland is a massive desert and the elephants are not in a game reserve or a national park (they roam free in the wild). There are no boundaries or limits to where the elephants can go. As a result, the very few lodges/companies that go to the effort of tracking the elephants focus on a "nature drive" as they cannot promise elephant sightings. Even still, the scenery in the morning over the desert plains with the hills shrouded in fog was breathtaking.

Way in the back on the right, at the foothills of the red cliffs, there are two black-backed jackals. I like how well they blend into the desert despite the sharp contrast of colours.

Ostriches wandering the desert (you don't have to play Where's Waldo with this one).

The first elephant we found after almost three hours of tracking footprints (same guy as in the cover photo). Given how far into the hills the herd was, our guide was becoming concerned that we might be able to see them as it's only possible to drive so far into the cliffs.

 Part of the herd...

More of the herd: 13 of the 20 elephants in "Rosie's herd" (hint: did you spot the teeny tiny baby on the far right?). The rest of the herd was crossing on the opposite side, and we saw all 20 elephants congregate in the valley on the other side of these mountains.

This bull was basically scaling a mountain of loose shale.

Working their way over the rocky cliff; these two were among the last to make their way to the valley.

 Water is over-rated: now is as good a time as any for a dust bath.

 The soles of the feet that lead us to the herd.

This little guy is two and a half weeks old. Our guide said he saw him the day he was born, and the next day the herd was over 40km away from where he'd seen them the previous day. No wonder the gestation period of an elephant is 22 months...they need to be ready to go as soon as they're born! 

This little buddy is one month old. He's a bit more filled-out than the lil' guy in the previous photo, but both stayed very close to their mothers while we watched them (to the point of nearly tripping them a few times).

In and around Damaraland and Camp Kipwe.

 These strange rock formations are the remains of molten rock pushing up through the earth's surface. An interesting (albeit random) pit stop.

Sunset and sundowners, desert style.  

Namibia Part 5: The Skeleton Coast

August 27, 2013

Eerie, decaying shipwreck on the Skeleton Coast.

The name for the desolate stretch of Atlantic coast along the northern part of Namibia is known by Namibian Bushmen as "The Land God Made in Anger". In Portuguese, it is referred to as "the Gates of Hell" or the "Sands of Hell". And then there's the name it is most commonly known as: "The Skeleton Coast", resulting from the whale, seal and ship skeletons that litter the coast. With over 1000 shipwrecks (most of which are now eroded beyond recognition), various signs of abandoned attempts at civilisation (long-neglected mines, drilling rigs and sea ports), and not a single soul in sight, it becomes apparent how this stretch of earth earned its reputation. The area covers over two million hectares of space and is considered one of the most inhospitable places on the planet.

So, why go here? Because while it is known for its unsurpassed starkness and desolation, it is equally known for its breathtaking beauty. When we started planning our trip I was adamant that our route include this coastal drive, but as we were finalizing the plans I was actually a bit terrified of it. The isolation of it is not to be underestimated. In the end, the adventurous side of the Smiths won out (Surprisingly, M was the driving force behind this decision).

The part of the coast we drove covered approximately 380km, heading north from Swakopmund on a salt road which hugs the coast of the Atlantic Ocean in the National West Coast Recreation Area to what becomes the Skeleton Coast National Park (which stretches up to the Angola border). We then headed inland about 50km before the end of the coastal road (it eventually becomes a dead end). Thankfully, our trip was relatively uneventful (in this case, this was not a bad thing).

I found it impossible to capture it on camera (something about seeing is believing), but here is my meager attempt to share this forsaken place:

The fishing is apparently sublime in this area; there are marked fishing spots all along the coast (they are really the only signs along the coast).

The Zeila Wreck (sign-posted in the previous photo).

The Gate Keeper: a permit is required to enter the Skeleton Coast National Park, and entry must be made through this gate before a certain time otherwise you are stuck at the gates of hell on the edge of nowhere. 

The sand dunes along the northern coast are much smaller (and whitewashed by the salty seas) than their southern-Namibian counterparts in Sossusvlei.

An old shipping port that was created near a diamond mine. There was so much difficulty finding the port in the fog and so many ships running aground due to underwater sand bars that both the mine and the port were eventually abandoned as it became apparent that this environment was not conducive for either to function.

 Birds repurposing what remains of the port.

 I was attempting to capture the nothingness; with roads like this and not a single landmark on the horizon, it's easy to see how someone could lose their way on a foggy day or in a sand storm (while the day we were here was clear, this is said to be a rare occurance).

Namibia Part 4: Holidaying in Swakop

August 25, 2013

Probably the highlight of the trip for M: quad-biking the dunes

Leaving the inland desert behind we continued our Namibian adventures and headed for the Atlantic coast to the quaint and quirky town of Swakopmund, which prides itself on being the adventure capital of Namibia. Think sky diving, dune boarding, quad-biking and the like. While sky diving will have to wait for another adventure (or never, according to M), we did experience the dunes on four wheels and on our bellies (see below), and had a chance to explore Swakop and the neighbouring town of Walvis Bay. 

Drive from Sossusvlei to Swakopmund: crossing the Tropic of Capricorn

Swakopmund is Namibia's most popular holiday destination, and attracts people from all over South Africa and Germany to hang out in this chill beach town. Yes, you read that right, Germany. Germans were the first permanent settlers to Namibia back in the late nineteen hundreds (known then as "German South-West Africa"), and it was considered a German colony until South Africa took it over during WWI. Eventually the UN took over control of all former German colonies in Africa (in the mid- 1960's after WWII), and Namibia finally gained independence on March 21, 1990.  And so, the town is a little piece of Germany in Africa, and continues to hold onto its roots; it is easy to find a good German beer or a schnitzel, and the architecture of the buildings have a distinct colonial feel.  

Clockwise from top left: M chilling on the beach-front promenade; the Hohenzollern Building (built as a hotel in 1906); fully operational lighthouse built in 1902; who can resist a cute little bug?; Swakop makes its own rules when it comes to business (We experienced this when we stayed over a holiday weekend and found everything closed for the holidays. Awesome timing, Smiths).


The Jetty: originally built of wood in 1905 as a cargo and passenger landing, it was later replaced with an iron jetty as the wood could not withstand the high seas (while no longer required for commercial purposes, the town raised money to have it completed as part of a public appeal). We ate dinner at the restaurant occupying the space at the end of the pier and watched the sun set over this side of the Atlantic.

Cruising the dunes on quad bikes: definitely loads more fun than we both expected it to be 

Plummeting head first down the dunes on a piece of greased-up particleboard (in case the photos don't quite do the trick, here's the mental image: tobogganing head-first on a wooden crazy carpet on sand) 

Watching wind-surfers in the bay and stopping for lunch at The Raft in Walvis Bay

The Lagoon: this wetland on the outskirts of Walvis Bay hosts over 150,000 transient birds annually, including huge flocks of greater and lesser flamingos. The "greater" flamingos are whitish-pink in colour with light beaks with a black tip, while the "lesser" flamingos are a reddish-pink in colour, and their beaks are dark red. We saw both loitering around the lagoon just outside of town.