Travel – Page 2 – wee little lovelys

Southeast Gauteng Trip – Part 1 of 4 (Elephant Sanctuary)

September 24, 2013

In a past blog entry we profiled the monkey sanctuary located in Hartbeespoort. That particular visit to this area was a short one and we quickly realized there was a lot to do in this town. A resort nearby had a skatepark and that roused curiosity, an elephant sanctuary promised pachyderm interactivity and a UNESCO Heritage site were both close by. The Cradle of Humankind certainly sounded scientifically intriguing. With this all summed up, we started planning an eager return trip.

Our Jo’burg doctor recommended staying on site at the elephant sanctuary as opposed to staying elsewhere. She praised her own experience doing more with the elephants as a result of sleeping there. Although it did end up nice for us, it turned out we were the ONLY guests on our specific night of stay. This meant our customary “fend for ourselves” style got overwhelmed by over eager (tip-hungry) employees. Shrugging off our keen staffers we settled into our sundowner drinks and met our guide. After a walk up some breathless hillside stairs we earned our reward; for the adults a nice view of the Magaliesberg Mountains, for the kids blowing bubbles in their water glasses through “elephant trunks” (straws). Prior to sunset we dined at a fire-lit Boma meal which was nice but the kids’ patience wore thin due to the long day so we called it a night.

We woke the next day for breakfast then onto the touted elephant activities; a brush down, a trunk-held walk around, feeding, and learning all about them. It was a fulfilling two hours albeit Claire and Rhys did scare at times due to the elephants overwhelming size. We enjoyed our time at the elephant sanctuary and we were excited for our next stop on our three day adventure…..

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Flea market enroute to The Elephant Sanctuary

Hiking to have sundowner drinks on our overcast arrival day: Dinner at the Boma:

yes – the elephant scared me. It kept moving around and these things are huge!

A scared Claire only barely lasted the ‘hand hold’ walk:Rhys hiding under our bags partially due to Claire’s response: Feeding the elephants:

Claire’s stamina held while Rhys’ waned:

My Time in Botswana

July 20, 2013

When I accepted this 6 month expatriate position with my company I knew a lot of my time would be spent in Botswana while Jimmy & the kids were in Johannesburg. My work schedule is 1 week in Johannesburg and 12 days to 2 weeks in Botswana. It doesn’t leave us much time to travel in Africa. I would love for Jimmy & the kids to come to Botswana with me as it is a beautiful and very safe country. Sadly, Visa restrictions prevent me from having any leisure time in Botswana as I am only allowed 90 days per calendar year to do business in this country.

Botswana has had the highest average economic growth rate in the world. The government runs things very well and there is no apparent corruption that I have seen. Very different from my experience in Sierra Leone! The Botswana people (Batswana) are very friendly and I see so much wildlife which is great.

The flight from Joburg to Maun, Botswana (see map below) is only over an hour. Once I arrive someone from the company meets me and we drive 3 hours on tar and sand roads to our project site which is next to the Central Kalahari Game Reserve main gate. The farmers don’t have a lot of money so they do not fence in their farms. You will find cows, horses and donkeys frequently crossing the highway. When we left Canada in March we just finished with a Canadian winter only to arrive in Africa for their winter. It isn’t nearly as cold and the sunshine most days which is fantastic. It is however very cold and night and in the mornings. Our camp has generators which shut off at night so you wake up very cold and have to wear tonnes of layers.

Many locals are employed on this project. I was brought out for a 6 month term to complete some geological 3D modelling and to train a local geologist to run the software that I use for this modelling. Also, to assist with the management of the drilling and anything else they need me to do. I work with a great group of people and everyone works very hard to push this Copper-Silver project forward to a successful mining operation.

Here are some photos from my time in Botswana:

The village of Somelo- Donkey carts are a popular form of travel for villagers:

A lady from the Herero tribe – In the 16th and 17th centuries this Bantu group migrated from the Zambezi River Valley to Namibia. The women cover themselves from neck to ankle in a Victorian style dress and a large hat in the shape of a cow’s horn. Someone told me that the more cattle they own the horns on the hat are longer. The fashion comes from contact with the German missionaries at that time.

To get from Maun to our project site we have to cross a veterinary fence that bisects Botswana. You have to take all our shoes and press them into a mat soaked with disinfectant and drive through a dip or wait to have our tires sprayed. The fence was put in place to stop foot and mouth disease. If Botswana wanted to sell their beef to the EU they had to install this fence. It has had a huge effect of migratory animals.

A great book to read on this area of Botswana is: The Cry of the Kalahari by Mark James Owens and Cordelia Dykes Owens.

The sand road heading towards our camp – a very bumpy ride:

Hana Main Camp:

Our offices at site:

Typical 4×4 vehicle we drive in the Kalahari to get to drill rigs, into town etc:

Sighting a new drilling site:

Drillers setting up their rig:Our core storage area:Drilling for water:

African sunsets are gorgeous and the local geologist who I am training told me he found it funny how anyone from North America or the UK always stop to comment and take photos of every sunset.

Animal tracks. I believe it includes a giraffe print and a jackal:

Social weaver birds nests:

Thamalakane River in Maun:

Jaci’s Tree Lodge- Madikwe Game Reserve

June 30, 2013

When most people think of Africa they think of the vast wildlife and the impressive safaris. It isn’t everyday that someone has the opportunity to experience African wildlife, so we budgeted on doing so. We decided to do a luxury safari rather than a self-drive type as we have never been on a real family vacation and it has been challenging living here in Africa with all my work rotations to Botswana etc. We deserved a well earned break. After searching for child friendly lodges we decided to do a safari in the Madikwe Game Reserve which is a 4 hour drive from Johannesburg and is located in the North West province of South Africa where it borders Botswana to the North. It is a malaria-free reserve so it makes it a great kid-friendly choice.

We found the perfect place, Jaci’s Tree Lodge. They gave a us a stellar deal for two nights as it is Winter in South Africa and not the high-season for them. The lodge was built into the trees which was very fun for the kids and Jimmy (it reminded him of the Ewok Village in Star Wars). The staff were great and attentive. They were so good to the kids. It did get cold in the evenings and the lodge was mostly open air so we stayed cozy with lots of layers and hot water bottles. The food was very yummy and very English with tea service and brunch rather than lunch. I suppose it reflects back to British Colonial times.

Day 1- Arrival:

We had a very slow start to our departure from Johannesburg- our vehicle battery was dead after we loaded in the luggage and the kids into their car seats. My companies CEO lent us his company SUV and we left it sitting in our parking garage for a month without starting it. Oops. That was frustrating for us but we managed to get going and after a long four hour drive we arrived in time for the first night safari drive. Seeing as Jimmy rarely has time to himself while we are here in South Africa I was happy for him to go solo on the first drive (as kids are not allowed on the 3 hour safari drives so I stayed back with the kids). He had enough time to unload the SUV and give us quick hugs and kisses. This left the kids & I plenty of time to wonder the trails and check out the lodge. We met Jimmy for a late dinner where he told us his stories from his drive and showed us the amazing photos he captured. We made plans for the next days early morning game drive which was to start at 6:30am. We all fell asleep that night to the sound of crickets, monkeys and other animals that lived around our tree house.

A Jackal takes a cautious drink:

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Day 2:

The safari guide woke us up the next morning with a light tap on our door. While the kids slept Jimmy was able to make it to the lodge to make some coffee and bring it back to the room for me and snacks for the kids before he departed on his morning safari drive. The amount of animals he saw during his drive was really great. They had a mid-way rest stop at some caves where they enjoyed coffee outside. We met for a late brunch which was so nice. They hosted us on the large patio that had stairs leading down to some trails. Brunch was a long affair so the kids were able to go down the steps and safely play while we sipped coffee- bliss! Our safari guide informed us that the kids jungle drive that we booked wasn’t necessary as we would be the only guests for the afternoon game drive so they would allow us to bring the kids along. Yay! Rather than a 45 minute kids jungle drive we would be able to experience a 3 hour drive with the kids. Lucky us! After brunch we visited the amenities at the lodge- a pool and a look-out over a water hole. We headed back to our room for an outside showers and a little nap before we had to depart on the game drive. The evening drive was great. We saw a herd of elephants!, zebras, lions, kudu, impala, giraffes, etc. The kids did wonderful even though the ride was very bumpy. Half-way through the drive we had a rest stop with drinks and snacks which recharged Claire & Rhys for the rest of the drive. On our way back to the lodge for dinner Rhys fell asleep in my arms. The had such a great day 🙂 Dinner was yummy yet again and our safari guide joined us this time so we were able to ask her plenty of questions. A perfect day.

C/W: Lilac-Breasted Roller, Crested Barbet, Red-billed Hornbill & Southern Carmine Bee-eater:

Claire asked us to take a photo of her here so she could ‘remember it forever’:

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Day 3- Departure:

On our last day at the lodge we woke up early again but this time with the kids in tow. We dressed in several layers as it is freezing in the early morning before the sun comes out. It was just our family again in the game drive vehicle as we drove to the southern portion of the park. Our mission was to find some Rhinos. Jimmy saw two on his first game drive but I have never seen one in the wild so I was excited. We didn’t see a lot of animals prior to our mid-drive break. It was so nice to get out of the safari vehicle and run around with the kids, have some coffee & hot cocoa. It re-energized us all and the sun was out so it started to warm up. Shortly after our break we located a Rhino! I was so excited. After watching it graze for a long time we headed back to the lodge. Claire & Rhys both fell asleep in our arms and Jimmy & I soaked up the sun and marveled at how great this trip was for our family. We had a nice brunch when we arrived back to the lodge and packed up our SUV for the long ride home.

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The trip was amazing and one we will never forget 🙂