Saturday, December 31, 2005

2006!

Lieve allemaal,
We wensen jullie een prettige jaarwisseling en een Gelukkig en Gezond Nieuwjaar.
Op 15 januari rond 12.00 landen wij weer in Amsterdam en hebben dan het hele jaar om weer bij te kletsen.
Liefs, Charles en Fred

Dear all,
We wish you a wonderful New Years Eve. Have a Good and Healthy 2006.
On January the 15th, around 12 o'clock we will be back in Amsterdam. So enough time to catch up with everybody.
love, Charles and Fred

Liebe Freunde,
Wir wunschen euch alle ein guter Silvesterabend und ein Guttes und Gesundes 2006.
Ab 15. Januar sind wir wieder in Amsterdam. Dann haben wir wieder Zeit fur einander.
Liebe Grusse von Charles und Fred

Cari amici,
Sinceri auguri per un felice buon anno!
Torniamo ad Amsterdam 15 gannaio e proviamo fare il tempo per tutti.
Saluti, Fred e Charles

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Friday, December 30, 2005

'zwart-wit/wit-zwart of gewoon gekleurd?'


Robben Island Museum
Originally uploaded by CharlesFred.

We zijn nu twee weken in Zuid Afrika. Van Kaapstad zijn we per bus naar Durban gereisd. In Durban hebben we een auto gehuurd en we zijn nu in Eshowe.
'The George' is een hotel annex backpackers hostel. Het gebied doet erg Engels aan en de meeste blanken spreken hier danook Engels in plaats van Afrikaans.
Gisteravond zijn we voor het eten in de bar van 'the George' beland. We hadden afgesproken met de eigenaar dat we vandaag een toer zouden gaan maken en dat we 's avonds een dansvoorstelling zouden gaan bijwonen. Terwijl we aan de bar stonden te kletsen, kwamen we in gesprek met Gary. Deze Brit woont sinds een aantal maanden in Zuid Afrika. Hij runt hier, naar eigen zeggen een aantal hotels. Uit het gesprek werd al snel duidelijk dat hij, en helaas niet alleen hij, van mening is dat het land naar de haaien gaat. De zwarten kunnen niks en de blanken worden gediscrimineerd en infeite weggejaagd. Een goed woord voor de regering had hij niet. En de veiligheid liet hier ook zwaar te wensen over. Dat verklaard het feit dat hij een pistool in zijn broekzak had en die ongevraagd op de bar legde om mee te showen.
Na het eten naar onze dansvoorstelling gegaan. Een half uur Zuludans in een soort van 'Disneyland achtige' dorp. De dans was goed.
Na de dansvoorstelling terug naar het hotel. In de bar wat staan te kletsen met de , voornamelijk blanke 'locals'. Al snel weer het verhaal over de veiligheid en het feit dat het land naar de haaien gaat. Ja en als Boer moet je jezelf verdedigen tegen dat criminele tuig. Dus het dragen van een wapen is een noodzaak.
Vanmorgen met Victor, een Zulu gids op pad geweest. Het eerste deel van de toer bestond uit een rondleiding door de stad. Hij vertelde ons van alles over de apartheid en de beperkingen die dat opleverde. Zo mochten zwarten 's avonds na acht uur niet meer in de stad komen etc, etc. Daarnaast vertelde hij dat werkloosheid het probleem bij uitstek is en dat de regering niets doet behalve corrupt te zijn.
Na de stadswandeling zijn we naar een Zuludorp geweest dat er weinig rooskleurig uitzag. Onderweg vertelde Victor en de chauffeur dat er nu sprake was van een omgekeerde apartheid. De blanken worden weggepest ten gunste van de zwarten. De regering doet haar best om gezonde boederijen te verpesten en ze aan zwarten te geven. Merkwaardig om deze woorden uit de mond van een zwarte gids te horen. Maar misschien is het wel politiek. De ANC heeft een absolute meerderheid en andere partijen zoals de Inkahata-beweging die hier erg sterk is, hebben weinig kans.
Vanmiddag met Victor naar een ceremonie geweest. Het dorp vierde het feit dat een jonge vrouw haar volwasheid heeft bereikt. De familie van de vrouw in kwestie ontving iedereen met dans en gezang. Ondertussen komen ze dansend naar je toe en prikken een speer voor je voeten in de grond. De bedoeling is dat je de speer terug brengt en geld in het haar van de vrouw met een veiligheidspeld vastmaakt. Dit duurt een aantal uren zodat ze een redelijk kapitaal bijelkaar hebben vergaard. Ondertussen kwam de familie van haar vriendje aan. Ook zij brengen geschenken en geld en delen het traditionele bier met de gasten. Het geheel is een bonte mengeling van mensen in traditionele, met gekleurde kralen outfits en mensen in westerse kleding. Iedereen danst en zingt. Aan het eind van de ceremonie beginnen de mannen te dansen en op hun schilden te slaan. Ze tonen hun kracht, moed en hun rijkdom om een van de dames te imponeren. Kortom een rijke traditie om elkaar te leren kennen.

Na de ceremonie weer terug naar het hotel. Aan de bar wat staan te kletsen met een van de serveersters. Zij vertelde dat deveranderingen in Zuid Afrika erg langzaam gaan maar toch was zij optimistisch. Eindelijk een positief gezicht.

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I like the way you move


Twins (d)Urban
Originally uploaded by CharlesFred.

Do you know this song? It is used to advertise Vodacom over here - a good song and a great advert - we are not sure who sings it - maybe Body Rockers (?). (We also like the Gimme Gimme Gimme Madonna song, but not the "I am so lonely" song, which has followed us around since Lebanon!)

Well, we have been seeing some moves here.

Last night a floor show at Shakaland (sounds horrible but was in fact not-bad-at-all) and today at the Coming of Age Bring-Me-A-Present party/celebration on a grassy hillside in the sunshine.

Lots of young girls/maidens bare-breasted, old women, fierce men with sticks and shields, young guys running scared of the big girls, ceremonies, dancing, calling, singing, drumming, mock fighting.... all because a girl became 21. The main activity of this ceremony was a half-circle of maidens singing, with four bringing a spear and setting this spear at the foot of a man in the audience, who then is supposed to pin money on the girl's headdress.... the ceremony lasted a long time and much money was collected. At the end the paths were ful of young lads with their sticks and spears looking forward to some stick fighting, sharing some local beer and meeting a maiden! It was at this time that we unfortunately had to leave....

Further, looked at Zulu town life and village life in the company of Victor. He had interestinmg political views, being a Zulu, not being so keen on the ANC... but these are stories for another day.

But just briefly, we remarked on how many funeral service providers there were in the small-ish city of Eshowe... and we were told there were in fact 23, with a concentration just outside the hospital. Apparently, business is so cut-throat that nurses are bribed to send bodies to one funeral company rather than another. Not as bad as another town where it is claimed that people were being murdered on the streets at night and having their bodies removed to one funeral company or another... until the locals got fed up and stoned all the offices in town, such that they have now all been closed down, with the local council now taking over.

OK, now we are in St Lucia, on our way up to Hluhluwe, where at Isinkwe Backpackers we should find a pool, some comfortable beds and a New Year's barbecue. It is swelteringly hot here now, amazing how quickly things can change. Hope it is not TOO cold where you are and have a great New Year's celebration.

(Fred and my e-mails are not working properly for some reason these last few days.. something to do with cookies, apparently).

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Thursday, December 29, 2005

Grey and misty mountains


Counting in Roman numerals
Originally uploaded by CharlesFred.
XVII days to go and we have hit some rain... it rained all last night, brightened up a bit this morning and has been drizzling all day. It is cool too, so a reminder of English sumer holidays! (So, not SO warm, Howard!)

Managed to get our hands on a (small) car - a red Kia - and set off up the M2 towards Zululand. A great road, with pay tolls every so often and very little traffic, travelling through a landscape of green rolling hills, planted mainly with young sugar cane, punctuated every now and then with a grove of eucalyptus trees or a village of rondavels (round huts).

We left the road to have a look at Eshowe as we heard there were to be some Zulu ceremonies in the area in the new year and also to maybe have a look at the Eshowe Forest, where 300 + species of birds have been found, before continuing our journey further north to Hluhluwe, near the big game reserves. As we climbed the hills, the clouds thickened and the rain intensified and it became cool, so not so inviting, after all.

As it happens, we have decided to stay here and go to a Coming of Age ceremony tomorrow afternoon, after aa early morning walk around the forest with binoculars and birdbok in hand, weather permitting.

We visited the local museum here showing a vast collection of Zulu baskets, from traditional to modern and indeed it was here that a Norwegian missionary encouraged the locals to develop their basket designs to appeal to a Western market, encouraging them to discover methods for colouring the materials using natural dyes and developing new designs. The results are wonderful and although the bigger ones become quite pricey, we hope to be able to find one we like for back home... our first major bit of craft disease the whole journey!

Lunch was again delicious - quiche with a fresh salad and raspberry meringue with ice cream. Mmmmmm.....

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Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Durbs-by-the sea


Zulu baskets
Originally uploaded by CharlesFred.
Had a great day in Durbie-Durban. A big city. A black city, also a bit Indian and white, but mostly black, especially the centre. A little similar to many many places, but mainly a typical Indian Ocean port city, albeit ringed by beautiful suburbs perched on hills with lovely views of the ocean.

We walked around all day and took a pile of photos, now uploaded onto flickr. First we walked down the hill here in Berea for a delicious breakfast of sweetcorn fritters, roasted cherry tomatoes and fried mushrooms, before continuing past the Botanical Gardens into the inner city - some pretty horrible flats, but soon streets bustling with activity - shops and stalls selling clothes, clothes and more clothes, spices, curios, fruit and vegetables (lots of red and green mangoes and bright green apples), along to Victoria market, avoiding the fish market because of the smell, through some Islamic arcades to the business centre (many cheap loans advertised mainly in yellow), down to the docks, the maritime museum, the Bat Arts centre for a lunch of bunny chow (chicken curry served in a loaf of bread) and a walk around the artists' studios and very interesting shop selling Zulu baskets (as in the photo), then through a rough district of brothels and allday, all night drinking bars and along to North Beach, just as the clouds started thickening up and getting wet! A great sight to see... many swimming pools on the promenade, funfairs and the like, all full of locals enjoying their summer holidays.

Tomorrow, we take a car up to Zululand, for game drives, St Lucia Wetlands, Zululand villages, Zulu Battlefields, hoping for decent weather.. was great yesterday when we arrived, got a bit cloudy and wet this afternoon... that same system which caught up wiuth us from Zanzibar to Zambia.

Off to Morningside again this evening... beautiful colonial architecture (think Tinbridge Wells meets Kuala Lumpur), treandy bars and a heavenly Italian restaurant, Spiga d'Oro!

Confirmed our flight back is Sunday 15th January, which gives us about 17 days still to enjoy this wonderful country.

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'Van Kaapse Kerst tot Zulu Nieuwjaar'


Op dit moment zijn we in Durban. Vorige week woensdag zijn we 's morgens vroeg uit Tsumeb, Namibie vertrokken om de Intercape bus naar Kaapstad te nemen. Tijdens deze gezellige reis kwamen we oude bekenden, Andy en Fiona, tegen. De reis verliep redelijk zonder problemen en midden in de nacht bereikten we de Zuid Afrikaanse grens. We waren niet de enige bus vol met toeristen maar helaas was de dame van de douana wel de enige achter de balie.. kortom het duurde even.
's Morgens reden we door het prachtige landschap met uitgestrekte wijngaarden en prachtige oude boerderijen. En 's middags waren we eindelijk in Kaapstad.
Kaapstad is een prachtige stad met talrijke historische gebouwen. Bijzonder mooi is het gebied rondom de 'compagnie-tuin'. Dit was het bestuurlijk gebied van eerst de Hollanders en later van de Britten. Naast de prachtige gebouwen is natuurlijk de Tafelberg een bezoekje waard. Maar helaas is het daar niet van gekomen om dat die dag het gebied afgesloten was i.vm. een enorme brand.
Ons hotel was de Big Blue en werd voornamelijk door de geweldige Chantal en Nickey gerund. Helaas was het vol en we haddden nog de mazzel dat we een kamer konden krigen maar we moesten we elke dag verhuizen... en met Kerst sliepen we in de dorm oftewel de slaapzaal.
Kerst gevierd met een club mensen voornamelijk uit Nederland en Engeland. De eigenaar en zijn vrouw hadden een perfecte lunch gemaakt. Iedereen zat gezellig te eten rondom de bar of het zwembadje. 's Avonds uitgeweest met als gevolg dat Tweede Kerstdag niet bestond... sorry Nelson ik ga volgende keer wel.
's Avonds weer op weg en dit keer naar Durban. De 'Indiase' havenstad. De reis duurde veel langer en we zaten zo'n 24 uur in een warme bus met om ons heen boerende Boeren. Ik moet misschien toch maar een liefdadigheidsorganisatie omtrent tafelmanieren opzetten. 'The H. Buckett Tablemanners Foundation' lijkt me wel wat.
Toch was de reis wederom prachtig en vanuit de bus zagen we tal van mooie landschappen aan ons voorbij trekken.
Durban is anders dan Kaapstad. Vele gebouwen zijn door de Britten en door de Indiers gebouwd. De meeste gebouwen zijn uit de jaren dertig en je hebt hier prachtige voorbeelden van o.a. 'art deco' . De stad is gevaarlijker. Veelal zijn de winkels voorzien van prikkeldraad en veiligheidsfunctionarissen. Ook in ons hotel hangt een waarschuwing omtrent welke gebieden we niet moeten komen na zonsondergang.
Ons backpackershotel, The Hippo Hide' ligt ver buiten het centrum en is een oase van rust. Eigenlijk ligt het in een buitenwijk van Durban met weinig tot geen problemen. We slapen in een soort van hutje/schuurtje. Het hotel heeft een zwembadje waar wij als echte hippos' even kunnen afkoelen.
Gisteravond uit eten geweest met John en Harriet in een trendy en zeer populaire Italiaan.
Vandaag voornamelijk de stad bekeken en wat in het havengebied rond gelopen. Daarnaast onze vlucht geregeld. We vliegen nu definitief op de 15e januari en dus niet op de twaalfde.
Vanaf morgen hebben we een auto en gaan dan lekker de laatste twee weken rond Zuid Afrika rijden en hopen ergen in het Zulugebied Oud en Nieuw te vieren. Daarna, rondom de 11e weer terug naar onze geleifde Kaapstad.

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Tuesday, December 27, 2005

Rolling green fields and devil music


Smoke
Originally uploaded by CharlesFred.

Our last long bas ride, hopefully. 24 hours from Cape Town to Durban.

Fred bravely managed to get the first row seats upstairs, the same seats as we had had down from Windhoek last week. We should have noticed something was wrong as it was much hotter there than anywhere lese on the bus. We thought it might cool down when the bus left and started blowing wind into the compartment, but no. It cooled down during the night but all day we have been baking, roasting and boiled!

Trouble as well when a family with a young child sat down behind us. A very strange family who made very strange noises, like belching, sniffling, coughing a bronchital kind of cough, eating very noisily.... and teh chiuld sounded more like a monster than a child every time he cried.. and he cried often.

Still, we are now at a fab place in Durban - the Hippo Hide - and have a had a cooling and relaxing dip in the pool, so can forget about the trauma of the journey.

Apart from that we went through soem spectacular as well as boring countryside. High and old mountains rearing up from the high plateau, green rolling fields, mostly empty but sometimes with horses and cattle (no sheep, goats or donkeys, for a change). The photo was taken yesterday evening whne the sky was filled with smoke, as farmers were burning the stubble in their fields (at least that was what we thought it was).

Fleetwood Mac came on the radio... surprising as they are seen in these parts to to play the devil's music. Too much white American/English pop music on the radio. Never enough African music, although we were entertained twice in Cape Town by black African singers, and as some of you might know I very much like African music. So joyous, uplifting, infectious.

Apart from that we entered Hobbiton jst before we descended from the hills to Pietermaritzberg. Exactly the same grassy hills, dotted with trees and just the right type of green to match the opening scenes of the film.
Apparently, there is a place called Hogsback, not too far away, which Tolkien actually visited and is said to have inspired Rivendell.. we will see!).

I spent most of my waking hours reading the first halfd of Nelson Mandela's Long Walk to Freedom. Fascinating to be travelling on the same roads and the same places as he did maybe 50-40 years ago. Apparently he stayed a few weeks in a house in Berea here in Durban, the very district we are in.. so it will be interesting to see if we can find that place tomorrow.

Piermaritzberg looked surprisingly like Basingstoke, only in bright sunshine and a lot smarter.

Durban on the coast is a big city, with a mixture of architectural styles. First impressions a (little) bit like Buenos Aires. There are beaches and mosques, hindu temples, colourful markets and some good places to eat, which is where we go now...

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Trip to Robben Island

Boxing Day started off for just one of us with a trip to Robben Island. (The Christmas chardonnay must have gotten to the other one!)

A bright beautiful day, with plenty of crowds down by the Victoria and Albert Waterfront, some to see some ocean racing by the yachts taking part in the Volvo RTW Challenge. Many just out enjoying the sunshine and the hustle and bustle of the place.

Robben Island is a very popular destination for local and foreihn tourists alike and there are many catamarans leaving for the well-organised tour of this monument to politics gone wrong. It started off as a penal colony in the times of the Dutch, taken over by the English and latterly by the racist apartheid Afrikaners of the(now thankfully deceased) National Party. It represents so much to the epople here of South Africa as almost all the leaders of teh movements which eventually gave them freedom from the terrors of white-man rule were at some time, and many for a long time, imprisoned here in terrible (and racist) conditions.

We were shown around the main prison site by an ex-detainee who told personal stories of his suffering. Very touching it was. I took many photos of people listening to THEIR history. Also moving to see.

Of course, we all wanted to see where Nelson Mandela and the other main leaders were incercerated, but there were lots of people and we didn't have too much time.

It is also a nature reserve with many mnay sea birds including a large colony of penguins, cormorants and sacred ibises, as well as gannets mastering the skies.

The views across to Table Mountian and Cape Town beneath it were spectacular. How strange for the in-mates to be so near and so far away from their country.

It would be nice to think that places like Robben Island are a thing of the past as we can all agree how bad and degrading they are. So it is quite saddening to hear the so-called leader of the world - the US government, try to justify torture, imprisonment without charge or trial and the existence of degrading camps in Iraq, Guatanemo Bay and who-knows-where in Europe? What a price they are paying for their war on terrorism in terms of using methods which do not belong in a civilised society. Who was it who said that one should judge society not by how it treats its richest citizens but its pooorest?

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Monday, December 26, 2005

Christmas in Cape Town


Boys in Berbera
Originally uploaded by CharlesFred.
We hope you all had a great Christmas and are still enjoying the festivities.

We gave ourslevs a bit of a holiday from the blog, but came on just to say we are taking the 22 hour bus (the train was fully booked in all but 3rd class) to Durban this afternoon.On Thursday we pick up a car which we keep for the rest of our stay. We intend to visit KwaZulu Natal, Xhosaland, the Garden Route and back to Cape Town, a truly beautiful city, certainly when the sun is shining.

We have been staying at a great backpackers lodge, namely the Big Blue, slept in four beds in four nights, each very very comfortable. The owner spit roasted a lamb and barbecued some chicken kebabs for the uests on Christmas Daty, so we ended up having alovely time by the pool with some new friends namely Richard plus GF from Halifax, Craig and Tracey from Shefield, Lyndsay from T Wells, Remco and Rose from The Hague and Ali from the US.

Cape Town was burning on Christmas Eve in the strong hot winds. Our trip to Robben Island was cancelled, so we just went to see King Kong... a good but slightly silly film, with some shocking portrayals of black people as primitive and savage.... very 1930's. Still a good moral showing how man's greed and technological progress destroys what is good in the world.

In a rush.. more from Durban in a couple of days time.

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Tuesday, December 20, 2005

It's Christmas!


It's Christmas!
Originally uploaded by CharlesFred.
Dear friends and followers of the blog,

Strange as it may seem to us, burning under the hot African sun, just above the Tropic of Capricorn as we reach the summer soltice, it is almost Christmas, so we would like to wish you much joy and merriment at Christmas and all the best of health and happiness in the New Year for you, your friends and your families.
Thank you for following our blog. We are sorry we have not been in touch with you all individually and have not sent any Christmas cards (we will instead make a donation to the Edna Adan Hospital in Hargeisa, Somaliland) but we will do our best to catch up on our return to Amsterdam in the New Year.

Love, Fred and Charles


Lieve vrienden,

Een ‘witte Kerst’ heeft waarschijnlijk hier in Namibie en Zuid Afrika een andere betekenis dan in Nederland. Wij wensen jullie allemaal Prettige Kerstdagen en een Gelukkig Nieuwjaar. Zoals jullie gemerkt hebben, is er geen enkele kerstkaart van ons op jullie deurmat gevallen dit jaar. Vandaar deze collectieve Kerstwens. Het uitgespaarde geld gaat naar ‘Edna Adan Hospital’ in Hargeisa, Somaliland

Liefs, Charles en Fred

Liebe Freunde,

Heisse Weihnachten fur uns dieses Jahr. Kein Schnee aber 35 Grad. Wir wunschen alle ein Frohes Weihnachten und ein Guttes Neujahr.

Grusse, Charles und Fred

Cari amici,

Vi salutiamo e vi auguremo un buon natale e un buon anno nuovo.

Saluti, Fred e Charles

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‘Warme dagen voor Kerst’


Married, unmarried and boy
Originally uploaded by CharlesFred.
Terwijl het morgen voor jullie de kortste dag is, hebben wij de langste. Jullie hebben alvast de donkere dagen voor Kerst en hopelijk inclusief wat kou en misschien zelfs wat sneeuw. Wij puffen omdat het hier ‘s morgens rond acht uur al zo’n 28 graden is en het kwik verder oploopt tot zo’n graad of 38. De Kerststemming zit er bij ons danook nog niet echt in.
Gelukkig hebben Charles en Monica, de eigenaresse van Mousebird, een kerstboom opgezet en hangen hier en daar wat kerstversieringen. Voor mij mag het allemaal niet baten... ik heb meer een zomervakantie gevoel met het ideee dat ik over een week of vier weer moet werken.. Dat laatste is het enige dat klopt!

De laatste dertien dagen zijn we onderweg geweest. Nadat Nigel en Tomo ons in Tsumeb hebben afgezet, hebben we drie tochten gemaakt.

De eerste tocht met Jannie, de Namibier van Duits-Nederlandse afkomst ging door het woestijn en semiwoestijngebied van Koako. Zes dagen lang hebben we de prachtigste dieren gezien. Daar ik geen expert ben op het gebied van flora en fauna, zal ik jullie niet vermoeien met de namen van al die schepsels.

Onderweg hebben we een bezoek gebracht aan een dorp van de Himba-people. Deze mensen leven van hun koeien en geiten. Vee is erg belangrijk en speelt danook een grote rol in hun dagelijks en spiritueel leven. De vrouwen van de Himba’s maken zichzelf mooi met een combi van een rode kleurstof en boter. Deze kleurstofmengsel wordt aangebracht over het hele lichaam en blijft daar zo’n vijf maanden. Men wast het niet af met water maar met een speciale mix van water en een boomblad.

De meiden en jongens trouwen al vroeg. Rond hun negende! De ouders zoeken de bruid uit, dan gaat men trouwen maar de dame in kwestie gaat weer terug naar haar ouderlijk huis en blijft daar totdat ze volwassen is (oftewel haar eerste menstruatie heeft).
Mannen en vrouwen hebben gescheiden huizen en de man nodigt een van zijn vrouwen uit voor de nacht. De jongens dragen een speciaal kapsel dat lijkt op een plate hanekam. Om het stofvrij te houden hebben ze er een lapje omheen gemaakt.

De kleurenmengsels zijn erg belangrijk voor de Himba’s. Vele vrouwen zijn danook bezig me het malen van een rode steen om zo het poeder te verkrijgen. Het mensgsel wordt bewaard ion een speciale koker. Deze koker bestaat uit twee delen en in het tweede deel zit een soort van parfum. Dit parfum wordt gemaakt van boomschors en boter. Getrouwde vrouwen gebruiken dit en smeren het in een dikke laag meestal rondom hun nek.
De kleding van de Himbavrouwen bestaat uit een leren rokje, gemaakt van koeienleer en veel sieraden. Men draagt geen topje. Aan de haardracht kan men zien of de vrouw getrouwd is, ze dragen hun rood gemaakte haren opgestoken met behulp van een soort van leren kapje. De kleding en de haren zijn natuurlijik ook rood.
Door het gebruik van deze rode kleurstof, is eigenlijk alles in het dorp rood. De sieraden die gemaakt zijn van ijzer krijgen na een tijdje dezelfde rode kleur als de rokjes en de huid. Ook de mannen dragen een soort van kilt maar deze is gemaakt van stof en is niet roodgekleurd.

De Himba’s houden vast aan hun eigen tradities en geloof. Voorvaderverering is erg belangrijk. Elke avond wordt het heilige vuur aangestoken om contact met de gestorven voorouders te vergemakkelijken. Het dorp wordt gerund door een stamhoofd, meestal altijd een man. Als de stamhoofd sterft dan wordt hij begraven in een leren vel. Zijn naasten slachten eerst een koe en prepareren de huid waarin hij wordt begraven. Z|ijn weduwe (de eerste vrouw) mag een jaar lang niet uit haar hut komen en wordt dan verzorgd door de rest van het dorp. Het huis van de leider wordt kapot gemaakt. De mannen van het dorp kiezen een nieuwe leider en bouwen een nieuw huis voor hem. Ons dorp had geen hoofd meer en als interim was de eerste vrouw van het stamhoofd aangewezen totdat er een geschikte mannelijke kandidaat gevonden is.

De Himba’s bewaren hun spullen, veelal een soort van zure melk, boter en mais in opslag hutje die dichtgestreken zijn met een cominatie van modder en mest. Het vee is ‘s nacht in de kraal. Vrouwen die menstrueren mogen niet in de buurt van de kraal of het heilige vuur komen. Ze worden verwezen naar speciale hutten en mogen zich gedurende die periode niet bezighouden met berieden van melk, boter en ander eten.

Na ons bezoek aan de Himba’s reden we door het gebied van de Herero’s. De vrouwen van de Herero’s dragen lange, 19e eeuwse jurken en kleurige grote hoofddeksels. De jurken zijn een kopie van de jurken van de vrouwen van Duitse zendelingen die hier in de 19de eeuw het geloof kwamen brengen. Men gebruikt zo’n 12 meter stof voor het maken van zo’n jurk. Ze deden mij heel erg denken aan een bepaalde Surinaamse dracht en aan beelden uit de film ‘Gone with the wind’.

De Herero’s zijn in 1904-1905 in opstand gekomen tegen de Duitse koloniale overheersers. Op grote schaal hebben de overheersers deze mensen bewust de woestijn in gejaagd waar duizenden van hun zijn omgekomen. Men spreekt danook van een ware genocide. Op dit moment zijn er besprekingen tussen Duitsland en Namibie over een vorm van ‘wiedergutmachung’.

Terug gekomen in Tsumeb en na een dagje uitgerust te hebben, zijn we met Dirk, de eigenaar van ‘Mousebird’ op een ‘bushmenland tour’ geweest.
De San (‘Bosjesmensen’) zijn de oudste bewoners van dit gebied en men denkt de oudste van Afrika. Vrijzeker stammen we allemaal af van deze San. De San zien er anders uit dan de rest van de bevolking. Ze zijn lichter van huidskleur en ze zijn veel kleiner. De San zijn jager-verzamelaars. Helaas staat hun cultuur steeds meer onder druk. Ze leven niet alleen in Namibie maar ook in Zuid Afrika en Botswana. Maar veelal vinden regeringen het vervelend dat een deel van hun bevolking als nomaden rondtrekken. Dus worden er ook tal van zaken voor hun verboden, hierdoor wordt het steeds moeilijker om hun cultuur en tradities in stand te houden. Een van de dingen die verboden zijn, is het jagen. Dat is toch wel belangrijk voor een jager-verzamelaar cultuur! Daarnaast geeft men steeds meer gebied aan stammen die leven van veeteelt. Hun koeien en geiten vernielen veelal de voor de San belangrijke planten.

Het dorp Ombili dat wij bezocht hebben, probeert hun cultuur in stand te houden door als een soort van levendige museum geld te verdienen. Als je aankomt dan is er een Engelssprekende gids. Samen met een familie hijsen ze zich in hun traditionele outfit en beginnen met een toer. Tijdens de toer laten ze je zien hoe ze leven/leefden. De kleding is eenvoudig en bestaat uit een leren lendedoek voor de mannen en een leren rok voor vrfouwen. De sieraden zijn veelal gemaakt van struisvogeleieren en hout. Daarnaast heeft men een ‘schilpaddentasje’. Ze eten de schilpad en gebruiken zijn pantser voor het bewaren van medicijnen of parfum.

Aan het begin van de toer liet men ons zien hoe je vuur op traditionele wijze kan maken door een stokje op een stuk hout te wrijven. Nadat het vuur gemaakt was begon de wandeling door het gebied. Telkens moesten we even blijven staan bij een boom of struik. Wij zagen niets maar na enkele minuten werd het duidelijk: de wortels bevatten een knol waar veel water inzat of een blad dat gebruikt kon worden als medicijn of als een soort van aluin voor het versoepelen van leer of er liep een rupsje op dat er giftig was en gebruikt werd voor het maken van een gifgmengsel voor de jacht. Men liet ons talloze vruchten en wortels zien en legde uit wat men er mee kon doen.

Na de uitleg over alle planten vertelde men ons hoe men jaagt. Er worden kleine valsstrikjes gezet om vogels te vangen. Deze stikken wordt van grassen en takjes gemaakt. Voor grotere dieren zoals herten etc, gegbruikt men pijl en boog. De twee jagers liepen zeer voorzichtig rond en afentoe nam men een hand vol stof om te kijken waar de wind vandaan kwam zodat de dieren hun niet konden ruiken. Men maakt pijlen van een rietsoort dat erg taai is. De punten zijn van ijzer en het puntgedeelte kan men losmaken van de rest van de pijl zodat het makkelijk te verwijderen is nadat men het dier heeft geschoten.

Tijdens de toer werd ons al snel duidelijk dat deze mensen in zo’n gebied kunnen overleven omdat ze al duizenden jaren de geheimen van de natuur kennen. Zij leven hier danook al zo’n 23.000 jaar.
Na de wandeling vertelde men iets over hun cultuur en religie. De mannen hebben maar een vrouw. De belangrijkste taak is het overbrentgen van de kennis op de kinderen zodat zij ook in staat zijn om te overleven. Het hoofd wordt gekozen door een raad van mannen maar kan zich later terug trekken.

Na de toer hebben we hun eigenlijke (moderne)dorp gezien. Ze wonen iets verder op en men heeft daar een schooltje waar tot en met de vierde klas lesgegeven wordt (tot zo’n 11 jaar). Wil men verder leren dan moet men naar een andere sdchool die veelal ver weg is. Het onderwijs is in het Engels en niet in hun eigen taal. De twee docenten zijn geen San. Of dit een bedoeling heeft is wat onduidelijk maar het doet het behoud van hun eigen taal en traditie vast geen goed.
Het lokale winkeltje wordt vooramelijk bevoorraad door Dirk. Men verkoopt er producten zoals maismeel (hun belangrijkste voedsel is maispap), olie om mee te koken en tabak. De San houden van hun rokertje. Vroeger rookte men konijnekeutels gemengd met kruiden maar nu is men aan de tabak.
De hutten zijn klein en men heeft weinig to geen bezit. De vrouwen waren druk bezig met het maken van sieraden voor de verkoop aan toeristen. Ze leven aan de rand van een geldeconomie maar hebben weinig toegang tot geld. Het rondleiden van toeristen en de verkoop van sieraden brengt wat geld op maar dat gaat vaak weer op aan producten uit hun winkel.
Al met al een indrukwekkende toer en je krijgt een goed beeld hoe een jager-verzalmelaar heeft geleefd of nog steeds leeft.
Na de toer met Dirk hebben we een driedaagse toer met Jannie gemaakt. Dit keer naar ‘Etosha National Park’. Drie dagenlang dieren gevolgd en opgespoord met als hoogtepunt een groep van 15 leeuwen. Twee mannetjes, vier kleintjes, vier tieners en voor de rest een gemendge damesgroep. Wederom een prachtige toer waar Charles jullie alles over zal gaanvertellen en laten zien aan de hand van zijn prachtige foto’s.

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Tsumeb

A church in Damaraland, NamibiaIt is odd to think that we have spent as much time here in Tsumeb as we have in almost any other place we have visited (others would be Amman, Asmara, Djibouti, Hargeisa and Addis) as that was certainly not the plan we arrived. As it turns out, we have come to appreciate this small town in the hiils of Northern Namibia, with its large green park, its wide streets bordered by beautiful flowering trees and shrubs – jacaranda, flame of the forest, bougainvillea, its pretty Protestant churches, its small but very interesting and well-presented museum, its row of shops, including the now famous Backerei Steinbach (we never did go back, as Fred did not fancy cockroach-infested Christmas cake or a milky (make that a milky one!) coffee), its now defunct copper mine, its arts and crafts centre, its ‘black’ township, its large white inhabitants, many with tree trunk legs and short shorts, its German biergartens and this odd charming little backpackers residence where we erected and decorated the Christmas tree yesterday evening.

Its past has been dominated by the copper (and other metals) mine and its role in the First World War, where it was the centre of the short-lived German resistance to the Union forces of South Africa and Great Britain. But its main significance has been that of a mining town, for many housands of years, it would seem. The copper mines were worked and protected by the bushman (or San) for many an age, the product traded with other peoples. Imn addition to copper, there are deposits of many many interesting and beautifully coloured minerals (for which Tsumeb is apparently world famous to those with an interest inm semi-precious stones and gems) as well as other metals. More recently, Western/white exploitation of the metals was started 100 years ago, a fact celebrated in Tsumeb with a festival in late September. Ther was a hiccough a few years ago when the company owning the mine went bankrupt such that the mine in the town centre had to be closed. A new company eventually took over and started production again and is now doing very well thanks to the Chinese buying so much copper on the world markets!

The German history of Namibia, then known (and known by some whites here still) as South West Africa seemed to be a pretty normal story of Europeans in Africa except for one very nasty incident, this being the genocide of the Herero people. Apparently, the Germans cut off the Herero people from their sources of water such that many thousands of them died. At this very moment there are talks between Germany and Namibia about reparations for the Herero people. Joschke Fischer did acknowledge what had happened but did not go so far as to apologise. The German government seems willing to pay the money but their offer has been declined by the Namibian president.

Fred saw a book about this episode in a bookshop in Swakopmund, but it was to expensive so he did not buy it. He saw what he thought was this bookj in a cheaper version today and bought it, having been told by the shopkeeper that this was their best-selling book. Lying by the pool in the shade, he started reading it, only to find that it was in fact another book completely, namely a complete denial by some right-wing author of the events which everyone else accepts actually took place. Maybe he will leave it hear in the hands of someone who would appreciate this re-writing of history better..... and there will be many of them here.

One last point about Tsumeb. The air here is deliciously clear and clean and the colours of the trees are so bright in the light of the sun. Beautiful.

Tomorrow, we take a minibus to the capital Windhoek, then the night bus down to Cape Town, arriving Thursday evening, after a journey of 1,400 kms (actually closer to 2,000 kms), about the same as Amsterdam to Bologna (or Napoli!). We spend a few days over Christmas changing rooms everyday in a backpacker hostel in town before, possibly, taking the train another 1,800 kms up to Bloemfontein and across to Durban where we would hire a car for a two week journey back to Cape Town. That is the plan.

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Birds and animals seen in Etosha


Big male
Originally uploaded by CharlesFred.
Birds

Secretary bird, Blacksmith plover, Crowned plover, Kori bustard, Burchell’s starling, Fork-tailed drongo, Tawny eagle, Southern masked weaaver, Emerald-spotted wood dove, Helmeted guinea fowl, Red-breasted swallow, Pale-chanting goshawk, Common ostrich, Speckled pigeon, Black-bellied bustard, Southern yellow-billed hornbill, Cape turtle dove, Great sparrow, Red billed quelea, Egyptian goose, Cape teal, Common swift, African grey hornbill, Black-throated canary, Lappet-faced vultue, Blue Crane, Black crow, Pied crow, Greater kestrel, Martial eagle, Cinnmon-breasted (rock) bunting, Bronze-winged courser, Spotted thick-knee, White-backed mousebird, African red-eyed bulbul, Namaqua dove, Sociable weaaver, Common scimitarbill, Shaft-tailed whydah, White-rumped swift, Black-winged stilt, Greater flamingo, Lesser flamingo, Grey heron, Marabou stork, Yellow-billed stork

Animals

Black-backed Jackal, (Burchell’s) Zebra, Springbok, Lion, Impala, Spotted hyena, Blue wildebeest, Steenbok, Red Hartebeest, Kudu, Oryx, Giraffe, Tortoise, (Damara) Dik-dik, Elephant, Ground squirrel, Stoat (?), Bats, Mongoose, Warthog

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Monday, December 19, 2005

Wishing you a Happy Christmas


To Charles, Fred and faithful followers of the CharlesFred web-log.

Love Mum and Nick

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Sunday, December 18, 2005

Etosha


What teeth!
Originally uploaded by CharlesFred.
Just managed top sneak into an internet cafe (USD 10 per hour) to let you know that we are having a very successful time here in Etosha.

At the gate yesterday morning in the light rain we see what look like two dogs on the road. They are black backed jackals.

A little further on we meet another customer walking down the road (it is still very early). It is a young male lion, our first.

Still further, we see some wt looking springbok.

Then a fight between a jackal and three beautiful spotted hyenas, most going on beghind bushes so we cannot see exactly what is going on, but amazingly the jackal escapes with the meat!

Then a large number of zebras, a few giraffes, some hartebeest, some wildebeest, an odd steenbok, a few kudu and so on.

In the meantime I am identifying all sorts of birds (list to be published in next blog... but includes the ostrich, the secretary bird and many raptors).

At the waterhole in the evening, after a beautiful sunset and night has set in we arrive ton see and hear a spoted hyena drinking water. He leaves. It is still save for a drongo catching insects in the nightlights.

Then along comes a makle elephant, looking white in the light... he make a tour of the hole and sdtays with us for half an hour while he drinks and splashes around and comes very close to Fred, reaching out with his trunk. Incredible to hear everything in the silence, as opposed to just watching.

Today starts off with a nervous jackal or two at the same waterghole (near our campsite), followed by springbok, hartebeest and four handsome male kudis. Fred calls me back for breakfast and we depart.

Two lionesses at a waterhole.

An old lion by the side of teh road, face showing many scars, his paws open with recent wounds, a massive mane and yellow teeth and pink tongue. We are thrilled!

And later this afternoon..... a pride of lions.... four young babies, a number of mothers, some juveniles and a young male all together, an older male somewhat further off. Fifteen in total.

We spend the rest of the afternoon with them while firsdt they rest then start to wealk around, looking and smelling the zebra and ostrioch nearby.

Four young go off by themselves while the mothers are still resting... the mothers follow and eventually so do the males. Beautiful beautiful strong animals... this sort of experience really makes a three day trip like this worthwhile.. a once in a lifetime experience.

Back at camp now, watched the sunset, while the others are preparing potjie. We are well satisfied.

(Picture here from Zambia... Etosha pics to be uploaded Monday or Tuesday).

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Friday, December 16, 2005

San mother with newborn child


San mother with newborn child
Originally uploaded by CharlesFred.
For a look at a discussion about the fate of teh San people in Namibia and Botswana, may I please refer you to the following site: http://www.ipacc.org.za/home.asp?sPage=regional.asp

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San child with grandmother


San child with grandmother
Originally uploaded by CharlesFred.
Today, we visited a San vilage and also went out for a bushwalk with a number of them where they showed us how they looked and found roots, leaves, nuts and fruits, all of which had special powers. They also recreated a hunt for us.. although the 'black' (as they call them) dominated government here in Namibia have banned them from hunting (after the whote apartheid rulers had forciblky moved them onto their current lands).

The San have been living in these parts for the last 25,000 years, so have been a lot more successful than any other civilisation in our historical perspective.

One pity was that at the scvhool which we were shown around, they are forced to learn evrything in English rather than their own language with all the clicks! But still, the school seemed quite well provided for by the governemnt.

Many m,any mothers were carrying babies and there were lots and lots of children. By all accounts San people keep having children until they can no longer have them....

Tomorrow we are off to Etosha to look for and watch game for three days... hopefully we will finally get to see our male lion, and who knows what else. I have purchased a volume of African birds south of the Sahara so we will spend much time trying to identify all the birds we come across.

See you again on Monday... and all is well with Fred... just a little bit too lazy to write a blog!

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Thursday, December 15, 2005

Further thoughts.....

So, we had a look at what we did up in Kaokoland and Damaraland, but we didn’t really mention how it felt to be in such wild and magnificent country. Wild in that all the roads were gravel or rocky, the main form of transport for locals is foot or donkey cart and where one would see another car maybe once every hour or two and where there are large distances between one town and another.

Striking were the colours of the landscape, the pinks and purples of the sunsets, the yellows of the orioles and the weaver birds, the reds of the Himba people, the blues of the sky and the sky reflected in the water, the greens of the mopane and baobab trees, of the still water pools, of the reeds at the river’s edge, the reds of the rocks, combined with black, ochre, white and grey, the black and white of the Zebra Mountains, of the pied chats and pied kingfishers, of he markings of the oryx, the greens, blues and pinks of the bee-eaters, the oranges of the Wilwitschia flowers, the warm browns of the giraffe and the lighter browns of the springbok, the colours of the rainbow crashing into the road ahead and the whiteness of the moon shining at night.

Very old is the landscape, massive plains, out of which arise beautiful mountains of granite and basalt, all shaped one way or another, desert would become grassland and then woodland, from one kilometre to another, water would escape from the rocks where it had been held for centuries, to form a river or a stream, only to disappear again, small waders would appear at the water’s edge, accompanied by plovers, ducks and geese before the landscape turned dry again. The giraffes and the elephants are smaller here, for living in the desert, joined by rock dassies, ground squirrels and the oryx, THE animal of the desert. All the time the countryside would change, black rock becoming white, becoming red, all bent out of shape. How did all this happen? What forces have been at work over the last millions and millions of years to give so much diversity? Surely all the rock sediments had been laid down one by one, next to each other and yet millions of years later they have been torn apart and patched together again to give us the landscape we see today.

There was plant to think about as we travelled through these lands.

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Young Himba holding donkey


Young Himba holding donkey
Originally uploaded by CharlesFred.
The last one for now.... cute, eh?

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Epupa baobab


Epupa baobab
Originally uploaded by CharlesFred.
With Fred standing underneath to give some perspective.

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Himba necklaces

Himba girl


Himba girl
Originally uploaded by CharlesFred.
You can never have too many photos of Himba people!

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Charles and Fred at Epupa Falls

As promised.... the Herero ladies


Herero ladies in town
Originally uploaded by CharlesFred.
And now, a(nother) long blog.....

Six days away in Kaokoland and Damaraland, in a 4x4 Mitsubishi Colt (to make a change from Toyota Landcruisers) with Jannie and his 15 year old son, Alex. We left Mousebird a little after 6 on a bright sunny morning. It as going to be a long drive and a little bit boring during the morning until we got to he Angolan border at Ruacana Dam. Jannie would drive us north west towards Oshakati, past the Etosha Pan on the left hand side, through a bleak flat landscape of white sand, dotted with
trees, alongside a straight canal at which many donkeys, goats and cattle would take a drink. Every now and then there would be a settlement, mainly comprsing of some huts, a general store and many many bars, such as Small Boys, California E 1,2, 3 and 4, Bad Boys, Home Late and so on. Lots of beer and whiskey being drunk in these parts, so it seemed. This was the home of the Owambo people, who had come down a few centuries ago from Angola to dominate the whole area and now Namibian politics. Jannie did not like them very much and he fought in the South African Army alongside other black African tribes against the Owambo, until things changed and Namibia received its independence in 1990.

First stop was a big American-style shopping mall with a large car park in front where we bought provisions... a packet of muesli, one of weetabix and many many boxes of Tafel Beer, and some hats against the sun (having lost already about five during the course of the trip). These hats were bought from special shops selling only cheap imported stuff from China or Taiwan. Incredible. All fake and chealy made, but incredibly cheap. Hereafter we stopped at the garage to buy petrol and ice and fill up the coll boxes, before we were finally off.

Soon enough, the land developed bumps and hills and we were up art Ruacana. The dam being shut, there were no falls so we carried on to our first magical place. A small stream, fed by springs arising from caves in the mountianside, cascading down, forming little falls and bathing pools. Way out in the wilds, off road on the rockiest and bumpiest of tracks. Beautiful. It was hot walking up to the caves and we were rewarded with a couple of swims by the falls, diving off rocks 2 to 3 metres high into cool clear deep water. Only a couple of donkeys for company.

From there, we were entering Himba territory. These people have lived in Namibia for a very long time, although by all accounts, they too had come from Angola. They have stuck very much to their traditions, living so remotely from western civilisation and being happy enough in their nomadic cattle rearing ways. Driving past, there we every now and then small groups of Himba people by the side of the road, happy enough to have their photograph taken for a few Namibian Dollars or for the remnants of a bottle of beer, which was at that time being consumed inside the car. The light was good and I managed to take some pretty good photos. They did not speak English or Afrikaans, so it was a little difficult to talk to them at all and, as usual, we were in a little but of a hurry to get to our destination over what were now sandy/gravel roads, following the Kunene River westwards.

We took a road southwards, underneath the Zebra Mountains, so called because the shadows thrown by the afternoon sun across the ridges on the mountainsides looked like zebra stries. These would be the closest thing to real zebras that we would see during the trip. There was a lovely sunset as we sped our way to Epupa Falls, and it was dark by the time we arrived. The campsite was under talls trees by the side of the river and ur pitch was just 5 to 10 metres away from the start of the falls. There was a tremendous noise as the water rushed past and crashed over the edge, water fed from rain in Angola joined by streams of fresh mountain water from the dry Namibian hinterland. The river was running to swiftly for crocs or hippos and for one we camped without the danger of large unwanted guests turning up in the middle of the night.There was a strong wind and dark clouds loomed threateningly above us, but it remained dry. Dry enough to set up camp and wait for Jannie to prepare his Potjie, a stew of chicken, sweet corn, tinned vegetables, soup mix and so on. Delicious. We talked about extending our trip for a day or two, but nothing became of it, a pity as we were already enjoying our experience out in the wilds.

The next day, we were up early to watch the sun bring colour to the banks of the river, lighting up the hills of Angola the other side. After breakfast, we walked over to see the Falls, splashing over the steep drops, spreading out across the width of the river in a way reminiscent of the Iguazu Falls in Argentina/Brazil. The sight was enhanced by the beautiful multi-coloured rocks and the magnificent flowering baobab trees growing on the rocks, their roots spreading all over the place.

Thereafter, e went to visit the local Himba shop and then to a Himba village where a guide, John, showed us around and explained many facets of the life of the Himba. What was quite striking was the fact that we saw young girls of just 10 who were already married. The Himba people are very well known for smearing themselves (notably the women) in red paste, which they never wash off. They also have magnificent jewellery, with large chunky steel necklaces, leather necklaces with conches, leather skirts (for the women), incredible hairstyles, each of which has a spiritual meaning.. and so on....

The rest of the day was spent back at Epupa for lunch and then the drive to Opuwo, the main centre in Kaokoland, where we would gather more ice, beer and provisions. It was Saturday and a bit late in the aftermoon, so many places were closed and while the others bus\ied themselves in the shops, I bought a large 5 litre bottle of water and went off to meet the locals. Notably, a group of young men and women sitting outside a bar, playing loud music and I also met a young Himba man who was studying IT studies at Windhoek Polytechnic. Sharing the bottle of water around I was told to be careful as ‘these people’ may be infected... hmm.... maybe, maybe not... but it did show how people here tended to be afraid of each other.

Some Himba people would be dressed in a traditional way, all red with leather skirts and greasy jewellery, living in huts of cardboard boxes on the outskirts, while others would be dressed in western clothes. Whatever, both would go to the bars and the shops.. a strange sight indeed... old and new mixing like this.

Opuwo is not only a Himba town, but also a place for the Herero people. As it turned out, we did not get to find out too much about the Hereros, save that they are related to the Himbas and also tend cattle. The women dress themselves up in large broad, wide, colourful Victorian dresses with cloths the shape of cattle horns on their heads... have a look at the photos on flickr!

Opuwo also seemed to be full of prostitutes. Maybe it was just the time of day... late Saturday afternoon, young men drinking beer, the bars full of young women in colourful and revealing western clothes, moving their bodies around in a very sexy way..... I am not sure.

From Opuwo it was another long long drive, much in the dark to Purros, where we camped for the night. On the way, we saw a jackal, some ostriches and a giraffe... real wild animals, wandering around the countryside, not in a national or game park.

The next day was spent as one long safari, driving up and back along two river beds, between the mountains. An incredible experience, out in the wilds. Water would spring up from nowhere and form a river for a few kilometres before disappearing again, in the meantime, giving water to the animals. Here we would see many many oryx, such a beautiful animal, plenty of springbok and every so often a small group of desert elephants or desert giraffes and far away, there would be some ostriches running away from us. Later wewoudl see our first Kori Bustard.

The evening was then spent at the site of some hot springs at Ongongo. Just us and a South African couple, on the side of a mountain, with views across the farmland, the sun setting in the west, water falling down a small fall into a beautiful pool, perfect for bathing, while yellow weaver birds tended to their hanging nests in the reeds at the water’s edge. A swim in the evening and a swim in the morning. Delicious and the water tasted so sweet!

The next day was spent in what was now Damaraland, no longer Kaokoland, visiting the bushmen rock carvings at Twyfelfontein and the nearby organ pipes and then to the Burnt Mountain and then to the Petrified Forest. Here we saw logs from trees 280 million years old which had become petrified. They looked so much like logs from trees just cut down yet they existed at the time of the dinosaurs. They can be found only here and in Arizona, both very hot parts of the Earth.

The night was spent at Khorixas, where I managed to recharge the camera batteries and download the photos onto CD’s, just in time as the memory stick was full and the betteries empty. Swam in the pool fed by cool springs overlooking a field with ostriches wandering around, while Jannie prepared a braai of chicken and sausages.

Fred and Jannie would spend much of the day in the car, drinking beer and talking nonsense. Fred was very interested in the Afrikaans language and Jannie in Dutch and it was interesting to spot the similarities and the differences. Afrikaners would say ‘Vogelstruis’ and ‘leker slaap’ whilst the Netherlanders would say ‘struisvogel’ and ‘slaap lekker’. Fred made a mistake at the Khorixas supermarket as he bought 18 bottles of Castle beer instead of the favoured Tafel Beer and he was condemned to drinking it all himself.

Brandberg was our main destination the following day an this would be the most beautiful spot we cane across. A large mountain range 81 kms long and 2,753 metres high at teh highest point would rise from the hot surrounding plain. The rocks were of all colours, mostly red, but also black, white, yellow and grey. The main attraction were the bushmen paintings including the so-called White Lady of Brandberg, which in fact is a medicine man, white with sweat. He had a penis to prove the point, which makes one wonder why the Frenchman in question insisted in describing it as a lady. (The story goes that he could not believe that black people could be capable of such art, so assumed that white people had been there before... but no clue about the sex change!). We were expertly guided by Vanessa, a trainee and then Matthew who had worked at the site since it had become protected, after Namibia’s independence. He knew everything about the geology, biology, botany, astronomy and local tradition attached to the Brandberg. Here was a place I would love to return to, for a trek of 3 to 4 days, when the weather would be cooler... it was HOT again!

A short snooze later at the back of the car and all of a sudden it was cool... we were near the Atlantic Coast. We drove to Henties Bay and then up to Cape Cross where we saw a massive colony of very smelly seals, with many many young pups. They bleated like sheep but smelt of rotten fish. There were thousands of them. Very awkward creatures on land, hobbling around n their flippers, rather painfully for the males, so it would seem. There were many dead pups by the harbour wall and it was hard to believe they were killed by jackals as they had not been eaten.

Next stop was Swakopmund, the main seaside resort of Namibia. Very white. Very German. Great shops. Christmas lights. We first had a dip in the sea, our fifth sea, after the Med, the Dead Sea, the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden (if that is a sea) and the Indian Ocean. Cool but not cold. Good to see that blacks were now allowed to sit on the colourful benches. We set up camp near the beach and went for a stroll into the empty town, past al the touristy curio shops and bookshops and bier stuhbes and pizzerias. This is Africa too.

The last day was spent on the sand dunes around Swakopmund and nearby Walvis Bay, including climbing up Dune 7, the second highest dune in Namibia after Dune 46 in Sossusvlei, which is teh highest in the world, apparently. We got off sky-diving and dune boarding, had a (disgusting) cheeseburger on the seafront and visited the fishing docks before setting off back on the long 550 km road to Tsumeb. A bit boring at first, the trip back was livened up by spectacular skies of storm clouds, rainbows and thunder and lightning, followed by a near full moon, while by the side of the road we saw many warthogs, some massive and proud kudu bulls, impala, vultures, wildebeest and hartebeest (our first).

We were back at Mousebird afer 10, all still friends, having had a great few days together, but pleased to be back for a day’s rest. We could have done with an extra day between the first and third day, to spend more time with the Himba people, but maybe that is an adventure for another day. Still, Jannie had done his very best to show these two foreigners the very best places of ‘his’ country, a country of which he is very proud. He did a great job and we too, will spread the word about Namibia, particularly Kaokoland and Demaraland.

On Saturday, we will be joining Jannie, with his wife Petra and son Alex, for a three day trip to Etosha National Park, about which we have heard many great stories, despite the fact that it is the rainy season and he game wil not congregate near the waterholes as they do in the dry season. By all accounts, Nigel and Tuomo had a great few days there. Tomorrow, we will join Durk, proprietor of Mousebird, on a trip to visit the San people, out east of here. We think we will bypass the south of the country, which means missing Sossusvlei and Fish River Canyon, but South Africa beckons and we are running out of time.

From there, we will look at possibilities to bus it down to Windhoek and Cape Town, to be in the Cape for Christmas. Thereafter, maybe we will take the train to Durban, hire a car and spend some time in the Zulu Kingdom and maybe the Drakensburg before returning along the coast to Cape Town ready for our flight back in a month’s time. That is the plan.

While I am typing this, in the hope that we DO get internet access today, we are listening to ‘Bianca’ singing ‘Blumen aus Eis’, German carols in a Weihnachten Schlager-style... what a strange country.... !

Fred says hello... as he sits in the pool with a cold Tafel beer.

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Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Himba girl


Himba girl
Originally uploaded by CharlesFred.
Hello again! Just a quick note to let you know we are back in Tsumeb and lan to have a free day tomorrow.. when we will download some photos and write a couple of (long) blogs!).

Kaokoland was an amazing experience, most notably these Himba people. More tomorrow.

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Monday, December 12, 2005

Himba man


Himba man
Originally uploaded by CharlesFred.
And this is what a Himba man looks like.

(Next time you can see what a Herero woman looks like... very strange indeed!)

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Kaokoland!


Himba girl
Originally uploaded by CharlesFred.
This is a Himba girl (yes, we were not too sure either... but her hair would be set backwards if she was a boy), one of the amazing people we have met here in Kaokoland.

We are enjoying this trip so much... seeing deserts, waterfalls, massive sandcastles, petrified forests, bushmen paintings, animals such as the handsome oryx, desert giraffes, desert elephants, springbok, ostriches and so on, plus many birds, we have seen the Himba and the Herero people and are now with the Damaras. Jannie is proving to be a great guide, knowing al the ebst places to camp... by waterfalls, by hot springs and now by a lovely swiming pool with cold spring water... as the temperatutres have been the hottest we have had on teh whole trip.. probably in the low 40's. He's a good driver too and no doubt the bottles of Tafel beer he consumes along the way helps him to concentrate.

Internet is very expensive here so I cannot write too much. We have another couple of days to go here and then we have to decide what to do further... definitely something here in Namibia... - although Jannie has been trying to persuade us to go sky diving... I don't think so!

Thanks to all the people who told us we should come here.. it is really great.

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Thursday, December 08, 2005

Another winning smile!


A young bread seller
Originally uploaded by CharlesFred.
I am going to miss Africa when it is time to go.....

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Bird life


Cormorant spreading its wings
Originally uploaded by CharlesFred.
.... as wonderful as the mammals of Africa are.... the birds are superb!

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Feeling good!


Clouds over the Okavango
Originally uploaded by CharlesFred.
Where to start?

Well, as mentioned briefly yesterday, we are now in Tsuneb in Northern Namibia, just to the east of Etosha National Park, famous for its game which gaters around the waterholes in the dry season. It is now the rainy season, so the game does not congregate for easy viewing, so we are not going there. Instead we are going off into the wilds of Kaokoland, in the very north-west of Namibia, where we will see beautiful landscapes, rivers, waterfalls, hot springs, bushmen paintings, some game and many birds and hopefully meet some of the Himba people. We are going for six days and five nights, camping with Janny and his son. Should be good.

Back here in Tsumeb, we have been treated to some lovely sunny weather, with clear blue skies, under which we see many flowering trees and plants in the gardens around the bungalows here. Everything is very German, notably the internal decor, with tiled bathrooms, bare-bricked walls, ‘brown’ furniture and muesli for breakfast! We are staying with Dirk and Monique in their Mousebird Backpackers Lodge, the only guests.. and Dirk is now showing off his boerenworst to |Fred at the wooden bar behind my back. Now, some mighty Eland steaks.... I think we will be eating them on the braai this evening.

We have met some other people here, none more notable than the Steinbach family from the local bakery. Mr Steinbach is very very thin, has a limp, a squinty face, a pipe, a droopy moustache and a very unpleasant manner, barking at both his staff (black) and his wife (Italian). She is fat and has a smiling face. Desperately lonely and frustated, she seizes on any foreigner coming into her shop and wants to show them the inside of the bakery. Very clean isn’t it, she says, as she walks past the peeling paint, the hospital beds (for she is turning her bakery into a backpackers lodge), the old rusting machinery and the piles of dust on the floor. After the tour, she sits us down and tells us about the chap (black) who worked at the shop until last week when he was caught stealing.... they look dub, she says, but they are really quite clever (he had been pocketing the credit accounts and within a few days had been sentenced to six months in prison..... six months she said, as if that wasn’t nearly enough... to which Fred responded that that is what you get for murder back in Holland!

But then we should go back to backpacker hell.. in the cool rain of Livingstone last weekend, the kwacha rising every day, the already high prices going up, being surrounded by young white backpackers busy arranging their white-water rafting, their bungy jumping and helicopter rides, when not enjoying their sunset booze cruises on the Zambezi (as much as you can drink of whatever you can lay your hands on). As you can imagine, this was not really our scene.... so we were quite glad to get away after our wet morning at the Falls (the droplets), followed by an afternoon watching three Premiership games in a row on the digital satellite TV at the bar, chatting to Andy and Fiona, two like-minded travellers, who had preceded us for much of our trip, through the Middle East and Ethiopia, even having met Monique, the Belgian lady we had spent our time with in Harar! They have sold up in London, are travelling for a year or so before looking for somewhere to live up north. After South Africa they go to India. We admired their perseverance as truth be told we were getting a litle bit fed up with our journey.

So, on Sunday morning, we took the taxi with our bags to a bus station out of town to travel the 200 ms to the border with Namibia at Katima Mulilo. If you look at the map, you will notice that Nambia sticks a finger out up north almost all the way to Livingstone. This is the Caprivi Strip, which Germany negotiated at the Berlin Conference, in exchange for Zanzibar which they ‘gave’ to Britain. It is only about 30 kms wide but stretches about 300 kms into what would have been Botswana, just underneath Angola, which is the other side of the Okavango River. The landscape was a pretty well much what it had been since we arrived in the north-eat of Zambia, namely flat and wooded, under a dull grey sky.

We were told at the border that we would be lucky to get threough on the road after all the rain and that we would probably have to wait a day for a bus to take us to Divundu, from where we would veer south along the Okavango to Shakawe in Botswana, where we hoped to find Nigel and Tuomo. As it happened, we caried our bags the 500 metres from one border post to the other whereupon, we were met by a chap looking for business on the road to Divundu. He had found two families wanting a lift to Windhoek already at 10.00 in the morning and had bene waiting til now (14.00) to fill his minibus up, so we were in fact extremely lucky and the father of one of the families was very glad that his family could finally get going.... it was a fast drive along the Caprivi Strip, with periodic signposts warnings of Elephants crossing....of which we saw a few by the wayside. We also saw our first sable antelope, standing next to a warthog, but for the rest it was the same mopane forest, interspersed with small villages of straw houses, surrounded by wooden fences, a few chickens running around, young children looking after the long-horned cattle and the goats.

Finally at Divundu, we were let out at a busy petrol station and had just arranged for a lift in the back of someone’s truck, just as it started raining, when the owner of the Ngepi Camp turned up and offered us a lift to his camp. His first question was where we were planning to go on from here and he looked very glum when we told him Shakawe. Maybe the next stage of our journey would not be so easy. Still, we were happy to be away from backpacker hell, even happier to be at Ngepi Camp, under the trees, on the banks of the river Okavango, in the company of our English host Neil and his New Zealand side-kick at the bar with a cold beer. Our hut was made of reed, with a thatched straw roof, a short walk away from the river and was to be shared with a dormouse who scuttled around the rafters, to keep us company. But first time for dinner and a few drinks for which we were joined by 53 Swedes who had turned up during the day in three pink buses........ VERY Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. It all got quite loud and was good fun. We managed to negotiate with Eddie, one of the drivers, to get a lift the next day down to Shakawe, thanks to Neil’s gentle prodding.

It was an early start the next day, even earlier for the young Swedes who had kept partying til dawn, and we climbed up with our bags to the front of Eddie’s bus. The day started off with a Soviet choir singing some stirring tune on the CD player and off we set.... along the sandy road towards the border and up to the gates of the Mahonga National Park, where we were told that two lorries had been stranded all night due to the bad state of the road! Frida and Agnetha had only just finished singing Dancing Queen (inevitable) when disaster struck and the bus came to a sudden stop.....

The road was soon full of half-naked bare-footed Swedes trying to push the buses through the wet sand. Branches were cut down from trees and sticks gathered in order to give the wheels something to grip on to, while the rain started again. We had no food and nothing to drink and were VERY dependent upon the good nature of our Scandinavia cousins... Eddie eased the tension by saying that it would be all right to try to hitch a lift with anyone else coming down the road and sure enough, just as it started getting very wet, our saviours arrived in the persons of Stefan and Sissie from Karlsruhe in Germany, Stefan having his first experience of driving in a 4x4. They, too were going to the Shakawe Fishing Lodge, the same as us and in we jumped! We slid around for a bit and saw a couple of giraffes but before long we were at the Botswana border and onto tarmac.

At the Lodge, Nigel was there in a meeting in a hut in a beautful garden with lawn facing out to the Okavango, the other shore being covered in papyrus and reeds. We had made it and he was just as surprised as we were, as this was certainly not the easiest place in the world to make a rendez-vous. This was to be our home for the next couple of days, a large concrete hut with a thatched roff, under the trees, surrounded b monkeys and many many birds, hippos and crocs in the river and reeds below. Our hosts were Helene and Barry from Zambia, Helene proving to be a fantastic cook (her grilled bream and her lemon souffle were exquisite) while Barry was a bit of an enigma. Grumpy and unsociable but with a great knowledge of birds. Nigel and Tuomo were busy with their work, discussing the state of the bushmen, culturally and linguistically, trying (we think) to get funding from Hugh who had made the trip over from London to look at the projects in the field. Nigel is a social linguist and does much work with indigenous peoples to help them retain their languages and the culture which goes with that. A local project they are working on near Shakawe is a mapping project where the bushmen will give their names to all the local places, so they will not be forgotten and which wil make it more difficult for the government to deny their rights to their lands. It is more complicated than this... but it is played out in the background of the Botswana government forcibly moving people out of their lands in the name of economic progress etc etc.

Our first afternoon was spent having snooze then walking to the local shop to buy some biscuits (those lemon creams again) and watching the birds, notably the carmine bee-eaters, photos of which should make the flickr site presently.

The next day we set off with Stefan and Sissie and Nigel and Tuomo to the Tsodilo Hills, a holy site for the bushmen, containing many many rock paintings, notably of elands, rhinos, giraffes and stick men with erect penises (which the Victorians did Not manage to erase). A beautiful site, four hills (Male, Female, Child and Cousin) of multi-coloured rocks arising from the plains below. We visited the museum and went on a two-hour walk around the Female, unfortunately without a guide, as he was drinking away the money he had earned a couple of days previously. Still, Nigel with his deep knowledge of bushmen culture proved a more than effective guide explaining the significance of many of the symbols.

Back at the camp, we had been looking forward to a boat trip along the famous Okavango, but Barry was out with a couple of other colleagues so we made do with sitting on the lawn and watching a parade of magnificent birds come before us. We saw cormorants, waders, giant, pied and woodland kingfishers, weaver birds, kites, fish eagle, starlings, rails, a drongo, owls, mousebirds, carmine and little bee-eaters, egrets, a heron and so on, whilst in the water lurked a huge crocodile.

We all had a drink or two in the bar after dinner, when it was time to say goodbye to our new friends Stefan and Sissie. The next day we saet off with Nigel and Tuomo in the back of their 1988 Land Rover Defender (looks bigger than it is.... or maybe Nigel just packed too many things?) and off we set back to Namibia, them off to Etosha National Park, us off to Tsumeb, where we would decide where to go to next. It was a long but pleasant drive as we took it in turns to be squashed up at the back. We look forward to seeing them again in Cape Town later during this trip.

So here we are in Tsumeb, Kylie Minogue singing away on MTV in the TV room next door, Fred on his second beer, while I bash away here..... hopefully not having totally bored anyone who has read this far. We are really looking forward to getting out again into the wilds of Kaokoland, a trip which will end a week today at Swakopmund, halfway own the coast of Namibia. We had talked about ending our trip sooner than 15th January but we are happy to be staying until at least the 12th (when there should be space for us on the KLM flight back from Cape Town). The weather is good, the sun is back, we see the stars, planets and moon at night and things look great again!

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'Modderpootjes'


Wir sind jetzt in Deutschland... ich meine in Namibie. Het is hier zo duits dat je afentoe weleens denkt... wat raar.
Maar goed laten we bij het begin beginnen. Zondagmorgen zijn we met de bus van Livingstone vertrokken richting Botswana. De busrit was snel en rond een uur of een waren we bij de grens met Botswana. Maar hoe verder? De dame van de immigratie verteldeons dat er morgen een bus was. Maar gelukkig verder vragend vonden we een minibuschauffeur die ons naar Dvundu wilde brengen. Dus daar gingen we. In een busje vol met mensen uit Windhoek. Deze mensen zaten al vanaf tien uur 's morgens te wachten en waren blij dat wij om twee uur instapten zodat we eindelijk vol weg konden rijden. De tocht was snel en geruisloos. Vliegend over het wegdek terwijl het steeds harder begon te regenen. Aangekomen in Dvundu was het tijd om een bed te vinden. We hadden besloten om in een backpackerslogde te gaan overnachten maar die bleek ongeveer 14 km verder op te zijn. Bij pure toeval reed de eigenaar net voorbij en was blij om nieuwe gasten mee te nemen. toen we uitlegden dat we morgenvroeg naar Shakawe wilden, vertelde hij dat dat een moeilijk klus zal worden maar... er was een groep Zweden in drie roze bussen die ok die kant opgingen en misschien konden we met hun meerijden tot aan de grens of nog verder. Vriendelijk gevraagd en het mocht. Dus zondag was our lucky day. 's Avonds lekker gegeten en wat zitten kletsen met de eigenaar en de Zweden onder het genot van een biertje.
De maandag op weg met de Zweden. We zaten in de eerste bus die bestuurd werd door Eddie. Onder Abba muziek reden we het nationale park in. De dame aan het hek vertelde dat het erg modderig was en dat er een vrachtwagen vast zat. Enkele minuten later zagen we de vrachtwagen en onder dezelfde klanken van dezelfde Abba zaten wij ook binnen enklele minuten vast in de modder. Alle Zweden sprongen op blote voeten met ontblote bovenlijven uit de bus en begonnen driftig te duwen... al het aanmodderen mocht niet baten. Ondertussen begon het te regenen. Eddie vertelde ons dat het even kon duren en als er een 'fourwheel' voorbij kwam dat we dan misschien beter konden gaan liften. Inderdaad na enkele minuten kwam er een auto aangereden. Het echtpaar, Stephan en Sissie was zo aardig om ons een lift aan te bieden tot aan de grens. Toen we vertelden waar we heen gingen, bleek dat ze naar dezelfde plaats moesten en we konden met hun meerijden. Aangekomen in Shakawa hebben we Nigel en Tuomo ontmoet.
De volgende dag zijn we met zijn zessen naar de rotstekeningen van de San (bosjesmannen)in Tsodilo Hills geweest. Nigel werkt als adviseur voor een project dat bezig is om de cultuur en de geschiedenis van deze mensen te behouden. Het was indrukwekkend om deze 5.000 tot 10.000 jaar oude tekeningen te zien en dat alles onder begeleiding van iemand die er veel vana af weet.
Gisteren zijn we met Nigel en Tuomo weer richting Namibie gereden. Lekker vroeg in hun landrover gestapt en gezellig kletsend richting dezelfde modderweg als die van maandag gereden. Gelukkig was het de laatste dagen droog geweest. Geen Zweed meer te zien. Volgens de meneer van de grens, waren ze rond een uur of een diezelfde maandag bevrijd en de grens overgestoken. 's Middags waren tegen twee uur in Tsumeb, Namibie.
We logeren in de 'Mousebird', een soort van B&B. De eigenaren zijn een echtpaar uit Oost Duitsland die het in maart 2005 gekocht hebben. Ze hebben hun baan in Berlijn opgezegd en zijn het grote avontuur aangegaan. Met een vriend van hun, Janny, gaan we morgen een zesdaagse safari in Kaokoland maken.
Het dorp/stadje is erg Duits en gisteravond hebben we danook schnitzel gegeten. De meeste blanken hebben een Duitse achtergrond en spreken meestal Duits en Afrikaans. Alles is hier in het Afrikaans en voor ons redelijk gemakkelijk te lezen. De winkels zijn in handen van de blanken en het ziet er allemaal netjes en gelikt uit. We moeten er erg aan wennnen en ik heb nog niet het gevoel dat de verhoudingen hier zo gelijkwaardig zijn. Maar misschien oordeel ik te snel...

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Wednesday, December 07, 2005

Moving on, from Zambia, Namibia, Botswana and back to Namibia


This is a picture of the Iguazu Falls in Argentina - hoping to add one in a miunute of Victoria Falls on a rainy day. We went to the Victoria Falls on Saturday where it rained more than there was water coming over the Falls.

We have had quite a few adventures since including joining a convoy of three pink buses, full of Swedes, listening to Dancing Queen and getting stuck in the wet sand of the Caprivi Strip, joining up with Stefan and Sissie from Germany who rescued us from the mud, meeting up with Nigel and Tuomo at the Shakawe (non-)Fishing Lodge, seeing bushmen paintings at Tsodilo Hills and making it over to Tsumeb, a very strange place where provincial Germany meets Africa.

No internet and now no possibility of uploading phtos, we are negotiating with Janny, a local Namibian to take us to Kaokoland in northwest Namibia for the next few days.

Still alive and kicking... and wishing everyone, belatedly, een gezellige Sinterklaas.

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Friday, December 02, 2005

Non-stop ecstatic gospel music


Burchells' Zebra with foal
Originally uploaded by CharlesFred.
We have come down to Livingstone, named after Dr David Livingstone, the fearless anti-slavery campaigner and explorer. Just down the road there are the wonderful Victori Falls whichw e go to visit tomorrow.

It was a quick five hour bus ride down here in the rain this morning, accompanies by non-stop ecstatic gospel music.... great!!!! The Road of the Lord is Holy, Praise the feet of the Lord!

Further, we have heard from my friend Nigel, from Cape Town and he is going to be near the Okavango Delta in a day or two and we hope to join him for a few days, in his landie landrover.

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The townships of Lusaka


Mother and son
Originally uploaded by CharlesFred.
Yesterday, we spent the day with Benson, who had offered to show us around the townships of Lusaka. Similar but quite different to our visit to Kawaza village. Poverty always looks worse in cities than it does in the countryside and this was no exception.

The weather did not help, being cool and grey after a day's rain the day before which left many of the unmade roads into muddy ponds, as we walked around the markets of Soweto.

Soon we stopped off at another traditional healer, this one doing a brisk trade in African viagra and doing without the help of the Holy Spirit.

Then we were off to visit a local community school, set up and funded by local residents. It was little more than a leaking shed with a few very basic benches placed inside on which sat the young children, many of whom were orphans. It was a much pooer sight than the school in Kawaza, but a good initiative anyway. You just wonder why the governemnt would not help fund such a place as even a small amount of money wopuld seem to be able to do a lot of good.

After this, we visited a family, where Benson was due to bring a new pair of shoes, a satchel, some books and pens, all provided by a private benefactor to a young orphan who was being looked after by his grandparents. He looked quite stunned at what was being given to him, the poor chap.

The neighbouring area was a shanty town, built next to what seemed luike the community rubbish tip, with a disgusting smell and a tremendous potential for harbouring all sorts of diseases. Why could this area not be cleaned up and waste disposal facilities provided? Where is the governement? The local council? Shocking.

The government now has a pile of money on its hands as it no longer needs to pay interest on the massive loans taken out by the country under previous leaders as the loans have been forgiven. There is supposed to be a committee looking at what will now happen to the money which used to be spent on interest payments. One really hopes it will find a use in combatting poverty and disease and improving education, but nothing ahs been provided so far, apparently.

We would have liked to have asked some MP's, as we went to visit the House of Parliament. Unfortunately, they had adjourned for their December recess the day before... and so the place was empty and being tidied up.

A very impressive debating shamber, modelled on that at Westminster, with two massive ivory tusks and beautiful stuffed lion and leopard in front of the Speaker's Chair. The lady who showed us around was very helpful but we did not feel it was polite top ask too many searching questions about the current political situation.

The big issue at the monment is constitutional change and a reduction in the power of the President (much like in Kenya, where they were thinking of going the other way). Of course the President seems to be doing his best to 'persuade' MP's not to pursue such changes, by giving them pay rises and promises of money to be spent in constituencies.

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