Welcome to Kapeeche! - Contents

With travel come stories. And with our trip to Africa, come plenty of stories. Stories of our journey, of the people and of our adventures. There's even a story behind the name of our blog, Kapeeche.

We have definitely taken our sweet time with sharing our pictures and our stories, some of you have probably already heard our stories and are simply waiting for the darn pictures wondering, what's the hold up? Well, this is the hold up.

This is our blog of our 2-week trip to Southern Africa, to visit our friends Dan and Mellissa in Malawi and to experience safari in Botswana. Unlike most blogs that are updated daily, you're getting this blog all at once, we got a little carried away in the process. With that said, we suggest referencing this main page and to work your way in chronological order from the beginning by selecting the below links from the top. Or if you like, you can poke around as you please.

For those looking just for pictures, links to each Gallery are over here, to the right.

Thanks for visiting, we hope you enjoy. We'd love to hear your comments.

CONTENTS

I. The beginning

Introductions
Introductions Part II - Guest Hosts

II. Flights and flights and flights, Oh My!

Flight #1, SFO to LAX
Real Flight #1: LAX to Heathrow
London
Flight #3: Heathrow to JNB; Fugitive Katy
Are we there yet? -- Flight #4: JNB to to Lilongwe, Malawi
Isn't that the airport?

III. Lilongwe, Malawi

Lilongwe
George, Annie's & the Hilux
Green, Brown, Stout and Special

IV. Nyika Plateau

Blown tire ... #1
Lunch in Mzuzu
Rumphi, Malawi: Not the Land of Milk and Honey
Race Against the Clock
2nd blown tire + no gas + middle of nowhere = bad shape
Good Luck and Godspeed
Comically Good Luck
Chalet 4
First Things First
Nyika Plateau

V. Nhkata Bay

Deja Vu Version 4.0
No One Home at Mr. Mhongo's
Muzungu Medavac
Rumphi, Malawi: Still Not the Land of Milk and Honey
Nhkata Bay or Bust!!!

VI. Nhkata Bay, Not Quite, Rumphi

Bust - don't hit when the dealer's showing 16
Have Radiator, Will Travel
Too Much Tyson
Rumphi, Malawi: Continues to Lack in the Milk and Honey Departments
Oh Dearest Rumphi, Please Forgive Us, We Had You All Wrong
Tale of Two Cities
The Midas Touch

VII. I scream, you scream, we all scream for ... LILONGWE!

Tail Between Our Legs
Lilongwe Strikes Back

VIII. Week 2

Start of Week 2

IX. Johannesburg

It can't be that dangerous, can it?

X. Victoria Falls

Victoria Falls
More Vic Falls

XI. Elephant Valley Lodge and Chobe

Elephant Valley Lodge
Chobe National Park
Lion Hunt
Cubs feeding, driver fearless

XII. Okavango Delta and Pom Pom Camp

Bush Flight - Kasane to Pom Pom airstrip
Pom Pom
Okavango Delta and Makuro

I'm coming home ...

"I'm coming home ... "

I apologize, I've had Daughtry in my head, ever since I heard it at the baggage claim the first time through Johannesburg. Finally, it's applicable, it's time to make our way home.
We've been on a lot of flights but this final stretch is going to be the longest, let's do this part like a running diary, we'll even use Pacific standard time, let's start the clock:

Saturday morning, 12:01AM (running clock):
Hop on our Cessna bush flight from Pom Pom Camp to Kasane Airport (flight time, about 90 minutes, about 30 minutes too long for someone in particular)

Saturday, 3:00AM (3 hrs):
After a brief delay waiting for someone in particular, we're transfered from Kasane Airport to the Kazungula border, go through Botswana customs, cross the river by boat, go through Zambia customs, pay outrageous transit visa fee ($100), continue on by bus to Livingtone

Saturday, approx. 6:00AM (6 hrs):
Arrive at Livingstone airport for our flight, depart for Johannesburg

Saturday, approx. 8:00AM (8 hrs):
Arrive in Johannesburg where we have about a 5-6 hour layover before leaving for London

Picture taken about an hour before leaving Johannesburg, it's been a long day already, I think we're looking pretty good, not too tired.

Saturday, 11:00AM (11 hrs):
Depart Johannesburg for London

Well, I thought we weren't too tired:

somewhere over Africa

Saturday, 10:00PM (22 hrs):

Yes, we really do have another flight

Arrive in London, it's early morning in London, Heathrow is packed, about a 3-4 hour layover, not enough time to go into London this time, no pints or pasties.

Sunday morning, 2:30AM (26.5 hrs):
We leave London, next stop, Los Angeles, CA.

Looks like someone's still tired:

hibernating with the rest of his pack

Meanwhile, Katy and I are having a movie marathon:


FINAL STOP, Sunday, 1:00PM (37 hrs):
Arrive in Los Angles, CA

FINAL STOP(a), Sunday, 5:00PM (41 hrs):
Arrive in San Francisco, CA

That's right, 37 hours after leaving Pom Pom Camp, we finally arrive in the U.S.

Okavango Delta and Makuro

Our final two days were spent at the Okavango Delta, two more game drives and a float in makuros through the Delta. For full galleries of each, see below:

Game Drive #1

Makuro

Game Drive #2

Not nearly the same amount of wildlife for viewing but an entirely different type of safari experience. Lead by Shakes (in photo below), here are some of the sights:

Our final Sundowner

Pom Pom

Camp #2 was at Pom Pom Camp in the Okavango Delta, only accessible by small plane as noted in the previous post. As a result, we were very much secluded from the entire world and were joined by only two Canadian couples and Cecil, camp host and one of the most interesting people you could ever meet. Days were spent cruising around looking for the leopard, enjoying sundowners. Nights started with fabulous food and cocktails around the campfire.

Full set of picture of Pom Pom Camp may be accessed here:

Here's our "tent":



and our view of the Delta:

Bush Flight - Kasane to Pom Pom airstrip

We left the Elephant Valley Lodge around 11:00 a.m. or so and went directly to the airport in Kasane. We were met by a guy who took our bags, went to find our pilot, took us through the x-ray screening, and then into the "departure lounge." (JP: where we stayed for all of 30 seconds) I kind of muffed the tip exchange. I think he was pissed. (JP: We put Ryan in charge of all the tipping, we thought it would be a good idea.)

So we walked onto the tarmac and were greeted by our pilot. He was a laid back Canadian dude named Richard who had been flying in Botswana for about 6 months.


Here's the plane: a Cessna 210.







Here's Katy and me inside right before takeoff. Katy's nervous.

JP: And this is even before I took the controls. I was telling both of them the entire week that I wanted to fly the plane, they said there was no way ...







Takeoff


Here's Jon Pan holding down the controls (JP: I didn't even need to ask, I think he saw me eyeballing the controls):




















Panelia Earhart







As we neared the Pom Pom Camp, the pilot dipped down to look for game. We dove to the left and to the right and saw a few things. Here's the view.
















After taking these shots, I started to feel really queasy. The landing came just in time.





Here it is:

Cubs feeding, driver fearless

Lion hunt

Chobe National Park

Full pictorial coverage of the game found at Chobe may be found below:

Chobe Game Drive #1

Chobe Game Drive #2

Here's a sampling:

Eugene, incredible vision. Able to drive in darkness.

Elephants, they eat dirt for the minerals to make their tusks strong

Giraffes, they're tall (my personal favorite)

Warthogs, they're just ugly

Impalas, buddies with the baboons

Nile Croc, super jaw strength, surprisingly spry (no zoom used)

Hippos, they make their presence know. They like mud too.

Cape Buffalo, one of the "Big 5"

and Lions, fierce

Elephant Valley Lodge

A sample from Elephant Valley Lodge by Chobe National Park. For the full gallery, click here:

Elephants at adjacent watering hole

Our accommodations

Milo, the zebra mongoose

With Charles

more Vic Falls

I almost forgot, we have some videos:

The thrashing sounds of Victoria Falls




and "Hey Baboon!"

Victoria Falls

Victoria Falls at sunset

We've been writing quite a bit about our first week. Some may think a bit too much, you can talk to the Editor-in-Chief about that, but if you remember our post about Week 2, we promised more pictures. We will keep our promise (at least I will), but who knows what the EIC will decide to do.

Our idea is that if you have any questions about the pictures, where we were, what it is, anything at all, just ask, we'll answer. Deal? Deal! Alright!

Pictures of Victoria Falls may be found here:

Here's a preview:

Rainbow over Vic Falls

Resident baboons (we saw a lot of baboons, up close and personal)

Katy and Ryan before getting closer to the Falls (before crossing over to Knife's Edge, comfortably dry)

On Knife's Edge, in the "mist." Very wet.

It can't be that dangerous, can it?

Even though most of us now have two stamps for arriving in South Africa, we have not left the airport until now. We were looking forward to starting Week 2 off on the right foot with a relaxing evening in Johannesburg, but ...

Is Johannesburg really as dangerous as they say? We wouldn't know, we really didn't want to find out either since the only reason we even spent a night in Joburg was because of our flight schedule. We stayed out by the airport, better safe than sorry. Here are a few observations:

• Johannesburg feels like a European country, except more dangerous
• Business style hotels are the same wherever you are in the world, they all have some sort of continental breakfast or breakfast buffet in the morning
• I really really like hot showers but maybe not as much as Ryan

Even though we didn't make it into Johannesburg proper, maybe Joburg is as dangerous as they say, this is what we learned:

• our hotel was more securely guarded than the U.S. embassy in Lilongwe
• there are places where you can have your car equipped with flame-throwers to fend off would be carjackers
• no one takes cabs, to go out to restaurants, the restaurant will send a car to your hotel to pick you up and then return you to your hotel after dinner
• we went to the restaurant by the hotel and had to go through two doors, both manned by security

With all this in mind, we were stoked to be going out to dinner, looking forward to a nice meal:

a bottle of South African wine

and trying to get used to not having Lemon Squeezy and Cheese on Toast with us, it'll only be the three of us from here on out


For one extra photo go here: Johannesburg

Start of Week 2

How's everyone doing? If you've made it this far, thank you.

Our goal for Week 2 posts, less stories, more pictures, we promise.

Lilongwe Strikes Back!

Lilongwe must have a close relationship with Rumphi, maybe it didn't like the way we pre-judged Rumphi, we should've sent an apology to Lilongwe too, lesson learned. Either way, Lilongwe must've been upset at us. You'd have thought we were safely back in Lilongwe, said our good-byes with Moya and should have had a nice quiet night before flying out the next day. Boy, were we wrong.

On the bus, Dan mentioned receiving a message about an incident back at the house with his roommate and a Rasta front-man son of the landlord. Details not really important, we'll get back to that. Malawi wasn't going to let us go quietly:

After spending the entire day on the bus traveling back to Lilongwe, we were hungry so we decided to go to a restaurant for dinner that Dan had mentioned previously. We took a cab from the bus depot to the restaurant. The restaurant was not located in an area from which it would be easy to hail a cab, so we asked the cab driver to return in about an hour to drive us the rest of the way to the house. I don't think the cab driver understood what Dan was saying. Anyway, I don't remember what the specialty at the restaurant is but once we walked in the doors, the power went out, Lilongwe was laughing. (Fortunately, they had some food cooked, it was something).

We waited around awhile after dinner for the cab driver to return. He never did. So we made out on our own. On the way out to find a ride, Katy puts one foot in a gaping gutter and fell flat on her face bruising both knees and scraping up both hands pretty bad. Katy fought back tears.

Dan negotiated with the driver of a flat-bed truck who was parked next to an adjacent gas station to take us the rest of the way to the house. It worked out pretty well actually.

So this brings me back to the incident at the house while we were away. Like I said, details of what happened aren't too important, I really don't remember. The important part is that there was some sort of altercation and the guy from the VSO who was renting the house decided, without consulting Dan, to move everything out of the house, including all of the mattresses. Lucky for Dan, he had locked his door and there was still one twin mattress.

After all of that, we thought we would have to sleep on the linoleum floor without blankets or any other cushion for our last night in Malawi. Very compassionately, Noel, who worked at the house, lent us a foam mattress and blanket for the night for Katy, Ryan, and me. He insisted his family didn't use the mattress themselves, but I have my doubts. Thank you Noel!

Malawi had one more surprise in store for us, however: our flight from Lilongwe to Joburg. Someone wasn't feeling well on the flight before us, not feeling well at all, not feeling well at all and sitting in the last row. We were sitting in the 2nd to the last row. It didn't smell very good, like the smelly guy sitting on the bus but a little worse. (RS: They threw a blanket over it and sprayed some air freshener, but that was about it. Jon, Katy, and I were sitting as close to the mess as anyone on the plane could sit.)

Later Lilongwe.

Tail Between Our Legs

It's been such a long time since I've put together a post, I've forgotten where we left off, maybe someone will refresh my memory ...

Oh yes, that's right, we're still in Rumphi, we're still hours from Lilongwe, it's now Saturday and we need to get back for our Sunday flights. We're fine, we have the entire day ... what was that? Shoot, I forgot we don't have a vehicle.

So here we are, still in Rumphi, merely a couple hundred miles away from Lilongwe, we got up super early to start our day, we'll be fine. First leg, Rumphi to Mzuzu.

If anyone has been in a developing country, you've probably seen them, the small mini-vans that whiz around towns, packed to the gills (I had to look up the origin of this expression, amazingly, not in Wikipedia), yes, I know you've seen them before, I have too. We've all seen them but how many of us have actually been in one? Wow, I'm impressed. I've never been in one myself, not until this day.

Let me back up. The night before, we were discussing our options with how to return to Lilongwe. Since another rental was not an option, it was down to public transportation, either bus or even possibly renting out and entire mini-bus for our trip. What we decided to start was we had to at least get to Mzuzu, a slightly large city that has a bus depot and then figure out our options from there.

So here we are, with our bags bulging out the back, we pile into the bus, the 5 of us and 15 others for a total of 20. We were like clowns in a VW Bug. And I thought our prior sleeping arrangement were close quarters, at least it was only for an hour. Here's a look inside:


That was taken from the last row, me and Dan are sitting in the opposite facing seats, like the seats in the first couple rows of a Southwest flight, except much tighter.

We arrive in Mzuzu and are delighted to find that a bus to Lilongwe was still at the depot. The night before, we thought the bus would depart too early but we discover that much like traffic signals, bus schedules are suggestive too. The buses depart only when full and fortunately, it wasn't full but close enough that we didn't have to wait too long. About an hour later, we're on our way. Here we are in our seats, in the very rear of the bus:





Did I mention the engine was beneath our seats? It was rather warm but we did very well, just happy to be heading in the right direction. We met some people on the bus, played some cards and made fun of Ryan.

RS: Playing cards without a table:



7 hours later, we finally made it back to Lilongwe sans Hilux.

We did have to say good-bye to Moya. I don't know where we would've been if it wasn't for Moya.

Thank you Moya!

Moya and Daniel