Pilanesberg National Park - Photo Album

Victoria Falls - Photo Album

On the Road (Dar to Joburg) - Photo Album

Adventures with Jeff, Part 4

As is perhaps fitting, our time in Johannesburg was pretty evenly divided: it seemed like we were either spending time with great people and visiting beautiful sites OR we were trying out different combinations of getting lost, having car trouble, and narrowly avoiding death. I said “perhaps fitting” because all the South Africans I’ve met have been lovely people and their country is certainly impressive, but Joburg does have a bit of a reputation for crime and car jackings and violence and the like. In our case however, the car trouble was just that (car trouble, not car jacking) and had the near death encounters actually happened, they would have only involved animals ... or Jeff throttling me for being an overly anxious backseat driver :-P

Looking back, the trip from the airport to my friend’s apartment could have been quite a bit worse. Yes, we got pretty thoroughly lost a couple of times; and yes, the clutch on the rental car was rather finicky so we did manage to irritate quite a few impatient drivers at quite a few intersections and stoplights; and no, a 6-lane highway was not exactly the most ideal place for Jeff to have to adjust to driving on the opposite side of the road, BUT we did finally make it to the apartment (with the driver, passenger, and car intact) ... and weren’t even late for dinner! So, not the best first couple of hours ... but also not the worst. Being at the apartment, on the other hand, was unequivocally great. Not only was the apartment really comfortable, but it was really, really nice to get to see my friend and to meet her friends (who were actually the ones who lived in the apartment – they were generous enough to put up with 3 people crashing at their place at the same time).

The next day started off well – we drove my friend to her office and then stopped at a grocery store to put together a picnic lunch ... all without getting lost & only stalling out a handful of times! The not-getting-lost lucky streak ended there though – we got lost on our way to Maropeng (the visitors’ centre for the Cradle of Humankind) and on our way from there to the Sterkfontein Caves. We had a good time at both sites though – they were very well maintained and really interesting to learn about. After doing the tourist thing all afternoon, we headed back to the apartment for another fun evening – cooking dinner for our hosts, then “teach me to drive stick in the mall parking lot” class (more fun for me than for Jeff, I think!), then out to a neighborhood bar for a bit with the 3 girls before turning in for the night.

Bright and early the next morning, we were off again. This time, it was Jeff, my friend, and me, and we were on the road at 5am, hoping to reach Pilanesberg National Park by 7 or 8. Five hours (and several nonexistent and/or thoroughly misleading road signs) later, we finally made it to the park. And let me just say this upfront: in spite of those extra 3 hours on the road and in spite of everything that was going to happen later that day, it was definitely worth it. The park, which sits in the crater of an extinct volcano, was beautiful – full of wildlife and amazing views and pleasantly accessible (you could drive your own car through instead of having to go through a company or with a guide). The downside of that kind of accessibility, however, is that when your car breaks down in the middle of the reserve, hours away from a cell phone tower, you aren’t left with very many options. When plan A (trying to push the car to the closest intersection) failed, we moved on to considering plan B (leaving the car and hiking out). Thankfully, that plan got scrapped when we spotted a passing car and managed to hitch a ride to the visitors’ center (passing several rhinos, a number of other large animals, and (we were told later by a park ranger) a lion along the way ... not exactly ideal hiking companions!) By the time we eventually made it out of the park, we were so desperate to get back to Joburg that Jeff agreed to sit in the trunk of a shuttle that only had two empty passenger seats! That shuttle took us to the airport, where we picked up another rental car and then put the proverbial icing on the cake of a very long day by getting lost once again on the way back to the apartment.

Our last day in Joburg was comparatively tame – we drove my friend to her office again, went back to the apartment to pack our bags, hardly got lost at all on the way to the airport, and made it through customs & security with plenty of time to spare. It was a great trip – more adventures that I’d even hoped for - and while I was sorry it was ending, after a year abroad I was also more than ready to come home :-)

Adventures with Jeff, Part 3

My pictures don’t even begin to do the Zambian side of the falls justice, but suffice to say Victoria Falls were STUNNING!

Next up, South Africa!

Adventures with Jeff, Part 2

Dar es Salaam was pretty much the same as always – hot, chock full of people & cars, noisy, lively, and (in its own way) lovely. Dar never gets old for me – as hectic as it is, I still think it’s a great city ... and it was especially fun to get a chance to show Jeff around. Granted, when I say “show Jeff around,” I really mean “drag Jeff around on all the errands I had to run.” Apart from the errands, we did manage to have some fun though – we caught the tail end of the July 4^th fireworks show at the embassy (where I was reminded once again of how small the world is ... not only did we meet up (as planned) with the Princeton in Dar crew, but we also met from students from Carnegie Mellon University AND ran into my good friend from the first Princeton in Dar session back in 2007!)

After several days of running errands, meeting up with friends, tying up loose ends at the office, and sitting in some truly horrendous traffic, we were off! Or at least, we thought we were off (notice a pattern???) ... TAZARA had other plans for us – plans we didn’t discover until we arrived at the train station Tuesday afternoon. A 24 hour delay was (as they say in TZ) a bit of a spanner in the works, but after a year of traveling around East Africa, they would have had to throw the entire toolbox into the works before I ran out of backup plans :-) In this case, our luck held and the train actually did leave the next day (and more or less on time, too!) So Wednesday afternoon found us rather comfortably settled into our own little compartment, armed with a small traveler’s arsenal of books, toilet paper, and canned vegetable curry. The 24 hour delay notwithstanding, the TAZARA train turned out to be a pretty neat way to travel. The train itself was a little worse for the wear (the days when its faucets actually dispensed water were certainly loooooong gone), but it was pretty comfortable, the scenery was beautiful, and we had lots of fun getting to know some of our fellow passengers.

A quick two days later, we disembarked at Kapiri Mposhi, Zambia and were pleasantly surprised to discover that the train to Livingstone was due to leave in just a few hours. In other words, the delayed departure had actually worked in our favor – we left Dar 24 hours late but still ended up getting to Livingstone on schedule (or we would have made it on time if the train hadn’t broken down for several hours in Choma ... close enough to being on schedule per African time, though!) This second train wasn’t nearly as nice as the first – no compartments, no bunks, no blankets, and not nearly as much speed. In fact, we found out later that we’d opted for a 30+ hour train ride over a 9 hour bus ride! Still, the scenery was great, and we were in good company (two guys we’d met on the TAZARA train ended up joining us, so we had quite the little traveling gang).

Next up, Victoria Falls!

Pictures (from top): the TAZARA train making its way through a mountain range in Southeastern Tanzania; goofing around with Nuru & Emmi (2 little girls from the neighboring compartment); the view from the TAZARA train; sunset from the Zambian Railways train