Acacia Africa Overland Truck Tour: The Middle & The End

Well, folks, my overland truck tour has officially come to and end as of a few hours ago. I'm absolutely devastated as this has been one of the very best experiences of my entire life, but I am so grateful that it happened at all. From the activities, to the traveling, to the group, this was a stellar experience from beginning to end. I honestly cannot stop saying "I can believe this/that happened!" We did so much and were so lucky and I am very glad to be able to share it with you all at last!

For brevity and organization's sake, I'll maintain the format of my previous post and hit the highlights in bullets:

• A much nicer township tour than the one in Cape Town in Mondesa township outside of Swakopmund, Namibia (and Kelly even made it happen when I was going to be the only client and the company's policy was to cancel);
• A horseback ride across the "moonscape" of the Namib Desert;
• A bush walk through Spitzkoppe, including a look at ancient rock paintings made by the Nama People thousands of years ago;
• A gorgeous sunset and sleeping on the bare rocks at Spitzkoppe under a cloudy sky after seeing 8 seriously dangerous scorpions scuttling around the campsite;
• A "bush fireworks" demonstration involving tossing flouride stones into the fire and watching them pop and glow neon blue;
• Sidebar: did you know that a UV light will make scorpions appear like white under a black light??? I didn't, but it does, and it looked like something out of a creepy sci-fi movie;

Spitzkoppe sunset with the truck, White Nile, and our campfire circle in the foreground.

• Close-up and personal interactions and photo ops with "rescued" cheetahs (the quotation marks are due to some questions about the nature of the organizations acquisition of these particular cheetahs, but from a personal perspective, it was amazing to be able to get so close to them);

Cheetah cuddles.

• An absolutely mind-blowing game drive in Etosha National Park in Namibia, chock full of animals we weren't supposed to see at all given that it's the wet season and, therefore, the wrong season for game viewing;
• (The wet season is the "wrong" season because water is plentiful, so animals don't have to congregate at water holes, making it easier to find them. Also, the vegetation is thicker during the rains, so it makes spotting the animals that are around that much harder.)
• We saw 20+ lions spread across four different sightings, elephants, ostriches, wildebeest, gemsbok (pronounced "hemsbock"), hartebeest (a kind of antelope whose horns look kind of like a heart), masses of zebra, springbok, and kudu;

Wild lion papa in Etosha!

• Two awe inspiring evenings at our campsite's floodlit water hole watching dozens of animals come to drink, including 2 elephants, several giraffe (which are hilarious to watch drinking), and 8 remarkably rare black rhino in a single night (it was so special that I cried);

Two black rhino wading into the watering hole to drink. (Not bad for no tripod, hey?)

• Seeing jackal running through the campsite, searching for trashcans to raid;
• A goofy perspective photo withe the entire tour group on the salt pans in Etosha;

nom nom nom

• A border crossing into Botswana and away from the gravel roads of Namibia, at last;
• Another group-cementing volleyball game (which my team won - DUH);
• A scenic flight over the Okavanga Delta, an inland river delta in Botswana, from which we could see amazing scenery dotted with elephants, hippos, buffalo, and antelope;

Delta views with game trails crisscrossing the water.

• A night at a remote camp in the delta only accessible by four wheel drive truck and dug out canoes called makoro;
• A refreshing dip in a "safe" swimming hole with no hippos (or so they told us);
• One of our guides, Phil, chose this moment to go under the murky water and swim between me and Zach, brushing up against our legs, leading us to believe something else was in the water with us (I thought Zach was messing with me and Zach thought we were all going to die);
• Two game walks through the delta, during which we came upon a buffalo that almost charged us (and they don't mock charge, they just destroy you) and a couple elephant who were trying to sniff out what we were and whether we were a threat;
• Hours of the single most beautiful thunder and lightning storm I've ever seen, without a single drop of rain falling directly over our camp;

A view from our campsite of the thunderstorm rolling by after returning from the evening game walk.

• A performance of traditional song and dance by our Botswanan campsite crew around the campfire;
• Spotting a outrageously rare pack of wild/painted dogs on the side of the road (unfortunately, one had been hit by a car);
• Our driver, being from South Africa and having driven for Acacia for years had never seen them before in the wild. THAT'S HOW RARE THEY ARE;
• A night's stay at Elephant Sands, a campsite that is regularly leveled by elephants in the dry season when they are trying to get the water from the pipes/swimming pool;
• The bathroom block nearest our campsite was still torn up from this past year when the elephants tore it up;
• Just as I was gathering my things in the truck to go take a shower in said bathroom block, an elephant walked right in front of us and carried on toward the water hole near the campsite's bar and swimming pool where it was joined by several others;
• A bull elephant nearly charged some of my fellow travelers at the same bathroom block minutes later and actually mock charged us on the bar patio (he was obviously cranky from the start, but also some people are stupid/have a death wish and continued to talk at full volume and take flash photography 20ft from a wild bull elephant). 'Twas exhilarating and terrifying;
• A night of stargazing in near complete darkness in remote Botswana, learning all about the summer stars in the southern hemisphere;
• An optional game drive into Chobe National Park, which only three of us opted in for, and which everybody else totally missed out on (suckers!);
• We weren't even two minutes down the road from our campsite on our way to the park before we saw an entire herd of elephant crossing the road;
• Inside the park we saw impala (zillions of them), waterbuck (an antelope that has a white ring around it's butt that looks like it sat on a toilet seat with wet paint), fish eagle, kudu, warthog, buffalo, giraffe, hippo, baboons, and LOADS of elephants, some of which were very close to our truck (as in maybe 15ft away at one point), eating, drinking, and wallowing in mud;
• We also learned the story of an island in the middle of the Chobe river that has the Botswanan flag flying over it: apparently both Botswana and Namibia wanted it, but after years in court, they determined that the deepest part of the river, which is the border between the two countries at that point, was between Namibia and the island, so it was given to Botswana;
• The elephants in the park apparently will often spend the day time on the Namibian side of the river and cross back into Chobe Park and Botswana before the sun sets because they know that poaching is less policed in Namibia and they are more protected in the national park (elephants are pretty smart);

One of 10,000 photos taken of Chobe National Park elephants that day.

• A "sunset game cruise" along the Chobe River with the rest of our tour group that rapidly devolved into a booze cruise as we were encouraged to bring our own drinks, then rain began pouring down over our poorly sheltered boat, leading the animals to retreat into the trees or underwater;
• There was another group from another overland truck company on this tour who were into our shenanigans at first, but eventually congregated at the stern of the boat looking on at us in intimidated silence (we later learned it was the group's very first night together);
• It was also on this cruise that it was suggested that two on our tour who had formed a little vacation romance should get married on our last night together (to be continued . . . );
• A border crossing into Zambia;
• A rainy visit to the Zambian side of Victoria Falls, where approximately 30% of the falls lie (this was the side I missed the last time I was at the falls and there was also quite a bit more water this time around);
• I had so much fun running around to all the viewpoints and getting absolutely soaking wet. I felt like a little kid playing in the rain;

A soaking wet welcome to Zambia's Victoria Falls!

• My very first go at whitewater rafting on the world-renowned Zambezi River, the river making up Victoria Falls and the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe (buckle up, because I'm going to dedicate some space to describing this experience in great detail);
• I was hesitant to try this activity here, but I figured since I had done most everything else adrenalin-wise that was available in the area the last time I visited the Falls, I might as well. The rainy season meant that the craziest rapids were too full with water to be able to raft anymore, so we started at rapid 7b and went all the way down to rapid 25;
• We had to hike down into the gorge to begin our rafting adventure and there ended up being six folks from my tour group who went together in one boat along with another guy from Germany and our guide;
• Rapids are classified based on several factors to help communicate their danger and difficulty. My understanding is that raftable rapids are basically on a scale from 1 to 6, with 6 being off limits to commercial rafting. Our very first rapid was a class 4, which as been described as "Long, difficult rapids with constricted passages that often require complex maneuvering in turbulent water. The course may be hard to determine and scouting is often necessary." On this very first rapid . . . we flipped. On the first stretch of the rapid. We were already in the braced position as per our guide's instructions  so that meant that we were crouched on the bottom of the boat, holding onto the safety line (AKA the "oh shit" line) that goes around the boat, so we were in the best position possible, but still incredibly vulnerable. We flipped from my side of the boat, meaning I went flying backwards and plunged into the water with the boat crashing down on top of me. I don't remember a lot of details about it anymore, but I do remember that I legitimately believed I might drown at one point when my helmet got caught under the boat underwater, I couldn't see because the boat was between me and the direction we were traveling and my contacts were all over the place, I swallowed approximately half the Zambezi, I lost my paddle about halfway down the rapid, and it lasted FOREVER before we got to the end of the rapid and the guide could right the boat and get us all back in. IT. SUCKED. Others on the trip said later that they thought it was fun. I call bullshit. It was NOT fun. I laughed about it after because we all survived and ya gotta release the tension somehow, but we just as easily could not have survived and I don't find that fun. Nature, and water in particular, are a force unlike any other and I have a tremendous and healthy respect for it's power. Mercifully, the rest of the day went better and just after that flip we had a chance to get out and walk along the bank of the river to miss a class 6 rapid, which meant I could stand up, breath, be grateful, and decide how I wanted to continue;
• I chose to stay in the boat with my team and, mercifully, the rest of the rapids went really well and I enjoyed the experience immensely thereafter. We even got to swim down some of the class 2 rapids without the boat (don't worry, we had awesome lifejackets and helmets on)! And we only saw four teenie tiny baby crocodiles on the banks of the river and not IN the river with us throughout the course of the day;
  
  

  

  Our boat actually making it over a rapid and having fun/not drowning!

• An hour and a half stuck in a cable car dangling over the Zambezi gorge after whitewater rafting;
• So, funny story, after surviving and ultimately enjoying the whitewater rafting experience, the universe threw us one last curveball for the day. I mentioned earlier that we hiked down the gorge to the river at the start of the day. Thankfully, or so we thought at the time, they offer a cable car that can get you out of the gorge at the end of the day when you're dead tired from paddling and nearly drowning all day. About halfway up, our cable car suddenly stalled. Everyone looked around at one another and up to the station on the edge of the gorge above us. I legitimately thought they were messing with us as there had been playful games like that all day. The guides, however, did not look playful. Everyone was nervous. In an ultimately hilarious move, one of the guides began putting his helmet and lifejacket back on while the rest of us asked if it was also a parachute. Luckily, we had radio contact with the station and a satellite phone on board (and even a harness and rope, might that be necessary). Perhaps even MORE luckily, the group of people was among the best for whom I could have hoped to be trapped with in a tiny box hanging over a considerable drop. Nobody panicked, everybody remained calm, we joked and sang together, and even invented a clever bathroom solution (that's going to stay between me and the others in the cable car that day). The short version of the story is that the engineer at the top noticed water leaking into the generator and, as a precaution, turned everything off. After that, they needed to acquire fuel for the backup generator and get the only guy in the world who has the code to release the emergency brakes to get down there. All told, it could have been a LOT worse and we could have been trapped there for much longer, or else in much more peril. Most of all, however, it was a true "this is Africa" or "TIA" moment of pretty epic proportions;

Happy cable car-imprisoned rafters, finally being pulled up to safety at the top of the gorge after an hour and a half of dangling and singing!

• After finally returning to camp and scarfing our included "lunch" from the rafting trip at about 4pm, we joined the rest of our tour group for a booze cruise on the Zambezi as our last night blowout;
• Some were flying home, some were continuing north to end their tours in Tanzania or Kenya, and others were joining my tour group that would head down to Johannesburg. We were never all going to be together again.
• Remember that couple I mentioned that we decided should get married on the booze cruise on our last night together? Welp, there happened to be an actual minister on board . . . and he married them! To be fair, their vows said that they would spend "20% of their lives together" and they never signed anything, but the minister said that you didn't need to sign anything in Zambia, Tanzania, or Kenya, so congratulations to the happy couple (in those three countries)! What a ridiculous night;
• I'll also take this opportunity to mention a drinking game that the Aussies who taught it to us maintain is not a game at all, in fact, but is a lifestyle. This lifestyle was embraced and maintained by our group 24 hours a day for the entire length of the tour and led to some pretty silly moments. If you'd like to learn more about Buffalo, you can read all about it in my forthcoming article deconstructing the sociological and group psychological processes involved when it is published upon my return to the States. (Or you could just ask me.)
• A tearful goodbye as our truck headed for Johannesburg pulled out of the Livingstone campsite the following morning (nearly every single person from our tour made it up to say goodbye for our 7am departure after a late night the night before). It was beautiful;
• A border crossing into Zimbabwe (back after just over four years!);
• While waiting for our Zimbabwean visas, we were lounging on the truck with the windows open to keep it from getting too hot. Suddenly, a baboon leapt into the truck from the roof of the building, snatched a box of crackers and jumped back out. Our screams could be heard for miles. (We weren't the only ones, though! Another woman was chased by a baboon who wanted whatever she had in a plastic bag and I saw the same baboon steal three ears of corn from three different vehicles while we were waiting there. Baboons are horrifying.);
• A game drive through Hwange National Park that was nearly underwhelming until we saw lions and elephants on our way out of the park and was also incredibly informative;
• A night drive along the road with our guide from the day's game drive in the park, just to see what we might find along the road in the dark;
• We spent some time at a water hole at a nearby fancy hotel where we saw elephant and buffalo and heard a chorus of champagne frogs whose calls sound like bubbles popping;
• On the drive back, we spotted two elephant on the road up ahead. Suddenly, our guide, Jordan, turns off the spotlight, the headlights, even the parking lights on the vehicle and starts ACCELERATING TOWARD THE ELEPHANTS IN THE PITCH BLACK NIGHT!!! He threw the parking lights back on just in time to narrowly miss one of the elephants by about 4ft off the front bumper. He stopped and kept all the lights off. We could hear the elephants bellowing and roaring in the dark around us. Jordan turned the spot back on in time to watch one of the two elephants mock charge us. Jordan yelled back at him "NO!" fThe two we saw were young (thank God), but then we noticed noises coming from all around us and Jordan spotted other elephants on either side of the road. Yep. We were stopped in the middle of a herd and we couldn't drive away because starting the engine would be seen as a sign of aggression and elephants are really freaking fast and really freaking smart. So, we waited it out. Eventually, they calmed down and moved off a bit and we made it back to camp all in one piece. It was definitely a risk, but it sure was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for those of us who don't live and work in a Zimbabwean National Park;
• We're also pretty sure we saw the exact same herd of elephants the next morning on the same road, only this time we didn't piss them off;

Proof of who is REALLY in charge on Zimbabwean roads.

• A surreal return visit to Antelope Park where I had volunteered with the lion conservation project four years ago;
• I walked with lions, interacted with cubs, visited the release pride, and went on a night encounter where the lions made a kill! I also got to see some of the people I'd worked so closely with four years ago, particularly the lion handlers. It felt so incredible to be back there and, as a friend described it, like visiting family.
• That friend is someone I met four years ago while we were both volunteers but who is now running the research project with the Ngamo pride of lions that was released into their semi-wild enclosure just before we arrived back then. It was such a privilege to go out to the pride with her in the research truck, check in on the lions, catch up on our lives over the last few years, and talk about all the changes to Antelope Park;
• We were there for less than 24 hours and there simply wasn't enough time to do everything I wanted to do. My only regret is that I never got a chance to go to the Breeding Program and visit the cubs, now fully grown lions, that I walked and worked with four years ago. But I got to hear all about them and it was still a magical visit;

Oh, you thought I got enough of these pictures four years ago? WRONG! No such thing as "enough."

• A night at a campsite on the Zim side of the border with South Africa where, just as we were all gone to bed, we heard shouting three gunshots from the farm next-door, learning in the morning that he was killing a snake . . . . . . . . ;
• A final border crossing back into South Africa;
• Another absolutely fantastic, interactive, and fun cultural performance of song and dance from the many different tribes originating in South Africa;
• An all-day game drive through the world-famous Kruger National Park, one of the few big-ticket items I felt like I missed out on the last time I was in South Africa;
• We started SUPER early, leaving the campsite at 5:30am, ensuring that we had our best shot at seeing some of the cats in the park, as they get lazier and harder to spot as the day warms up;
• By 7:45am we had seen elephant, buffalo, lion, and white rhino, making up four of the Big 5. The other animal in the Big 5 is a leopard, but they are incredibly difficult to spot at the very best of times and, unfortunately, we were never lucky enough to see one;
• We also saw a pack of wild dogs or painted dogs AGAIN that day!!! There are only 120 in the entire park, which at 7,500+ square miles is one of the largest in Africa, and we saw nine of them. Up close. It was incredible;

White rhino buddies close to the truck.

A wild dog up close and personal! Aren't their coats gorgeous?

• The final day of our tour was a driving day to get us from Kruger down to our accommodation in Johannesburg. It was relaxed, easy, and I have spent the last two days doing very little and sleeping a very lot.

As you can see, it's been a jam-packed month on this trip. I genuinely cannot believe everything that has happened, everything that I have had the privilege to do and see, the people I've met and who have become my friends, and the tremendous amount of luck and love that made it all possible. I am truly humbled and completely grateful and hope that my embarrassingly terrible memory will manage somehow to cling to every little detail of this trip for the rest of my life.

From here, I begin to switch gears into my time at my internship at Botshabelo Community Development Trust. I'll be picked up in a couple of hours to head that way and I'm so glad to have had the opportunity to rest and recuperate from the overland truck tour before making my way out there. I feel like I've been able to reorient my brain from travel mode to some version of school and work mode and I am ready to get this next adventure started. It's going to be tough and challenging and fulfilling and a true growing experience. I'm just eager to see what it all actually looks like. Wish me luck!

If you managed to actually read this entire post, I congratulate you. If you skipped to the end because oh-my-god-Jane-I-have-a-life-too, I completely understand. Thanks for reading any part of this. It really means a lot to me.

Until next time!