Journal of a nomad through Vasteland

July 22nd

Hello South Africa! 

We arrived last night, rented a car, drove to an apartment that had heat.  It is inside an enclosure that has a wall with glass on top of it and on the gate it is written Armed Response. All the buildings have the same gated system, with inter phone, on which the right of admission is reserved. All these things make me feel like I am not safe outside. And I am anxious, because of what I read in Mandela’s book “Long Road to Freedom” and of my experience of social unrest, when the communist rule in Romania was overthrown. Different arguments arise in my mind “The things happened almost twenty years ago, they had all the time to calm down!” “Not when you grow up in apartheid, in a segregated society!” “You are being paranoid and judging. Just wait and see.”

This morning we left for Cradle of Humankind, a World Heritage Monument, drove around, we lost our way. There it was interesting, an exhibition about our scientific ancestors with life size replicas, telling us how they hunted, what tools and so on.



 In this area they found many specimens of Australopithecus Africanus (there are other kinds) and some of them are still excavating. It was different from other museums because of the focus on how we evolved, presenting along the way our mistakes too, in the past and in the present.(the extermination of different species, garbage that takes ages to reintegrate in nature, the high consume of water). And it asked questions.





 We saw some fossils and before leaving we saw Nelson Mandela’s handprints and took turns trying them.

We drove toward Kruger on very good highways. From time to time I saw signs: Hijack Area, do not stop. The vegetation is burned, the ground is black and the air has smoke. Why?  People walk on the side of the highway, or cross it. There are holes in the fence along the highway, cars stop to take or drop off people, they hitchhike. It is like they didn’t get used to the highway system.

We stop for groceries.

July 23-28

Kruger Park again. It feels so good to be inside, to feel safe.

 We move around different camps, looking at their small museums about animals, drive for hours, looking at the animals. 

The differences between the white (on the right) and the black (on the left) rhino. Their horns could reach 1.5 and 1.3 m at the end of their lifespan.

We bought a book with maps and it has pictures of the many animals and birds (so many!). We’re ticking them as we see them (the one that spotted it has the honor). 

Klipspringer, a very small antelope, it stands on the tip of its toes.

Lilac breasted roller

The cleaning crew

I don't remember it's name

One day we saw lions, two in one area and four in another. They already had their meal, sitting with their paws in the air and just looking mildly interested at the impalas trying to approach the waterhole. 

The impala is on the right and the lionesses on the left, watching each other over the waterhole.

On a different day we took a secondary road but it was blocked by a buffalo herd that was crossing the street. The males confronted us, the females postured themselves in front of their calves then, seeing that we are not moving, continued to graze. We were running late and realized that we risk having the gates of the camp closed on us waiting for the buffaloes, so we turn back. A bull giraffe is teaching a little one to fight in the middle of the road. He charges us when we try to approach. Eventually we honk, and that scares them away (it is against the rules). In our rush we almost pass a leopard. We follow him for 12 minutes, until we can’t see him anymore.



 A mile before the camp we see a white rhinoceros. The next day we won’t see any major animal, just impalas, zebras, elephants and birds. Talking about birds, there are people here who have huge lenses, as big as a violin (I think they need a special luggage for it). They make me feel inadequate. But that small voice in my head answers that they are totally unprepared for a trip around the world, so there!

Fish eagles, calling right before flying.

On the last day we started a line! Every time we saw a car stopped we would slow down to see what they are looking at. If the animal stayed long enough and it was of a major interest (like lion, leopard) we would find a spot to have a better look. And others would do the same thing, making a jam. This time we were the first to spot a cheetah and gazed at it for 5 minutes all by ourselves. 

My favorite feline, cheetah.

Then another car came, and another one, then a whole morning tour bus, but we had the best view! The cheetah lied on one side and slept with his head up, yawning from time to time. He ignored us, then he decided to lye down and we couldn’t see it from the grass. We left, visited something else, and after an hour we returned. He was still there, and the cars, but we really had to leave.

At the backpackers hotel where we’re sleeping, Alicia speaks Afrikaans, a language derived from Old Dutch and she taught me how to say Hello— Goee dag (hue-eh dah), Thank you—Dankie (done-key) and Good bye— Totsiens (taught-tsins).

We finally finish the malaria prevention! For more then 40 days we took doxycycline two times a day. 

July 29- Aug 2

We drive through villages and towns with a normal aspect, no walls with glass on them. The most prominent building is the Funeral Home. We pass plantations of bananas, bagged already in blue sacks (to protect them from baboons). 



Also evergreens and eucalyptus, for cutting. The plots alternate new plantation, growing, waiting to be cut, already cut. 

We’re in St. Lucia, a small town on the East Coast. We rent an apartment with three bedrooms and watch the Olympic Games. We cheer for every Romanian or US contestant, but in the same time we are happy for the Australian victory, or for the South African one or for every country that we visited. We spend some time catching up with the blog, and in general with pictures, back-up. The girls are working for our trip presentation at the camp.

We visit the wetlands and see some hippopotamuses laying in the sand, the sea rolling waves behind them.



 We go to Cape Vidal where we find a community of people, fishing. This is not my sport and I am trying to understand it. There are at least a fifty men, 30 boys and two women on a windy and chilly shore, totally absorbed by their activity. They must like it!

Aug 3rd

Shakaland was the set where they filmed in 1984 a series about Shaka, one of the great Zulu kings. The movie had a great impact and they transformed the place in a touristic attraction. We watch a very shortened version of the movie, only 12 minutes (instead of 9 hours) in which we found out that he was not welcomed in his father’s house, joined a rival tribe, advanced in rank and at the death of his father he went to claim the throne. He invented a new weapon, a cross between a short spear and a sword, very good at slain people! He trained his people to fight as a group, reinventing Roman methods. He even defeated the British army, he was that good (they got him eventually, his weapon was no match against bullets).

We got to move around, guided by Muso. He asked us where are we coming from. Romania. What is the main language there? Romanian. I could laugh at his question, but in South Africa there are 11 official languages. He explained many things about customs of old times, how they are trying to keep their culture alive through the new ones and I wonder what chances they have. 

Musa explaining the compound.

To marry, a man has to pay 11 cows (22 if she is a princess, 16 if she’s the daughter of the chief, 8 if she was already married once and had a child). He sends a love letter, made of beads.



 If she accepts him, she will give him a white bead necklace. If she doesn’t, she sends back a beaded letter with black in it. He can have more wives if he chooses so, but he has to give them their own house and sometimes their own kitchen. He doesn’t live with them, but in his hut. He visits his wives. The children start helping around since they start walking and when they are 16 years old, they move in yet another hut, with older brothers or sisters (who leave the compound only if they get married). In the middle of the compound there is the cattle ground with a lone pole (for milking the cows) and a dung hidden underground cellar, for food storage (so the enemies could not poison the food). The wife has to wear a red circular hat all the time, she can’t take it of when she sleeps, so she rests her head on a wooden little bench (these hard things to sleep on I found them at the Egyptians, Chinese... I wonder if it’s healthier or just another method of insuring short sleep and long working hours?) She also has to wear a pleated skirt, made from cow leather, that is heavy, so she can’t run away. Her life is revolving around her house. She can’t go to fetch water from the river, with that hat on, so she sends her daughter. 

The water jug has that kind of mouth to keep the water in.

She cooks, washes, sews, makes pots out of clay, gives birth to children and takes care of them. The man makes shields out of hides, learns to fight and to hunt.

We move from one station to another, and I count 20 people who bring this village to life, here making a pot, there making a shield. We are offered in a gourd local beer, a fermented sorghum and maize drink. It had a brownish purplish color, a pungent smell, and a slightly alcoholic and sour taste. 

After washing the sieve (that brown braided thing) with water, the beer is sieved and then served from the right bowl. 

We were given a break to buy some of the beaded jewelry, but I chose to talk with Musa and ask him how to say Hello—Sawubona (sah-woo-bone-ah). The Thank you is different if it is just one person Ngiyabonga (hard sound ge-ah-bone-gah) or many Siyabonga (see-ah-bone-gah). Saying Good bye depends on if your leaving you say: “Stay well” Salakahle (sah-lah-kah-leh) or if someone else is leaving you say: “Go well” Hambakahle (hum-bah-kah-leh).

 After the break we went into the Grandfather’s House, (which is the most important house in the compound, because they gather there for the worshiping of their ancestors or for meetings) to see some dancing. Musa made a sign showing us to follow the warriors who came singing and entered the hut, but we told him “Men first” sign that we payed attention to his explanations. He laughed and entered first, followed by all the men in our party, who set themselves on the right side, and after that we, the women, entered and sat ourselves on the left. The king occupied his throne, and three wives sat around him, some men went at the higher level, where they started beating huge drums, while others gathered and danced.



 The dance followed the drums, with vigorous movements of the body, and they all knew which way to turn and especially when, but what remained with me was a powerful pawing of the air with their right foot. It seemed very important to stomp that foot from as high as possible and after three of these they would fall backwards on all four, like they have stumbled on something more powerful and frightening. The women danced too, in the same style, and all sang and clapped and were full of energy. I didn’t have time to ask if there was a ranking in the way they were wearing the skins or in the decoration of their body. After that it was a collection and the tour ended with us at the dinner place.

It was a buffet style with cold meat and salad for appetizers, and traditional hot food. While I was serving myself one spoon from each, the woman told me in a low voice: “Did you see that man? He is the manager of this place. He asked where is mama Dina, because he didn’t see her, and she is gone and cold for six months now!” I presume she was unhappy with this manager who seemed to know his people, but didn’t work close enough with them. The food was good, some of them we have them in Romania, but with different spices. And for dessert they had crumbled apple pie with warm custard and fresh whipped cream! Mmmmm.

For the next three nights we’ll all sleep in the same room at the Backpackers and we have the possibility of self catering. We also have an electric heater, it is cold in the night time, as we are in the mountains.

The Big, Small, Little and the Dascalus

Getting to Africa is a big step in our journey, it is the 9th month and a whole new continent. We are on our way to Madagascar but because we arrived Sunday and the only plane tickets to the island were on Saturday, leaving us with 6 nights and 5 days, we decided to go to Kruger national park. A brilliant choice.

Cheetah

In Kruger, having only three days to see all we can, we look around
for the evasive cats, we start at the north where there are fewer animals and fewer tourists. Fewer animals means it is harder to see what you want, but when there are less tourists that means that if you do find the animal then you actually get to see it (this will be explained later in the blog post). The main attraction here is the big 5, Lions, Leopards, Elephants, African buffalo, and last but not least the Rhino. There are two types of rhinos, the more common white rhino, which is slightly bigger and likes more open places, and the black rhino, the one that is actually rare due to overhunting for the horn - people believed it has magical properties.
Now there are little 5 i.e. Ant lion, leopard tortoise. The small 5,which are the baby big five. I think the leopard baby is the cutest. I have only seen them in post cards sadly. Then the Dascalu 5, Mihai, Ileana Ruxandra, Maria, Ileana lily, Ioan.
Now this park is 70-90% luck, you have to be in the right place and right time when the animal decides to cross the road or walk next to it. All the camps have boards about where people saw the big 5 (except Rhinos so they won't be hunted) today, and yesterday. But that might be four hours old and the animal might have left in the direction of no road meets.

We look and look for anything, the first thing you should see in Kruger are Impala, a book we took says 135,000 impala in Kruger, other resources say over 200,000. We get to the northernmost camp "Punda Maria" I don't remember what we saw on which day but as I remember we didn't see much except a yellow billed hornbill, it looked exotic then but it was quite common in Kruger. At the camp we buy adapters for the plug of South Africa, really different from anything else we encountered. We sit around for the remainder of that day, we will wake up early to go to some ruins in a guided tour.
We didn't see much on the tour; some old African buffalo, expelled from the group, they just want to stay next to water, no more moving with the herd for them. They also do not like the voice of humans. We saw a couple more animals. A thing I have noticed with tours made for animals is that if you don't find many animals, they will start explaining about the trees and the plants.
Guides around the world for almost all subjects love this line "this is an eucalyptus" not all of them, but usually if we walk or drive past they will say this line, though I still have to find out why it is so great the eucalyptus.
We arrived at the ruins. This being our first full day here all animals are very new, the guides take their guns and scout ahead for any dangerous animals which might be lurking around. There are none, we don't know if that is bad or good. If we see one we are all happy, but we don't want them to be shot if worst comes to worst. I would be very happy to see one Lion/leopard/Cheetah instead of the ruins.

All there is around the area is some leopard scat. So we advance up the trail, they tell us all about the culture, answer questions etc. we are near some baobab trees, I wanted to climb one. Unlike the other blog posts, what really happened is I asked permission to climb it, I spotted a hole in the center and said so, only once I got down did they tell me leopards like to hide their young inside trees. It made me wish I didn't just glance inside it. All was well, on the way back we spotted some elephants I did the best to get some good pictures.

We drove around for the next 2 days. Eyes getting sore looking at a bush, wait that bush is a leopard!!!! Whoops no sorry that was a rock, glad I didn't say anything. A Lion!!!!!!! Wait just a tree trunk. Now you might think its us going crazy, but actually that bush leopard had a rock behind it giving it the appearance of spots, and that lion trunk looked just like a lion sitting down, full of dust, giving it a more yellowish color. But when you see the real thing it's much different, it stands out nothing like a bush or a trunk (though the similarities were quite amazing).
Just on our last day, seeing no carnivore, we looked and looked, not too far from the exit. Only a couple more kilometers, what's that?! Breaks come into action (we can only go 50 km/h), a small spotted genet crosses our path! Everyone gets excited, pictures are taken. We feel more accomplished, we talk about seeing this carnivore they don't have tours to see, but of course they have tours to see the lion and leopard. 

Now even fewer kilometers to go a leopard crosses our path. The camera clicks the camera is passed on. The leopard turns, looks at dad then walks on the side of us and disappears into the grass. The whole family is crazy about seeing a leopard :D I felt as if my family was much happier than I was, at that time I felt as I was missing out on the good part of seeing a leopard, but now I think it was just because I was tired and a bit mad. (Most likely from the fact that when a song that I really liked came on my sisters would want to skip it and my mom in control of the music would listen to them as she also wanted to skip the song. But when a song came on that I wanted to skip NOOOOOOO!!!!!!! Comes the deafening scream from my sisters. And they would of course sing to the whole song.)

My sisters (when no animal is present) look on the window shortly before losing interest, they would look, then start reading, or writing. What interests them. Ileana likes listening to music and looking out the window, but if you start thinking about other stuff you start to zone out. Things pass you by and you don't realize, I know as this happened once or twice to me.
Even if she was looking for the animals and concentrating I wouldn't trust her, except with a predator. Real quotes "oh, I saw that bird but I didn't want us to stop" and later in another park Mom: "Look a rhino!" Ileana: "You didn't see it?" Mom and Dad: "well why didn't you say anything?" Ileana: "my mouth was full!" (we were eating apples) after we left the rhino I said okay my mouth is full, I took a Big bite from my apple and said "HMMM, MMMM! IT'S A RHINO!" dad stopped the car just in case I was serious, but I wasn't - we all had a good laugh.

But now we leave Kruger, we all decide we want to come back. So a month later we came for 8 days with astounding better luck.

We see all sorts of animals, but as I am not sure what happened on which day. On one day we cross a bridge, we are taking pictures at some kingfishers and then a car comes up, rolls down the window and says "there are some lions up the road." It was almost nonchalant. We started the engine, got to where the lions were. We couldn't see anything, we looked, but no lions. Cars were all around so they had to be there, but we couldn't see anything. We waited our turn and some people left and then we had the best spot. We then saw the lionesses by straining to see through the bushes. We waited, saw them playing with the flys, then one lioness would get up, and sit down. Then the second one got up and started to leave, and the first one after a while also got up and followed the second one, our patience was rewarded. We got to see the lionesses walk away, rather than just the tail.

Later that day we saw some rhinos (white) and on the other side of the car some of the smallest birds I have seen. Not much farther up there was a far away water hole even farther, looking hard through binoculars, we saw four more lionesses, hiding in the shade. Some impalas were walking very slowly to drink then would run a bit away. One very thirsty impala wouldn't run away completely. It would go, come back, go, comeback, go and finally a new team of impalas came and some would watch and the rest would drink. It was a nice show but it was getting late. And my sisters were impatient so we went to our camp.

Next day, we took a longer road to our next camp, after half the way there, we got blocked by a huge herd of African buffaloes. It didn't look like they were in any hurry. A big line of them told us we were going to be here for a while. After about 10 minutes we turned back up the road, we were going to be late at this rate. We then stopped for two giraffes who had their necks wrapped around each other. They were two males, one looked like the bull male, and the other looked like a young adult. It could grow another foot I think. It was a nice show but we had to get to the camp and they were blocking the way! We got closer but instead of going away the bull took a more defensive position.

Now you would think giraffes are pretty helpless creatures in battle. Not so. We had watched a free video at one of the camps, about some young lions. Some 4-5 lions attacked a giraffe bull, even though they attacked its blind side the bull gave some really hard kicks. Because of his awkward galloping and kicks the lions could not get on his back and give the finishing blow. The bull won the fight but lost the war. It was going to die from thirst. Because of the wounds, it would not be able to bend it's body to get to the water!

So we backed up, but we couldn't stay there till midnight, so after a few more pictures we honked and got through. Not long after a leopard was walking along the side of the road! We followed it in reverse for 10 minutes when it then crossed the road and hid in the bushes. We were all very happy we turned around but we had to get going!



On the last day we saw a cheetah! It was hiding in the grass, my mom who had the front seat looked ahead and saw it first. It got up and walked to a different spot, convenient for us. Within 30 minutes we had a big crowd all around us. But we found it and had the best spot. We considered taking people's cameras and taking good pictures for them as we all took the same picture 10-20 times, for a price of course. It yawned a bit before it repositioned its self and hid so well that it was really really hard to see. I would have wanted to stay there in till I needed the bathroom and was very hungry, or in till the cheetah left. We weren't going to sleep any more days in Kruger and I really liked being there.
Now I said I would explain about why having less tourists is a good thing, it's true that when you see five cars parked at the edge of the road you know an animal is there and therefore you drive past it. But those five cars prevent you to see the animal and allow you to get pictures that Nat Geo would want to use.

Here are some pictures of my favorite animals:

The lilac breasted roller.