Hola Amigos!

Here is a piece from Africa that I have been meaning to send for about a month now. Sorry about the delay, but life on the road can sometimes be pretty hectic. Currently I am in San Jose, Costa Rica. I arrived two days ago. Before that, I had spent over three weeks in Spain. I also visited Portugal and Morocco. Hopefully I will send you something about Spain soon. What a great time it was. Anyway, the email below picks up where I left off with my last African email. It´s a bit long, so why don´t you just take the phone off the hook, grab a cup of coffee, and join me in Africa for awhile.

Last I wrote, I was in Swakopmund, Namibia. (Wow, it seems like so long ago.) This is the coastal town where I went skydiving. What a thrilling and literally breathtaking experience that was. Fortunately
everything went smoothly. (Note to self: never go skydiving with a
hangover)

The next day we continued north along the Atlantic coast to Cape Cross, where I saw a massive colony of seals. There must have been at least one thousand. I stayed here for about an hour just watching the mixed behavior of the males, females, and young. Some were sleeping, others fighting, some nursing, many playing and swimming, but all were howling. Imagine the biggest and loudest sheep you have ever heard, amplify that by five, and this what each one sounds like. Hearing the sound of one thousand was shocking, not to mention the smell. There were also many jackals stalking around looking for lunch. The infants must stay close to the mother if they are to survive. A jackal is no match for an adult seal. What really amazed me is how they tell each other apart in the huge crowd. I was told that the sound of their voice is one way they recognize each other. That is part of the reason why they are constantly talking (barking, howling, baying, whatever,, they all sound the same to me). They are very social creatures, yet quite violent. Fascinating.

After, we traveled on to a place called Spitzcoppe, which was a large region of bizarre rock formations. For those who know Southern Utah, I would say this place looks very much like Arches National Park. Arches is a very special place for me. A highlight for me was climbing high atop a formation and watching the sunset. Let me expand to say that we always make camp before sunset, so each night, I pick a nice place to watch it go down. I would also do the same for the sunrise. I know some of you may find that hard to believe, but yes, I actually woke no later than 6am every morning. If you can´t remember the last time you actually sat and watched the sun rise or set on the horizon, please do it soon. It´s such a tranquil experience.

Later we made our way to Etosha National Park. This where I had my first safari experience. Etosha is a massive game park full of more
birds and animals than you can imagine. I forgot the size, but I feel
confidant that it is much larger than the state of Rhode Island. For
two and a half days we drove around the park viewing the animals in
their natural habitat. To describe all of the animals now would take
too long. Later in the email I will provide a complete list of all the
animals I have seen. The highlight here was the waterhole at the
campground. You see, the park is wide open, but the campgrounds are fenced in so that you don´t have lions and hyenas sniffing around your tent. On the edge of the campground, there is a floodlit water hole so that you can view the animals drinking at night. No, the light doesn´t seem to bother them. Here I sat for hours in amazement each night. The animals have a very complex social protocol for drinking at the hole. The main rule being that the large animals always drink first. Like clockwork, every night at dusk, large numbers of elephants come walking in a line to the waterhole to drink. No other animals are tolerated, except for some birds. They take their time. When other animals walk up and see the elephants, they keep a good distance and wait their turn. It´s funny to watch the baby elephants scamper and splash around while the adults look so formal. These animals are remarkably affectionate to each other. (Trivia: The Thai word for elephant is Chang and the country of Laos is known as the land of 10,000 elephants. The elephant is highly honored in all of SE Asia.) The next to come and drink are the rhinos. They don´t necessarly dominate the entire hole, but they definately don´t like anything standing anywhere near them while they drink. Throughout the rest of the night, all of the other animals mix in and out. Keeping in mind, the smaller prey animals drink only during the day and try to stay hidden at night. What an amazing lession in animal sociology this was.

From Etosha NP, we pushed on into the Caprivi Strip. This is a
disputed land that has been a battleground on and off for many years.
Only a few months earlier did it open up again. We camped at a place called Newasi, just east of the town on Rundu. Here I sat on the bank of the Kavango River gazing across into the country of Angola and watched the sunset. Being only 150 feet from another country was just too tempting for me. I felt I had to visit it. Just as I was about to jump in and swim across, one of the workers quickly warned me about the hazardous bacteria, crocodiles, and agressive fish which live in the river. Fortunately for me, a man in a small boat came floating by. I called him over and attempted to explain that I wanted to go to the other side. He looked at the thick reeds and brush growing on the bank of the other side and then looked back at me with an expression that I am becoming all too familiar with. I pressed on that regardless, I still wanted to go. To sweeten the deal, I offered him a $1US bill. Suprisingly he was not very interested in the dollar, even though he could spend it in the nearby town. Instead, two beers closed the deal. We made our way to the other side, we fought with his machette through the thick brush on the banks, and then we sat in a small clearing and enjoyed our cold beverages. OK. So it´s a bit foolish, but that is my Angola story. I gave him the dollar anyway.

Let me briefly mention that my favorite tree in Africa is the Baobab
tree. They look really cool. They have a mighty truck and limbs that
stick out horizontally only from the top. I was very happy when I was
finally able to sleep under one of them.

Next we crossed into Botswana. This country has the strongest currency in all of Africa. The reason for this is because of the enormous mineral deposits. Everything in Botswana is expensive. I thought at first it was because I was a foreigner. No, it is like that for
everyone, but the Botswanan people are paid very well. This doesn´t
mean that the people are rich, but they are much better off then than
folks in neighboring countries. The currency is called the Pula, which
means rain.

Not only does Botswana have vast mineral wealth, they also have vast environmental wealth. For example, Botswana is home to the world´s largest inland delta. The Okavango Delta. Most mighty rivers dump into some other larger body of water, such as an ocean or a sea. The Okavango fans out to create a massive lush wetlands region teeming with wildlife. At the southern end of the wetlands, everything terminates and evaporates into the Kalahari Desert. Botswana, unlike many other countries including the US, makes a very strong effort to protect their natural wonders. They charge enormous admission prices, limit the number of visitors, and harshly prosecute any violators of the law. Fortunately the strong economy in Botswana has allowed them to find compensation for the locals who once hunted or exported the many exotic and endangered species.

I was fortunate enough to spend three nights in this amazing region.
To enter the region I traveled in the back of an old military transport
truck. Then I boarded a small speedboat to navigate the thousands of small canals. Finally I was poled through the smallest channels in a
boat called a mokouro. This was the best part of the ride, except for
maybe when the speedboat jumped a fallen tree. The mokouro is like a mini canoe or kayak. A person stands in the back with a long pole and delicately balances the boat as he propels it through the water. Yes, I saw many crocodiles. Each night I rode in a mokouro to a different camp. When I say camp, I don´t mean a campground. I mean just a spot we picked on the Savannah. Everything we packed in, we packed back out. This was the most remote and primitave part of my trip so far. The first afternoon, after setting up my tent, I had to explore. I asked my local guide if it was alright for me to go exploring. He felt that it would be best if I waited until tomorrow and we all walked as a group, but he told me that I could go if I really wanted. Good enough for me. He told me that we were on a 15 square kilometer island in the rive and that I should not cross any water. He also added that it is very easy to get lost and that I must be back by dusk. Simple enough. Off into the wild unknown I go. As soon as I left the foliage of our camping area, the land opened up into wide open praire (called Savannah). The flat Savannah was like a sea of land with round pockets of thick trees as islands. As I walked around the vast open Savannah I was amazed by all of the animal tracks on the ground. They were everywhere. So were their droppings. Fortunately, because most of the animals are vegetarians, the smell was not too bad. (Side note: Dried elephant poo makes for a good makeshift soccer ball.) Anyway, roaming around I began to see many animals walking by. I passed herds of antilope and zebra. Occasionally a monkey or baboon would stroll by. I can´t explain the amazing thrill I got from roaming around on the open Savannah with the animals. I also felt rather small and insignificant, so I picked up a big stick for a little more security. Spotting some warthogs, I decided to follow them. For about 30 minutes, I stalked three warthogs. Such funny looking creatures. They would stand around and I would get closer. Then they would look over at me like, are you following us. I would slowly get closer and closer. Finally they would realize, yes, you are too close to us and run away. Then I would begin the stalking again. I didn´t really mean to annoy them, as I´m sure I did, but it was just so much fun following them. Finally when I realized how many animals were hiding in the small pockets of trees, I decided to focus my efforts there instead. I would walk over to the trees and throw a few rocks into them. Often it would stir up loads of beautiful birds and various other small animals. I walked around, pocket to pocket, doing this for a while. Finally the oppressive heat from the sun just became too much for me and I turned back. In my excitment to leave camp and rush out onto the Savannah, I foolishly left my water behind. Anyway, on the walk back, I continued to walk closer and closer to the pockets of trees I passed. I was rounding the very last pocket of trees before camp when I heard the sound. It was the loudest and most shocking thing I have ever heard. Quickly turned around to see a massive elephant standing only about 35 feet away from me. He did not look very happy and he was looking directly at me. I froze and for the first time realized that
this walk was probably not such a good idea. Within seconds, the
mighty elephant bent a good sized tree over with his truck and then
stomped on it, snapping it like a twig. Fear instantly filled my mind
and body and I slowly began walking backwards away from this irritated beast. When I was about fifty feet away, he trumpeted again and charged towards me, but stopped after only five feet. It is very hard to explain the sheer terror I felt in that instant. I continued
walking backwards and finally when I was a good distance, the elephant disappeared back into the trees. WOW! No more messing around now, I double-timed it right back to camp. After speaking to one of the local guides, he informed me of the elephants behavior. The short charge is what they call a mock charge. This is done as a warning to make whoever or whatever, back off! Let me just say that this technique is really quite effective. Elephants can be very aggressive, but rarely do they fully charge another animal unless you ignore their warnings and they feel you are a significant threat. Hmmm. This is something I will never forget and never want to experience again. Although, the elephant is my favorite animal to watch, this was definately too close for comfort. Over the next few days, we walked the Savannah as a group. Although we didn´t carry any firearms, there is much more safety in a group of people. Especially when you are led by expert local guides who know everything about the various animals behavior. I learned a lot on these walks. The highlight was spotting two pairs of lions. What an amazing place!

After leaving the Delta, we travel to Kasane, Botswana. He we entered the Chobe National Park on a boat. Crusing up and down the Chobe River, I finally got to see the mighty buffalo and hippos. If the elephant is my favorite animal to watch, the hippo is definately my
second favorite. They are so smooth, round, and BIG! They are so
bulky, but amazingly graceful in the water. What a nice life, just
walking around on the river bottom, munching on salad. A highlight was watching two hippos, jump off a three foot river bank into the river. Talk about a splash.

Finally the tour ended in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. On our last night
we crossed into Zambia and took a nice sunset cruise along the Zambezi River. All the drinks were included. We sang and danced on the boat like madmen and women. What a crazy crazy group I was with.I spent about four additional days in Zimbabwe after the tour ended. Here I had several adventures. The most thrilling was my first bungee jump. It was a bit expensive, but I felt it had to be done. Remember this, there is nothing worse than going on a great vacation and returning to find yourself saying "Wow, I had a great time, but I
really wish I had done that." This has happened to me before on
previous trips and I still can´t let that feeling go. This is why on
this trip, I have done everything that I possibly could. Thus, the
bungee jump just had to be done. The Victoria Falls Bungee was until
recently, the highest bungee jump in the world. Now the largest is
actually in South Africa and the second is in New Zealand. However,
this one is still the third largest at 111 meters. That is just over
364 feet. Let me just say that after my 12,000 foot skydive I thought
that this would be a walk in the park. The jump is done from a bridge
which crosses a massive canyon with the mighty Zambezi River and it´s class 5 rapids at the bottom. The view is beautiful. The country of
Zambia is on your left, Zimbabwe on the right. The wide canyon is very wide with sheer cliff walls. Even from the great height of the bridge, you can still hear the waters of the Zambezi roaring below. When your turn comes you sit on a small bench where someone helps you into a small harness, wraps a towel around your ankles, then connects the bungee. The bungee cord is nothing more than thousands of small elastic rubber bands wrapped together. It seemed awefully fraid to me. The guide told me that it would be just fine. As they are strapping the cord to your ankles, your heart really begins to pound. The guide starts to explain the process to you. It´s strange how even though the guide is speaking prefectly clear to you, you don´t understand any of it. Your mind is racing too fast to comprehend anything. He is saying things like, "OK, once you have jumped, be sure to do ...", but all you hear is "words, words, words, words". Next thing you know the guide is saying, "OK, you got that, good, time to jump man, you excited?" You finally come back to reality and say "What, I didn´t hear anything, what?" The guide looks at you and laughs and says, "don´t worry, just jump" Next is the hardest and most frightening part of all. You must inch yourself up to the edge of the jumping platform with your toes hanging over the edge. Remember your feet are bound so inching yourself to the edge seem to take forever. Once you are in place, sheer terror consumes your mind. All you can think are thoughts like, "this is NOT natural, this bridge is really high, I really should not be doing this, I don´t think I can force myself to jump, what the hell have I gotten myself into." Next thing you know, people behind you start cheering and you hear the guide start counting down. 5, 4, (your mind simply shuts down because it can´t cope with what it knows the body is about do), 3, 2, 1, BUNGEE! You leap off into the vast chasm. Weightless freefall. The wind rushes. You see the river growing closer and closer. For me, the sensation seemed to last forever. I let out a brief scream. For some strange reason, I remember thinking "damn, I should have yelled Geronimo from the top when I jumped." Next there is a slight jolt when the cord has no more slack. Then the elastic extension begins. You body begins to feel like it is being stretched like an accordian. You get a pleasant feeling realizing that the bungee cord is actually working and that you will not plumet to you death in the river. The straps around your ankles constrict almost to the point of pain. Then at full extension, you receive another exciting thrill. Everything you just experienced now happens in reverse. I really enjoyed that. The river that seemed so close, rapidly grows further and further away. Back near the top, if you bend yourself like doing a sit-up, you will see all the people standing on the bridge watching you. I managed to give everyone a big smile and thumbs-up. Then it takes a couple of minutes of bouncing up and down until you finally come to a rest. Upside down! Having a pluse rate of what feels like 10000 beats per minute, with all of the blood in you body trapped inside your head is not a plesant feeling. They don´t lower you to the bottom as it is too far and there is no way you can climb back up to the top. Instead, you wait until someone is lowered down to you. They clamp on to your harness and both of you are pulled back up to the top. As you hang there upside down waiting for the person to be lowered to you, something very disturbing starts
happening. The bungee cord around your ankles, which moments ago
seemed so tight, begins to loosen. You think, "surely I won´t slip out
of this thing, not now, not yet, everything has gone so smoothly thus
far." You won´t slip out, but it sure does feel like you might. The
wait for the other person seems to take an eternity. Finally, you see
your salvation. There is a guy suspended from a harness looking at you
saying, "so how was it, pretty cool huh, so how are you doing?" The
wrong answer I learned is "I´m fine, it was great!" By giving this
response, the guide will decided that you can take a little more.
Instead of simply bringing you directly back to the top, first he will
give you good tug and spin you circles. This is not a pleasant
experience. I really felt sick and had terrible thoughts of how
embarassing it would be if I were to vomit in the canyon in front of
all the people at the top. The only words I could manage in my very
dizzy state was "I WILL kill you if you don´t stop immediately!"
Instantly, I was strapped to this joker and we were raised back up to
the top. "So you didn´t like the spins?" "No, but thanks anyway."
Back at the top, you are not really back on top of the bridge, but
merely on one of the girders underneath the bridge. You stay in your
harness and they remove the bungee cord so that you can walk. Next you walk along a small narrow beam, all the way to the end of the bridge, where you finally climb back up top. Walking the plank is quite and experience as well. After all is said and done, you develop one of the biggest smiles of your life and it frozen to your face for the rest of the day. You are on a definate natural high for quite some time. Even to this day, I can´t help but smile when I think of the experience. I can´t say whether or not I will repeat it (probably so), but it was definately worth doing!

Here is some more info on the animals I have seen in Africa. Below is the list.

The most amazing: was on two seperate occasions, I saw a pair of
Lions.
The most common: seemed to be Springbok and Zebras.
The most frightening: was my encounter with the elephant.
The strangest: was watching some hippos jump off a three foot bank into
the river.
The smelliest: was a colony of seals.
The most graceful: running springbok and other antelope-like animals.
The most ungraceful: running ostrich.

Of the big five I saw: Lions, Buffalos, Elephants, Rhinos. The
leopards eluded me.

Complete list (no particular order): Mongoose, Ostrich, Zebra, Seal, Flamingo, Marmot, Elephant, Rhino, Heyena, Red Hartebeast, Springbok, Oryx, Penguin, Impala, Kudu, Warthog, Giraffe, Wildabeast, Lion, Donkey, Monkey, Red Lechwe, Steenbok, Damara Dik-Dik, Badger, Jackal, Baboon, Crocodile, Buffalo, Hippo, squirrel, dog, cat.

I would like to leave you with a poem that I recently came across. To me, this poem says it all. It has also prompted me to write my first
poems as well. To my suprise, I actually enjoy writing them. Sorry,
but the answer is no. No one will ever read them. Ha!

"The Men Who Don´t Fit In"

There´s a race of men that don´t fit in,
A race that can´t stay still;

So they break the hearts of kith and kin
And they roam the world at will.

They range the field and they rove the flood
And they climb the mountains crest.

Theirs is the curse of the gypsy blood
And they don´t know how to rest.

The Poo Board
- I left my second camera on the plane in Paris. It´s gone.
- I lost my second pair of glasses somewhere in Spain.

Third time´s a charm, right?