- The Tutsis were the people that had 10 or more cows, not the Hutus. That makes more sense as the smaller, richer population group was given privileges which led to resentment. That shouldn't led to genocide but in this case it did.
- Closer to 800,000 people were killed, not the 2 million I mentioned.
- And the most annoying error I noticed is that I used a contraction (it's) in one point where it should have been the possessive (its). Anyone who knows me knows that grammar error drives me crazy. This isn't an excuse but the iPad automatically changes its to it's so it wasn't all my fault. At least I didn't say "Moira and myself" instead of "Moira and me."
Speaking of Moira and me, after traveling so much, we have learned to accept travel delays and cancellations as a necessary evil. That is good as we experienced one on Wednesday. We got up at 3:30 AM for our flight from Kigali to Johannesburg. When we got to the front desk to check out, the clerk had a message from us that our 6:00 AM flight was delayed 8 hours. On the good side, they called to tell us and we didn't have to sit in the airport all day. On the bad side, our flight was delayed 8 hours and we were going to miss our connecting flight from Jo-burg to Windhoek, Namibia. Other than the two things below, we won't bore you with the mundane details of sitting around all day trying to re-arrange flights and hotels. The key thing is we made it to Jo-burg around 9 PM, stayed at the airport hotel, and got on a 6:10 AM flight to Windhoek which allowed us to catch our 9:30 AM flight to our first safari camp. All we missed was an afternoon/evening in Windhoek and some decent sleep. But two things to note as mentioned above:
- The pilots for our delayed flight were staying at our hotel. First Officer James heard us talking to the front desk and came over to tell us why we were delayed. He, Captain Alex and the crew were taking off on Monday on the same route when they hit two birds on take off and the engine got damaged. They were going too fast to abort the take off but they turned around and landed back in Kigali. The mechanics worked on it but couldn't fix it in time for them to take off on Tuesday. They actually had to fly in extra mechanics to help out. James showed us pictures of the damage. He had gone to bed the night before thinking the plane was fixed and we were taking off on time. But more work had to be done. Coincidentally, James used to fly internationally to JFK and stay at the Garden City Hotel. He and Moira chatted about the various Garden City institutions like Leo's, 7th Street and Roosevelt Field, where James and the pilots used to walk to.
- Because of our delay, we got to see our friend and driver Eric again. He was bringing another group into the hotel and was so happy to see us there. He had come by the night before to see us but we somehow missed one another. It was good we saw him as Moira left a small bag with important things (our snacks) in his car. He brought them into us and chatted for awhile.
Immediately upon landing in Namibia, we could tell that we were in a totally different part of Africa. Unlike Rwanda and Uganda, Namibia is very dry and not lush at all. The first thing you really see is sand. We didn't get to spend any time in Windhoek as we landed just in time to catch our charter flight to Sossusvlei which is pretty much in the Nabib desert (the oldest in the world, they say) Our pilot was Carlos and the plane was tiny - 6 seats in total. Moira sat in the co-pilot seat. There were two other passengers, Jesse and Carol, who were in Africa celebrating their 40th anniversary. They are from...you guessed it...Manhattan. We got to know them quite well as we ended up sharing the same guide, Petrus, and jeep at the camp.
Speaking of the camp, we have been a lot of amazing places in the world but this camp, Little Kulala, is one of the best. It was built in 2006 after the original camp burned down and it was designed to reflect its surroundings. It was down with organic materials and in neutral desert colors. Moira wants the person who designed it to come to NYC and redo her living room. I could go on forever about what it looked like but it suffices to say it was gorgeous and our hut (one of only 11) was probably twice as big as our apartments and included a veranda, plunge pool and a star gazing deck (more on that later). Kulala is different than other parks in Africa in that it isn't really for game viewing although we saw Springboek, jackals, oryx, fox and ostriches. It is more known for its sand dunes. Our first day there we had a nature drive and then a sundowner. Sundowners are one of the best parts of safari. Your guide drives to a good sunset viewing spot, pulls out a built in shelf from the jeep and serves you appetizers and drinks as the sun sets. If we could end everyday like that, we would be happy people. And fat but that is another story.
Our second day at Little Kulala was, in a word, amazing. It will be tough to top it on this trip. At 6 AM, we headed it with Petrus to go to Sossusvlei which is part of Namib Nackluft Park, which is the third largest park in Africa, behind only the Serengeti and Kruger. Who knew? Jesse and Carol were taking a balloon ride so we had Petrus to ourselves. That was a good thing as the goal was to hike the dunes and we would have had to take a shorter, easier hike with them. But with just the three of us, Petrus decided we would hike the Big Daddy Dune. Seriously, that is its name. It is 350 meters high and the second highest one in the park. Only Dune 7 is higher than Big Daddy (388 meters). We were the first people to the dune (that 5 AM wake up call paid off) which meant there were no footprints ahead of us. Petrus led the way, which was a good thing. We thought we were in good shape from spinning, trainer workouts, swimming etc but nothing can really prepare you for hiking up a sand dune but, well, hiking up a sand dune. It was hard! We walked in Petrus' footsteps but our feet really sunk in. It is hard to get good footing and it was really steep. There were places it became flatter and we would stop and rest periodically but it was hard work. Moira said it was so quite she could hear her heart pounding. I couldn't believe we were really going to the top and my right leg hurt as that was the outside one which took all the weight and kept me from falling down the dune. Did I mention we were also in the desert and it was hot? Still, it was gorgeous with all the red sand and the amazing views. It took us over an hour but it was totally worth all the heart pounding. To get down, we didn't have to go the way we came. Instead we pretty much slid/skied down the side of the dune. It is hard to explain but you just kind of glide down. It only took about 10 minutes and was so easy. We think this Matt Lauer did when he was here for Where in The World. There was still a bit of a walk after that, through the dried
out river pan. This one is pretty popular in the area as it has a number of dead acacia trees still standing that are 600-800 years old. And popular here means "full of German tourists wearing inappropriate safari outfits."
While that took the bulk of the day, it wasn't our only highlight. We went on an afternoon drive to walk through the Tsauchab River canyon. From there, we had another sundowner and it was nice to have Jesse and Carol there to have others to talk to a bit (even though they are prone to complain a bit ). Jesse told us about the wine tasting that the camp offers (they have an extensive wine cellar with over 600 wines) so we did that before dinner. The sweetest woman there, Queen, who is young but just got promoted to assistant manager, did it for us. We actually tried their 6 house wines, all from South Africa, with some nice cheeses. It was fun to talk with Queen who wanted to hear more about New York. She loves the Chrysler building (my fave in NYC) and learns about the city from watching White Collar on TV (yes, the USA network show). As if we needed more food and drink, we followed that with a great dinner where the staff ended up performing a few songs for us. But our experience didn't end there. We opted to sleep out under the stars on our star gazing deck. This is something the camp offers and we wanted to experience everything. The staff set up air mattresses and gave us nice down comforters. The stars were amazing and we could lay in our beds, look up, and see the Milky Way. It was chilly out but the comforters kept us really warm...at least until it got really windy (not uncommon here) 4 AM. We wouldn't give into the temptation of downstairs and made it until the sun rose. All in all, an amazing stay.
We are in Swakopmund now which I will write about later. While we have had Internet access everywhere but Kulala, my iPad won't let me post new blog entries. That means I write these on my iPad but have to wait until we can find a computer to post. And that is why they are so long.
Things we learned:
- There is really nothing to do in the Kigali airport. This must be why they call to tell you about delays.
- South African Airlines flights from Kigali to Jo-burg stop in Burundi. It is no more than 20 minutes away. You go up and then it seems like you go right back down again.
- This year, Uganda celebrates 50 years of independence. The East African newspaper had a well written story about 5 things it needs to do in its next 50 years to be successful. One was to better promote and grow its tourism industry. We couldn't agree more. We only came to go Gorilla tracking but learned there was a lot more to do within the country and that it was much more beautiful than we ever could have imagined.
- Namibia used to be under German rule (that we knew) and is largely a Lutheran country. Not sure we have ever encountered that on our travels.
- Sossusvlei means the gathering place of two waters. We saw the vlei (or the pan) from the top of Big Daddy.
- The dunes were formed 40 million years ago and are actually petrified underneath now. The ocean current and wind have pushed them in 170 km from the sea. They appear red because of all the iron oxide in the sand and their color appearance can change during the day, depending on the sunlight.
- The area can still get some rain and flood but that is rare.
- Wilderness Safari which owns Kulala purchased 47 hectares of land right next to the park that used to be used for farming. As they no longer get enough water there to farm, it is now their own private land and park. They cheat a little and have some watering holes to keep the animals around. But springboks don't need a lot of water and they get it from this hard cactus melon they eat.
- There are tons of birds there. This one bird species builds huge nests in trees with multiple entrances. Up to 200 birds can live in them, like bird condos. The nests often become so heavy (up to a ton) that they can kill or break a tree.
- Once again, the failure of the US to implement the metric system often leaves us at a disadvantage when we travel. We know the 350 meter dune climb and the 47 hectares of land are impressive but others reading at home may not.
- The word Kulala means to sleep. So the camp is little sleep. I am not sure if that is means they give you much to do that you get little sleep or that it is little sleep in that it is restful after having such a great day. I will go with a nice combination of both. Hence the blog title.
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