So we are back to here .... [prolonged thunderous yet hesitant awkward applause.]
Spent last night packing until some stupid hour. Funny thing, I had everything set aside about three or four weeks ago, lying on the bed in the extra room. It doesn't matter how early you start, you still have to re-arrange all the stuff in the backpack about 12 times over, trying to remember how you did everything perfect last year, and the year before that, etc. Ten months ago sometimes seems like 10 years ago, yet being in the Masai Mara still seems like last week.
Weird.
And where IS my bloody padlock that I bought in Nairobi ? I have absolutely no clue. Oh yeah, and don't forget the nail clippers. You always do. Starting in 1993 ....
Anyway, this trip can be described as the nicest, stupidest, farthest favour I'd ever done for someone. Go ahead, call it trip of a lifetime #21. Call it paying it forward. Call it building up karma, even if I'm not Buddhist (but build it up just case). Not sure what to call it .... I don't have a bucket list, never had one, however, this was on it anyway. If you can figure out what this means, congratulations. I don't.
This trip started back in 2007. In a hotel lobby in Cape Town after we finished our tour, I asked my dear friend and tour guide Charles: "Where is your favourite place in all the African stops you work?" He's seen a lot, so I was curious, and it was my first time on the continent .... without any hesitation he says the sand dunes of Namibia. Mental notes taken. Seed number two was a couple of days later. Upon trying to take the ferry over to Robben Island (where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for all those years), the waters were too dangerous to navigate safely. Three days in a row ... and naturally I was so very disappointed. But, at the same time I knew something was up. My spidey senses were tingling ..... that there was a grand conspiracy concocted by someone to get me back here some day. Some day ..... despite of course the ridiculous distances between here and home.
The years went by and I had this nagging problem ... the two places in Africa I really wanted to visit were Uganda/Rwanda and the Namibian desert. A world of Apes and a world of Dunes .... take your pick, you can only do one. Like comparing strawberries and whip cream to steak and lobster ... what do you choose?
So, I figured, why don't you combine the Middle East with East Africa? The transportation connections are much easier going from Cairo to Nairobi, compared to going from Windhoek to Entebbe. The latter would cost a pretty penny, the former would be a little lighter on the wallet. Yeah, great idea, go with it. But then the civil unrest flares up in Cairo the very same day I land in Jerusalem and all hell breaks loose. Great .... our Intrepid trip gets cancelled mid-trip, and we dodge the unrest as we head down to the south of Egypt anyway. Good call thanks to our fearless leader Mohammed, but let's face it, everyone back home thinks your a moron.
November comes along and my brains gets thinking again. The conclusion is simple. Finally go down and see some of South America. After all, it's about time. Machu Picchu, the Inca Trail, the Amazon, the Galapagos Islands, start there, that's enough to chew on ....
But then I open my mouth. Another former tour driver from 2009, Conrad Jacobs, announces he's starting up his own travel company and he want suckers, I mean people to join in on the ultimate party machine. Twenty three days from the mighty Cape Town to the even mightier Victoria Falls. You'll get to see more of the Okavango Delta, see it from the ground, not the air, and go for a dugout canoe ride with the locals. Go back to the infamous Ngepi campsite in the Caprivi Strip, with the "Garden of Eden" bathroom. And of course, the 5:00 am hike up Dune 45 to see the colours of the sunrise .... that's worth getting pumped up for all on its own.
I say: "Hey Great, I'll do that in the next few years for sure, count me in, I promise". Biggest mistake I hope I ever make. He messages me back ... "You are not coming in a few years, you are coming THIS year, with us, it's going to be the best trip you can ever do. All the best people from all my years of tours will be together, and you my friend are definitely up there at the top of my list!!" Hmmmmm .... 25% flattery, 25% truth, 25% business plea, and 125% unbridled enthusiasm. I say, "I'll join in if Janet comes with us ..." Janet was our other tour leader from the same trip in 2009, and minutes later she joins the fb conversation: "I'm in, throw me in the back of the truck ... absolutely !!"
Now how do I get out of this one, and escape to Peru??? Simple answer, if you have an ounce of sympathy and an ability to remember that mental note you made in 2007, you don't. You drop your hat into the ring, and you go ... just one small minor detail. Just make sure you have the money. Yes, indeed, it's a long double 12 hour flight down there, and don't forget the bumpy roads along the way. I wonder if the Namibian massage is as famous as the Uganda massage ... time will tell. I'm talking about speed bumps people ... get your heads out of the gutter.
So the next part is complex ... what do you do when you get to Victoria Falls? It's gorgeous, yes ... but far from everything else. You gotta fly from there to somewhere else. I did the overland trip from Nairobi to Vic Falls in 2009, so been there, done that ... what else is there?? Mozambique? Madagascar? Back up to Europe? August 5rd to 24th is a good chuck of time, but not enough to really see another large chunk of Europe .... and the transportation road links to Mozambique aren't friendly either. So my old friend Madagascar comes back, knocks on my door once again, politely haunts me, even after I rejected him (or is it her?) last year. My travel agent Jane (Hi Jane!!) raved about it from a client who had been there not too long ago, so why not? Aren't lemurs the "cute" iconic equivalent of pandas, koalas, and our trusty CDN beavers? Aren't there amazing beaches, even if they cost an arm and a leg to visit? Isn't it remote and unique and exotic?? (There's that silly word again, "exotic"). Will it really in fact make me a better person? Apparently, my brain tells me "Yes".
Ok ... deal is done. Two trips on long bumpy roads .... and I promise I won't complain like a princess. I promised Erin Butler from G Adventures I wouldn't, but my back and spine may have other ideas.
Then of course, when everything is perfect and going smoothly, I get the word from Conrad. There's trouble at the hen house. Having to go from a truck carrying 15 down to a jeep carrying 9 was no problem, but now two of the six people in the tour had to cancel out. He assures me week after week the trip is still a green light, since the marketing of his new company will make the trip worthwhile. But he'll run the trip as a loss, pure and simple. He politely asks if he can bump the cost of the trip by a few hundred. I say no problem, after all, it's a smaller tour, and there's still lots of time to find others. Two months exactly ... what could go wrong ?? 60 days is an eternity sometimes. Don't worry, be happy .... it will all work out.
Then in the middle of our teacher's strike, on June 18th, another bit of news drops as I check my messages first thing in the morning. An Australian gentleman named Glen, who was the fourth person on our trip, gets bitten by a monkey while on tour in Uganda/Kenya. A tour that Conrad himself organized for him. He's got rabies and now he can't work for awhile on his oil rig out on the ocean. The bottom line is, he can't afford the trip, and with apologies to the classic band Genesis, "Then There Were Three". Conrad would be out about $5K, red is not a very fun colour, and he can't do it anymore. Unless of course, a miracle arrives. The trip is to start in three weeks, after he has already spent countless hours marketing the tour with little success. He's running competitions to find people; the deal is if you find people for this year, and you get a free trip NEXT year.... but he sees the writing on the wall. He feels shattered and defeated. It is game over. Or is it?
My soon friends and fellow travelers to be, Jennifer and Tiffany (who I have yet to meet) email Conrad right back. Jen, bless her heart, proposes the three remaining peeps chip in for Glen's share and we can salvage the 23 day odyssey we've been looking forward to for a long time. In turn, this band-aid solution gives Conrad more time to find others and not be out so much cash. We all agree ... we have to though, there's too much money we've already paid and can't get back if we cancel out now. Rumour has it a fourth person has been found in the meantime, but it's not 100% confirmed as of yet. Even still ... a pretty much private tour for $3000 over 23 days is more than acceptable and irresistible. The patient is off life support ... he's off life support!
As I type this now, I have one day left at home. That strange, strange feeling is back. A fridge full of food, a closet full of clothes, will soon be no more for 55 days. Living out of a bag becomes the norm. .... The BCTF strike picket line days may be over for me, but that empty disappointed feeling is still lingering in the mind. The pocket book is a lot lighter too, but I have to ignore those elephants in the room and I have to get in summer happy mode again. Easier said then done ..... but good news is a foot.
The seats to Toronto on Monday June 30th look wide open. The only piece of the puzzle missing is the flight out of Toronto to Europe. Will Zurich have an open seat for me so I can watch the Switzerland vs. Argentina World Cup game with my relatives on Canada Day? Will the flight to Milan that leaves two hours later be better and I can visit Giovanni and Tatiana? There are 4 open seats in first class as I type this !! Or will old reliable, Frankfurt, Germany find an empty seat for me late in the evening? We will see ... but I hope it's a repeat of 1993,94,95, and Zurich saves the day. That train ride into Switzerland is a killer on the pocketbook ... even if Visa saves the day.
So, here's the plan ...
July 1st to 6th -- Switzerland
July 7th and 8th -- Munich
July 9 -- Cape Town
July 12-13th .... we leave on our trip
Aug. 2nd -- Arrive at Vic Falls
Aug. 4th -- back down to Joburg fly to Madagascar the next day ...
Aug. 5 to 23 -- "Move it move it" in Madagascar ...
Aug. 24 -- Back to Frankfurt
Aug. 26 ---- Home? Hope so ...
Dear Everyone ... send money. I'll bring back some hugs for you. Lots of them ... the ones you buy in Botswana are the best. Trust me ...
Signed ... old guy.
ps ... some links might be useful ...
http://www.roaringafricanadventures.com
https://www.facebook.com/events/1455769477991368/?ref_dashboard_filter=upcoming
http://www.gadventures.com/trips/highlights-of-madagascar/DMHM/2014/
http://stories.namibiatourism.com.na/blog/bid/285047/Capture-Namibia-Photography-Tips-from-Christopher-Rimmer
Spent last night packing until some stupid hour. Funny thing, I had everything set aside about three or four weeks ago, lying on the bed in the extra room. It doesn't matter how early you start, you still have to re-arrange all the stuff in the backpack about 12 times over, trying to remember how you did everything perfect last year, and the year before that, etc. Ten months ago sometimes seems like 10 years ago, yet being in the Masai Mara still seems like last week.
Weird.
And where IS my bloody padlock that I bought in Nairobi ? I have absolutely no clue. Oh yeah, and don't forget the nail clippers. You always do. Starting in 1993 ....
Anyway, this trip can be described as the nicest, stupidest, farthest favour I'd ever done for someone. Go ahead, call it trip of a lifetime #21. Call it paying it forward. Call it building up karma, even if I'm not Buddhist (but build it up just case). Not sure what to call it .... I don't have a bucket list, never had one, however, this was on it anyway. If you can figure out what this means, congratulations. I don't.
This trip started back in 2007. In a hotel lobby in Cape Town after we finished our tour, I asked my dear friend and tour guide Charles: "Where is your favourite place in all the African stops you work?" He's seen a lot, so I was curious, and it was my first time on the continent .... without any hesitation he says the sand dunes of Namibia. Mental notes taken. Seed number two was a couple of days later. Upon trying to take the ferry over to Robben Island (where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for all those years), the waters were too dangerous to navigate safely. Three days in a row ... and naturally I was so very disappointed. But, at the same time I knew something was up. My spidey senses were tingling ..... that there was a grand conspiracy concocted by someone to get me back here some day. Some day ..... despite of course the ridiculous distances between here and home.
The years went by and I had this nagging problem ... the two places in Africa I really wanted to visit were Uganda/Rwanda and the Namibian desert. A world of Apes and a world of Dunes .... take your pick, you can only do one. Like comparing strawberries and whip cream to steak and lobster ... what do you choose?
So, I figured, why don't you combine the Middle East with East Africa? The transportation connections are much easier going from Cairo to Nairobi, compared to going from Windhoek to Entebbe. The latter would cost a pretty penny, the former would be a little lighter on the wallet. Yeah, great idea, go with it. But then the civil unrest flares up in Cairo the very same day I land in Jerusalem and all hell breaks loose. Great .... our Intrepid trip gets cancelled mid-trip, and we dodge the unrest as we head down to the south of Egypt anyway. Good call thanks to our fearless leader Mohammed, but let's face it, everyone back home thinks your a moron.
November comes along and my brains gets thinking again. The conclusion is simple. Finally go down and see some of South America. After all, it's about time. Machu Picchu, the Inca Trail, the Amazon, the Galapagos Islands, start there, that's enough to chew on ....
But then I open my mouth. Another former tour driver from 2009, Conrad Jacobs, announces he's starting up his own travel company and he want suckers, I mean people to join in on the ultimate party machine. Twenty three days from the mighty Cape Town to the even mightier Victoria Falls. You'll get to see more of the Okavango Delta, see it from the ground, not the air, and go for a dugout canoe ride with the locals. Go back to the infamous Ngepi campsite in the Caprivi Strip, with the "Garden of Eden" bathroom. And of course, the 5:00 am hike up Dune 45 to see the colours of the sunrise .... that's worth getting pumped up for all on its own.
I say: "Hey Great, I'll do that in the next few years for sure, count me in, I promise". Biggest mistake I hope I ever make. He messages me back ... "You are not coming in a few years, you are coming THIS year, with us, it's going to be the best trip you can ever do. All the best people from all my years of tours will be together, and you my friend are definitely up there at the top of my list!!" Hmmmmm .... 25% flattery, 25% truth, 25% business plea, and 125% unbridled enthusiasm. I say, "I'll join in if Janet comes with us ..." Janet was our other tour leader from the same trip in 2009, and minutes later she joins the fb conversation: "I'm in, throw me in the back of the truck ... absolutely !!"
Now how do I get out of this one, and escape to Peru??? Simple answer, if you have an ounce of sympathy and an ability to remember that mental note you made in 2007, you don't. You drop your hat into the ring, and you go ... just one small minor detail. Just make sure you have the money. Yes, indeed, it's a long double 12 hour flight down there, and don't forget the bumpy roads along the way. I wonder if the Namibian massage is as famous as the Uganda massage ... time will tell. I'm talking about speed bumps people ... get your heads out of the gutter.
So the next part is complex ... what do you do when you get to Victoria Falls? It's gorgeous, yes ... but far from everything else. You gotta fly from there to somewhere else. I did the overland trip from Nairobi to Vic Falls in 2009, so been there, done that ... what else is there?? Mozambique? Madagascar? Back up to Europe? August 5rd to 24th is a good chuck of time, but not enough to really see another large chunk of Europe .... and the transportation road links to Mozambique aren't friendly either. So my old friend Madagascar comes back, knocks on my door once again, politely haunts me, even after I rejected him (or is it her?) last year. My travel agent Jane (Hi Jane!!) raved about it from a client who had been there not too long ago, so why not? Aren't lemurs the "cute" iconic equivalent of pandas, koalas, and our trusty CDN beavers? Aren't there amazing beaches, even if they cost an arm and a leg to visit? Isn't it remote and unique and exotic?? (There's that silly word again, "exotic"). Will it really in fact make me a better person? Apparently, my brain tells me "Yes".
Ok ... deal is done. Two trips on long bumpy roads .... and I promise I won't complain like a princess. I promised Erin Butler from G Adventures I wouldn't, but my back and spine may have other ideas.
Then of course, when everything is perfect and going smoothly, I get the word from Conrad. There's trouble at the hen house. Having to go from a truck carrying 15 down to a jeep carrying 9 was no problem, but now two of the six people in the tour had to cancel out. He assures me week after week the trip is still a green light, since the marketing of his new company will make the trip worthwhile. But he'll run the trip as a loss, pure and simple. He politely asks if he can bump the cost of the trip by a few hundred. I say no problem, after all, it's a smaller tour, and there's still lots of time to find others. Two months exactly ... what could go wrong ?? 60 days is an eternity sometimes. Don't worry, be happy .... it will all work out.
Then in the middle of our teacher's strike, on June 18th, another bit of news drops as I check my messages first thing in the morning. An Australian gentleman named Glen, who was the fourth person on our trip, gets bitten by a monkey while on tour in Uganda/Kenya. A tour that Conrad himself organized for him. He's got rabies and now he can't work for awhile on his oil rig out on the ocean. The bottom line is, he can't afford the trip, and with apologies to the classic band Genesis, "Then There Were Three". Conrad would be out about $5K, red is not a very fun colour, and he can't do it anymore. Unless of course, a miracle arrives. The trip is to start in three weeks, after he has already spent countless hours marketing the tour with little success. He's running competitions to find people; the deal is if you find people for this year, and you get a free trip NEXT year.... but he sees the writing on the wall. He feels shattered and defeated. It is game over. Or is it?
My soon friends and fellow travelers to be, Jennifer and Tiffany (who I have yet to meet) email Conrad right back. Jen, bless her heart, proposes the three remaining peeps chip in for Glen's share and we can salvage the 23 day odyssey we've been looking forward to for a long time. In turn, this band-aid solution gives Conrad more time to find others and not be out so much cash. We all agree ... we have to though, there's too much money we've already paid and can't get back if we cancel out now. Rumour has it a fourth person has been found in the meantime, but it's not 100% confirmed as of yet. Even still ... a pretty much private tour for $3000 over 23 days is more than acceptable and irresistible. The patient is off life support ... he's off life support!
As I type this now, I have one day left at home. That strange, strange feeling is back. A fridge full of food, a closet full of clothes, will soon be no more for 55 days. Living out of a bag becomes the norm. .... The BCTF strike picket line days may be over for me, but that empty disappointed feeling is still lingering in the mind. The pocket book is a lot lighter too, but I have to ignore those elephants in the room and I have to get in summer happy mode again. Easier said then done ..... but good news is a foot.
The seats to Toronto on Monday June 30th look wide open. The only piece of the puzzle missing is the flight out of Toronto to Europe. Will Zurich have an open seat for me so I can watch the Switzerland vs. Argentina World Cup game with my relatives on Canada Day? Will the flight to Milan that leaves two hours later be better and I can visit Giovanni and Tatiana? There are 4 open seats in first class as I type this !! Or will old reliable, Frankfurt, Germany find an empty seat for me late in the evening? We will see ... but I hope it's a repeat of 1993,94,95, and Zurich saves the day. That train ride into Switzerland is a killer on the pocketbook ... even if Visa saves the day.
So, here's the plan ...
July 1st to 6th -- Switzerland
July 7th and 8th -- Munich
July 9 -- Cape Town
July 12-13th .... we leave on our trip
Aug. 2nd -- Arrive at Vic Falls
Aug. 4th -- back down to Joburg fly to Madagascar the next day ...
Aug. 5 to 23 -- "Move it move it" in Madagascar ...
Aug. 24 -- Back to Frankfurt
Aug. 26 ---- Home? Hope so ...
Dear Everyone ... send money. I'll bring back some hugs for you. Lots of them ... the ones you buy in Botswana are the best. Trust me ...
Signed ... old guy.
ps ... some links might be useful ...
http://www.roaringafricanadventures.com
https://www.facebook.com/events/1455769477991368/?ref_dashboard_filter=upcoming
http://www.gadventures.com/trips/highlights-of-madagascar/DMHM/2014/
http://stories.namibiatourism.com.na/blog/bid/285047/Capture-Namibia-Photography-Tips-from-Christopher-Rimmer
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