...I went to Africa

It’s been a while, hasn’t it? I bet some of you thought I’d given up my blog for good. Hah, you wish! I was just too busy with other things to take time to write. Yeah, life’s been pretty busy these past few months. But more on that later… maybe. So, many of you probably already know that I went to Africa in November. South Africa and Zimbabwe, to be precise. I guess I should give a short overview of the trip in case I ever suffer massive brain trauma and forget about it… or - more likely - in case I get old. 

When I was planning my vacation in December 2016 I was pretty excited. South Africa, man… pretty amazing, right? It was exotic and interesting and just so different from all the other countries I’ve been to. I was absolutely convinced it was going to be an amazing experience. So it was weird that I didn’t feel even a tiny bit excited when the time to leave was approaching and there was only a few days left before my vacation. My parents and friends asked me if I was excited.

‘Excited about what?’ I asked, confused.

‘About your trip! You’re going to Africa!’

‘Oh yeah… No, I’m just relieved to get some time off from work.’

No, this isn’t a rant about how I hate my job and how life as an adult is hard. It’s more a rant about how I didn’t expect work to be so… exhausting. Okay, maybe it is a rant about how being an adult is hard. Honestly, I never knew how tired a person can get when they have no rest for almost 11 months. I like being a physio, but I do have to admit it’s not always easy. So yeah, I wasn’t super excited about my trip, even though I knew I should have been. I was just so happy to get out of Estonia for a little while. 

The trip itself was a group thing - the travel agent composed a group of about thirty people, sent us a schedule and handled all the bookings and tickets and such. In a way it was very convenient but at the same time I’m not really a group person. I like to take my time, decide on where I want to go, what I want to eat and where I want to stay on my own. I really dislike sitting in the bus all day, passing towns that seem super interesting and never having a chance to explore. Still, I was going to South Africa and I figured it’d be safer to move in a herd. 

The trip lasted for 17 days - I left work on Friday at lunch and headed straight to the airport. Two long-ass flights later I was already in Cape Town. I think it was maybe around noon on Saturday that we arrived. The flight to Istanbul was quite short and nice but from Istanbul to Cape Town it took us about 10 hours. Oh well, I’ve had worse. 

The first few days that I spent in South Africa were… strange. Sure enough the weather was nice, the climate was different but… I didn’t feel like I was in Africa. Everything looked too… European. I guess it’s the case in a lot of former colonies: there are some towns and cities that just look like Europe because the colonisers decided that going native was too far beneath them. ‘What do you mean it’s more practical to live in a wooden house? I want my straw roof and white stone walls, goddamnit! And let’s have a tulip garden right in front of the house. What do you mean ‘tulips don’t grow in the savannah?! We’ll make them grow!’ No, but really. The old Dutch towns in the wine district were just so… Dutch that if it hadn’t been for the weather I would have though that I’d boarded the wrong plane. 

The scenery was different though. I started to love our long bus rides because it gave me the chance to see so much of the country. At first we saw the wineries and orchards and the beautiful light-coloured mansions between the grape fields, then we entered the savannah and saw the dry bushes and red dirt on rolling hills that seemed to go on forever. There were mountains covered in green and others that were just red rock, there were dry riverbeds and burnt forests and wide open fields with absolutely nothing but a single small house in the middle of it. It was different and almost romantic, like something you’d read about in one of those old books written back when most African countries were still colonies. 

Okay, before I go on another rant, I should try to keep my focus. So, the first days of my trip were… not disappointing but not exactly what I expected Africa to be. I still remembered how my friends and family told me to be careful when I go there because there was a lot of crime in Africa - and there I was, walking around town in the middle of the night in South Africa and there was not one person around… and everything was so clean, so safe, so cozy. It was hard to believe I was really in Africa. 

That was until we made our way to Kruger National Park. Okay, St.Lucia was pretty close to the 'real Africa' as well but that's gonna be another story. So, Kruger National Park is the one of the biggest in Africa and our hotel was in the middle of it. Maybe not straight in the middle but it was on park grounds. It was strange, driving to our hotel on a small dusty road - not even a gravel road but more of a sand road - and seeing small houses in the middle of the dry trees and even signs with street names. Gemsbok Avenue? It was barely a road! There were warthogs and kudus and impalas on the side of the road and sometimes our progress was slowed due to the fact that some random animals decided to graze on the 'road'. It was hot as hell, around 36-38 degrees, and there was no air. Our hotel didn't have a fence around the grounds - there was a small wooden one separating the restaurant terrace from the forest but that was about it - but there were helpful signs telling you 'Not to walk around during nighttime because of the wildlife'. Okay, that was reassuring... 

We had to wake up at 4 am in Kruger to go to our safari. It was our second one - the first one had been in Tsitsikamma National Park and it had been a long, quite chilly trip on a rainy day that left us frozen and even a bit underwhelmed. The Kruger safari, however, was what I've always imagined a real safari to be like: the hot air blowing through the car, the sun shining in our faces and all the animals just lazily heading toward the nearest body of water. We saw at least four or five elephant herds, buffalos, rhinos, lions and cheetahs. We even saw a small pack of lions on a hunt - they didn't catch the impala they were encircling but it was amazing to see how a hunt looks like in nature. 

Now, I've seen lions and elephants before - most of us have, in a zoo somewhere. But that doesn't compare to seeing the animal in nature. Even if it is far away, even if you can only tell that it's an animal by the way it moves, even then the effect is different. It feels more real. More tangible. You're just a passerby and these animals don't give a damn about you. They are living their lives while you sit in your tiny moving cage and look out at them. 

There are a few interesting things I learned about animals during my trip. First of all, I realised that elephants basically move in slow motion. They're like the popular kids in a high school movie. They don't really move that slowly but since they're so big and kind of slow it just looks like it. Another thing I realised is that crocodiles can climb. Not trees or anything like that but they can climb up a pretty steep slope with relative ease. So if you ever see a crocodile in nature you're probably already dead. Oh, and they also eat their own kind so you know they're cold, heartless bastards. Oh yeah, and don't even get me started on hippos! They... okay, I'll leave that one for later. 

The last three days of our trip would take us to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. Interesting fact though: one day before we were supposed to leave for Zimbabwe there was a military coup in the country. The long-reigning president/dictator was imprisoned in his house, the First Lady fled the country and a lot of the members of the reigning political party were arrested. We found this out while we were heading to visit a diamond mine in South Africa. The guide told us that the coup had been peaceful: the people of Zimbabwe wanted a change and were happy with the turn of events. Still, there was a real chance of civil war breaking out if the president refused to resign. And during a civil war all the airports would be shut down... So in short, there was a possibility that if we went to Zimbabwe we might not be able to return.

I was... worried, to say the least. I wanted to go to Victoria Falls - it's one of the natural wonders of the world and I had a once in a lifetime chance to see it - but there was this annoying twisting in my stomach that told me it was a baaaaad idea. The guide reassured us that there was a very small chance that anything would happen to us... but if we did go we would have to take full responsibility. They did offer us a chance to stay in Johannesburg for the remaining three days but the travel company would not reimburse us for the hotel room or offer us any activities. So, the choices were: go to Zimbabwe and hope for the best or stay in Johannesburg and be broke and bored. I chose option A... because so did everyone else and I figured that even if I ended up stuck in Zimbabwe I wouldn't have to go to work on Monday so it wasn't all bad. Hey, maybe I could even set up a private practice in Zimbabwe and offer physiotherapy to the oh-so-rich Zimbabweans. 

I think going to Victoria Falls was the best choice I made during the entire trip. It was absolutely amazing! The Falls itself was magnificent but it wasn't the only thing. I also had my very first helicopter ride, over Victoria Falls and it was something else. In the evening we had a boat cruise on the Zambezi and while I was sitting there, enjoying a cold beer and looking at the sunset I felt at ease, happy and well rested. In the back of my mind I knew that I was in a country that was considered 'unstable' by our foreign ministry but looking at the smiling locals and beautiful wilderness I realised that maybe Europeans are just too neurotic for their own good. Also, I felt somewhat special knowing that I was in Zimbabwe during a historical moment. Years and years from now I could sit at a dinner table with my friends and/or family and go: 'Remember when Mugabe's regime was overthrown? I was there.' And someone would look at me and say: 'What are you talking about? I just wanted to know if you want some more potatoes or no. Also, who the hell is Mugabe?' And I would roll my eyes and go 'philistines!' and someone would say 'I don't think that word means what you think it means...'. 

Long story short, I really enjoyed Zimbabwe. Victoria Falls was small, cute and very, very... Africa. There is no other way of putting it. It wasn't like a typical big city - those are the same all around - it had its own look, its own personality. The hotel was an amazing gargantuan building that looked very high end... until you saw the baboons hanging out on your balcony and the sign next to the pond saying 'This is a natural body of water. Please do not enter it as there might be a habitat fish and small crocodiles.' Small crocodiles, eh? What's stopping them from entering the pool just two meters to the left of the pond? I think Zimbabwe was my favourite part of the whole trip just because it was so relaxed, so warm and so... natural. It left a great impression and maybe, one day I will... Okay, I probably won't go back anytime soon (read: ever) but I'm glad I was there. And I'm glad I didn't get malaria. That's also a good thing. 

There are probably a few other stories from Africa that I want to share but for now I'll wrap things up. Can't have this rant going on for too long - otherwise nobody will want to read this (although I still have no idea why or even if people read this). Oh yeah, and since its the season for travelling I might have some other stories soon...ish. Soonish... Like, next year... maybe.