South America and South Africa

After having survived Petra’s and Thomas’ attempt to kill me ( 😉 )… No new beginning – After having saved Petra and Thomas from being caught for trying to poison the security staff on Cape Town International Airport… No new beginning –  After having prevented the accidental smuggle of a small scorpion in Petra’s and Thomas’ camera bag to Germany (numerous times I pulled out the camera and changed the lenses before I finally saw him) we had some fine days in the Moremi Game Reserve, which is part of the Okavango Delta, and particularly Chobe Nationalpark, which is adjacent to the MGR in the East and stretches out to the Botswanian and Zambian border. The two campsites were beautifully located close to the river while the campers are strongly advised to keep the tents closed at all times to minimize the risk of interference of wild animals. At the campsite of the MGR a lonesome hyena often shows up overnight and searches for leftovers to eat. We heard that hoarse laughing of the hyena in the early morning hours and together with seeing its footsteps it was quite an eerie experience.

On our first game drive (the animals are called “game” here and hence a “game drive” is a safari) we sunk the 4×4 car in a mud puddle and had to stay overnight in the car, as it was already too late to go to the ranger-station. Since it is low-season and the road we have chosen was apparently blocked due to bad road conditions (I swear, we couldn’t see it from the side we entered) and surrounded by meter-high grass there was no hope that the drivers of another car would see us. Luckily the ranger-station was only a five minute walk away but given that there are also lions, elephants, hyenas, etc. in the park, those five minutes felt quite intense. The ranger was very kind and didn’t let us feel like idiots, what we actually were, and together we made the walk back to the car. The car he had called to pull us out came about half an hour later and the second attempt to pull out our car with the help of six people pushing it was finally successful and all in all this episode had a happy ending.

As the highlight of our stay in the Moremi Game Reserve I consider seeing a pack of African wild dogs hunting for impalas given that these wild dogs are an endangered species (only 3,000 to 5,500 wild dogs are left in maybe only 15 countries) and the population in the MGR is considered as the largest remaining in the world. We also saw some giraffes, antilopes (kudus and impalas) and hippos but overall I was a little disappointed as I expected the big herds of animals, no, I mean game.

When we entered Chobe Nationalpark a day later the picture changed completely. Already after five minutes we saw the first elephants when we were driving the River Side Loop. It was breathtaking – smaller groups of five to ten elephants were coming up the slopes and one of these groups was passing our car maybe in five meters distance. Since a thunderstorm was quickly eating up the scenery and the evening approached we decided to drive to our campsite, still about 45 minutes, to go. After the first raindrops fell the visibility reduced to almost zero and finally we thought we might have lost the road while we were driving in a riverbed. In front of us a river was crossing the route we considered before being our driveway, not being sure about that anymore, but given our experience of being stuck in the mud puddle just two days ago, we decided to be on the safe side. We stopped the car behind a bush were the terrain appeared to be flatter to avoid the risk of potential landslides or being dragged away from a forceful waterstream. Few bigger 4×4 cars from tour operators cautiously drove around and through the lake that appeared earlier to be a river while others were waiting on top of the opposing slope. When the rain got weaker we also tried our luck and eventually reached the other hillside. While we were making our way to the campsite the flooding of the road was so immense that we decided to wait in the car for the next day not risking to get stuck again. Given that we had our supplies for the next three days we opened a bottle of South African Pinotage and started our quiz about the world’s geography and economics with the help of the “factbook” on the itouch. About an hour later a convoy with soldiers and the campsite operator came to pick us and other campers up to bring us safely to the campsite were we arrived at about 1 a.m.

After relocating to our booked lot we started our first game drive and the assumption that Chobe has ample wildlife to offer became reality. While we were there we saw hundreds of elephants, some of them as close as three meters, hundreds of zebras, hippos, antelopes, thousands of buffaloes, many eagles and vultures, ONE SCORPION, and finally on our second last game drive – clearly the highlight of our stay – a pride of eight lions. Firstly we only saw a lioness and a young lion nibbling on a dead warthog’s head about hundred meters away in the open field but when a bad weather front approached it was clear that they will change their location. We waited patiently and indeed, when the rain started they returned to the bushland right next to where we parked and just 15 meters in front of us they passed to hide in the bushes. While we could still see them we could identify more lions than just those two and when the rain got weaker the entire pride came out – three lionesses and five cubs. The lions apparently enjoyed the attention of the people sitting in the security of the cars, meanwhile some more tour operators have showed up. These were truly special moments to see the lion cubs play, banter and caress each other from a distance of maybe 15 meters overseen by the three lionesses and I guess I will never forget these hours.

At the moment I cannot wait to see the photos on a big screen as the small display of the camera offers only the opportunity to check whether the photos are focused and not blurry. Likewise I am excited to share these photos with you via this blog upon my return to Germany end of December.

See more under photos “Botswana”

First many thanks to all the friends who read my posts in this blog and also those who enjoyed watching the photos. It was always fun for me to put this together and a great joy for me when I received your comments. Many thanks for this!

Unfortunately it will be much more difficult to continue this blog as I was robbed in my last seven hours in Buenos Aires before I wanted to go to the airport. I lost my camera, my laptop, my credit cards, all my money (however, it was not that much, but when you literally have not even a penny money gets a new dimension), my passport and my drivers license as well as several personal items. Fortunately I haven’t lost my health as when it happened (the classic – squeezing some liquid on me which looks like bird poo, handing tissues, creating hectic, bla, bla, bla, then another person grabbing the backpack, then the “helpful” women running away) I was more into trying to relocate my backpack instead of grabbing one of the “helpful” women. And if I would have grabbed one, who knows, they might have had a knife or somebody else would be around to protect them. Whatever…

After seven hours with the police and numerous phone calls with the German Embassy (German tourists on the street gave me some money so that I could call the Embassy, the police did not let me) I found a hostel which let me stay without paying in advance and without showing any proof of identity. The next day (Monday) I went to the German Consulate and within 70 minutes I got hold of a new passport which enables me to continue my trip. The next plane to Johannesburg, South Africa, went two days later so beside my possessions I “only” lost three days and actually a lot of trust and self esteem.

Since my friend Claire and I wanted to travel the South of Africa together in a rental car we changed the arrangements with the rental car company so that Claire is now the only driver. We picked up the car in Johannesburg, South Africa, at the airport and are meanwhile in Botswana and want to enter Chobe Nationalpark later today. I could also meet my friends Petra and Thomas at the airport (we wanted to meet in Kruger Nationalpak three days earlier if the theft wouldn’t have happened) and they kindly lent me their Canon dslr (I might not look as the most trustworthy person at this point in time but I always carry it around with me, promised!).

Though more difficult now and less colorful I try to keep you updated.

Peninsula Valdes is in northern Patagonia and known for its excellent wildlife. There are populations of among others sea-elephants, southern right whales and penguins. My friend Ingo recommended to go there and I booked a flight and a rental car to explore the peninsula. When I went there I had my first surprise – Patagonia was flat with no hills, mountains, or trees. Until then I always thought the entire Patagonia would look like Tierra del Fuego with its snow-capped mountains and clear blue lakes, but no, for hundreds of miles only scrubs in the plains.

When I arrived in Puerto Piramidos, the only village and with 400ish inhabitants rather tiny, I immediately liked the place. It was sleepy and relaxed but I learned that it gets considerably more crowded on weekends. There are several whale-watching operators and I decided to break my “never again a whale-watching-tour-resolution” I made after my previous three, exclusively disappointing whale-watch experiences (if I haven’t repressed successfully the memories of other disappointing trips). To give you an idea: when I went to the beach I could see more whales from the shore than I have ever seen on all those tours together.

The first day I made an in total approx. 130 miles long dirt-road-trip around the island joined by a lovely young couple from Germany hitch-hiking in South America. We had a great day taking our time to watch the wildlife at the various beaches, which are, however, not accessible for human beings. We saw many sea-elephants and sealions, albatrosses, penguins, and on our way to the beaches loads of guanacos (looked to me like vicunas = wild lamas) and even an armadillo crossing the street right in front of us.

Later in the afternoon our car had a flat tire and after changing it with the help of a park ranger we decided to return on the shortest route given the gravel roads and the lack of an additional spare tire. In the end this incident was the greatest luck as we repeated our stops at the viewpoints we were before. There was a bunch of people standing at the penguin spot entirely ignoring the penguins. When we came closer we saw them as well: some orca whales, also rare to watch on the Peninsula, on their way up the natural canal. And while we were waiting patiently it became even more spectacular when one orca attacked and killed a sealion/sea-elephant resting on the shore of the canal. It was really exciting to watch how the orca was sneaking through the canal to make its deadly attack. After the sealion was towed into deeper water and killed a flock of seagulls indicated where the feast was happening.

The next day I decided to make the whale watching tour after checking the weather with one of the tour operators. It promised to stay fine for the day but windy for the day thereafter so that I made the tour against my initial plans on that Sunday. Again I was very lucky as an unusual high concentration of plancton in the water at one spot led to an unusual high concentration of whales, dolphins, sealions and penguins. Sometimes the different species were even interacting among each other.

It was amazing how the whales were breaching, showing their dorsal fin, feeding plancton, curiuosly observing our 12 m boat or diving underneath it. The whale mothers (about 15 m long) were guiding and protecting their babies (about 6 m long) and it was cute how they always held physical contact unless the mother was diving. Sometimes it even would have been possible to touch these huge animals because they were that close to the boat. Right before we left five whales were surrounding us and it was almost stress as I couldn’t decide where I watch first. When we went back to  Puerto Piramides I had a enormous smile on my face and it was time for a new “never again a whale-watching-tour-resolution” – this time, however, because it cannot get any better!

Before I went to the Peninsula Valdes I was somewhat anxious whether it can compare with the wildlife of the Galapagos Islands I had seen only seven weeks ago (time flies). As the focus this time was more on the sea-mammals, particularly on the southern right whales, it was again amazing and surely an once in a lifetime experience not to be missed. Muchas gracias, Ingo (if you read these lines)!

(see also under photos “Peninsula Valdes”)

Iquique is a city with a population of approximately 100,000 people squeezed in between the Pacific Ocean and the Atacama desert. It is well known among surfers and paragliders, which come here from all around the world to enjoy the excellent flying in Alto Hospicio and Pala Buque, the constantly fine weather, 360 days of the year are flyable, and the very good infrastructure.

When I arrived I was surprised because I expected a somewhat smaller city and also a smaller flightpark Altazor, where I stayed. Due to its location between the ocean and the desert and additionally limited through a huge sand dune that is projected to become a UNESCO World Heritage the city can only grow by the erection of high-rise buildings. Considering it is built in a seismic active area, that the last big earthquake occurred about 100 years ago, that the next big one is overdue, and that the larger part of Iquique is built on sea-level it appears to be only a question of time until the city is doomed to be washed away by a big tsunami following an earthquake. Nevertheless it is heavily growing – when Philipp Maltry started to develop the flightpark 10ish years ago the city was a few km away, now the flightpark is surrounded by 15-story houses.

The flightpark itself meanwhile has space for 70 guests, who sleep in refurbished oversea containers. There are two communal kitchens and most of the containers have a little bathroom. Usually groups of pilots are coming with organized trips, when I was there there were for instance groups from Brazil and Argentina. Additionally there is a bunch of individuals from around the world who form an own group, fly together, and have barbeques (“assados”) in the communal area every now and then. When I was there these guys came from Sweden (Mats), Austria (Stefan), the U.S. (Tommy), England (Joseph), and France (Hugo). The other guys except Joseph were regulars and Mats and Tommy are staying several months. There is also interaction between the groups but according to Stefan this is unfortunately decreasing the bigger the flightpark grows. Nevertheless after Stefan has encouraged me I made contact with Pablo from Argentina, a flight instructor from the flying site of Cuchi Corral close to Cordoba, who I will visit next week (the Iquazu waterfalls were sacrifized).

One flying site is Alta Hospicio about 400 metres above the flightpark and the preferred site for the morning flights. It is excellent for thermaling and a good launch for cross country flights. There are many options to land, one right behind the flightpark, and also one at the beach of Cavancha, after flying over the city. As there are almost no options to land in the city one needs enough altitude to be sure to reach the beach. The first time I was doing that together with Stefan and Mats who showed me also the thermals I was full of bubbling energy when I finally landed safely at the beach. It was so great flying over the city and watching the shore and the sealions from above. Thereafter we had lunch at a good fish restaurant.

The other flying site is Pala Buque, a among acro pilots world-wide renowned 60 m dune due to its constantly strong wind from the sea, which allows all kind of manouvers without the necessity to land. While I was there one of the top ten acro pilots was in the flightpark, going with its friends in the afternoon to Pala Buque. The more the day proceeds the conditions get weaker and also average pilots can launch. It is then still more a question of landing then of staying up but when I was flying after effortlessly gaining an altitude of 500 m the air was very smooth so that it was a real pleasure to fly there.

I enjoyed so much being there the last thirteen days, having all these great flights and the camaraderie with the other pilots. It would be nice to return soon but given the long flights and the costs to get there this is clearly not something for every year. Nevertheless I aim to stay in contact with some of the pilots flying in Europe to meet up again.

(www.altazor.cl)