Nine Days, 15 Passport Stamps

Giraffe at sunset in the Chobe National Park.

Last month I spent six nights in southern Africa. When I told people this before setting out on this trip, the most frequent question I got was something to the effect of "you are going all that way for just six nights?" Yes, I am. Or did. Six. That's right. Just six. It was not a decision I entered into lightly but I think it worked well for us as a first trip to the real dark continent (Morocco last year doesn't count!). We got out of it what we intended to get and we got a whole series of great stories from and insight into all of the places we visited.

Despite the short duration, we managed to pass through immigration in five different countries, in addition to stopping in a sixth to re-fuel. Six nights, six countries? Well sort of. Sounds like a lot, right? It really wasn't. The point of this post is to discuss our thought process in selecting this vacation; how we did it; how in many ways what we did is exactly what other folks from the rest of the world are doing; and to pass along some of the insight we gained about taking this sort of a trip and visiting the places we visited. Oh…and why it worked out pretty much perfectly.

I have to tell you this holiday had the potential of being a real sort of freak me out vacation. I've spent a lot of time over the past 25 years or so traveling the United States and Europe and I am very comfortable piecing together a week or more in a sort of a la carte fashion: booking all my hotels, flights and transportation separately to customize the trip to my tastes and how much I want to spend exactly. I'm really comfortable doing this, even with last year's trip to Morocco. But deep in the heart of Africa? Not so much. I needed a different solution.

Now being a big brand guy, I turned to an airline, specifically South African Airways Vacations, to solve my problem. With no travel agents who specialized in Africa in my knowledge base, I figured why not go with a recognizable brand name. Plus SAA Vacations seemed to have a ton of different packaged options for us to choose from in all sorts of different lengths and all kinds of different price points, although none was especially cheap. But if cheap vacations are your thing, maybe safari in Africa is not up your alley unless you really know what you are doing.

Four countries meeting at a single point.

So with the "who" out of the way, now it was time to determine the "where" and that took some doing. Our original strategy was to maximize the number of nights on the continent at the cheapest possible price while getting some safari experience in. We looked at a nine or so night package to South Africa that would allow us to see animals in a private reserve or National Park (both fenced as we learned on this trip in that country) in addition to seeing penguins off the south tip of Africa; touring some historical sights; and spend time South African wine tasting for a day. We also checked out a rhino focused vacation in Namibia (as I recall) and some other options.

Ultimately, we decided this trip was not about wine or history or penguins. It was about safari; seeing elephants and lions and giraffes and all sorts of other creatures that filled my imagination as a kid. So instead of two days out of nine on safari, we decided to maximize our wildlife viewing potential while also allowing a day or so at the famous Victoria Falls. We picked the Chobe and the Falls package, which seemed to get us what we wanted the most. While we didn't know it at the time, these packages are totally customizable. We ended up not doing that but SAA Vacations will allow you to do whatever you want.

Six days, four on safari. The vacation we chose would require us to spend time in Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia and Botswana again while passing through South Africa both coming and going and detouring into Zambia if we felt like it (we did). That sounded like a lot of travel but we'd sure get a lot of passport stamps, which is always attractive to me. But the lot of travel? Turned out to be not so much. Despite all the visits to various exotic countries, the three places we stayed at were about an hour and a half drive to get to all three. If I told you I was visiting Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado in six days, you wouldn't think twice. Same story here. Just like those four states come together at the four corners, the part of the world we visited last month joins four countries at one point.

And as we found out from other folks we met over there, moving around after a couple or three nights is not unusual. The experiences can vary drastically from one place to the next, just like it did for us. And the distance we traveled compared to some of the people we met seemed very very small.

Warthogs digging for food on the banks of the Chobe River.

So at this point we have someone to arrange things for us, we know what we want to see, now we just needed the "when". Now if we were just going to see animals in their natural environment, the best time to go would be simple: when there was as little water as possible, which would bring every creature in the bush down to the river to drink every day, including those creatures that wanted to eat other thirsty animals (it's the circle of life, folks…).

But the dry season, which runs from May to September, isn't such a good time to see the Falls in all their majesty. And when I say "dry", I mean DRY. Like no rain at all for those five months. The river rises six feet or more during rainy season (summer) over the dry season (winter). So we tried to strike a balance, visiting sort of halfway through the winter and hoping that the Falls would be busy enough to allow us to get a full picture of what they might be like in summer. It almost worked because I have a good imagination. But that's a story for another post.

We booked this trip last October and waited ten months before we could get what we paid for. So we went to bed the night of August 19 knowing the next day would be one of the roughest travel days of our lives. Here's how the whole thing went down, with some of what I found remarkable and some pictures thrown in for good measure. Plus where we got all our passport stamps from.

Marabou storks standing in a tree.

Days 1 and 2

Out of the United States (zero stamps); into and out of South Africa (one stamp); into Zimbabwe (one stamp)

At 4:15 a.m. on Thursday, August 20, we hopped into a taxi at the Westin Hotel outside my condo building in Arlington, Virginia. One cab ride, 28 hours and three flights later, we arrived in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, having passed through New York's Kennedy airport and Johannesburg, South Africa. It's by far the longest I have traveled in terms of distance and time to get to any one place in my life. And the Victoria Falls airport is the smallest I have ever been to. Or at least it was for the next week or so.

Before stepping off the plane at Vic Falls airport and walking myself into immigration, my impression of the town of Victoria Falls from looking at Google Maps was that it was probably a smaller sort of Key West. I have no idea why I thought this other than I imagined it was a resort sort of town with a series of restaurants and bars arrayed around a few hotels.

I must have been absolutely bonkers. My impression of course couldn't have been more unfounded in reality. First of all, Zimbabwe is absolutely nothing like southern Florida and it likely never will be. Sure there are chickens roaming the streets of Key West and there are warthogs, elephants, baboons and all sorts of other creatures roaming the streets of Vic Falls but the similarities stop just about there. Other than the fact that there are some quite luxurious hotels in Victoria Falls to serve the tourists who flock to see the famous waterfall, the town is developing, impoverished in many places and surrounded by the African bush, which in mid-August makes it resemble more of a desert than anything thriving.

Baboons running across the lawn at the Victoria Falls Hotel.

Despite what might seem like complaining in the previous paragraph, Victoria Falls was the perfect place to start our trip. It got us a good look at the famous Falls and allowed us a preview of some of the animals we would see later in the week. In a sense it got us really excited about wildlife viewing by almost bumping into warthogs, baboons and hornbills in the streets and trees around our hotel. If we had seen this little wildlife at the end of our trip, we might have just yawned. The preview was perfect.

We tend to be super prepared before we visit other countries in the world. So we were very ready to have people following us around asking us to buy whatever they had in their hands to sell, whether it be carved animals, wooden dishes or a few trillion Zimbabwean dollars (one American dollar is now worth 35 quadrillion Zimbabwean dollars; that's a 35 with fifteen zeroes after it and yes, I did have to google that). But what we weren't prepared for was how consumer goods starved the people in Zimbabwe are. It's like the Soviet Union in the early 1980s, or so I imagine.

When we declined most offers to exchange our American dollars (now the official currency of Zimbabwe) for whatever the people following us really wanted us to have, the requests changed from money to t-shirts, shorts, shoes, socks or even shampoo. I wish we had known all this for a couple of reasons. First, we could have taken some things over that we no longer needed and just given it away. We managed to scrounge all the shampoo from the hotel (sorry, Ilala Lodge), a couple of old t-shirts and socks we had with us along with some trail mix we had brought to snack on and hand it over to someone waiting outside our hotel.

Secondly, our goods are actual currency over there. We traded in a bandana for a couple of pieces of jewelry and two shirts for a wooden giraffe. The quality of shirts we can get in the United States is just far superior to what you can get in sub-Saharan Africa, even if most of our stuff is made in sweatshops in southeast Asia. We bought some souvenirs from one shopkeeper over there who was wearing the absolute worst NBA jersey knockoff I have ever seen (Toronto Raptors, in case you were wondering). The NBA logo wasn't even close to resembling the actual NBA logo. I could have hooked that guy up with a Wizards jersey from my closet; he'd instantly look more credible and more stylish at the same time. Missed opportunity. I wish Lonely Planet had that in their Southern Africa guidebook.

Crocodiles. The Nile crocodile is one of the most gorgeous creatures we saw in Africa.

Day 3

Out of Zimbabwe (one stamp); into and out of Zambia (two stamps); into Zimbabwe (one stamp)

Considering how juiced we were about getting as many passport stamps as possible, we couldn't be a river gorge away from Zambia and not visit. We had prepared for this at the Victoria Falls airport by purchasing a double entry visa (allowing you to enter Zimbabwe, leave and re-enter) for $50 rather than the single entry visa for $10 less.

Zambia was almost a total waste of time. Almost. And it was all our fault. But more on that later. I feel a Zambian post coming on. At least we got four more passport stamps out of it.

For those of you looking to get a good look at Victoria Falls from the Zambian side of the border in mid to late August, don't bother. It won't work. There's barely any water. Stick to the Zimbabwean side. Walk over the bridge maybe but be prepared to be pursued the whole distance.

My first baobab tree!!!!

Days 4 and 5

Out of Zimbabwe (one stamp); into and out of Botswana (two stamps); into Namibia (two stamps)

I almost feel guilty coloring in Namibia on my countries visited map on the "The Maps" page of this blog. I spent maybe 20 minutes on the actual soil of that country: about ten minutes to get into the country through immigration and about ten more minutes to get out. The rest of the time we were in country was on a houseboat. However, all the time we were on the boat we were technically in the country of Namibia. So there! Plus…five passport stamps in one day. How cool is that?

Staying on the Ichobezi Safariboats was amazing. You book one of four cabins on the main boat (we got the front cabin and only one with a private-ish balcony) and are then provided with your own personal tender boat plus pilot for game viewing excursions. The kind of personal attention we received on board was incredible. Everything we needed, including getting all too close to some very dangerous looking pods of hippos under the watch of our pilot, David, was provided for us. Of all the places I stayed in Africa, I liked the houseboat the best, even if you did have to shower in filtered (but still green-brown) Chobe River water.

The Ichobezi Safariboat: the main houseboat...

…and the tender boat. We stuck to the one on the left.

Two other stories are worth telling about our time in Namibia. We were picked up at the Botswana border by David and his tender boat and immediately taken to immigration on Impalila Island in Namibia. David needed to stay with the boat and our luggage so he gave us directions to the immigration office: walk up the beach and turn left at the baobab tree. Seriously??? A baobab tree??? How awesome is that. I've wanted to see one of these upside down trees since I first read Antoine de Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince and to a much much much lesser extent first purchased "Pink Floyd"'s Delicate Sound of Thunder album which features a picture of baobabs on the rear cover.

Seeing one of these trees with their super thick trunks topped with their teeny tiny root like branches was a signature African moment for me. There are nine species of baobabs in the world and they only grow naturally in Africa and Australia, although I didn't realize the Australian connection until I got back from my holiday. Seeing a baobab was so totally off my radar that finding one as a marker to turn left to immigration was a real treat. Now I feel a little closer to Le Petit Prince. Oh and "Pink Floyd" is in quotes because Floyd without Roger Waters isn't really Pink Floyd.

The second story worth noting about our trip into Namibia is how well oiled the tourism machine in Africa is and, quite frankly, why I would still be reluctant to engage in travel arrangements myself. When we got ready to depart our hotel in Victoria Falls, the only thing we knew was that we had to be at the front desk at 11:15 a.m., which of course being most always on time, we were. We boarded the minivan that showed up in front of our lodge and then went to pick up some other folks at some other hotels. From there we drove (or rode, I guess) about an hour or so to the Zimbabwe border where we were taken through immigration by our driver and then walked to the fence separating that country from Botswana.

Not everyone from our minivan was headed to the same place so naturally there were a number of different Botswanans waiting for our party on the other side of the chain link fence that divided the two countries. Some of us were handed off to one driver; others to a second but in all cases our names were on the manifest of sorts that these guys had in their hands and our Zimbabwe driver wouldn't leave until everyone was handed off correctly. So we hopped in another minivan and kept going through our new country. We let a group off at a lodge in country and then headed to immigration out of Botswana at Kasane, which ended up being little more than a small building near a beach. Once again there was someone waiting for us and we were handed off securely.

Booking a package tour had really allowed me to not think about the logistics of traveling out of one country, through a second and into a third in the span of less than an hour. But if I had to think about it and worry, I didn't have to. As it turned out, we knew far less than the people that were responsible for getting us safely from point A to point B. And I guess that's the whole point of it, right? It all worked so beautifully that I didn't really have to think about it at all.

Cape buffalo. Male in the foreground, the remainder of the breeding herd behind.

Days 6 and 7

Out of Namibia (one stamp); into Botswana (one stamp)

Namibia was a perfect second stop on our six day trip. After the wildlife preview we got in Victoria Falls, there was seemingly every variety of animal everywhere on the banks of the Chobe National Park and we drank it all in greedily either from the deck of our houseboat or from the water level view of our tender boat while avoiding hippos on the Chobe River. We couldn't have imagined it getting any better.

But it did. The only thing on this trip that topped watching game from the water was watching everything we already saw and much much more from on land. If we had started with a land stop, we would have been disappointed with the rest of the trip, especially Victoria Falls. The sequence provided to us by South African Airways just built the excitement every day. We made a list of new creatures we had seen every day. We added at least three new species to our list every day except the last half day. The result in reverse would have been a lot of stuff up front and nothing new on the back end.

Tent number 14 at the Elephant Valley Lodge. Home sweet home for two days.

I already mentioned my favorite place to stay on this trip was the Ichobezi Safariboats; I just don't think you can beat the attention and care we received while staying there. There's not a whole lot more personal you can get than a place with four cabins and an equal number or more of people there looking after you. It even overcomes a river water shower. But a close second was the Elephant Valley Lodge, our base for our last two nights on the continent.

Elephant Valley Lodge sits right on the Botswana - Zimbabwe border and is made up of 20 tents where us tourists sleep and a central lodge facility that houses reception and is there to feed us three meals a day. I know this sounds sad but this is the first time I have ever slept in a tent that I can remember. And by tent, I don't really mean tent like something temporary set up for the night. I really mean a 12 foot high or so fabric and wood structure that looks like a tent but actually has a full plumbed bathroom complete with shower.

The best part of the whole experience was that most of the property was laid out to focus on a watering hole just outside the fence designed to keep elephants out of our camp. The dining area and tents 13 through 20 face the watering hole which is frequented by all manner of wild animals. We watched a herd or two of elephants slurping water, jockeying for dominant positions and sometimes getting a little upset with one another every night at dinner. We also got up and looked out the front door of our tent every opportunity we got, whether that was first thing in the morning to see the sunrise, in the middle of the day to watch a single elephant about 30 feet from our porch or in the middle of the night on a bathroom run. Hey, you never know when you are going to see a giraffe or hyena or something else out there.

Impala by the water.

We thought we knew what to expect before we got to Elephant Valley Lodge. But our expectations were shaken up a bit by talking with another couple earlier in the week who stayed in a non-fenced camp where all the tents were on stilts and you required an escort to move anywhere within the lodge so you wouldn't get stomped or attacked by something really dangerous. We hadn't counted on this sort of experience. And it threw me a bit.

So we were relieved when we arrived at the Lodge to be told that the camp was surrounded by an electric fence to ensure the elephants that were all around us didn't wander among our tents and possibly trample us in the middle of the night. But the statement about the fence keeping the elephants out was quite a precise one. The fence did keep elephants out but there was a section of fence where the bottom five feet or so was just wide open and we watched a bushbuck (a deer type thing) walk out of the camp shortly after we got there.

Now if a bushbuck can walk in and out of the camp, can't a hyena? Or a leopard? Or a whole pride of lions? The answer as it turned out was yes, but they won't. But just in case, there's a flashlight in the room and a whistle if there's ever any trouble. OK, so nothing happened but if there's a whistle in case of trouble, doesn't that mean trouble might exist? A bit unnerving at first but the folks in the Lodge made sure we were safe. Or maybe nothing tried to get in while we were there.

As great as the Lodge was, we didn't spend a whole lot of time there. Most of our time was spent being away looking at animals on land or in the water. That's the point after all, right? And that's a story for another time.

Lions playing in the bush. It's amazing how well they blend in with the grass.

Days 8 and 9

Out of Botswana (one stamp); into and out of South Africa (one stamp); into the United States (zero stamps)

Time to go home and get our last passport stamps.

I like to think I don't complain about much in life (it's the English person in me I guess; stiff upper lip and all that). But the flight from Johannesburg back to Dulles Airport is a killer. We started day eight with an early morning game drive followed by breakfast and then a ride to the Kasane airport down a dirt road that actually took us around the airfield. I now think Kasane is the smallest airport I've ever been to. They seem to have all of one gate, which is really just a door leading to the tarmac.

From Kasane, we flew back to Johannesburg where we caught a 6:30 flight to Dulles via Senegal. An 18 hour scheduled flight with one stop, from 6:30 p.m. South Africa time to 6:25 a.m. Washington (or Virginia) time. What kills is the stop in Senegal for refueling and to pick up and drop off some passengers. The stop is about 2 a.m. but they can't land a dark plane full of sleeping people. Instead, you all have to wake up, the lights have to be on in the cabin and all window shutters have to be up. So it's 2 o'clock in the morning, I'm dead tired in a fully lit airplane going through cleaning, security checks and boarding. Brutal. I'm not sure I've ever felt more tired in my life. Never want to do that again, even if it is the only way to get back from South Africa to home on a single plane.

On the other hand, arriving at Dulles at 6 a.m. and passing through immigration was one of the most surprisingly pleasant experiences of my life. I never thought I'd write "immigration" and "pleasant" in the same sentence but there was literally no line. Unfortunately, there were also no passport stamps for coming back home. Stupid fast pass immigration...

So that's it. There are many ways to get to southern Africa. We chose South African Airways Vacations and it worked out just fantastic for us. I'm sure there are other ways which are just as good. If you go, I think the package we picked was well worth the price. We learned so much in the short time we were over there. This trip really changed my perspective on a number of things about our world. I hope the thought process we went through helps and use it or discard it as you see fit. But take something American to trade if you ever go to Victoria Falls. It will benefit everyone. And if you see a guy named Eric with a red bandana, say hi for me.

Elephant at Elephant Valley Lodge. Taken from the front porch of Tent number 14.