I Dreamed Of Africa: Part III

Tuesday, 25 December 2018

Another early start today. As much as it had been too short a stay, we had to leave Victoria Falls as we needed to catch up with our itinerary. We checked out at 05:30 and the cabbie we rode with yesterday arrived at 05:35 and drove us to Victoria Falls Bus Terminus. It looked deceptively close on the map but we drove more than seven minutes to get there. We paid USD5 for the cab and asked the cabbie to help buy tickets for us to Bulawayo. There was only operator anyway: Extracity Bus. The cabbie bought the tickets, I don’t know how much he paid for them but we gave him USD10 each.

The 06:00 bus finally left at 06:37 and we drove through the Zimbabwean countryside. Unlike in Zambia where we passed towns after towns, the bus stopped practically anywhere. Some stops didn’t look like there was any civilisation nearby and yet there were people disembarking and embarking. Oh we did stop at a few big towns which still had commerce despite it being Christmas Day. And Zimbabwe was so green! Yes, you do see the dry ground that was thirsting for the rain but otherwise, it was green. And I must say the roads were mainly good.

I went down twice to find a washroom and was so shocked to discover a goat in one of the toilet cubicles that I changed my mind about using it. I don’t know what I would have done if it was a warthog instead of a goat! The next stop had me running down the bus again and, again, there were no doors on the cubicles, just like some toilets in China. I went to the furthest cubicle and prayed hard that no one would peek in. Well, needs must.

We finally arrived at Bulawayo bus station at 13:40, well, it wasn’t a bus station at all but where some buses stopped (it would probably qualify more as a bus stop, except that there was no bus stop sign). We quickly changed buses and boarded J. H. Zikhale Motorways bus for Francistown. We paid USD10/person again and the conductor told us the bus was going all the way to Gaborone which was our destination and we could travel with the bus all the way and pay an extra USD10. Nevertheless, we decided to stick to our original plan of taking the night train from Francistown to Gaborone as we could sleep on the train. It was then when we realised that ‘African time’ applies over there: a 06:30 bus will not leave on time, a 06:00 bus will depart later and so on. The bus finally left and it started raining pretty heavily shortly after we left Bulawayo. We reached the Plumtree border control an hour later and the earlier rain made the temperature somewhat milder and more tolerable. We had to offload our bags and leave them by the road. It was here where we chatted with a couple of young Zambian men who told us they were going camping. Between the two of them, they had one gigantic suitcase with a broken handle and one large duffel bag.

After clearing border control, we reloaded our bags and boarded the bus again and got down a few minutes later at Ramokgwebana Border Post. Again, we had to take down our bags and set them aside. After clearing passport control, we collected our bags and walked through the custom. A beautiful Botswanan lady approached us and welcomed us. It turned out that she was a custom officer (she wasn’t dressed in uniform though) and asked us to dip our shoes into a small container of water to get remove any insects that may have clung to our shoe soles. I’m not sure how effective this was but kept it to myself. Next we had to open our bags for manual inspection before we were let through. Then we had to walk about 100 metres to the bus.

We reached Francistown after 17:00. The bus stopped at a car dealership which was next to a pump station and we got down. After taking our bags, we asked for directions to the train station. A guard at the car dealership discouraged us from taking the train. He said we had to be careful as we could be robbed on our way to the station. Whoa, I thought Botswana was the safest countries of the four that we were visiting. I left HI to talk to him and hurried to the washroom.

We finally decided to continue with the bus to Gaborone but we now had to pay BWP120/person for our ticket which was more than USD10. So I paid in USD and received Pula in return. We settled in and tried to rest. It was a good thing the bus was not full as we got to stretch out in the seats. But the driver put on very loud music throughout like it was a moving karaoke bus and it was miraculous if anyone could sleep at all.

We finally reached Gaborone at midnight. I was surprised that we actually reached it on time considering the African time that the driver observed.

Wednesday, 26 December 2018

I only booked hotel for one night in Gaborone and as we were pondering what to do and where to go, the driver told us we could stay and sleep in the bus. We decided this would be safer – being in the bus instead of out and about at midnight in a foreign African city – so after consulting the two Zambian boys, we gratefully accepted the driver’s offer. If the Zambian boys had decided to leave, we might have left too. Safety in numbers and all that. I had read that Gaborone is a very safe city but still, I wasn’t about to go wandering at midnight when I had just arrived. I moved seats to a three-seater and stretched out. There was a window open to let the air in – and after a short while, the mosquitoes too. I covered my face with my shawl and tried to sleep. I must have managed somehow despite the situation and the noisy buzz of mosquitoes.

When I woke up, it was already light and consulting my watch, I determined it was just after 05:00. I slowly sat up and checked that the others were already awake. We stayed in the bus for a little while before going down. One of the bus staff came and we asked him to open the luggage compartment for us to get our bags and after getting our bags, we parted ways with the Zambian boys. A cab arrived disgorging passengers and we took it to Cresta President Hotel. We arrived at the hotel just after 06:00 and after paying the cabbie 30 Pula, we went in to the check-in counter. To our surprise and delight, we were allowed to check in that early (woohoo!) and we went up to our room gratefully.

We rested for a while and having showered and freshened up, went out to the Main Mall behind the hotel. We headed first to the Shell station on the other side of Main Mall. This is where we were to wait for the bus to our next and final destination the following morning. After having determined the stop, we went to find a tour operator but alas, all offices were closed. We walked up and down Main Mall (it was really just two long parallel blocks of buildings sandwiching a public rectangle) until we reached Nando’s where HI declared she wanted to sit down and have breakfast. Oh, the restaurants around Main Mall serve halal food (except for the pizzeria) and by halal food, I mean halal chicken. Nando’s had opened but it would only operate at 10:00 so I wandered off alone. It was about 09:30 then and already felt like noon! It was so hot, hot, hot and bright. I walked along Pula Circle then came to the National Museum and Art Gallery (alas, also closed although when I read the info board, it was only supposed to close during Easter, Ascension Day and Christmas Day. I took some pictures before returning to Nando’s.

 At the Main Mall. The locals call Gaborone by its short name ‘Gabs’

Outside the National Museum and Art Gallery

After that, we went back to the hotel and asked the lady at reception if she could help contact some places where we could visit. We were told that the Gaborone Game Reserve was fully booked for the day. The Lion Park contains a theme park, water park and animal park so we decided it was not a priority and the lady promised to help us contact Mokolodi Nature Reserve and let us know. I decided to check out the supermarkets and shops again and went out alone. I bought some vegetarian pasta from a supermarket before returning to the room.

The lady at the reception rang our room phone and told us that we could visit Mokolodi Nature Reserve and the available slot was at 14:00. We would need to take a cab there and the hotel arranged for a cab and driver who would wait for us until we finished. It cost almost USD100 for both of us, the bulk being the cab and driver’s time.

We rested before leaving the hotel at 13:00. The cabbie came shortly after and led us to the vehicle and we drove the 20 km or so to Mokolodi. The cabbie told us that the rich people stayed on the way to the reserve and pointed out some sprawling properties. We arrived just before 13:30 and went to pay 150 Pula each for our 14:00 game drive tour. I didn’t know it could get hotter but it did.

The jeep came and we boarded it. We were the only ones on the 14:00 game drive tour and it took us close to two hours. We saw a lot of animals: female kudu, a small impala, a scrub hare hopping away, warthogs, giraffes either resting or eating, groups of zebras, more giraffes, a glimpse of ostriches, Oryx and impala and waterbucks. We were at first told not to expect too much as it was the hottest part of the day and the animals would normally be resting then but Alhamdulillah, we managed to view some so we left feeling very satisfied.

Lake Gwithian (man-made)

We asked the driver to show us one of the mosques in Gaborone and he obligingly took us to Masjid Un Noor but a man came out and asked what we were doing there and did not allow us to take pictures. The cabbie still slowed down outside the mosque compound to enable us to take pictures, bless him. We reached the hotel at 16:30.

We ventured out again at 18:30, thankfully it was no longer as hot and bright then, and walked to Caravela Portuguese Restaurant. To our disappointment, we found that it was closed until 14 January 2019). We turned back and stopped by Brackendene Lodge (we read that it served halal food) and asked at the restaurant. The cook opened her fridge and freezer and informed us she could only offer us fish and chips. We were leaving when the husband-wife owners arrived. The wife saw us and called out Salam to us so we turned back and chatted with them. They were South Africans from Cape Town but live in Gaborone. Then they called their daughter Nihahl and next thing we knew, we found ourselves invited to dinner. We reluctantly accepted and followed them in their MPV to Caffe Fego. They sent us back to the hotel and we reached the hotel at 21:30.

 Brackendene Lodge. The owners and their daughter

Caffe Fego

It had been a long day albeit more relaxing than it had been the preceding few days and we had an early morning bus the following day so we retired not long after.

To be continued

I Dreamed Of Africa: Part II

Sunday, 23 December 2018

I woke up at least twice to use the washroom and finally got up to perform ablutions and morning prayers. The prayer room was very small and we had to queue or contend with performing prayers in cramped space. After prayers, we decided to stretch our legs and walk slowly to our gate. And it was a good thing too as we had to take a train to our gate. DXB is huge alright. The Airbnb host in Lusaka had also responded and agreed to have their sister meet us at the airport and bring us to their apartment. We also agreed on the amount to be paid for the apartment and transfer. Alhamdulillah, at least our accommodation in Lusaka was sorted.

We boarded at 08:30. I was unfortunate to be sitting in the middle seat next to a big girl and I prayed my bladder would hold. I was confused throughout the flight when I saw the duration to destination as it was shorter than I expected. When we landed in Lusaka (yes, Lusaka, not Harare), I got up and found HI already waiting for me a few rows ahead. It turned out that the Emirates flight bound for Harare stops at Lusaka en route to Harare. We asked a man in uniform if we could get down instead of flying to Harare and catching another flight back to Lusaka and if we could get our bags out. He said yes so we went down, went through passport control and then on to wait for our bags. HI was unhappy with Emirates for not informing us the plane would stop at Lusaka en route; had we known, we would have arranged to disembark there and not purchase the one-way ticket for extra cost.

My bags didn’t appear after some time although HI’s bag had emerged so I went to the baggage desk to inform. The lady at the counter examined our boarding passes and consulted a colleague who was an Emirates staff. This other colleague then made some phone calls before telling us we should not have disembarked. She said we should have stayed on the plane and flown to Harare and then fly back to Lusaka. She further informed that by disembarking, we posed security risks (say what?!) and that she would bring us to the airport police station and we were to wait there until the plane safely arrived in Lusaka. What the -? By this point, we decided we would just do anything as long as we were thrown into a prison cell. She went to make copies of our boarding passes before coming back to escort us to the police station.

Lusaka Airport

The police station was a gloomy place and the police looked surprised to see us. The Emirates staff who accompanied us explained the situation and the way the policewoman responded indicated she didn’t understand why we had to be there and why the police had to keep an eye on us. Her colleague told us to make ourselves comfortable but the seats looked anything but. Then the Emirates staff received a call on her mobile phone and when she ended the call, told us we had to re-board the plane and for us to hurry. So we hurried after her with our bags, quickly dropped our checked in bags at the check-in counter, underwent security checks (two of them) and rushed to the tarmac. We had to walk up to the plane and I could see the unfriendly unhappy faces of the cabin crew waiting for us. One man asked why we disembarked so we told him that we had checked with a staff and were told we could do so. Did he really think we would be so stupid or so arrogant as to just walk off the plane like that without consulting if we could so first? Duh!

We settled into the first available seats we could find and buckled up. The plane took off and we reached Harare about 40 minutes later. There was confusion when we arrived as we searched for the transfer gate. We asked a few officers and were told to wait aside so we did. And we waited and waited. Finally I asked a passing gentleman and he looked surprised. He said the plane bound for Lusaka was from Lusaka (yes, didn’t we know all about that) and wondered aloud why we came all the way to Harare and had to return back on the same plane (albeit on a different flight number) back to Lusaka. Yes, it does sound strange but try telling Emirates that.

We landed back at Lusaka at 20:20. Deena, the sister to the Airbnb hosts, was already waiting for us. She drove to Airbnb apartment and showed us around. We paid her USD35 for the pick-up service and USD35 for the apartment. It had been a long challenging day and I was not happy to discover my clothes were all wet when I opened my suitcase. It turned out that a water bottle broke in suitcase and I had to remove all the clothes and dry them. By this time, too many things had happened and I just took my clothes out listlessly and spread them around the bed and on the sofa in the living room. After a quick shower, I settled in bed and tried to sleep.

Monday, 24 December 2018

I had a restless sleep and woke up twice. I went to check on my clothes and turned them. They were drying at least. I finally got up at 04:10 and went to re-pack my clothes back into my suitcase. Then I woke HI and we got ready.

After a quick breakfast, we were ready to leave. I brought my bags down (the apartment would have to be at the top floor of course and there was no lift) and asked the guard if the cab had arrived (Deena had asked him the previous evening to help all a cab for us at 05:30). One finally came (it didn’t look like a cab at all) and I was surprised to find two passengers already in the car. We had to load the bags with us into the back seats (at least the foot area was wide enough to accommodate the bags) and drove to the inter-city bus station.

From the map, the inter-city bus station is only a fifteen-minute walk away but because of the one-way roads from the apartment, it seemed further. There was a swarm of people around the cab asking our destination and the cabbie helped us find a bus to Livingstone. I had to change USD25 as the ticket office didn’t accept USD. The bus ticket to Livingstone cost us 200 kwacha each and although we were told it would leave at 06:30, the bus only moved at 07:10. There was a bottleneck leading out of the bus station and there was a preacher chanting prayers loudly in the bus. We stopped at Muzugawa to use the facilities (surprisingly clean). We also passed the towns of Monze, Choma (where we had a 10-minute stop), Zimba before we finally arrived at Livingstone at 15:00. From the bus station, we took a cab to the border for USD10 each although I paid him 70 kwacha and USD5. We then went through passport control and the cabbie drove us across the bridge. Sadly, we couldn’t see any of the Falls or indeed any water at all. It was a hot day and the summer rains hadn’t arrived. We cleared passport control on the Zimbabwean side then took another cab to N1 Hotel for USD10.

 Lusaka inter-city bus terminal

Choma town. The sellers rushed to the bus as it was approaching. Passengers can buy produce from their window

We checked in and rested for a while before venturing out. Unfortunately, we were unlucky not to be able to view or even get near the Victoria Falls. The Lookout Café had burnt down the same morning so we couldn’t even go near the café (area had been cordoned off) and have a view of the Falls. What bad luck.

There was a KFC restaurant next to a pump station near our hotel and it served halal chicken. However, the prices were much higher than in Malaysia. We returned back to the hotel and had some soup and bread. There was a strong wind that evening which then led to a blackout all over town. It had been a long day of travelling and as there wasn’t much we could do anyway due to the power outage, we had an early night. Besides, we had an early start the next morning.

To be continued