Caprivi: Cruising the Okavango and losing our bearings

Well, we are currently sitting in Katima Mullilo, and we are not sure how long we will be here for. Mikey has not been well. But we'll start from where we left off and give more details on that later...

After leaving Etosha, we headed north to Rundu; spent the night there, did some shopping around town in the morning, and then were on the road again heading to the popular Ngepi Camp at the start of the Caprivi strip. This part of Namibia is  tropical, green, bushy and more densely populated by colourfully-dressed locals. It definately has more of an 'African' feel to it. Anyway, we got to Ngepi Camp and could understand why it is so popular and well-spoken of. Quirky signs lead you there, telling you how much further you have to go, teasing 4X4 drivers etc.

We had a quick look around the camp, and were really impressed with the place. We booked ourselves in for three nights- the first three-night stay on the trip so far! Our camp-site was situated right next to the Okavango River- amazing! The ablutions were very creative- King and Queen's throne toilets with reed walls on three sides and then looking out over the river. There was even a galvanised bath-tub positioned looking out over the river.

Our first day there, we did some-much needed washing of our clothes, and just chilled. The next day we were itching to explore the area, so we headed of to the Mahango Game Reserve in the morning, a really wild, bushy piece of bush where we spotted many animals, including Red Lechwe, which we've never seen before. They look like a mixture between a water-buck and an Impala.. Grant ticked off some lifers (Pygmy Goose, Southern Carmine Bee-Eater, Bradfield's Hornbill and Long Toed Plover), we visited the Giant Baobab in the Reserve and then went back to camp. There we did some cage diving, well kind of. They have a swimming pool in the Okavango River with a cage protecting you from the crocs and hippos.

That afternoon we went on a Makoro trip for two and half hours along the Okavango. Wow- what an incredible experience. Our guide expertly rowed us along the edge of the River, pointed out birds, indicated where the hippo were hiding (or not hiding), and educated us about the local tribes in the region and how they got to be in the Caprivi. (It is one thing hearing a hippo snort and then grunt from the safety of the river bank, but, being in a flimsy makoro only 50 or so metres away certainly got the blood pumping a little faster. The thought of a hippo swallowing the Makoro like it swallowed that chomp on TV did cross our minds a few times.)

Yesterday we left Ngepi camp and planned to head East along the Caprivi to one of the community-run campsites in the Bwabwata Nature Reserve. After about 20km's on the road, we heard a horrible clunking, screeching, grinding noise coming from the left rear wheel. Being in the middle of nowhere and heading further into it's territory we decided to head back to the small town of Divundu and see if we could get it looked at. We thought it may have been the brakes and after a few enquiries we were directed to the old shell petrol station. It no longer functions as a petrol station but there were some guys there that said they could help. At this stage it was not yet apparent if they were actually mechanics, but, they started taking the wheel off like they knew what they were doing. We got chatting as they inspected the brakes and we soon found out that they were actually in the "wood Business" as well as butchers, mechanics they were not. After tapping a few things on the wheel and shaking some bits about the one chap concluded that there was nothing wrong with the brakes. So we headed off, but, before that we parted with some cash after the "mechanic" made up some hourly rate that did not roll of the tongue as quickly as I (Grant) would have liked.

About 40km outside Divundu the noise started up again and this time the car was jerking. Not cool. We still had a good 300 km until Katimo Mulilo and any hope of getting a real mechanic to sort it out. we stopped several times and I got under the car like I knew what I was looking for and then asked Ange to drive forward slowly as I tried to listen where the noise was coming from. Anyone who passed us would have thought that these Mlungus were crazy, as I hunched over, ear to the wheel, walking slowly next to the moving car. Oh yes and it was about 100 degrees celcius. The journey from there on (we obviously decided to give the Bwabwata Reserve a skip and aimed to get to the next town- Katima Mullilo) was tense to say the least as we scanned the passing bush I kept on contemplating how or where we would camp if the car just stopped, and the signs warning of elephants did not help. I also kept wondering whether I could in fact run 100km in a day. We limped into Katima Mullilo and headed for the Zambezi, where we happened upon a Protea Hotel that offered camping. There we stayed and celebrated our unexpected arrival with a meal at the restuarant. Very extravagant.

This mornning, we drove to Caprivi Spares to seek help... Closer inspection of the troublesome wheel revealed that there was black oil leaking in quite large quantities. Never a good sign. Our worst fears were confirmed. The Wheel Bearing had siezed, in fact it had disintergrated into a mess of mangled steel and in the process did some damage to the hub. Now we wait as Mohammed and his contacts try and solve the problem. It has given us some time to walk around the town to take in the sights as well as purchase some very nice wife beaters (vests) for me as I am over t-shirts. We are yet to find out if Katimo will be our home for the next few days or if we will be heading to Zimbabwe soon.

Although this has been rather stressful and at times we felt totally useless we have learnt that there is always a solution and that Africans will make a plan somehow. They take it in their stride and offer their suggestions and advice without reservation. As long as you have time on your hands and a good sense of humour things will be ok. We have learnt (or been forced) not to take ourselves too seriously and relax a bit.

So, here are our "musings":
While we were at Ngepi, we asked that God would take control and help us release control of this trip and trust Him completely with all the details, small and big. We don't want this to just be a long 'holiday', we really want our characters and our relationship with Him and with each other to be deepened and enriched through this journey. So the next day when Mikey started to make such awful noises, we tried to approach the situation differently, from this different angle. Did we succeed? Maybe a little :)

Trip tunes:
Hippo grunting and snorting, elephants trumpetting, Pels fishing owl hooting, woodland kingfishers trrrrrrrrrring, and Fish Eagles calling.

Meals: Creamy Tomato chicken pasta, chops and roasted butternut, Viena sossousvlei..

Norman (or Poppy Pops), thanks for trying to assist us with part numbers and so on from Cape Town, if nothing else it was good to chat to you albeit very briefly.