Katima Mulilo: The saga continues...

16 February 2011

The Lonely Planet's description of Katima is as follows: "Out on a limb at the eastern end of the Caprivi Strip lies remote Katima Mulilo, which is as far from Windhoek (1200km) as you can get in Namibia. Once known for the elephants that marched through the village streets, Katima is devoid of wildlife these days- apart from the hippos and crocodiles in the Zambezi- though it continues to thrive as a border town and minor commercial centre".

So, you may ask, what would a pair of lonely travellers do in this town, without a car (and all it's equipment) for ten days and counting (whilst waiting for a new hub for Michael's left rear wheel to be transported from JHB to Windhoek, and Windhoek to Katima)?

Well, a couple of things:

1. Book themselves into a B&B called Fish Eagles Nest which has one pre-erected tent in their garden for the 'budget traveller'.

 

The owners of the B&B, Frik and Mart-Marie have been absolutely wonderful to us. They have made us feel welcome and at home, offered us lifts into town, included us in all the local events in town and even took us for a boat trip on the Zambezi (more on that to come).

2. Join the local Chess Club.

We were invited to go along to the Chess evening by Christoff, the owner of Truck and Tractor (the second mechanic we decided to take Michael to). We had a wonderful time there and learnt alot about Chess too. We are now in the photograph of the Katima Chess Club, to be placed in their newsletter! Ha! After chess, we were invited by Helen, pictured below, to go to her house for dinner. We had a great evening, spoilt with delicious food and fascinating stories! (Dinner sorted for that night).

3. Get a shirt made.

In the centre of town there is an Open Market, a down-sized version of a typical African market, with different sections selling veggies, sitenges, fish, vetkoek, etc. I decided i'd like to get a shirt made and spent a while strolling through the aisles to choose a sitenge i liked. After we had haggled to get an acceptable price, we walked over to the ladies with sewing machines and drew a picture of what i wanted. The ladies took my measurements and had a good chuckle at my up-right stance. We returned the following day to pick it up. It's great! :)

4. Fall in love with a wooden bicycle and spend many hours making a plan to get it back to Jozi.

Disregarding our budget, we convinced ourselves that after all this drama we had to have this bicycle as a reminder of our time here in Katima and that a bicycle would have been a better mode of transport to travel through Africa than a Land Cruiser imported from Australia (sorry Michael). After asking around, phoning around and searching the town for bubble wrap, boxes and packing equipment, we have officially sourced couriers and if all goes according to plan, the bicycle should be on its way to Windhoek tomorrow. Yesterday we spent the entire day going from shop to shop asking for bubble wrap (which seems to be a foreign concept here) and boxes. We eventually found a huge box with the help from Jackson, the cleaner at Bears furniture. We lugged the huge box through town, turning heads all the way, until we arrived at the Craft Centre, home of lovely wooden bicycle. The packing process was great fun, with everyone having their say as to how best to pack it. After it was packed we all guessed how much it weighs and wrote our guesstimates on the box. So tomorrow the couriers scale will tell all. Think we'll go for a cool-drink with the packing-team after that :)

5. Go for a boat-trip on the Zambezi River.

Frik and Mart-Marie invited us to go with them on the River on Sunday. It was a great way to see a different side to Katima. The River is really full this time of year and at parts is 12 meters deep. All the different river-fronted properties and lodges were pointed out to us and we went to inspect a property owned by Mart-Marie's cousin that can only be accessed by boat. As we sped along the river on the way back, we were cooled down by a much-needed down-pour of rain, an exhilarating experience!

6. Accept an invite for a potjie-lunch looking over the Zambezi River.

We were invited to Louise and Tommy's house for a pojtie on Sunday afternoon. Their home is right on the river and we enjoyed an afternoon of delicious lamb potjie, amazing views and sounds of nature all around us. It really is very wild bush here- just the day before, their young ridgeback was exploring the water's edge and tragically attacked and killed by a crocodile :(

7.  Hire bicycles

When we found out that the wrong part had arrived in Windhoek on Monday this week and that we needed to now order the correct part from JHB and then learning that there was a truck strike going on, we decided that we need to source a more efficient mode of transport. We asked around, went looking in all the Chinese shops in town for cheap bicycles, and were just about to buy some bicycles and then sell them back when we left when we were offered to rent some. So now we have wheels! We are planning to cycle out of town and explore a bit more in the days to come.

8. Sulk and throw tantrums

We have to be honest: we have lost our cool a number of times in this whole Waiting-For-Car-Part process. We have also been totally baffled at the bizarre occurences that have kept the part at bay. We have pulled our hair out (Grant mostly), cried (me mostly), screamed (at each other mostly), and after all of that learnt to wait and trust. We can confidently say that we are so grateful that this 'hiccup' has occurred. We have met wonderful people, had all of the above experiences and more, and we have gotten to know Katima inside-out and we really feel like locals here.

9. Visit an orphanage

We heard about an orphanage just out of town called Children of Zion Village, and once we had our bicycles, we decided to buy a few goodies and go for a visit. We cycled about 14km to get there and had a great afternoon being shown around the premises, meeting the teachers and new directors of the orphanage, Travis and Lorna Curry, from USA. (Grant: The Children of Zion Village started in 2003 and has had some ups and downs but is still going strong with 59 children living on the premises, getting a quality education and all the love they deserve. Travis and Lorna have an amazing story of how God called them to the Caprivi. Read more about their story and the work they do at http://www.tlcinhisservice.org/ and http://www.childrenofzionvillage.org/. Andrew, start thinking about a soccer clinic here, on the banks of the Zambezi.)

Things Grant has learnt:
1. What a hub is, where it goes and what it does (also how hard it is to get one)
2. Africans love music, any music, as long as it is loud.
3. Cars are better on 4 wheels than 3.
4. God works in amazing ways and is patient but relentless in his pursuit of his children. God has taught us many lessons during this time here.

Things Ange has learnt:
1. How to "negotiate" a better price for sitengies in the market.
2. Postcards are hard to find in Katima Mulilo.
3. Doom is the Number One mosquito killer.
4. Riding a bicycle for the first time in many many months hurts the bum.

17 February 2011

Today we received some really good news, that despite the strike in South Africa, our new hub has made it's way to Windhoek, it is the right one and it will be attached to Michael on Friday (Ange's Birthday). A miracle really!

Although our time in Katima Mulilo in the Caprivi was unplanned and has left us feeling frustrated at times, we have had an awesome time. We have managed to see how the town works, meet some of its residents and get a insiders look at a day in the life of an African Town. Every day we have been amazed at the generosity of the people here, be it our wonderful and hospitiable hosts, Mart-Marie and Frik or the guys (Justin, George and Olga) at the craft centre who packed our wooden bicycle with such enthusiasm. We were lucky to break down here and although I hope it does not happen again, we will leave with very fond memories and many a story to tell.

Below is a crude map of our journey so far, we hope to be able to add more soon! (the black line is us)