It’s Raining, It’s Pouring

The nice thing about visiting Chobe is that it is only ten miles to the Zimbabwean border which is close to Victoria Falls.  Once you cross the border you still have to drive about an hour to Vic Falls, but it is an easy day trip.  Since Amanda and Ashleigh are both on their first visit (of many I expect) to Africa, I had to take them to see the Falls.  Plus, being so close it would have been a real shame to skip it.  So we woke up early one morning, drove to the border, proceeded to Vic Falls, and then got soaked.  Actually let me back up a minute…

While at the Zim border, Ashleigh and Amanda were introduced to the true chaos of Africa.  Essentially there were a ton of people, each one jostling for a place in line, shoving one another and trying to get the attention of the border patrol officers in order to get through as quickly as possible.  I actually felt a little bad because I am accustomed to this kind of behavior, but my friends aren’t.  After I was processed I turned around to see them politely waiting their turn, so I grabbed Ashleigh and practically threw her through the visa window in an effort to make sure the immigration officer helped her before someone line jumped her.  Fortunately we made it out in one piece with the girls laughing to one another saying, “So and so could never come to Africa, she couldn’t handle that kind of stress.”  That is right; Africa isn’t for the faint of heart.

We made it to Victoria Falls around 9am.  As we were headed toward the Falls we saw some baboons in a car.  You may have read a while back that there was some concern over the monkeys on campus learning how to drive.  Well, it appears the baboons may have beaten them to it.  In all reality, the baboons were not driving the car; they were making out (and doing a little bit more) in the backseat.  I’m glad that wasn’t my car:

Dr. David Livingstone, my namesake, is believed to have been the first European to have seen the falls back in 1855.  If you want more information about Victoria Falls you can check out my previous blog post about it here.  I had never been to the Zambian side of the Falls before, so that was the side we decided to explore.  As we drove into the town of Victoria Falls we could see the spray from the Falls.  Then as we were crossing the bridge from Zimbabwe to Zambia we began to feel the spray.  Any time you cross the bridge lots of people approach you asking you if you want to bungee jump.  We did not partake, but here is a picture of the bridge, with a rainbow due to the spray, and a bungee jumper (he is in an orange shirt directly above the rainbow):

It wasn’t until we got a little closer that we REALLY felt the force of the Falls.  In fact most of our pictures didn’t turn out properly because the mist was so extreme it looked as if we were standing in the middle of a fog storm.  But here is one shot of the Falls that did turn out well:

We also made lots of friends because everyone wanted to get their pictures taken with us:

We spent about two hours visiting the park and ultimately ended up looking like drowned rats, but we loved every last WET minute of it:

The Dark Continent

Most people believe the term, “The Dark Continent” is a racial reference to Africa.  That is actually a falsity. The first time Africa was called the Dark Continent was not when Joseph Conrad wrote Heart of Darkness.

In the 15^th and 16^th centuries when the world was still up for grabs and England, France, Portugal, Spain and a few other minor players were sailing the seven seas in efforts to increase their colonial holdings, cartographers were responsible for documenting new territorial finds.  Since most of this exploration began on the shore and worked inland, maps frequently had detailed coastlines.  However, the regions further away from the coast often remained unexplored until later.  The unexplored areas would be left dark on maps because no one actually knew what was in those locations.  Thus, the map of Africa was largely a blackened in outline of the continent as we know it today until my namesake, Dr. Livingstone, began his twenty-plus years of expeditions in 1851.

Though the 1899 novel Heart of Darkness did solidify the term Dark Continent as a reference to the black peoples living in Africa, there is now a slightly different meaning associated with the phrase.  Today Dark Continent indicates Africa’s lack of electricity compared to the rest of the world.  This map was a composite of multiple photos taken by NASA showing the world at night:

As you can see, the U.S., Europe, India and East Asia are using the most light and electricity.  Considering its landmass compared to the few spots of light, I would say Africa is using the least.

I know I’ve mentioned rolling blackouts here in Botswana before, but at this time of year they seem a little more unbearable than usual.  It is 100 degrees every day and well into the night.  I don’t have air-conditioning, in fact, I know very few people who do, but not having a fan because the electricity is out again can make falling asleep a chore.  Each afternoon when I walk home from work and see everyone driving past me with their windows rolled up I silently wish they were my friends and daydream someone will pull over and offer me a ride in their air-conditioned vehicle.  But I am told winter is coming in a few months, so I think I can make due until then.

I’m going to Victoria Falls!

Tomorrow at 6am I board a flight to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.  While this technically is not a pleasure trip, I definitely plan to enjoy myself when I’m not working.  I am going to Victoria Falls for the United Nations World Tourism Organization General Assembly.  The General Assembly is the annual meeting where all the Ministers of Tourism from the member countries come to discuss tourism policy.

In honor of my upcoming trip I recently read “Into Africa: The Epic Adventures of Stanley and Livingstone” and “The Life & African Explorations of David Livingstone.” For those of you who may not be familiar with Dr. Livingstone, he was the inspiration behind the name of my blog, Dr. Phelan, I Presume?  If you haven’t read the details behind my blog title you can read about it in this post.

I’ve also been busy reading the several hundred pages of documents related to policy discussions which will take place during the UNWTO.  When I heard the UNWTO was being held in the countries right next door I contacted the UN and asked if I could attend.  Fortunately I did this way back in March because it took them several weeks of deliberation to determine whether or not I could participate.  I was eventually told, “This is an unusual request.  We have never had a professor ask to attend the UNWTO.  But given your appeal we would be happy to invite you to attend as a special guest.  Please find your invitation and credentials enclosed.”

Check this out- I am a Special Guest:

I always love attending conferences because I inevitably learn things and meet people I would never have expected.  Hopefully this one will as interesting and as much fun as I expect.

Dr. Livingstone, I presume? No, just Dr. Phelan.

After my first blog posting, several people emailed me asking the reason behind the title of my blog, Dr. Phelan, I presume?  In preparation for my move to Africa I’ve read a considerable amount about the history of the continent, particularly sub-Saharan Africa, and I have Dr. Livingstone to thank for that information.

Dr. David Livingstone was a British missionary and explorer in Africa between 1851 and 1876.  Livingstone was one of the few westerners who were successful in making a transcontinental trek across Africa.  Plenty of individuals attempted the journey prior to and during Livingstone’s time of exploration, but few survived due to the prevalence of diseases such as malaria, dysentery and sleeping sickness.  It should be noted all these are still significant problems in Africa, but due to the miracle of modern day medicine, there are treatments and vaccines which make these considerably less fatal now.

Dr. Livingstone’s goal in traveling throughout Africa was two-fold, as a missionary attempting to spread Christianity, and as an explorer, trying to discover the source of the River Nile.  He was also a strong opponent of slavery, and later made its abolition his primary objective.  His motto, “Christianity, Commerce and Civilization” is prominently located at the base of his statue at Victoria Falls.

During three different journeys in Africa (1852-1856, 1858-1864 and 1866-1873) Livingstone became the first westerner to see Victoria Falls (Zambia/Zimbabwe), crossed the Kalahari Desert (Botswana, Namibia and South Africa) and discovered Lake Nyasa, aka Lake Malawi (located between Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania).  Sadly, despite nearly 20 years and countless attempts, Livingstone did not find the exact source of the Nile, though he was impressively close.

In 1869 Livingstone had been missing for three years.  In an effort to find the next big story, and wanting to move away from strictly political coverage into human interest narratives, the New York Herald newspaper funded journalist Henry Stanley to find Livingstone.  In October 1870 Stanley travelled to Africa and after eight months of searching he saw one man with unusually pale skin.  Stanley deduced this must be the man he was searching for, and approached him, asking, “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?”

So, that’s the story behind my blog title.  While I will strive to emulate Dr. Livingstone by accomplishing a lot during my year in Africa, I can’t possibly expect to be as successful as him.  But I certainly hope I don’t spend several years lost in the jungle, or share his ultimate fate (death caused by malaria and internal bleeding due to dysentery- yuck!).