One Final Safari

As my time in Africa is drawing to a close I decided it was time to take one last spin around Botswana before saying, “adieu.”  After my Kilimanjaro trip my dad came to visit which was the perfect opportunity to show him around my favorite places here.  For the past week we have been celebrating Kelly and Dad’s Week of Fun (in Africa).  We had intended to go to the Okavango Delta first, but since my flight from Kilimanjaro arrived a day late we had to cancel that part of the trip.  Instead we went to northern Botswana to visit Chobe National Park.  We took a river cruise:

We went on a game drive where we saw about a dozen lions, including two lions chasing a water buffalo across the road right in front of our vehicle:

There were about twenty game drive vehicles all in the same area of the park jockeying to get the best view of the lions; nothing quite like an African traffic jam:

We also saw some giraffes fighting:

After two days watching the animals we crossed the border into Zimbabwe to visit Victoria Falls:

And we went to the Victoria Falls Hotel for lunch:

It was a fast week but we had a great trip.  Aside from having a lot of fun with my dad, it was great to have one more visit around Botswana.  There is a lot I will miss when I leave:

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:

“Welcome to Uganda, everyone is very excited to have you here!”

I arrived in Uganda safe and sound this evening. My flight from Joburg to Entebbe International Airport, the only international airport in the country, was about an hour and a half late, but I made it nonetheless. I started to worry a bit while waiting for my luggage as my bag was the VERY LAST off the plane, but the good thing was by the time I exited the airport the crowd had dispersed.

It is interesting to travel through Africa and see the different airports. Some are practically brand new with all the bells, whistles and technology you can imagine. Others are little more than wooden shacks where everything is done by hand. The Victoria Falls International Airport which hosts the #1 tourist attraction in Sub-Saharan Africa leaves a lot to be desired. There they don’t have carts or baggage carousels, so they use a lot of baggage handlers to move all the luggage manually from the planes to the teeny-tiny arrivals hall (about the size of my parents’ living room) where travelers wait to attack the second they see a bag they think is theirs. I would rate Uganda’s airport as one of the better ones in Africa.

The guide, Tobas (I think ?), who is taking me on my weekend getaway met me at the airport and delivered me to my hotel for the evening. Tomorrow he will be driving me and my new friend, Catherine, whom I have yet to meet face-to-face, 10 hours into the Bwindi Impenetrable Rain Forest to go trekking for gorillas.

On the ride from the airport to my hotel Tobas told me, “Welcome to Uganda, everyone is very excited to have you here!” Everyone? Really? I’m guessing “everyone” is excited to have me here because the small fortune I paid for this excursion is giving a nice boost to the local economy. But, it turns out, his greeting was genuine. He continued on to explain, “I understand when you get back from the gorilla trekking you will be teaching at Makerere University. They are very excited about that.”

Generally when I travel I try to visit other universities with hospitality and tourism programs. I figure it gives me the opportunity to see how other programs work, potentially form relationships for study abroad programs and recruit graduate students who might be looking to come to the U.S. And since I like to reciprocate when someone agrees to host me, I always offer to guest lecture if they are interested. When I was in Kenya in September I spent a day at the University of Nairobi and taught a class there.

But I was surprised Tobas knew about my guest lecturing at Makerere because I hadn’t told anyone at the safari company about it. I was put in touch with someone at Makerere by the professor with whom I co-teach at UB. We emailed back and forth several times and I agreed to do a one hour lecture on the American tourist market in Africa. Shortly after we set a day and time, he emailed me back and told me there was a lot of interest in my visit; he was hoping I could spend a second, full day, doing more lectures to larger groups. I was surprised there was “so much interest” but I enjoy visiting other schools, so I was happy to do it. Upon hearing that Tobas was aware of this arrangement I guess there must be “interest.”

So, how did Tobas learn about my upcoming visit to Makerere? It turns out the owner of the safari company is a tourism professor there. And due to the relationship between the professor, the safari company and the Ugandan Tour Operators Association, my visit it advertised as a public lecture. I certainly don’t mind, but I guess it does put a little pressure on me. Of course, I could look at it from the opposite perspective; I wanted to make sure I had some tourism experiences here in Uganda before I spoke. So if I was the professor/safari company owner I would definitely want to make sure the American visitor had a good experience.

Regardless, Tobas seems to be a good guy; I think I am in good hands. If nothing else “everyone is very excited” that I’m here, so it sounds like this will be a great trip.

Reflecting on the 20th UNWTO General Assembly

Today was the final day of the 20^th UNWTO General Assembly.  After six days of meetings, resolutions, voting and social events the delegates seemed quite pleased with themselves regarding their accomplishments.  Throughout the week frequent reference was made to the UNWTO’s priorities: air connectivity, travel facilitation and youth tourism.  Boiled down this means that member states have agreed to make airline services and airports more widely available in order to allow tourists easier transport into and around their countries.  There is also a big push to capitalize on the youth market.  According to UNWTO statistics, youth travelers comprise 300 million of the worldwide 1 billion international tourists annually.

“Travel facilitation” was the phrase used in reference to visas.  This discussion seemed the most unrealistic to accomplish as so many visa regulations are based on reciprocity, meaning it becomes a “we won’t let you play with our toys unless we can play with yours” argument.  For instance, only 14 African countries allow Chinese citizens to enter their borders without a visa.  Those 14 countries are actually quite generous. The remaining countries in Africa require Chinese citizens to have visas to enter simply because China requires visas from nationals of ALL African nations.  In order for the UNWTO to truly accomplish their goal of easier travel facilitation someone, or more accurately, some country, will need to blink and open it’s borders first.  Perhaps when that happens things will become a bit easier.

Speaking of cross-border travel, this week was a first for Zambia and Zimbabwe.  Since both countries were hosting the UNWTO conference they suspended visa regulations this week for conference attendees only.  Typically the border between the two countries is closed, thus anyone entering either country must carry a passport and possess a valid visa.  That may actually change soon.  The Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA) is an organization sponsored by the World Bank and incorporating Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe.  In addition to the environmental and wildlife initiatives, KAZA is attempting to make travel between the five countries easier.  In an effort to do so the Victoria Falls border is scheduled to be “opened” in January 2014 to encourage travel to national parks in both countries.  If that pilot test is successful KAZA anticipates within the next year one visa will be issued and encompass all five countries.

Overall the UNWTO conference as an event was quite successful, by African standards.  I say that because as a person who lives here my standards are a little different from those of outsiders.  I don’t believe I attended a single session or event which actually began, or ran, on time; but that’s normal here.

The same can be said for some of the organization.  Exiting the closing ceremony I had to leave the hotel in Zambia where it was being held and get transportation back to my hotel in Zimbabwe.  I was instructed to take a shuttle to a neighboring hotel where a bus was allegedly waiting.  After arriving at the second hotel the staff put me back on the shuttle and sent me to the entrance gate of the property where I was told I could catch a ride.  When I arrived at the gate there was a group of about 8 press correspondents who had been walked to four different buses and still couldn’t get anyone to help them. I joined them as we were taken to yet another bus.  The bus driver refused to take us anywhere.  As we walked back to the main gate all 8 press correspondents (none of which were from Africa) voiced their frustration and exasperation at the lack of organization.  When one of them asked what I thought all I could respond was, “TIA. This is Africa.”

Despite these challenges, I would have to say Zambia and Zimbabwe certainly made a valiant effort.  Back in April Zimbabwe was facing serious financial trouble and there were talks that it was soliciting other African countries for a bailout.  I asked several representatives from neighboring countries whether any of them had provided the money Zimbabwe needed and they all said, “No.” But you know who did? Who else? China. China gave Zimbabwe a $150 million loan.

And I can tell you exactly where that $150 million went. When I arrived at the Zimbabwe airport last week there was a full sized bus specifically for UNWTO delegates to transport us to our hotels.  It looked brand new.  I mention full sized and brand new because the few buses you see in southern Africa are often old, without air conditioning, smaller than what we are accustomed to in the West and generally filthy.  As I entered the bus I noticed indeed it was brand new, as evidenced by the fact the plastic seat coverings from the factory had not yet been removed. A few days later I saw a police convoy.  The motorcycle officers were on BMW motorcycles, while again, I saw 6 police cars, all with the plastic seat coverings still intact.  If Zimbabwe has nothing else to show from the conference, they now have a fleet of vehicles other African countries will no doubt be jealous of.

Despite Zimbabwe’s recent money troubles, accusations of human rights violations and alleged election rigging, I think they did the best job they could with the resources they had.  The one aspect I think they did excel at was human resources.  Both countries brought in hundreds of temporary workers for the two weeks surrounding the conference.  All these temporary workers were Zambian and Zimbabwean citizens who came to Livingstone City and Victoria Falls, respectively, and were responsible for assisting the conference attendees.  Some were elementary school teachers from Harare who were earning a little extra money before starting the new school year next Tuesday.  A few were business owners who took time off to “see all the excitement” and one I spoke to was a mother.  I just hope once the last UNWTO delegate leaves they use those shiny new buses to take them all home.

A quick shower and a free drink

Right now I am in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe for the UNWTO General Assembly.  While I do have a pretty packed schedule of meetings, all work and no fun makes for a dull time.  Fortunately, the conference program includes several side trips and extracurricular activities for attendees when meetings are not in session.

On Sunday afternoon before the Opening Ceremony I went to Victoria Falls along with a number of other UNWTO delegates.  It is currently winter, which means it is dry season here in Southern Africa.  As a result Victoria Falls is quite low.  There is still plenty of water flowing over the Falls, but to put in perspective the difference in seasons, during the rainy season about 500 million liters of water fall each minute.  In the dry season the water level drops to 10 million liters per minute.  As an amateur Vic Falls tourist this means absolutely nothing to me, but since I can do math a 50-fold increase between seasons sounds like a lot.  I was very impressed.  I even got a little wet from the spray off the Falls.  But, I may have to schedule another trip back here in high season to see the difference for myself.  Here are a couple of pictures for your viewing enjoyment:

 

Yesterday I had some free time before our meetings began in the afternoon, so I booked a tour with one of the many tour companies here in town.  It was a game drive through Zambezi National Park followed by a canoe trip down the Zambezi River.  The Zambezi River is the fourth-longest river in Africa behind the Nile, Congo and Niger Rivers.  It flows from eastern Angola into Namibia, through Botswana, along the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe, flows over Victoria Falls, then into Mozambique and finally empties into the Indian Ocean.  Here is the Zambezi River with Zimbabwe on the left bank and Zambia on the right bank:

As for the game drive through Zambezi National Park it was great.  I finally saw an elephant, lots of them actually, so I now feel like I’m in Africa.  There were also plenty of giraffes, warthogs, water buffalo, kudu, hyenas and vultures.  The vultures and hyenas were actually feeding on the carcass of a dead buffalo and they made a quick meal of him.  According to our guides the buffalo was killed by a lion and the hyenas and vultures were just finishing him off.  Sadly though we did not see any lions.  Maybe next time.

After the game drive and canoe trip we were departing the park and right as we reached the gate we saw an elephant was blocking the entrance.  We sat there waiting for him to move, which he didn’t for nearly 10 minutes.  The reason he was so hesitant to surrender his real estate was because the park rangers were watering the lawn directly out front.  One of them abandoned the hose and walked away, during which time an elephant wandered up and took advantage of a free drink: