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Monday 30 June 2008

The white rhinoceros of the Waterberg plateau

By dorian on Monday 30 June 2008, 19:08 - RTW2-Namibia

Our first meeting with the animals of the savannah will take place on the Waterberg plateau. A huge rocky outgrowth surrounded by a curtain of cliffs the fate of the geology knocked in the middle of a plain. An approach track leads to this natural fortress where a flock of animals graze. Animals which, without knowing it, are prisoners of this lost world. Between the upper and lower part of the plateau, the vegetation diversity is striking. Jeep safaris are offered to go and discover these animals. We hop on one of them and let's go to the plateau...

Few animals to be noted despite all our attention. Some warthogs wonder about these aliens which step on their land. A quite-paradoxical animal since it is particularly fond of wallowing in the mud but still keeps a certain elegance to escape, the tail up. A little bit further, an eland – the biggest antelope – bolts in front of us. We unsuccessfully stop at several waterholes when, on a dirt track, three greyish colossuses loom. One of them faces us. A wonderful 2-ton-plus double-horned white rhinoceros. It feels the intruder's presence without really distinguishing it. We slowly go on when the rhino charges at us! The driver's composure is heroic – he goes into reverse and the animal stops. The 3 rhinoceroses swiftly cross the road and establish their position on the other bank. Unspeakable feeling of joy to observe these animals in their natural habitat.

We happily go back to the campsite. A refreshing night to start the stroll up to the edge of the cliffs, the next morning. The rising sun floods the top of the stone. When there is enough light, we begin the walk among red rock and verdant nature. An exploring walk that drives us onto the roof of the plateau. The rough-outlined carmine red stone under our feet and the flat plain as far as the eye can see. Intense silence. Immense serenity.

To share the pleasure of crossing this African animal life so vivacious, so ferocious sometimes and which habitat is so fragile, here is one of the smallest antelope: the Damara dik-dik. It's not necessarily the biggest animals which are the most beautiful nor the sweetest...

Monday 16 June 2008

From a cape to another one

By dorian on Monday 16 June 2008, 16:08 - RTW2-South Africa

A 10-hour flight to leap from an hemisphere to the other. I fall asleep in London and I wake up in the Nelson Mandela's country. As the plane goes up to the airstrip, a stack of corrugated iron and twisted wood shape a makeshift city. Shanty towns stretch out over hectares and reflect the image of a sad reality ; the stakes of a country who, clearing away the evil spirit of Apartheid must bustle about filling the disparities between two universes – the opulence one and the need one – who justapose without looking at each other nor confront one another.
The recent events causing the flight of herds of Zimbabwean immigrants don't put my mind at rest while I put the foot down on the African ground. I disembark in a small airport – Welcome to Cape Town. I load my bag, take some information from the tourist office before hopping on a collective taxi that drops me off by the guesthouse where I have an appointment with my brother and his friend Ronan.
We hire an Opel Corsa that will acompagny us throughout our African odyssey. And our first outing has a still mythic name for generations of navigators and explorers : the cape of good hope. Vasco de Gama was the first one to open the maritime way to the Indian subcontinent skirting around Africa and, not far from the rocky promontory, a cruce has been erected in tribute to the great navigator he was. Along the road, small seaports brighten up the ride. Winds and bad weather are the everyday life of the intrepid sailors who lives here.

Our road stops at the end of the peninsula. Welcome to Cape point, a jagged lighthouse-topped hillock. A cable-car saves the laziest people walking uphill. Beyond the luminous marker, millions of cubic meters of water separate us from Antartica, the white continent.
On the right side, about one hundred meter away from Cape point, the foam runs aground the cape of good hope. And for the sailors, the ending sign of heading south. Bear to port! Still a few miles and the sailing northwards the African continent will be started. The cap of good hope is not the southernmost point of Africa since it was supplanted by the Agulhas cape but it's far more representative in the change of heading that the boat took and keep on taking.
The wind pulls our last remaining hair out but the view of the breathtaking cliffs of Cape point is worth struggling few minutes against Eole.

On the way back, we make a short break at Boulders beach where few families of penguins settled. Uneasy to near them. So we sit down and delight in these moments.

In the evening, we chat with Zimbabweans, Congolese and South-africans who, despite the political tension in their respective countries share a certain joie de vivre. The first day of my round-the-world trip ends, far from the apprehension I had this morning as I arrived... A day which starts a 2-month African adventure between deserts, safaris, meetings and a laidback way of life only Africa can offer.

Friday 7 December 2007

when the water meets the void at Iguazu

By dorian on Friday 7 December 2007, 01:57 - RTW-Argentina

20 hours by bus, we spend our time as we can, we sleep a lot, we chat, we passively watch the unexciting movies broadcasted on the screens of the bus and we count the hours. I finally arrive the next day in the morning at Puerto Iguazu, a small village whose prosperity is due to the proximity of the eponymous waterfalls. I live in a hostel which belongs to the Hostelling International network. I take off my bag and put my name down the list of the all-you-can-eat BBQ dinner. Lively evening around the swimming pool and caipirinha a gogo, the hours spent in the bus seem very far. A moment of relaxation before living some intense emotions, tomorrow morning. I'll do this discovery of the waterfalls with Philipp (German) and Maria (Canadian).
8am, we take the "El Practico" public bus and half an hour later we get in the park after paying the fee entrance. Most of the tourists opt for the train to go to the garganta del diablo (the devil's throat) but we prefer the morning serenity of the red earth of the path and its flanking thick forest. Our choice will be rewarded by 2 toucans which, not disposed to meet us, take off dragging their long orange beak into the air. On the path, large ants frenetically move. We wonder if this sort of ants must still be classified in the insect family when their body goes beyond 2 centimeters long! Giant lizards wriggle through the bushes and from time to time the railway track.

We finally leave the muddy path to walk on a one-kilometer-long footbridge which snakes up to the waterfalls. Our steps get closer and the noise gets louder. The pontoon ends into a circular platform, a zoom as a sound background. The serene upstream water panics and suddenly dips into the abyss. uncontrollable fury of cubic meters of water which disappear into the lair. A cloud of steam hides the bottom and gives to the waterfalls an endless sensation. The water jumps into the void, an aquatic roar evaporates from the fog. Ears and eyes disconnect to store the anger of the nature, this raw beauty that sticks us to the guardrail. Or how an apocalyptic scenery gets us right there, overwhelms us with indescribable emotions. And among that, we must tell us there will be inevitably an end because from this sudden passion, born on a metallic platform, we must unfortunately stick off and leave. As we walk further, we have withdrawal symptoms, this need to walk backwards to inject a dose again but the day is still long and the park still keeps us great surprises.

The discovery path of the waterfalls is a hide-and-seek with the water and the nature. We pass from an overview to a close view, from a wide-angle to a low-angle shot. We see some coatis which play among the branches. We drag our feet to lenghten the path a little bit. We don't definitely grow tired of this water in distress. The movie is a perpetual loop of water molecules in motion captured by the terrestrial gravity. And even if we know the mere and tragical screenplay relating the life of these agglutinated water drops, we stay faithful spectators, leaning on the handrail.

At the end of the day, we stroll on a remote path of the park. The route is silent and ends to a waterfall, another one. At the bottom of it, a tiny lake. Compulsory swimming for everybody.

We didn't finish with the waterfalls and we don't want to. The next day, a shuttle leaves the hostel to go to the Brazilian side. We form a superb international group and we get on like a house on fire. the journey lasts half an hour including the administrative formalities since no visa is needed to go to Brazil. The Portuguese takes the place of the Spanish on the signs alongside the road. At the entrance of the park, a bus shuttles up to the pedestrian way where all the team gets off.
The view of the waterfalls from the Brazilian side is actually complementary from our yesterday visit. The stroll offers us a breathtaking panoramic view. The water leaks from all the sides of the cliff. From a unique river, the water splits into multiple arms which, as a parasite plant creeps, invades the rock and submerges it. Like the Argentinian side, a footbridge extends the visit close to the waterfalls. Deafening symphony of this falling water, we are soaked by the spray. We slowly go back on the path to finish with an elevator which gives us an even more air viewpoint of the waterfalls. Last moments of a magical discovery we appreciate up to the last drop.