Across the Pungue to Vinho

We spent a great day visiting the community located just across the Pungue River from Chitengo CampMany of the local staff working in Chitengo live in Vinho, and the restoration project is actively engaged in helping this community develop its capacity to provide community services and, ultimately, develop businesses to serve both the community and tourists.
The Pungue River is a short walk from Chitengo, a a kilometer or two down a sandy road. To cross the river, one has to wade initially to reach the part of the river that is deep enough to accommodate the mokoros or canoes that take you to the far side of the river. Even the deepest part of the river at this dry time of year is only about a meter, so the canoe is a bit of a formality, or creature comfort. Three or four adults can fit in the canoe, but be warned that too much stuff that raises the center of gravity of the boat can result in a capsize event! (We were spared such indignity).
The town itself is sprawling, with little centralized "town" area, although this is changing. Most of the houses are traditional stick-stone-mud huts thatched with grass or sometimes scraps of salvaged plastic. Huts are spread out in part to accommodate the small farming plots of mostly corn grown as the staple food.
Our first stop in Vinho was at one of the houses of the village "chief" (he has several houses, as he has several wives, a common practice in this area), where the women and children were gathered to process their corn crop. Carole and Lea took a turn trying out the grinding process in a huge wooden mortar and pestle type contraption. These women work hard! After only a couple of pounds, Carole and Lea had had enough, much to the delight of the local women.

First Madison Visitors! John, Carole, and Lea

We were delighted to host our first visitors from home in early July: John, Carole and Lea whom we know from Madison. John and Rich are collaborating on developing a survey project in the communities of the park (John runs the UW Survey Center), and Carole is looking to develop a project to train local people in massage for use in the local health clinics and for the benefit of staff and tourists in the Park. (Believe me, lots of staff benefited from her talented hands during the week she was in Chitengo!

We met John, Carole, and Lea in Johannesburg on our way back from Port Elizabeth. We piled into our enormous rental minibus to make the 3 hour trip northwest to Pilanesburg National Park, a terrific (and closer and less hectic) place to see great African game. The weather continued cold, and we all shivered and were thankful for the warm blankets in our rental safari tents. We saw lots of great game - white rhino, elephant, zebra, wildabeest, and even a honey badger during our night drive. Heard the giant roar of a lion as he notified all of his territory, but couldn't find him for a look. Did find an interesting sunset scene with two elephants, an older male and a youthful male, the details of which we will save for the next time we share a beer with you! Suffice it to say it was a "first timer" for everyone on the game drive, including the driver!

After two full days in Pilanesburg (including my birthday, well celebrated with balloons, a delicious rich piece of cake complete with sparklers and a song from the restaurant staff, and lots of great adventures), we headed from Joberg to Beira in Mozambique and the three hour drive to Gorongosa National Park. We spent our week there enjoying Chitengo, taking in a few game drives (and expeditions on the helicopter for the lucky ones!), and doing lots of playing. Ian and Lea were great friends, drawing lots of great pictures, making books, holding "Fun Club" sessions daily (complete with Manners Class), and creating other adventures. We also had a great trip across the Pungue River together to the community of Vinho from which many Chitengo workers come to their jobs, but I'll save that story for another post!

If you need details about coming to visit, contact John, Carole, and Lea, as they are experts now! It was super to be able to share our new life here in Chitengo with good friends.

Addo Elephant Reserve

We spent one of our cold, rainy, cloudy days while in Port Elizabeth touring the renown Addo Elephant Reserve, probably the second most visited Park in South Africa. When our driver arrived to pick us up for the trip we were initially very disappointed to see a minibus, as we had been assuming we'd make the tour in an open game drive vehicle. But when the rain and wind continued for the day, we were quite happy for the warmth and dryness of the minibus!

The ecosystem at this Park was so different from anything else we'd seen or that we know from our Park: very low vegetation, alternating between dense shrubby growth and open (formerly cropped) grassland. We spent the duration of our tour in a fully fenced area where the density of animals (mostly re-stocked) was higher, and saw lots of interesting things, including the Red Hartebeest (in the photo - we have Lichtenstein's Hartebeest at our Park), ostriches, zebra... But the end of our day trip approached and we still hadn't seen the animal for which the reserve was named! Our driver was not to be outdone by these creatures, and searched high and low, resorting to calling his buddies on the cell phone to find out where the ellies were hiding that day. Finally we found them, and had great looks at aged bulls, enormous dames, and young babes. We could go home happy from our day at Addo!

Port Elizabeth, South Africa (Part 3)

Finally the clouds cleared and we were able to enjoy a full day on the beach, complete with tidepooling, sandcastle building, frisbee playing, and, of course, sandcastle building!

Found great seastars, muscles, sea urchins, sea anemones and other fun ocean critters in the tidepools before the tide came in and covered all of the rocks. And Ian discovered the joys of collecting "beach glass", and is learning to covet the rare blue glass finds! Sad that I love beach glass so much when it is just a sign of our continuing pollution of our planet...

We steered clear of playing in the ocean but for our toes and ankles, as it was pretty chilly, but enjoyed the sights and sounds of its rolling waves.

The beach was quite calm in comparison to how we heard it is during the summer months, with blanket-to-blanket crowds taking in the cool ocean amid the heat of summer. We loved being one of only a few folks playing on the beach that day.

Port Elizabeth, South Africa (Part 2)

Ian and I spent a great day at "BayWorld," the aquarium and science museum of Port Elizabeth, even in the cool winter weather (it was cloudy, cool, and windy all day long).




We loved the dolphin show -- a father and daughter pair of dolphins demonstrating lots of talents (Ian was impressed by how fast they could swim , and how high they could jump!) -- and watching the penguins being fed. Ian is now determined to go to Antarctica to see more penguins, and tells us that he will go in June next year.

Ian was also fascinated by the museum, especially the huge skeletons of the whales and the displays of sharks and dinosaurs. Ian has entered his seemingly genetically-predetermined dinosaur phase, and is mastering not only the names of the various dinosaurs but also the eras during which they occurred. As soon as we can get some plaster of paris he wants to make his own fossil print. Three cheers for Ms. Frizzle and the Magic Schoolbus, his greatest literary source of inspiration and information!

One of Ian's favorite questions these days is "who would win a fight between a ___ and a ___?" -- you fill in the blanks: T-Rex, shark, elephant, lion.... It is a constant curiosity for him, and a constant challenge for us. :-)