Durban

We were graciously and generously hosted by our friends Paul Dutton and Jane Bertram in Salt Rock, a small community about 45 minutes north of Durban, South Africa. It was cold there compared the temperatures we'd had in Chitengo and even at Kruger, so we were bundled up more than usual, even though the normal mean temps for late April and early May are warmer. But this didn't stop us from enjoying our time there!


Much of our time was taken up by errands - shopping for things we can't get in Mozambique (eyeglasses, medicines, haircuts) and an appointment for Theo's next immunizations. But we also made time to enjoy some amenities of "1st world" life (IMAX films, fully stocked grocery stores and bookstores), as well as the gorgeous natural amenities of the area. Sure, the beach was windy and cold, but it was dramatic and beautiful! But, personally, I still think the pool swimmers were crazy! (Paul presented Ian with the "HMS Ian" for more swimming fun.)

We also enjoyed a great evening of music and good company with some of Jane and Paul's friends.







One adventure felt a little "3rd world." We needed to change the oil in our car, but because it was a holiday weekend in South Africa, most of the garages who could do this for us were closed. As Paul and Jane were asking around the town for ideas about places that might be open, another customer shopping at the auto parts store where we had stopped to ask said, "oh, I'll do it." After some discuss, we actually left him the keys and the car and agreed we'd call him in an hour to come get the car. I had an uncomfortable feeling in my stomach about it, but trusted Paul's instincts, which said this guy was OK. Several hours and several cell phone calls later, we got directions to this guy's house, and, sure enough, there was our car, in the front yard of this guy's house, along with several other cars. They'd done the oil change and put in new filters, and also put in a new pump for the windshield cleaning fluid (we hadn't had fluid the whole drive south from Chitengo!). We paid our money and off we went. Sometimes these unofficial things do work afterall!

More Kruger photos

These were taken by Rich, whose camera's zoom is far better at capturing our wildlife sights than mine!

male impala







Baboon






Elephant







Wildebeest







Zebra

Kruger Park Wildlife

We had great wildlife viewing during our five days at Kruger. During the days that Rich attended his meeting, mom and the kids and I spent some of each day driving around the Skukuza area to look for wildlife.

One morning we drove east from Skukuza to Nkuhlu, where we stopped for some breakfast. We were warned about the mischevious monkeys by a staff member whose job seemed to be to hang around and scare the monkeys off when they got too close. Apparently the monkeys have a particular fondness for sugar packets, but the also don't appear to be too picky!

Our breakfast arrived, and Gram and Ian left the table to get more forks, leaving me feeding Theo and "guarding" our breakfast. But those monkeys worked fast! The second they saw that both the staff monkey-deterrer and my personal monkey protectors had gone, they swooped down into action. Our toast was gone before you could stay "shoo"! Thankfully, they weren't able to make off with our eggs or bacon, so we did get some breakfast. And even though I am bigger than they, these little monkeys still scared me, particularly when I was feeling vulnerable feeding Theo. We were so stunned by the event that we didn't even manage to take a photo of the monkeys! (Plus, we didn't want to encourage them, says Ian.)


A short list of our wildlife sightings: the "Big Five" (elephant, lion, leopard, rhino, and buffalo), zebra, wildebeest, giraffe, impala, kudu, warthog, bats



The photo of bats is taken at outside the cafeteria at Skukuza; they roost up in the top of the underside of the thatch roof of the little shelters where folks eat their lunches. They were a continual draw for new tourists. Needless to say, the tables and chairs under this thatched roof were at the outside edges of the thatch, not directly under the bats!



Our lion sighting was more adventure than quality viewing - on our way to Satara camp, where we spent one night, we came upon a traffic jam of cars on a bridge. Sure enough, through quick chats with folks in stopped cars we learned that under the bridge was a family of lions who had just feasted on a wildebeest kill. We could only get in close enough to confirm that lions were there: we saw a fat, sated lioness lolling on her back while her two cubs nursed. Alas the cars with the best views were in no hurry to move on (and frankly couldn't have anyway, given the number of other cars blocking their way out), so most of the occupants of those cars had settled in for sundowners.

Kruger

First, to set the scene on the homefront:

We shared one little bungalow intended to sleep three; we were five, so Ian slept in his cool sleeping bag on his Thermarest pad and Theo slept (as is his nightly norm) in his carseat. It worked out great, especially since we had been anticipating a bungalow that slept only two! We stayed 5 nights in Kruger, so got to really "settle in" to this little home.

On our porch we had a little kitchenette with fridge, 2-burner electric stove, a sink with hot and cold water, and the basic utensils, dishes, and pots for "self-catering". We did breakfast at home every day, but generally ate out our other meals as we'd had limited space for carrying food in our car on the way to Kruger. Plus that way we got to try out various yummies offered by the park.

We also used the front porch to hang our little laundry bits (during the day when everyone else was out on game drives so they didn't have to look at it) - mostly Theo's washable flannel wipes. Ian also washed his stuffed animal collection while we were here - you can see tigger, snowman, beluga, butterfly, and hippo all hanging on the line to dry. It was a fun project.

Next post will be the more interesting bits about our daily drives in the park, including a rundown of the animals we saw. A preview: we managed the Big Five!

On the Road Southward

We left Chitengo on 16 April first for Beira, where Rich attended a meeting about the Zambezi River, and then headed south on our long journey to Kruger National Park. Rich attended and presented at the annual Kruger Science Networking meeting, and we all got to come along for the experience! It is more than 1000 kilometers to Kruger from Chitengo, which we traversed in 3 days.

Our first day took us from Beira to a small resort called Morongulo about halfway to Maputo. Our 5:00 AM departure from Beira meant that we arrived Morungulo in time to enjoy time on the beach, playing in the Indian Ocean's waves.

Early the next morning we headed out to Maputo, ariving in time to enjoy ice cream and beer with friends (who used to live in Chitengo) on a terrace overlooking the sea while Ian played in the sand and on the playground with his buddies Hannah and Adi. Our colleague Raquel and her husband Rui made us a delicious dinner and put us up in their beautiful apartment that night - the city noises were strange to us after the silence of Chitengo.

The third day brought us to Kruger. The border crossing into South Africa was pleasantly uncomplicated, though crowded, and we arrived at Kruger in time to enjoy a lovely safari drive to Skukuza camp.

Three cheers to Rich for doing ALL of the driving - much of it on roads with horrible potholes (in places, it is generous to call the road a road, when in fact the asphalt that remained was more an impediment than anything.) It is hard to believe the road is Mozambique's longest national road, traversing the country from south to north. And it makes one appreciate the amenities we do have access to in Chitengo, considering all of those amenities must travel this road at one time or another!

Three cheers to Barb who road shotgun and handled all of the food and drink provisions and read out loud the entirety of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory!

And, most of all, three cheers to two little kids who really do a great job traveling.

Trip to the Murombodzi Waterfall

We spent a great day hiking to the Murombodzi waterfall on Mount Gorongosa. We drove to Nhancuco (about 2 hours from Chitengo) and hiked for about an hour along a path through fields of corn and bananas with the capable guiding of our friends Tonga, Tongai, and Silvestre.






















It was Theo's first waterfall experience, and we're happy to report that he loved it!

Hangin' in Chitengo

Here are a smattering of photos from our time in Chitengo in April.

Gram stayed with the kids during the morning while I worked, doing various "lessons" with Ian. Tthe state of our dining room table in that first photo is evidence of their hard work! The litte house in the foreground of the photo was a house made out of cardboard and lovingly painted for our little plastic friend lizard who, alas, was lost before his house construction was completed. But it still was a great project.

Theo was a pretty good sport about the whole thing, demanding to be held a lot but still enjoying hearing stories and observing Ian and Gram's hard work (most of the time).

We had great weather - warm during the day but not so hot during the day - that allowed for daily swims in the pool and hanging out on the lounge chairs in the shade of the trees around the pool.

Post from Ian: Our Story About Tadpoles

[Transcribed by Katie as told by Ian]

We captured some tadpoles. We are trying to save the tadpoles. We are trying to raise them. When they grow up they are going to be Foam Nest Frogs. We are raising them in a dishwashing bucket that is full of water.

When we first got them, they were tiny and white and slowly they turned more black. When they are a little bigger they start growing legs and once they have full grown legs and their tail shrinks, they lose their black color and become a greyish-white color.

We got the tadpoles from a place where they would have died. The place was the Sanctuary in a pan [shallow, temporary wetland]. They would have not survived if they had emerged there because their nest was over mud there, not over water. Tadpoles must have water.

[a bit of information from Katie: foam nest frog females lay their eggs inside a white foamy nest - you can see one in the photo with Rich and Ian. She lays this foamy nest on a branch over a body of water, and when the eggs are ready, they fall out (as little tadpoles) into the water below. The foam nest that Rich and Ian found in the Sanctuary were laid over what had been a small pond but had since dried. We've had the tadpoles for almost two weeks now and they grow daily, but no sign of legs yet. Stay tuned!]

Theo Grows

Here is a post dedicated to our smallest member – the one of us whom you are most interested in seeing! He is growing leaps and bounds – was 10 pounds at his 6 week checkup, gaining ~ ½ pound a week on average. He is wearing his 3-6-month-old clothing already. Generally he is a very good baby, although we are learning he has his limits – he “goes with the flow” during busy days (like an 8-hour day in Chimoio – including drive time there and back – to go to the bank and grocery store, or an all-day trip to hike to the waterfall on Gorongosa Mountain), sleeping in the car and generally doing wonderfully. But then he lets us have it that night, howling and refusing to stay asleep until it’s time for us to go to sleep.

Mercifully he does sleep well at night (usually) once he actually gets to sleep, waking only a couple of times – without screaming – to nurse, after which he goes back to sleep. Small miracle when you live in a camp with houses close together and no glass (just screens) in the windows!

Recent developmental milestones: smiling, grabbing/gripping, and looking adoringly at caretakers. Batting at things deliberately is just around the corner, according to Rich! He loves baths (in a small plastic tub in our bathroom’s shower).


Ian continues to be a stellar older brother, showering him with obvious and genuine love, looking after his needs, and helping his mom, dad and Gram take care of little Theo.

Welcomed by Friends

It was great fun in the days following our arrival in Chitengo to greet old friends come to welcome us back. Word travelled fast, and we had many visitors to our home to meet Theo and see (in particular) Ian and me, as we'd been gone for such a long time (since mid-November '07). So many familiar faces! Theo goes by "Tay-o", as the "th" sound is missing in Portuguese and "Tee-o" means "uncle".

Below: 1) Zeca and Antonio with Theo, 2) Grant, Ian, Katie, Theo, Francisco and Vasco, 3) Katie, Theo and Ian with some other new Chitengo babies.

Joburg - Gorongosa

Our Joburg to Beira flight was uneventful but for some last-minute snafus getting our tickets finalized (nothing goes smoothly, it seems!), and Franziska was there waiting for us at the airport with a Gorongosa car. We headed for Shoprite to stock up on groceries, when we suddenly realized we’d left Theo’s passport at the airport, getting his visa! (The immigration officials take your passport to process the visa while you wait at baggage claim, and we’d left the airport forgetting about our newest member, as the rest of us had our paperwork in order.) So, I headed in to do the shopping while the rest of the crew headed back to the airport. Apparently the immigration guys were all laughing knowingly at Rich when he arrived to retrieve Theo’s passport (thankfully the office was still open on that Saturday afternoon!) – at least we hadn’t forgotten the baby himself.


We arrived at Chitengo in time to have ample light to unpack the car into the house. Almost three weeks of having being shut up tight (and an earlier 2 months uninhabited over the holidays) had left the house very mildew-y smelling. That, in addition to the suitcases yet to be unpacked, left me feeling totally overwhelmed by our return. Thank goodness Mom was there to step right in and get busy with the cleaning up – shelves all wiped out, groceries put away, suitcases organized if not yet unpacked. I felt we were well settled in by the end of 24 hours.


Theo’s carseat (his favorite sleeping place) fits just right on top of my bedside table and inside our bed’s mosquito net, so all three of us can settle in for the night in our room. Mom is sharing rooms with Ian, occupying his spare bed which sat idle for most of last year. We are a full house but everyone is amenable to it. Theo’s porta-crib – a generous gift from Seattle friends brought all the way to Africa – serves primarily as a changing table and dresser for Theo’s things, and is located in the living room. I love how we all are capable of putting up with situations that are not what we are used to nor would we necessarily choose (if given the choice) – in this case, space and privacy, primarily.


The peace and quiet of camp after the generator went out at 10pm that first night reminded me of why I love being here – the natural nighttime noises without all of the artificial human ones.

Africa-Bound

We began our long journey home to Gorongosa on St. Patrick’s Day. We traveled on an overnight flight to London, where we taxied to the home of long-time friends of Katie’s family near the airport, where we found Gram (Katie’s mom Barb)! (Barb had flown to London the previous week to be able to spend some time with friends). After a delightful lunch and rest, we headed back to the airport for overnight flight #2 en route to Johannesburg.
Theo was a trooper on both flights, doing a lot of sleeping and generally keeping pretty quiet, as far as babies are concerned! We had a baby bassinet that was a dream for Theo. I was thankful for the loud drone of the plane as it disguised Theo’s occasional cries.

We arrived Joburg at 9-ish in the morning, where we Beilfi sailed through immigration and managed to retrieve all of our bags. But no Barb! Because our seats had not been together on the plane, we had not gone through immigration together. After a long wait, I talked with some officials who said there was another international arrivals area (to which other airlines are directed) at which she could have erroneously ended up. I managed to talk my way through various security barriers to get into this other area, where I did manage to find her. (She wasn't, I should point out, the only one who went to the wrong place -- many others from our flight were there as well. Poorly signed!) She was worried that we weren’t in her section and that her baggage didn’t seem to have arrived, but nobody had bothered to tell her she was in the wrong place! Happily all of this time was less than an hour, and then we were on our way again.

We had 3 days in Johannesburg so that we could get some doctor and dental appointments in before heading back to rural Mozambique – in particular, the boys both needed immunizations. Turns out Easter holidays in South Africa are akin to Labor Day in the US – the whole country shuts down for the Friday through Monday around Easter, with even most shops closing up tight Friday at noon. So our stay wasn’t quite as productive in terms of getting errands done, but we did enjoy a relaxing afternoon at the Johannesburg Zoo.