I will first detail the overall trip objectives, then cover my fellow travelers, discuss the sights visited and then cover Gecko the company.
The Trip
Starting 3 November at Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe and ending 23 November in Cape Town, the tour is a overland camping adventure through the northern stretches of Botswana including the Chobe National Park and Okavango Delta and then entering Namibia through the Caprivi strip, a thin stretch of land squashed between Zambia and Botswana, and passing into Namibia proper in the north. Here is the Etosha National Park, a relatively wetter area of what is an extremely arid Namibia. Then down the length of the country to enter South Africa in the far south. The journey is through hot and arid inland areas as well as the cold and arid coastal strip. A cold fog moving in from the cold Atlantic provides most of the moisture to sustain life in the desert and sand dune country and keeps coastal areas much cooler. Highlights in Namibia are the Etosha National park, massive sand dunes and the Fly river canyon.
We camped in established camp grounds for all except 4 nights when we had cabins in Swakopmund for 2 nights, a houseboat for 1 and a hotel in Cape Town for the final night. All meals except lunch/dinner in Victoria Falls, Swakopmund and Cape Town were included in the tour price as well as a number of activities such as game drives. There was also time for optional activities on the way.
Our tents were large and could easily accommodate 3 people. I shared with Umesh. Our days usually started early, around 6 am, 30 minutes to get the tents down and gear packed and 30 minutes for breakfast and on the road by 7 am.
Blue skies were the norm with our sole experience of rain on the tents in Vic Falls.
The Mob
My fellow travelers were David ( Can ), George & Jolanda ( Can ), Ben & Taryn ( Aus ), Tommy ( Swiss ), Colm & Lauria ( Ireland/Aus ), Umish ( UK ), Sara ( UK ), Leesa ( Cairns, Aus ), Eurion & Lousie ( Wales ) & Rhonda ( Aus ). All except David & I were aged between 26 - 37 years and all were experienced travelers. Occupations varied from retired Exxon exec now doing contract work, recently ex-student, hydrograhic surveyor, Dell sales exec in Australia, market researcher, human resources manager for HP(UK), environmental scientist, specialist outdoor clothing store manager, organiser of care for elderly, police detective and sheep farmer now working as a farm advisor. George and Jolanda have an interesting vocation, especially for ones so young. They are contracted by the BC govt to "support" 2 disabled men in their home as well as another living independently. They reminded me a lot of Pete and Daisy with whom I traveled in China in 2007. Very sociable, bit slow to get going in the morning and enjoy a drink in the evenings.
The Gecko crew were Shingi, tour leader ; Dingi, driver and Gift, cook all Zimbabwian with relatively long service with these sorts of tours.
7 of us started the tour in Victoria Falls whereas the other 8 were on a longer journey with Gecko from Nairobi and Kigali. They transferred trucks and crew at Vic Falls.
The Journey
Victoria Falls airport was a bit of an African experience. Nobody was given immigration cards on board the aircraft so we all had to complete these in the shed that fills in as an international airport terminal. Then several people had problems with the different visa fees. Apparently these are set at levels that determine who is on Mugabe's love list. Australian/NZers and Swiss only pay US$30, the British $55 and the poor Canadians $75. Then the bags took nearly as much time to come off as the total flight time. By this time you remember many of your fellow travelers and 4 of them turned out to be on my Gecko tour as well I ran into several others around town. Even though conditions have improved since they have had a shaky coalition govt., things are pretty tough for most Zimbabwians and tourist numbers are still very low. I knew that the country had massive inflation but didn't realise the Zim $ no longer exists except as a tourist souvenir. All transactions are either conducted in SA rands or US$. I have purchased some old trillion and billion $ notes and have posted copies in another post. Think of holding one note for 100 trillion dollars!! Hustlers trying to sell handicrafts and other items became a very annoying feature whenever you went about town. In restaurants and bars, items on the menu were often not in stock but we did manage to have warthog steak one night. I spent some time viewing the falls fairly close-up and then on the 1 full day we had here did the whole day white water rafting expedition down through the 23 sets of rapids below the falls. There are several grade 5 sets. These were quite scary and I very nearly came out a few times but managed to stay aboard except when we deliberately went for a swim with the crocodiles...did see 3 of these though quite small. We did lose a couple people through 2 of the rapids and some other rafts completely capsized. The rowing bit also turned out to be very tiring as well as the huge climb out at the end but overall a very satisfying experience. Most of the rapids have quite exotic names, in sequence : Start Point, Surfs Up, Flying Fox, Morning Glory, Stairway To Heaven, Devil's Toilet Bowl, Gulliver's Travels, Midnight Diner, Commercial Suicide...very rarely used...must walk around this one...too dangerous, Gnashing Jaws Of Death, Overland Truck Eater, Three Ugly Sisters, The Mother, Surprise Surprise, The Washing Machine, Terminator 1 & 2, Judgment Day, Oblivion, The Last Straw, Roller Coaster, Corkscrew, & Take Out
Crossing into Botswana, we camped at Kasane right next to the Chobe National Park. An early morning game drive introduced common game species such as warthog, baboon and impala but also saw kudu ( a large deer like animal ), hippo, pudu ( a small impala but without the markings ) and several hyena. At one stage, there was a confrontation between a lone one with a gang of four. After much snarling and howling, the lone one raced off with tail between it's legs. There was also a territorial dispute between 2 troops of baboons and again there was much noise and some viscous scraps before they separated. However the highlight was seeing large numbers of elephants coming down to the Chobe river for their early morning drink. Apparently they don't drink for 3 days then take up 180 litres during these stopovers. Must have been between 200 - 300 of all sizes from very small babies upwards. They all use one spot as this has a sloping entry into the water. We were permitted out of the vehicle at this point so most people got very good photo shots.
Our camp at Kasane was on the Chobe river so could hear hippo noises during the night and I spied a couple of crocs basking on rocks just 100 metres down from the camp.
Wonderful sunset cruise on the Chobe river at the confluence of 4 countries and 2 rivers. Botswana joins Zimbabwe, Namibia and Zambia at one spot. Weather was really clear and we sighted lots of crocs and hippos as well as red lechwee ( deer like ), buffalo , kudu, lots of baboons ( again ) and more elephants, one group of 3 about to cross the river out to the green pastures on the many islands. Lots and lots of bird life including large fish eagles. It was also a good bonding time for the group as we had relaxing time to spend with the people who joined us late in Vic Falls. There was a fire somewhere nearby so the sunset was very red and spectacular.
A rare treat next morning. Spotted 2 wild African dogs beside the road as we left town who gave us quite good photo shots. These are very rare in most of southern Africa.
Next was one of the longer drives, crossing into the Caprivi strip in Namibia and back into Botswana to get to the Okavango delta. The Kavango river starts way up in Angola, flows into Botswana, through the panhandle and out into the delta to be consumed by the Kalahari desert, never reaching the sea. The road along the strip is a more direct route and in better condition than the alternatives in Botswana. Late in the afternoon, onto speedboats and into the Okavango panhandle. This area is immediately above the delta proper and is much more accessible. Most accommodation within the delta is luxury class and you usually must fly in by charter flight. So 1.5 hours by what are large tinnies with large outboards, delayed because the first one we attempted was too low in the water and hence not safe and as well the motor was misbehaving. This is a land ( or lack of ) covered with water with wide waterways between tall papyrus and reed plants. We left Dingi with the truck but carried food and Gift, our chef with us. One night was in a bush camp and then next day another truck trip further into the panhandle for another bush camp, this time quite primitive, on a small island that can not be used when the water rises during the wet season. Here we met out mokoro ( traditionally wooden dugouts made from the Sausage tree but now mostly fibreglass ) polers. We did three trips out onto the water traveling through narrow water corridors amongst smaller reed plants to view hippos, flowering plants, lots of birds and the sunset. Also included an overland bush walk without seeing much game except one elephant in the distance and some warthogs. The highlight was seeing a resident bull hippo with his harem of 8 cows, snorting and blowing air spouts as they came up to breathe and threaten us for encroaching on their territory.. On the way back, the boys cornered and captured a reedbuck on a small island amongst much excitement for all present. Each mokoro takes 2 in addition to the poler. Of course we all had a go at poling which if you have a sense of balance is quite easy. During the evening, the polers performed some traditional dancing which we were expected to respond. Don't they know white people have no rhythm. All anybody could come up with was the chicken dance...shame! Then back to the main stream for a night on a houseboat accompanied by hordes of insects attracted to the lights on the boat as well as a green snake that clambered over the side of the boat. Crocodiles are also common throughout the region.
The body of water in the area is huge but the vegetation monotonous with the banks lined mainly by papyrus..think of a green chimney sweep's brush with seed heads on the bristles..about 3 metres high... and a skinny form of sugar cane. In calmer water, water lilies grow in abundance as well as grass, reeds and weeds. Lots of bird life including the regal fish eagles.
I have been here long enough to meet quite a few locals and the differences between the 2 countries is of interest. The population of both is approx 2 million, bit less in Botswana and a bit more in Namibia, and both countries are mainly dry with extensive desert areas. Indeed the countryside is quite similar to the parts of the Australian outback I seen around Katherine/Alice Springs/Uluru...short tough scrubby bush with the odd trees...soil relatively poor. In the parts we have traveled through, most people live as subsistence farmers and must cope with seasonal rains which will start sometime in November. As well, each family grouping will own some cattle or goats. Housing is still traditional, some areas have round mud huts with thatch roofing while in other areas there will be rectangular mud huts. A village is made up of large family groups who live in small compounds scattered across an area defined as a village. Inside each walled compound will be small buildings for sleeping, food storage and cooking, a chicken house etc. Family grouping will encompass several generations.
When we entered Namibia for the last time, we camped riverside and our tour leader attempted to organise a village tour and as I was the only one who wanted to go, it didn't pay off. So I did my own thing. During my 1st excursion, I met a number of locals, mainly girls, at a water source that the owner of the camp provided for the nearby villagers and on asking some girls how they were got the reply " we are hungry". They then asked me to take away the camp dog, a huge mongrel, who had accompanied me as they said he would bite them. However, there was one guy called Jack who could speak good English and a bit friendlier. On my 2nd excursion, I meet a couple of kids who I asked if they could show me around their village. They agreed so off we went around the various family compounds. We then came across Jack who invited me into his little hut. He was a bit of a lost cause, 25, single with little income and both parents dead but he did have access to some land. He had plans to go into business but lacked the means or location to do so. About 1/4 of his house was taken up by a bed but of interest were the wall decorations. Plastered to the wall was a copy of a brochure from a furniture/appliance retailer with pictures of washing machines, lounge suites etc...obviously a dream wall!! When then visited the adjacent compound to which he is attached and met the owner, a local school teacher though not too friendly. The boys then took me down to a hippo pool in the large river where 4 were lazing away the day. So a village walk and bush walk combined though on inquiring if there were many snakes about received the reply.."yeh...lots".And here was me in shorts and sandals scrambling through the thorn bushes. 2 of the 3 boys were brothers. Their father was a farmer with 34 cattle and they had 6 siblings but their family grouping consisted of 32 people.
Next day we visited another family compound along the way and were struck by the poverty. Most seem to have very few possessions other than the clothes they are wearing, a few cooking utensils and a plough.
The next night we stayed in a San Bushman camp and again went on a village walk. These people have traditionally been nomadic but now live in what can best be described as hovels. Building were constructed of any material available including car doors and other scrap or bits of material sewn together. Some were even more primitive, constructed of grass. All wore western clothing though pretty scruffy. When we were attempting to organise the village tour, we found out the regular male guides were drunk so the young lady who was organising things said she would have to be our guide. She popped into what they use as an office and came back dressed in traditional clothing...bare breasted and only a small wrap around skirt. Even the man who offered to show us how to make fire the "old" way had to change into a loin cloth before getting a fire going with just a couple of sticks and dry grass. Later that evening, they performed dances for us in traditional clothes around our campfire which was interesting.
Both countries make a good living from exporting diamonds but you can tell which is better governed. Botswana obviously is pumping much more into school and health care facilities whereas in Namibia, the wealth does not appear to be trickling down to the grass roots level. Part way across the north of Namibia is a "foot and mouth" fence that separates the developed from the undeveloped world. The developed part is large and I assume white owned ranches and the undeveloped, very poor subsistence farmers.
Etosha in northern Namibia is billed as one of the better game parks in southern Africa and I suspect now that there is quite a bit of self promotion and spin attached to this. Not nearly as good as Kruger and Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Parks in South Africa though it is a good park to see the rare black rhinos and oryxs which prefer dry desert terrain. There are 3 camps within the park, all sited on the southern rim of a large pan which is still dry but does fill up somewhat during the rainy season. Each camp has an adjacent floodlit waterhole where a procession of animals pass through during the day as well as at night. Especially exciting was seeing the many visits of the rhinos and during our last night, a cow arrived with her calf. Surprisingly the calf makes a pathetic whimper like a young kitten.
Out on the grasslands, there were vast herds of springbok and zebra as well as oryx, wildebeast, and red hartebees. Refer to my facebook photos if you don't know these animals! In the more scrubby areas, good numbers of giraffe, elephants and impala as well as a few hyena. Missing were cats! It took us till nearly the end of our only full day in the park to see one pride of lions...a couple of females, a juvenile male and 3 cubs. Not sighting any vultures was also an indication of few "kills" and hence few predators in the park. As well, I went on a night drive and this too was a bit void of any exciting finds..lots of hares and rabbits and a few jackals and cape foxes as well as 1 rhino and a couple of hyenas.
Then south and towards the coast. Our next camp was adjacent to Spitzkoppe, a 1728m high granite isleberg which is touted to look like the Matterhorn though this was hard to see. Of interest was the nearby red granite rock that looked like a mini Uluru of Oz. We hired a guide to take us around some tatty cave drawings and took in the sunset from the top of the red rock. Good surrounding scenery in a fairly remote spot.
On the coast, we stopped over at the Cape Cross seal colony which also happens to be the site of the landing of the first European explorer to Namibia, a Portuguese named Diego Cao who ended up dying and being interned nearby. Several pups had been born overnight so the cacophony was probably louder than normal and the stench was also not too agreeable. Then onto Swakopmund for a first town stopover. Apparently residents of Windhoek, the inland capital, flee to Swakopmund for the cooler climes of Swakopmund during the summer so the town had that tourist feeling about it...souvenir shops, restaurants, bars etc but the main game was adrenaline rising activities in and on the nearby sand dunes. There are huge dunes throughout a wide strip down the Namibian coast, some move a few metres each year and some are stationery. As well, despite very little annual rain, there is a surprising variety of wildlife endemic to the region. I spent a fun filled few hours racing a quad bike, with 50 or so others, around the dunes at top speed doing roller coaster like turns on the sides of the dunes. I managed to maintain my space in the fastest group for the "automatics". Really good value. Then a more sedate living dessert tour with a local character called Tommy. As soon as we reached the dunes in his dune vehicle, he removes his shoes and then deflates the tyres to maintain better traction. He managed to find or in some cases dig up all sorts of creatures which are best seen in my facebook photos.
We were responsible for our own meals so I had an eland, oryx and ostrich platter for one meal and then during a group meal to celebrate Louise's birthday consumed springbok though the covering sauce drowned out any meat flavours. The ostrich was not so good but the other two were similar to good quality beef. During dinner, Eurion announced that he and Louise had become engaged so de ja vue. Two got engaged on my last tour in Indonesia and I had an inkling that it might happen again with these 2 as well.
Several others from the group also went dune boarding which they enjoyed but found the climb back to the top each time rather tiring.
Much further south, Sesriem was our next stop right on the edge where you can find the highest sand dunes in the world. A sunset view off a nearby red dune and then another early morning trip to view the same sun rise from another bigger red dune. Unfortunately, even in empty Namibia, we were not alone. Every other tourist in the area converges on the same dune to witness a really average sunrise!! Then further up the valley to Sossusvlie where during the wet season, the river is cut off by a sand dune from flowing the next 50 km or so to the sea. The dunes in the area are massive and a beautiful red hue. At the end of the 2WD road, we rode like sheep in the back of 4WD pickups to meet our barefoot guide, Frans, who took us up over the dunes to what was a previous Sossusvlei that had been cut off completely by dunes from water and was now called Deadflei. Several preserved dead trees in the flei were several hundred years old. Frans also told us tales from his San ancestory in a very animated fashion...very amusing.
The last stop in Namibia was the Fish river canyon, a smaller and African version of the Grand canyon where we again viewed a mediocre sunset. I somehow don't get the fascination with sunsets but maybe I am as jaded with these as I am with museums and religious buildings. Nor does my camera seem to capture anything magical.
Then onto to cross the Orange river into South Africa for a camp on the river banks. A 2 hour canoe trip didn't turn up much except a good exercise session. Then a camp stop on a vineyard at Clanwilliam and a wine tasting of poor wine and on into Paarl, just north of Cape Town for another wine tasting session, this time of good quality ones. A final dinner at an uninspiring tourist trap in Cape Town and a good-bye to everyone. Most planned far too little time to see Cape Town, leaving within a day or so. The mountain put on a splendid display with a perfect table-cloth across the top. I think all will now believe this a regular event when in fact it is quite rare. Tommy stayed over with me for a couple of days before venturing off around the southern coast to Kwazulu-Natal and up to Pretoria before coming back to Cape Town mid month. I showed him the delights of getting around by "taxi" and he helped get my ADSL broadband system setup and running. I think he learnt that nothings works quite as well or as efficientlyin Africa as in Switzerland.
My camera has not survived the Namibia sands very well and could quite well be given the last rites soon. Crunchy sounds are emitted whenever the lens is extended and withdrawn and spots appear on some photos.
The Company
The Gecko tour cost A$1516 after a last minutes discount of 20% plus US$550 local payment. This covered all accommodation, transport, most meals, the services of 3 crew plus some extras like entry to various parks. Not bad at US$90 per day. I usually prefer what I refer to as upmarket backpacking tours such as offered by GAP and Intrepid whereby all accommodation and transport plus a tour leader is included and you stay in hotels but look after your own meals and sightseeing but camping from the back of a truck seems to be the norm in this part of the world. We encountered and in one case shadowed other trucks on our route, mostly crewed by Zimbabwians. Indeed, Gecko subcontract out the on-the-ground operations to an African company ATC who probably also run several other branded trucks as well.
The day-to-day organisation of our tour, as managed by the 3 crew was excellent. Meals prepared by Gift were well timed and of excellent quality, especially considering that he was cooking for 18 people in "camp ground" conditions. Dingi got us to all our destinations safely and was always helping out the others with meal preparations and anyone who needed help with tents etc with a willing smile. As well, the boss Shingi was always available with local knowledge and lots of information on the African way of like and the sights we were about to see.
My only criticism is the time we wasted at campsites. I would have preferred more time out somewhere exploring areas that we may never have the opportunity see again instead of resting in camp or parked on a bar stool. However, I do realise that many on the trip were on vacation or conversely on long trips and the downtime was welcome. As well, the crew wanted to get to camp to get set up for the evening. From my past experiences, a trip will be a good or bad one purely based on the quality of the tour leader and your fellow travelers. In this case, these were excellent.
Like similar trips I have taken, any failures are usually linked to the quality of management of the tour company. It is somewhat ironic that all companies in this market seek to ensure their clients are "responsible travelers" and that the crew maintain "responsible travel" standards i.e. that we do not litter, respect local cultures etc but miss the point that the first responsibility of the tour company is to it's clients. This is usually sadly lacking. On this tour, nearly all of the members who traveled down on the longer trip were upset with the itinerary changes the company had made on this final leg without any attempt at explanation. The fine print on all tours explain the company has the right to amend itineraries due to unforeseen circumstances but you wouldn't expect them to do it for commercial reasons without some sort of compensation. The itinerary changes down graded the value of the tour by eliminating valuable time ( and probably expense ) in National Parks and some meals. As well, they were supposed to join us in Vic Falls township 2 days earlier but were stranded in Livingstone on the Zambian side of the Vic Falls by a cock up by that leg's tour leader and had to fork out extra accommodation expenses from their own pockets. I suspect that I also had some detrimental itinerary changes but did not print out a copy of the itinerary current at the time I booked the tour so can not make an accurate comparison. However the detailed trip notes does include "three days are set aside to explore the wonderful Etosha Pan and Etosha National Parl" but we actually only spent 45 hours in the park! I suspect they neglected to "amend" the preamble!
However, I suspect that like budget airlines, you get what you pay for and have little comeback should you be screwed around. I know that you are expected to bear the brunt if a budget airline cancels or amends flights and the same probably applies to these budget tour operators. Gecko came highly recommended by a well traveled friend but I suspect they may now be moving the brand down market. Management know they can take a hard nosed atitude and upset some clients. Some may even become repeat customers. They will know the reasons people chose to go on various trips and this often comes down to price and timing, not past reputation. Just like budget airlines!!The competition will have the same substandard customer care.
