August Adventure!

Lumelang Kaofela!

            Here I am back in Lesotho after my very exciting adventure traveling with my family. We traveled around Lesotho, to Zimbabwe, Victoria Falls, enjoyed a safari at Kruger National Park in South Africa and at Mashatu in Botswana, and finished up our trip traveling around Cape Town South Africa. I know that I had a ton of fun, and it was really wonderful to just be with the family after so long. But since this was a group trip, I thought we’d do something different and have my family write a post for you all! So please enjoy this blog post, co-written by my sister Naomi, my Mom Andrea and my Dad Scott respectively! I’ll post another update with what’s going on at my site at the end of the month (which will be commemorating reaching a full year in Lesotho! How crazy!). This is going to be a LONG post so strap in! Enjoy!

Nomi:

Lesotho didn’t look quite the way I expected it to. Even with the dozens of photos Aliza had sent us over Whatsapp, I expected something more -- urban? More like Yaffo, small streets with shops one on top of the other, vendors clamoring for our attention, crowds. But as we drove from the tiny Moshoeshoe airport (pronounce that Moe-shway-shway) to the capital, Maseru, what we were seeing out the window looked more like a midwestern suburb. Our first stop, after all, was a cafe in a strip mall, where we’d eat lunch.

When we met Aliza at the airport and enveloped her in our arms, she announced “this airport has never seen this many tears.” But what else are you supposed to do after seeing your sister/daughter for the first time in nearly a year?

Right off the bat, Aliza was a fantastic tour guide, fielding our questions and advocating for her new home. She was joined by our drivers, Lebo and Teboho, two young women living in the capital who work for a driving-slash-tourism company. Some Basotho we spoke to were pretty excited about the prospects of tourism in the country. I didn’t have the heart to tell them that tourism might not want to be one’s biggest priority when the majority of the world can’t pronounce the country’s name correctly. That is, if they can find it on a map. (That is, if they’ve heard of it to begin with). 

What Lesotho did look like: Nevada, maybe. New Mexico? Arizona--my parents threw out western state after state, referencing the mountains you could see from every angle, the sparse vegetation, the homes built on the bases of hills. As we drove from the airport to Maseru Mall, we saw homes with satellite dishes and driveways built around each other in small neighborhoods. We saw large factories, surrounded by smaller, humble, crowded dwellings. 

“The factories are owned by the Chinese,” one of our drivers told me, and I imagined the invisible hand of the far-off Chinese company, sweeping in a new form of remote colonialism. Later, we learned that in reality, many Asians move to Lesotho, buy swathes of land, and build big homes and factories for cheap. Then they hire Basotho to make Converse and Levi’s they can’t afford.  

After our long, much needed lunch stop (coffees, salads, zucchini fries, and even a burger were consumed), we helped Aliza grocery shop at the Shop Rite and Pick & Pay, which are the supermarkets with the largest selection of packaged foods and produce. Neither one exists within a day trip from Aliza’s village, so when she’s in town, she stocks up. We also went to a store that sells handmade Lesotho crafts, including items made from seshoeshoe cloth (pronounce that shuh-shway-shway). We did a little shopping before settling into the car for the two hour drive to Moehale’s Hoek, which would get us closer to Aliza’s actual site.

We all did a combo of looking out the window, dozing, and talking. As we drove south, the mountains grew more sprawling and the homes less frequent. Most were right off the side of the road, and much smaller than the ones we had seen in Maseru. The small cities we passed now looked nothing like suburbs, more like dwellings centered around a small town center with a few small stores, maybe a gas station, and a taxi rank.  We also noticed the very large quantities of people, primarily men and children, standing alongside the road staring at the passing cars. All eyes moved along our van as it passed along the paved, two-lane road. This staring is an exceedingly common pastime in Lesotho, where unemployment is high. It really goes to show how leisure activities, such as hobbies, theater, literature, and museum-going, for example, are things we take advantage of in developed countries. 

Finally, we arrived in Mohale’s Hoek, where we were spending the night. We met three Peace Corps Volunteers (PCV’s) from the year ahead of Aliza at a Portuguese restaurant. (Don’t ask me what made it Portuguese, because it certainly wasn’t the pizza or the curry). It was great to hear about the experiences of these three volunteers, and watch Aliza at ease with her close friends. 

In the morning, Dad and I went for a four mile run, fighting the hills and the incredible elevation of the country. The lowest point stands at 1400 meters, making Lesotho the country with the highest lowest elevation in the world. We ran at somewhere around 1500-1800m. For those interested, I did announce to anyone who would listen, that Lesotho would be a great destination for athletes doing altitude training, and maybe they should invest efforts there. (It turns out, a South African team did perform exceptionally well after training in Lesotho, so you know, great minds.) 

We had to leave Mohale’s Hoek early because we had a long day of driving ahead of us: two hours to get to Mount Moorosi, where we would switch to the van that would take us on the unpaved road for 1.5 hours to Aliza’s site. (We also ate makuenya, fried dough balls, and utilized our first latrine!)

Now: It is my duty to emphasize what we, going into the trip, did not fully understand: just how remote Aliza lives. I stated earlier that the closest supermarket is not within a day trip. It is in Mohale’s Hoek, where we had left from that morning. (The shops closer to the village have plenty of food, but sometimes lack in specific items or varieties of produce.) However, Aliza does not have the luxury of a private car like we did, so it would take her over two hours to get there in a shared taxi from Mount Moorosi. That’s AFTER the 1.5-2 hours on the dirt road from the village where Aliza lives. From the place where the taxi drops off in Aliza’s village, it’s a 25-30 minute walk to her home. That’s what we were getting into. Oh -- and we had to beat the rain so that the road there wouldn’t flood. 

We all endured the bumpy road to Aliza’s village, getting what is known fondly as an “African massage.” On the way, we practiced the Sesotho greetings Aliza had taught us, which are used every time you interact with someone -- the equivalent of “Hello sir/ma’am, how are you? I am well,” but I cannot overstate that you say this every. Single. Time. You. Pass. Someone. Even. Especially.  If. You. don’t. Know. Them. Tradition! Community! Beautiful. 

At Aliza’s site (our driver was able to expertly navigate some collapsed road, river banks, and switchbacks all the way to Aliza’s front door,) we dropped off the groceries and goodies we brought for her, then joined her for a nice picnic lunch inside her rondavel. She showed us all her water boiling equipment, and showed us how she takes a bath. After lunch we got a special treat -- taking Aliza’s compost out to her nearby neighbors -- two pigs -- who enjoy eating the scraps. Thanks to Nanny and Poppy, Aliza is now stocked up on chocolate that should last her the rest of her service!

Sadly, we really did not have a lot of time at Aliza’s site. After we cleaned up from lunch, we walked with Aliza the route to her clinic, where we got to meet a few of her coworkers for a very short interaction. We had to be back on the road, and get back to Mount Moorosi, before dark. 

This was disappointing for all of us, Aliza most of all. But I feel glad to know how she’s living and now have a much better sense of why leaving her site is such a commitment. Unhappily, we had to head back on the same path we had come -- another 1.5 hours -- and then 2.5 more hours in the car (once we switched back to our old van) to get to Semonkong, the lodge where we’d spend the night. We did a lot of driving.

 

(Family with my friends and co-workers, right

Enjoying lunch in my house! bottom)

And yet, as much as we complained, we were very privileged to have our private car that could (somewhat) quickly take us where we needed to go. Most Basotho who are in Aliza’s clinic’s catchment region have a one-day trip to the clinic via taxi, horse, or even foot, to pick up their much-needed medicines. Aliza estimates that the clinic is serving ⅓ of the population it should be, simply because the level of access is so low. A few nights later, from our bedroom in our Victoria Falls hotel, Aliza and I talked about the infrastructure, or lack thereof, in parts of Lesotho. We discussed how funneling government money towards building paved roads would also spur job creation in the surrounding communities, as well as increase access to the much-needed clinic. Maybe these discussions are happening at the government level too.

We got to Semonkong after dark, and scarfed down some of the food they had saved for us (good), drank the sherry that was in each room, (great), and inhaled a post-car ride hot chocolate (excellent). The next morning, we took a small hike to Maletsonyane Falls at Semonkong, which was impressive even during the dry winter season. On our hike, we talked about the work being done to reduce HIV transmission from mother to baby, frequency of “high blood,” diabetes, and diets -- all the public health Aliza is able to observe. After lunch back at the lodge, we got back into the car for a very winding drive to Berea, the district where Aliza lived for a few months after training. On this drive, we passed fields, mountains, and finally, as we drove back through Maseru, a University town, which looks a lot more like how I pictured Maseru.

 From top to bottom:
-Us at Semonkong!
-Parents eating some chicken braai (like South Africa BBQ) with papa and moroho.
-The fam enjoying some makoenya (friend dough)

It turned out that TY (Teyateyaneng), the city in Berea where we stopped, looked a lot more like I expected a “city” in Lesotho to look like: tight crossing roads lined with shops and stores, much more people, more street carts hawking their goods. We got to see Aliza’s old haunts, including a general store where the PCV’s get mail, a hotel where she used to utilize the WiFi, and even went to a supermarket. We had our last Lesotho meal in TY: Braai! Braai is the South African equivalent of BBQ. There’s traditionally meat, papa (cooked maize that looks like grits), and moroho, a sauteed vegetable (usually chopped spinach). 

So we left Lesotho with a good taste in our mouths.

Mom:

After a day in Victoria Falls, seeing the mist and having a great tour of the area, we started on our sarafi! Going on safari was always one of those dreamy items on the wish list without much form. But now with a visit to Aliza in Lesotho, it went straight to the top of the list and it did not disappoint. As we did the research into it, photos of the African animals and beautiful lodges surrounded by the game reserves got me more and more excited. In the end, with a lot of guidance from our travel agent we chose two safari camps, one in Kruger Private Reserve Park, South Africa and one in Mashatu Reserve, Botswana.

We left Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe early on Wednesday by jeep into Zambia. Our driver gave us a short tour of Livingstone, Zambia on our way to the airport. It is a very vibrant and bustling small city with both Western and Native shopping areas. We had plenty of time before our flight and after the 1 hour flight into Nelspruit, we met our driver for the 3 hour drive north to Kambaku River Sands in the Timbavati Private Preserve of Kruger National Park, South Africa. Our arrival was too late to do an afternoon game drive but seeing our accommodations was an exciting start for me. It was like the best of both worlds: luxurious bed & bath surrounded by nature! I was in heaven! The safari stay is structured as follows: tea, an early morning 3 hour drive (before sunrise, with a snack in the bush), brunch, “free time”, afternoon drive (with a sunset snack and beverage), and capping the day with a late dinner shared with other lodge guests. 

So our first game drive was early the next morning. We met Julius, our guide, and Douglas, our tracker. The tracker sits perched on the front end of the jeep and our guide drives and explains. We piled in the open vehicle high off the ground, just the four of us. As we drove into the refuge we passed zebra and giraffe, often found together as they compliment each other’s strengths when sensing danger. We watched some hyena stumbling past and elephants, too, busy destroying everything in their path as they foraged for food (it takes tons of veggies to satisfy these big mammals and they eat all day). Then suddenly the jeep makes a sudden lurch into high gear. We follow unsigned dirt roads racing to get somewhere that the guide is excitedly communicating about on the walkie. Finally, we take a sharp right and just next to our front tires are about six female lions feasting on a carcass (a buffalo we are told). Two sisters stand at the ready looking out for the hyenas who have begun to gather to grab the leftovers. There would be no leftovers today. The lions lick every morsel and everyone knows their place in the eating order. Still, the hyenas start to call for the others. We move our vehicle to straddle the lions and hyenas as another hyena comes and jumps up and down and calls out as if to say, “come on guys, I’m here now! We can take ‘em! Come on!” Still no one crosses the imaginary line. On the way back we enjoy a more peaceful encounter with a herd of elephants of all ages and we delight in watching the babies.

For the next two days we head out to the bush, following a family of lions with the cubs travelling in a single line and then laying all over large termite hills, tracking down a single old male water buffalo, spotting birds of prey and seeing hippos playing in the water. By the end of our stay we saw the big five: buffalo, lions, leopards, white rhinos & elephants. We saw most of the ugly five: wildebeest, warthog, hyena & vultures (leaving the maribou stork for another day). And, so many other species. We even had a chance to walk through the bush and examine some plants and feces up close. Did you know you could smoke elephant dung or make a tea from it?

On the day we left we took a long drive again (5 hours) though South Africa, but this time to the border with Botswana. We got out of our car and into a covered jeep with a guide named Fish after getting our passports stamped. We drove into Botswana but had to walk through a puddle of liquid to disinfect our boots to prevent foot & mouth disease being carried into the animals in the Mashatu reserve. It was a much shorter drive (45 min) to our next camp and much more remote, with no villages in sight. We settled in and were there in time for the evening drive. I was psyched! The geology here seemed very different, great wide and deep gravelly ravines that one could imaging flooding with waters in the rainy season and the ground littered with quartz-like stones. Igneous and metamorphic formations were apparent now, along with usual sedimentary ones. Another great difference were the types of trees: the life-giving mashatu trees, the shepard trees and the huge boabab trees. The trees were an important part of the landscape and lent themselves as defenseless tributes to the destructiveness of the elephants that stripped the trunks bare searching for water. 

In our 3 days in Mashatu we were treated to cheetahs, jackals, ostrich, eland antelopes and baboons to add to our list of “conquests,” as well as many colorful birds. Our outings also included a trek by bicycle into the bush and an afternoon in a photographic “hide” where we got amazing photos of antelope, elephants and giraffe that came to drink. Have you ever seen a giraffe “get-down” to drink? So vulnerable, so awkward and apparently so funny (just ask Naomi). Our last drive out did not disappoint as we rounded a tree in the early night and our guide pointed the spotlight to a leopard in a tree eating a freshly killed impala. The sights, the sounds were really quite amazing. Life in the raw.

Meals here seemed less formal and more local, but always delicious. In both camps the dinner locations were both comfortable and close to nature. We really enjoyed talking to the people who worked at both camps and got a small peak into how they straddle both the modern working world and the traditional homes from where they come. They were quite enamored with Aliza and her ability to speak Sesotho which was close enough to some other African languages to converse with our guides. They were impressed with this Peace Corps Volunteer as, of course, were we!

Dad:

We left the amazing Mashatu Game Reserve and made our way to Cape Town. One of the common themes of our trip was the amazing travel logistics - everything was so smooth and easy given all the changes in countries and air travel. Our trip to Cape Town was no different. 

The trip back to the South Africa border was exactly the reverse of what we did on Saturday. Team Mashatu drove us to the border (fun fact - there is a really scary looking tram that is used in the summer when the river is flowing - so you have to put yourselves (and all your luggage) in a not-very-safe looking tram that goes across the river. There just aren’t enough travelers at this border crossing to justify a bridge (it’s essentially just visitors and suppliers to Mashatu).

At the border, we were met by the same driver (Mike) who brought us to the border on Saturday. He loaded our bags, and we were off to Polokwane International Airport. This was an “easy” trip for him, since he lived in Polokwane. And he joked about the International part of the airport name - he claimed that “you can go anywhere from Polokwane as long as you go to Joberg first”. It was an old army base that was converted to a commercial airport. I had wondered why we didn’t have to get to the airport much earlier than the flight - once we got there, it became obvious. Other than private charters, there was only one flight at a time! They basically wait for everybody to get there.

Like the rest of our trip, super easy flight from Polokwane to Joberg and then a few hours stuck in Joberg before our flight to Cape Town. Once in Cape Town, we were met by Clive from Wilderness Private Journeys. Clive would be our nearly constant companion and unbelievable source of knowledge for our time in Cape Town. 

Cape Town is a very modern city. We felt right at home. Lots of awesome restaurants, shopping and entertainment. Cape Town is right on the bridge of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, and the very famous Table Mountain sits majestically above the city and provides a really unique landscape that you typically don’t see with a seaside city.

Our first night, we went to the largest mall in Cape Town to go to the somewhat famous Willoughby’s. Aliza insisted on Sushi so that was our first stop! It was weird having a fine dining experience inside a mall, but it worked. Fresh sushi and a very nice bottle of South Africa Reisling.

Our Cape Town experience started in earnest on Wednesday. Clive picked us up early and we did an entire tour of the city. We went along the seaboard, drove out to the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point Lighthouse (we got to see a baboon try to steal a photographer’s bag looking for food - a source of entertainment for 15 minutes, although a little scary as the baboon got quite angry and physical!). We also made a stop to enjoy the antics of the charming African Penguin colony that live on the coast! Who knew? We had a special lunch at Harbor House Kalk Bay with a table that literally sat over the ocean. We got to see seals playing by the dock and a bird who seemed to want to join us for lunch. Our last stop of the day was the Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden - Cape Town alone has more flora per acre than anywhere in the world and is considered a World Heritage Site because of its concentration of plant diversity in this Fynbos biome. We were enamored with all the species of protea, one of which is the National Flower and seen in motifs all over southern Africa. After our tour, we went on our own to El Burro Greenpoint for a pretty great Mexican dinner, followed by Gelato.

Thursday was a really special day. We did a hike up to the top of Table Mountain. We decided to start pretty much from the base, so the walk up to the top was about 5K with all the switchbacks. We had a pretty funky guide who kept telling us about the herbal remedies you can find on the mountain (if you take this leaf, let it sit in the sun for 7 days, you can make a tea and it’s good for your <pick a body part>.)

It took a good portion of the day to get to the top, but we did it and enjoyed amazing views. The afternoon was spent doing some light shopping at a market where most everything was made by locals. It was nice to shop and know we were supporting the local community! Clive offered to drive us to our dinner which was 20 minutes outside Cape Town - Greenhouse. This was a very special dining experience which none of us had ever experienced before!  Seven courses, each with its own “story”. I figured we’d be starving after eating small bites all night, but it was actually a decent amount of food and we were all satisfied. 

Friday, Clive offered to pick us up at our hotel at 6am so we could go to the waterfront and go for a run! It was a great morning and super nice of Clive to do this. Both Naomi and I were training for upcoming events, and running from our hotel wasn’t cutting it (for me, anyway). It was too steep!!

After the run, we went back to the hotel, showered up, and got back into Clive’s van to head out to wine country. South Africa has a pretty amazing wine area, very similar to Napa Valley. We wound up checking out two vineyards and having lunch at Delaire Graff - a very famous home in the Stellenbosch region. We also checked out the downtown area, which has a major university in the center. So, a very young crowd and lots of hip stores.

Our final dinner was at Kloof Street House - a trendy restaurant not far from our hotel. The girls surprised me with a birthday dessert (5 days early, but our last day together, so well timed!)

Saturday we begrudgingly made our way to Cape Town airport for our trip home (Aliza back to Lesotho, Andrea, Naomi and I to JFK). We had an amazing trip and time together, and even though it was 2 full weeks, it ended much too soon!